After the banquet, Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin followed the Emperor of the Apocalypse to the south study of the Qianqing Palace, and the two of them had been gone for so long that the Emperor of the Apocalypse had some military and political affairs to discuss with the two. Eight?? 1. Chinese ≈.

Compared with those courtiers who would only let the Emperor of the Apocalypse solve the troubles, Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin were the most reassuring to the Emperor of the Apocalypse, both of them had always found a practical solution to the problem and let the Emperor of the Apocalypse make the Emperor of the Apocalypse save, which undoubtedly made the Emperor of the Apocalypse feel relaxed.

In the eyes of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, if the officials of the imperial court were as capable as Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin, then not only would the country prosper, but he would no longer be entangled in busy official duties.

Although the cabinet members now attach their opinions to the courtiers' recitals, their solution to the problem is not as satisfactory to the Emperor of the Apocalypse as Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin.

Now, the most worrying thing for the Emperor of the Apocalypse is the war outside the Guan, and the Guanjin defense line where Sun Chengzong is sitting is easy to say, but it needs a large number of silver taels of white flowers as support, so how to increase the income of the imperial court has become the most headache for the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

This kind of economic matter, the first thing that the Emperor of the Apocalypse thought of was Li Hongyu, followed by Zhao Xin, both of whom were capable ministers in the economic field, especially Li Hongyu, who opened the overseas trade of the Ming Dynasty by himself, which made the Ming Dynasty benefit a lot.

Now in the face of the military expenses needed for the war outside the Guan, the Emperor of the Apocalypse naturally wanted to find Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin to get ideas and see if there was any way to increase the income of the imperial court.

Originally, raising commercial taxes was the best choice, but even the powerful Jiajing Emperor and the Wanli Emperor failed to achieve this, let alone the young Emperor of the Apocalypse.

"Your Majesty, when the minister went to Jiangxi to play this time, he encountered a case in Jiujiang, a local bully in the township was investigated by the Jiujiang prefect, and as a result, he accidentally led to the illegal salt business he operated, and it was found that the amount of illegal salt was as high as hundreds of thousands of taels every year."

Li Hongyu knew that the Emperor of the Apocalypse cared about the war outside the Guan, and he also attached great importance to it, so he took the lead in speaking after a deep sigh, looked at the Emperor of the Apocalypse who was sitting behind the desk and sipping tea, and said, "And the salt tax of the national treasury is only one or two million taels a year, which shows the huge loss of salt tax." ”

"You mean the salt tax!" The Emperor of the Apocalypse's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this, but then it dimmed again, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Your Majesty, judging from the current situation, starting with the salt tax is the best way to increase the revenue of the national treasury."

Seeing this, Li Hongyu immediately understood that the Emperor of the Apocalypse was fearful, the salt tax was widely implicated, and once it was investigated, it would inevitably lead to turmoil, so he explained in a deep voice, "The minister does not want to investigate the Yandao Yamen, but to reform the Yandao Yamen, and the current Yandao Yamen is obviously unable to perform its due duties." ”

Emperor Tianqi frowned slightly when he heard this, he understood what Li Hongyu meant, Li Hongyu's move was undoubtedly to draw wages from the bottom of the kettle and cut off the illegal salt business from the source, because once there was no salt from the Lianghuai Salt Road, then those illegal salts could not be trafficked in a big way, and then circulated to the market.

"This matter should not be rushed, and it will be discussed later." But the next moment, the Emperor of the Apocalypse shook his head with a wry smile, and said to Li Hongyu rather helplessly.

Salt is a necessity in people's lives, and once there is a shortage or price increase in the market, it will have a significant impact on people's lives, which will make the market unstable.

Obviously, if you go to the Yandao Yamen, then those vested interests in the salt industry business will not sit idly by, and will definitely resist stubbornly.

This will inevitably make the national salt industry business turbulent, and make the local situation unstable, which is not what the Emperor of the Apocalypse wants to see, at least now is not the time to move the salt road yamen, how can he wait until the Ming Dynasty has the upper hand outside the pass before acting.

"Your Majesty, in addition to the salt tax, the other is to strengthen the collection of commercial taxes and customs duties in various places, as far as the minister knows, there are many people in the local area who evade commercial taxes and customs duties, and the amount of silver lost every year is also very expensive."

Seeing this, Li Hongyu's eyes couldn't help but flash a look of disappointment, but he knew that the Emperor of the Apocalypse was worried that Cha Yandao's words would make the situation in the Ming Dynasty turbulent and not conducive to the war outside the Guan, so he said after a deep sigh.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the local tax evasion in the Ming Dynasty was serious, taking the customs as an example, due to the bribery of the tax collectors, the tariffs of the original 100 taels of silver could usually only be collected more than a dozen taels or even a few taels.

Under the circumstance that the commercial tax and salt tax could not be touched, Li Hongyu felt that the only way to start with tax evasion could the interests of those vested interest groups be touched at the minimum, and the interests of the court and ministers would not be opposed, so as to ensure social stability.

The Emperor of the Apocalypse nodded solemnly when he heard this, this was also the safest way he could think of to increase taxes at the moment, with the least resistance and the courtiers had nothing to say.

What is particularly important is that those involved in tax evasion are those grassroots tax officials and small and medium-sized businessmen, and the really powerful people do not have to pay taxes at all, so naturally there is no tax evasion, so that the court can deal with it both justifiably and with the least resistance.

In fact, how could the emperors of the Ming Dynasty not know about the dirty things about the commercial tax and salt tax, but even the Ming Taizu could not solve this drawback, so the emperors of later generations could only turn a blind eye.

As long as it does not endanger the rule of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming emperors will not bother to take care of this matter, and the power should be a gift to the courtiers, only in this way will those courtiers do their best to do things for the court, and they can't let the horses run and don't give the horses grazing.

Therefore, there was no major case on the two Huai Salt Road in the Ming Dynasty, and even the Qing Dynasty in later generations only had one major incident on the two Huai Salt Road.

At that time, because the Lianghuai salt road transshipment envoy did not understand the intricate interests of salt affairs, he asked for bribes from salt merchants when he first arrived, but was rejected by those salt merchants with a tough background, and in anger he wrote to Emperor Qianlong to expose the major drawbacks of tax evasion in the salt tax.

The reason why Emperor Qianlong decided to investigate the Lianghuai Salt Road was because the war in Jinchuan was raging at that time, and the imperial court urgently needed to collect military expenses, so Emperor Qianlong took the opportunity to investigate the Lianghuai Salt Road.

Even so, the drawbacks of the Lianghuai Salt Road have not been eliminated, the salt tax has passed, and the officials and businessmen are still colluding, but the emperors of later generations have never touched the salt road, which shows that even the emperor is helpless about some things.

But then again, the Qing Dynasty collected much more salt taxes from the treasury each year than the Ming Dynasty, which was far less serious than the Ming Dynasty's loss of salt taxes.

"Your Majesty, the business of the Customs Department has just begun, and the affairs are complicated, so I implore the emperor to let Scholar Zhao go south to help the minister."

Seeing the Emperor of the Apocalypse nodding, Li Hongyu knew that the Emperor of the Apocalypse would increase the income of the imperial court from the aspect of tax evasion in the future, which was the most feasible method at present, so he sighed secretly in his heart, and bowed to the Emperor of the Apocalypse and said in a deep voice.

"Hmm!"

The Emperor of the Apocalypse couldn't help but glance at Zhao Xin when he heard this, then bowed slightly, and said to Li Hongyu after a deep sigh, "The affairs of the Customs Department are the top priority of the imperial court, and it is indeed necessary to send additional personnel, so the minister will let Zhao Aiqing go to help you for two years, and then return to the court after the affairs of the Customs Department are stable." ”

"Thank you for your grace!" Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts when they heard this, bowed to the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and said in unison.

At midnight, Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin, under the guidance of Wei Zhongxian, left the Qianqing Palace and went to Wenyuan Pavilion to rest.

On the way, Wei Zhongxian talked and laughed with Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin, the two sides have known each other for several years, and they usually have a lot of contact, so they talk to each other very casually and without so many constraints.

Speaking of which, the three of them were just nobodies in the court back then, and even Li Hongyu, the champion who won the Tieling victory, had no say in the court because of his shallow qualifications.

But now it is different, Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin are already important ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and Wei Zhongxian, who is in charge of the ceremonial supervisor, has risen rapidly, and now he has become the leader of those who oppose the Donglin Party officials in the court, which is really emotional, which was unimaginable a few years ago.

"Young master, scholar, the two adults are the emperor's most important humerus ministers, the two adults are in a much more comfortable mood as soon as they arrive at the emperor, and their appetite is better than before, and the miscellaneous family is really envious of the emperor's kindness to the two adults."

When he arrived at Wenyuan Pavilion, Wei Zhongxian first laughed, then bowed to Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin, and said with a smile, "Two adults, it's late, and the miscellaneous family won't disturb the two adults to rest." ”

"Mr. Wei is good to go." Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin bowed their hands to Wei Zhongxian when they heard this, as a return of the courtesy.

"Alas!"

After Wei Zhongxian left surrounded by a group of chamberlains, Li Hongyu couldn't help but sigh when he looked at his back, and then whispered to Zhao Xin on the side with a helpless expression, "The emperor has decided to deal with Donglin's people, plus to increase taxes, it seems that there will be a powerful eunuch above the court!" ”

"Eunuch?"

Zhao Xin was slightly stunned when he heard this, he didn't expect Li Hongyu to have such emotion, you must know that since Emperor Jiajing, the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty have all been holding their tails and behaving people, and they have been pressed by the civil official group, and there has been no eunuch who can be called a "powerful eunuch" for a long time.

Then, Zhao Xin looked at Wei Zhongxian's back in the distance, and a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes, knowing that the eunuch Li Hongyu was talking about was Wei Zhongxian.

Obviously, the Emperor of the Apocalypse needed to suppress the civil officials in order to deal with the Donglin Party and control the civilian clique, which made Wei Zhongxian stand out.

Wei Zhongxian is the most trusted chamberlain of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and he is also the out-and-out person of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and he is the domestic slave of the royal family, so he will naturally be entrusted by the Emperor of the Apocalypse and become the spokesperson of the Emperor of the Apocalypse in the imperial court.

Of course, Zhao Xin knew that Li Hongyu would definitely not worry about Wei Zhongxian's loyalty to the Emperor of the Apocalypse, if there was no Emperor of the Apocalypse, Wei Zhongxian would be nothing, what he was worried about was that once Wei Zhongxian rose up, he would definitely become domineering and arrogant, and it was inevitable that he would have some selfishness.

In this way, the court situation will definitely be affected by this, God knows what will happen, and there will definitely be another scene of black smoke and miasma in the court at that time.

Although Li Hongyu can't judge Wei Zhongxian's merits and demerits to the Ming Dynasty now, after all, he still doesn't know what Wei Zhongxian did in the Tianqi Dynasty, but one thing is certain, that is, Wei Zhongxian has definitely become the biggest eunuch in the Tianqi Dynasty.

(End of chapter)