"Your Majesty, now that the Ming Dynasty is peaceful, the country and the people are safe, and the only one who worries the emperor is the war in Liaodong."

Seeing that Emperor Wanli had pardoned him for the crime of vain divine will, Li Hongyu pondered for a while and then looked up at Emperor Wanli, and said solemnly, "The minister previously entrusted the military department to write the "Pingliao Policy" to Lord Wu in the matter, and now the emperor summoned the unknown minister overnight, which must be related to the "Pingliao Policy". ”

""Pingliao Ce" is just an introduction, do you know why I will announce your audience after reading that "Pingliao Ce"?"

Emperor Wanli looked at Li Hongyu quietly when he heard the words and asked, Li Hongyu must have guessed that it was because of "Pingliao Ce" that he would be summoned, but what he wanted to know was whether Li Hongyu knew why he wanted to see Li Hongyu, which was the focus of the matter.

"Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty is the **** country, with millions of people in armor, and the Jurchens are just a small frontier barbarian, living in a corner of the bitter cold land of Liaodong, in the eyes of the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military forces, its rebellion is undoubtedly a moth to the fire, and the official army will be able to return with a big victory this time."

Li Hongyu naturally knew what Emperor Wanli meant, so he stabilized his somewhat excited mind, and said in an orderly voice, "However, the minister's "Ping Liao Policy" is extremely pessimistic about the outcome of the battle of Liaodong, and now that the war is approaching, if it were not for the fact that the minister had donated money to the soldiers of Liaodong, the emperor would definitely punish the minister for disturbing the morale of the army." ”

"Since you know that I have punished you, why do you still want to take this "Pingliao Policy", do you want to be alarmist, and then profit from it?"

Emperor Wanli frowned slightly when he heard this, and then his face sank, and his eyes stared at Li Hongyu like a torch and said, "Do you think that I am so easy to deceive!" ”

Li Hongyu guessed correctly, the reason why Emperor Wanli saw him was related to his donation of property to the soldiers of Liaodong in Jiangkou County, and Emperor Wanli had an impression of Li Hongyu, a patriotic young man who "destroyed his family and relieved difficulties", after all, under the leadership of Li Hongyu, Huguang donated more than 126,000 taels of silver, which really surprised Emperor Wanli.

Moreover, Li Hongyu's sentence "The rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband" has now swept the north and south of the country, how can Emperor Wanli forget?

When Wu Liangsi went on this "Pingliao Policy", Emperor Wanli had no reaction to the last signature of "Huguang Wuwuke Township Trial Solution Yuan Li Hongyu", how could he remember Li Hongyu's name every day.

Emperor Wanli naturally disdained "Pingliao Ce", thinking that Li Hongyu was just grandstanding, and his purpose was naturally to reap political benefits, and what he hated most was the kind of alarmist and opportunistic people.

Originally, Emperor Wanli wanted to teach this Huguang Jieyuan, who didn't know how to hit him with the idea of hitting him, although it would not cost Li Hongyu's life, after all, now that the capital is approaching to try the world's moves, it is not appropriate to use the sword in vain, but it is still easy to find a reason to throw him into prison and ruin his future, and it can be regarded as a lesson for him.

However, when Wu Liangsi revealed Li Hongyu's identity and made Emperor Wanli remember Li Hongyu's past of "destroying his family and relieving difficulties", Emperor Wanli changed his opinion, thinking that Li Hongyu might really care about the situation in Liaodong, otherwise he would have taken out so many former soldiers to aid Liaodong for no reason.

Especially after listening to Wu Liangsi's analysis of Li Hongyu's strength of the Ming army and the Jurchens in Liaodong, Emperor Wanli couldn't help but be a little interested in Li Hongyu, you must know that even the officials of the Ministry of War did not have Li Hongyu's understanding of the situation in Liaodong.

Emperor Wanli originally suspected that Li Hongyu's news about Liaodong was told to him by Wu Liangsi and other members of the Chu Party, and his purpose was naturally to help Li Hongyu rise to the top in his official career, and then strengthen the strength of the Chu Party.

But when Wu Liangsi said that Chen Yu, the magistrate of Jiangkou County, and Jinshi Wanzong, who was born in Liaodong, were friends, Emperor Wanli changed his mind and realized that the reason why Li Hongyu paid attention to Liaodong was influenced by Chen Yu, and Chen Yu was a native of Zhejiang and had nothing to do with the Chu Party.

Therefore, after some deliberation, Emperor Wanli decided to meet Li Hongyu in person, and he wanted to see if Li Hongyu really cared about the war in Liaodong or had other plans.

"The emperor is a saint of the ages, and whether the ministers have selfishness or not cannot escape the emperor's eyes."

In the face of Emperor Wanli's questioning, Li Hongyu did not mean to retreat, raised his head and looked at Emperor Wanli with a serious expression, "Your Majesty, the reason why the ministers are worried about the war in Liaodong is not that they are afraid of the little Jurchens, they are just grasshopper-like existences, and they cannot shake the foundation of my Ming Dynasty." ”

"Your Majesty, what the ministers are worried about is the new Liao salary levied by the imperial court!" Saying that, Li Hongyu hesitated for a moment, and then said worriedly, "The minister really can't understand that the taxes of the Ming Dynasty have always been heavy in the south and light in the north, which is in line with the national conditions of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"You mean, Liao Yu will shake the foundation of my Ming Dynasty?" Emperor Wanli frowned when he heard this, and Li Hongyu was a little dissatisfied with his words and deeds, thinking that Li Hongyu was too alarmist.

"Your Majesty, once the official army is defeated in Liaodong, then the Liao salary will inevitably continue to be levied, unlike the rich south, the people in the north live on the fields, and their lives are already quite difficult, and the Liao salary will make them bear a heavier burden."

Li Hongyu knew that Emperor Wanli thought that he was exaggerating, so now was a critical moment and he must not retreat, so he looked at Emperor Wanli with a serious expression and said, "The minister is worried that if the Jurchens cannot be exterminated, the imperial court will inevitably continue to levy new salaries because of the war in Liaodong, and those with ill intentions will definitely take advantage of the opportunity to make trouble." ”

"You mean that the government is forcing the people to rebel?" How could Emperor Wanli not hear the meaning of Li Hongyu's words, so he asked after sneering.

"The emperor is aware of it, and the ministers have no such intentions." When Li Hongyu heard this, he hurriedly touched his head to the ground and flatly denied it, this kind of thing is okay to say in private, but it must not be mentioned in front of the emperor.

"It seems that you are very dissatisfied with Liaoyu!" Emperor Wanli stared at Li Hongyu, who was kneeling there, for a moment, and then asked in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, the wealth of the southeast is the custom of the northwest Rongma set by Emperor Taizu, and it is the inevitable result of the gap between the rich and the poor in the north and the south.

Li Hongyu raised his head when he heard this, looked at Emperor Wanli with a serious expression and said, "According to the minister's opinion, this move is really unwise!" ”

"The southeast has been heavily assigned for a long time, and if the new salary is levied again, it may lead to boiling public resentment, so it will be divided equally per mu."

Emperor Wanli saw that Li Hongyu was quite dissatisfied with Liao Salary in his words, so he looked at him expressionlessly and said, "The southeast is the important land of the country, and the people cannot be aroused because of Liao Salary. ”

"Your Majesty, the business of the Ming Dynasty is prosperous, and the minister feels that it is better to increase the commercial tax than to levy the land tax, the commercial tax rate of the Ming Dynasty is really too low, and the dividends continue to fall into the pockets of those merchants, it is time to adjust."

Of course, Li Hongyu knew that the reason why the Liaoyu was evenly divided between the north and the south was promoted by those southern officials in the DPRK and China, and the so-called boiling of public resentment was just an excuse, but he couldn't break it, and solemnly put forward a proposal to Emperor Wanli.

"Thirty taxes are the ancestral system set by Emperor Taizu, if I raise the commercial tax rate, wouldn't it be competing with the people for profit?" Emperor Wanli frowned when he heard this, and replied expressionlessly.

The reason why Ming Taizu formulated the ancestral system of 30 taxes and 1 commercial tax, that is, 30 taels of goods to pay 1 tael of tax silver, the tax rate is only 3.33 percent, its original intention is naturally to benefit the people, hoping that the state will collect less taxes so that the people can get greater benefits from it, which is related to Ming Taizu's poor background.

In fact, the reason why the military system of the Ming army was established was that the original intention of Ming Taizu was also to benefit the people, hoping that the military needs of the Ming Dynasty would be solved by the military households themselves to avoid harassing the households.

It's a pity that Ming Taizu didn't know the rules of the business world, the essence of businessmen is to chase profits, so how could they give profits to the people, and also ignored the selfish desires of the military attachés of the Ming Dynasty, and never imagined that the military attachés of the guards would take the opportunity to oppress and enslave the military households, and wantonly annex the land of the military households, so that the system of the guards gradually declined.

The emperors of all dynasties did not like to increase taxes, and they were regarded as commercial taxes that took advantage of the people, so they would be regarded by the outside world as a faint monarch who did not care about the lives of the people.

Moreover, those civil officials in the court will definitely prevent this matter, not to mention that they have a close relationship with local businessmen, and they should oppose the increase in commercial taxes just to enhance the reputation of "caring for the people", which completely ignores the actual situation of the Ming Dynasty, so it is not easy to move the commercial tax.

"Your Majesty, since Emperor Taizu has customized commercial taxes, then the imperial court can start with the tariffs of overseas trade, and Emperor Taizu has not customized overseas tariffs, so he can let the emperor decide."

Li Hongyu knew that Emperor Wanli would not use commercial taxes, after all, the previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty had never had the idea of commercial taxes, so it was difficult for him to set this precedent, so as not to be criticized by the outside world, so he made a suggestion after pondering for a while.

"Overseas tariffs?" Emperor Wanli's eyes suddenly flashed with a look of surprise when he heard this, he never expected Li Hongyu to actually have the idea of overseas trade, and then frowned and asked, "Do you know how many overseas tariffs there are in a year?" ”

"Back to the emperor, the minister doesn't know." Li Hongyu shook his head when he heard this, and replied seriously, this is a confidential matter of the Ming Dynasty, and even if he knows it, he can't say it.

"I can tell you that since I ascended the throne, the maximum amount of overseas tariffs collected in a year is only 35,000 taels, how much do you think I should increase the tax rate?" Emperor Wanli stared at Li Hongyu and asked with a serious expression.

"Three...... Thirty-five thousand taels? ”

Li Hongyu was stunned when he heard this, and a stunned look appeared on his face, he never expected that the customs tariff in the Ming Dynasty was only 35,000 taels a year, which ...... This is simply so funny, it is even inferior to those small overseas countries, and people will not laugh at the big teeth when it comes out.