Zhu Youxiao stayed in the courtyard for a long time before he came to the main room and looked around.

In the middle of the room is the bright room, and the two sides are the pins. The bright room is set up against the north wall, there is a small coffee table, a blue and white fixed vase full of bright red peonies is inserted on the top, and a longitudinal axis landscape map is hung on the back wall, and there is a couplet next to it, "cool borrow the breeze and borrow the moon, and watch the flowing water quietly watch the mountain".

Zhu Youxiao did not know that this couplet was Wen Zhengming for the Humble Administrator's Garden Wuzhu Secluded Pavilion title, only knew that its artistic conception was far-reaching, from the handwriting and penmanship of the old Cheng can be concluded that it should not come from the hand of Ren Rongrong, see that its inscription has the word "Cijing", only suddenly.

Push open the east tip room, there is an unknown flower fragrance floating, standing at the door can be seen that there is a bed in the south of the face, covered with light yarn, there are a few in front of the bed; There is a small cabinet against the east wall, and the door is locked. The room is clean and elegant, and you don't have to guess to know that it is a women's boudoir.

Zhu Youxiao closed the door and turned around and was about to go to the west to find out, but saw Ren Rongrong standing at the door, her cheeks flushed, and her appearance of wanting to speak made Zhu Youxiao feel pity.

"Okay?" Zhu Youxiao regarded Ren Rongrong as a bag, and he didn't have the shame of voyeurism at all, but asked in a complaining tone.

Ren Rongrong secretly scolded 'Deng's disciple' in her heart, and replied after saying Wanfu, "The meals have been sent to the West Chamber, please ask the emperor to move?" ”

Zhu Youxiao had long wanted to sacrifice to the Five Organs Temple, so he unceremoniously took the lead.

Ren Rongrong hurriedly followed, and when she arrived in the west wing, she was like a eunuch in the palace, carrying water and cleaning her hands, serving towels, and helping with vegetables, and she was very busy.

Zhu Youxiao sat facing the door, and on the table in front of him, in addition to longevity noodles, there were more than ten dishes of various dishes, including anchovy tofu, chicken sauce and sea cucumber, white sliced meat, fried chicken slices, etc.

"You can sit down and use it with me."

"There's still a back kitchen, people...... Rong Rong didn't dare to sit at the same table with the emperor. ”

"It's not in the palace, it's not as particular as that, it's strange and lonely to eat alone, and I have no appetite."

Ren Rongrong didn't understand what the Son of Heaven meant by the so-called 'coldness', and quickly explained, "Rongrong is waiting by the side." ”

"Huh..."Zhu Youxiao took a breath, very dissatisfied, "Do you want to resist the decree or disdain?" ”

Bang bang, Ren Rongrong ran out again, and Zhu Youxiao shouted from behind, "Hey, why are you going......"

When Ren Rongrong returned again, Zhu Youzheng was snorting and eating longevity noodles with side dishes, she carefully moved a small stool, and the jade buttocks only sat halfway, "Your Majesty, this sea cucumber was simmered yesterday, and the preparation method is to slice the mushrooms and fungus with chicken juice. ”

Zhu Youxiao rolled his eyes at Ren Rongrong with his head sideways, and continued to suck a two-foot-long Shou Mian into his mouth according to the original custom, and after chewing it into his stomach, he asked, "You made Shou Mian?" ”

"Ah, but not to your liking?" Ren Rongrong got up suddenly, "I'll go redo it." ”

"Sit down...... Not bad, but there's one thing missing - chili? ”

"If you want pepper or pepper, I'll take it."

"It's a chili pepper, spicy and red, with white seeds." Zhu Youxiao had never seen chili peppers in the palace before, and he didn't care about it all the time, but now he remembered it when he was eating shou noodles.

"Ah, I see. The emperor is talking about peppers, Rong Rong heard from the southern merchants, is it a cluster, white flowers, similar to a bald pen. ”

Zhu Youxiao thought about it, "Is there any?" ”

"Not now, even if pepper is not much left in Jingshi." Ren Rongrong looked at Zhu Youxiao like a resentful woman.

"Why don't you have pepper, I also drank a soup with pepper two days ago, tell me what's going on?"

Ren Rongrong thought to herself, 'You are the emperor, naturally you don't lack anything', "The emperor ordered Baohe Liudian last month to purchase military supplies and send them to Liaodong, including pepper." ”

Zhu Youxiao put down his chopsticks and thought about it, he had indeed asked Baohe and other imperial stores to purchase cotton, soju and other things as military supplies to keep out the cold, but he didn't notice that there was pepper, and said with a smile, "If you don't have it, there will be no such thing, there is no shortage of coal and other things in the capital to keep out the cold." ”

"Yes......" Ren Rongrong opened her mouth, and finally didn't say anything, just sighed.

Zhu Youxiao is not good at guessing the girl's thoughts, and he is extremely unhappy with her appearance of wanting to speak and stopping, frowning, "If you have anything, just say it, don't give me this set." ”

Ren Rongrong saw that the Son of Heaven's face changed like a flip book, so she was so frightened that she threw down her chopsticks and took two steps back, "It's Rong Rong who has broken the emperor's Yaxing, please give the emperor a sin." ”

"Don't be like a mouse sees a cat." Zhu Youxiao realized that this girl may have been wronged, "Someone bullied you? ”

Ren Rongrong raised her head, her face was full of grievances, and she shook her head and nodded, "Rong Rong is afraid that the emperor will blame her for her ineffective work, so she has not dared to face Chen, but Wangfujing will open next month, and her father-in-law is not there, so Rong Rong doesn't know what to do." ”

"Getting to the point."

"Mama Ke and Rong Rong used the silver given by the emperor to buy some goods from merchants from all over the country, and Baoyuan Store held the emperor's edict to forcibly let the goods be stored in the collapsed house on Rong Government Street, because of the large number of goods, a total of 17 rooms were occupied, and each room had to pay 60 taels of collapse tax per month......

Through Ren Rongrong's narration, Zhu Youxiao understood how Baohe and other six stores operated.

As the name suggests, Baohe and other shops are the emperor's private shops, but these shops are not shops in the usual sense, and their opening can be traced back to the ninth year of Zhengde (1514), and the main activity is to collect commercial taxes.

In addition to the Rong government and Jiumen in Beijing, there are Shanhaiguan, Guangning, Liaoyang, Datong, Xuanfu and Linqing and other banknote customs, the specific number can not be counted, but in the Zhengde years, the annual 'amount of 80,000', its income to the internal money, and the provision that 'there is no longer rent'.

The names of the Huangdian tax include the collapse tax (similar to the rent of a warehouse), the tooth money (transaction tax), and the water conservancy money (usually at the canal banknote, which requires the merchants to pay before they can pass), etc., and is usually opened in the places where merchants must pass through such as 'customs compartments, ferries, bridges, and waters'.

The way of taxation in the imperial store is to 'intercept the goods of the merchants, and order the vehicles to be carried into the store', 'order the scoundrels to dominate the collection of merchants' goods', 'pump firewood and grass, and extort the ferry', and even 'sell small things, all ask for money; Officials' luggage, all of them are suspicious of 'barbaric acts'.

It is impossible to estimate how many of these are real 'imperial stores', but judging from the positive amount of donations and income from the princes from all over the country to build the three major halls, the number should not be much. Most of the 'imperial shops' were opened by internal officials, nobles, and relatives in the name of the emperor. For example, in the early years of Yingzong, 'eunuch monk Bao, Jin Ying, etc., privately created 11 collapsed shops', and his relatives Sun Jizong and Sun Xianzong also privately 'collapsed houses, so that Jia Lu invited merchants to sell salt'.

Not to mention the fake imperial shop, even the real emperor shop levied not all the commercial tax belongs to the emperor, such as Baohe and other six stores 'a year levy about tens of thousands of taels of silver, except for the main item before entering the palace, the rest are put in prison for public use'.

From the above, it can be seen that there are great drawbacks in the establishment of the imperial store, the way of taxation, or the tax income, when the temple Lu Kun once said that the imperial shop 'with the power of Mount Tai to press the egg, the method of exhausting the fish in the secret net, the suffering of the people, no question can be known'. Ren Rongrong did not mention the official store that corresponds to the imperial store and the Xuanjiao Division that has been converted into an official store, but because its income belongs to the imperial court, the behavior is not as flamboyant as the imperial store, so I will not mention it for the time being.

After listening to Ren Rongrong's complaints, Zhu Youxiao thought that at the beginning of the month, he had already handed over the matter of Likeyou to the Ministry for reconsideration of the matter of requesting the suspension of the imperial store, but there was no result, and he didn't know why.

"The six stores are now under the supervision of Admiral Wang Tiqian, didn't you explain it to him?"

"I didn't see him, because the steward below didn't receive the 'edict' and didn't dare to break the rules, but even if they didn't have an edict, they couldn't force taxes like this...... The emperor enjoys the wealth of all directions, so why rely on these small profits. ”

Zhu Youxiao doesn't think that commercial taxes are petty profits, but he also knows that there are huge hidden dangers in this way, and in the long run, civil revolts are inevitable. However, before the new ways to come to the bank, such as supermarkets and pirates, were implemented, if the emperor was to be dismissed and the commercial tax was levied by the civil officials who were not necessarily incorruptible in the imperial court, it would not only reduce the amount of money in the treasury, but would also offend the interests of the officials and relatives.

At present, his throne is not unbreakable, and if he takes too big a step, he will really get to the egg, and the only thing he can do now is to find out how many people are doing evil under the banner of the emperor, and restrain the behavior of the emperor's shop, and not allow another emperor's shop to be added, so as not to intensify the conflict.

Zhu Youxiao hated this feeling of being constrained, but he was helpless, so he couldn't help sighing, "Okay, I know about this matter, go back and ask Wang Tiqian to personally send you the silver." ”