After thinking about it all night, whether Zhu Guozhi should hide it from Wu Sangui and Wu Lao Hanjian about the matter of Zhu Guozhi asking him about the tax quota of Eight Banners Fushou Cream, Lu Fatzi, who has always been determined, finally changed his original intention after careful consideration. Because not to mention anything else, just Zhu Guozhi's virtue of daring to sell even the old lady's belly pocket as long as he has silver, makes Lu Fatzi absolutely not at ease - Wu Sangui is not stupid, in case Zhu Guozhi really invested in the Pingxi Mansion or betrayed himself under Wu Laohan's money offensive that day, and shook this matter in front of Wu Sangui, then Lu Fatzi's vicious intentions of deliberately concealing this matter to force Wu Sangui to oppose him will be exposed in front of Wu Laohanan?

However, the decision not to hide this matter from Wu Laohan does not mean that Lu Fatzi has given up his plan to use the Eight Banners Fushou Paste to tax Wu Laohan, but Lu Fatzi has figured out a more insidious and vicious trick in combination with various situations, although the effect is still unknown, but Lu Fatzi feels that it is more effective than the plan he prepared before.

This plan originated from a story that Lu Fatzi accidentally remembered, there was a monkey keeper in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, because he was shy in his pocket, he could only give each monkey seven chestnuts a day, and he said to the monkeys at first, three chestnuts in the morning and four chestnuts in the evening, the monkeys were very unhappy and strongly opposed, and later the monkey keeper said, four chestnuts in the morning, three chestnuts in the evening, and the monkeys turned their anger into joy and obeyed the monkey keeper.

The number of chestnuts has not changed, but the distribution method has changed, and the monkeys are satisfied and happy, specifically because the monkeys are too stupid or because of something, Lu Fatzi does not intend to delve into it, Lu Fatzi just has such an idea - if Gan Wenkun and Zhu Guozhi, the local officials who are responsible for negotiating the tax amount, first set a tax amount for Wu Sangui's Eight Banners Fushou that Wu Sangui is very satisfied and satisfied, and then Xiao Mazi suddenly overturned this decision, withdrew the right to rule on taxes, and set a new high tax amount for Wu Sangui. So, in this case, what will Wu Sangui and his jackals, tigers and leopards think?

At that time, even if Xiao Mazi gave the Eight Banners Fushou a reasonable amount of taxes, it would be acceptable to Wu Lao Han Zhan if he proposed it at the beginning, but Xiao Mazi changed his order and broke his trust first, Wu Lao Han Zhan and his jackals, tigers and leopards were happy and then angry, and what action would they take when they were disappointed? Will it detonate the First Opium War two hundred years earlier?

Thinking about it, Lu Fatzi immediately put on his clothes and got up, went to the Qujing County Ya overnight, and took Chen Dou, the current Qujing County Commander who Wu Sangui sent to monitor him but was basically on his side, from the bed, and talked with him for half the night, and when it was just dawn the next day, a snow-white carrier pigeon rose from the backyard of the Qujing County Ya, spread its wings and soared in the early morning light, and went to the direction of Kunming in the south.

Of course, the speed of the carrier pigeon is much faster than that of the war horse, and it was only at noon that day, the news that Lu Fatzi and Chen Dou jointly reported had been sent to Wu Sangui and Wu Lao Han Jian, after reading this report, Wu Lao Han Jian was overjoyed, and slapped his palm on the silver case in front of him, and said happily: "Okay, it turns out that the imperial court is not sure how much tax should be levied on the Eight Banners Fushou Cream, and handed over the power to determine the tax amount to Gan Wenkun and Zhu Guozhi, and now things are easy to do." ”

"Father-in-law, is there such a good thing?" Hu Guozhu, Xia Guoxiang and the others were also overjoyed, and hurriedly asked together: "Father-in-law, is Yifeng's news reliable?" Is it hearsay, or is it accurate news? ”

"Absolutely reliable, this news was told to Yifeng by Zhu Baidi himself." Wu Sangui said happily: "Yifeng gave him five thousand taels of silver as soon as they met, and promised to give him so much every year, this straw bag regarded Yifeng as a confidant, and even asked Yifeng for advice, asking Yifeng how much tax he thought was more appropriate for Eight Banners Fushou Cream." ”

"Great, it's pie in the sky." Hu Guozhu likes to call - although Hu Guozhu is not as weak as his father-in-law Wu Lao Hanjian, but he can use a little silver to send the mite Qing court to avoid the great thing of the contradiction from completely intensifying, Hu Guozhu is still very happy to accept.

At that moment, Hu Guozhu hurriedly suggested: "Father-in-law, the little son-in-law suggests, let's hurry up and make arrangements, prepare more silver to send Zhu Baidi, and let him set the tax on the Eight Banners Fushou Paste as low as possible." There is also a peak, which should also say that the fixed amount of taxation is less, and it must cooperate with us. ”

"Very well, you can arrange everything." Wu Lao Hanjian still had great trust in his eldest son-in-law Hu Guozhu, and threw Hu Guozhu at the top of the most important financial revenue of the Pingxi Palace. At the end, Wu Lao Han Jian asked again: "Then do you think it is better to let Yifeng answer Zhu Baidi in any way, and suggest that Zhu Baidi set the tax on the Eight Banners Fushou Paste at how much?" ”

"Needless to say, of course, one or two eight flags of Fushou paste only levy one cent of silver!" Xia Guoxiang was the first to exhale. Then Wu Yingqi shouted, "It's too high, it's too high, in my opinion, the two two eight banners of Fushou paste only levy one cent of silver, which is more than enough." ”

"It's a beautiful idea." Wu Sangui scolded with a smile, "The two-two-eight-banner Fushou paste only levies one cent of silver, you are stupid when the imperial court and the Mazi Emperor Yanjing are stupid, and you will agree to it in one bite?" Guozhu, how do you think Yifeng should answer? ”

"Father-in-law, Yifeng's identity is special, and Emperor Mazi still thinks that Yifeng is loyal to him, which is a favorable advantage, and we can't give it up easily." Hu Guozhu groaned: "So the son-in-law thinks that we can't let Yifeng report too low, causing the court to be suspicious of him again, and we should let him report our bottom limit to Zhu Baidi, and levy one penny and two cents of tax silver for every two or eight banners of Fushou ointment, so that Yifeng can explain to the court, and we can also achieve the effect of ensuring peace and winning, and try to minimize losses on the basis of the minimum bottom limit." ”

Wu Lao Hanjian thought for a moment, and quickly nodded and said: "Very good, I'll leave it all to you, by the way, tell Yifeng, let him make time to go back to Kunming as soon as possible, Gu has a lot of important things to discuss with him, and the things promised to him last time should also be done in time." Also, ask him to take time to study the situation in Yunnan and Guizhou again, and see if he can also find a big silver mine. ”

With this crucial news reported by Lu Fatzi, the people of Pingxi Wangfu were reassured, and Zhu Guozhi, who had eaten enough in Qujing, had just returned to Kunming, and was immediately invited by Hu Guozhu to Wuhua Mountain to stuff silver and send beauties, until the surprised Zhu Guozhi mung bean was dazzled, Hu Guozhu showed Zhu Guozhi, saying that he had received the news from the capital, and broke that Xiao Mazi had delegated the power of the Eight Banners Fushou Paste Tax Quota Ruling to Gan Wenkun and Zhu Guozhi. Zhu Guozhi was asked to open up the net and make concessions on the issue of taxation of Eight Banners Fushou Cream.

If you want to say that our Zhu Guozhi Zhu Baidi Zhu Zhongcheng, he can't find a shining point in his whole body with a lantern, in front of the silver as high as the mountain and the beauties who are more delicate than flowers, he naturally immediately threw the teachings of the saints of the Qing Dynasty back into the belly of the old lady, only a few words of politeness with Hu Guozhu, and immediately agreed to Hu Guozhu's request, and tried his best to persuade Gan Wenkun to accept his suggestion, and set the tax amount of the Eight Banners Fushou Paste at eight points of silver for every two Eight Banners Fushou Cream!

In addition, Hu Guozhu also secretly promised Zhu Guozhi that as long as the taxation of every two eight banners of Fushou paste is controlled within one penny and one cent of silver, then in addition to those handed over to the imperial court, the Pingxi Royal Mansion will take out four cents of silver for every two eight banners of Fushou paste and reward it to Zhu Zhongcheng! One or two Eight Banners Fushou Paste Zhu Zhongcheng received four cents of silver, which sounds like a little, but when converted to the total output of Yunnan Eight Banners Fushou Paste, it is not a small amount, but our Zhu Zhongcheng has always been famous for being big, and after some bargaining with Hu Guozhu, he finally changed the price to six points!

With the silver to be fished, Zhu Zhongcheng was naturally full of enthusiasm and busy, and personally went to Guiyang to meet Gan Wenkun, and tried every means to persuade Gan Wenkun to agree to the plan of levying eight points of silver for every two blessings of longevity, and although Gan Wenkun knew that this amount was too low, he couldn't stand Zhu Zhongcheng's bitter persuasion, and he couldn't stand the money offensive of Pingxi Wangfu - Gan Wenkun himself didn't accept the money, but his son Gan Guocheng and his henchman brother Gan Wenjiong collected it, and as a result, after an extremely nervous verbal war and secret transaction, Governor Gan finally made a concession and decided to levy a tax increase of one penny of silver for every two eight banners of Fushou ointment———— the price paid by the Pingxi Royal Mansion was naturally Gan Wenjiong and Gan Guocheng also participated in the sharing.

After the promulgation of the official document jointly signed by Gan Wenkun and Zhu Guozhi, the people in the Pingxi Royal Mansion naturally laughed so much that they couldn't even close their mouths - the tax of only one penny of silver was levied for every two or eight banners of Fushou ointment, which was as low as grandma's house compared to the profit of more than two taels of silver for every two or eight banners of Fushou ointment. Therefore, on the second day of the promulgation of the official document on the tax quota, the Pingxi royal palace sent a lot of tax silver to the Yunnan governor's yamen, and got the receipt issued by the Yunnan governor's yamen. At the same time, Lu Fatzi also officially posted a notice to collect taxes on the Eight Banners Fushou Paste from the people of Qujing.

………………

Just when Qujing Mansion began to levy taxes on the cultivation of Eight Banners Fushou Cream, Lu Pang impeached Zhu Guozhi for being greedy and humble to Wu Sangui, and also reported it to Xiao Mazi through the secret channel of Suo Etu. Although there is not a single word on this secret fold that mentions the taxation of the Eight Banners Fushou Cream, after reading this secret fold, Xiao Mazi still patted the forehead on his face, and cried bitterly: "Mistake, mistake, how can I forget the virtue of Zhu Guozhi, a slave (Zhu Guozhi is a banner man)?" also delegated the power to determine the tax amount of the Eight Banners Fushou Paste into the hands of this slave and Gan Wenkun? ”

"Back to the emperor, in fact, when Scholar Xiong suggested that Zhu Guozhi be put in Yunnan as governor, the slave felt that it was very inappropriate." Suo Etu said respectfully: "This person has a very bad reputation, as early as when he was the governor of Jiangsu, he was already named Zhu Baidi because of his excessive greed, and he was demoted by Ao Zhongtang by five levels, such a person, even Ao Bai looked down on ......." ”

Speaking of this, Suo Etu didn't dare to continue, because Suo Etu suddenly remembered that it was true that Xiong Cixu recommended Zhu Guozhi at the beginning, but he really made up his mind and used Zhu Guozhi under the pressure of the Aobai party, and it was always Xiao Mazi himself - this would say that Zhu Guozhi was not the material to be the governor of Yunnan, not to slap Xiao Mazi in the face?

Fortunately, Xiao Mazi was not in the mood to pay attention to Suo Etu's gaffe, but calculated and analyzed it on his forehead, and after thinking about it for a long time, Xiao Mazi stood up violently and ordered: "Draft, 600 miles of expedited delivery to Yunnan, order Gan Wenkun and Zhu Guozhi to stop ruling the tax amount of Eight Banners Fushou Plaster, and wait for the imperial court to send another Qin to Yunnan to investigate and adjudicate." ”

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's too late, right?" Mingzhu said worriedly: "It's already September, and all the Eight Banners Fushou Paste in Yunnan have been harvested and put into the warehouse, Gan Wenkun and Zhu Guozhi should also rule on the tax amount and start collecting it, and wait for the will to be sent from the capital to Yunnan, I'm afraid that it will be too late." If this tax has been adjudicated and collected, then the emperor is not satisfied and asks for an increase, how will the Pingxi Royal Mansion react? ”

Xiao Mazi was speechless, slapped the dragon case hard, and said helplessly: "Could it be that you have to wait until next year to weaken Wu Sangui's old thing?" ”

"The Empress Dowager has arrived." At this time, the voice of the eunuch sounded behind the palace of Yangxin, and when Suo Etu and Mingzhu hurriedly knelt down on their knees, the old witch of Xiaozhuang was really supported by Su Malagu and Li Yinzhen, and moved from the apse to the front hall, Xiao Mazi also hurriedly went up to salute, Xiaozhuang smiled and waved his hand, and said kindly: "Grandson, grandmother came to you today to ask how the tax of Eight Banners Fushou Paste is?" Last time, my grandmother asked you to make an order to delegate the power to rule on the taxation of the Eight Banners Fushou Paste to Yungui, and now there should be an echo, right? ”

"Let Gan Wenkun and Zhu Guozhi decide the tax amount of the Eight Banners Fushou Anointment, since it is a decision made by the Empress Dowager Lafayette?" Mingzhu and Suo Etu were both in the same place, and they couldn't help but glance at each other, and said together: "How can such a shrewd person as Lafayette be so confused?" ”

"Back to my grandmother, the road is far away, and there is no news yet." Xiao Mazi smiled bitterly, handed over Lu Fatzi's fold, and said: "But before this, Sun Er received Lu Yifeng's impeachment of Zhu Guozhi's secret fold, it seems that they are expected to rule on the issue of the taxation of Eight Banners Fushou Cream, which is not optimistic?" ”

"Really? Let the mourners see. Xiaozhuang remained silent, took the secret fold of Lu Fatzi and sat down, unfolded it and looked at it carefully. After reading it, Xiaozhuang sighed and said, "Sure enough, as expected, Zhu Guozhi, a minion, is really unreliable." However, Lu Yifeng, a minion, was a little out of the mourning family's expectations, it seems that after the incident in Guangxi, this minion has matured a lot and knows that Taoguang is obscure. ”

"Why does grandmother have such a high opinion of Lu Aiqing?" Xiao Mazi asked curiously.

"Hasn't the emperor seen it yet?" Su Malagu interjected: "Lu Yifeng chose to impeach Zhu Guozhi at this time for being greedy and humble to Wu Sangui, but in fact, he changed his way to express his worries about the Eight Banners Fushou Anointing Tax. He was afraid that Zhu Guozhi would be bribed by Wu Sangui and betray the country to seek wealth in the matter of fixed taxes, and there was no evidence to prove it directly, so he reminded the emperor of you. ”

"Ah, it turns out that Lu Aiqing has this intention." Xiao Mazi suddenly realized, and said with annoyance: "It would be good if I had put Lu Aiqing back in Yunnan earlier, I have credulously believed in other people's slander and framing of Lu Aiqing, and now I really regret it." ”

"It's okay, that's what the mourning family wants." Xiaozhuang's words were amazing, and he smiled very mysteriously, as if Zhu Guozhi's plan to sell Xiao Mazi's interests was what Xiaozhuang really wanted.

"Grandmother, what do you mean by that?" Xiao Mazi was taken aback.

The old witch of Xiaozhuang shook her head, and asked slowly: "I'll tell you about this matter slowly later, Your Majesty, judging from Lu Yifeng's impeachment, Zhu Guozhi, a minion, will be bought by Wu Sangui, deliberately setting the Eight Banners Fushou Paste as a low tax, damaging the public and private, how does the emperor plan to deal with it?" ”

"Back to my grandmother, my grandson originally planned to use 600 li to expedite the decree to take back the tax determination power of the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and send a messenger to Yunnan to investigate on the spot and determine the amount of taxes." Xiao Mazi replied embarrassedly: "But Mingzhu reminded me again, saying that it is already September, and the tax quota of the Eight Banners Fushou Paste has already been ruled and collected, and now this power is withdrawn and the previous ruling is overturned, and I am only afraid that it will ......." ”

"Afraid of what?" Xiaozhuang asked rhetorically, "What's so scary?" Could it be that because of fear of angering Wu Sangui, Yunnan and Guizhou simply did not charge a penny in taxes? ”

"Grandmother means, do what the grandson says?" Xiao Mazi asked in surprise.

"Of course." Xiaozhuang said quietly: "The Eight Banners Fushou Paste is so profitable, Wu Sangui has already made a lot of money, and he still takes more than three million taels of military salary from the imperial court every year, shouldn't he hand over some to the imperial court?" Do you really want us to let the Qing Dynasty court and the Forbidden City Palace and the palace pull their belts together, and let Wu Sangui eat and drink spicy food alone? ”

After that, the old witch of Xiaozhuang beckoned Aunt Su Mala to pick herself up, and commanded without saying anything: "Grandson, it's so decided, you make an order according to your own decision, if something happens, you will have a mourning family to deal with the aftermath for you." If there is progress in this matter, report it to the mourning family immediately. ”

Although Xiao Mazi is getting older and more powerful, he still respects and obeys the old witch of Xiaozhuang, and sees that the old witch of Xiaozhuang is confident, and seems to have a chance of winning, so he no longer insists, and immediately bows and replied: "Please rest assured, my grandson will immediately make an order to take back the right to set taxes for the Eight Banners Fushou Ointment, and send another Qin to rule on the tax." ”

"You don't have to send it." Xiaozhuang suddenly changed his mind again, and said arbitrarily: "Eight Banners Fushou Paste is Wu Sangui's biggest cash cow, no matter who is sent to adjudicate the tax amount of Eight Banners Fushou Cream, Wu Sangui will inevitably buy and win over at any cost, try to reduce the tax amount, and damage the country and private interests." Therefore, there is no need to send the Qincha, just let the Yungui Governor truthfully report the output and profits of the Eight Banners Fushou Cream, and the imperial court will decide how much tax should be charged. ”

Xiao Mazi was stunned for a moment, then bowed and agreed, Xiaozhuang pointed to Mingzhu and Suo Etu who were kneeling on the ground and ordered: "You all remember that the words of the mourning family and the emperor today are not allowed to leak out, especially Aobai, do not let him hear the slightest rumor, the mourning family has its own opinions." ”

………………

Almost at the same time in Qujing City, after listening to Chen Dou's tax increase and collection of Eight Banners Fushou Paste in Qujing County, Lu Fatzi couldn't help but smile and asked: "It's so smooth, among the people who grow Eight Banners Fushou Cream, none of them resist taxes?" ”

"It's simple, because the tax is too light." Chen Dou rarely showed a smile and replied: "The official purchase price of Eight Banners Fushou Paste is four dollars and one tael, and the private purchase price is more than six yuan. ”

"Heh, the common people are happy, but I believe that our pockmarked emperor has to tilt his nose when he sees this tax amount." Lu Fatzi laughed and said: "I bet that after our Mazi Emperor knew about this, he would definitely even have the heart to tear Zhu Guozhi apart, and regret how he handed over this tax right to Zhu Guozhi, an old white pig, ......." ”

"Huh?" Laughing at this, Fat Lu suddenly couldn't stop laughing, and exclaimed, "No, why didn't I think of this before?" ”

"Futai-sama didn't think of that before?" Chen Dou asked suspiciously.

"What I didn't expect was why the imperial court would hand over such an important matter to the local governor?" Lu Fatzi said nervously: "Although there are some special taxes and tax increases, there is a precedent for the local governor to determine the tax amount according to the actual situation, but such a large tax source of the Eight Banners Fushou Paste is related to the imperial court's strategy to weaken and restrain the prince, why did it be delegated to the local government, so that Gan Wenkun and Zhu Guozhi can rule according to the actual situation?" ”

"Didn't Zhu Guozhi say that because the Eight Banners Fushou Paste is a new thing, the imperial court doesn't know much about it, so he delegated this tax ruling power to the local government." Chen Dou explained.

"That's the most suspicious!" Fat Lu slapped the table, "Now the Eight Banners Fushou Paste Pavilion is everywhere in the capital, how profitable is it, you can grasp it clearly in the capital, and you still need to let the local ruling?" And the most suspicious point is that Zhu Guozhi, the old fat pig, was a well-known corrupt official in the world as early as the Shunzhi period, and even dared to sell his mother's belly pocket for silver, how could the imperial court hand over such a major matter to him with so much silver? Convenient for him to guard and steal himself? ”

"yes, that's weird." Chen Dou also came back to his senses and muttered, "Could it be that our Mazi Emperor suddenly made a mistake and took a step to faint?" ”

"Impossible!" Lu Fatzi said categorically: "Even if Xiao Mazi is still young and has not woken up for a while, it is impossible for the Empress Dowager and the two foxes to get out of such a faint chess!" I'm sure there's a bigger conspiracy behind this! ”

"What kind of conspiracy would that be?" Chen Dou hurriedly asked again.

What conspiracy will there be behind it, of course Fat Man Lu will not be able to answer for a while, but after pondering for a long time, Fat Man Lu suddenly showed a look of surprise again, and said, "Could it be that someone in the court has the same idea as us?" All for the same purpose?! ”

(To be continued)