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Firecrackers crackled at the door of the Sichuan Hall in Yingtian City.

The Sichuan people who were doing business in Yingtianfu were happily crowded in a heap to watch, waiting for the "Six Gentlemen of Sichuan" who had become famous all over the world to return. The hometown affection of this era is a little stronger than that of later generations, especially in Yingtian, where the Cantonese people, Hunan people, Fujian people, and people from Jiangnan and Jiangbei have a good world, but the Sichuan people never have a time to raise their eyebrows.

There were almost no officials from Sichuan in the imperial court, and those merchants who claimed to be extremely rich in Sichuan only found that compared with those huge riches in southeast Fujian and Guangdong who did business with foreigners, they were just some rich people with little money, and no one could afford to look down on them at all! Before the "Six Gentlemen of Sichuan" came to Yingtian, the only thing that made the Sichuan people in the Sichuan Hall proud was that Emperor Zhu sent someone to ask the Sichuan Hall to find a few first-class cooks to serve in the palace - it turned out that Zhu Jishi, who was a Cantonese, also liked to eat Sichuan food.

Now that there is finally a "Sichuan Six Gentlemen", such a Confucian saint, how can he not make the Sichuan villagers gathered in the Sichuan Hall excited? As for the fact that these six people might offend the emperor, they were not too worried. Who doesn't know that the saint of the Tao today is a benevolent monarch? Even the people of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom who fought with him have many official titles and now live in Yingtian (and they didn't all go to the Americas), so how can they not get along with a few scholars who are dedicated to the country?

Bai Enming is also standing at the second gate of the Sichuan Hall now, watching the bustle at the door, listening to people praising how the six gentlemen are in Sichuan dialect. But there was a burst of fear in my heart. He had already read in the newspaper about the seizure of 19 Colt pistols in the Sichuan Gongyuan arrest...... The entourage that Su Shun brought to Sichuan was exactly 18 people. Plus he himself is 19 people. Each has a Colt pistol!

If you go to Sichuan with you, you will probably be arrested too, right?

Su Shun is not afraid, now the Ming Dynasty and the Bohai Kingdom have not completely turned their faces, Su Shun is also theoretically a courtier of the Ming Emperor, and there is nothing wrong with carrying weapons to Sichuan to do business for the superior yamen. As for whether Su Shun colluded with Sichuan scholars, it will be clear after a check, Zhu Jishi is not going to use a Su Shun to beat the Sichuan troublemakers into traitors or something, this guy is not so dirty.

But he is different, no matter how bright and upright Zhu Jishi is, he will not let go of himself! Bai Enming sighed when he thought of this. Ying Tianfu can't stay, if Su Shun and Yuanbao confess themselves, Zhu Jishi won't draw pictures to arrest him? So he has sold the ranch that has not yet opened at a loss, and is ready to run back to Hong Kong with his two wives, and he is ready to go to Nanyang and Australia to develop in the next step, or stay away from Zhu Jishi to be safer!

However, there is one more thing to do before running away, that is, the "Qingliu Daily" that once promised Su Shun. It's not because I still have feelings for the Qing Dynasty, but because I think this is an investment opportunity for fame and fortune. In case "Qingliu Daily" becomes popular, it will also be a protective umbrella for his boss - Emperor Zhu killing a real estate developer is not the same thing as killing a newspaper giant. The former is to pinch an ant to death, and the latter is to poke a hornet's nest.

At this time, a family member who followed Li Zongxi out of Sichuan came to Bai Enming: "Mr. Bai." Our lord asks you to come in and talk. ”

Bai Enming nodded: "It's good, lead the way ahead." ”

He had heard of the name of Li Zongxi, a talented man from Sichuan, a few years ago. However, he did not meet Li Zongxi. When Li Zongxi was a jinshi, he was an official in Guangdong and Shanghai. By the time he arrived in Beijing, Li Zongxi and several other Sichuan Jinshi had already returned to their hometowns to "conduct group exercises," but looking at their current situation, they knew that they had not been able to pull up the armament.

"Boss Bai, right? You may be seated. ”

Li Zongxi looked at the Guangdong businessman in front of him with a little disdain, as a Qingliu who was born on the right path, he always felt superior when facing a businessman. He probably never dreamed that the person in front of him turned out to be the former foreign affairs assistant minister of the Qing Dynasty, a dignified and three-grade official, or a noble Manchurian Zhenghuang Banner person, right?

Bai Enming sat down with a smile, after all these years of changes, he seemed much calmer.

"When are Mr. Li and the other five Shuzhong gentlemen going to leave Yingtian? Bai has already chartered a Western clipper ship, which can take six people to Hong Kong for development. ”

Li Zongxi was stunned: "Why do I want to go to Hong Kong?" ”

Bai Enming smiled: "Of course I went to run a newspaper, Bai is going to invest 300,000 yuan to run a national newspaper, called "Qingliu Daily", and I want to ask Mr. Li to be the editor-in-chief. The headquarters of this newspaper are in Hong Kong. ”

"Why do you put the newspaper on the ground of the British?" Li Zongxi frowned, and his whole body exuded awe-inspiring righteousness.

Bai Enming was amused in his heart, if it was more than righteousness, this Li Zongxi would be worse than Lin Zexu by more than ten streets.

He smiled and said: "Hong Kong is beyond the reach of the emperor, although the emperor is a benevolent monarch, but after all, he is a king!" The king is like a tiger, his heart is unpredictable, and the gentleman should not stand under the dangerous wall. Mr.'s "Please Respect the Famous Religion to Prohibit Heresy and Stop the New Deal and Suspend the Conquest of Annan" Although it is expected, but after all, it offends Long Wei, and now Mr. is at the peak of his fame, and the emperor is not good at targeting Mr., and after a while, Mr. will not be in the limelight, and the power of this king may not be easy to bear, right? Moreover, in Yingtian, in the southeast, and in Zhu Ming's land, there will definitely be no one who dares to invest in running a newspaper for Mr. ”

Li Zongxi was stunned for a moment, and after thinking about it, he felt that Bai Enming's words were reasonable, even if Zhu Jishi was elegant, the merchants and landlords in the southeast would probably not be full enough to provoke the emperor! Now that the emperor has made it clear that he will not be an official for his own people, and he can't pull down his face when he goes back to Sichuan to eat old rice, it seems that he can only go to Hong Kong for a while.

……

"This is the general situation of the land inventory and land registration and declaration of officials in the four provinces of Nanzhili, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Zhejiang, please take a look at it."

Lin Zexu took a four-wheeled Western carriage all the way to the door of the palace where Emperor Zhu worked, and was helped into the main hall by two Japanese Lori female officials, and made it on a Western-style high-backed armchair, and ordered Lin Ruzhou, who was accompanying him, to put a package of documents on the imperial case in front of Emperor Zhu.

Zhu Jishi smiled and said, "Mu Weng is really resolute, but he has done such a big thing in two months." ”

Lin Zexu said: "The emperor praised it, the old man is just smoothing it out, it's not a big deal." ”

"Actually, it's enough to smooth it out." Zhu Jishi smiled and nodded. He had no intention of breaking with the feudal landlord class in China, and he had no way to break with them, so he could only take them step by step into the ditch.

Lin Zexu frowned slightly when he saw Zhu Jishi's expression, how could there be a treacherous smile on this emperor's face when he succeeded? He doesn't seem to have much advantage in this fight with the gentry of the eight southeastern provinces, right?

Zhu Jishi's fingers tapped lightly on the imperial case: "I have an idea, I want to set up a Association for the Promotion of Industry and Commerce, and I want to invite Mu Weng to receive the title of president, is Mu Weng willing to take on this responsibility?" ”

"Chamber for the Promotion of Industry and Commerce?" Lin Zexu is a native of Fujian, and he also has the string of industry and commerce in his head, so he is not disgusted with businessmen, but he does not feel the need to promote it.

"Yes," Zhu Jishi nodded with a smile, "Now that the Ming Dynasty has implemented a tax sharing system, on the surface, it is the tax sharing between the imperial court and the local government, but in fact, it is the division of fat between me and local officials and gentry. The more taxes the local officials collect, the more benefits they have, and even their salaries are directly linked to the amount of local taxes. I believe that the magistrates of the Ming Dynasty must be doing everything possible to collect more taxes, right? This is a good thing and a bad thing, and Mu Weng thinks it's right, right? ”

Lin Zexu nodded silently. Zhu Jishi said: "And there are many ways to overcollect taxes, there are good ways, there are bad ways, and the tax law of tyrannical collection and killing chickens and eggs is a bad law." However, the method of diverting water to raise fish and cultivating industry and commerce is a good way. Nowadays, the tax revenue of the counties of Daming varies greatly, and the rich counties such as Shanghai County, Baoan County, Nanhai County, and Panyu County have developed industry and commerce, and trade is prosperous, and the commercial tax of a county is in the millions. And no matter how the poor county loots, it may not be able to collect 100,000 yuan. It can be seen that if you really want to collect more taxes, you still have to find ways to promote industry and commerce. (To be continued......)