Li Shuchu and Qi Guoyuan sat on the cold bench in the gatehouse for a long time, and when it was dark, a steward finally appeared. He walked into the porter and beckoned to the two of them.

"You're from the Governor's Palace?"

Qi Guoyuan had already sat a little impatient, so he got up directly at this time and said loudly, "That's right, we are the people from the Governor's Palace, and the one in front of you is the current Governor of the Central Plains, Lord Li." ”

The steward froze, and his feet seemed to be nailed to the ground, and he froze there. The door next to him was even more shocked, and Qi Guoyuan snorted, "The shelf of the Kaifeng Zhu family is really big, is this the so-called emaciated camel bigger than a horse?" ”

The steward hurriedly stepped forward, "Are you really the Governor Li?" ”

"Why, do you still want to check the official seal of our governor, or do you want to see the sword of Shang Fang?"

"Don't dare, don't dare. It's all to blame for these guys' lack of eyes, and I hope that adults have a lot of them, so don't care. Please, sir, they've been waiting in the hall for a long time. ”

Li Shuchu patted his shirt, "Please report to the hall, the official will be there soon." ”

"Yes, yes, the little one will report it immediately." As he spoke, he hurriedly walked out.

The porters were already speechless at this time, and they didn't know how to move on the spot. All of them are like mourning exams, they can't imagine that the dignified governor is still playing this game with them, this is really ignorant of Mount Tai.

The porter was stunned for a while, and finally came back to his senses, and knelt down for Li Shuchu with a plop, slapped himself while kneeling, and pleaded for mercy in his mouth.

Qi Guoyuan couldn't see this kind of dog fighting people's legs, so he waved his hand at the moment, "Don't get out yet, how far and how far you go." ”

Several porters hurriedly retreated at the moment.

On the other side of the hall, Zhu Gongqi heard that the governor Li Shuchu and the chief soldier Qi Guoyuan arrived outside the gate more than an hour earlier, but they were hung in the gatehouse by the gate for half a day. Shocked and angry. While shouting and scolding angrily, he hurriedly called the old and young masters of all the families, and rushed to the gate to greet them.

"Your Excellency, forgive me, I'm sorry for being late."

Li Shuchu just smiled, the Kaifeng Zhu family has a big business, there are many people, there are many people, it is inevitable that there are many fish and dragons, and it is normal to have one or two people who can't do things. “

"Turn back and drive them out of the house."

"That's your own business. I don't care about it, and I don't care. Today, I am going to talk to the old man about a few serious things, it seems that the people from all the rooms and branches of the Zhu family in Kaifeng should be here today, that's just right, don't talk about anything twice, let's talk about it together. ”

After saying that, he strode towards the mansion first. Zhu Gongyu's face became extremely solemn, and he hurriedly followed up. He had a very bad premonition, but he was afraid that it would be difficult to deal with this time.

Entering the hall, Zhu Gongyu immediately arranged for someone to put the best tea and snacks on the table. Li Qi and the others were invited to take a seat, and they were accompanied by themselves, while the other branches of the Zhu family sat in the back.

Li Shuchu sat down and took a good time.

But the room was no longer as hot as before. There was only deathly silence. Li Shuchu sat on the cold bench in the gatehouse for more than an hour, but he was afraid that the person who came was not good, and it was estimated that he was even more angry at this moment.

The Zhu family was a little nervous.

Li Shuchu glanced at everyone. first coughed, and then opened his mouth, "Two days ago, thanks to Zhu Gongzi personally to the barracks, the Kaifeng Zhu family is full of loyalty to the imperial court, we have received 2.5 million silver dollars, thank you very much Zhu for our strong support to the military and political circles in the Central Plains. ”

"Second, there are still some important things that I have to discuss with the Zhu family in person."

Zhu Gongyu hurriedly said, "If there is anything, the governor will directly send someone to inform him, and the old man will definitely rush to meet him immediately." ”

Li Shuchu laughed a few times, "I heard that in the past, the commercial taxes in Kaifeng were collected by the Kaifeng Zhu family, and the collected commercial taxes were also owned by the Kaifeng Zhu family, right?" ”

"At the time of the previous dynasty, it was true, when Emperor Hongwu gave Kaifeng commercial tax to my Kaifeng Zhu family. However, now that it is a new dynasty, Kaifeng's commercial tax should naturally be attributed to the imperial court and to today's saint, and my Kaifeng Zhu family will never dare to touch half a cent. Zhu Gongyu wiped his forehead and said.

"Mr. Zhu has this awareness, which is very good. The governor also thanked Mr. Zhu for his support to the imperial court and the yamen, and in the future, the commercial tax of Kaifeng will be specially responsible for the tax agency of the imperial court, and the Zhu family will no longer be troubled. ”

"Yes, yes."

"In addition, according to the emperor's will, it is forbidden to set up private checkpoints in the future to exploit business travelers. The imperial court will have strict restrictions on the establishment of customs and river gates, non-imperial court checkpoints, private checkpoints will be a felony, I know that the original Kaifeng Zhu family also has a lot of checkpoint fees, and even set up a lot of taxes and fees in the market, in the future, all this has to stop abolishing. ”

Zhu Gongyu didn't dare to hesitate at all, and nodded again and again.

"Yes, yes."

Li Shuchu nodded with satisfaction, took the teacup in front of him, picked up the tea lid and gently skimmed off the foam in the teacup, and took a sip in front of him.

"The tea is good."

"The products produced in Yunnan are all buds picked from more than 300-year-old tea trees, and the exclusive tea-making technology is adopted. If the governor likes it, the old man will let people wrap a few catties for the adult. ”

"Such good tea must not be cheap, I don't dare to accept such a heavy gift, for the official to govern, when the party is subdued, honest and fair, as a governor, how can I destroy the court system." Li Shuchu smiled.

"Speaking of commercial taxes, there is one more thing that I have to inform the old man, it turns out that the official store set up by the imperial court in Kaifeng will be officially handed over to the imperial court by the Zhu family."

Zhu Gongyu was stunned.

The official store, in fact, is somewhat similar to the imperial store, except that one is the emperor's private property and the other is the official property. In many cases, the official store is not only a commercial institution, but also a tax agency, the official store is also responsible for the collection of commercial taxes, and the official store is mostly set up in the prosperous commercial town, and the scale is large.

For example, in Kaifeng's official store, there are thousands of new and old shops, some of which are purchased by the government, and some are confiscated from the real estate of the government and the people. With its special status, the official stores operate the most profitable business.

However, the official shops were often begged by the clans, and a large number of them were rewarded to the clans.

For example, the official stores in Kaifeng have fallen into the hands of the Zhu family in Kaifeng over the years. Today, there are thousands of existing official stores in Kaifeng, but in fact, the number of official stores occupied by Kaifeng Zhou Wang Yisu over the years is several times that of the existing ones.

And the official shops that Li Shuchu said were collected into the imperial court, of course, not only those normal official stores, but also the official shops that were begged and rewarded to the Zhou Wang's family over the years.

"All the official stores have been handed over to the imperial court, and the operating profits produced by the official stores since the first month of the first year of the Longhan Dynasty have to be handed over, along with the inventory goods and receivables of each store, and nothing is missing."

This is already going to dig the meat of the Zhu family, and Zhu Gongyu's face became ugly.

"Governor, Your Majesty's edict to the world to give preferential treatment to my former Ming clan, you don't agree with Your Majesty's edict." Zhu Gongyu said boldly.

Qi Guoyuan sneered twice on the side, "You can still enjoy this beautiful house, fine clothes and jade food now, isn't it a preferential treatment?" Old man, I, Qi Guoyuan, am just a martial artist, but I also know a sentence, people respect you for a foot, and you should pay it back. Since Your Majesty is so kind, the more you should cherish it, and not take an inch. ”

Being stared at by Qi Guoyuan's one-eyed, Zhu Gongyu's heart was cold, and finally he had to grit his teeth and say, "Thank you for Qi Zongzhen's guidance, the old man will take stock of all the official stores when he turns around, and then hand them over to the court truthfully." ”

"Very good, one more thing to add. Salt, tea, tobacco and liquor, these items are all monopolies of the imperial court, and other merchants can only wholesale and retail from the franchise stores of the imperial court, and must be sold at the price set by the imperial court. ”

"Understood."

"Come on, then there's one last thing left." Li Shuchu clapped his palms, "Reduce rent and interest." The land rent shall not exceed 30% of the land and the land shall not exceed 1/2 cents, and the interest shall not exceed 1/2 cents, and the maximum shall not exceed one time of the principal. ”

Zhu Gongqi gritted his teeth and nodded, "There is no problem, we will definitely follow the will of the imperial court." ”

"This governor believes that Old Man Zhu, General Qi, you will transfer a group of troops to help the Zhu family in Kaifeng to re-clear the fields, and I will send another official to help re-register the property rights of the fields. At that time, I hope that the old man can support and take the initiative to prepare the property rights deeds of all the fields. ”

Zhu Gongqi felt bad in his heart.

"What is this going to do?"

"Oh, actually, it's nothing." Li Shuchu smiled slightly, "This is just according to His Majesty's will, to carry out a social census across the country, including household counting, clearing acres of land, commercial census and so on." The main thing is to check the details of all parts of the country, so that we can know the truth about the various parts of our Han Empire. ”

"In addition, the future tax will be levied according to the new and good acres of land. Oh, there is another thing I forgot to tell the old man, in the future, the officials and gentry will pay food and errands, whether it is the emperor's relatives or the hundred officials of the imperial court or the clans of the previous dynasty, and even the local scholars, they will no longer have preferential and exempt privileges. There are as many fields as there are taxes. The governor heard that the Zhou family in Kaifeng had millions of acres of fertile land, and it seemed that they were big taxpayers in Kaifeng in the future. ”

Zhu Gongfang was like being struck by lightning, if the business tax, customs fees and official stores can be let out, but this land is the root of life. The Zhu family in Kaifeng has millions of acres of land, and they have never paid grain in the past. Now not only are the previous benefits gone, the rewards are gone, the privilege of setting up cards and charging fees in commercial and tax official stores is gone, the privilege of selling salt and tea is gone, and now even the privilege of land concessions is gone.

Thinking about it, Zhu Gongyu trembled in distress.

"Old man, you must prepare the property rights deed documents of the real estate, and after the acres of land are cleared, if the Zhu family can't show the property rights documents of all the real estate, then those fields will have to be taken back to the official ownership."

Li Shuchu gave Zhu Gongqi another heavy blow, but Zhu Gongqi finally couldn't bear it, his body shook, and he fainted to the ground. (To be continued.) )