For five days, the number of ships on the wharf of Hangzhou, which had been pandering to and from Hangzhou, was suddenly reduced, because during these five days all ships to and from Hangzhou were intercepted by the fleet that was hovering at the mouth of the sea.

"All ships that come and go, regardless of the amount of cargo, are subject to a tax of twenty percent!" This is the slogan of that fleet from Qingzhou.

It doesn't matter if you don't have money, it's okay to leave 20% of the goods. Whether it is grain, porcelain, silk or even livestock, as long as you obediently leave the goods or pay the silver, they will happily let them go, if you don't pay the silver, the end will be like the boss Liang, and in the end even the ship with the goods will be confiscated.

In the past few days, the saddest estimate in Hangzhou is the Liang boss, at first he relied on the support of the Hangzhou government yamen, and did not pay taxes when he died, after waiting for two days, the Dingyuan general from Qingzhou did not say a word, and immediately pulled his five boats of silk back to Shandong to sell cheaply, and the silk originally worth one million taels of silver was sold by him "with tears", only asking for 500,000 taels of silver, and the result was less than two hours, the five boats of silk were rushed by the merchants who rushed to rob a fine light.

In the end, Boss Liang, who got the news, was so angry that he vomited blood, and now he is still lying in bed and can't get up, this result shook the entire Jiangnan, and now everyone knows that there is a stunned general in Hangzhou, and even the governor of Zhejiang has been disgraced by him.

It should be noted here that although the Ming Dynasty gradually implemented the sea ban since the Yongle funeral, claiming that it was not allowed to go to the sea, but in fact, the maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty did not shrink with the ban on the sea, but became bigger and bigger, and at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the scale of maritime trade even exceeded that of the Song Dynasty, and the annual trade volume reached more than 50 million taels of silver.

But why did the literati group of the Ming Dynasty swear to shout the forbidden sea, in the final analysis, it is still the word interest, during the Yongle period, the Yongle Emperor five expeditions to Mongolia in the north, Annam (Vietnam) in the south, dredging the Grand Canal, moving the capital and building Yanjing, and compiling the "Yongle Canon", any of these things cost astronomical money, but why did the finances of the Yongle Dynasty not only not collapse, but more and more surplus?

There is only one answer, that is, it benefited from the huge funds and materials brought back by Zheng He's seven trips to the West, and it was the funds brought back by Zheng He's seven trips to the West that supported the huge expenditure of the Ming Dynasty. But Zheng He's seven trips to the West did not bring any benefits to the officials of the Ming Dynasty and the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, because the silver eventually flowed into the treasury of the imperial court, and then those officials and gentry and rich families did not do it, it doesn't matter if you eat meat, but you don't even give us soup to drink, it's too much! No, Lao Tzu wants to ban the sea!

So after Yongle died, the successors of the Ming Dynasty who did not understand the important surname of maritime trade were fooled by the doctrine that the civil and official groups moved out of the world, and should not compete with the people for profit, and in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the imperial court simply banned even ordinary people from going to sea to fish, so the original vigorous official maritime trade movement was banned, and was replaced by private maritime trade.

But after all, the people's maritime trade is the spontaneous behavior of the people, thanks to the outrageously low commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty, although the commercial exchanges between the people and overseas are surprisingly prosperous, but the imperial court did not get any benefits from it, so that the emperors of the middle and late Ming Dynasty tightened their belts one by one, and the worst thing is that Emperor Chongzhen, in order to raise military expenses, even his own gold-inlaid night pot was taken out and secretly sold.

Contrary to the constraints of the imperial court, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River lived a life of spending all day and drinking, and when Emperor Chongzhen was worried about the military expenses of four or five million taels of silver a year, in Suzhou, Yangzhou, Hangzhou, these coastal cities, a businessman with a little status could support the military expenses of the imperial court for a year.

In later generations, whenever he read this history, Pang Gang would involuntarily sigh how stupid and ignorant a court that did not even collect commercial taxes was.

So in order to verify the real surname of this period of history that he read in later generations, Comrade Pang Gang began to make a cameo appearance as a tax officer, which was really shocking if he didn't know what to do. In just five days, Pang Gang led the fleet to intercept no less than 20 fleets, and collected a total of more than 2 million taels of silver, which was equivalent to half a year's financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

"How is this possible, how is this possible?" Sitting in the hall, Lin Feng, who was taking an urgent inventory with more than a dozen account offices who came from Qingzhou, looked at the summarized accounts and muttered to himself with his eyes straight.

And Pang Gang looked at the general ledger Rao sent by Lin Feng and couldn't help swallowing his saliva, this tax officer seems to have too much oil and water, and it doesn't cost anything, as long as the ship and cannon are sent to the port wharf, the silver will flow into his arms like flowing water, no wonder the Yankees of later generations say that they must maintain a strong navy, and the feeling of blocking people's doorsteps is so cool!

However, after being happy, there was a burst of fear, and Lin Feng asked with some concern: "My lord, it is a good thing to harvest so much silver taels this time, but it has also aroused the hostility of the entire Jiangnan, if it drags on for too long, it may not be good for us!" ”

"This official naturally understands." Pang Gang nodded, although it felt so cool to block the door of people's homes, he had not fainted yet, especially now that his strength was not strong enough to a certain extent, it was very unwise to try to challenge all the business officials in Jiangnan.

"But the assassination of the official on the dock can't just be counted, Governor Chen wants to use a few death row prisoners to fool the official, but there is no way, so we have to continue to do this business."

"Then how long do we have to stay here, to be honest, I'm really scared now." Suddenly, he got so much silver that even Lin Feng, who had always loved money, was a little scared.

After listening to Lin Feng's words, Pang Gang smiled confidently: "Wait until they can't help but send someone out to negotiate with us." ”

"Tuk Tuk!" Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door opened, and Chen Yuanyuan, who was wearing a white seven-fold skirt, walked in with light steps and a food box in his hand. After entering the door, Chen Yuanyuan said shyly: "General Pang, these words are thanks to you, the people's girl doesn't know how to repay them, this is the people's daughter's homemade mung bean cake, please try it." ”

After speaking, Chen Yuanyuan put the food box in front of Pang Gang's case, and ran out as if he was running away with a crimson face.

Pang Gang opened the food box, found that there were seven pieces of different shapes and delicate high points neatly stacked inside, called the pagoda shape stacked in the food box, after opening the food box, a fragrance of mung beans came to the nose and made people appetize, it can be seen that the makers of these pastries have spent a lot of effort in it.

Pang Gang couldn't help but be stunned for a while when he looked at these exquisite pastries

Let's say that after Chen Yuanyuan sent pastries to Pang Gang, she blushed and returned to her room with Liu Ruye, and found that Liu Ru was talking happily with General Pang's fiancée, and the two sat very intimately.

After seeing Chen Yuanyuan come back, Li Xuezhu said with a smile: "Sister of the Chen family, you are here, I asked Sister Liu about you just now, Sister Liu said that you went to the bow of the boat to blow the wind, and I still want to go to the stern to find you." ”

"Hmm, blowing?" Chen Yuanyuan couldn't help but glance at Liu Ru in astonishment, Liu Ru gave her a hidden look, indicating that he had cleared up this lie for himself. Chen Yuanyuan's face turned red and nodded slightly, but a feeling of guilt surged in his heart, people regarded themselves as good sisters, but they were digging into other people's corners, which was too unkind.

Li Xuezhu didn't know what Chen Yuanyuan was thinking, she took Chen Yuanyuan's hand and said with a smile: "Sister Chen, I heard Sister Liu say that the mung bean cake you made is delicious, can you teach me when you are free, I also want to make it for our master." ”

Chen Yuanyuan, who was a little ashamed, could he say no, the three chatted for a while, and Li Xuezhu, who was a little tired after lunch, went back to the room to sleep, and Liu Rushi and Chen Yuanyuan were left in the house.

Chen Yuanyuan glanced at Liu Ru and said timidly: "Sister Liu, am I too sorry for Princess Jiayi by doing this, in vain she trusts us so much and becomes sisters with us, but I"

Liu Ru sighed lightly and said, "Do you think my sister wants to do this, it's not to fulfill you stupid girl." Who made you fall in love with that Dingyuan general? Sister doesn't understand, there are so many good men in the world, why do you fall in love with him? Don't you know that he already has a wife and a concubine, and two equal wives are waiting to pass through the door, even if you used to be just a concubine, have you really thought about it? ”

"Well, I've got my sister in mind." Chen Yuanyuan said shyly: "As long as General Pang doesn't dislike me as a woman from Qinglou, even if I marry him as a concubine, what's the matter." What's more, General Pang is resolute and kind, which is not enough. ”

"You, you, you!" Liu Ru shook her head helplessly as if she had been defeated, and Chen Yuanyuan had been intersecting for several years, she knew that her sister was always insecure when she grew up due to her experience when she was a child, and she always wanted to find a man with strong force to rely on and protect her. In the past few years of fame, so many scholars were willing to redeem her but she refused, but she didn't expect to meet a man here today who made her heart move, is this the will of God.

(To be continued)