In the Ming Dynasty, the population of the capital reached 550,000 households, and the commercial grain market was naturally extremely profitable. However, the reason why there is such a large population in the capital is mainly related to the fact that the Ming Dynasty did not pay attention to the control of household registration, and people moved back and forth more casually.

Of the 550,000 households, nearly half were made up of soldiers from the Beijing camp.

Some of these soldiers in Beijing were both soldiers and workers. There are also some soldiers, doing some small business.

In addition to these soldiers in the Beijing camp, there are also many displaced people who have entered the capital. When these displaced people entered the city, many of them settled in the city.

A large number of people are crowded in Beijing, which has indeed caused a bit of a population explosion in Beijing, and the sanitary and living conditions in many places are relatively poor.

Now that the military tun has been reclaimed, 160,000 households will be moved out of the capital, and 390,000 households remain, and there are still 2 million people in the capital. At this time, the city of Beijing, with a population of 1.6 million, was still relatively crowded. Later, the reason why the Qing Dynasty restricted the population of Beijing and the Beijing hukou was very popular was that it learned the lessons of the Ming Dynasty.

What are so many people crammed into Beijing?

Beijing's ability to feed such a large population is basically supported by the state's political interests. First of all, the state is paid and the military salary. The second is the income of dignitaries, whether it is above board or hidden. Dignitaries always need slaves, thugs, and workers.

In fact, most of the labor force is wasted.

Or that most of the population is actually serving those dignitaries, who were previously serving nearly two million people, serving more than 100,000 people.

The social divide between rich and poor is extremely strict.

Zhu Youxiao decided to do his best to develop the royal monopoly capital, and only by annexing private capital could the problem of the huge gap between the rich and the poor at this time be reversed.

"Your Majesty, the largest grain store in the capital is these eight grain stores. Six of them were from Jin merchants, two were from the capital's magnates, and one was from Shandong. There are quite a few other grain stores, but they are all small shops. Li Jinzhong investigated the distribution of grain stores in the capital and presented the information to Zhu Youxiao.

"Huh! Let's start with an indiscriminate attack. Li Jinzhong, you immediately send people to set up checkpoints at the gates of the capital, but all goods entering and leaving the city will be charged a 30% tax rate. Zhu Youxiao ordered.

"Your Majesty, will this make too much trouble?" Li Jinzhong asked cautiously, "It's better to directly tax these grain banks, so maybe there will be less resistance." ”

"No matter what you do, as long as it touches the interests of the businessman, the resistance is just as great. If it is only for those grain merchants, won't those grain merchants jump over the wall in a hurry? We don't have much grain in our hands, and if those grain merchants don't release grain, the capital will be in chaos. Zhu Youxiao said.

"The slave is stupid, the slave will do it." Li Jinzhong hurriedly knocked his head, and then retired to arrange. Walking out of the Palace of Nourishing Hearts, Li Jinzhong went to Dongchang to call a group of eunuchs, found a few accountants who settled accounts, and swaggered out of the palace with the holy decree.

The group first came to Chongwenmen, and the passing merchants looked at this group of Dongchang eunuchs in surprise, and some even stopped to watch the excitement.

Li Jinzhong stretched out his hand, and the eunuch of Dongchang directly blocked the Chongwen Gate, and then posted a notice.

"Now the treasury is empty, the income is beyond the means, the border soldiers are hungry and cold, His Majesty reopened the capital's commercial tax, and the merchants in and out will pay thirty percent of the goods to fill the treasury."

The surrounding merchants were taken aback when they heard this, but they were stopped when they wanted to enter the city.

"Stop, stop, stop." The eunuch of Dongchang pulled out his waist knife and looked like he was about to cut people, which frightened the merchants and hurriedly stopped the boat.

"It's over, the emperor is going to collect taxes again."

"It's a big loss."

A group of businessmen frowned, but business still had to be done. They are taxed 30%, and others are also taxed 30%, and they can still be passed on to consumers, but the scale of sales will not be so large.

Emperor Wanli has only been dead for more than half a year, and these businessmen can get used to it.

Chongwen Gate had just set up checkpoints, and Li Jinzhong immediately set up checkpoints at other gates, and all caravans entering and leaving the gate were taxed.

Dongchang directly collected commercial taxes at the city gates, which immediately caused an uproar in the government and the opposition. In particular, the Donglin Party was about to go crazy, angrily accusing the emperor of being insatiable.

Soon, Zhu Youxiao, who was in the palace, received a request from a group of courtiers to enter the palace for an audience.

"Nope." Zhu Youxiao waved his sleeves and went to Xiyuan to play leisurely. At this time, it is the season when the grass grows and the warbler flies, and the spring breeze is very suitable for playing.

"Get out of the way, we want to see the Emperor." Yang Lian and others came to the palace gate to ask to see the emperor, but they waited for a long time to no avail. Soon he pushed and shoved with the eunuch on duty.

It's just that this time is different from when Zhu Changluo died, when the emperor died, and the people were panicked, these eunuchs were frightened by Yang Lian and others, so they rushed to the Qianqing Palace to snatch Zhu Youxiao. At this time, Zhu Youxiao won the hearts of these ministers in the palace, and they were all loyal to their duties, blocking Yang Lian and others from the palace gate, and preventing Yang Lian and others from rushing into the palace.

"Lord Yang, this is the palace, not a place for you to splash, please pay attention to virtue." Zhang Yan, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor's palm seal, is in charge of the palace security on weekdays, balancing with Li Jinzhong. Zhang Yan came to the scene to take a look, and then shouted coldly.

Yang Lian and other radicals of the Donglin Party were almost mad, and they were accused of being immoral by a eunuch, and it was the first time they had been so angry.

What's even more infuriating is that they supported the new monarch to the upper position, and even began to collect commercial taxes quietly, which is completely contrary to their fundamental philosophy. And I wanted to ask the emperor face to face, but I couldn't even find a figure.

Questioning the emperor in person was nothing to these Donglin Party officials. Although the emperor is nominally supreme, they will not directly question the emperor's decision, but will guide in the direction of 'the emperor is bewitched by villains'. In this way, they did not commit any crimes, and once the emperor punished the 'villain', it meant that they had won the victory, and at the same time they were still a great hero.

This is also the reason why Wei Zhongxian's reputation is so bad in history.

In history, because the Emperor of the Apocalypse attacked the Donglin Party, he was soon portrayed as an illiterate and carpenter emperor by the Donglin Party, and he also had an ambiguous relationship with the nurse Ke.

In fact, the Hakka family is very devout to Buddhism, and they are also diligent in serving Zhu Youxiao, and there are no rumors of zài at all.

The best way to deal with these Donglin Party is to not go to court like Emperor Wanli and secretly support reliable courtiers. At this time, Zhu Youxiao needed to be even more so, because he was supported by the Donglin Party. If you go to the court every day, you won't be completely manipulated.

Jumping behind the scenes first and gradually getting rid of the control of the Donglin Party has also become Zhu Youxiao's current strategy. Therefore, during this period of time, Zhu Youxiao has been extending the interval between the previous dynasty.

This time, the Donglin Party wanted to question the emperor, but Zhu Youxiao got the news in the imperial city and simply announced that it would be extended to ten days.