In the first year of the Apocalypse, the curtain gradually came to an end, and this year Zhu Youxiao was a bit like walking a tightrope, using the means of guò to take chestnuts from the fire, and snatching food from the mouths of bureaucrats and businessmen.

Fortunately, Zhu Youxiao did not rush to kill them all, and divided and disintegrated the bureaucrats and businessmen, which allowed him to successfully snatch the benefits.

However, it is not so easy to do next, and the commercial tax will naturally continue to be collected, but it is impossible to fully collect the commercial tax. It's okay to levy some traditional business taxes. On the bureaucratic side, after striking at the main top of the Donglin Party, there is no good target to start with.

It's almost enough to kill a group of Donglin Party, and since the bigwigs of the Qichu and Zhejiang Party have gone into the wilderness, it is not easy to chase and fight. Other officials in the officialdom cannot be arrested indiscriminately for the time being.

The raid on the merchants can only be done sporadically, and the Jin merchants, salt merchants, and maritime merchants are comprehensively raided, and they do not have the strength for the time being.

Therefore, the new financial growth point has become the salt industry, and the collection of commercial taxes in the northern Zhili, the former must rely on force to crack down on smuggling, and the latter must develop the economy.

These are all measures to be carried out after the year, and Zhu Youxiao is currently preparing for the Spring Festival.

The preparations for the Spring Festival of the royal family are a few days earlier than the people, and the eunuchs and palace maids were mobilized before the twenty-third day of the lunar month, and the Forbidden City and the imperial city were cleaned inside and out, up and down, and then the imperial dining room began to steam steamed buns, and a large number of steamed buns were steamed. Generally, the people in the north only start steaming steamed buns on the 26th day of the lunar month, and they have to steam more than a dozen pots at a time, and they can eat until the 15th day of the first month. The royal family began steaming steamed buns on the 24th day of the lunar month, and the steamed steamed buns should be able to eat until the 17th of the first lunar month.

With so many steamed buns steamed, Zhu Youxiao naturally won't eat them all day long. However, if you can't eat enough, you can reward the courtiers, and the courtiers will take them back and wrap these steamed buns in yellow wraps, and then kowtow three times a day to thank the emperor for his grace.

Since the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, firecrackers have begun to be set off in the palace, but they are only placed in the open space in front of the Qianqing Palace, and it is forbidden to set off them in other places.

Firecrackers are set off during the day and fireworks at night, and they are held until the seventeenth day of the first lunar month.

There are also activities such as sticking Spring Festival couplets, door paintings, and pasting windows.

Zhu Youxiao took time out to go to the nursing home to comfort the elderly eunuchs and palace maids, and sent them New Year's goods and wishes.

At the same time, red envelopes were distributed to all eunuchs and palace maids.

This year's New Year's red envelopes are even more generous than last year's. Ordinary eunuchs and palace maids all have fifteen silver dollars in red envelopes. Further up, there are hundreds of taels and thousands of taels.

After a show, the rewards continued, and the eunuchs and palace ladies were more supportive of the emperor.

Towards the end of the year, the eunuchs and maids in the palace were also preparing New Year's goods. They like to store a lot of meat, mainly marinated and preserved, and can be eaten at any time during the Chinese New Year.

The palace is full of joy, and the people outside the palace are also busy preparing for the Spring Festival.

During the Spring Festival of this year, the New Year's goods market in Jingshi was extremely prosperous, and the people at the bottom had a lot of surplus on hand, so they purchased more New Year's goods. The business of the businessmen has been doing well, and it has also led to a lot of employment, and people can clearly feel that the atmosphere in the spring of this year is much more lively than in previous years.

Other towns in Beizhili are similar, and tens of millions of yuan of infrastructure construction activities in the first year of the Apocalypse have greatly improved the quality of life of urban residents.

Those businessmen who sell New Year's goods are almost smiling in the past. They suddenly felt that the emperor's collection of commercial taxes did not seem to be a big deal, and it did not have much impact on them, small and medium-sized merchants who did not rely on power to run business, and now business was better than before.

However, those private monopoly capital, which has been replaced by royal capital, have had a worse year. Their industries have been frantically squeezed out by royal capital, and many of them have been squeezed out of the market completely.

At this time, at the end of the year, Royal Capital's companies are also engaged in activities such as year-end closing and employee performance evaluation.

The money that the big treasurer should take will be settled at the end of the year. The year-end bonuses of the employees are also going to be sent out.

The employees of these royal enterprises are absolutely happy at the end of the year, because the year-end bonus is also very generous, and the standard payment is three months' ordinary salary, which is equivalent to fifteen months' salary they have received. In addition, the company will also distribute some New Year's goods to them, although things are not worth too much, but they are always a happy one, after all, most people are greedy.

At the same time, Zhu Youxiao went to the newly built nursing home and orphanage to comfort the lonely elderly and orphans, and then went non-stop to visit the families of the martyrs in Beijing.

Basically, all the shows that should be done have been done, and "Daming Daily" also has materials to report, anyway, Zhu Youxiao asked "Daming Daily" to report on the movements of the emperor or the first assistant of the cabinet every day, anyway, it is very busy every day, and the country is thinking about the direction of development every day.

After some tossing, it was Chinese New Year's Eve, and Zhu Youxiao held a night banquet in the palace that day, and all the personnel in the palace participated in this banquet, and the scene was extremely lively.

During this banquet, Zhu Youxiao saw an eleven or twelve-year-old boy saluting him, "Minister Zhu Youzhen, I have seen the eldest brother Emperor Xià." ”

Zhu Youxiao immediately reacted, isn't this the later Emperor Chongzhen!

Since the crossing, Zhu Youxiao basically will not go to Li Xuanzhi (Dong Li) to visit the door, the situation during the Chinese New Year last year was relatively bad, and he basically did not have any celebrations in the palace, so he has not seen this younger brother.

Zhu Youxiao didn't have any feelings for this younger brother, after all, he had just crossed over for less than two years, and it was the first time he had seen him. At present, Zhu Youzhen is young, so he is still living in the palace.

"Little brother, hurry up and sit down!" Zhu Youxiao showed a warm smile on his face, took Zhu Youxiao's hand, and asked him to sit at the same table with him. Although there is no emotion, it is always good to do superficial work!

This made Zhu Youzhen a little flattered, since the imperial brother ascended the throne, the relationship seems to have been estranged a lot, and Zhu Youxiao is so enthusiastic, he is still a little uncomfortable.

"Little brother, since I ascended the throne, there have been so many trivial matters in government affairs, so I haven't seen you for a long time, how are you doing?" Zhu Youzhen shushed at Zhu Youzhen for a while, and Zhu Youzhen also relaxed, and talked about his recent studies in the palace.

Soon the dinner party officially began, and Zhu Youxiao was still chatting with his younger brother Zhu Youzhen at the banquet. What's the chat! More or less it involves some perception of things. Zhu Youxiao quickly figured out the younger brother's catties, Zhu Youxiao at this age is still relatively naïve, but the problem of the second secondary school is not very prominent.

After all, at this age, in the next generation, they are still elementary school students who are about to enter junior high school, and they are still in a very immature stage in terms of outlook on life, values or worldview.

Zhu Youzhen didn't know that he, the eldest brother emperor with a warm face, was thinking about how to send him away, and he was about to be crowned king and move out of the Forbidden City at this age. When you are older, you will have to go to the fiefdom.

But after thinking about it, what if he was killed by the Jiangnan chaebol and the remnants of the Donglin Party, and there was no successor?

At that time, Zhu Youzhen, a little kid, was pushed up, and he was brainwashed with two easy clicks, wouldn't the good situation he was currently creating be in vain?

Is it to give him some ideological guidance? Lest this guy become the emperor in the future and be fooled by the Donglin Party?

However, Zhu Youxiao vaguely felt that Zhu Youjian should be sent to the fiefdom.

Zhu Youxiao felt a little troubled for a while.

At the dinner party on Chinese New Year's Eve, it is natural to eat dumplings. There are wooden plaques inside, and the words Golden Buddha, Jade Ruyi, etc. are written on the wooden plaques, and those who eat them will be rewarded.

After a dinner, the scene was extremely pleasant and warm, and the people in the palace were tightly united around Zhu Youxiao, these eunuchs and palace maids were the closest employees of the Heavenly Family, and a good relationship was naturally very beneficial. Because of Zhu Youxiao's generosity, and at the same time being attentive and humane in management, the hearts of the people in the palace have become very united.

At this time, the palace changed the previous unfair distribution of work tasks, the income gap between the big eunuchs and the little eunuchs was too large, and the little eunuchs and little palace maids had no human rights. From the yang world to the underworld, the welfare of a dragon has indeed made the atmosphere in the palace refreshed. At this time, there were more smiles in the imperial city, and there were fewer inhibitions.

Almost everyone has become Zhu Youxiao's eyeliner, who figured out that Guò poisoned and other means to assassinate the emperor or something, it is not so easy to succeed, even if it is very difficult to break through.

After the dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve, Zhu Youxiao and the first day of the first lunar month held a banquet for the courtiers in the evening to improve the relationship between the monarch and the courtiers.

At this time, the cabinet presided over by Shen Yu had already begun to carry out some reforms in the north, and the Lin Party in the Middle East of the DPRK had also suffered a terrible blow, so for the time being, no official dared to openly oppose Zhu Youxiao. Ma Zai, who was promoted from the Qichu Zhexuan Party, had already gained the upper hand and suppressed the Lin Party in the Middle East of the DPRK to the point of misery.

The party struggle at the end of the Ming Dynasty was full of cruelty. When dealing with political opponents, the bottom line is constantly lowered.

The banquet ended in a relatively pleasant atmosphere, and those Qi Chu Zhejiang Xuan Party horses who were promoted were constantly sycophants to Zhu Youxiao, and obviously there were a lot of sycophants. Zhu Youxiao listened comfortably, although he knew that these sycophants were not useful at critical moments, but they were still somewhat useful.

However, among the Qichu Zhejiang Propaganda Party, there are still many available talents. Shen Yun, the first assistant of the cabinet, is definitely one of them, and Zhu Youxiao has decided to absorb Shen Yu into the Han Emperor Party.

At this time, the Han Emperor Party still grew a lot. However, the personnel are mainly concentrated in the violent institutions such as the factory guard and the army, and the other is the big treasurers of the royal capital, which have also been absorbed into the Han Emperor Party. The Han Emperor Party has very little influence in the civilian clique, and the Han Emperor Party has also developed relatively hidden, and has not openly raised its banner.

After the banquet for these civil and military officials, Zhu Youxiao then invited the big treasurers of the royal capital, as well as the red-roofed businessmen who operated in joint ventures with the royal capital. At the same time, there were also senior officials from Dongchang, Jinyiwei, and the Taxation Bureau.

Obviously, that's the main thing.

When a group of people with completely common interests get together, it is natural to sit in a row and share the fruits. At the same time, it is also indispensable to plan and cooperate with the new year. The chief treasurer of Royal Capital is naturally Yang Guorui, who manages the Royal Bank, which is the core of Royal Capital.

At the banquet, Yang Guorui got as much as 150,000 yuan, and the income was staggering. Yang Guorui manages the core of Royal Capital, and the amount of funds in his hands is scary, and the money is naturally too much. The shopkeepers who can come to the banquet have tens of thousands of yuan for less money.

Cao Jinyu and Qian Wanyuan, the red-capped merchants, presented New Year's gifts to Zhu Youxiao at this banquet, Cao Jinyu gave a superb war horse, Qian Wanyuan offered a superb coral, and other imperial merchants also made their own offerings, and these gifts were all spent a lot of thought.

However, they still couldn't figure out the emperor's preferences for the time being, so they could only be blind themselves, but they didn't have a cheap gift. However, although Cao Jinyu didn't know what the emperor liked the most, he at least knew that the emperor was practicing martial arts, and he was extremely interested in war horses, so he bought a superb war horse at a high price and gave it away, which was more in line with Zhu Youxiao's wishes.

As for the coral trees donated by Qian Wanyuan, the condition is indeed excellent, and it is much more valuable than the one given by Cao Jinyu. However, this thing is worth a lot of money, but Zhu Youxiao doesn't feel it. Although men will also appreciate these beautiful things, men are more inclined to explore the world and forge ahead. And women are generally obsessed and crazy about these colorful and shiny things.

Although some of the gifts offered by these red-top businessmen were in line with their hearts, and some Zhu Youxiao only glanced at them a few times and didn't bother to look at them, he did not bring his feelings to his daily business decisions.

He has only one attitude towards these imperial businessmen, and the advantages of policy, capital, technology, etc. are all given to these red-top businessmen, if they can't run it, it can only mean that they don't have the business mind and luck, and they should be eliminated. And for those excellent businessmen, those who change to absorb continue to absorb.

When the royal capital and the capital of these red-capped merchants grow stronger and stronger, a consortium will be formed.

At this time, the royal consortium is still in the stage of incubation, and these red-top businessmen are now willing to spend their time giving New Year's gifts to the emperor, at least as a red-top businessman, they are qualified, but there is still a distance from the standard of national businessmen.

This New Year, Zhu Youxiao's mood is still relatively happy.

However, soon Zhu Youxiao's mood was not happy. Because the Hetao Mongols invaded Yan'an, Huanghuayu and other places in the first month of the second year of the Apocalypse, penetrated 600 miles, and killed tens of thousands of people. Governor Zhang Zhihou and General Soldier Du Wenhuan couldn't hide.

This incident almost kept Zhu Youxiao in the dark, and it was not until Yu Shi Gao pushed for impeachment that Zhu Youxiao knew the news of the Mongol captivity in northern Shaanxi.

Knowing that Zhang Zhihou, the governor of Yansui, and Du Wenhuan, the chief soldier, dared to conceal such a big matter, Zhu Youxiao was furious on the spot.

It is no wonder that the thieves in the late Ming Dynasty were able to become big in Shaanxi, and these bureaucrats were simply bold. (To be continued.) )