"They will, I promise!"

Pang Gang's answer made Wei Tongtong's brows furrow even tighter, as a person who had read poetry and books and received Confucian and Mencian education since childhood, Pang Gang's idea was very dangerous and contrary to their concept of etiquette.

"Huge man, do you know what you're talking about? You are coercing the court! Wei Tongnian's face was very ugly, and when he heard Pang Gang's words at first glance, the word "self-respect for the army" immediately came to his mind.

"Neither nor not!" Pang Gang also shook his head and showed off Sven, "It is not the officials who coerce the imperial court, but the salt merchants who eat fat stomachs, they are like grasshoppers attached to my Ming Dynasty, desperately sucking the blood and sweat of my Ming court and the people." They don't have to pay taxes for farming, they don't have to pay taxes for business, they ride tall horses, and they can marry dozens of concubines, but what have they done for this court and for my Ming Dynasty? No, nothing! ”

Speaking of this, Pang Gang's voice suddenly raised an octave, "Looking at my Ming Dynasty, those merchants, gentry and eunuchs who only account for less than half of the population of the Ming Dynasty occupy eighty percent of my Ming Dynasty's land, but they don't have to pay a penny in taxes, but they have to put the burden of tax payment on those people who only have two percent of the land. ”

The more Pang Gang spoke, the more angry he became, and he did research on the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty, which was dominated by agricultural taxes before the Wanli Emperor. Zhang Juzheng's reform, on the other hand, focused on taxation, shifting the focus from the collection of agricultural taxes to the collection of industrial and commercial taxes. Naturally, this greatly touched the industrial and commercial interest groups in Jiangnan, and in this context, the Donglin Party began to take shape.

As soon as Zhang Juzheng died, they thought about abolishing this tax system. If you want to evade taxes, it's not that easy! The Wanli Emperor knew that the continued collection of meager agricultural taxes would not only be insufficient for the treasury, but also unbearable for the peasants. As a result, Wanli still tried to collect taxes from the capitalists in Jiangnan. Since the household department that manages the outer treasury does not accept industrial and commercial taxes, but only collects agricultural taxes, Wanli transferred industrial and commercial taxes to the inner treasury. This is the so-called Wanli greed for money. In fact, the money used by the three major levies of Wanli is the industrial and commercial tax of the inner treasury.

Through the wonderful performances of the three cases of "Court Attack", "Red Pill" and "Moving the Palace", the Donglin Party finally controlled the government for the first time after Wanli's death. They immediately forced Taichang to abolish various industrial and commercial taxes. At that time, the development and imbalance of various regions in the Ming Dynasty. Jiangnan has developed industry and commerce, and there is almost no need to pay any taxes. The peasants in the northern provinces could hardly endure the high taxes and could not afford to eat in the event of a natural disaster.

However, the war in Liaodong was tight, and the treasury was empty. What to do!?

It was in this context that Wei Zhongxian appeared. How to do it, of course, is to find the Donglin Party to pay taxes. After a few years, the treasury began to be full again. Wei Zhongxian's ancestral hall began to appear in various places. How can the Donglin Party sit still! So they poured all kinds of dirty water on Wei Zhongxian's body, what kind of tyranny and domineering, eunuchs were rampant, in short, all kinds of crimes except for robbing people's girls were put on Wei Zhongxian's head!

The death of the apocalypse is another good opportunity, and the brainwashed Comrade Chongzhen is very firmly on the side of the Donglin Party. The Donglin Party wanted to kill Wei Zhongxian and then quickly, but Chongzhen only relieved him of his position and ordered him to guard the mausoleum, Wei Zhongxian died of grief, and Chongzhen buried him.

In this way, the Donglin Party was in power again. Of course, the abolition of excise taxes is the first step. As for Liaodong, how to spend less money and how to do it. The shortage of wages in Liaodong has intensified. Coupled with the exploitation of officers at all levels, the soldiers got very little, and their morale was low. The generals of the Ming army wrote and asked for money every day, and Emperor Chongzhen was at a loss. The Donglin Party accused the Liaodong officers of improper command, ineffective combat, and embezzlement of military salaries. Throttling is often moralistic; How can you do it without open source! Of course, the Donglin Party will not increase the industrial and commercial taxes, and the burden will naturally fall on the peasants.

Finally, the poorest Northwest peasants revolted. also attacked Yanjing, and Chongzhen committed suicide. Wu Sangui led the Qing army into the customs, and the tragedy began. The country is ruined, people and wealth are lost, the people of the time are short-sighted, crazy tax evasion for decades, thinking that they have taken a big advantage, but they don't know that this is really an out-and-out suicide, which is sad and lamentable.

Later historians have many views on the reasons for the fall of the Ming Dynasty, and their accounts are also varied, but there is one thing that is surprisingly consistent, that is, the fall of the Ming Dynasty is directly related to the tax policy of the Ming Dynasty. The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were not unable to fight, nor could they not fight, but the court had no money, and the collapse of finances also led to the collapse of the regime.

When Wei Tongnian took out the Hangzhou salt merchants to talk about things today, Pang Gang was naturally very unhappy with those salt merchants in his heart, so he clearly told Wei Tongnian, I just look down on those salt merchants, let them deal with me if they have the ability, they have rich brothers and money, and there are soldiers, see who can fight whom.

In the end, the two parted unhappily. Wei Tongnian returned to the prefect's yamen in a huff, and when he walked into the small living room in the inner courtyard, Rou Niang and Wei Manyao, who had been waiting at home for a long time, immediately greeted him.

Rou Niang asked in a low voice while bringing water to clean her face and wash her hands for Wei Tongnian, "Master, you are back, how are you talking with the huge people today?" ”

Although Wei Manyao didn't make a sound on the side, a pair of wonderful eyes stared at his father without blinking.

Wei Tongnian snorted and said: "This Pang Gang really doesn't know how to lift, the old man tried hard to persuade him, but he insisted that he would not let go, and there was a lot of self-respect in his words, such an arrogant old man cares about his life or death." The old man will never care about his affairs in the future! ”

Wei Manyao and Rou Niang glanced at each other, Rou Niang shook her head and signaled to herself, I have no choice, but Wei Manyao stepped forward and put a cup of fragrant tea next to Wei Tongnian and said softly: "Dad, you dissipate your anger first, your daughter will be distressed if she is angry." Tell your daughter what the hell is going on? ”

"Hmph, you're just going to make your dad happy." Wei Tongnian took two sips of the tea served by his baby daughter himself, and his mood eased a lot, before he said to Wei Manyao: "Today, the old man asked him if he opened a salt farm privately, and he also acquiesced. Later, the old man persuaded him to stop the salt farm, but he refused to agree, and said that those salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River were full of fat but did not want to hand over a penny to the imperial court, such money might as well be made by Qingzhou, at least an elite army could be raised to defend my Han family! You say that you are angry or not, he said so, the court, where did he put the emperor? ”

"That's not enough to make you, a dignified prefect, like this, right?" Wei Manyao snorted and laughed, "Don't you know what virtues those salt merchants have?" I ask you to advise the giant man to be careful, but I am not for you to persuade him to stop. ”

Elder Wei sighed, "It would be fine if he didn't listen to my advice, but do you know what else he told me today?" He even told me that he was going to send troops to North Korea to help North Korea defend against the Qing army, do you know what that means? Sending troops without permission is a big sin of beheading! He even told me so openly and blatantly, what is he doing? Do you openly demonstrate against me? ”

"What, he's going to send troops to North Korea?" Wei Manyao's pretty face couldn't help but change slightly when she heard this, the crime of sending troops privately is a felony of beheading in any dynasty and generation.

Wei Manyao's beautiful beauty, whose face changed suddenly, wrinkled, she sat at the coffee table with her little hand dragging her chin and thought for a long time before slowly asking, "Dad, do you know how many troops there are in the huge hands now?" ”

Wei Tongnian, who was on the side, said angrily: "Now that he is guarding the defense of the three states and has absorbed a large number of displaced people, why should there be tens of thousands of soldiers?" ”

"That's right!" Wei Manyao slapped his hands and said: "Now that there are tens of thousands of elites under the command of the huge man, my daughter heard that he has many businesses such as salt farms, iron mines, and cement factories in his hands. ”

"Boom"

Wei Manyao's words hit Wei Tongnian like a bolt of lightning, his body couldn't help shaking, his face suddenly stiffened, and he said word by word: "Manyao, do you mean that Pang Gang will rebel?" ”

"Dad, don't talk nonsense!" At first glance, when she heard the word rebellion, Wei Manyao was startled again, and she said angrily: "Don't talk nonsense, if people hear it, it will affect a huge number of people." The daughter just said that the strength of the huge man is getting stronger and stronger, and the court has to pay more and more attention to him, but she didn't say that he wants to rebel, don't harm others. ”

Wei Tongnian couldn't help but smile bitterly, and said in his heart: "It seems that girls are really outgoing, and now they know how to protect it." ”

Wei Tongnian is now completely speechless about his daughter's emotional problems, his daughter combines the advantages of intelligence, beauty, virtue and ability, how can he fall in love with the married man? He really couldn't understand what was so good about that bold second stunned man.

But now is not the time to discuss this issue, what makes Wei Tongnian really worried is that if this commander who is bolder than a watermelon really sends troops to rescue North Korea, the news will definitely not be hidden, and it is estimated that those impeachment twists and turns against him will soon be piled up on Chongzhen's desk, how can he protect himself at that time? At this moment, the prefect really had a headache.

As if seeing his father's worries, Wei Manyao on the side pursed his lips and smiled comfortingly: "Dad, don't worry too much, as long as the huge people are okay, the court will not touch you, my daughter estimates, as long as the huge people can continue to collect the displaced people and develop with peace of mind, by this time next year, our Qingzhou will definitely become the most wealthy place in Shandong." At that time, it's time for you, the prefect of Qingzhou, to move up! ”

"Hmph, Hugh is talking nonsense!" Wei Tongnian reprimanded his daughter and then fell silent

(To be continued)