Although it was like an arrow, when it was time to leave, Yan Sanniang was still reluctant to give up. The generals of the East Road, Xiao Sheng and Wu Ya were relieved, but the others were full of loss, and they were still looking forward to getting more of the glory of this woman. The storytelling joke of "Wing Chun riding alone to descend into the clouds" has spread, and the joke of the Battle of Nanxi is being compiled, although this battle is not personally commanded by Yan Sanniang, from Wu Ya to the grassroots soldiers, they all want to attribute the credit to her, so that they themselves feel more glorious on their faces.

Seeing that Yan Sanniang came to pick up Yan Sanniang, it was the living Bodhisattva Pan aunt who everyone in Guangdong, and the carriage she was riding in was also a special model, which was originally rumored news, and it became a definitive conclusion in everyone's hearts. Looking at the car shadow, everyone whispered with a hint of excitement, Xiao Sheng showed a relieved smile, he is expected to be an uncle.

It was February 20 when I returned to Guangzhou, and I entered the backyard of the Tianwang Mansion half anxiously, and saw Li Shi in the study who had been two months apart, Yan Sanniang suddenly burst into tears.

From the side, Li Xi has lost weight, he is very thin, and there is an obvious haggard atmosphere between his eyebrows, he is sitting on the bookcase, writing hard, and his hands are full of official documents.

didn't notice the footsteps, but the low sobbing attracted Li Shi's attention, and when he turned his head, his Sanniang was leaning against the door, looking at him with tears in her eyes.

"Yo, the general has returned to the court......"

Li Xian stretched his brows, got up with a smile and beckoned, Yan Sanniang rushed into his arms in two steps, feeling the familiar Yiren atmosphere, but Li Xian sighed: "Don't jump!" Don't run! You're two lives now! ”

Yan Sanniang chuckled, and sure enough, as Pan Jinling said, this guy was more nervous than herself.

Of course, I was nervous, and I worked hard for two lifetimes to get the hope, and Li Xi couldn't wait to tie Sanniang to the bed now to protect the fetus. Regardless of the fact that this is the study, Li Xian domineeringly probed his hand into Yan Sanniang's small clothes, caressing her still flat and tight lower abdomen, wanting to confirm the existence of the little life that could only be called an "embryo".

"Sister Jin Ling calculates that it may be a male ......"

Seeing the sorrow on Li Xian's face disappearing, Yan Sanniang was reluctant to pour cold water on him, reminding him that it would take three or four months for his stomach to change significantly, and even she hoped that this time would pass quickly, and she would have a big belly to relieve his mood from time to time.

"Men and women are ...... the same"

It was Li Xi's turn to comfort her, as far as medicine is concerned, Pan Jinling has to be counted as half of his apprentice, and he knows that most of the way is deliberately coaxing Yan Sanniang.

The two hugged each other tightly, and after a long time, Li Xian pinched Yan Sanniang's nose and said seriously: "From today onwards, grounded!" Not only for the little one in your belly, but also for what, you know it yourself! ”

Yan Sanniang learned to pout, and then was kissed tightly by Li Shi, between her lips and tongue, Sanniang's self-blame, apology, and concern were passed on to Li Shi, and Li Shi's low moans of satisfaction and pity.

"With you by my side, I can definitely win this battle!"

After parting his lips, seeing that Sanniang's eyebrows were worried again, Li Xian smiled confidently.

Yan Sanniang led the army abroad for two months, and he also fought with the Cantonese Chamber of Commerce in Guangzhou for almost a month. During the period, all kinds of setbacks are indescribable, and when his mood was at his lowest, he also drew Long Gaoshan's whip, just for this guy to try his best to prevent him from "micro-service private visits", he was just depressed, and he just wanted to take two or three personal guards to go shopping in the downtown area.

These two months were the most difficult period for him in four or five years, and it was even harder than against Yinzhen a year ago. Countless times he wanted to give up, and the idea of how to do it was churning in his mind, but he was still suppressed by him, relying on his belief: the poisonous tree could not bear good fruit, and his goal was not only to overthrow the Manchu Qing.

He was short of money, very short, never like this.

The cost of the political axe of the local government and county, under the government reform plan he promoted, is no longer a problem, and the money for the maintenance of officials has been roughly settled. Although the government has a large shelf for going to the countryside, it is also implemented step by step with the financial adjustment, and after the county and township public bureaus pull it up, the government will fall to the grassroots level, and the revenue and expenditure will be carried out simultaneously.

What worries him is the money for raising the army, plus the Fourth Army of the Army in preparation, his field army will increase to nearly 25,000 people this year, and the salary and ordnance of all kinds of regular expenses add up, which will be close to 300,000 taels in a month, plus the war expenses and the navy's military expenses, as well as the internal guard reserve system converted from the green camp flood pond, his annual expenditure will exceed 4 million taels!

At the beginning of its establishment, it was not enough to carry out any major projects, at least education, medical care and some basic public facilities, such as ports and roads, must be invested.

In addition, the Tianwang Mansion exercises the function of the central political axe, and the expenses are also very expensive, counting this part, Li Shi's central budget is five million taels, which is still a tight situation.

If we include the local land and silver, as well as the full operating expenses after the grassroots political axes are all erected, Li Shi, a country of Britain and China, will "accumulate" at least 8 million taels of silver in Guangdong every year.

This is the cost of strengthening the army and reforming government affairs, and what the ordinary people have to bear is the 3 million taels that the local government axe has to raise, and the remaining 5 million taels have to rely on Li Xian to figure out a way by himself.

In the past year, the official membership fee plus the donation amounted to 2 million taels of silver for the support given to him by the Cantonese Entrepreneurs Association. As the years passed, Li Shi controlled the whole province of Guangdong, and also accounted for half of Guangxi, and he also hoped that the contribution of the General Association of Cantonese Entrepreneurs would be doubled to 4 million taels.

Four million taels is staggering at first glance, but it can be apportioned among the nearly 1,000 major merchants of the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce, which is nothing. Thanks to Li Shi's start as an industrial and commercial company, coupled with the expansion of the Sanjiang Ticket Bank, the industry and commerce of Guangdong Province were unconcealed under his nose, which also enabled him to dig out many giants who were said to have been hidden under the rule of the Qing court.

The remaining one million taels was to be made up by his own estate. In the past, a large number of personnel used to deal with the Qing court and government surfaced, and after entering the Yinghua political axe system, the industrial group linked by the Qingtian Company has entered the stage of profitability, and the main industries such as Sanjiang Ticket Bank, Sanjiang Investment, Foshan Iron and Steel, and Dongguan Machinery can bring at least 500,000 taels of net profits, while the profits of glass, cement and the "Whampoa Development Company" can also be counted on, and the profit of one million taels of their own industry can be expected, but it is necessary to use it all for state affairs, but it is a little bitter to share shares with the relevant shareholders of him.

The shareholders related to him can be persuaded and appeased, after all, they are the core backbones who followed him, and they have already enjoyed the benefits of the Yinghua dynasty, and they have no complaints about using the surplus of their own industry to invest in this long-term business. But the Cantonese Chamber of Commerce has its own voice.

In the past month or so, there have been two headaches for Li Xian, and in summary, both are not the problem of the amount of silver. The amount of four million taels is indeed nothing, but the Cantonese Chamber of Commerce has two requirements, which is their original motive for investing in Li Xi and investing in the new dynasty, and Li Xi has to seriously examine it.

The first level of requirements is fairness, Li Xi during the dormant period, is according to the quota of membership dues apportioned to the members of the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce, although this quota according to the financial situation and the industry and other indicators are divided into levels, and strive to be fair, but after all, it is not a real sense of industrial and commercial tax.

After Li Shi established the country, some people in the General Association of Cantonese Entrepreneurs spoke out, demanding that the fees be converted into a formal industrial and commercial tax of a country. This requirement is very reasonable, in the past, membership dues, that is, a fixed amount regardless of business conditions, and according to the principle of fairness, it has always been as much money as you do business. The imperial courts of all dynasties could not be substantive fair, but they had to be fair in form, otherwise they would not have to list complicated tax rules. Li Shi founded the country with industry and commerce, even if everyone still can't expect substantive fairness, but you can't turn back the clock on history, and you can't even do formal fairness.

Li Shi accepted this reasonable request, and he has been working hard. Under the Zhongshu Hall, the Industrial and Commercial Bureau, which was developed from the former Qingtian Department of Industry and Commerce and Commercial Relations, did just that, re-cleaning up the previous industrial and commercial tax department, and striving to transform the protection fee model of the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce into a formal industrial and commercial tax system of one country.

But no matter how it changes, it is all going to the industrial and commercial tax with a minimum limit of 4 million taels. These four million taels of industrial and commercial taxes are a combination of the industrial and commercial taxes collected by the Qing court on the surface in the past, and the gray burden of the merchants, in contrast, the industry and commerce under the rule of the Yinghua New Dynasty seem to be several times heavier than the burden under the Qing court.

The members of the Cantonese Chamber of Commerce knew this foundation, and it was precisely because of this foundation that the idea in their hearts that "the new Anglo-Chinese country is our country" was particularly strong, so they stretched out their hands to Li Xian and asked for rights.

This is the second level of requirements, Li Xi can also understand, there are only obligations and no rights, this kind of thing is difficult to exist even in the Qing court, but the Qing court gives the gray right of acquiescence, and Yinghua wants to put the obligations and rights in a clear place.

To this end, Li Shi prepared a number of rights, which are also the basis for guiding industry and commerce to prosperity and development. For example, all domestic checkpoints were exempted, many industries controlled by the Qing court were opened up, and groups were organized by industry to negotiate tariff details, just like the local public bureau, so that the general association of Cantonese entrepreneurs gradually turned to the public bureau.

What Li Xian didn't expect was that the rights demanded by the Cantonese Entrepreneurs Association were almost the opposite of the rights he gave...... What do they want?

Monopoly, monopoly, and regional and business control, to put it bluntly, Li Shi is a gangster, and they want to do a street business.

This is not only the extreme demand for power by capital, but also the tradition of the Qing court and even the Chinese dynasties to control industry and commerce, which has been deeply rooted, and Li Xi has to sigh that he really underestimates the political consciousness of businessmen too much. They know what rights they need to be in their best interest. It's very simple, with the power to control the business, the interests can be maximized, just like the imperial court in the past dynasties.

The requirements of the Cantonese Chamber of Commerce were to move the imperial merchant model of the Qing court over, and they should become Anglo-Chinese officials and merchants with monopoly rights and monopoly status.

The right that Li Shi gave them was a road to openness and competition, and they didn't want it, because they didn't like openness and competition, although that did mean making the cake bigger, but it was doubtful whether it would fall on them in the end. On such an avenue, they must rely on their own efforts to work hard, not their best choice, the most in their interests, is closed, monopoly, even if it is a road of decline.

The numbers are still secondary, and there is a fundamental difference in direction between Li Xi and the Cantonese Entrepreneurs Association.

One of the most obvious examples is that Li Xi wants to abolish the salt monopoly, and the Guangdong salt merchants, who had contributed a lot to the Cantonese Chamber of Commerce, reacted violently, declaring that if this policy was implemented, they would rather abandon their business and abandon their homes than stay in the Yinghua New Dynasty.

Seeing that the Cantonese Chamber of Commerce was very dissatisfied with Li Shi's wind, An Jinzhi stepped forward and also expressed his opposition, thus bringing the "anti-Li Fengchao" under his control, so as not to break up. But out of the need to maintain his status, and at the same time his own voice, An Jinzhi also broke out a quarrel with Li Shi, and it was difficult for both Weng and his son-in-law to convince each other, and the situation was very unoptimistic.

The salt industry has become the focus of contention on both sides, and both want to start with it to achieve their goals. The general association of Cantonese businessmen wanted not only to maintain the monopoly, but also to expand the monopoly, so as to integrate itself into the official and commercial system. The goal of the industrial and commercial bureau of Li Xi and Tianwangfu is to reduce monopoly sales, eliminate the official and commercial system, and pave the way for the development of industry and commerce.

"In the past dynasties of China, the salt industry was monopolized, not only for profit, but also in many salt-deficient areas, without the government to raise and transport, it is difficult to eat salt, which is a last resort."

There is also some truth in An Jinzhi's words, because in the Chinese dynasties, the monopoly tradition in the fields of grain, cloth, salt, sugar and iron has always contained a dual purpose. One is to collect taxes, and the other is to achieve social control, after all, the Chinese region is too large, the differences between places are obvious, and there is no control of the central government, and these basic living goods are allowed to be indulged by businessmen, which will cause uncontrollable turmoil. The rebellion in the northwest of the former Ming Dynasty lies in the fact that these control measures are not in place. And this line of thinking continued even three hundred years later.

Li Shi naturally knows this, and the country he established is even more to strengthen social control. However, the control of the new Yinghua Dynasty is fundamentally different from the control of previous dynasties, and it does not start in the direction of monopoly and control.

The core idea of the control of industry and commerce in the dynasties was the same as that of local agriculture, and the principle of agriculture was also adopted. In the production process, the owner of the industry is regarded as a farmer, and the "Yin Shi household" is selected from it, and it is similar to the local squire, and the household is even guaranteed. In the circulation link, taxes are collected by means of "introduction" and other similar licensing rights. Salt has salt and tea has tea to guide and control the flow, so a large number of checkpoints must be set up to inspect and control. In the field of finance and trade, it has also set up merchants to put all liability risks on the private sector, and the political axe only reaps profits.

For example, the Manchu Qing Dynasty ruled the industrial and commercial world with layers of imperial merchants, officials and merchants, and used monopoly and monopoly to maintain a static industrial and commercial society. In later generations, there was a saying that the so-called germination of capitalism was so-and-so, and in a Confucian society, the stricter and more detailed the control of the central political axe, the less likely it was to produce capitalism, so it could only be pasted with an ambiguous "sprout".

In the matter of the salt industry, Li Shi is selfish, everyone has some complexes, and even if he has a rational surname in some things, he still has to be emotional. Regarding salt, Li Xi is so selfish, don't monopolize it! Why? Not explained...... The focus of the dispute between Li Xi and the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce fell specifically on the salt industry, and Li Xi was moved again and stubbornly refused, and the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce regarded the salt industry as a whole set of positions for itself, and businessmen from other industries supported the salt merchants one after another, and the two sides naturally competed with each other.

(To be continued)