"There's Miss Laurin!" Meng Yan stood up and said politely.

"My lord, the medicine has just been boiled, and it is a little hot."

"Got it." Meng Yan nodded, "Miss Lin, this is Lao Cai, my new master, helping me do some copywriting work." ”

"Hello Mr. Cai!"

"Hello Miss Lin!" Cai Jin sorted out his feelings a little, and nodded at Lin Yi.

"My lord, is there something else going on in my study?"

"Miss Lin, please."

"Son, who is this Miss Lin?" Cai Jin asked curiously after looking at Lin Yi and walking out.

"Songhelou is the servant girl of the shopkeeper, come over to help for a few days, and go back when it's over." Meng Yan explained.

"What is the relationship between the prince and this shopkeeper?"

"It's a very close relationship, Mr. Cai, you seem to care about Songhe Tower?" Meng Yan asked.

"No, it's nothing, the old man just asks, asks." Cai Jin smiled and bowed his head a little weakly.

As far as Meng Yan knows, Songhelou has existed for forty or fifty years, but it is Wen Xiaoyu who has been in charge of Songhelou for several years.

Cai Jin knew that it was not strange for Songhe Tower, but why was he so familiar with the immortal drunkenness of Songhe Tower?

Twenty years ago, although Songhelou was also the premier restaurant in Beijing, it was not as famous as it is now.

"I remember Mr. Cai, you also have a daughter, if you are still alive, you should be twenty years old, right?"

"It's hard for my son to remember this."

"Mr. Cai's business is my business, how could I not remember?" Meng Yan Road. "If Mr. Cai has any clues, just tell me, and I will send someone to find it secretly."

"When I was arrested, my wife was only six months pregnant, I was locked up in the Imperial Prison, no one was allowed to visit the prison, I didn't know what was going on outside her, and later a brother of the Holy Sect was also arrested, and they told me that my wife had given birth to a daughter. was taken back to his hometown in Shandong. After that, I haven't heard anything from them, and after all these years, I don't know what happened to their mother and daughter! ”

"What is Mr. Cai's hometown?"

"Shitai Village, Putai County, Binzhou, Shandong. My wife's surname is Liu. Second in the family. Cai Jin said.

"Good. I made a note of it, and I'll help you inquire, that's what we Jinyiwei did. Meng Yan said.

"Thank you, Son!" Cai Jin bowed to the end.

"Does Mr. Cai have any other relatives in his family?" Meng Yan asked.

"I don't know. When I was arrested, I also had an uncle named Cai Youdao, cousin Cai Song, cousin Cai Qin and others. ”

"So these people are still alive?"

"Maybe, but if the court arrests me, I won't let them go, and I may not be alive for a long time, hey......"

"It's easy to find names, as long as they're alive, they can find them." Meng Yan Road.

"Son, drink the medicine quickly, it's already cold!" Cai Jin reminded.

Meng Yan took the medicine bowl, the medicinal soup was warm, just right, and he drank it in one gulp, the last time he drank Chinese medicine was many years ago.

In this era, there is no Western medicine to see when you are sick, you can only take Chinese medicine, Chinese have eaten Chinese medicine for thousands of years, in fact, Chinese medicine is the most suitable for Chinese.

Traditional Chinese medicine pays attention to the "unity of heaven and man", and such a high realm is something that those foreign devils who are still drinking blood will not understand.

Even if they evolve to modern civilization, they are still at a loss.

There were many footsteps outside the door, and the sound of two footsteps, one light and one heavy, came into Meng Yan's ears, and Meng Yan sprinkled slightly.

"It's Xiaoyue who is here, and this girl doesn't know where to hear the news."

"Brother Meng, Brother Meng......"

"As soon as I heard it, I knew that it was Xiaoyue, your little starling was here." Meng Yan sat up and smiled at the door.

Sure enough, Guo Yue rushed in all the way, without the slightest evasion.

"Brother Meng, I heard that you were sick, so Xiaoyue came to see you." Guo Yuexing said.

"I'm just infected with a cold and a little cold, it's fine!"

"Are you alright?"

"It's really okay, you see I'm not good, you see, I just drank the medicine, it's much better!" Meng Yan smiled.

"Who told you that I was sick?"

"I went to Nanya and met Niu Dali, and he sued me!" Guo Yue's eyes rolled, and she said smartly.

"Old cow?" Meng Yan was stunned for a moment, and quickly understood, Guo Yue was talking nonsense, Niu Dali didn't know about his illness at all.

Niu Dali didn't know that he was sick, and there was someone who definitely knew that the biggest spy leader of the Ming Dynasty, his quasi-old father-in-law, the commander of Jinyiwei, made Guo angry.

"Does my Uncle Guo know that you are coming?"

"He, I don't know, I came here secretly, he won't let me come to you, the two of us haven't ...... yet"

"It's all here, haven't you eaten yet?"

"Nope."

"Let's eat together later."

On the dinner table.

"Xiaoyue, I want to buy a piece of land in the suburbs of Beijing, not for growing food, but for running a factory, you are familiar with the inside and outside of the capital, help me choose!"

"What do you want from Brother Meng?"

"The place should be big, it is best to have a river nearby, it is convenient to get water, and it is close to the official road, it doesn't matter if the place is biased, the transportation is convenient." Meng Yan Road.

"There is a place in Xishan, which is a saline-alkali land, and crops cannot be grown." Guo Yue thought for a while and said, "There is a small river not far to the east, leading to the Yongding River!" ”

"How big is the area?"

"I can't say it, there must be thousands of acres!"

"Who owns this land?"

"If you can't grow crops, who wants this land?"

"And if I want to get this land, what are the procedures?" Meng Yan asked.

"I don't know about this, whoever owns the borderlands should belong to whomever it wants, right?"

"The law of this dynasty stipulates that no tax shall be paid for three years on the reclamation of wasteland, and after three years, the acres of land shall be determined, and taxes shall be paid according to the three grades of thin, medium and thick!" Cai Jindao.

"I don't open up wasteland, I use these places to build factories. What are the rules of this imperial court? ”

"All commercial taxes, take one out of thirty, and those who pass will be punished for violating the order!"

A tax of one-thirtieth is so low!

Meng Yan almost exclaimed, with such a low tax, how did the Ming Dynasty operate?

Of course, in addition to collecting money, the taxes of the Ming Dynasty also included rice, grain, cloth, etc., which is estimated to be due to the lack of currency. Only the tax in kind is levied!

In fact, the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty only accounted for a small part of the imperial court's income. Most of them are still based on physical objects!

There are also some large-scale monopoly enterprises, such as weaving divisions, market shipping divisions, salt and iron monopoly and so on.

Without the support of these incomes. The huge Ming Empire could not sustain itself with a tax of less than four million taels of silver a year.

Half of the officials' salaries were made of rice. Half of it is all kinds of daily necessities. There are very few that really give out money.

This is really a good era, Meng Yan really wants to do a good job, such a low tax. And there are so many policy loopholes to exploit, with those things in his brain, it is difficult to get rich or not!

Meng Yan also knew that even with such a low tax rate, the common people were still living in such hardship, mainly because of the strict land annexation in the middle and late stages, and those scholars and nobles who had a lot of land in their hands did not have to pay taxes, and the tax burden was pressed on the vast number of poor peasants.

There are also various kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, which are the last straw that overwhelmed the Ming Dynasty.

"Mr. Cai, you don't have to worry about the affairs of the craftsman for the time being, help me get the piece of land in Xishan, the procedures must be complete, and no one can find my handle!" Meng Yan Road.

"Okay, Miss Guo, I'll go to the field tomorrow to check it out." Cai Jin nodded.

"The affairs of the old Meng family, Xiao Yue has done half of the master!" Meng Yan said, "Xiaoyue, it's hard for you." ”

"Hmm!" Guo Yue nodded, and Meng Yan's words said that he would be the future hostess of the Meng family in the future, at least the first lady.

"In a few days, I will convene a meeting of some coal merchants in the capital, mainly to promote and authorize the production of honeycomb coal and to establish a price alliance." Meng Yan said, "This is a key step in whether Meng Ji Coal Company can gain a foothold and develop in the capital, but I can't be at the front desk, there must be someone to represent me!" ”

"What do you mean by finding someone to help you manage the coal business?" Cai Jindao.

"Yes, I have thought about this person, let Jiang Feng be the chief treasurer of the coal bank, and Jiang Xiaodie will be in charge of the accounts of the coal bank, but I want to leave the personnel work to Xiaoyue!" Meng Yan named Guo Yue.

"Me?"

"You are also one of the shareholders of the coal bank, and you should participate in the management." Meng Yan said, "You and Jiang Feng both have a veto. ”

"Yes, Brother Meng!"

Songhe Tower.

Wen Du was drunk and rushed back from a winery in the suburbs with a batch of new wine.

"Dad, why is there an extra hundred jars of wine in this batch?" Wen Xiaoyu, who counted the numbers, asked with doubts.

"These hundred altars are for my future son-in-law!" Wen Du drunk.

"Dad, you know everything?" Wen Xiaoyu lowered her head shyly, and her cheeks flushed.

"The way of the world is reversed, and the father-in-law is going to give a gift to his son-in-law!" Wen Dudrunk shook his head and sighed.

"Dad, why is that?"

"Dad received a secret report that the Holy Sect has sent someone into Beijing!" Wen Dudrunk whispered.

"What, what else do they want to do?" Hearing Xiaoyu's words, she suddenly asked with a shocked face.

"Although I have long broken off relations with the Holy Sect, I still know their every move, although the imperial court is not as good as before, but the pursuit and killing of the Holy Sect has not stopped!" Wen Du drunk.

"Then what does this have to do with your gift to Meng Yan?"

"It doesn't matter much, but you have this relationship with Meng Yan, maybe this is a support for our father and daughter in the future!" Wen Du drunk and smiled, "So, mine is going to please my future son-in-law." ”

"Dad, you're here to stay old!"

"Although I took the initiative to cut off relations with the Holy Sect, they have been trying to pull me back, they don't know where they got the news, they know that I am lurking in the capital, so I have a hunch that they may be coming at me."

"Dad, it's been twenty years, and we've all changed our names and surnames, can they still find us?"

"It's hard to say, the Holy Aunt's skills are not for fun." Wen Du drunk and said, "Do you know that there are so many children of the Holy Sect in the Imperial Prison, and I can't save any of them?" ”

"Are you afraid of being recognized by them and knowing that we are in the capital!"

"This is only half of the reason, and the other half is because, I don't think the goal they want to achieve can be achieved, although the emperor of the Ming Dynasty is young, he is fortunate to be a eunuch like Wang Zhen, but there are still many good officials in this court, and the people also want to live a stable life, so their ambitions can't be done at all." Wen Du drunk and said, "First of all, Jinyi Wei can't deal with them, so why talk about anything else?" ”

"Does Uncle Guo know over there?"

"I know it all, how can he not know, I'm afraid he knows more than I do." Wen Du drunk and said, "I'm afraid he's waiting for me to report now." ”

"What are you going to do?"

"Dad, does he have any other choice, you send someone to deliver a message to Guo Nu, I want to see him at night, should I go to him, or will he come to Songhe Tower, choose one of the two?" Wen Du drunk.

"Dad, I know!" (To be continued......)