In October of the twelfth year of orthodoxy, several three-masted warships of the Daming Naval Division slowly sailed into the military port of Tianjin Wei.

After noticing a three-masted warship guarding in the middle, the naval attache on duty at the dock hurriedly turned over and reported to his superiors.

Soon, the commander of the Tianjin Guard Water Division led a group of subordinates to hurry over and greeted them in front of a three-masted warship docking.

Of course, this three-masted warship is the flagship of the Daming Naval Division, the "Mingyang", Li Yuntian's exclusive warship, and its appearance means Li Yuntian's arrival.

Li Yuntian wanted to come back from Korea next year, but the orthodox emperor urged him to return to Beijing in advance to return to the orthodox emperor, and the orthodox emperor was also helpless, due to the fierce power struggle between the inner court and the civilian clique made it difficult to implement a number of national policies of the Ming Dynasty, and the orthodox emperor hoped that Li Yuntian could mediate.

Li Yuntian was joined by Li Ji, Huang Xi, Liu Sangmin, Choi Yundeok, and Jin Zongrui, who had come to Beijing to meet the orthodox emperor, who would be reunited with their families in their new home in the capital.

Li Yuntian stayed in Tianjin for one night, and set off for the capital early the next morning, the so-called hometown timidity He left the capital for two or three years, longing to see his family and feeling guilty at the same time.

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

The orthodox emperor frowned and looked at the fold in his hand, and recently the inner court and the civil official group have been arguing over whether to increase taxes to Jiangnan merchants, and they have quarreled fiercely.

Different from the situation in previous years, after these years of development, the wings of the inner court have gradually plumped, and it is no longer a lonely battle, and some officials in the court have taken refuge in the inner court for their careers, which makes the inner court also have a say in the court.

With the vigorous development of Daming society, Jiangnan commerce is becoming more and more prosperous, and the Daming Tax Bureau collected millions of taels of silver in Jiangnan last year, which was simply unimaginable before.

Because of the prosperity of commerce, the Inner Court believed that the merchants made too much profit from commercial transactions and did not benefit the development of the country, and should give the surplus to the development of the country.

Naturally, the civil clique vigorously opposed it, believing that the Inner Court's move was taking advantage of the people and contrary to Emperor Taizu's teachings, and that the Inner Court's motives were impure and that it was suspected of taking the opportunity to gain benefits.

Speaking of the household department is now the intestines are repentant, the original Ming tax is under the jurisdiction of the household department, and later Li Yuntian proposed to set up a tax bureau specifically responsible for the Ming commercial tax when the household department did not care, because the commercial tax only accounts for a small part of the Ming tax revenue, and the decisive role is the agricultural tax.

Therefore, when the Daming Tax Bureau was established, the people of the household department did not take it to heart, and when Li Yuntian announced the tax reform to increase the commercial tax rate and vigorously investigated the tax evasion, the people of the household department were surprised to find that the commercial tax was actually an out-and-out piece of fat, and they were surprised that those businessmen would pay taxes honestly.

In addition to the businessmen fearing Li Yuntian's prestige, more importantly, Li Yuntian has formulated a set of effective and very perfect tax system, the Daming Taxation Bureau is not alone, and the Daming Commercial Bureau complements each other, and the two jointly maintain the development of the business order.

It is precisely because the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty is under the jurisdiction of the Daming Tax Bureau, nominally under the cabinet, but to put it bluntly, it is the management of this part of the Wutang, and the collected commercial tax is left by the Wutang, and the rest is handed over to the inner treasury of the orthodox emperor to be issued, which can be described as the small treasury of the orthodox emperor.

The person who managed the orthodox emperor's inner treasury was naturally the eunuch of the inner court, so the civil official group said that the people of the inner court had ill intentions and wanted to seek personal benefits from it.

Not to be outdone, the Inner Court naturally pointed out that the people of the civil clique were selling their reputations and secretly colluding with those wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan to seek a lot of benefits, which prevented the tax increase.

Around whether to increase commercial taxes, the people in the inner court camp and the civil official camp launched a fierce confrontation, and the two sides quarreled with each other, and you came and went, making a mess of the officialdom in the capital.

The orthodox emperor was naturally willing to increase the commercial tax, he knew that the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty did not want the money to be earned by those merchants, but wanted to use it on the people, but he could not open this mouth and could only be done by the people in the inner court, and then was strongly opposed by the civil official group.

"Your Majesty, Lord Zhong is here, and now he is waiting outside the palace for summons." Just when the orthodox emperor's eyebrows were tightened, an attendant walked in and bowed down to report.

"Please!" When the orthodox emperor heard this, he was slightly stunned at first, and then ordered with a happy face, he finally looked forward to someone who could relieve his worries.

"Meet the Emperor." A moment later, Li Yuntian, who was wearing a black python dragon robe, walked into the hall quickly and bowed to the orthodox emperor.

"Don't be polite to be loyal to the king." Seeing this, the orthodox emperor hurriedly got up and left the dragon chair, and helped Li Yuntian up with a smile, "I have been looking forward to it day and night, and I finally waited for King Zhong." ”

"Your Majesty, the minister should have returned to Beijing as soon as possible, but he was delayed by trivial matters in North Korea, and I hope the emperor will forgive me." I haven't seen the orthodox emperor for a few years, and he has reached the age of a weak crown, and he is no longer the young man who did not do much things before, Li Yuntian smiled and pleaded guilty.

"It's good that King Zhong is back, it's good to come back!" The orthodox emperor smiled disapprovingly, and then instructed the chamberlain on the side, "Spread my will, let the imperial dining room prepare a banquet, and I will take the wind and wash the dust for the loyal king." ”

The chamberlain naturally didn't dare to slack off, bowed and trotted all the way to the imperial dining room to deliver the decree, the orthodox emperor had not been so happy for a long time, he didn't want to sweep the upset emperor's interest, otherwise the consequences were not something he could bear.

The orthodox emperor had already learned from Liu Kunyu that Li Yuntian had spent a lot of effort in Korea, and then made Korea smoothly incorporated into the Ming Dynasty, and if the Ming Dynasty had a few more capable and loyal ministers like Li Yuntian, he would not have to worry about whether the Jiangnan business community would raise taxes.

"King Zhong, look at these concertos, I am annoyed by them day and night." After the chamberlain left, the orthodox emperor asked him to bring the recital on the imperial case to Li Yuntian, and said with a wry smile, it is not a simple matter to control the courtiers, and he has finally experienced that the emperor actually has helpless times.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the commercial tax was only set a few years ago, and it is not appropriate to raise it now."

Li Yuntian had known about this matter for a long time, and after reading a few passages, he pondered for a while, and said to the orthodox emperor in an orderly manner, "Over the years, commerce has become increasingly prosperous, and the minister feels that businessmen should also do their part for the country, after all, the country is the country, and the country has a home first. ”

"Now that everything is prosperous in the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court needs money, the minister feels that he can levy a 'city construction tax' from the merchants, half of which is reserved for the local area, and half is handed over to the tax bureau for local construction matters."

As he spoke, a smile appeared on the corner of Li Yuntian's mouth, "The Ming Dynasty's taxes are taken from the people and used for the people, and the emperor has every opportunity to provide those businessmen with a superior business environment so that they can live a rich life, and they should serve the country." ”

"Having said that, some people in the court don't see it that way, they only think about their own one-third of an acre!" When the orthodox emperor heard this, he nodded again and again and thought that Li Yuntian was reasonable, but he didn't think that those businessmen would have this kind of awareness, and the civil official group in the court had a close relationship with those merchants in Jiangnan, so he said coldly.

"Your Majesty, the ministers have read these chapters, and those who oppose the tax increase are mainly worried about taking profits from the people, according to the minister's opinion, they are too worried, according to the statistics of the Tax Bureau and the Commercial Bureau, in recent years, the annual profits of Jiangnan businessmen have increased by nearly thirty percent, and many ordinary people are difficult to eat."

Li Yuntian knew the worries of the orthodox emperor, so he smiled and comforted, "The whole world is not the king's land, since the merchants occupy the resources on the market to obtain huge profits, then naturally they must also contribute to it, after all, the emperor has the world in mind and is for the benefit of all the people!" ”

"If King Zhong had come a few days earlier, I wouldn't have bothered about this matter." The orthodox emperor couldn't help laughing when he heard this, and only then did he remember that Li Yuntian was in charge of the Ming Dynasty's business bureau and tax bureau, and these two yamen were used to check and balance merchants, so whether the tax increase was related to the people's profit was naturally Li Yuntian had the most right to speak.

"Your Majesty, although it is natural for businessmen to serve the country, after all, the money has already entered their pockets, so the minister feels that they should be given some rewards in order to make this matter a matter of course."

Li Yuntian saw that the Orthodox Emperor's mood became refreshed, so he pondered for a while and said that he must take care of the interests of those merchants, and he can't forcibly push this matter to avoid causing any trouble.

"I'll leave this matter to King Zhong, I've been annoyed enough by them." The orthodox emperor bowed his head slightly when he heard this, and said to Li Yuntian with a smile, feeling a sense of relief in his heart for no reason.

"Your Majesty, the minister has something I want to ask the emperor for permission." Li Yuntian naturally would not shirk this matter, in fact, he was the best person to resolve this dispute, and then Yu Feng turned around and said to the Orthodox Emperor.

"If the king has something to say, he can say it directly." The Orthodox Emperor felt a little surprised, and couldn't help but smile and said, wondering what Li Yuntian was going to do.

"Your Majesty, the minister has recently received a report from the Western Regions and the South Seas, although my Ming Dynasty has gained a firm foothold, but the local situation is not very stable, so the minister wants to take advantage of the prime of life to inspect the territory of the Western Regions and the South Seas, and strive to ensure the stability of the Western Regions and the South Seas territory."

Li Yuntian bowed to the orthodox emperor and said solemnly, this was not his sudden idea, but an idea he had before he went to North Korea, but the North Korean affairs were urgent, so he gave up, and now is the best time to inspect.

The territory of the Ming Dynasty in Nanyang and the Western Regions can be said to have been conquered by Li Yuntian, so he naturally has to pay more attention to the situation in these two places than others, so it is necessary to personally inspect it and solve the difficulties encountered in the local area.

It is worth mentioning that the Nanyang here refers to the overseas territories of the Ming Dynasty, because to go to these overseas territories, you need to go to the Nanyang, so they are replaced by the Nanyang, including the Persian Gulf.