After Zhu Youzhen finished speaking, he specially paid attention to the reactions of Yang Mingshen and other wealthy businessmen and Bai Yunzhen, the governor of Yingtian.

Yang Mingshen was a little disappointed, but he didn't express anything, it seemed that the government's tax increase on him made him acceptable, so he would not force the emperor Zhu Youzhen to express his position immediately.

And Bai Yunzhen, the governor of Yingtian, seemed to be a little proud, and glared at Yang Mingshen and other wealthy businessmen provocatively.

Zhu Youzhen smiled slightly, he could guess that Bai Yunzhen would think that he was supporting their government.

After all, merchants are a relatively despised group among the common people, and it is only natural for the government to force wealthy merchants to bear more taxes when providing disaster relief and water conservancy construction.

Bai Yunzhen, the governor of Yingtian, really looked down on Yang Mingshen and other wealthy businessmen in his heart.

As a traditional Confucian official, in his consciousness, Yang Mingshen, these wealthy businessmen, were originally ordinary people who lived at the bottom, and in the scene where he and His Majesty were there, they should not have Yang Mingshen's qualifications at all.

Now Yang Mingshen and other wealthy businessmen directly accuse themselves of raising taxes in front of Zhu Youzhen, and even ask His Majesty to return to imperial power and let the cabinet return to the monarch.

Bai Yunzhen, the governor of Yingtian, felt that Yang Mingshen and the others were a big rebellion.

As a lowly businessman, he dared to accuse himself in front of His Majesty, and even pointed fingers at the imperial cabinet and monarchy.

In the eyes of Bai Yunzhen, the governor of Yingtian, this is simply challenging his authority, and it is also challenging the authority of the cabinet and even the entire Ming court.

"If it weren't for Your Majesty being here, this official would have already ordered someone to take you down and punish you, how could you be arrogant here! It's just that you have the title of a viscount and a second-grade official position, I really think that I have a close relationship with Your Majesty, and this official will not dare to treat you, it's a joke! ”

Ying Tianxun Bai Yunzhen thought so in his heart.

But Bai Yunzhen, the governor of Yingtian, was also very worried that His Majesty would be bewitched by the rich businessmen and really wanted to do the thing that Emperor Taizu killed the officials and protected the people, so he didn't want Zhu Youzhen to stay with these rich businessmen for too long, so he had to hurriedly advise:

"Your Majesty's southern tour this time is intended to inspect civil affairs, and Weichen has the courage to ask Your Majesty to move to the governor's yamen, and the lower officials will report to Your Majesty in detail."

"No need, look at the yellow book, manage the economy, that's what the Metropolitan Procuratorate inspector does according to the imperial history, I don't have that much spare work, when the cabinet chief assistant comes, you can show him again, I came to the southern tour to take a casual look, you don't have to follow me, you are the governor of Yingtian, not my servant."

Zhu Youzhen naturally knew the thoughts of Bai Yunzhen, the governor of Yingtian, but now he deliberately kept a distance from the entire bureaucracy, so he was not too willing to be too close to Governor Yingtian.

The same is true for the wealthy businessman Yang Mingshen and other capital groups, he will not be too willing to stand up for them, he does not know if the capital group of the Ming Dynasty has reached the point of resisting the entire bureaucracy.

As emperor, Zhu Youzhen was essentially the master of the country, controlling the empire's most powerful army with his royal capital, but in fact he had continued to repeat the mistakes of previous emperors, leaving the bureaucracy to exercise executive and judicial power on his behalf.

The result is that the bureaucracy still controls the ruling power of the empire and continues to play the role of managing society.

But as long as people hold power and are not restricted, they will expand their own interests and reduce their own pressure, and these bureaucrats will naturally try their best to exploit the interests of the merchants.

With the rise of the peasants and the promulgation of anti-slavery laws and the implementation of policies such as the prohibition of forced labor and the apportionment of land to the acre, it was difficult for the bureaucracy to extract sufficient profits from the peasants.

As a result, they can only claim benefits from the business class, i.e., individuals and merchants.

This has increased the contradiction between the bureaucracy and the capitalist group.

At the same time, the ranks of these bureaucrats will continue to grow because of power rent-seeking, just as in the past, more and more people were forced to go to the countryside to collect the peasants and more and more people tried to become errand laborers, and now more and more taxmen are being levied.

Although Zhu Youzhen did not directly manage the administration, he also knew through the investigation of Dongchang that the tax collectors in a county of Yingtianfu had reached 10,000 people, but there were less than 100 Zhengding people who belonged to the official establishment.

Zhu Youzhen didn't know how these ten-fold excess tax collectors would survive, and how much profit the industrial and commercial class would have to give to support them.

However, Zhu Youzhen knew that this would undoubtedly lead to the fact that as the dynasty entered the later stage of the development of the dynasty, and with the increase in the number of court officials, privileged servants, and even scholars, it would inevitably lead to the group that exploited the common people getting bigger and bigger, and the bureaucratic group that exploited industry and commerce would also grow stronger and stronger in the future, and eventually lead to the bankruptcy of the entire industrial and commercial class, just like the common people to rebel.

However, whether the results of these industrial and commercial class rebellions and those caused by the peasants will be different, Zhu Youzhen does not know.

As the emperor, Zhu Youzhen is now very confused, and it stands to reason that he should support the cabinet and the entire bureaucracy represented by the cabinet, because he wants to rely on this bureaucracy to exercise his imperial power and maintain his rule.

But he himself feared that the bureaucracy would undermine the stability it had established, and that it would provoke the people to revolt because of its excesses.

As for the capital group, he hopes that they can grow stronger, and hope that they can completely change the economic model of small farmers in the Ming Dynasty, but he is worried that they will be too profit-seeking, so that the Ming Empire will be in a state of disunity, and even disregard laws and public morality because of their greed.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen hoped that they would be bound by the law and the government, forcing them not to exploit the workers too much.

Zhu Youzhen walked out of the palatial bank hall, came to a teahouse by the lake in civilian clothes and sat down, the decoration of the whole teahouse looks very literary, and the walls made of glazed windows and white marble show the extraordinary.

The handsome girl wearing a newly-made woolen tweed coat walked up to Zhu Youzhen: "Sir, what kind of tea do you drink?" ”

Zhu Youzhen ordered it casually, and looked around, and on the beautifully carved mahogany chairs around were sitting well-dressed young men and women, and they were all full of confident smiles, but they did not forget to complain about the boss and the current situation.

"It's noon, and the people who come here to drink tea are all employees of several major banks, all first-class citizens, and the worst ones are graduates of higher education."

Although Yang Mingshen was the president of the Central Bank of Daming, he still followed, obviously he was unwilling to easily let go of the opportunity to express his political intentions in front of Zhu Youzhen.

After Zhu Youzhen heard him say this, he did see the sign on the door that said "Non-first-class citizens are not allowed to enter".

"How do you distinguish between a first-class citizen and a second- and third-class citizen?"

Zhu Youzhen asked casually.

"It stands to reason that citizens of the Ming Dynasty now use identity certificates, and once they are faked, they will be divided by severe punishments such as tattooing, etc., but the lower officials have issued an order, in the territory of Yingtian, only first-class citizens are allowed to wear colored clothes, Your Majesty, you are wearing a brocade robe, they will naturally let you in, otherwise you will be stopped outside."

It was Bai Yunzhen, the governor of Yingtian, who came in to speak, and this person was obviously not willing to give up the opportunity to get close to Zhu Youzhen.

(End of chapter)