In the Ming Dynasty system, the royal family could not intermarry with powerful and high-ranking officials, and both princes and princesses could only marry commoners, which effectively prevented the dictatorship of foreign relatives. And because most of these relatives are civilians, they don't have much knowledge and ability.

For example, Zhou Kui, the abbot of the country, is both greedy and stingy, and he doesn't know the overall situation. On weekdays, he relied on the identity of the national ruler to run rampant, bullying the people and stealing tricks, but when he heard that Zhao Shujiao opened the killing ring, he immediately softened and did not dare to resist hard.

Then when Gongshun Hou Wu Weixian and other nobles came to the door to instigate a little, thinking about the tax and silver that he was forced to pay, Zhou Kui was unwilling, he was frightened by the little officials, it was too undignified, and he had to pay taxes, how could there be such a reason?

"You are the father of the king, the queen, and the tax department has bullied you and refused to leave you even a little dignity, which is simply hateful! If the queen learns about this, she doesn't know how to be sad. Wu Weixian sighed.

"I will enter the palace today and tell the queen that Zhao Shujiao is a case." Zhou Kui said angrily.

"So I'll wait for the good news of the country." Wu Weixian and the others said goodbye and left.

After sending Wu Weixian and the others away, Zhou Kui quickly returned to the hall, personally opened the wooden box brought by Wu Weixian, and smiled when he looked at the box full of gold ingots.

He originally wanted to go to the palace to complain, but he didn't expect that someone would give a gift specifically for this, which was really a windfall.

"Come on, serve the master to change clothes!" Zhou Kui shouted.

It is naturally very easy for a dignified abbot to enter the palace. Empress Zhou personally greeted the door of the dormitory, and when she saw her daughter, Zhou Kui immediately showed a sad face.

"Why is my father sad?" Seeing Zhou Kui's expression, Queen Zhou hurriedly asked.

"Mother, my father is being bullied." Zhou Kui wiped his tears and said.

Empress Zhou suddenly frowned: "What's the matter, tell me quickly." ”

The dignified prince was bullied, which made Queen Zhou very angry, but she was angry and suspicious, and felt a little incredible, is there anyone in Beijing who dares to bully her father?

"It was the newly sealed Ping Liaobo, who sent people to his father's silk village and fought to force him to pay commercial taxes for his father. Queen, for her father's father, the Earl of Daming, was persecuted by the officials, and besides, the noble family was originally tax-free, so Zhao Shujiao clearly did not take his father in his eyes! It's hateful that Zhao Shujiao is too domineering, and it is simply mad to hear that he fought against Gongshun Hou and killed more than ten family members of Gongshun Hou in front of Gongshun Hou. ”

Zhou Kui said with added vinegar, describing Zhao Shujiao as a tyrannical barbarian, a bastard who does all kinds of evil, and said that he was pitiful, weak and helpless.

Empress Zhou listened quietly, and the anger at the beginning gradually disappeared, and her expression became calm. She knows about the establishment of the Tax Department, and she also knows how bad the current imperial court's finances are, and she also understands Zhu Youzhen's painstaking efforts, just for the sake of the imperial court's income, so she has decided to lead the palace to reduce clothing and diet and practice frugality.

"Father, isn't it just to pay some taxes and silver, the Jiading Bofu family has a big business, why bother to fight over this bit of silver, and let the ministers see the joke." Empress Zhou said lightly.

"Queen, although our family has a big business, but the population is also large, those brothers of yours are all incompetent, and they can't survive on their own alone, so they have to buy some industries and do some business for their father. You also know that your father is kind-hearted and not very good at business, and these businesses can't make a lot of money at all, just barely making ends meet, but the tax department needs four or five thousand taels of silver at a time, where can my father afford it? Zhou Kui cried poorly.

Queen Zhou was extremely troubled by what he said, so she could only say: "The Taxation Department was established by His Majesty in order to raise money to help the victims of Shandong and Henan, but the daughter, as the queen, cannot interfere in the affairs of the imperial court, and the harem is not allowed to interfere in the rules of politics. In this way, my daughter still has some savings here, and your father can take them and hand them over to the tax department as commercial taxes. ”

As long as he got some silver, Zhou Kui was very unwilling, thinking about the gold sent by Wu Weixian and others, and said: "Your Majesty is naturally supportive of the establishment of the Tax Department as his father, but it is not appropriate to use that Zhao Shujiao as the Division, I heard that Zhao Shujiao can only fight, and he doesn't understand anything else, so he can't do the Tax Department at all, he can fight against Gongshun Hou today, and he will kill other nobles tomorrow, and I am afraid that my father will make trouble out of control in the long run, and I miss Your Majesty's major event, daughter, you still have to talk to Your Majesty when you are free, It's better to have someone else do it. ”

Wu Weixian and others also knew that it was impossible to persuade the emperor to abolish the tax department through the empress, so they only thought about removing Zhao Shujiao. Although Zhao Shujiao does not understand literature and ink, and does not understand taxation, it is the absolute core of the Taxation Department, if there is no Zhao Shujiao, the killing god, it is impossible for those officials of the Taxation Department to collect commercial taxes, and any nobleman can suppress them. That Zhao Shujiao killed several people this time, and he really went too far, the queen and the emperor have a very good relationship, and the wind blowing the pillow can most likely move His Majesty to change people. This is the plan of Wu Weixian and others.

Listening to Zhou Kui's words, Queen Zhou frowned, and after thinking for a long time, she shook her head: "Father, forgive me, the affairs of the court are beyond the daughter's interference." ”

Seeing that Queen Zhou could not be persuaded no matter what, Zhou Kui had no choice but to leave the palace. Although there are some regrets, but there are also some gains, in order to appease him, Queen Zhou gave him a full 5,000 taels of silver.

This silver should be enough to pay commercial taxes, no, you have to bargain with the people of the tax department, and pay a maximum of three thousand taels of tax!

In the afternoon, Zhu Youzhen came to Kunning Palace after handling government affairs, and after chatting, he asked casually: "Have you heard that the national lord is here today?" ”

Empress Zhou smiled and nodded: "Father came to see the concubine." ”

"Is there anything else going on?" Zhu Youzhen said with a smile.

Empress Zhou was silent for a moment and smiled slightly: "If you talk about some family matters, you won't bother Your Majesty." ”

Zhu Youzhen laughed, very satisfied with Empress Zhou's attitude.

How could what happened in the tax department be hidden from him, Zhu Youzhen naturally knew the purpose of Zhou Kui's entry into the palace.

To tell the truth, Zhao Shujiao's tax collection move was really unexpected by Zhu Youzhen, he didn't expect Zhao Shujiao to fight blatantly, and directly killed Wu Weixian's two buddies, and arrested more than 20 people. It's so simple and crude!

Zhao Shujiao's actions have exceeded the authority of the Taxation Department, killing people and arresting people is not what the Taxation Department should do, how can those officials in the imperial court tolerate Zhao Shujiao's chaos?

Zhu Youzhen can imagine how many impeachment recitals will be delivered to him early tomorrow morning. It gave him a bit of a headache.

"If you have a wife like this, what more can a husband ask for?" Stroking Zhou Hou's hand, Zhu You sighed.

The things in the court will be talked about in the future, at least in this harem, Zhu Youzhen is still very satisfied.

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