The weavers in Suzhou made trouble, and the gentry naturally instigated it, and the local gentry and court officials cooperated closely, and the purpose was naturally to drive away the eunuchs who were in the way.

Unexpectedly, the eunuch was withdrawn, and Zhu Youzhen had to send the tax department to replace the eunuch, isn't this a busy job in vain?

What is the Taxation Department, the court officials have seen it in the past few months, and the emperor has used the Taxation Department to make the nobles in Beijing want to die. Originally, the civil officials still thought that it was the nobles who suffered the loss, and the emperor also said that it was expedient to collect business taxes only in the city of Beijing. Unexpectedly, the emperor would send the tax department away, and the plan of rights and interests became the norm.

Knowing this, we should have strongly opposed the Department of Taxation in the first place and strangled this provisional institution in its cradle. Many officials in the court deeply regretted this incident.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid there is something wrong with this move, Your Majesty set up the Tax Department to raise money to help the victims affected by the heavy snow in Shandong and Henan, and now the snow disaster has passed, and the victims in Kaifeng, Liaocheng and other places have also returned home, and the Tax Department should be banned. Moreover, there is only a tax customs yamen in the local government, and the local government is responsible for the collection of commercial taxes, and then dispatching the tax department is equivalent to increasing the burden on the people, which is really suspected of competing with the people for profit, I hope Your Majesty will think about it carefully. Su Maoxiang, the left attendant of the household department, stood up and solemnly admonished.

Su Maoxiang is a native of Jin'an, Quanzhou, and has a close relationship with the Fujian gentry, when Li Yanzhi dealt with the Quanzhou merchant gang, Su Maoxiang spoke for the Quanzhou gentry, but later saw that the evidence in Li Yanzhi's hand was conclusive and shrunk back.

In the past year, Su Maoxiang has received many letters from Fujian in the same year, knowing how the Royal Maritime Trade Company is now domineering, and last year the Fujian gentry and maritime merchants had more than 10 ships copied, and the losses were very large. The affairs of the maritime merchants were illegal, and Su Maoxiang could not speak for the Fujian maritime merchants in the court. But now that the emperor wants to send the tax department, he has to stand up and oppose it. Once the expatriate tax division is successful, the gentry will suffer even more losses. The existence of the Royal Maritime Trading House only harmed the maritime business, and the Department of Taxation feared that all the gentry would suffer from the loss of business.

"Your Majesty think carefully, don't compete with the people for profit!" Tang Shiji, the waiter of the Criminal Department, also stood up, Tang Shiji is a native of Zhejiang, his family has 10,000 acres of land, silk reeling workshop, silk weaving workshop, etc., relying on business, and his family has millions of silver.

"Your Majesty, you must not compete with the people for profit!" More officials stepped forward and gossiped.

Looking at the adopted sons of these civil officials with bare faces, Zhu Youzhen sneered in his heart. He knew that his move was a blow to them, and his methods to the nobles some time ago had already made these civil officials fearful.

"Competing with the people for profit, what does it mean to compete with the people for profit?" Zhu Youzhen stood up and said sharply, "Farmers have to pay land taxes for farming, and businessmen naturally have to pay business taxes when they do business, which is a matter of course. The purpose of the expatriate tax department is to collect commercial taxes for the imperial court, not to exploit ordinary people, so how can we compete with the people for profit? ”

"Your Majesty, having said that, many things affect the whole body." Su Maoxiang sighed, "Take silk merchants as an example, from silkworm raising to silk reeling to printing and dyeing and then weaving into silk, every link requires a large number of workers, and these workers are ordinary people who rely on hard work to support their families. All aspects of the workshop have to pay taxes, silk merchants will also pay taxes to the local government when purchasing, if His Majesty set up a tax department, if there is one more tax, it will inevitably make the silk merchants unprofitable, and the silk merchants can only reduce the purchase price of silk in order to make a profit, and then the price of printing, dyeing and weaving silk reeling silk is also lowered, and eventually will lower the income of the working people, this is not a competition with the people? ”

Su Maoxiang said politely and politely, logical and cautious, Zhu Youzhen didn't understand the business link, and he didn't know how to refute it for a while, so he looked at Wen Tiren and other "henchmen". Wen Tiren shrunk his neck, pretending not to see the emperor's gaze, and hung his head silently. Wen Tiren is also from Zhejiang, and his family also has a business, so he naturally knows the omissions in Su Maoxiang's words, and he also knows how to refute them.

But if you stand up and refute it, you will inevitably offend most of the civil officials in the court, and it will offend the kind of offense that is dead. And if you set up a tax department, your own business will inevitably be affected, the reason why Wen Tiren is not greedy for money, and the reason why he is so honest is because his family has money, which not only offends most of the civil officials, but also damages his own business, how can Wen Tiren do such a thing?

Seeing that Wen Tiren was reluctant to stand up, Zhu Youzhen looked at Hong Chengchou again. In this court, if you talk about your own people, there is only Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou saw the emperor's eyes, and naturally understood the emperor's thoughts, so he stood up.

"Su Shilang's words are fallacious! If it is said that the establishment of a tax department to collect business taxes will affect the livelihood of small people, it can only be said that those merchants are profiteers, and the merchants of silk reeling, printing and dyeing, and silk weaving are all profiteers, and the court must deal with such profiteers severely and strictly!

It is well known how much the benefits of silk are, and it will never be lost to the small workers if the imperial court collects some more commercial taxes. Besides, why should the profits of silk merchants be weakened to lower the price of silk, and why can't they raise some selling prices? Anyway, it's not the small people who can afford to wear silk! Hong Chengchou asked, pointing directly at the loopholes in Su Maoxiang's words.

"This ......" Su Maoxiang didn't know how to refute for a while.

"This is true of silk, and it is also true of other businesses. As His Majesty said, it is natural to pay taxes in business, and only when the imperial court collects more commercial taxes and the treasury has money, can it be used to help the small people and do big things. If the treasury has no money, it is the small people who suffer. The way of heaven is more than enough to make up for the shortcomings, this is exactly what the imperial court should do! As for the excessive burden on businessmen due to the overcharging of a commercial tax, it is because of the indiscriminate collection of taxes by the local government, and how to standardize the local tax system is what Su Shilang and your household officials should do. ”

After Hong Chengchou finished speaking, there was silence in the court. Hong Chengchou's brilliant words were reasonable, and many officials wanted to refute it and didn't know how to say it for a while. For emperors who don't understand business and people's livelihood, they can deceive with clever words, but for people like Hong Chengchou, using sophistry is just self-inflicted humiliation.

Moreover, the court is not only full of officials who only know their own interests, but also those who really do not care about selfish interests for the country and the people.

What Da Sima said was that the imposition of commercial taxes only harmed the interests of merchants and had nothing to do with the small people. Businessmen engage in business to make huge profits, and it is natural to pay business taxes. Li Banghua, the squire of the military department, stood up and expressed his support for Hong Chengchou.

"It is natural for businessmen to pay commercial taxes, and ministers also support the dispatch of expatriate tax departments." Some young and enthusiastic officials also stood up and expressed their support for the emperor.