"If you don't pay taxes to the city and go to sea privately, you are fornicating with the Japanese and disobeying the court, which is really a big rebellion!" Mao Liangzhe continued, his tone becoming more and more harsh.

"We are fornicators, so what about you? Won't you also come to the Wa Kingdom to trade with the Wa people? Suddenly, a maritime merchant stood up and retorted loudly.

Idiot! The other maritime merchants couldn't help but curse in their hearts.

"We are the Royal Maritime Trade Company, a fleet approved by His Majesty, and a ship approved by His Majesty to trade with the Japanese Kingdom, how can we be a Japanese trader?" Mao Liangzhe sneered.

"Hmph, Your Majesty, how can you do such a thing as a businessman, let alone compete with the people, I'm afraid that someone is using the banner of Your Majesty to satisfy your own selfish desires, but you will splash sewage on Your Majesty's head." The merchant continued.

"Why, do you want me to show you His Majesty's edict? You deserve it! Mao Liangzhe said coldly, "As for competing with the people, the Royal Maritime Trade Company earns the silver of the Japanese Kingdom, how can it be to compete with the people for profit, and besides, you maritime merchants who don't even pay commercial taxes can be regarded as good citizens?" ”

When the maritime merchant was about to say more, Zheng Zhilong suddenly stood up, pointed at him and said sharply: "Come on, arrest this person who fornicates with the Japanese general." ”

Several heavily armed soldiers rushed over and grabbed the man like a chicken, and the maritime merchants were in an uproar, but no one dared to move.

"Master Zheng, it was you who invited us to come to the meeting in the next post, arrest people here, and spread it in the rivers and lakes, I'm afraid it will be bad for your reputation." Someone stood up and said angrily to Zheng Zhilong.

"Please call me General Zheng!" Zheng Zhilong smiled coldly, "I am now the general of coastal defense in the imperial court, Lord Mao represents the emperor, and the two of us are the official government here. ”

The big hat was pressed down, and the other maritime merchants dared to be angry but did not dare to speak.

A lot of people suddenly regret that they came here. Because no one thought that Zheng Zhilong and Mao Liangzhe would openly use the emperor to oppress people. Although it is said that this is the country of Wa, a land outside the world, but the emperor is the emperor, and no one dares to offend the emperor, unless they don't want to go back to the Ming Dynasty. If you don't come, you can pretend not to know, what is the love, the big deal is to set sail and return to the mainland immediately, even if there is no monsoon, at most you can walk on the sea for a little more time, and you can always return to Daming.

However, no one would have thought that Zheng Zhilong and Mao Liangzhe would directly show the emperor to suppress people, after all, it is not a glorious thing to go to sea and trade with the Japanese Kingdom, and it is not good to hear it out, even those gentry in the southeast are also secretly secretly going to sea to trade, and no one will be open.

The gentry are still like this, and the emperor is the same, if it is rumored that the emperor openly sent people to do business with the Wa Kingdom, where is the majesty of the Son of Heaven? This is no longer as simple as competing with the people for profit.

Therefore, Zheng Zhilong and Mao Liangzhe did not play cards according to the routine, which really caught the maritime merchants off guard.

"Lord Zheng, Lord Mao, is it really Your Majesty who sent you to do business in the Wa Kingdom? If it is true, we are naturally the only two adults who will be ordered to do it" Someone suddenly stood up and said with compassion.

Mao Liangzhe looked at it with his eyes and recognized it as a maritime merchant from Guangdong. Mao Liangzhe understood what this person's question meant, if he dared to say yes, after returning to the Ming Dynasty, there would be a lot of music to fly to Beijing, sent to His Majesty's case, and would announce this matter to the world, so that everyone in the world would know that the emperor personally participated in the maritime trade.

These people are not considered to be maritime merchants, but they all have gentry backgrounds behind them, and if the nearly 100 maritime merchants present or the gentry behind the representatives of maritime merchants are counted, they are almost all over the three southeastern provinces, and they also have huge forces in the DPRK and China. They have the ability to set off a huge public opinion in the world, a public opinion that is very unfavorable to the emperor's reputation!

Mao Liangzhe pondered for a moment, and after pondering for a while, he said slowly: "In Xiayuan, he was a professor at the Commercial School under the Royal Academy of Sciences to be called by the Hanlin Academy, and he was ordered by the emperor to go to Fujian in order to raise silver taels for His Majesty.

His Majesty could not bear to levy taxes on the people, so he could only think of earning some silver to subsidize the state. Before I arrived in Fujian, His Majesty personally told me that as long as it is beneficial to the country and the people, and to fill the treasury without increasing the burden on the small people, I can do it. That's why I and General Zheng and others prepared to establish the Royal Maritime Trade Firm, in order to profit from the sea to help His Majesty subsidize the state.

So if we say that we were sent by His Majesty, we can say the same. After all, every tael of silver we earn will be sent to Beijing and handed over to Your Majesty. ”

The maritime merchants present discussed in a low voice, they didn't expect Mao Liangzhe to admit it directly, and they didn't expect that the imperial court was short of silver to such a point, and the dignified emperor would not hesitate to make money through sea trade.

"The benefits of sea trade are very great, you know that I know that everyone in the world knows it. From the beginning of Longqing, the imperial court had in fact gradually lifted the ban on the sea, allowing merchants to trade at sea. But the premise is to pay taxes to the imperial court through the city department. However, the tax silver that the city port company pays to the national treasury every year is only tens of thousands of taels every year, which is really a drop in the ocean compared with the huge profits of maritime trade.

You and others are Ming merchants, and the goods sold overseas are all produced by the land of the Ming Dynasty, and it is natural to pay commercial taxes. If no one in the world pays taxes, how can the imperial court operate, the imperial court has no money, how can it be taken care of externally, and how can it be used internally?

The imperial court is the court of the people of the world, and it is also your court, and it is the court that protects all the people of the world, so that you can do business freely and make money. If there is no imperial court, the general will be driven south, burned, killed, looted and crossed the Yangtze River, and you can still make money safely?

The Royal Maritime Trade Company was established at the behest of His Majesty, and it should share His Majesty's worries and relieve the imperial court. However, in the Ming Dynasty, we don't know how many people participated in maritime trade. Now that I have come to the Wa country, it is clear who is involved in the sea trade.

Therefore, General Zheng and I convened you and others to discuss together how to share your majesty's worries. ”

Mao Liangzhe said righteously, and all the maritime merchants looked at each other. Share worries for the emperor, how to share worries, is it because you want to let the big guy give money?

If the number is small, you can consider it then, after all, you have to give the emperor a face, if the number is too large, then you have to refuse, there are so many people here, there is a fleet behind each of them, everyone adds up to hundreds of ships on the sea, and the crew is more than 10,000, which is several times that of the Royal Maritime Trade Company.

Anyway, this is the Wa Kingdom, so what can you do if you kill this surnamed Mao and the surnamed Zheng? At that time, it will be a big deal to push it on the head of the Japanese Kou, and the emperor will not be able to pursue it!

"Master Mao, what do you want, let's draw a line." Someone said impatiently.

"You haven't paid the commercial tax in Daming, so make up for it here, the Royal Maritime Trade House was built by His Majesty's order, and is qualified to collect taxes on behalf of His Majesty. The tax rate, some time ago, His Majesty set up a tax department to collect commercial tax according to the ratio of eleven, so the tax on maritime trade will be levied according to the eleven, one-tenth of the goods you sell in the country! Mao Liangzhe smiled.

"Eleven, you're crazy!" Someone exclaimed.

Transporting goods from the Ming Dynasty to the Wa Kingdom, even if it is ordinary goods, can be sold for two or three times the profit, and it is common for a shipload of goods to be exchanged for half a shipload of silver. The maritime merchants present, which one does not earn hundreds of thousands of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, if you count the sales, all the maritime merchants present sell a total of almost one or two million taels of silver! Of course, a considerable part of them exist in the form of goods, after all, they do not want the ship to be empty, and they will carry a large number of Japanese products on the return trip, such as Japanese knives, folding fans, etc., and of course, the largest cargo is still refined copper and sulfur and other Japanese minerals.

If the tax is levied according to the eleventh ratio, the commercial tax that the Royal Sea Trade Company can collect is at least two million taels, which is obviously a silver grab!

"It can't be!" The maritime merchants shouted one after another, all of them extremely angry.

braved the wind and waves to go to the Wa Kingdom, and a large piece of the silver earned was cut away, who would be happy to exchange it?

"Nothing is impossible. It is a matter of course to pay business taxes! If you refuse to pay, just wait for the wrath from the court! Mao Liangzhe said coldly.

"If anyone dares not to pay, Lao Tzu will make him unable to return to Daming, that is, he will return to Daming, and General Li will also send an army to exterminate his family, and the crime is to be a messenger!" Zheng Zhilong slapped the table and shouted.

Threat, the threat of Chiguoguo, the faces of all the maritime merchants have changed greatly!

"Lord Mao, General Zheng, aren't you afraid of the recurrence of the rebellion back then? It's a big deal that I will wait for the sea to be a coward, and I will never return to the Ming Dynasty from now on, but if countless Japanese invaders attack the provinces, I'm afraid the two of you can't afford it, right? "There is a maritime threat.

During the Jiajing period, the imperial court imposed a sea ban, forcing out a war that lasted for many years, tens of thousands of Japanese invaders attacked the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty, and killed as far as the outside of Nanjing, forcing the imperial court to spend countless silver dollars to suppress the Japanese rebellion. In fact, many people know that it was not the Japanese who caused this turmoil at all, but the Ming maritime merchants represented by Wang Zhi and the gentry on the southeast coast.

The nearly 100 maritime merchants present were all over Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong provinces, and the interests of too many gentry were at stake behind them.

Mao Liangzhe laughed: "That feeling is good." ”

"Not to mention that now in different Jiajing years, the Japanese shogunate closed off the country, and did not pay attention to foreign affairs at all, and it was almost impossible to find many Japanese invaders. And even if you can gather tens of thousands of pirates, how can it be?

Not to mention that General Li of Fujian has trained tens of thousands of elite soldiers, that is, General Li can't resist the Japanese invaders, and there are still 100,000 Praetorian Guards in the north, all of which are trained by His Majesty himself!

Although you have been traveling at sea all year round, you should also know some of the situation in the north. Now, the Praetorian Guard has taken most of Liaodong, killing hundreds of thousands of Jiannu people, Jiannu is now only left in Liaodong with only one lonely city of Shenyang, and the Nanu chief Huang Taiji has been forced to flee to the grassland.

In other words, Jiannu is no longer a threat to the Ming Dynasty, if necessary, His Majesty can transfer tens of thousands of Praetorian Guards from Liaodong at any time, and it is the elite of the world who killed Jiannu and fled.

Tens of thousands of guards are heading south, not to mention tens of thousands of pirates, even hundreds of thousands, so what's the fear? At that time, it is just time to sweep away the supporters behind the Japanese pirates, and make a good fortune in the southeast, and let the gentry and people in the southeast know that the southeast is still Your Majesty's country! ”

Mao Liangzhe's words made the maritime merchants shudder, imagining the situation of tens of thousands of elite border troops going south, and then the entire southeast was ruined, and the gentry and wealthy merchants were raided one by one, and they were all afraid.

Mao Liangzhe is right, no matter how powerful the gentry in the southeast are, they only control the countryside, and the world is still the world of the Zhu family, and no one can compete with the imperial army.

If it really comes to that point, himself, the proprietor behind him, and even the entire gentry and people in the southeast will suffer!

"Your Majesty, how can Your Majesty transfer border troops south?" There was a murmur from a maritime merchant.

"You have said that there will be tens of thousands of Japanese invaders on the coast of the Ming Dynasty, and the southeast is a heavy tax area for the imperial court, so Your Majesty will naturally send a large army to expel the Japanese invaders." Mao Liangzhe said with a smile.

The sea merchants looked at each other and talked in low voices, and no one dared to speak again.

"You are just a few maritime merchants, and many of them are pirates and pirates, and this official knows that you are used to lawlessness in maritime merchants. But you are no longer lawless, in front of Your Majesty, you are just an ant, and you only need a finger to twist it lightly, and you can ruin your family. You are not qualified to bargain with the Royal Maritime Trading House!

I say it again, this year, you have to hand over the sales of eleven to the Royal Maritime Trade Company, dare to disobey and do not pay, our business ship will immediately destroy it, even if you can't destroy it in the Wa Kingdom, and when you return to the Ming Dynasty, you will definitely be wiped out of your ancestors. I have been in the country for more than a month, and the details of your waiting have long been clearly investigated by me, and I don't think I can escape.

Today I won't wait for you, I'll let you go back. After you go back, although you think clearly, do you pay the merchant tax in full, or do you make enemies of the royal maritime traders?

There will be a north wind in about a month, and those who refuse to pay commercial taxes before the north wind rises, they don't have to pay it in the future, and my Daming Shui Master will come to collect it!

That's it for the first time this year. After returning to the Ming Dynasty, I will agree on the rules of His Majesty, all ships that go to sea in the future must be approved by the Royal Maritime Trade Firm, and they can only go to sea after paying commercial taxes. Mao Liangzhe said coldly.

He is an imperial businessman, with the support of the emperor behind him, and the support of the entire Fujian army, so he doesn't need to be with these maritime mushrooms at all, and he can directly come hard. Mao Liangzhe believes that even if the matter reaches the imperial court, the emperor will definitely support him! After all, if you subdue these maritime merchants and let them take the initiative to pay commercial taxes, they don't have to do anything every year, and they can collect millions of taels of silver!

For this millions of taels of silver every year, Mao Liangzhe believes that even if the emperor really sends 100,000 troops south, the emperor will definitely agree!

And at this point, these maritime merchants have no other choice, either bow their heads and pay the commercial tax, or decide to be enemies of the royal maritime traders, and the rest is to work hard.

As long as you have done this, you don't have to work hard to make money from now on!