Oh, yes! Where do all the taxes go?

Emperor Tianqi and Wei Zhongxian both thought at the same time that compared with the Wanli period, the tax revenue of the Tianqi Dynasty would be reduced by at least three percent or more, but the world is still that world, some people talk about natural disasters and man-made disasters and the war in Liaodong, but the Wanli Dynasty also has natural disasters and man-made disasters, and there are three major expeditions in the later period, which all cost a lot, not less than the cost of Liao.

Gao Jingfei continued:

"Every time Wanli Ye wants to increase the commercial tax, he is opposed by hundreds of officials in the world, but he just sends factory guards to collect mining taxes, and the people are even more slandered, saying that the emperor wants to compete with the people for profit! He also came up with the sad and ridiculous thing of the so-called tombstone of the five people, which was widely praised in the Shilin, saying that the five of them were heroic gentlemen, in my opinion, but the landlords and gentry pushed out to resist the normal taxation of the state stupid people and bad people! ”

"Compete with the people, hehe! But who is this people? Is it a poor farmer who is diligent and diligent, pointing to God all year round? Or the little people who do small business with their craft? Or the wharf and the landlord's long-term worker? ”

asked several questions, and without waiting for Zhu Youxiao and the two to answer, Gao Jingfei sneered and gave the answer and said:

"The people in the mouths of those scholars don't put the world's leaders in it at all, their people are just scholars and businessmen behind them! In their eyes, the small people of Shengdou are just like livestock, and they are not even as good as livestock, knowing that a cow can sell for a lot of silver! During the famine, the people planted the label and sold the first two taels of silver, but no one cared about it......"

A sonorous remark made Wei Zhongxian's heart excited, very relieved, and he didn't know how to express it for a while, but he clapped his fists on the spot and shouted:

"Okay, you are a Taoist, you really talked about our family's heart......"

As a royal servant, he has always represented the emperor to fight against those civil servants, although Wei Zhongxian feels that he is the one who stands on the side of justice, but every time in public opinion, he will always be slandered and slandered by those clear streams, mentioning his old Wei Yan will be called eunuch and traitor, ashamed to be with him, It seems that eunuchs in power is a big crime.

But he knew that something was wrong, but he didn't know how to refute it, so he could only look for flaws in those clear streams.

But those Qingliu people take their reputation very seriously, even if he controls the factory guards to monitor and probe them in all directions, only a few of them are caught, and more have not found many problems, in addition to the other party's hidden good, it is also those people who are really ruthless to themselves for the sake of fame, and restraining desire is the basic operation for those who read.

Now that someone has finally exposed the old background of those clear streams, and provided him with a reason to stand on the moral high ground to deal with those big turbans!

How can such a nine-thousand-year-old not be happy to bubble?

The Emperor of the Apocalypse questioned at this time:

"Qin Daoren, the people you are talking about are all Qingliu celebrities, all of them are people with both virtue and virtue, even in the people, they are quite famous, and Wei Daban has also been specially investigated in terms of officials, and they can all be said to be Qing officials who can no longer be clear, although they have repeatedly contradicted me, but it seems that they are also for the Ming Dynasty, and they are all dedicated to the public......"

Gao Jingfei sneered again when he heard this:

"What a joke, what's wrong with the Qing official? Qing officials are not greedy, but what beneficial things have they done for the country and the court? What's more, those so-called Qingliu may show themselves to be clean and clean, dedicated to the public, and even sometimes wronged themselves to show their innocence, but in fact, it is just for the sake of their former and posterior fame, which is also their highest Confucian pursuit! ”

"But they are Qing officials, but their relatives, behind their backs, are they all clean?"

"The small people in the world use the taxes saved in their own mouths to support the income of the hundred officials, but the hundred officials do not have the lives of the small people in their hearts, and would rather sit and watch the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes become more and more onerous, forcing the people to sell their sons and daughters and starve to death at home, rather than giving up a little profit to let the court collect more commercial taxes and mining taxes to make up for the vacancy in the imperial court!"

"If Your Majesty doesn't believe it, Duke Wei can mobilize the factory guards to investigate, is there a good family member behind these clear streams, and the net worth is hugely rich? Or do they support some wealthy businessmen to abuse their power for personal gain? Even if there is none, then there must be a hidden benefit behind it, even if they don't do it themselves, but they can't stand the people around them will do it in their name, don't you know it? ”

The emperor and Wei Zhongxian were not stupid people, and they immediately understood this in their hearts after listening to it.

Oh, yes! Those who can pass the Jinshi examination, who can mix in officialdom for many years, how many of them are not human spirits? Even if you don't do it, do you really not notice the behavior of your subordinates and people around you at all? Or are they acquiescing to this?

"Okay! That's great......"

Wei Zhongxian's joy began to be hideous for a while, and he gritted his teeth.

Heaven can see mercy, how much he Lao Wei has been scolded, and his reputation is stinky, and finally let him find a loophole to pry this group of iron-clad Qingliu civil officials!

The Emperor of the Apocalypse on the side was the first time to see his eldest companion in such a gaffe, and he couldn't help but laugh, obviously this was the hope of turning over after many years of humiliation.

However, he also felt hated in his heart for the civil officials and doctors who fooled him as the emperor.

On the one hand, I hate them for shielding the Holy Hearing in order to fight for power and profit, and on the other hand, I am even more saddened by the behavior of these gentry and bureaucrats who disregard the people of the world and the safety of the Ming Dynasty for the sake of interests!

After the two of them eased their emotions for a while, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but stand up and salute, and said to Gao Jingfei:

"Thank you Qin Daoren for your advice!"

Wei Zhongxian, who was on the other side, also hurriedly bowed and said:

"That is, I Lao Wei still want to thank Qin Daoren, but these words pointed out the direction for my Dongchang and Jinyiwei!"

Gao Jingfei was polite, turned sideways and received Zhu Youxiao's half-salute, and then suggested to Wei Zhongxian:

"If the governor wants to move those clear streams, he must be quick and accurate, beat the snake and hit seven inches, do not give them the opportunity to manipulate public opinion, first tell the world their viciousness, their reputation is stinky, see how the people of the world look at them!"

"In addition, if the governor wants to investigate, I think it should start with the salt merchants in Lianghuai or the Jin merchants in Jindi, both of which actually have a clear relationship behind them."

Wei Zhongxian immediately asked with a twinkle in his eyes:

"How?"

"The great wealth of the two Huai salt merchants is known to the world, but they don't know that each of them has a wealth of no less than a million taels of silver, or even millions. Although the resistance behind them will be very strong, and the salt merchants themselves are supported by Jiangnan Qingliu and the nobles, but the harvest will also be great. ”

Hearing those numbers, don't talk about Lao Wei, even the emperor Zhu Youxiao was a little dumbfounded, that was really a rich country. The Ming Dynasty nominally earns more than 10 million taels a year, but there is not much silver that is really seen, and the balance of the treasury of the household department is only one million taels when the year is good, and it is still the time of the Wanli Dynasty.

When it was Zhu Youxiao's turn to ascend the throne, the grandfather's family was almost wiped out, and it was really worse year by year.

And now he, the emperor, actually controls less money than a businessman?

Gao Jingfei continued:

"On the Jin Shang side, I heard the rumors that there were a few companies secretly transporting important materials such as salt, iron, and grain to Jianzhou. However, they also have the relationship between the border army generals and the Jin merchant party in the DPRK, although the Jin party in the DPRK is different from the Donglin faction with the base camp in Jiangnan, but there are also many connections in secret, and if you want to act, you must mobilize enough and loyal people, otherwise I am afraid that the team will pass and will be swallowed silently. ”

Gao Jingfei didn't say in detail, he believed that with Wei Zhongxian's ability and the intelligence network of Dongchang and Jinyiwei, figuring out these shouldn't be a problem, and it was their own business where to start when the time came.

"Our family knows, thank you Qin Daoren for mentioning it!"

When Wei Zhongxian heard this, he arched his hand, and a trace of fierceness suddenly flashed in his eyes.

The salt merchants sold illicit salt, tax evasion and other behaviors, not to mention, the Jin merchants have always fornicated with the border land and even the grassland tribes, but now the war situation in Liaodong is self-scorching, and the imperial court is paying millions of military salaries every year.

Others can tolerate these profiteers and scum, and he can't rub sand in his eyes!