The holidays are over, and work is resumed.

Zhao Han didn't approve many books, so he called Liu Ziren to ask, "What is the situation in this Sichuan tea class?" Chen Zilong, the Sichuan Zuobu government, how to suggest that the imperial court purchase and sell Sichuan tea"

Liu Ziren explained: Your Majesty, this tea from Sichuan and Shaanxi, since the Song Dynasty, has been received in two ways from tea classes elsewhere. Sichuan tea was used to trade Tibetan horses, and Shaanxi and Han Dynasty teas were used to trade Qinghai and Mongolian horses. The same was true in the Ming Dynasty, but due to the corruption of the tea government, tea farmers could not make ends meet, so they fled in large numbers and went into abandonment

During the Song Dynasty, Sichuan and Shaanxi tea was very good, and the output accounted for half of the country. In the Ming Dynasty, in order to engage in the tea and horse market, the imperial court purchased and sold Sichuan tea, but there were many twists and turns.

In order to build the Forbidden City in Beijing, Zhu Di levied a large number of conscripts in Sichuan. Many tea farmers were requisitioned to cut down trees deep in the mountains, and no one took care of the tea plantations, and large tracts of tea trees died.

At the same time, the tea and horse division was also corrupt, causing merchants to be reluctant to buy Sichuan tea. In the seventh year of Yongle, Sichuan tea only traded 70 lean horses. In the second year of Zhu Di's death, the new emperor checked the situation of Sichuan tea and found that the warehouse was full of unsold old tea, and the tea warehouse in Chengdu alone burned 210,000 catties of rotten tea.

Tea classes in the Ming Dynasty charged "tithes", but by the end of the Ming Dynasty, most of the tea plantations in the Sichuan Gorge were occupied by military attaches and powerful people. Then quoting the regulations of the Hongwu period, the "ownerless" tea garden was taken care of by the military households, and the health office directly took eighty percent of the tea income. The government is still collecting tea, and military households or tenants must continue to pay taxes.

Ming officials also tried to reform, taxing many so-called tea plantations according to the color of ordinary cultivated land. Some landlords were unable to make ends meet, so they took the opportunity to cut down tea trees and replant grain. This is also the reason why Zhao Han no longer sells tea after the founding of the country.

The tea policy of the Ming Dynasty has collapsed since the Zhu Di period, and the bureaucratic monopoly of the market is too unreliable, so it is better to issue licenses for merchants to buy and sell. Now Sichuan officials have suddenly gone up and asked for Sichuan tea to be re-sold.

Liu Ziren continued: The new dynasty opened the tea market; Sichuan-Shaanxi tea can be bought and sold freely, and there is no need to forcibly engage in tea and horse markets. In recent years, there have been more and more tea farmers in Sichuan, and the tea output has increased several times, but the license plate of Sichuan tea has not increased. "There is more tea and less business, and someone takes the opportunity to monopolize it? Zhao Han immediately guessed what the situation was. {

Liu Ziren said: "Those merchants joined forces to monopolize the market, and then lowered the price of tea farmers. I heard that the tea merchants in central Sichuan are also divided into districts, and a certain business monopolizes certain states and counties, and other merchants cannot collect tea even if they have licenses. Last year, Sichuan tea harvested, merchants once again joined forces to reduce prices, and the taxes on tea fields were heavy, and many tea farmers could no longer afford to pay their land taxes.

Zhao Han was quite angry, stomach tract; "This Chen Zilong, can't you say anything clearly? I had to write an unclear secret recital, and I asked for something to change to an official tea monopoly. Obviously, I am afraid that I will not be able to attract my attention, so I have to grandstand. ’

Among the scholars of the Restoration Society, Chen Zilong was also considered to have served earlier, and was promoted to the political envoy of Sichuan Zuobu two years ago. It is estimated that the Sichuan tea merchants can't be suppressed, so they came to secretly poke and poke to the emperor to present a secret fold. The largest tea merchant in Sichuan is the son of Gan Liangchen.

And Nagan Liangchen was the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan in the Ming Dynasty. After being dismissed and returning to his hometown, he became a small warlord in Sichuan, not only helping the Datong Army to fight, participating in the army to recover Chengdu, but also dedicating his troops and territory, and finally resigned after his success. Such an interesting veteran, how could Zhao Han not reward him?

Today, Gan Liangchen has long since died of illness, and his son has become the largest tea merchant in Sichuan by virtue of his franchise license. While befriending officials, he connected with businessmen, and actually gave Sichuan's tea business a semi-monopoly.

Without the emperor to speak, even if there were ten Chen Zilong, don't try to hold those tea merchants.

At this time, there was no "Anti-Monopoly Law", and all the actions of tea merchants were not criminal, at most they did not buy tea at the government's guide price. When encountering ordinary businessmen, Chen Zilong can fine or revoke his license, and when he encounters the descendants of meritorious heroes, there is no way.

Zhao Han immediately ordered "to issue an additional 20 Sichuan tea licenses, which will only be issued to non-Sichuan merchants, and let these tea merchants fight on their own." In addition, send travelers to reprimand the Gan family, so that the Gan children will be honest in the future!"

Obey! Liu Ziren gave up.

asked Liu Ziren to step back, and Zhao Han wrote back to Chen Zilong: If you have something to say, don't ask me to guess the riddle again. Last year's annual income was 53 million taels, and the agricultural tax was 32.86 million taels.

A large reason why agricultural taxes are so high is that local tax revenues are also included. In addition, for cash crops such as tea and tobacco, the land tax is very high, and it is also included in the agricultural tax.

In the past ten years, the area of tea and tobacco cultivation has been expanding, and the tea in Sichuan alone has doubled or tripled.

The paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River have been fully planted in rotation for cotton and rice, and the field tax has been adjusted accordingly, which is higher than that of simple grain fields and lower than that of simple cotton fields. In Shandong, there are very few cotton and rice rotations, because most of them are dry land, and the tax on cotton fields is relatively high.

After writing a reply to Chen Zilong, Zhao Han thought about it and wrote another edict: Order the Inspectorate to take the lead, and the Ministry of Finance and Datong Bank will follow up and immediately investigate the national tariffs!

Agricultural taxes have risen so rapidly that the increase in tariffs is obviously unreasonable. You must know that in recent years, coastal ports have been opened, and the volume of foreign trade has continued to increase, but the growth rate of tariffs has not met Zhao Han's expectations.

Last year's national tariff was 9.01 million taels, and Zhao Han estimated that after a thorough investigation by the Inspectorate, it may rise to more than 12 million taels. A few years ago, I encouraged sea trade, but I didn't do it, and now it's time to start the operation. Tibet and Heilongjiang will usher in another group of exiles.

Rectify tariffs this year and industrial and commercial taxes next year, and there will be no shortage of criminals anyway. They are all high-quality populations, and if they are thrown to Tibet and Heilongjiang, they can quickly improve the local cultural and educational level. After a few days of playing, the music has been piled up.

Zhao Han was numb, and asked the female officials to sort out the routine official documents. For several hours in a row, he kept signing, and this kind of routine official document only needs to be seen at a glance to know the general content, and only needs the emperor's signature and seal.

I really don't know where Zhu Yuanzhang got so much fine 666 power, and he has to take care of everything. Zhao Han has tried his best to reduce the burden on himself, and the cabinet can make decisions on many things, and he doesn't have to send them to the emperor, even if he is tired enough.

There was no lunch break, and the meal was brought to the front, and I ate while watching the music. It wasn't until two o'clock in the afternoon that the accumulated routine documents were finally approved.

Zhao Han closed his eyes and leaned there, asking the female officer to read him the recital that needed to be used to use his brain. After reading one, he thought for a moment, then opened his eyes to give an approval, and then continued to listen with his eyes closed.

At about four o'clock, Zhao Han suddenly sat up straight, but listened to the female official read: "Quang Nam Provincial Civil and Military Officials, Quang Nam Institute of the National Security Yuan, jointly reported that the coup d'état of Nguyen Nam in Annam, Nguyen Phuc was on the verge of assassination!!!" Palm it for me. Zhao Han opened his eyes. This kind of major event is generally an urgent report.

But this is a delayed report at the moment, because Vietnam is in the rainy season, and even if the news is delivered urgently, it is impossible to send troops in the rainy season. When Zhao Han finished reading Qin Zhang, he almost didn't laugh out loud.

Ever since Ruan's brain convulsions, brazenly attacking Bin Tong Long, and being beaten by the Datong army, Ruan Phuc Wei has felt that his military strength is not enough.

As a result, he expanded the standing army to 100,000, which was equivalent to a sudden expansion of 40 percent, and military spending rose sharply. The Nguyen family's finances could not bear it, so they attacked the idea of Han merchants, which not only damaged the interests of Han merchants, but also made the business of the local gentry in Hue not easy to do. Ruan Phuc knew that this was drinking to quench his thirst, but he provoked China, and he had to expand his army quickly, otherwise he would not be able to bear it at all. As a result, China did not send troops the year before last, and China did not send troops last year.

China did not send troops, but the Nguyen Thi had to keep raising troops, and the finances were becoming more and more embarrassed day by day. From the gentry to the merchants, from the officials to the common people, the government and the opposition complained.

Even the two kings of water and fire in Nanpan were forced to have signs of rebellion, because the taxes that Nanpan needed to pay were directly doubled. (There is no king in Nanpan, and it is jointly ruled by the two chieftains of the Water King and the Fire King)

The common people, merchants, and vassal countries were almost squeezed out of the oil and water, and Ruan Phuc Wei set his sights on those gentry again, and began to check the gentry's land and property that was concealed and not reported. Just earlier this year, Nguyen Phuc was on the verge of death.

At present, Nguyen Phuc Qin, who is only seven years old, has succeeded to the position of Lord Nguyen. The Empress Dowager Song hung the curtain to supervise the country, and the Empress Dowager's brother Song Fukang presided over the government. Nguyen Phuc was on the verge of training the new army, and all of them were dismissed

Those Hue gentry didn't care whether the Datong army killed them or not, and they didn't care that their land would be divided. Anyway, their idea is very simple, the Nguyen regime can't afford to raise so many standing troops, and they won't spend half a dime to raise troops.

Really, they are all about to be wiped out, and they are still there, completely ignoring the Datong Army's killing yesterday. The information sent by Quang Nam Province also said that the standing army under the rule of the Wan clan was eligible for exemption from conscription. After Song Fukang became regent, tens of thousands of new troops were dismissed at once, and even the severance pay of the sergeants was deducted.

Most of these new soldiers, who were forced to retire, obediently returned to their hometowns, but there were also thousands of people who gathered outside Hue to make a fuss. Song Fukang recruited the Praetorian Guards to suppress it, captured and killed hundreds of people, and the new army dispersed violently, and after the rainy season, these new troops were estimated to make trouble.

Zhao Han sighed inexplicably, hey, he survived another enemy, although this enemy died unexpectedly. 8Orphans and widows, regents of relatives, and the new army are making trouble, how can this not take the opportunity to send troops? The next day, Zhao Han called the Cabinet, the Ministry of War, the Inspectorate, and the State Security Yuan to a meeting.

The meticulous work of the National Security Institute immediately went to contact the Nanpan Kingdom and let the two kings of the Nanpan Kingdom of Water and Fire belong to the Celestial Empire. The King of Water and the King of Fire can delete the Tusi, and the Kingdom of Nanpan will be changed to the Military and Civil Mansion of Nanpan in the future. If you don't agree, it's okay to wait for the Ruan clan to clean up, and then go to conquer Nan Pan by force.

Nam Phan, which is the Western Plains region of the eight major regions of Vietnam, is currently in the era of tribal alliances, and is still slash-and-burn and knotted ropes. Five hundred Datong troops are enough to conquer by force. Besides, Nguyen's, as soon as the rainy season passes, the Quang Nam Datong Army will be dispatched immediately!