Chongzhen three years, May.

Capital.

It has been more than two months since the Jin army entered the customs and plundered, but the capital is still shrouded in a dull and depressing, sad atmosphere, many people's white flags have not been removed, and the sound of people crying can still be heard in the dead of night.

At the end of last year, the Tatars outside the Guanhai entered the Kou, and the damage to the land of Gyeonggi was too great, the cities of Zunhua, Yongping, Luanzhou, and Qian'an were destroyed, the general soldiers and generals were killed and captured more than 10 people, the Santun camp was breached, and the main force of the Ming army in the field around Shuntianfu was completely annihilated, with more than 70,000 killed and more than 100,000 people and livestock plundered.

Not to mention that almost every family in the capital is wearing filial piety, and the entire Jingshi is full of wailing, as if it has experienced the end of the world.

In the Imperial Palace of the Forbidden City.

Emperor Chongzhen, a young man who has just reached the age of 20 this year, was also hit by a huge blow in the face of such a huge failure and fell into a state of doubt about life.

Didn't Yuan Chonghuan say that he was very capable of fighting, and if he was given five years, he would be able to pacify Liaodong and eliminate Houjin?

Isn't the central government the Zhongzhong, the virtuous ministers and gentlemen of the Donglin Party all the pillars of the country, and their ability is enough to help the world?

The eunuch party headed by Wei Zhongxian, at the beginning of his accession to the throne, was quickly eradicated and cleaned, and in the process of dealing with the eunuch party, he obtained a lot of silver taels from his family, which enriched the treasury, and added a little silver taels accumulated during the Apocalypse, which gave him the confidence and confidence to cheer up the Ming Dynasty and make achievements comparable to Yao Shun's achievements.

Even in order to save more money.

He briefly dismissed the Jinyi Guard, abolished his own eyes and ears, and later found that it was not good and recovered, but he could no longer reach his previous ability, and his understanding and control of the whole country were greatly reduced.

He also cut off post stations across the country, just to save 300,000 taels a year, causing a certain post soldier surnamed Li to lose his job and have to join the rebellious peasant army, which is turning the world upside down in the mountains and Shaanxi.

All the money that was saved was handed over to the Donglin Qunchen and to Yuan Chonghuan, who they highly recommended him.

The result?

What did his sincerity and unreserved trust get in exchange?

Yuan Chonghuan has been cut down and imprisoned, and Zhu Youzhen gritted his teeth with hatred in private for this open-mouthed liar, and has made up his mind that Ling Chi must be executed, and it is useless for anyone to plead.

In addition, he also realized that the Donglin Party was not available, such as the cabinet chief assistant Qian Longxi and others, who made generous statements when impeaching someone and offered advice, but whether it was to resist the Houjin Tartars or to exterminate the Liukou, they could not come up with an effective strategy.

He couldn't think of a way to increase the income of the imperial court, but he only knew that he wanted money here and there, but he hollowed out his internal money, which could not solve any problems, but made the problem more and more serious.

At this time, even if Chongzhen was a fool, he understood that the Donglin Party was a group of guys who could only talk about it.

What's more, he's not stupid at all, although he's very young now, and his personality is a little impatient, but he's really not an existence that can fool around at will.

And after the anger.

is like a gambler who lost very completely after studing, and now a new question is placed in front of Zhu Youzhen: what to do next?

Inside the Imperial Palace.

Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen once again convened the cabinet head assistant Cheng Jiming, Wenyuan Pavilion scholar Zhou Yanru, Dongge University scholar He Ruchong, Qian Xiangkun, and the household department secretary Bi Ziyan, the ministry secretary Wang Yongguang, the Ministry of Industry secretary Cao Xuan, the left capital of the Imperial Court Cao Yubian, the military department secretary Liang Tingdong and other ministers gathered together to discuss state affairs.

After all, the current young man Zhu Youzhen is basically bankrupt, but there are a lot of messes to clean up, to train the army to clean up the money that has just brought shame to the empire, to collect taxes to relieve the frequent natural disasters in various places, to completely exterminate the rogue in the mountains and Shaanxi, and the rebellion in Sichuan and Guizhou has not yet been completely quelled......

The problems in front of him were like a big ship leaking on all sides, which brought great pressure to the young emperor.

"Cheng Ge Lao, Zhou Aiqing, all the cabinet ministers, can you think of a way for me to add some silver to the imperial court, suppress the liukou inside, and level Liaodong outside, without silver, how can these big things be done? Please teach me, ministers. ”

Zhu Youzhen swept the bottom and humbly asked for advice.

"Your Majesty, now that the treasury is empty, natural disasters are frequent, the people are in difficulty, and they can't afford to pay taxes, and the court has almost no possibility of increasing revenue.

Shoufu Nari reiterates his previous point.

"I only have two dishes and one soup for each meal, and I wear the clothes sewn for me by the queen concubine, and the palace eunuchs have withdrawn it several times, how can you save me? How much money can you save? ”

Zhu Youzhen patted the chair and glared at Cheng Jiming with resentment on his face, very dissatisfied with his proposal.

"The old minister is guilty, please punish Your Majesty."

Cheng Jiming hurriedly knelt on the ground and pleaded guilty.

"Does Zhou Aiqing have a good plan?"

Zhu Youzhen shook his head, and had to look at Zhou Yanru, the second assistant he trusted and relied on the most, and he no longer had much hope for the useless Cheng Ji's life.

"Only a tax increase!"

Zhou Yanru said: "There are more than 5,160 acres of land in the world, only need to levy three cents per mu, you can get more than 150 taels of silver, with 15 taels of a soldier every year, you can train 100,000 elite soldiers, and then pay the Liukou first, and then destroy the gold, less than five years, more than ten years, and then cancel the levy, give the people rest and recuperate, restore the people's strength, if the monarch and the minister work together, everything goes well, the people only need to endure for a while, after all, the bitterness is sweet." ”

"And the additional levy of three cents of silver is not much, it is only equivalent to an extra levy of one liter and two hehes of rice per mu, and the burden on the people is not heavy."

"Secondly, for Jiangnan, Huguang and other tax-bearing places, we can increase the strength of local officials to see how their collection is completed, assuming that a county sets a collection of 10,000 taels, and those who complete more than ninety percent will be evaluated and awarded; Those who complete eighty percent, medium, no punishment or reward; Those who complete less than 70% will be fined ...... With this test method, county officials in various places will definitely work hard to solve the problem of lack of money in the imperial court. ”

Zhou Yanru proposed two methods that sounded very feasible.

"Good!"

Zhu Youzhen nodded, he deserved to be a capable minister he valued and trusted, much stronger than those Donglin and the like.

"Your Majesty, no, this is drinking to quench your thirst."

The head of the household is still strict, and has to stand up and say: "If there is a bad omen today, there are frequent floods and droughts in various places, the people are extremely miserable, the local officials are corrupt, and corrupt officials are rampant, the top priority is to reduce the burden of the people, reduce or reduce taxes in the disaster area, let the people recuperate, and restore the people's strength. ”

"This ......"

Zhu Youzhen hesitated and said: "Could it be that in the rich land of Jiangnan and Huguang, the people can't afford to add a few percent of taxes?" ”

"The burden of the people in Jiangnan and Huguang is already very heavy, eighty percent of the taxes of the imperial court come from the two places, and then the taxes are raised, and the officials below knock the bones and suck the marrow, no matter how rich Jiangnan is, they can't afford it, and the minister heard that the people in many places in Jiangnan have fled from other places because the taxes are too heavy."

Wang Yongguang, the secretary of the ministry, said loudly, he knew a lot about the situation in the south of the Yangtze River, and the people in the south began to flee, in addition to the Xu officials, there was another reason why he did not say it, that is, due to the increase in taxes, a large number of people surrendered their land to the names of the gentry, and the wind of donation arose.

Zhu Youzhen didn't know what to say, he also knew that the people were difficult and the people were suffering, could it be that he was still in a difficult situation? Add a little more burden and grit your teeth and endure for a few years, isn't this really possible?

"Can you add some business tax? I heard that there are a lot of wealthy businessmen in the Ming Dynasty, and the industry is widespread, and extravagance is prevalent, can you add a few more commercial taxes to let the businessmen endure for the country for a few years? ”

He had a flash of inspiration and wanted to pay attention to the merchant's head.

"No, the merchants are also His Majesty's people, so don't take it too seriously."

"Your Majesty, the first emperor Shenzong had good wealth and goods, and sent eunuchs to exploit them wantonly, and compete with the people for profits everywhere, and his lessons must be learned."

"Although the merchant is low, but also indispensable, if the merchant is overburdened, the court raises taxes by one tael, they earn an extra ten taels or one hundred taels from the people, causing prices to soar, and the damage to the people is greater, Your Majesty, please think carefully."

"Shinong industry and commerce, agriculture is the foundation of the country, is the source of ninety percent of the tax, businessmen pay very little, less than one percent, commercial tax ten times more can not collect a few taels, if the commercial tax hurts the peasant country, then not only can not collect the commercial tax, the peasants and the people are also reversed, and they will lose all the time."

“……”

This time, except for Zhou Yanru, who did not advise, all the ministers strongly opposed the increase in commercial taxes.

It was discussed for more than two hours.

The meeting ended in nothingness.

……

Walk on the way back to the harem to rest.

The young emperor Zhu Youzhen, who was very tired mentally and physically, asked Wang Chengen, the eunuch of Bingbi on the side, and said, "Companion, do you know who the richest person in the world is?" Can commercial tax be collected? ”

"Your Majesty, the richest people in the world are those merchants, the minister heard that there is a Xu Jiazhuang in Nanzhili, the owner of the village Xu Yuanfu is rival the country, and the most popular life-size glass mirror of tens of thousands of taels of silver in Beijing is from this Zhuangzi, and it is sold for thousands of noodles every year, not including soap, sugar, watches, lighters and other things."

Wang Chengen told the truth about what he knew.

"Xu Jiazhuang, Xu Yuan?"

Zhu Youzhen muttered and wrote down the name.

And for life-size glass mirrors, soap and other emerging things, he has heard a little, in the harem Tian Guifei's bedroom, there was a life-size glass mirror, which was purchased by her father Tian Hong from Yangzhou and sent to Chengqian Palace, and sent together, as well as soap, shower gel and other things, I remember that during that time, Tian Guifei was always fragrant, Zhu Youzhen was extremely fortunate to her, and stayed in Chengqian Palace for several months.

Later, Queen Zhou and other concubines also used soap, shower gel and other things, and their bodies were also fragrant.

As for the life-size glass mirror, under the persuasion of Queen Zhou, on the grounds of thrift for the country, he asked Tian Guifei to sell the mirror and use a small glass mirror instead, and the extra silver was used for military expenses.

I thought of the rich Xujiazhuang again.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but have unrealistic fantasies, and said secretly: "This business tax, can I start collecting it from a huge rich man like Xu Yuan first?" ”