The money in Chongzhen's inner house was spent.

The treasury is also almost empty enough to run mice.

But the country of Daming still has to keep running.

The officials of the imperial court must be distributed, the rogues in the mountains and Shaanxi must continue to be suppressed, the defense capability of the Jiubian military town will not be abandoned, and the annual military expenditure of several million taels on the Guanningjin defense line cannot be less.

There is also a clan that has been given low priority, which is related to the face of the royal family, and it is more or less necessary to send a little.

Money.

All of the above requires money.

Every minute and every second of every day costs money!

The one million silver dollars that Xu Jiazhuang lent to Zhu Youzhen was just a drop in the bucket, and it couldn't be relieved for a moment, because there were still countless debts.

What to do?

Inside the East Warm Pavilion.

"Additional levy, it can only be additional levy Liao Xiang, Your Majesty!"

Zhou Yanru, the first assistant to the cabinet, said: "If you don't levy it, you can't solve the problem that the court has no money, and if you don't levy it early, the situation will only get worse. ”

Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen hesitated and said: "Do you really want to levy more?" The burden of the people of Li is already extremely heavy, can not be increased, how to increase the commercial tax, I asked the commercial representative of Xujiazhuang Qi Chunnian, he said that there is no problem with collecting business tax, and it can even be increased, but it is necessary to treat everyone equally, and the merchants of the world pay taxes as one, otherwise Xujiazhuang will not respond, all the ministers, since the number of merchants is small, and they live in the city, it is easier to levy taxes, why not increase the commercial tax? ”

Whether it is okay to raise taxes on businessmen, Zhu Youzhen did personally ask Qi Chunnian, and got a positive reply, the commercial tax can be collected, and the profit from doing business is quite high, not to mention the 30 tax one, even the 10 tax can be afforded, the big deal is to increase the price of the goods, and the burden can be passed on to the consumer, unlike the peasants who are the target of the land tax, once the burden is too heavy, it is really going to starve to death, and finally have to kill officials and rebel.

It can be said that collecting business tax is far better than imposing land tax.

However, when it comes to business taxes.

"Your Majesty, commercial taxes are not allowed, as long as the goods are collected, the flow of goods is not passed, the price will soar, the burden of the people will be heavier, and the grain from the south will not be transported to the north, and the north will be starving everywhere in the lack of food, and the capital will have no grain available, this is a strategy to kill chickens and take eggs and drink to quench their thirst."

"If the land tax is only increased, the burden of the people will only increase by three percent, which is harmless, and if the commercial tax is collected, the burden transferred to the people will be three points, and the damage to the foundation will be even heavier."

"Your Majesty, behind my Ming merchants, most of them are the families of officials and gentry, that is, Your Majesty has many imperial shops, these are all merchants, let me ask these shops, do tax collectors dare to collect taxes? Do you dare to do things that sin the powerful? ”

"Your Majesty wants to increase the commercial tax, then it is good to increase the tax on Xujiazhuang alone, most of their goods come from overseas, the price is already high, it is not necessary for the people's life, the price will increase ten times and a hundred times, and it will not affect the people's lives, and it is the most suitable object for collecting commercial tax."

"Yes, Xu Jiazhuang is making money every day, and there is so much money that he invites to buy the hearts of the people and bribes His Majesty, if it is not stopped, it will become a disaster!"

Wen Tiren, He Ruzhong, Qian Xiangkun and other ministers have admonished.

In the face of the collective opposition of the ministers.

The reasons and views are also high-sounding, and they can't find any loopholes, it seems that as long as the business tax is collected, the world will be over.

seems to be bullying him, Zhu Youzhen has no knowledge and doesn't know much about business - although he really doesn't understand it very well.

But for the bad idea of only collecting business tax on Xujiazhuang's head, which is obviously a double standard, he Zhu Youzhen will definitely not adopt it, and he is not so mediocre that he will believe what the ministers say-although he is also moved.

All in all.

At the end of the meeting, all possible solutions were discussed, and the result was that the only way to do so, with the arguments of the ministers, was to increase the land tax.

"Let's add it, add three cents of Liao's salary, and end it early!"

Zhu Youzhen blushed and had to say this.

"Your Majesty! As long as Your Majesty has the heart to cheer up, and the people have a little patience for a few years, the levy will definitely be canceled. ”

"Yes, the Liao salary will be cancelled entirely."

"Five years, no, six years, at most six years, my Ming Dynasty will begin to recuperate, and ten years will enter the prosperous era of Chongzhen."

The ministers appeased the young king one after another, and painted cakes for the young king, which made Zhu Youzhen's mood slightly better.

And this scene in the East Warm Pavilion.

It is not only the historian who wrote the notes of the living that is taking notes.

In one corner, there was also a small electronic device that recorded the entire meeting and quickly sent the data.

Outside the Imperial Palace of the Forbidden City, in a courtyard located on Suzaku Street, a dididi sound sounded, and then turned into invisible radio waves, instantly passing a distance of nearly 1,000 kilometers, sending a very important intelligence message to a place in the south.

……

Xinghua County, Xujiazhuang.

An impromptu staff meeting was held.

"I just got the news that Emperor Chongzhen still agreed to levy additional salaries."

Xu Yuan, who sat at the top, shook his head and said: "Although only three cents are levied, I am afraid that the fatal straw that weighs on some people will be added again." ”

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the burden of the people was actually very heavy, this year's levy of nine centi, next year's levy of three centi, this year's cure, and the year after tomorrow under the tax exploitation, it seems that each time the increase is not much, the people can bear it on the surface, but the annual tax received by the center of the imperial court, not only did not increase significantly, but became less and less, in fact, it was just a fattening of the local corrupt officials and corrupt officials.

In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the minister Xu Biao entered Beijing from Jianghuai and found that there was not a single farmer who farmed the land on the thousands of miles from Jianghuai to the capital, which showed that the order of the Ming Dynasty had completely collapsed at this time, and all the yeoman farmers were bankrupt.

"Your Majesty is confused!"

Fang Yizhi was heartbroken, he already knew the people's situation very well, and he could only describe it with grief and indignation: "The land tax cannot be increased anymore, and if it is added, more people will give up their land, or become homeless, or flee to other places, and the taxes they can collect will only become less and less, this is a vicious circle, how can Your Majesty be so confused?" ”

At this time, Fang Yizhi couldn't wait to go to the capital immediately, come to the emperor, and try his best to persuade and prevent the increase in land tax.

"Our Majesty has grown up in the hands of women in the deep palace since he was a child, and he has never seen much of the crops in the fields, so how can he understand the suffering of the people? If they were fooled by the ministers and civil officials, it was naturally the small people who had no one to speak for them, and the imperial court was extremely short of money, so under the premise that it was impossible to move the interests of the gentry, it could only raise taxes on the small people of Shengdou. ”

Butler Zhao Jinde elaborated his point.

"Didn't Brother Xu borrow a million silver dollars to Your Majesty, what about the money?"

Fang Yizhi still didn't understand and asked.

"Spent over, the household department of the book Bi Ziyan took away 500,000, the military department of Liang Tingdong and the Beijing camp governor Li Shouqi each 150,000, as well as this 50,000 and that 30,000, millions of silver dollars all ran into the hands of the civil and military ministers, this money financial predicament has not been alleviated, but I Xujiazhuang goods sales in the capital, in November increased by three percent, many customers are extremely bold, and the cost is also from Xujiazhuang out of the white flower flower silver dollars, in addition to the Beijing camp governor Li Shouqi's Xiangcheng Bofu, in one breath to buy 50 Peugeot maids, the mansion has to eat more than 20 sheep and dozens of chickens and ducks every day, and the degree of luxury can catch up with the palace. ”

Xu Yuan said lightly.

"How dare they, how dare they?!"

Fang Yizhi's eyes widened and he muttered, he felt like he was about to vomit blood, he really couldn't accept such a thing.

But he, who had been to the capital and scattered 300,000 silver dollars, knew that this must be true, and knew that the extravagance of many courtiers had long been ten times and a hundred times that of the palace, and only His Majesty the Emperor was the most frugal, and as a result, he had to take the blame for these corrupt officials who should be killed.

Because the policy of increasing the land tax was introduced in the name of the imperial court.

It is the credibility of the emperor that hits it.

The common people can't stand to rebel, and the most direct object of resentment is the imperial court, the emperor, not a specific official.

It was the imperial power that suffered the most.

What can I do?

Fang Yizhi was so anxious that he wanted to fly to the emperor's side immediately, desperately admonishing him to prevent the levy from happening, but did he have the ability to stop it?

Can he resist the group composed of all the civil and military officials in the court?

It's useless.

He is here to beat his chest and feel heartache, to understand the whole reality, but still can do nothing, which is the greatest sorrow of being an idealist.

Xu Yuan comforted him a few words, saying that the boat is naturally straight to the bridge, and at present, Xujiazhuang is still in the stage of development and growth, and it is not yet able to play a greater role in the court, as long as it develops well for another two years, although it may not be able to interfere with the court at that time, but the ability to exert influence and stop continuing to raise taxes on the people must be there.

It's a big deal to lend money to Chongzhen again.

Hearing this, Fang Yizhi was in a much better mood, but an idea took root in his heart, giving him an immature plan.