"According to His Highness's idea, although it can be realized, I am afraid that the people will complain......"

In the palace of King Qi, Bi Ziyan gave him a wake-up call to Zhu Youzhen's matter about the price of salt.

However, he obviously underestimated Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen is not the kind of person who is good at fame.

Yes, the people may be angry with him personally because of the soaring price of salt, but when the environment of the world's drought and disaster begins two years later, the people will be grateful to him Zhu Youzhen.

If you want to do something, you don't care about fame, and if you want fame, don't do things.

"Personal reputation is not worth the interests of the court and the people, I bear the reputation, you just have to do it."

Zhu Youzhen took the initiative to stand up and was willing to take the blame, rather than letting his subordinates take the blame, which made Bi Ziyan's pressure much less.

Therefore, after he saw Zhu Youzhen's statement, he immediately said:

"In that case, you can try."

"Hmm......" Zhu Youzhen bowed slightly, and said to Bi Ziyan:

"In terms of tea tax, I am going to sell it by the imperial store, according to a pound of coarse tea 40 Wen, 200 Wen for secondary tea, 400 Wen for excellent tea, 3 taels of silver for special class, and 10 taels of tribute tea, what do you think?"

"It shouldn't be a big problem......" Bi Ziyan didn't think there was anything wrong with listening to it.

There are many varieties of tea in the Ming Dynasty, and the price is different, and the general good tea in the Ming Dynasty, that is, the excellent tea that Zhu Youzhen said, the price per catty is about two dollars of silver.

As for the special tea, it is such as the pine of Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture, the price of which is between two or three taels of silver per catty, which belongs to a kind of excellent tea that can be sold by the people.

The last tribute tea、That's not something that ordinary people can buy。

After all, tasting tea is not only an elegant thing, but also a luxury thing, and I don't have the right to drink tribute tea is a dream.

The price of tea set by Zhu Youzhen, except for coarse tea, the price of other tea leaves is double or fifty percent higher than the market price, which is not much for that group of small and medium-sized landlords and gentry and powerful people.

It is the coarse tea that ordinary people like to drink, and Zhu Youzhen did not raise the price.

For ordinary people, coarse tea, rice, and essays are already the cheapest entertainment pastimes on weekdays.

It is impossible for Zhu Youzhen to deprive this happiness, and the people are already a big burden to bear the price of salt, if the price of tea is raised again, then they are estimated to really scold the Ming Emperor secretly.

However, even if the price is not raised, as long as the tea field and the imperial shop are controlled, the tax that Daming receives from the tea class will not be too small.

The demand for tea by the people of Daming is hundreds of millions of catties every year.

Excluding other tea leaves with an output of only a few million catties, the remaining ninety percent of the coarse tea can harvest nearly four million taels of silver even if it is forty wen a catty.

If you count the other millions of catties of tea, the harvest of the tea farm is probably about six or seven million taels.

Of course, this is a pure account, and the wages and costs paid to tea farmers and employees of the imperial shop still need to be withheld.

But even so, it may be able to earn three or four million taels of silver a year.

Coupled with the salt tax, the establishment of the two divisions and the state-run policy of salt and tea, it directly led to an increase of 900 to 10 million taels in the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue.

In this way, the establishment of the two divisions seems to have made a lot of money, and it is also true.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty did not find a way to start the salt tea monopoly of the two divisions, some were forced by the economic situation, and some were forced by the lack of imperial power and insufficient military power.

It's just that these problems are basically not a problem when they come to Zhu Youzhen.

He doesn't care about the economy and the life or death of the gentry, what he wants is for the Ming Dynasty and the people to live together, and the gentry are not in his consideration.

Either they should be honest, or if they are not honest, they should be arrested and killed.

Anyway, a hundred years after him, his heirs are all overseas, and if he has the ability, this group of gentry instigated the new emperor to expedition to the Qi country tens of thousands of miles away.

"Your Highness......"

Bi Ziyan spoke cautiously, and then said: "There is still something to do in the household department, if there is nothing else......

"One more thing......" Zhu Youzhen reacted and said to Bi Ziyan:

"The coinage and site of the household department, I am ready to move to Songjiang Mansion, smelt more than 200,000 catties of copper from the old port to the north, and issue the Apocalypse Tongbao."

"I will give you the manuscript paper of the Apocalypse Tongbao, but the Apocalypse Tongbao is different from ordinary copper coins, it needs to be minted according to three kinds of pure copper, silver copper-plated, and pure silver coins, with five denominations."

"The specific household design, this is a grass eucalyptus I prepared, you can observe and observe."

After that, Zhu Youzhen turned around and took out a handwritten book from the bookshelf and handed it to Bi Ziyan.

In order to prevent Bi Ziyan from being under too much pressure, he said with a smile: "The Apocalypse Tongbao is still a few years away from being released, you can study it slowly, don't worry." ”

"Yes......" Bi Ziyan took the handwritten book, and looked up at Zhu Youzhen and said: "Your Highness, the official ......."

"Well, you go back and get out the prices and regulations of the two divisions as soon as possible." Zhu Youzhen nodded and motioned for him to retreat, and Bi Ziyan also retreated after seeing this.

Looking at his departing back, Zhu Youzhen put away his smile and sat back in his place.

The five denominations of the Apocalypse Tongbao correspond to five kinds of coins, including one wen, five wen, ten wen, fifty wen, and one hundred wen.

What it represents is because of the lack of credibility of the Ming Dynasty and the inability to directly implement the preliminary preparations for banknotes.

Only a light currency can simplify the problem of trade, or ease the pressure of the imperial court.

Otherwise, every time military salaries and disaster relief are issued, hundreds of people have to guard dozens of truckloads of silver, which is inevitably a bit too cumbersome.

And, of course, more importantly, the rise of the bank.

However, it is impossible for Zhu Youzhen to directly choose to issue a new coin, because even if he does, the people of the world still have little trust in this kind of coin with a denomination.

Although I have never seen a coin with a denomination, the people of the treasure money have seen it.

The treasure banknote can be said to be because of Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Di's nonsense, so that its credit value is the lowest in the Ming Dynasty.

If Zhu Youzhen issued a new coin, then the people would resist it when they saw it.

Because judging from the appearance, it is nothing more than the imperial court to get the amount on the treasure banknote to the coin, and maybe one day the coin will collapse like the treasure banknote.

Therefore, the people will definitely resist the use of new coins, and the preliminary preparations that Zhu Youzhen has to do are to give coins a place to use and people who use coins in large quantities.

The place is already obvious, the imperial store similar to the Daming version of the department store is the best place, and the large number of people is even simpler.

First the hundred officials, then the scribes, and finally the people......

Under the situation of the great drought in the Xiaoice River, as long as 17 years have passed, a large number of new coins will be circulated in the places where Daming originally had two capitals and thirteen provinces, because Zhu Youjian wanted to use new coins to relieve disasters through work.

So that's why he said that the new currency is not in a hurry to be made for the time being.

First of all, he had to wait for the Armaments Research Institute to perfect the steam engine, then he would work on the printing press, and finally start mass production.

During this period, the mineral deposits in the old port will continue to be turned into ingots and sent to Songjiang Mansion, and Zhu Youzhen only needs to do other things step by step.

For now, the most important thing is the battle to sweep the north after the beginning of spring.

"It's not over the New Year yet, the database is exhausted, and the next year is hard......"

Looking at the table full of military newspapers, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but sigh, suffering from the fact that the finances were drying up every year.

It's just that this is already good, including he knows it himself.

But the problem is that time is running out, and even he himself is not sure whether the current Daming can survive the drought of the Xiaoice River, the locust plague, and the plague.

There was nothing to say, Zhu Youzhen lowered his head again and began to deal with other military reports.

At the same time as he was dealing with the military newspaper, time passed little by little, and the household department also took out and announced to the world that the salt class and tea class were innovating.

As Zhu Youzhen and Bi Ziyan expected, when the notice was issued, the two of them ushered in countless scoldings......

"This King of Qi used to think that he was different from that group of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, but now it seems that he is also all the way."

"Who can afford fifteen pounds of salt?"

"Fortunately, the coarse tea has not risen."

"Coarse tea hasn't risen, but I can't afford to buy one or two good teas after working every ten years."

"Phew!"

"I can't afford official salt, so buy private salt!"

"That's right! Buy private salt! ”

In response to the announcement of the announcement of the two divisions in Nanjing City, the people who learned the news went to see the official salt price of the imperial store in the city.

Sure enough, the official salt rose from six wen a pound yesterday to fifteen wen.

The people who heard the news scolded one after another, and there were quite a few people who scolded like this.

They shouted that they wanted to buy illegal salt, but when they went to look for the former illegal salt dealers, they found that most of the illegal salt traders had been arrested by the Inspection Department.

As a result, everyone has to buy expensive official salt.

This kind of coercion has made the people complain, not only in Nanjing, but in the entire Jiangnan and the entire Ming Dynasty, Beijing and 16 provinces.

For a time, all kinds of articles that ridiculed the imperial court and ridiculed Zhu Youzhen appeared in an endless stream of bookstalls and bookstores around the country like snowflakes.

Jiangnan scholars also made up folk songs for children to sing on the streets.

"The emperor and the earth are shaking, since the king of Xiao Qi came out, every household is desolate, the big family sells mules and horses, and the small family sells children. King Xiao Qi ......"

A group of children walked and danced, shaking rattles in their hands, ignoring the eyes of pedestrians, singing farther and farther.

"This child's family doesn't care, and he was heard by Jinyiwei and paid it back?"

"Come on, can Jinyiwei still take such an older child away?"

Walking down the street, some people looked at the backs of the children and whispered.

However, judging from their words, they are actually very dissatisfied with the imperial court, and this dissatisfaction is still spreading rapidly.

At such a speed of transmission, Zhu Guozuo and others in Yuyao also heard the news from the people, and the three people hiding in the lakeside villa also began to ridicule it.

"Salt politics and tea administration, he dares to change ......"

In the cruise ship in the lake, Zhu Guozuo listened to the news from others, and his face was scornful, and he was very disdainful of Zhu Youzhen's simple and rude behavior.

Shen Yan, who was sitting opposite him, was neither happy nor angry, picked up the teacup and sniffed the tea, and said softly:

"The salt merchants of Lianghuai and the tea merchants of Zhejiang and Fujian are all waiting for His Royal Highness the King of Qi to be soft......"

"It's not their turn to eat meat, and this group of businessmen still thinks they can threaten Zhu Youzhen?" Zhu Guozuo sneered, obviously he also looked down on Shang Jia.

However, they still need the help of this group of people, so he set his sights on Sun Ruyou:

"I heard that the squires below have some complaints about the rise in the price of salt and tea, and they won't incite the foolish people, right?"

"They don't dare......" Sun Ruyou, the old god, was there, and said to Shen Yu and Zhu Guozuo:

"We don't have to worry about the affairs of the two Huai salt merchants, didn't they take refuge in Cui Chengxiu? Then let Cui Chengxiu take care of it himself, and let Wei Zhongxian take care of it. ”

"The salt merchants' jobs have been served, and they still don't do anything, who will be willing to support them in the future?"

"But the tea merchants in Zhejiang and Fujian ......" Shen Yan frowned and spoke, obviously the tea merchants in Zhejiang and Fujian gave them a lot of pressure.

"Let them wait first, if the situation does not change, then we can't do anything." Sun Ruyou is not Shen consistent, and in the face of Zhu Youzhen's nearly 800,000 troops, he can't think of any good way.

Trying his best to avoid damage to the Zhejiang Party was already the best way he could think of.

At least if the Zhejiang Party is there, there are still people who can speak for the tea merchants, cloth merchants, and squires in Zhejiang and Fujian.

"The form is stronger than the people, tell the merchants and squires in Zhejiang and Fujian, don't have a conflict with the imperial court, what the forces of the two Huai and other parties should do is their business."

"At present, Zhu Youzhen's layout in Yanshan is getting bigger and bigger, and I also inquired about Enke this year, if we also stick to the rules, I'm afraid that the existing imperial examination will be innovated and banned by Zhu Youzhen."

"Him?" Zhu Guozuo frowned slightly, a little unbelievable that Zhu Youzhen dared to play so big.

"If it's him, then what's not to dare?" Sun Ruyou's face was solemn:

"His hundreds of thousands of students in Yanshan, if all of them go out of the mountain, I'm afraid that the government and the opposition will be his people, and some mud legs and local scholars can still be stronger than steel knives?"

"What does that mean now......" Shen asked tentatively, and Sun Ruyou thought about the consequences and decided:

"Let's see if there is a way to send people to Yanshan Academy."

"I'm afraid it's difficult, we've all tried it before, and the students of Yanshan Academy will be checked clearly by Jinyi Wei, and it's not so easy to get in." Shen Yu did not think this was feasible.

"It's not difficult, as long as you keep waiting for the opportunity, you can always get in with some people......"

Sun Ruyou stretched his brows, and Zhu Guozuo next to him also felt that this move was feasible.

"If Zhu Youzhen returns from a great victory in this second sweep of the north, I am afraid that he will start to solve the "three redundancies", and if our speed is slow, it is doubtful whether the voice of the DPRK and China that belongs to us can still exist. ”

Sun Ruyou saw very clearly that most of Zhu Youzhen's behaviors were to solve the "three redundancies".

From the first year of Taichang to the fourth year of the Apocalypse, and then to the current year's "redundant soldiers", if nothing else, according to the style of this guy, he will take the momentum of a big victory and use Yanshan students to slowly solve the "redundancy".

As long as the redundancy and redundancy are solved, then the final "redundancy" can be easily solved.

Solving these things, it will be easy for Zhu Youzhen to take charge of Wenchen again.

As for Zhu Youxiao......

Sun Ruyou didn't feel that Zhu Youxiao had any majesty at all, and even said that he was not afraid of Zhu Youxiao.

He is only afraid of Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youxiao can only use means to maintain the balance of the court, and he can't do Zhu Youzhen's use of war to resolve contradictions, and at the same time, he also suppresses the handwriting of civil officials.

The reason why he is finding a way for the Zhejiang Party is also because he wants to see it.

When you step into the political arena, it is destined to be difficult to retreat, and Zhu Youzhen is a person who has no way to retreat.

If you can't retreat, you can only go forward, and going forward is Zhu Youxiao's dragon chair.

Although Sun Ruyou didn't know why the conflict between the Qi Wang Party and the Eunuch Party had not yet broken out, he knew very well that this kind of thing could not be suppressed.

The eunuchs are still protecting themselves at the moment, preventing the Qi Wang Party from stealing their power.

But the problem is, they can't keep it.

Just like the reform of the salt class and the tea class this time, the two Huai salt merchants who took refuge in Cui Chengxiu did not see the role of the eunuch party at all.

Almost as soon as Zhu Youzhen gave the order, Zhu Youxiao approved and agreed, and the policy was issued, and the officials of the Yanshan Department went out.

Among them, neither the eunuch party nor Wei Zhongxian had the ability and strength to stop it.

So at the moment, Wei Zhongxian's situation is very embarrassing, and he doesn't dare to play tricks with Zhu Youzhen, but the people below are dissatisfied with Zhu Youzhen.

This group of people is the kind of feeling of fear and hatred, but fear is far greater than hate.

From this point of view, if Zhu Youzhen thinks about it, then Zhu Youxiao's downfall is only overnight......

All Sun Ruyou has to prepare with both hands, and the other is that Zhu Youzhen can't look down on the throne, so the Zhejiang Party can still survive under the protection of the eunuch party, waiting to support Zhu Ciran.

The other is that Zhu Youzhen wants to seize the throne, so what the Zhejiang Party has to do is very simple.

Let go of all unrealistic ideas, honestly take refuge in Zhu Youzhen, and when Zhu Youzhen dies, he is slowly boiling his children and grandchildren.

This kind of thinking sounds unrealistic, after all, by the time Zhu Youjian died, it is estimated that Sun Ruyou's bones were gone.

But the problem is that even if Sun Ruyou dies, if his method is successful, and the Zhejiang Party is still there after a hundred years, then his descendants and family will also be sheltered.

The stench and difficulty of the civil bureaucracy, or the Confucian literati, lies in interpersonal relationships.

The dense network of people leads to the fact that as long as there is a high-ranking official in the family, and the high-ranking official acts according to the ideas of the squires and gentry to protect their interests, then the children and grandchildren of the high-ranking officials can be blessed for three generations.

For example, Zhang Juzheng, who touched everyone's interests, was put into the ground after his death, and all the factions were liquidated.

"Xungui is useless at the moment, it is estimated that the salt merchants of Lianghuai will finally find us."

Sun Ruyou thought about everything that might happen, and then explained:

"No matter what they look for, at the moment we focus on self-preservation."

"That Fang Shaobao's ......" Shen Yu hesitated, just because Fang Congzhe had already embarked on the road back to Beijing in advance.

"Just remind him to get some rest." Sun Ruyou opened his mouth, and Shen Yu and Zhu Guozuo could only honestly agree.

However, at the same time that they agreed with their heads, further south than them, in a military camp in Oin Prefecture in eastern Ryukyu, there was an aura of slaughter at the moment.

On the stage of the barracks, a brocade guard glanced at the nine thousand soldiers and horses under the stage, and these soldiers and horses were all not wearing the armor of the Ming army, and even wore the ronin costumes of the Wa Kingdom, with a Japanese sword pinned to their waists.

Judging by their demeanor, this army has been trained for a long time and is very elite.

Facing them, the commander was very satisfied, and then slowly turned around, revealing his true face, and at the same time, he also looked at the more than twenty generals behind him.

"Yan Siqi, you have finished training, I hope you will not live up to the trust of His Royal Highness King Qi and do your own things well......"

Lu Jianxing's face appeared in front of Yan Siqi, and as soon as he spoke, Yan Siqi, who was in the lead, immediately knelt down on one knee:

"The last general will not dare to live up to His Highness, no matter how much territory he conquers on this trip to Japan, as long as His Highness opens his mouth, the last general will not dare to disobey and hand it over."

"If you don't pay it, there's nothing to do, just our navy can clean up Japan." Lu Jianxing held his face and said:

"This official will take someone to Jeju Island in North Korea, where I will help you communicate with the Eastern Military Governor's Office."

"Your Highness has prepared 500 five-pound cannons, 6,000 rifles, and 200,000 stone military rations for you."

"These military rations are enough for you to take Shikoku Island, and whether you can take the mining area in the south of Kyoto within three years depends on your ability......"

Lu Jianxing glanced at Yan Siqi, as well as Liu Xiang, Zheng Zhilong and others behind him.

For this group of pirate-born guys, Lu Jianxing didn't trust them from the bottom of his heart.

If it weren't for the disgraceful things and tasks they went to Japan, Lu Jianxing might have played Zhu Youzhen and asked for a change of general.

However, since they are doing dirty things, it is appropriate to use them as a group.

"Please rest assured, within a year, I will definitely take Iwami!"

Yan Siqi lowered his head, and while he responded loudly, the people behind him also echoed.

Seeing this, Lu Jianxing bowed slightly, and then said:

"How you march, when you leave, how you resupply, it's all your business."

"This official will take a boat north to Jeju tomorrow, what to do, you can do it yourself......"

After that, Lu Jianxing turned around and left, and Yan Siqi also gave a gift in a loud voice:

"Congratulations!"

"Congratulations!"

"Congratulations—"

Three congratulations, the first one was Yan Siqi, the second one was Zheng Zhilong and others, and the last messy send-off sound was the nine thousand soldiers and horses in the audience.

In their greetings, Lu Jianxing returned to Dayuan County, and Yan Siqi looked at his back as he left, and also turned to look at Zheng Zhilong and the others.

"We will start preparing tonight, we will leave in ten days, and in a month, we will take down Shikoku first."

"Yes!"

Hearing Yan Siqi's military order, Liu Xiang and the others responded excitedly, but at this time, Zheng Zhilong stood up and said:

"Big brother, I need to set off to Kyushu first and take the and the child to Jeju."

"Kid? Do you still have children? ”

As soon as Zheng Zhilong spoke, the sworn brothers next to him looked at him in surprise, and Zheng Zhilong also squeezed out a smile and said:

"Before we went south, my wife was eight months pregnant, and after the baby was born, I asked someone to send a letter back to Kyushu and named the child Fumatsu."

"Zheng Fusong? It's a good name, but it's not as bold as your name. Yan Siqi did not skimp on words, and took the initiative to praise.

After praising it, he also patted Zheng Zhilong:

"Let's go, just in time to bring my family back to my hometown."

"At present, we are all people with official status, and there is nothing wrong with bringing my family back to Daming, besides, there are family members in Daming, and some people can rest assured that they can come to ......"

Yan Siqi glanced at the nine thousand soldiers and horses under the stage, and he knew very well that among these soldiers and horses, many of them were planted with eyeliners.

But he didn't care, just because he didn't want to stand on his own.

After seeing the strength of the Twelve Guards of the Navy, he understood one thing, to be self-reliant, that is to kill himself.

It is better to take this opportunity to do a good job of the things assigned by His Royal Highness King Qi, maybe in the future, he can also use this credit to bless his descendants.

Merely......

"......" As soon as he thought of the task given to him by King Qi, Yan Siqi couldn't help frowning.

Although his reputation is already very stinky, if he does what Zhu Youzhen arranged, I am afraid that he will be resisted by the civil officials of other factions in the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Yan Siqi was a little hesitant.

However, this hesitation did not last a breath, and was completely overturned by Yan Siqi.

For the sake of wealth, even if he becomes a butcher, he doesn't care!

He glanced at Zheng Zhilong and them, and then at the nine thousand soldiers and horses, and finally all his thoughts turned into one sentence:

"Reserve Army, this time I want to see how Tokugawa Iemitsu can deal with me!"