In April of the tenth year of Zhengde, there was an endless stream of pedestrians on Liangjing Avenue, which had been completed for two years.

Among the many faces coming and going from north to south, there is a young scholar wearing a long shirt and a square scarf resting in a teahouse under the poplar trees on the roadside.

He has a handsome face, eyebrows like a sword, and a hand that serves tea as slender as a woman.

Not long after he was here, there were suddenly several carriages and horses on the fork in the road, the carriages were extremely delicate, and the windows were carved in the shape of petals, and a slightly wrinkled but still shrewd look appeared in the corner of the eye.

The visitor looked at the scholars in the teahouse, and heard the people around him say the words 'it is indeed this person', so he did not hesitate and hurried down.

This is a woman, in her thirties, with her hair pulled up, revealing the charm of a mature woman.

She took her maid and her servants to the young scholar and bowed generously.

"The folk girl You Sanchun has seen Attendant Yang."

Yes, this person is Yang Shen.

Yang Shen is the son of Yang Tinghe, 28 years old this year, when he was in the sixth year of Zhengde, he participated in the imperial examination and finally became a scholar, the champion and the first.

Because he once served as a companion when the emperor was still the crown prince, and he was also the son of Yang Tinghe, the old man of the court, so considering these factors, he will most likely not become the champion, so as not to gossip about boring people.

However, Yang Shen's article is really brilliantly written, on the one hand, it is his family history, and on the other hand, he has also followed Wang Wei to learn the doctrine that has been applied by the world, so whether it is the examiner or the emperor himself, they all feel that if they don't point him to the champion, they will waste food because of choking, and they don't put talent first.

Zhu Houzhao was finally decisive and named him the champion.

Originally, the examiners were still a little worried, they felt that the posting of this imperial list would definitely cause discussion, but they didn't expect that there was no noise in Beijing.

Since ancient times, there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts, but Yang Dacai's talent really makes people feel that he should be the champion.

Perhaps, this is recognized as the first of the three great talents of the Ming Dynasty.

There is a saying in Sichuan called, Xiangru Fu, Taibai poems, Dongpo Wen, Shengan Kedi. This Sheng'an branch is Yang Shen.

Yang Shen, the word is repaired, and the number is promoted.

In the sixth year of Zhengde, after he won the championship in high school, he first went to the Hanlin Academy according to the convention, and awarded the official Hanlin Academy to revise it, from the six products.

In the seventh year of Zhengde, he was promoted to the Hanlin Academy, and he was the sixth grade.

In the eighth year of Zhengde, the emperor appointed him as the deputy garden of the library garden, from the five products.

At the end of the ninth year of Zhengde, Yang Shen was ordered to enter the palace and be a waiter in the chamber.

And this time he appeared in Huai'an Shanyang on Liangjing Avenue because he wanted to carry out an important government affairs.

In You Sanchun's eyes, Yang Shen is a figure like heaven, he is from a noble background, talented, and has a close relationship with the emperor.

That's it, this kind of character's family education is still very strict, and her gestures are full of elegance, only blame her for not being young enough, otherwise she will drill into his bed.

She was still sharp-eyed, and when she saw a few beads of sweat on Yang Shen's head, she instantly felt distressed.

And the one who can make such a person bow down and work tirelessly day after day in such a season is afraid that the emperor will be even higher.

“…… Somehow, His Majesty seemed to know that the You Dong family was going to be extravagant in changing their methods, and he had already passed on the decree earlier, and then he was not at ease, so he ordered the official to check the palace of the Son of Heaven along the way. You Dong's family came by chance, so let's take a look. ”

"Yes."

This You Sanchun is the owner of Hui Yan Ji, and in the four years of Zhengde, she has tried her best to maintain a good relationship with the government, and has won the trust of the emperor with the advantages of being obedient and able to do things, so she has quickly grown into a big salt merchant known all over the world.

In the tenth year of Zhengde, all salt farms in Daming have been auctioned, led by Hui Yanji, and seven salt merchants jointly operate hundreds of salt farms in Daming.

These salt merchants all have royal backgrounds behind them, and there are also a variety of dry shares directly held by the royal family.

They contracted salt farms, hired stove households, produced salt, and marketed the world, and now, the annual auction silver income of the salt farms in Lianghuai, Liangzhejiang, Shandong, and Changlu is as high as 4 million taels.

And that's not counting the profits of these salt merchants themselves, and they also have to pay dividends to the emperor.

If you really want to calculate it, the annual revenue brought by the salt alone to the national treasury will be more than 10 million taels, of course, this is this year's goal, and in fact, it is also the result of the annual increase in the past few years.

On average, the annual profit distributed by each of the eight salt merchants to the imperial court has gradually increased from the initial 300,000 taels to 800,000 taels.

This number is extremely large, because with the development of maritime trade in recent years, the inflow of silver from overseas has been rising, and in the prosperous years, the number of people has increased. If you are a person, you have to eat salt.

In addition, of course, some people feel reluctant, because the royal family collects a round of silver through auction, and then cuts another knife through dividends, and cuts two knives at one end and one tail, and in the end there is not much left.

For this reason, some salt merchants choose to keep the latter knife.

This is also possible, the imperial court does not explicitly prohibit it, but their scale is difficult to grow, and the better salt farms usually do not auction them off to compress their profit margins.

After several years of evolution, it is basically dominated by imperial merchants.

Salt tax, in the thousand-year history of the feudal dynasty, has always been the top three tax sources, and Zhu Houzhao will certainly not let it go.

A person like You Sanchun, who is all from the emperor today, will naturally flatter the emperor as a thing.

There is news in Beijing that in the eleventh year of Zhengde, the emperor may go out of Beijing and go to Jiangnan to inspect. As soon as they heard that this was the case, several salt merchants used their brains one after another, thinking of various ways to hope that the emperor would pass through them.

So that many places were not sure of the emperor's itinerary, and began to cast palaces for the emperor on a large scale, and this kind of extravagance and waste was played some time ago, which made the emperor a little annoyed, and immediately criticized them to stop.

But this kind of Zhu Pi has no practical effect, he can build it in a different name, and the emperor doesn't need to build it, and he can also bribe other important ministers, in short, it has its effect.

Later, there was no way, the emperor only picked Huai'an, Suzhou and Hangzhou three places to settle down, and the others did not go, in addition, he also sent people around him to various places to supervise, requiring that the standards created must not be improved indefinitely.

Because the salt merchants will compare with each other, for fear that they will be sluggish and others will win.

This is why Yang Shen made this trip.

Along the way, You Sanchun has been on the sidelines and said: "Your Majesty has been on the throne for ten years, and Your Majesty's benevolence has also been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Therefore, please consider it leniently, some of the anointed places in Jiangnan cannot be wasted. ”

Yang Shen was unmoved, his growth background was deeply bound to the emperor, so the emperor's meaning was his actions, so that in front of him was the road to the road, and he would not come for a few taels of silver.

"If the You Dong family is really rich, it is better to give a little to the emperor, it is better than building a palace here. His Majesty's original words are that it is really a waste to build so well that it will not be able to live in it a few times. ”

The woman would have said, "This should be fine, Your Majesty...... Wouldn't it be nice to come and stay a few more times. Besides, it's not that we haven't given your majesty silver, but your majesty said that business is business, and you can take as much as you want, otherwise it won't be a rule. ”

"Then save it, and then give it when the court needs money, at that time it will not be a dividend, and of course Your Majesty will not refuse."

There is a mystery in Yang Shen's words.

The emperor wants money?

Could it be that it has been passed down for several years?

————

"Linjiang Immortals, Rolling Yangtze River East Passing Water"

The rolling Yangtze River is passing away, and the waves are sweeping away the heroes. Success or failure turns empty. The green mountains are still there, and the sunset is red several times.

On the white-haired fisherman river, accustomed to watching the autumn moon and spring breeze. A pot of turbid wine is happy to meet. How many things in ancient and modern times are laughing and talking.

(End of chapter)