When the officials of Zongzheng Temple heard what Zhu Di said, they almost went crazy.
You understand, this is Zongzheng Temple, it’s the business of your old Zhu family, we are all one family, one family!
"Your Highness, minister..."
Before he could say anything more, Zhu Di suddenly said: "I remembered that Li Jinglong is by my side. Let him talk to you about this matter."
Zhu Di patted his butt and left.
Li Zhen is in charge of Zongzheng Temple. He is Li Jinglong's biological grandfather. It is indeed appropriate for him to take charge of it. How can we not take care of our own people?
This guy waited here for a while and even drank some tea.
About half an hour later, some guards suddenly rushed in. Two of them were strong men and took him down directly.
Li Jinglong came in from behind and snorted coldly: "What the hell! I'm not satisfied with leaving you 40%! Then don't ask for anything, and catch me smuggling goods!"
This person was stunned. He never expected that Li Jinglong actually wanted to arrest him?
"Young Master, Young Master! You can't do this! I even hugged you when you were one month old! Young Master!"
Li Jinglong looked impatient, "What nonsense are you talking about! Drag him out!"
The guard dragged the person away without saying a word.
Li Jinglong touched the sweat on his forehead, feeling helpless.
Zhu Di, this grandson, is nothing!
In fact, Li Jinglong knew this man, and he was indeed Li Zhen's subordinate. He seemed to be from Sizhou, and was a fellow villager with Li Zhen.
Normally, Li Jinglong would never do anything to him.
But not today!
When Zhu Di went to the back, he called Li Jinglong over.
It's not okay for you to have followed me to Peking for so long and still not have any serious official position.
I will now appoint you as a tax collector, responsible for tax collection. If you do well, I will tell you to command the officials, and you will be the commander in a short time. It is natural that you will be the Duke of the country who will take over your father in the future.
Given such a big piece of cake, Li Jinglong was naturally asked to run his errands well.
"I, can I not do it right, or let Hua Wei do it first?"
Zhu Di smiled and said: "Of course it's okay, but you have to remember it. If you don't want to, I will write to my father and say that you have no future and are a useless snack. Think about it, even I don't look down on you.
, who else will reuse you? Your life is over! And your father was still in Peiping a few days ago. I told him that Li Jinglong is hopeless. Hurry up and have more children while you are young, otherwise the Li family will be doomed.
!Tiger father and dog son, one generation is worse than the other..."
"Shut up!" Li Jinglong was furious, "Zhu Di, I regret knowing you the most in my life!"
Zhu Di chuckled, "I really like your relative, come on!"
Li Jinglong was too lazy to talk nonsense.
Even if we kill Zhu Di, we have to deal with those bastards first!
Li Jinglong gritted his teeth and set out to capture the people from Zongzheng Temple directly.
If even the royal family members are no longer useful, how can other yamen still be able to hold on?
Fang Xiaoru investigated one house after another...the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Education...these imperial yamen, almost no one was spared.
People were looking for Zhu Di every day, but Zhu Di had already made up his mind. He didn't care about these bad things, he directly became the hands-off shopkeeper and went hunting outside the city.
All matters in the city were handed over to Li Jinglong, the tax official.
Li Jinglong was not old and didn't know how deep the water was, so he could only rush forward.
Fang Xiaoru will discuss it with him and everything will be done in accordance with the king's laws.
As long as we have the laws of the Ming Dynasty and the imperial edict to support us, we have nothing to fear!
Together, these two men, both civil and military, turned Peiping upside down.
Because, anyone who knows a little bit about the rules will understand that the most helpless thing is this kind of stupid young man who upholds the national law and does not hesitate to mess around.
They don't talk about anything, they don't talk about worldly things, they just act in accordance with the laws of the country. They are unrepentant and very difficult to deal with.
Of course, under normal circumstances, such people do not have great power. With a little action, they can be settled without causing any trouble.
But these two people couldn't do it. Fang Xiaoru was the tax official appointed by Zhu Di, and Li Jinglong was the son of Li Wenzhong and the grandson of Da Zongzheng Li Zhen.
If you dare to attack these two people, you are living impatiently.
And the most terrible thing is that there is a great god in Beiping City!
That's right, from beginning to end, Zhang Ximeng did not express his position. He just patiently acted as his own teacher and went to the school to teach every day, rain or shine.
Zhang Ximeng has no action, which is the biggest action.
Now it's just Fang Xiaoru and Li Jinglong. If Mr. Zhang is angered, this matter will really get out of hand.
Those who had been put through life and death dared not come to Zhang Ximeng because of fear. There was no one left.
Of course, it was impossible for Zhang Ximeng to really not know. He took the time to call the palace chief, Shi Gecheng, over.
This is Empress Ma's confidant. He is well aware of not only Prince Yan's Mansion but also the entire affairs of Peiping.
"Is this tax evasion situation really that serious? Is it because of bad intentions or old habits die hard?" Zhang Ximeng asked calmly.
Ge Cheng lowered his head slightly, very humble.
"Xiang Zhang, it's hard to talk about this."
"It's hard to say. What does this mean?"
Ge Cheng added: "It's just hard to say. In the past, there was a tax department in terms of commercial taxes, but Xianggong Zhang knew very well what their situation was. Except for some big taxes, such as mines, customs duties, and salt taxes,
There are also some things that are exclusively sold by the imperial court, but other aspects cannot be controlled at all."
Ge Cheng continued: "Here in Peiping, due to special circumstances, some imperial decrees have not been implemented. Over time, it has been established by convention, and there are many things that are difficult to explain... For example, every time an official arrives in Peiping, he will bring some
Bring the goods when you come, sell them in the market, buy some more when you leave, and sell them when you return to Yingtian. You can make hundreds of dollars in profit every time you come back."
Zhang Ximeng nodded, "That's it, I understand. Officials have to carry official documents with them as salutes, and they can decorate them casually. Outsiders can't see them, and they can't search them casually... But like this time at Zongzheng Temple, we got a few things at once."
Wan Guan’s goods are really over the top.”
Ge Cheng smiled bitterly and said: "Xiang Zhang, if someone brings ten pieces of silk, it's okay. Someone will bring a hundred pieces. If a hundred pieces are not enough, there will be a thousand or ten thousand pieces! There is nothing wrong with the lack of people's hearts!"
Zhang Ximeng said: "So the national laws must be strict, and there must be no gaps. A thousand-mile embankment will be destroyed by an ant nest!"
Ge Cheng paused and then said: "Xiang Zhang, there is another layer here... In fact, carrying some goods and evading taxes can only be regarded as a small means. There are too many purchases and money exchanges that do not go through banks at all.
It makes it difficult for the court to trace... There is no mention of corruption and perversion of the law. As long as we go from Yingtian to Peking in two months, we have one hundred thousand coins in hand, hand them over to the bank, and let them lend money, just to collect interest.
Thousands of dollars. On the surface, it seems that the money has not changed much, but secretly it has long been different."
When Ge Cheng said this, he was heartbroken and helpless.
Zhang Ximeng sighed slightly, feeling a little helpless.
At the beginning, he formulated very detailed regulations to eliminate disadvantages.
When we were in Huaixi, everything was carried out very thoroughly.
However, as the territory grew larger and the situation became more and more complex, many effective strategies were gradually abandoned. Others, although not abandoned, became a piece of paper.
For example, Zhang Ximeng required that all commercial activities must go through the food bank.
Therefore, as long as the food bank is secured, commercial taxes will not be difficult to collect.
But to this day, does anyone still mention food banks?
Gone!
Why is it gone?
Because officials repeatedly said that the food bank adopted a method of storing food and earning interest to absorb food. The imperial court saved food for the people and gave them more.
The imperial court suffered too much loss, and the place was so large that it was too troublesome to build warehouses and check the amount of grain.
What's more, there are Changpingcang and warehouses in various places, which can completely replace food banks.
Lao Zhu didn't listen to their nonsense, but as the world became more peaceful, people no longer regarded food as life... Moreover, the Ministry of Revenue lowered the interest rate of the food bank to 3%, which is far lower than the 10% of ordinary banks.
five.
In this case, it is great to save treasure money, but why save food?
The successful model of food banks is gradually being abandoned.
In the past, Zhang Ximeng advocated that all account transactions must go through banks, whether it was the imperial government or merchants from various places... As a result, this item had been delayed, and the excuse was that the matter was cumbersome, traveling between north and south, and long-distance trafficking, and the court was simply powerless.
Anyway, in these matters, court officials always have a flexible moral bottom line.
There are some things, such as those related to land equalization, that Zhang Ximeng can argue on his own grounds, but there are some matters that may not be appropriate in terms of implementation, but it is difficult for Zhang Ximeng to argue.
The dignified Mr. Zhang cannot mingle with his subordinates all day long for trivial matters... In fact, Lao Zhu is also facing the same situation. If he doesn't take action, some things are indeed getting worse. If he takes action, there will be mountains of blood and bodies and heads.
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In fact, it was difficult for Lao Zhu. The method he chose was to train Jin Yiwei and use Mao Xiang and others as hawks and dogs to deal with this complicated court situation.
Obviously, Jin Yiwei was not a perfect tool, so Zhang Ximeng focused on Zhu Di.
He accepted Zhu Di as his apprentice not just to do nothing but to invest in the future Yongle Emperor!
If there is no such thing, do you still want to settle down with Mr. Zhang?
You want to eat shit!
What Zhang Ximeng hopes is to build a team around Zhu Di that is completely different from Ying Tian's group, like Fang Xiaoru, who will move forward without fear.
When there are enough people like this, it will be an opportunity to completely reform the government.
It's just that Zhang Ximeng seems to have underestimated the strength of the Four Heavenly Kings Jingnan.
In less than ten days, Fang Xiaoru captured more than a thousand people, which completely filled up one of Zhu Di's military camps.
And here, there are people from Prince Yan’s Mansion!
"What's going on?" Zhu Di came back from hunting and yelled, "Why are we even arrested? Is Fang Xiaoru dizzy?"
Ge Cheng had no choice but to say, "Your Highness, Fang Xiaoru said that from now on, our purchases by Prince Yan's Mansion must be made through bank accounts and cannot be bought and sold privately to avoid tax evasion."
Zhu Di was stunned for a long time, touched his nose, and said helplessly: "Then please ask Mr. Ge to hand over the accounts of the palace to Fang Xiaoru! I, Zhu Di, can't listen to him!"
Now it was Ge Cheng's turn to be dumbfounded. How could His Highness be so broad-minded?
Seeing Ge Cheng stunned.
Zhu Di became anxious and roared: "You still don't understand? I have offended Zongzheng Temple. If Prince Yan's Palace is an exception, Zongzheng Temple must abide by the rules. Is Prince Yan's Palace of mine bigger than the palace? Don't try to harm me!"