After Wanfutang completely surrendered to the imperial court, the merchants of Yingtian Mansion were completely willing to obey the imperial court. After all, Wang Bao made them think that the handle was still in Wanfutang's hands, so naturally they did not dare to act rashly.
On the first day, hundreds of businessmen came to pay taxes. According to statistics from the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs, the business tax they paid alone has reached more than one million taels. This is only for this year, and it is only for their part of the businessmen. It cannot be
Imagine that if all the merchants in Jiangnan paid commercial taxes, the commercial taxes earned would increase greatly.
Ni Yuanlu couldn't help but take a breath after seeing these numbers. Sure enough, businessmen have much more money than ordinary people. Even for an ordinary businessman, the property of a household is dozens of times that of ordinary people's families. But
Even if the business tax is increased, it will only account for one-tenth of the annual income for these businessmen.
Therefore, on the basis of stabilizing commercial taxes, he immediately called Feng Kaizhang late at night to discuss it together.
It was also the first time that Feng Kaizhang met Ni Yuanlu in private, and both of them were a little reserved.
"Uncle Ni, are you looking for me late at night? Is there something urgent?"
Feng Kaizhang sat upright on the chair and looked at Ni Yuanlu who was pouring tea for him in front of him. He couldn't help but feel a little scared. After all, he was an elder. Secondly, Ni Yuanlu was also the Minister of Household Affairs of the imperial court and was highly valued by His Majesty. He poured tea for him.
, can not help but feel panic.
After filling tea for the two of them, Ni Yuanlu also sat down and said: "It's not an urgent matter, I just want to discuss with you the business tax issues that His Majesty has entrusted to you and me. At the moment, the businessmen of Yingtian Mansion are willing
I paid it, but there are still many merchants in the entire southern Zhili."
Seeing that this was the case, Feng Kaizhang also replied seriously: "Uncle, you know that this kind of matter cannot be rushed. It took several days just to deal with the matter of Yingtian Mansion. The whole of Nanzhili is not small. If we continue to follow the rules
It will probably take at least half a year to implement the previous method."
When he finished saying this, he immediately felt that what he said was not very good. After all, His Majesty's order was to do it as soon as possible. But now he said it for such a long time.
Sure enough, Ni Yuanlu smiled slightly and then said: "Half a year may not be too long. If we don't say whether we can guarantee the completion within half a year, I'm afraid His Majesty Long Yan will be furious."
Seeing this, Feng Kaizhang knew that he had said the wrong thing and chuckled sheepishly.
Then, Ni Yuanlu said: "You are now a third-rank official, the highest among your peers. Like Fan Xianchao, the eldest son of the elder Fan Jingwen, and Meng Zhangming, the eldest son of Meng Zhaoxiang, the Minister of Punishment, they are just one person at this time
He's just a fifth- and sixth-grade general. You can get the official position of third-grade water transport governor, and you should know why."
"The descendants know."
Hearing this, Feng Kaizhang also knew the meaning of Ni Yuanlu's words. Because his father died in Tianjin in order to cover His Majesty's southern tour. The ships he prepared almost saved the foundation of the imperial court. Such credit was originally his father's, but now it is his own.
Here, if I don't perform well, I'm afraid I will only be known as a third-grade person in the future.
This matter is the first test for His Majesty to test his ability. If he passes it, he will be reused in the future; if he fails, the outcome will naturally not be good.
"Don't delay this matter. Even if it's difficult, you have to force yourself to do it. The imperial court and His Majesty attach great importance to it, and all eyes are on you alone. Your current situation is on the edge of the cliff. If you are slightly uncomfortable,
Shen will be pulled down."
After hearing Ni Yuanlu's words of persuasion, Feng Kaizhang no longer had the same laziness as before. He immediately stood up and cupped his hands and said, "I would like to ask my uncle for some advice."
Seeing that he was so polite, Ni Yuanlu naturally could not be indifferent, and immediately said: "I would rather offend the businessmen, but remember not to offend your majesty. They are rich, but your majesty... has the power and soldiers."
"Junior, I understand."
…
Sure enough, after Ni Yuanlu's heart-to-heart talk last night, Feng Kaizhang quickly took corresponding actions the next day. He immediately began to search those stores that had been unwilling to implement national policies, ordered some of his subordinates to rush in with soldiers, and began
Randomly rummaging through things until the whole store was a mess.
When those merchants saw that the government had directly sent soldiers and horses, they naturally did not dare to step forward to stop them. They could only watch their stores being messed up by the soldiers. After that, some soldiers took some things away before leaving. Even if they saw it, they would not
Dare to say anything more.
This time, not only Yingtian Mansion, but almost all the shops in Nanzhili were attacked by soldiers. The reason was the same: to search for bandits!
But the businessmen know that there are no bandits in Jiangnan. If bandits are frequent in other places, they will admit it. But this is Nanzhili! There haven't been bandits in a long time. The government is obviously bullying people!
Even so, there was nothing they could do. Feng Kaizhang was also smart. He released some criminals from prison and asked them to pretend to be thieves and sneak into the closed shops. After that, they rushed in to search, caught the people, and then attacked the victims.
The aggrieved businessmen shouted loudly:
"This is a thief! How dare you say that you have nothing to hide? Who is he?"
Often this sound would frighten the merchants out of their wits, and they would immediately kneel down and kowtow to the soldiers to apologize and beg for forgiveness. They only thought that thieves had really entered their stores, and never thought that these so-called "bandits" were arranged by the imperial court.
After ten consecutive days of large-scale searches, all the shops in Nanzhili were opened. No one dared to resist the imperial policy. First of all, he did not dare to do so. Secondly, this was also the reason why Feng Kaizhang strongly supported Wanfutang. Whenever he encountered those businesses that relied on water transportation for their operations,
shop, Feng Kaizhang will directly cut off their water transportation.
Then they vigorously supported Wanfutang's business until they annexed all those shops. For many people, this was just a situation caused by Wanfutang's power, colluding with officials and suppressing them. They would never think that this was caused by the help of the imperial court.
But these notoriety is nothing to Wang Bao, who is already immersed in the desire for power.
Because he knows that in the face of notoriety, power is king.
Although the ten-day rectification had a bad reputation for the court, it was a good thing for the people, the treasury, and the war effort.
Firstly, it reduces the tax pressure on the treasury and enhances the majesty of the court, so that those who do not dare to act arrogantly; secondly, the court's actions also allow the people to see that the court is protecting their interests instead of exploiting them; thirdly, the increase in commercial taxes will get a lot of money, which will
It will improve overall military treatment and equipment issues.
A hardworking businessman brings joy to the world.
Of course, Zhu Ling has not been idle these days. He first sent people to Macau to find the Portuguese to buy cannons and firecrackers. This time, as the emperor, Zhu Ling was not stingy at all, and directly waved his hand and took out one hundred
He was given ten thousand taels of silver to purchase it. Furthermore, he sent 500 people to Macau to learn skills.
He even summoned them in person and had a heart-to-heart talk with them, which made the hearts of the craftsmen boil. After all, this was summoned by His Majesty, and he was not polite to them. We drank together, ate together, and talked together. It was a very pleasant day at the end of the day.
For them, it is a great honor for the majestic emperor and ordinary people like them. His Majesty hopes that they will learn skills well, so why don't they try their best?
With all the firearms and technologies available, the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty army will definitely be a qualitative improvement. I don’t want to be invincible, I just hope that there will not be that kind of defeat. Thinking of this, Zhu Ling also made Yan Yingyuan and others these days
Drill the troops vigorously and tell them not to worry about food.
It must be ensured that there is meat to eat every day, the equipment must be of good quality, and the monthly payment will not be delayed.
After getting Zhu Ling's pie, Yan Yingyuan and others naturally worked hard to train the army. They thought these were just empty promises from His Majesty. Unexpectedly, on the first day of training, the Ministry of Revenue sent silver taels to the Huotou Army. You can go directly with the silver taels.
Wanfutang buys meat and the price is very low.
After all, the imperial court now accounts for 40% of Wanfutang, which is considered a large account. These are nothing to Wanfutang, which has now expanded to the entire southern Zhili.
At present, the four men of Yan Yingyuan have a total of 40,000 soldiers and horses, and the Mo Dao team has been merged into the emperor's guard. The tens of thousands of troops led by Yuan Jixian that day also returned to various prefectures after receiving rewards. Nearly half of the surrendered soldiers of Ma Shiying and Liu Liangzuo in the past,
They were also incorporated into the imperial court, but most of them became defenders.
A total of 50,000 soldiers and horses became the defenders of Yingtian Mansion, and they continued to be commanded by Yuan Jixian. As for Zheng Zhilong, there was no news for several days, and even after receiving Zheng Chenggong's letter, he did not make any reaction.
Zhu Ling, who was deep in the palace, also felt a headache from this. It didn't matter whether he sent troops or not. He almost seemed to have disappeared. Even the soldiers sent out to find out the news never came back. What on earth did Zheng Zhilong want to do?
?
When he was depressed, he summoned Wu Linzheng and others to discuss how to deal with Zheng Zhilong, which must be dealt with as soon as possible.
As soon as he saw Wu Linzheng and others, Zhu Ling couldn't hold back his inner irritability, and immediately shouted angrily: "What on earth does this Zheng Zhilong want to do? Why can't he even be found now? It's been half a month now, and the court must
If we send out troops, Qin Liangyu probably won't be able to stop us. But the backyard must be settled!"
"Why don't you let Zheng Chenggong go find his father in person?" Shi Bang said tentatively.
"There's something wrong. If Zheng Zhilong takes his son and leaves, wouldn't it be all in vain?" Wu Linzheng somewhat disagreed. Zheng Chenggong is a good young man and must not be let go.
Just when everyone was at a loss what to do, Lu Zhenfei suddenly entered the hall quickly, with a look of joy on his face.
"What happened?" Seeing Lu Zhenfei's appearance, Zhu Ling, who was sitting high on top, couldn't help but ask.
"Your Majesty, good news! Zheng Zhilong has led a fleet to pay homage to Your Majesty! He is also tied with wattle sticks!"