For five days in a row, the number of ships coming and going at the Hangzhou wharf, which was originally used for ships, suddenly decreased, because during these five days, all ships going to and from Hangzhou were intercepted by the fleet lingering at the estuary.
"All ships passing through, regardless of the amount of cargo, will be charged a 20% tax!" This was the slogan of the Qingzhou fleet.
It doesn't matter if you don't have money, you can just keep 20% of the goods. Whether it's grain, porcelain, silk or even livestock, they want it. As long as you keep the goods obediently or pay the money, they will let you go happily.
If you don't pay the money, you will end up like Boss Liang. In the end, even the ship and the goods will be confiscated.
In the past few days, the most miserable person in Hangzhou is probably Boss Liang. At first, relying on the support of the Hangzhou government, he refused to pay taxes until he died. After waiting for two days, the boss from Dingyuan, Qingzhou
Without saying a word, the general immediately took his five ships of silk back to Shandong and sold them at a low price. The silk originally worth one million taels of silver was "sold in tears", and the price was only five hundred thousand taels of silver. The result was less than two.
Within an hour, the five shiploads of silk were robbed by a swarm of merchants.
Finally, after receiving the news, Boss Liang was so angry that he vomited blood and was still lying in bed unable to get up. This result shocked the whole Jiangnan. Now everyone knows that a stupid general has come to Hangzhou, and even the governor of Zhejiang has been arrested.
He became disgraced.
It should be noted here that although the Ming Dynasty gradually implemented a sea ban after Yongle's funeral, claiming that no one was allowed to enter the sea, in fact, the private maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty did not shrink with the sea ban, but grew and grew.
, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the scale of maritime trade even exceeded that of the Song Dynasty, and the annual trade volume reached more than 50 million taels of silver.
But why did the literati group of the Ming Dynasty insist on banning the sea? In the final analysis, it was profit. During the Yongle period, Emperor Yongle conquered Mongolia in the north and Annan (Vietnam) in the south five times, dredged the Grand Canal, moved the capital and built Beijing, and edited
"Yongle Dadian", the funds required for any of these things are astronomical, but why did the Yongle Dynasty's finances not only not collapse, but also become more and more in surplus?
There is only one answer, and that is that it benefited from the huge funds and materials brought back by Zheng He's seven voyages to the West. It was the funds brought back by Zheng He's seven voyages to the West that supported the huge expenditures of the Ming Dynasty. But Zheng He's seven voyages
The trade to the West did not bring any benefits to the officials of the Ming Dynasty and the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, because the money eventually flowed into the imperial treasury. Now those officials, gentry and wealthy people stopped doing it. It doesn't matter if you eat meat.
But you won’t even give us soup, that’s too much! No, I want to ban the sea!
So after Yongle's death, the successors of the Ming Dynasty who did not understand the importance of maritime trade were deceived by the doctrine put forward by those civil servant groups that our country has a vast territory and rich resources and should not compete with the people for profit. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the court simply
Even ordinary people were prohibited from going out to sea to fish. In this way, the originally vigorous official maritime trade movement was banned and replaced by private maritime trade.
However, private maritime trade was, after all, a spontaneous act among the private sector. Thanks to the outrageously low commercial taxes of the Ming Dynasty, although commercial exchanges between private people and overseas were surprisingly prosperous, the court did not gain any benefit from it, so that the Ming Dynasty
The emperors in the middle and late dynasties all tightened their belts and lived a life. The worst was Emperor Chongzhen. In order to raise military expenses, he even secretly sold off his own gold-inlaid chamber pots.
Contrary to the constraints of the imperial court, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River lived a life of luxury and debauchery every day. When Emperor Chongzhen was worried about the annual military expenditure of four to five million taels, he casually walked on the street in coastal cities such as Suzhou, Yangzhou, and Hangzhou.
The wealth of a merchant with some status could support the imperial court's military expenses for a year.
In later generations, whenever he read this period of history, Pang Gang would involuntarily lament how stupid and ignorant a court that did not even collect commercial taxes was.
So in order to verify the authenticity of this period of history that he read in later generations, Comrade Pang Gang began to play a guest role as a tax officer. This was really shocking. In just five days, Pang Gang
He led the fleet to intercept no less than twenty fleets and collected a total of more than two million taels of silver, equivalent to half a year's fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty. This result not only frightened Pang Gang, but also everyone in the fleet.
So much so that Lin Feng, the governor of Qingzhou who was in charge of counting cash, was almost frightened on the spot.
"How is this possible? How is this possible?" Lin Feng, who was sitting in the hall with more than a dozen accountants who rushed from Qingzhou and were doing an emergency inventory, looked at the summarized accounts and murmured to himself with eyes wide open.
And Pang Gang looked at the general ledger sent by Lin Feng. Even with his thick nerves, he couldn't help but swallow his saliva. This tax collector seemed to have too much money, and it didn't cost anything. He only needed to move the boat and gun to the port.
The money flowed into my arms like running water. No wonder the Americans of later generations insisted on maintaining a strong navy even though they said so. It felt so good to have feelings blocking people's doorsteps!
However, after being happy, there was a burst of fear. Lin Feng asked with some worry: "Sir, harvesting so much silver this time is certainly a good thing, but it has also aroused the hostility of the entire Jiangnan. If it drags on for too long, it may not be good for us.
!”
"Of course I understand." Pang Gang nodded. Although the feeling of blocking someone's door was so satisfying, he was not dizzy yet, especially when his strength was not strong enough yet, he tried to challenge all the people in Jiangnan.
It would be very unwise for merchants and officials to challenge that.
"But I can't just forget about my assassination on the dock. Governor Chen wants to use a few death row prisoners to fool me, so there's no way for us to do this. So we have to continue with this business without any capital."
"Then how long do we have to stay here? To be honest, I'm a little scared of being humble now." Suddenly he got so much money that even Lin Feng, who had always loved money, was a little scared.
After hearing what Lin Feng said, Pang Gang smiled confidently: "Until they can't help but send people out to negotiate with us."
"Tuk-tuk-tuk!" At this moment, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
The door opened, and Chen Yuanyuan, who was wearing a white seven-fold skirt, walked in with light steps, holding a food box in her hand and smiling. After entering the door, Chen Yuanyuan said shyly: "General Pang, I have been helped by you to take care of me these days, a civilian girl."
I don’t know how to repay you, but this is... This is the mung bean cake made by a folk girl, please have a try."
After saying that, Chen Yuanyuan put the food box in front of Pang Gang's case and ran out with a blush on her face.
Pang Gang opened the food box and found that there were seven neatly stacked high points with different shapes and exquisite shapes. They were stacked in the shape of pagodas in the food box. After opening the food box, the fragrance of mung beans hit his nostrils.
Appetite is whetted, and you can see that the makers of these pastries put a lot of effort into them.
Pang Gang couldn't help but be fascinated by these exquisite pastries...
After Chen Yuanyuan gave the cakes to Pang Gang, she blushed and returned to the room where she and Liu Rushi were staying. She found that Liu Rushi was chatting happily with General Pang's fiancée, and they were sitting very intimately.
Together, in these days, Li Xuezhu, who has a simple and cheerful personality, has long regarded Liu Rushi and Chen Yuanyuan as good sisters due to their deliberate friendship.
After seeing Chen Yuanyuan come back, Li Xuezhu said with a smile: "Sister Chen, you are here. I asked Sister Liu about you just now. Sister Liu said that you went to the bow to blow the wind, and I wanted to go to the stern to look for you.
.”
"Well, blowing the wind?" Chen Yuanyuan couldn't help but glance at Liu Rushi in shock. Liu Rushi gave her a hidden look, indicating that he had already told the lie for her. Chen Yuanyuan's face turned red and she nodded slightly, but there was a surge in her heart.
I felt guilty. She thought she was a good sister, but I was poaching her. It was too unkind.
Li Xuezhu didn't know what Chen Yuanyuan was thinking. She took Chen Yuanyuan's hand and said with a smile: "Sister Chen, I heard from Sister Liu that the mung bean cake you make is delicious. Can you teach me how to make it when you have time? I want to make it too."
It’s for our master to eat.”
Can Chen Yuanyuan, who felt a little guilty, say no? The three of them chatted for a while. Li Xuezhu, who had just finished lunch and was a little tired, went back to the room to sleep. Liu Rushi and Chen Yuanyuan were the only two girls left in the room.
Chen Yuanyuan glanced at Liu Rushi and said timidly: "Sister Liu, am I very sorry for Princess Jiayi by doing this? It is in vain that she trusted us so much and became sisters with us, but I..."
Liu Rushi sighed softly and said: "Do you think this is what my sister wants? It's not to satisfy you, a silly girl. Who made you fall in love with that General Dingyuan? My sister doesn't understand. All the good men in the world are like this.
Duo, why did you just fall in love with him? Don’t you know that he already has a wife and a concubine, and there are two ordinary wives waiting to marry him. Even in the past, you were just a concubine. You
Have you really thought about it?"
"Well, I've thought about it, sister." Chen Yuanyuan said shyly: "As long as General Pang doesn't dislike me for being a brothel girl, it doesn't matter if I marry him and become a concubine. What's more, General Pang is a perseverant man and can lead people.
He's even more kind, but that's not enough."
"You...you, you!" Liu Rushi shook her head helplessly as if she had been defeated. She had known Chen Yuanyuan for several years, and she knew very well that this girl of hers had always had problems growing up due to her childhood experiences.
She lacks a sense of security. She has always wanted to find a man with strong force to rely on and protect her. In the past few years since she became famous, so many scholars have been willing to redeem themselves for her, but she has rejected them all. Unexpectedly, she met a man here today.
The man who makes her heart beat, is this God's will?