Five hundred and fortieth chapters Shandong Admiral
In the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Zhu Youjian looked at Li Zhi's memorial and snorted coldly.
"What a businessman!"
Li Zhi opened his mouth so loudly that Emperor Zhu Youjian couldn't help but taunt him.
Wang Chengen looked at Li Zhi's memorial and spat: "The official title of Shandong Admiral is commercial tax, land tax, and governor of Shandong. This Li Zhi simply calls himself the King of Shandong. Li Zhi rescued a disaster and wanted to split Shandong's territory and divide it! "
Zhu Youjian shook his head and said: "Li Zhi is a merchant, so he really can't afford it early. He is bidding all over the sky, waiting for me to counter-offer."
Wang Chengen praised: "Your Majesty is a wise man!" He looked at the memorial in the emperor's hand and said: "But the Duke of Jin has so much money? Can he really produce 10 million shi of food for disaster relief? If he goes to the south Purchasing rice will inevitably cause the price of rice to rise. I am afraid that even thirty million taels may not be able to buy ten million shi of grain!"
Zhu Youjian pondered and said: "Li Zhi has kept his word over the years and has never made any exaggerated remarks. Since he said he could help the victims, I believe he must be sure." After a pause, Zhu Youjian continued. He said: "If the tens of millions of victims in Shandong can have food to eat next year, I will feel much better."
Wang Chengen raised his hands and said: "The saint is kind and virtuous, and the common people are blessed!"
Zhu Youjian pointed at Li Zhi's memorial and said: "Let's look at it one by one. The title of Shandong Admiral gives Li Zhi the power to dispatch soldiers and horses in Shandong and Denglai Town. If Li Zhi has this title, Then we can confidently station troops in various places in Shandong to intimidate Shandong province."
Zhu Youjian sighed and said: "Even if he is not given this official title, he actually controls Shandong's military. Now that his Huben division is in Jinan, it would be shameless for the court to speak out. It is better to let him be the admiral of Tianjin and Shandong. The military affairs of the two places."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
Zhu Youjian looked at the memorial again and said: "Business tax!"
After thinking for a long time, Zhu Youjian asked: "Wang Chengen, how much is Li Zhi's annual income when he collects business taxes in Tianjin?"
Wang Chengen raised his hands and said: "Back to the emperor, the commercial tax in Tianjin is about 450,000 taels a year. Li Zhi escorted 100,000 taels of it to the capital to be used as the emperor's internal funds."
Zhu Youjian said: "The population of Shandong is five times that of Tianjin. Although it is not as wealthy as Tianjin, the commercial tax is at least 1.5 million taels. Li Zhi spent tens of millions of taels on disaster relief, so we had to give him some compensation. Let him collect business taxes in Shandong. After collecting it for twenty years, he will have earned back the money for disaster relief."
Wang Chengen asked: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid the civil servants will be dissatisfied if Li Zhi is allowed to collect business taxes in Shandong."
Zhu Youjian said calmly: "Let them be dissatisfied. They can't change the world with just commercial taxes." After looking at the memorial again, Zhu Youjian said in a deep voice: "But even I can't make the decision on this. Already."
Wang Chengen raised his hand and said: "If Li Zhi is allowed to collect land tax from the gentry in Shandong, all the people who contributed to the gentry will leave the gentry. Within a year, I am afraid that most of the gentry and landlords in Shandong will lose their land and property. This will take a long time in Shandong. If the emperor agrees to the policy regarding the lives of the gentry, I am afraid that the civil servants will collectively attack the emperor."
Zhu Youjian shook his head and said: "I can't do anything about this, no!"
Wang Chengen said: "What about the power to appoint the governor of Shandong?"
Zhu Youjian shook his head and said, "That's not allowed either!"
Wang Chengen took a breath and said: "Your Majesty, after all this calculation, Li Zhi only received the title of Shandong Admiral and an annual business tax of 1.5 million. I am afraid that he will not be willing to spend 30 million for disaster relief!"
Zhu Youjian pondered for a moment and said: "It doesn't matter. Since Li Zhi is already the admiral of Tianjin and Shandong, we will give Li Zhi the power to appoint and remove the three general soldiers of Tianjin, Shandong and Denglai."
"Although he cannot appoint the governor of Shandong, he suddenly has the power to appoint and remove three generals. The Duke of Jin should be satisfied."
Wang Chengen thought about it for a while and then asked: "What about the court in Shandong?"
Zhu Youjian waved his hand and said: "It is my will that the Tianjin Public Court will benefit the country and the people, and I will allow it to be handled. All the necessary funds will be drawn from the local government office."
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The eunuch who announced the decree stood in front of Li Zhi and sang and read loudly:
"According to the emperor's edict, the Duke of Tianjin, Li Zhi, has sacrificed himself and served the public... He also granted Li Zhi the admiral to oversee the military affairs of Shandong and Tianjin. The power of appointing and removing the general soldiers of the three towns of Tianjin, Shandong and Denglai was granted by the emperor to the Duke of Tianjin...
"
"The Tianjin Public Court is fair and honest, and the emperor allows the Tianjin Government to continue to run the court. The local government will bear the operating expenses."
After announcing the imperial edict, the eunuch who announced the edict respectfully handed it over to Li Zhi. He did not dare to ask for money from the powerful Li Zhi, so he only bowed to Li Zhi and left in a hurry with the two young eunuchs.
Already.
Li Xing looked at the eunuch who was leaving, laughed, and said: "Now that the eldest brother is the governor of Shandong, it is justifiable for us to control Shandong province."
Zheng Kaicheng said happily: "Now that the Duke has the official title of Shandong Admiral, those civil servants have lost the right to mobilize troops, and they will not dare to go against us."
Zhong Feng said with a smile: "Give the division commander the right to appoint and remove three general soldiers at once, and we can go sideways in Shandong from now on."
Xie Liangyou, the ambassador of the shogunate's tax department, sniffed and said: "My lord, according to my estimate, Shandong Province can collect 1.7 million taels of commercial tax in a normal year."
Li Laosi pondered and said: "This time the emperor did not wait for our consent and directly decreed the appointment. It seems that the emperor is not prepared to bargain with us. Looking at the posture of the eunuch who announced the decree, the emperor means that these conditions are finalized!
"
Li Xing crossed his arms and said, "It's a good thing to be able to take this opportunity to control Shandong's commercial taxes! It's just that this disaster relief really requires a lot of food..."
Xie Liangyou said: "Disaster relief requires at least 10 million taels of grain. Such a large-scale purchase of grain will definitely raise the price of food in various places. After calculation, it is impossible to save Shandong Province without 30 million taels of silver. If you want to rely on commercial taxes to recover the cost
, it will take more than ten years.”
Everyone fell silent when they heard this. Now Li Zhi only had more than 10 million taels of silver in his silver warehouse. He could not raise 30 million taels of silver to buy food for disaster relief. In everyone's hearts, this
Disaster relief is an impossible task, and I don’t know what Li Zhi is planning to do.
Li Zhi said lightly: "I think this disaster relief, as long as we think of some ways to do it, it won't cost much money. Those gentry and landlords have a lot of money but are unwilling to provide disaster relief. Let's think of a way to make them bleed!"
Everyone looked at Li Zhi, but they didn't know how Li Zhi planned to make the gentry bleed.
Li Zhi smiled and said: "But first we must prepare the food for disaster relief. Cui Changwu, come with me. We will write a formal order to Zheng Hui in Hsinchu."
