The method of drying sea salt is not a strange thing. It has been practiced for a long time in previous generations, but it was abandoned due to various well-known reasons. Unexpectedly, Feng Zhou had this idea.
"Isn't Master Feng worried that the amount of salt produced will be too large and affect the court's salt tax revenue?"
Finally, Chen Wen, the third assistant minister who was also a cabinet minister, could not hold back and asked with an angry look on his face.
"Haha, how much is the court's salt tax now?"
Feng Zhou chuckled lightly, but what he said was shocking: "It's only two million taels a year, and it has to be exchanged for the life of the salt inspector. The price of salt in the North has always been high. How can we stabilize the price of salt?"
Wouldn't it be nice to let the people breathe a sigh of relief?"
"Salt tax..."
"Fuck the salt tax. If the salt tax is less than last year, how much less can I use the money to subsidize it myself?"
Feng Zhou's face darkened and he suddenly cursed angrily. He pointed his finger at Chen Wen and sneered: "If the Changlu Saltworks not only does not affect the salt tax revenue but also has a surplus, how much of the surplus can you take from your home and give it to the state treasury? That's great."
?”
The whole court was shocked. Unexpectedly, Feng Zhou was so courageous that he even pointed at a cabinet minister and yelled at him at the court meeting. It was an insult to a gentleman and an unworthy man.
However, no one dares to step forward. This is a war between ministers, and the ministers below have no right to intervene. What if Feng Zhou is targeted and he is asked to make a bet?
What's going on with the Jiangnan salt tax? Apart from the nerds who don't know how to use their brains, who here doesn't know what's going on?
If all the salt tax could be collected, the national treasury would have at least tens of millions more taels of silver every year!
No one knows how much output the Haiyan Salt Farm created by Feng Zhou can produce and how much income it can generate. It would be no joke to fall into it accidentally.
"You, you, you, I have always been an upright official, and my family has no money left..."
Chen Wen was so angry that he fell back, blowing his beard and staring, wishing he could slap Feng Zhou severely, and spoke with awe.
"Tsk, tsk, the mansion in Li Ge's hometown, the beautiful concubine, the thousands of fertile fields outside the city, and..."
Feng Zhou interrupted Chen Wen without hesitation and spoke lightly with a sneer on his face. The words that followed were not spoken, which was obviously very predictable.
"You, you, you..."
Chen Wen's old face was red from holding back, and his face was like a pig's liver. He was so embarrassed, but he was so angry that he couldn't speak. The only sound in the quiet hall was his heavy breathing.
Feng Zhou looked with disdain on his face and didn't even bother to look at this guy. He bowed his hands to the emperor and continued to explain his "policy outline" in the field of salt and iron.
The subsequent court meeting was extremely smooth. All the courtiers saw Feng Zhou's fighting power and thought that they were no match for him, so they did not have the courage to refute.
Whether it was Feng Zhou's scolding, the emperor's obvious favoritism, or the collective silence of several cabinet ministers, the meeting ended successfully in a strange atmosphere.
"Master Feng is so beautiful and domineering. I just hope that Master Feng can maintain it for a long time!"
After leaving the main hall, Chen Wen blocked Feng Zhou's way and said with a cold and disdainful expression: "I'm afraid that the Zhongyong Hou Mansion will be in ruins by then!"
"Dong Zhai threatened me?"
Feng Zhou smiled softly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
Chen Wen, courtesy name Anjian and nickname Zhizhai, was born in Luling, Jiangxi.
He himself was very clever. After the death of Emperor Yingzong, when today's emperor ascended the throne, he used clever tricks to drive away the eunuch Wang Lun, expel the cabinet minister Qian Fu, and secure the position of cabinet minister, namely Li Xian, the chief minister of the cabinet.
, and respect him very much.
It can be said that Chen Wen has extremely high prestige among the government and the public!
"It's just advice!"
Chen Wen smiled coldly, his eyes cold and murderous.
hehe……
Feng Zhou smiled softly and patted Chen Wen's shoulder. From the outside, the two of them behaved intimately, which aroused quite a bit of surprise. There was even a dark suspicion that these two people were singing an oboe just now.
"The day you fall, the Chen family in Luling will be completely destroyed!"
A cold and hard voice sounded in Chen Wen's ears, which shocked the old man and made him feel extremely uncomfortable. By the time he reacted, Feng Zhou had already strode away. He said coldly with anger on his face: "We'll see!"
That night, Chen Wen, a cabinet minister, suddenly vomited blood and fell into coma. The Li Mansion was in chaos. He died before the imperial doctor invited from the palace arrived.
On the second day, Feng Zhou personally led officials from the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple, as well as soldiers from the Wucheng Army and Horse Division to surround Li's house, broke into the house and ransacked the house.
Such a crazy act immediately shocked the government and the public, and Feng Zhou became famous for his "wanton behavior". A group of civil servants, led by the first assistant Li Xian and the second assistant Shang Ren, went to the palace to meet the emperor and asked the emperor to stop Feng Zhou's crazy act. At the same time,
Punish this guy severely for his 'inappropriate' behavior.
Zhu Jianshen's face was as dark as water. When he complained to the civil servants that they were noisy, he threw a thick folder in his hand at Li Xian's feet and said coldly: "This is the so-called Shilin example. Li Ge's youngest, Shilin
Isn’t it too worthless?”
The two pavilion elders felt a thump in their hearts. They did not dare to say any more nonsense and directly picked up the memorial on the ground and read it carefully. The more they looked at it, the more ugly their expressions became, and their bodies began to tremble slightly.
The excerpt is full of conclusive evidence that Chen Wen has been corrupt and perverted the law over the years. The most serious one is that he acted as a protective umbrella for Jiangnan salt merchants and secretly collected astonishing tributes!
Originally, they wanted to say a few words of sympathy for Chen Wen's family, but as a highly efficient property search team, they confiscated two million taels of cash, three hundred thousand taels of gold, and various valuable treasures and jewelry from Chen Wen's family.
, there are also unique ancient books, as well as the deeds of thousands of fields outside Gyeonggi City, as well as the deeds of dozens of shops in prosperous areas in Jingdu City, as well as the deeds of Chen Wen's thousands of fertile fields and hundreds of shops in the south of the Yangtze River, all placed in the main hall.
When he came to the palace, Zhu Jianshen's face was as dark as ink. The two cabinet ministers sighed and had no words to reply. The civil servants were so shocked that their faces were pale and shaky.
The so-called king's land in the whole world! Could it be the king's ministers on the shore of the land?
It stands to reason that everything in the world belongs to the emperor.
But these words are always just words!
The royal palace only has one to two million taels of gold and silver every year, which is not enough for the expenses of the palace.
But look at these pavilion elders, they are richer than the emperor! They are boasting about their integrity! How can the young emperor not be angry?
"Chen Wen, a traitor, deceived the emperor and committed crimes, and all his merits and deeds were removed, and the whole family was demoted to a lowly position..."
Zhu Jianshen issued the order in a calm tone, and a wealthy family suddenly collapsed in one day...
Elders and cabinet ministers of two dynasties died suddenly, and their families collapsed overnight.
As for who the murderer is, everyone knows it well. Apart from the cabinet minister who has just entered the cabinet, Feng Zhou, who is known to be extremely skilled in martial arts, who else can it be?
But everyone knows that there is no evidence at all.
For a time, Feng Zhou was known as a ‘powerful minister’!
In the second year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, Li Xian, the chief minister of the cabinet, took office and died of illness two months later.
He is over sixty years old, entering his sixtieth year. He has been a highly respected minister for many years, and his career is going well.
But the civil servants in the court felt like they were mourning for their heirs!
Because there seems to be one less person who can check and balance Feng Zhou.
In this situation, it no longer matters who serves as the prefect of Jinmen!
Because the people employed by Fengzhou were all Northern Juren who were unsuccessful in officialdom, there was a natural gap between them and the civil servants of the Manchu Dynasty.
So even if there are many changes and twists and turns, no one will get close to the civil servants from Jiangnan!
On the contrary, Shang Ren, the chief minister of the cabinet, fully supported the move to seal the boat.
"They are just a bunch of idiots who only talk about people but don't do anything about people. Do you really think that the court can't function without you?"
To everyone's surprise, in the Ming Dynasty, "police stations" under the vertical control of the Ministry of Justice began to be established in the capital and Tianjin!
At the same time, Feng Zhou also established an armed police department to deal with organized evil forces.
But under the huge income of Jinmen Changlu Salt Farm, all this has not been noticed at all...