Even though Sun Shao had been mentally prepared, he was still so frightened that he couldn't speak. Mrs. Liu couldn't even look at it. She didn't know who Concubine Lu was or who Prince Yiwen was, but
When I heard the words "Palace" and "Your Majesty", I was so frightened that I fell to my knees.
After a while, Sun Shao came to his senses, pointed at Tan Wei'er and said: "I have thought about your identity, but I thought you were the daughter of a high-ranking official in Beijing, and then you escaped after something happened at home. But why didn't I think you were the daughter of a palace official?
It came out."
"You said: 'Concubine Lu committed something'. Someone in the palace committed something. Although I don't know what it was, it must be something serious." At this time, he said to Mrs. Liu: "Get out!"
Although Mrs. Liu was puzzled, she still went out.
Then Sun Shao whispered: "If you were discovered about such a thing, my whole Sun family wouldn't be able to survive."
Tan Wei'er said: "My father-in-law is right."
Sun Shao said: "In this case, the safest way for us is to surrender you, otherwise if you are discovered, we will die without a burial place."
Tan Wei'er said: "My father-in-law is right."
Sun Shao asked strangely: "Aren't you afraid?"
Tan Wei'er said: "Firstly, I am a person who deserves to die. If I die now and live for more than two years and have children, I will not have come to this world in vain; secondly, since my father-in-law calls my mother-in-law
If you go out, you have no intention of confessing to me."
Sun Shao said: "You are really smart and calm. It would be great if Rui'er was like you. Yes, I didn't reveal your thoughts."
"First, I can't let my newly born grandson lose his mother. If he has a stepmother, he will have a stepfather; second, if you hate us,..." If Tan Wei'er sincerely wants to deal with the Sun family, he can just say a few more words.
You can finish the Sun family.
"You will be like this in the past two years. After all, this is Peking, not the capital. You are only in the workshop on weekdays, and your speech and other things are becoming more and more like us. Even if there are people who have seen you in the past, they will probably not recognize you when they see you.
Come out. You came from the palace, so it’s better to be here, but it’s even harder to hide if you’re from a military commander’s family.”
"Anyway, everything is the same as before. Don't tell Rui'er about this. I also told Mrs. Liu not to talk nonsense when I go out. Do you remember that?" Tan Wei'er nodded.
Sun Shao gave a few more calm instructions, and then left the room. However, when he left the room, he seemed to be unaware that there was a threshold and he tripped and fell to the ground.
On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, after discussing with Yunxi, Lao Zhu went to Fengtian Gate and said to the civil and military officials: "It has been more than forty years since I started the army. I have seen that the situation is false, punishing traitors or using extrajudicial punishment, which is very typical. Descendants
Stop promulgating the "Laws" and "Da Gao", and prohibit the use of punishments such as tattooing, stabbing, mutilation, and castration. Those who dare to request me will be given a heavy ceremony."
He also said: "I dismissed the prime minister, established a government, a ministry, and a provincial procuratorate to handle the affairs of the common people, and returned the power to the imperial court. The successor is not allowed to reinstate the prime minister. The ministers who dare to request will be punished. The emperor's relatives will not be pardoned except for treason. The remaining crimes will be punished.
The clan meeting makes the decision. The judicial officer is only allowed to file memorials and is not allowed to arrest anyone. All regulations are strictly enforced and will always be observed."
On the twenty-sixth day of the first lunar month, after discussing with Yunxi, Lao Zhu promulgated the "Ancestor Instructions of the Emperor Ming Dynasty", declaring: "If future generations have any suggestion to change the ancestral system, they will judge it as a treacherous minister."
Historically, Lao Zhu established these two systems successively in the 28th year of Hongwu. This time and space may have been postponed to the present because of Yunxi's patrol.
Before the promulgation, Lao Zhu said to Yunxi: "The "Da Gao" and "Da Ming Law" will be the basis for handling cases in the Ming Dynasty. You are no better than grandpa. From now on, you must follow the "Da Gao" and "Da Ming Law" to preserve the Ming Dynasty law.
If the law is clear and clear, the country will be forever solid."
When Lao Zhu said this, Yunxi was reading "Da Gao" and "Da Ming Law". It has to be said that Lao Zhu still has very modern thoughts. He adopts case law and takes the trouble to describe the big and small matters.
The representative cases are all listed above. If they can be strictly enforced, even if you want to do anything, it will be impossible. At this time, there is no such thing as a jury.
But Yunxi still found a loophole. He said to Lao Zhu, "Grandpa, there are not too detailed provisions or cases about businessmen's illegal activities here?"
Lao Zhu said: "Businessmen are the worms of the country. How can they protect them from being exploited by officials like scholars, farmers, and workers? Every prefecture and county in the Ming Dynasty usually repairs bridges and roads, and relief to the people depends entirely on the money allocated by the capital.
If it’s not enough, we just rely on these businessmen.”
Lao Zhu's idea was to treat businessmen as fat pigs, and slaughter a few when the court needed them. But Lao Zhu's idea was too natural. Without explaining the times, even the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which exploited businessmen the most ruthlessly, just slaughtered them ruthlessly.
Those "fat pigs" who have no relatives serving as officials in the government have no choice but to collect some commercial taxes, which are not much; not to mention that in the later period, even the serious commercial tax of thirty-one tax will not be paid.
The Ming Dynasty cannot be collected.
The final result was that all these "donations" went to the small and medium-sized landowners, which caused all the small and medium-sized landowners in the north to go bankrupt in the late Ming Dynasty. Even the peasant uprising army included many people who were landlords a few years ago.
But Yunxi couldn't say that. Yunxi said: "Grandpa, although businessmen are profit-seeking people, they are also my subjects of the Ming Dynasty. The state cannot put them into another book. And if it weren't for these profit-seeking people, the food at the border of the Ming Dynasty would be
How can it be so sufficient? If it were all shipped by the government, I'm afraid there would be a lot of losses."
Then Yunxi knew that as a subordinate, it was not enough to just raise problems, but also to solve them. So he went on to say: "But these businessmen also need to be restricted. It is better to increase the business tax on them. In the city, for merchants sitting on land, regardless of their size,
A fixed tax is charged only based on the category of items sold.”
"For itinerant vendors, let them all gather in the market. If anyone dares to buy things outside the market, he will be severely punished, and then each household will also be charged a fixed tax."
"For merchants who bring goods into the city, unless they are transporting grain, vegetables, cloth and other items, they will be charged more city fees. However, for convenience, taxes will be collected based on weight or the size of the vehicle."
What Yunxi said above means don't think about the tax rate. It is not reliable at all. It is difficult to determine the income of businessmen. Even in later generations, there will always be tax evasion. And the same is not true in foreign countries at the same time. Seventeen
In order to collect some business taxes from businessmen, France in the 19th century also had repeated battles of wits and courage between the tax department and businessmen. In order to collect some taxes, France once stipulated that taxes should be collected according to the number of windows. As a result, most houses had no windows. So they simply did not have any windows.
If the tax is changed to a fixed tax, then the country's tax revenue will be more stable.
Lao Zhu didn't care much about this kind of thing. After thinking about it, he felt that Yun Xi's idea was acceptable and said, "Yes, then add this."
Yunxi actually wanted to introduce stamp duty. Now these transactions between merchants are all handed over to Yahang. They pay a certain amount of money regularly every year, which is very inefficient. But this will inevitably increase the number of government personnel. Lao Zhu is
He was very opposed to expanding the number of people in the government, so he could only wait until a hundred years later before talking about it.
Then Lao Zhu showed Yunxi the "Articles of Instructions of Emperor Ming's Ancestors" and said: "Grandpa knows that you will divide the kings in the future. The current official position in the royal palace cannot be used as an official position in a vassal state, so I won't tell you.
There is no such thing as an official position that cannot be changed. However, the position of prime minister must not be restored. Anyone who dares to write a letter to restore the position of prime minister will be killed. Grandpa will also tell all the officials."
Yunxi nodded in agreement, but he was secretly happy in his heart. Yunxi was actually very worried that Lao Zhu would announce that "the official system will never be easy", which would make him very upset. Now he is not afraid anymore.
The most important things in the first month are these two things. Hundreds of officials, clans and vassals are extremely concerned about it. Generally speaking, because the Chinese have always pursued a system that will never be easy, although officials are too concerned about Lao Zhu's punishment of corruption.
I am very dissatisfied, but I cannot express this point, so there is no objection.
On the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, Yunxi came to Chang's Mansion again to pay his respects in his old age. This time, it was the same as before. Chang Sheng and Chang Sen came to receive Yunxi first, and then went to the backyard to visit Chang's mother.
Chang's mother has been in very poor health since last year, and started to get worse and worse on the seventh day of the first lunar month. If Yunxi had become a grandson at this time, things that happened more than two years ago would not be able to be dealt with at all, and the current results may not be possible.
When Chang's mother saw Yunxi coming, she struggled to stay on the pillow. Yunxi felt uncomfortable seeing Chang's mother so old. He and Chang's mother still had feelings for the past two years. So Yunxi said:
"Old madam, why do you have to get up? You can just lie down. I'm not an outsider who can't be reached to see you."
Chang's mother coughed twice first, and then said with a smile: "If outsiders who can't reach me can't see me, they can only see me at the funeral a few days later."
Yunxi said: "Why do you say that? The old lady will definitely live a long life."
Chang's mother said: "These are just for outsiders to hear. I am your elder. You don't have to say such things. I know my own body."
When Yunxi saw Chang's mother talking like this, he had nothing to say.
But Chang's mother continued: "This is probably the last time you will see me. When I die, you may not have time to come to Chang's Mansion to see me, so I have a few words to tell you."
When Chang Sheng heard his mother talking like this, he shed tears and said, "Mother!" The same happened to Chang Sen. Yunxi didn't know what to say, after all, he had already said all the words of persuasion.
However, Chang's mother did not wait for Yunxi to speak, and continued: "I don't understand national affairs, so I won't talk nonsense. I will talk about things related to my Chang family."
"Chang Sheng is a human being, but unfortunately he doesn't know how to fight. If you want to use him in the future, you must not make him the commander for any reason. It is even better not to let him lead an army alone, no matter how many people there are; Chang Sen only knows how to fight cocks and walk dogs.
, Let him be a wealthy idler at home from now on, don't use him." Chang Sen seemed unconvinced, but said nothing.
"Jizong is stronger than his father. He can go to the battlefield and practice. However, this fighting skill cannot be learned. It can only be practiced on the battlefield. If you want to use Ji Zong in the future, don't be afraid of his death.
, let him go to the battlefield, start training from hundreds of households, thousands of households, etc. Anyway, Chang Sheng still has a son, and he will not be destined to die, but if he can come out, then the Chang family can always add another generation of wealth.
, otherwise it won’t work after all.”
"The next thing I want to tell you is about the Lan family. Although the Lan family is my natal family, it is different from the Chang family. I am not saying that you can use the Chang family with confidence, but the Lan family may not be like this.
We should treat them like other families of military commanders, and don’t rely too much on them.”
"You have done a good job in bringing Lan Lian's daughter into the palace. It will be used and defended against the Lan family and his family of military commanders."
"The last thing is," she said, pointing to a maid next to her: "This maid is called Baoqin. The name is long. It was named after the Crown Princess before she entered the palace. It was not given to her.
Yes, it was for her mother. Her mother was the Crown Princess's maid, and the Crown Princess made a promise to her before she entered the palace."
"Later, this little girl was chosen to be my maid. Because she played the piano well, I called her Baoqin. His mother dressed up as your mother back then, and then let her serve you in the palace. If you like,
I will take her as my concubine; if you don’t like it, you can become a palace maid and come back in a few years.”
Yunxi looked at the maid standing next to her. She was really good-looking and had a good figure. Yunxi didn't understand why Chang's mother had to send a little maid into the palace? A maid can't maintain the friendship between the two families, and she
He may not always be loyal to the Chang family.
But although Yunxi didn't understand it, it was hard to refuse. Did Chang's mother ask her to be a concubine or something, so she had no choice but to accept it.
Then Yunxi said a few words to Chang's mother, then went to the front hall to chat with Chang Sheng for a while, and then left. He had other arrangements.
After Yunxi left, Chang Sheng asked, "Mom, why did you give Yunxi the piano? Is this good for the Chang family?" Chang Sen also looked puzzled.
Chang's mother sighed and said: "It's not because there is any benefit to Yunxi! It's because of our own family affairs!"
"Jizong fell in love with Baoqin and begged me to promise it to him. That would be fine if it were like this, but Jiyao, Sen'er's eldest son, also fell in love with Baoqin. It wouldn't be good for me to promise it to anyone. It would be better if I promise it to a servant.
It's not good, why don't I send him to the palace to save them from ruining their brotherhood."
Chang Sheng and Chang Sen were stunned for a moment when they thought that this was the reason. However, Chang Sen immediately said: "Ji Yao is such a bastard. He is planning to have a baby before his wife is married. Let me take care of him when I get back!"