First Minister of Ming Dynasty

First Minister Section 521

In the end, Zhu Di was at a disadvantage because of his age. Zhu Di had made rapid progress in the past two years, and Zhu Di had to wait for a while. When it came to body shape, he was at a disadvantage.

What is even more disadvantageous is that being in Zhu's territory, surrounded by Zhu's people, the momentum is three points weaker.

There was no way, but the left arm could not move, it seemed to be broken, but fortunately it was not a big problem, after all the gold and silver had been transported away.

Such a large sum of money can do a lot of things.

Although trapped in the Prince Jin's Mansion, Zhu Di expressed no pressure.

Zhu Yan was miserable, he forced Zhu Di to pay the money, but failed.

Then they dispersed and chased after Li Jinglong and Hua Wei, trying to get the money back, but they returned in vain.These two guys ran faster than rabbits, so they didn't catch them.

Sure enough, if there is a master, there will be subordinates!

These two things also have the same virtue as Zhu Di.

Zhu Fen really had no choice, even if he couldn't get it back, he still had to understand how much money Yang Xian's old house had!

After all, time was too hasty, Zhu Di just transported away the gold and silver, other antiques and treasures, gold and stone calligraphy and painting, including the staff of the old house of the Yang family, were still in Taiyuan.

It was not difficult for Zhu Yan to investigate.

When he got the file and looked at the numbers on it, Zhu Bian was completely dumbfounded!

Then he screamed strangely!

"Zhu Di! I'm going to break your arms and legs!"

This can't tolerate Zhu Yan's anger, because according to the above records, the gold recovered from Yang Xian's old house is a total of 18 taels!

The remaining silver is more than 200 million taels!

Such a huge sum of money fell into Zhu Di's hands.

Handle three percent of the fat, even if you keep [-] percent, you can do a lot of things!

Zhu Yan was so angry that he went crazy, he didn't know that with this amount of gold and silver, the Bureau of Precious Banknotes could at least issue five times more precious banknotes.As for Beiping, if you don't keep a tael of silver, you can also negotiate with the imperial court to get millions of low-interest loans. The factories in Beiping are finally settled...

Chapter 723 Let Old Zhu Scared

In this world, the most needy people are obviously not Zhu Di and Zhu Yan, but Zhu Yuanzhang who is the head of the family!

It costs money to run a school, it costs money to raise soldiers, and it costs money to increase officials.

Even the sons and daughters are getting older, and they will spend money when they get married in the future.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang's head burst and he was at a loss.

But this time the case gave Lao Zhu some ideas, why don't we search the house in the future?

Every three or two years, copy it once, just like cutting leeks.

As long as we wield our knives diligently enough, we will not have to worry about having no money to fill the treasury.

No, Li Shanchang and Mao Xiang came to meet Zhu Yuanzhang together.

"Mr. Li, sit down!"

Zhu Yuanzhang gave Li Shanchang a seat with a backrest, not only a backrest, but also a wolf fur cushion, for fear that Li Shanchang would be frozen, which can be described as considerate.

Lao Li was grateful, and after thanking him, he immediately reported the situation to Lao Zhu.

"Superior, should the old minister talk about the civil servant's side first, or the general's side?"

Old Zhu paused for a moment, then said helplessly, "Whatever, I'm afraid anyone will be greedy!"

Elder Li Shan's face darkened, and he could only say: "Then, let's talk about it from the Yushitai first... Yang Xian wants to promote and appoint his confidants. In the Yushitai, more than 500% of the Yushi are his party members and minions. .They took advantage of the opportunity of patrolling various places to amass money wantonly, among which the taxes from various places amounted to no less than [-] million yuan!"

"Absurd! We asked the censor to monitor officials from all over the country, and they themselves guarded themselves and robbed themselves, turning into moths of the country! It is really abhorrent! Kill! Everyone should be killed!" Zhu Yuanzhang roared angrily.

Li Shanchang then said: "Superior, this is just a means for Yang Xian to be greedy for money. The supervisory censor, in addition to supervising taxes, is also responsible for supervising merchants, banknote tariff cards in various places, and the city shipping department. People, especially the export of goods, must be approved by Yushitai, which also provides convenience for their smuggling!"

Although the Ming Dynasty established a taxation department, there was still a lack of sufficient local officials. Usually, local officials were responsible for collecting taxes, while Yushitai was responsible for supervision.

Then there is the Shibo Department. Zhang Ximeng and Zhu Yuanzhang discussed at the beginning and believed that the price of the goods should be guaranteed and the goods should not be exported casually.Ming merchants compete with each other, isn't it cheaper for outsiders?

It stands to reason that this idea is very good, but someone has to implement it.

In addition to the Department of Shipping, smuggling must also be banned to prevent financial and tax leakage... As a result, this matter also fell into the hands of Yushitai.

It is precisely because Yushitai has the power to guard the gate that they get mixed up with the navy.

The sailors are basically free from any restraints when sailing across the sea, except that goods have to be launched into the sea, and things brought in from outside have to be landed. When the gate of the country is pinched at Yushitai, it is absolutely impossible not to open the door for them.

That's why they came together.

According to Li Shanchang's memorial, from Yang Xian down, there were more than 40 censors involved.

They have a total of more than 500 million yuan in greedy money!

The situation on the navy's side was even worse. There were as many as eight of the two marquises, their family members, and generals under their command.

More than two thousand people were involved.

It can be said that the entire Daming Navy was almost uprooted.

This is not over yet, their smuggling activities naturally require the cooperation of merchants, and there are thousands of merchants involved.

Among other things, the gold copied from the Liao family and the Yu family alone is more than 100 million taels!

Looking at the thick list, Zhu Yuanzhang seems to be about to explode!

silverfish!

All big silverfish!

We have worked hard to run the country, exhausted our minds, and worked tirelessly... Every year, the national treasury is short-lived, so we have to issue debts to survive.

But these bastards are good, taking the opportunity to make money, and doing everything they can!

They made a fortune one by one, eating delicious food and drinking spicy food, piled up gold and silver, and on the other hand, the treasury was empty and the operation was difficult. Are these the heroes of Ming Dynasty?

"Mr. Li, Liao Yongzhong and Yu Tonghai, they helped us cross the river and made a great contribution!"

Li Shanchang was taken aback, thinking what does His Majesty mean?

Then I heard Lao Zhu continue: "Among the two of them, some died fighting for the country, and they got their titles in exchange for their lives!"

Li Shanchang was even more surprised. Could it be that His Majesty wants to forgive?

This is not Lao Zhu's character!

Sure enough, I heard Lao Zhu snorting coldly: "As a friend, we should reciprocate. We should make a difference and give them a way to survive... But they are greedy for thousands of dollars! What they have done is simply beyond words. If we want to forgive them, we can't do it." It doesn't make sense. Mr. Li, you should write down their crimes immediately, and let everyone know!"

Hearing this, Li Shanchang was slightly taken aback, "Superior, can you slow down this matter a little?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious, "What do you mean, do you want us to cover them up?"

Li Shanchang hurriedly said: "My lord, this case involves civil and military officials, almost 1000 people. The money corrupted by ink is more than 3000 to [-] million yuan... Such a big case, let alone the Ming Dynasty, is unprecedented in all dynasties. The veteran is afraid to be truthful Let me tell you that some people still don’t believe it, and they will suspect intentional framing. The veteran thinks, should we continue to investigate thoroughly, find out all the cases, and then announce it to the world, so that there is nothing wrong with it.”

A case is so big that the person handling the case doubts life, and there is no one else.

Zhu Yuanzhang was taken aback, but also hesitated a little, should we take it easy?

At this moment, Mao Xiang suddenly said: "Mr. Li, if the news of such a big case cannot be announced as soon as possible, people will talk about it and speculate wildly!"

Li Shanchang was at a loss for words, although in Mao Xiang's position, it was a bit overwhelming to argue with him, but what Mao Xiang said was not unreasonable.

The case actually got to this point, and Lao Zhu became more and more restless.If those merchants are included, the amount this time is definitely more than tens of millions, accounting for almost half of Daming's fiscal revenue!

Even thinking about it, I was surprised, and Lao Zhu's face also had a fever.

I can be regarded as working hard and working hard.

I still thought it was the prosperous age of the Ming Dynasty, when the emperor was upright and his ministers were virtuous, but in the end, something like this happened, a big bidou, solid, stuck to Lao Zhu's face.

What a shame!

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang was even more furious. In any case, the person involved in the case must be made into a human leather pillow, otherwise he would not be able to express his grievances!

Zhang Ximeng, who was in Beiping, got the news not much later than Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Unheard of, unprecedented, Zhang Xiang, how can these people be so greedy for ink? Could it be a mistake?" Qi Tai simply doubted life.

Lian Zining, Huang Zicheng and others also doubted life.

Everyone was amazed, yet unbelievable.

Could it be that you are living in a dream?

Compared with several people, Zhang Ximeng was not so surprised.

He even felt that it was a little too little. If a few years passed, maybe this group of people would be able to steal money from the national treasury.

Zhang Ximeng pondered slightly, and said, "Do you know how big the world is and how rich merchants can be?"

Huang Zicheng took the lead and said, "Master Zhang, I heard that there are many merchants with millions of dollars in the current Ming Dynasty. There are even rich merchants with wealth over tens of millions. They can be said to be as rich as an enemy. It really makes people dumbfounded."

Zhang Ximeng said again: "It's indeed a lot! But have you ever thought about it? Another way of thinking, it's not that they can make too much money, but that the taxes that our treasury can collect are too little!"

Several people were stunned, feeling their hearts moved, and hurriedly said: "Please make it clear, Mr. Zhang!"

Zhang Ximeng sighed: "The collection of commercial taxes has been a very troublesome thing throughout the ages. The country is too big, the situation is too complicated, and it is too difficult to collect taxes. Obviously we have developed commerce, the Silk Road, and our tea and silk. It can be exchanged for huge income. The money flows to the people and into the hands of merchants, but it cannot enter the national treasury. Do you feel too regretful?"

At this time, Fang Xiaoru suddenly said: "Mr. Zhang, the students have some things, and I want to ask you sir... This time, the incident started from the smuggling of the navy, and the smuggling involved the two Marquises, and then implicated Yushitai, so that It has become the number one case!"

Fang Xiaoru leaned forward and said, "Master Zhang, what is the connection here?"

Zhang Ximeng chuckled, "If you ask me that, you've almost hit the key point...these money are commercial taxes that the country hasn't collected!"

Several people were taken aback and stared at Zhang Ximeng stupidly.

"You don't think that you don't need to run a business, you don't need to dredge the joints! You don't think that just by adding a few departments, you can control all the merchants and trade in the world?" Zhang Ximeng said with a smile: " Since we can't control it, someone must do it. Merchants need to spend money to find someone to protect them... To put it bluntly, whether it is the navy or Yushitai, they are all making this money. Land taxes, business taxes, It’s all national taxation, they take half of it, so how difficult is it to be rich like an enemy?”

When several people heard this, they couldn't help but suddenly realized.

"Zhang Xiang, since this is the case, what should I do?"

Zhang Ximeng said: "Naturally, there should be strict legislation, and everything should be done according to the rules. Supervise the top and bottom, without leaving any loopholes."

Fang Xiaoru rejoiced and said: "This is the best! Zhang Xiang, hurry up and report to His Majesty, and ask His Majesty for an order."

Zhang Ximeng suddenly chuckled, "What I just said is just empty words. How do we set rules and supervise them? How can we do it without a mature strategy?"

Fang Xiaoru was stunned, Huang Zicheng thought for a while, and suddenly said: "Mr. Zhang, does this matter have something to do with our tax collection in Beiping?"

Zhang Ximeng clapped his palms and laughed loudly, "Speaking of which, the reason is clear...it's not wrong! No matter how many yamen are set up in Yingtian, they can only manage a general plan. If you want to really come up with a feasible plan, you must have a small office. It needs to be verified. It also needs an unselfish and strong-minded person to carry out this matter."

At this time Qi Tai whispered: "The person Zhang Xiang mentioned is not His Royal Highness Yan Wang?"

Zhang Ximeng smiled and said nothing, several people looked at each other, and finally understood, no wonder why Zhang Xianggong favored King Yan!How dare he carry such a heavy burden on his shoulders!

correct?

Where is King Yan?

Why haven't you come back from Taiyuan yet?

Chapter 724 Mr. Zhang Still Understands Us

Zhu Di hasn't come back yet, but Zhang Ximeng has no trouble.

Things about their old Zhu's family, what's the love!

Could it be that Zhu Yan could beat Zhu Di to death?As long as you have breath, don't worry.

Li Jinglong and Hua Wei looked at each other, feeling cold.Zhang Xiang!King Yan told us, let us tell you as soon as possible, please find a way to get him out!

You can't ignore it!

Seeing that they still wanted to talk, Zhang Ximeng couldn't help coughing and said, "Young people are going through a lot of hardships, I know it well, you guys can step back."

After driving away the reluctant Wolongfeng chicks, Zhang Ximeng picked up his pen and wrote to Lao Zhu again.

What will happen to Zhu Yuanzhang now?

Open your teeth and show your claws, and burst into anger?

He even fell into self-doubt, wishing to kill all the criminals and let the Qinhuai River be stained red with blood!

Anyway, he definitely couldn't calm down.

Zhang Ximeng really wanted to see Lao Zhu go crazy, but unfortunately, his letter was to cool down Zhu Yuanzhang, not to set fire to him.