Capital

Today is the first day of the second lunar month, and it is the day of the court meeting as usual, so before dawn, Zhang Yan woke up Zhu Youxiao early, and several palace maids waited for Zhu Youxiao to wash up and have breakfast, and helped Zhu Youxiao put on a dragon robe, hung up various ornaments, and carefully checked it twice until it was correct, and then urged Zhu Youxiao to go to the early court.

Zhu Youxiao is in a good mood these days, not only because Zhang Yan gave birth to a prince for him, but also because as the situation in Damingpu and Liaodong began to improve with high-yield crops such as potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes, the two nooses that were originally strangled around Daming's neck have begun to loosen.

Seeing that the Ming Dynasty has a successor and the domestic situation is beginning to improve, Zhu Youxiao's mood naturally became cheerful, but at the beginning of the court meeting, Zhu Youxiao's mood began to be a little bad after the fold of Guo Yunhou, the head of the household department, was handed over, and there was only one reason why Zhu Youxiao's mood deteriorated, that is, the household department had no money.

"Guo Aiqing!" Zhu Youxiao gritted his teeth and said: "I remember that four months ago, that is, in October, the autumn tax had just been put into the treasury for two million taels of silver, and it had only been a few months, why was there no silver?" ”

Guo Yunhou said respectfully: "Your Majesty Mingjian, in October last year, the imperial court did receive two million taels of tax silver, but the expenses in the past few months are not small, as of this month, the imperial court has spent two million thirty-five thousand seven and eight taels, and now there are less than 300,000 taels of silver left in the treasury of the imperial court. If Your Majesty does not believe it, the minister can present the account book of the expenses of the past six months to His Majesty's Imperial Review. ”

"Imperial ...... Will I be able to conjure up silver if I let me see it? Zhu Youxiao snorted coldly, "Guo Aiqing, you are the head of the imperial court, and the silver needed by the imperial court needs to pass through your hands, and now you come to cry poor with me, is it possible that I can conjure up silver for you?" ”

"Weichen doesn't dare!" Guo Yunhou smiled bitterly, "It's just that now it's February, and the military salaries and equipment in Liaodong will also start to be allocated, and the drought in Shaanxi and Shanxi is still going on, and the imperial court's disaster relief silver and grain must also be allocated in time. ”

"See, fart!" Zhu Youxiao's eyes widened, and he scolded: "Could it be that there will be silver after I see it?" Guo Aiqing, just say it directly, how much silver do you need? ”

"One hundred and sixty-five thousand three hundred and twenty-nine taels of silver!" Guo Yunhou quickly said a number.

"Hey...... Feelings, you've been waiting here for a long time. Zhu Youxiao was angry, "You come to tell me, where did I get such a sum of money?" ”

"The minister has two proposals, one is to implore His Majesty to transfer the silver."

"And another?" Zhu Youxiao asked noncommittally.

"What's more......" Speaking of this, Guo Yunhou hesitated a little, but when he saw Zhu Youxiao's impatient eyes, he was excited, and quickly took out an official document from his sleeve and held it high above his head: "The governors of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Guangdong provinces jointly forwarded a letter of ten thousand people to the household department yesterday, which was jointly written by the gentry from Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong and other places in the south of the Yangtze River, asking the imperial court to stop opening the sea, and for this reason they are willing to pay an extra two million taels of tax silver to the imperial court every year. ”

"Yo...... Is the sun coming out of the west today? Zhu Youxiao was stunned for a moment, and then sneered: "I don't know in what name they paid the taxes?" ”

Guo Yunhou quickly added: "Tea tax!" ”

"Tea tax?"

Zhu Youxiao was stunned for a moment, and then laughed.

"Haha...... Hahahaha......"

Zhu Youxiao's voice became louder and louder, and finally he almost couldn't breathe with laughter, and the whole person was lying on the dragon case, as if he had epilepsy, and his whole body kept convulsing.

The Manchu Dynasty civil and military forces below looked at Zhu Youxiao, who was laughing breathlessly, and many people's faces became even more difficult to see, but at this time, no one dared to step forward to speak and dissuade them.

After a long time, an angry voice sounded in the main hall: "Minister...... The Ministry of Rites Shangshu came to Zongdao and dared to ask His Majesty, why did His Majesty laugh? ”

Zhu Youxiao finally raised his head, looking at Lai Zongdao, who had already stood out of the class, he finally stopped laughing, and asked lightly, "Oh...... I didn't know that in this Jinluan Palace, I couldn't laugh anymore, did Aiqing accuse me of being rude? ”

"Don't dare!" Lai Zongdao arched his hand and said: "But if the minister hears that people are rude, he will not be born, if he is rude, he will not succeed, and if the country is rude, he will be restless." Your Majesty is the king of a country, and all the people in the world look up to him, and now he is holding a court meeting in the Jinluan Palace, and all the civil and military officials are looking up to His Majesty, how can His Majesty be so rude! ”

"Disrespectful?" Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but be a little stunned, pointed to himself and said: "I just laughed, you just said that I was rude, does that mean that I can't laugh in the future?" Whether I want to cry or laugh or whether I want to laugh is up to you to come to the sect in the future, or I will let you come to the sect to sit down. ”

"Don't dare!" Lai Zongdao still said strongly: "But the minister thinks that His Majesty is the king of a country, and every word and deed is an example for all the people, and how can he act rashly, because although His Majesty does not like it, the minister still has to admonish His Majesty." ”

"Hey......" Zhu Youxiao took a deep breath and secretly warned himself not to be angry, he knew this Lai Zongdao, he was a member of the Donglin Party, although in the past two years, he and Wei Zhongxian and Yang Feng have joined forces to drive most of the Donglin Party out of the court, especially with the death of Gao Panlong, the Donglin Party has more signs of collapse after losing this leader, but the power of the Donglin Party is too great, and there are still many people who are still active in the court, and this Lai Zongdao is one of them.

And the most headache for Zhu Youxiao is that this person who comes to Zongdao is not a big traitor in essence, his biggest problem is that he is too old-fashioned, in his opinion, a person's words and deeds must conform to etiquette, but everything that does not conform to etiquette is wrong, in layman's terms, this is a very old-fashioned person, even he, the emperor, he dares to speak out and criticize.

"No...... I can't go on with this old old man anymore, I'm not here to be angry with him today. Zhu Youxiao said secretly in his heart, thinking of this, he waved his hand to Lai Zongdao: "Okay, I'll talk to Aiqing about the etiquette another day, and now let's get back to business." ”

After that, he said to Guo Yun again: "Guo Aiqing, let's continue to talk about what happened just now." ”

"Yes!"

Guo Yunhou secretly gave Zhu Youxiao a sympathetic look, he has been an official in the same dynasty for so many years, he naturally knows very well who he is in Zongdao. An old-fashioned official like him, who was neither corrupt but had a high reputation, was a headache for any emperor. It's just that you can't dismiss him at will, and there is no good reason why even the emperor can't dismiss a scholar of the Ministry of Rites who has a high prestige in Shilin, even if he is a member of the Donglin Party.

He continued: "The gentry of the provinces south of the Yangtze River sent a few days ago to the Ministry of Households, saying that in the more than a year since the opening of the sea ban in Fujian, the people of Fujian have gone to the sea one after another, and many people have not even planted their land, and the land in all parts of the province is seriously barren, and I am afraid that there will be a food shortage in the long run. Some people even say that once the atmosphere of doing business is opened, it will make people's hearts unancient in the long run, and the people may have unforeseen things after losing their education. ”

"Two million taels a year, that's a lot of money." Zhu Youxiao said lightly, with a mocking smile in his eyes, he turned his head to Guo Yunhou and said: "Guo Aiqing, you are the head of the household department, you come to tell me, how many taels of tea tax was paid in Zhejiang Province last year?" ”

Guo Yunhou chattered twice before he whispered, "Sixteen taels." ”

Zhu Youxiao sneered: "How much...... Guo Aiqing, you are louder, I can't hear clearly? ”

Guo Yunhou gritted his teeth and said loudly: "Your Majesty, last year, Zhejiang paid a total of 16 taels of tea taxes. ”

"Huh...... Hehehehe......" Zhu Youxiao laughed loudly again, but this time no one dared to come out to interrupt his laughter, even Lai Zongdao, who had just accused Zhu Youxiao of being rude, stood in the class with a black face and was silent, not that he didn't want to say it, but that this matter was too embarrassing.

"Let's see...... Check it out. Zhu Youxiao finally stopped laughing, and said loudly to the Manchu Dynasty: "I am a dignified Ming Dynasty, and the tea tax paid by a province is only 16 taels, and this bit of silver is probably only enough for you to invite your colleagues to have a meal in the restaurant, but this is the tea tax of several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River for a year, who can tell me that I should laugh?" ”

Everyone in the Golden Luang Hall was silent, and everyone present knew that it was a joke. Tea tax was an important tax in the Ming Dynasty at the beginning of the founding of the country, for example, in the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, even provinces like Shaanxi could pay more than 50,000 taels of tea tax every year, not to mention a large tea-producing province like Zhejiang, but it is such a large tea-producing province, and the tea tax a year is only 16 taels, which is no longer fooling people, this is simply slapping Zhu Youxiao, the emperor, in the face. But such a province that has just paid sixteen taels of silver tea tax this year is willing to join forces with several other provinces and is willing to pay two million taels of silver tea tax every year, just begging the imperial court to ban the sea again, to say that there is no problem here, this is simply insulting the intelligence of others.

Seeing that no one spoke, Zhu Youxiao glanced at everyone and asked lightly: "Why, don't speak, all the ministers talk about it, why would the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River prefer to pay an extra two million taels of tea tax to the imperial court to ban the sea again?" ”

The hall was still silent, and Zhu Youxiao sneered: "If you don't say it, I will speak for you." The reason why they are willing to hand over two million taels of silver is because they are worried that the imperial court will also let them open the sea like Fujian, so they feel pain and panic, so they would rather spend money to eliminate disasters than preemptively block the mouth of the imperial court, is that so? ”