In late March, the first Ming merchant congress finally ended, in addition to formulating tax rates for various commodities; The distinction between domestic taxes and customs duties is separated; The double taxation method in the form of a tax card has been abolished and replaced with a one-time circulation tax.

The most important thing is the enactment of a commercial law, which, in addition to stipulating the settlement of commercial disputes, also makes a small adjustment to the original hereditary merchant system.

The emperor adopted a declaration system for merchants who were engaged in commerce, on the grounds that most of the merchants were not merchants.

That is, no matter what the original business is, all businessmen with a principal of more than 300 taels and a trade volume of more than 1,000 taels a year must declare to the local finance and taxation bureau, establish a business organization, and pay 3% business tax every year.

The original local market gate tax was abolished, and the provisions on the payment of treasure money were abolished.

Originally, the market stall tax was levied on all large and small vendors in the market, and a tax of two cents and four cents and three millimeters was levied on one tael of silver. However, the Ming Dynasty did not have a special commercial tax collection department, but levied taxes through the officials and officials of each county.

Without effective means of supervision, a large amount of tax revenue was filled by these low-level officials, not to mention, and the merchants in the market were equally dissatisfied. As for the payment of taxes, it has become a dead letter.

Most of the merchant representatives, although they had doubts about the new system introduced by the emperor, did not oppose it in the end on the premise that they could regulate the tax system and obtain the power of tax supervision.

In addition to these institutions and legal provisions, at the end of the merchants' congress, associations of various trades were established to guide the development of their own trades and to serve as a channel of communication with the imperial court.

In addition, 39 representatives of businessmen were elected as permanent delegates. These representatives will oversee the tax status of businesses in each region, as well as the enforcement of commercial laws.

After the conference, many business representatives embarked on a journey back to their hometowns. However, there are still many representatives of merchants, who have already taken aim at the border trade, and they continue to stay in the capital, wanting to see if there is a chance to intervene.

The end of the merchants' congress is not the end of one thing for Chongzhen, but the beginning of more busy affairs.

The merchants' congress has not yet ended, Chongzhen has been discussed several times with Guo Yunhou, the secretary of the household department, how to separate the collection of industrial and commercial tax into a separate department, and connect with the newly built finance and taxation bureaus in various places to carry out unified management of the industrial and commercial taxation of the Ming Dynasty.

Zheng Tingji, the chief official of the Guizhou Qing Officials Division, was transferred out and served as Lang Zhong of the Central Finance and Taxation Department. Most of the members of this division were not drawn from other divisions of the Ministry of Households, but hired many representatives of merchants who remained in the capital, as well as some staff of the Four Seas Commercial Bank.

The first thing that the Central Finance and Taxation Department did when it was established was to rectify the tax cards in various localities, remove the unqualified personnel of each tax card, and transfer and recruit personnel to establish customs bureaus in all open ports.

When Chongzhen was immersed in such a busy day, the news brought by a knight from Liaodong interrupted his peaceful and busy life.

In the Wuying Palace, Zhu Youzhen read the letters written by Yang Hao to him, and listened to some information about Shenyang and Houjin brought back by Wang Qi, the Jinyi guard.

After thinking for a long time, he said to Wang Qi: "Regarding the matter of collecting the corpses of the dead soldiers in Liaodong, let's do it according to Yang Taichang's suggestion." In the area north of Shenyang, land was purchased locally for burial, and it was disposed of after the recovery of Liaodong in the future.

As for the bones in the area south of Shenyang, everything that can be transported back is as much as possible. The Liaodong soldiers wanted to leave the bones of these dead soldiers in Liaodong, so they found a place south of Ningyuan to settle them. ”

As he spoke, Zhu Youzhen turned his head to Wang Chengen behind him and instructed: "Let the celebrant prepare an edict to build a Liaodong Martyrs' Shrine in Ningyuan and the northern suburbs of the capital, and allocate 30,000 taels from the inner treasury to let the Ministry of Industry send someone to supervise the construction."

In addition, let Wang Tiqian go to Ningyuan on behalf of me to sacrifice the dead soldiers in Liaodong, and the court is represented by Wang Zaijin. I ordered the Hanlin Academy to write a sacrificial text, and I wanted to see it myself..."

After arranging the arrangements for the aftermath of the corpses of the dead soldiers in Liaodong, Zhu Youzhen was silent again for a long time before saying to Wang Qi.

"For the intelligence collection of the internal situation of Houjin, Jinyiwei has done a very good job. In addition to collecting information on price fluctuations in the market, you can also try to collect information on the population and industry composition of Shenyang, as well as the products produced in various parts of Liaodong.

Without attracting the attention of others, learn about the relationship between the various ethnic groups in Liaodong, the customs, culture and traditions, and the relationship and differences between the Jianzhou Jurchens, the Haixi Jurchens, and the Savage Jurchens. ”

Wang Qi listened attentively to the emperor's instructions and did not make any sound. It was only when the emperor fell silent again that he cautiously asked, "May I ask Your Majesty, what is Your Majesty's decision regarding Lord Yang's plan to win over Amin and create civil strife within Houjin?" ”

In Yang Hao's view, the political system in which the four major Baylors of the Later Jin Dynasty were jointly in power and all the Manchurian magnates discussed the government, which was a flawed political system in which power was dispersed and internal forces checked each other. With a slight bribe, it can cause a split between the four major Baylors, which will lead to civil strife in Houjin.

In his dealings with Amin, Daishan and other Houjin magnates, it was also confirmed that his guess was correct, and these Houjin magnates never concealed their internal contradictions, even in front of him, the envoy of the Ming Kingdom, they did not hide their disgust for political enemies.

It was Yang Ho who was quite eager to try to do something between the four Baylors to facilitate this kind of civil unrest. In Yang Hao's view, no matter who wins this civil strife, it will greatly hurt Houjin's vitality and calm Liaodong for a few years.

However, Zhu Youzhen believes that the old Liaodong scripture's estimate seems to be too optimistic. In the history he remembered, the current Houjin Tiancong Khan almost did not encounter any obstacles, and easily got rid of the three major Baylors who were now on a par with him.

In other words, even if Yang Hao doesn't do anything, the contradictions between the four Baylors of Houjin will intensify. But with the military strength of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong, it is better to have more than one thing and less character with those Liaodong generals.

Zhu Youzhen was almost certain that when Huang Taiji cleaned up his political enemies, these Liaodong troops would probably not know what happened to Houjin, or pretend not to know what was happening.

In addition to ruining the poor credibility of the Ming Dynasty, this situation only strengthened the determination of the intermediate forces within the Later Jin Dynasty to oppose the Ming Dynasty, and by the way, added some prestige to Huang Taiji's rule.

In the final analysis, it was the Ming Dynasty that did not have the power to interfere in the internal affairs of the Later Jin. Therefore, even if there were forces close to the Ming Dynasty within the Later Jin, the Ming Dynasty would not be able to give them military support.

And counting on the internal changes of Houjin and the emergence of another Shunyi king is obviously Yang Hao's delusion.

After Zhu Youzhen pondered for a long time, he finally made up his mind, and he said to Wang Qi: "After you go back, tell Yang Taichang not to try to persuade Amin to betray Houjin, we can't afford this price at this stage, and we don't need the war in Liaodong to continue for the time being."

Amin betrays Houjin now, and his loss will be great, but the support we can give him is almost nothing. Even if he succeeds in splitting from Houjin, he won't be grateful to us. This is just the end of driving the tiger at the front door and welcoming the wolf at the back door.

In the Eight Banners system of Houjin, if you go out, you will be a soldier, and if you enter, you will be a citizen. The owners of the Eight Banners nominally had control over the banner people, but in wartime, the military command of the Eight Banners was unified under the name of the Later Jin Great Khan.

Since Nurhachi started his army, the Eight Banners Army has been fighting endlessly. The Eight Banners have almost no stable time to cultivate and farm, which greatly reduces the control power of the Eight Banners owners over the Bannermen.

Huang Taiji was the most humble among the four beylers, but with the righteousness of Jin Dahan after taking over, he was justified as the commander of the Eight Banners Army during the war.

As long as the war continues, he can use the Eight Banners military system to smelt the Jurchen tribes into one and weaken the control of the Eight Banners Banner Lords over the people.

Under the military system of the Later Jin, except for three of the war gains, the rest of the captures would be distributed by the Great Khan among the various banner armies participating in the war. However, according to the Eight Banners system, the wealth produced by the people of each banner is at the disposal of the owners of each banner.

If you want to let the internal struggle of Houjin get out of control, you only need to multiply its branches and leaves, and cut its roots. Only when the people within the Eight Banners believed that the income from farming was higher than the income from fighting the war, would there be real civil strife in Houjin.

Convincing an Amin or a few Jurchen relatives cannot shake the foundation of the Jurchens. Just relying on us to spend money to buy it will not affect the psychology of the lower Jurchen people who are eager for war. ”

For the emperor's analysis, Wang Qi could only understand a small part of the content, he could only memorize it stiffly, and prepared to take it back to Shenyang to retell it to Yang Jingluo.

Zhu Youzhen walked back and forth in front of his desk several times before he stopped and continued: "The bulk goods produced by Houjin have always only been ginseng, mink and various animal skins.

According to the information you have gathered, these goods are sold by several merchants in Houjin, and even the Eight Banners Banner Owners are difficult to interfere with.

Let Yang Taichang tell Amin that we don't want to find any allies within the Later Jin, but we are not opposed to making friends with some people close to the Ming Dynasty.

If Amin can become an important force within Houjin to maintain peaceful relations with the Ming Dynasty, then he will be my good friend of the Ming Dynasty. Da Ming was not willing to meddle in the internal affairs of the Later Jin, nor did he support any faction in the internal strife of the Later Jin.

If he is willing to become a friend of Daming, then Daming is willing to buy unlimited amounts of soybeans and timber from him, and pay for them in cotton, silk, tea, and porcelain. The purchase price can be 10% higher than that of the Shenyang market, and a commercial contract will be signed every two years..."