That night, Fang Yizhi finally met our young chief soldier.

When Wang Xinyu returned to the capital city of Qiongzhou, he gave Fang Yizhi to wash the dust.

When Fang Yizhi saw Wang Xinyu, he looked at this person carefully, and saw that this person was tall, wearing a set of red official uniforms, wearing a bright helmet, thick eyebrows and big eyes, eyes like torches, with a confident smile on his face, and his skin was black and red, obviously looking like he was often exposed to wind and sun.

"Not bad! General Wang is indeed a brave general! Fang Yizhi shook his head and sighed.

Wang Xinyu also took a closer look at the famous Jinling son, only to see that this person's eyebrows were clear, his eyes were blazing, although his face left the vicissitudes of the years, but he still saw the traces of the merry and talented people, from his face, he could vaguely see a handsome young student who lingered on the banks of the Qinhuai River and was favored by beauties. Although he has short hair and a ring scar on the top of his head, he does not look like an eminent monk, but more like a literati with a strong bookish atmosphere.

If it is about identity and status, this party is above Zhang Huangyan with wisdom, Zhang Huangyan is just a person's background, if it is not for this special era, it is difficult to raise people to be officials. And Fang Yizhi was born in the top three!

"Mr. Fang is a famous person in the south of the Yangtze River, and he has heard of it in his later life, and Mr. Fang's integrity and righteousness are admired by his later life!" Wang Xinyu couldn't say anything flattering, so he had to say a few words casually.

The soldiers were busy bringing plates of dishes to the table.

The dishes on the table are all vegetarian, including stewed dried bamboo shoots, roasted tofu, fried clear beans, stewed gluten, tofu skin, fried mushrooms and the like. The wine on it is also a light vegetarian wine.

"Mr. Fang is a high-ranking monk, and in his later life, he used vegetarian wine and vegetarian dishes to pick up the wind and wash the dust for Mr." Wang Xinyu arched his hand.

Fang Yizhi shook his fan, his eyes closed slightly, shook his head and said, "Although Fang is still vulgar, he is a disciple of Buddhism after all!" Now the Tartar dove occupies the magpie's nest, and I will hunt in the south tomorrow, I don't know when the king can go north to the Central Plains and recover my great rivers and mountains? When the Central Plains is pacified and the Tartars are expelled, Fang's ring of wine and meat will be broken! ”

At the banquet, Fang Yizhi was polite to Wang Xinyu. When the banquet was over, Fang Yizhi asked Wang Xinyu to stay.

In the study room of the prefect's mansion, Fang Yizhihe sat at the table, but Wang Xinyu stood aside respectfully. Although there is no longer a noble and martial artist at this time, Fang Yizhi is a famous man after all, and Wang Xinyu still respects him very much.

"Wang Gongzi, if the official asks you something, you have to answer truthfully." Fang Yizhi finally got to the point.

"I don't know what you want to ask?" Wang Xinyu said.

"I heard that Wang Gongzi wants to reduce or reduce agricultural taxes until it is abolished? Is there such a thing? Fang Yizhi asked.

Wang Xinyu replied: "The late-born Nanyang Company, overseas, completely abolished the agricultural tax and used the company's profits to raise troops in order to ensure the enthusiasm of the peasants. In fact, the company collects taxes in disguise, and when farmers sell their products to the company, they include taxes. However, this method is only implemented in Nanyang, and at present in Qiongzhou, it only reduces the agricultural tax, and it cannot completely exempt the agricultural tax, after all, it is different from Nanyang. ”

Hearing Wang Xinyu say this, Fang Yizhi became interested: "Then you can tell me that when farmers in Nanyang do not pay taxes, they sell grain to the company and include taxes." If the peasants don't sell their grain and they keep it for themselves, won't you not be able to collect taxes? ”

Wang Xinyu said with a smile: "This is impossible, because there is a lot of land over there, and it is impossible for the farmers to eat all the grain they grow." ”

"If you can't finish eating, you won't be sold, they can use it to make wine, raise pigs, raise chickens and ducks. Wouldn't they be able to avoid paying taxes that way? Fang Yizhi raised another question.

Wang Xinyu laughed: "They want to sell wine, right?" Raise pigs, raise chickens and ducks to sell, right? You pay taxes when you sell it. Moreover, the liquor tax will only be higher than the grain tax, many times higher. The tax on meat is not high, but it is also higher than the tax on grain. They sold their things so that they could buy salt, cloth, farm tools, cattle and houses. If they do not sell their products, where will they get the silver and copper plates? And they bought salt, cloth, farm tools, cattle, and built houses, all of which included taxes. The salt tax is even bigger. In this way, our tax revenue is not guaranteed? They say they don't pay agricultural taxes, but they actually pay taxes, and they increase their motivation to produce and grow more food to provide to us. ”

Fang Yizhi shook his fan and nodded slightly: "In the overseas barbarian land, it is not bad to use this method, and your Nanyang Company can compete with the East India Company of the Taixi people, and use the company's income to replace taxes to raise soldiers, in order to restore my Ming Dynasty." However, this method cannot be promoted in our Ming Dynasty, and the wild land in the South Seas can be developed by farmers themselves. It's all borderlands. But the land of the Ming Dynasty is the land of the owner, how do you deprive the Jiangnan Shi clan of the land and give it to the farmers? If you insist on going your own way, it will cause Jiangnan Shizi to be dissatisfied. At that time, even Mr. Qian, Mr. Gu and others who supported us will fall to the Tartar court, and it will be even more difficult for us to complete our great cause of recovering the country! ”

Wang Xinyu nodded and said, "Thank you for your teachings, you will protect the interests of Jiangnan scholars!" Later students should let them know that our Da Ming is better than Tartars! The Tartars killed and robbed people at every turn, not only depriving Jiangnan Shizi of his property, but also taking people's lives! They're a bunch of thieves! The land of the Ming Dynasty will not be moved in his later life! Whose it was supposed to be, or whose it was. Moreover, the Nanyang Company mainly relied on sea trade to make money, and if we wanted to get the high-quality goods sold to the Taixi people, we also wanted the Jiangnan Shi clan to support us. ”

Fang Yizhi's face suddenly sank, and he straightened his face and said, "But why did General Wang kill the Tusi of Qiongzhou, take away their fields, and distribute them to those peasants?" This will affect the hearts of the Jiangnan Shi people! They would have thought that General Wang would also implement this method when he came to Jiangnan in the future! ”

"It's different! Toast is not the same as Jiangnan Shi! From the beginning of the Wanli period, the local Tusi did not accept the king, and many local Li people rebelled under the instigation of the Tusi, and the imperial court sent troops to suppress it. Later, the imperial court mobilized Miao soldiers to suppress the Li people. But then the Miao people also made trouble everywhere. Later, although these toasts returned to the Ming Dynasty, their hearts were not with us. As soon as the Tartars came, these toasts turned into Tartars again. And the Miao Li rebels here are all local peasants, they rebelled against their Tusi and the Tartar court, and we must unite to deal with the Tartars! Doing this in the later years can stabilize the hearts of the people of Miao Li, so that they will completely turn their hearts to the Ming Dynasty and never be used by the Tartar puppet court. ”

However, Fang Yizhi was very angry and said: "The peasants do not engage in farming, but rebel and rebel and become rogues, which is a national law!" Don't forget why our Ming Dynasty has fallen to this point! It's because of those rogues who don't work and rebel! If it weren't for the two thieves, how could the Tartars enter the customs! ”

"Mr. Fang, I want to ask Mr. a question in my later life." Wang Xinyu said.

"But it doesn't hurt to say it!"

"Why did the two thieves get into trouble? And why did so many peasants become gangsters and follow them? ”

"Because they have no law! They have committed unforgivable sins! Fang Yizhi said angrily.

"Jiangnan is so rich that he refuses to pay taxes; There is a great drought in the Central Plains of Shaanxi, but the taxes are constantly increasing, and the peasants can't survive anymore, and they still have to pay taxes. Wang Xinyu retorted.

Fang Yizhi started the case, and said solemnly: "People with merit and fame do not need to pay taxes, that is the law of the country." If those peasants don't rebel, the court will be considerate of them! If they don't rebel and wait at home honestly, the emperor will naturally be sympathetic to the people's feelings and send disaster relief food to them! ”

Wang Xinyu asked rhetorically: "Even the emperor's dragon robe has been patched, and the Liao salary is about to be paid, where is the silver to distribute disaster relief food?" Even if disaster relief food is distributed, how much ink will be greedy by those corrupt officials and corrupt officials in the middle! By the time the pitiful amount of relief food came down, the Central Plains of Shaanxi Province was already starving! ”

"Then they shouldn't rebel either! It was because they committed rebellion that they gave the Tartars a chance to take advantage of it! Fang Yizhi's retort was a little weak.

"Should they just be at home and starving? Jiangnan is so rich, why don't you take out a little silver to support the victims in the Northwest Central Plains, and why don't you take out a little silver to pay Liao's salary? The peasants are dying of hunger, and the wages are still on their heads! Jiangnan, who is so rich, didn't pay any money, and in the end, all this silver was robbed by the Tartars! I really don't know what those Jiangnan scholars think! When the country is in trouble, they refuse to contribute to help, what is the use of keeping so much silver at home? When the butcher's knives of the Tartars were on their necks, I don't know if they regretted it! Wang Xinyu said angrily.

Thinking of the people in Jiangnan who were slaughtered, Fang Yizhi sighed: "At that time, who could have imagined that the Tartars would occupy the magpie's nest and invade my great rivers and mountains, and fight all the way to the south of the Yangtze River. ”

"Mr. Fang!" Wang Xinyu arched his hand and said, "Although you and I have some different opinions, we are both loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty!" We are all bent on restoring the Qing Dynasty! Even if there are different opinions, we can put aside the controversy, work together, and deal with the foreign enemy first! When the Ming Dynasty is restored, we will settle our own disputes in the future. ”

"Good!" Fang Yizhi stood up excitedly, "It's a good one to put aside the dispute and work together!" Makes sense! ”

Wang Xinyu said: "In this case, we should work together to govern Qiongzhou well." The agricultural tax here is not completely exempted for the time being, although some agricultural taxes have been reduced, but the spices and iron ore produced here can guarantee our income. As for the purchase price of grain, we at Nanyang Company can appropriately raise the price a little bit. ”

Fang Yizhi pondered for a moment and said, "This method can only be in Qiongzhou, and it is not feasible to go to other places in the future!" Otherwise, the peasants would pay low taxes, and most of the taxes would be distributed to the merchants, so how could they have enough money to raise their soldiers? Let's talk about peace and anti-Qing and restore sight! In addition, the general increased the commercial tax and collected taxes on large businessmen, and the official did not object to it, but most of the businessmen were small businessmen, and they did not have much income in the first place, so how could they survive when the tax was collected? ”

"In the future, Wang Shi pacified Jiangnan, and the late generation could increase the output of grain, tea and meat, although the proportion of agricultural taxes was low, so that our tax revenue increased. In addition, the late generation had his own way of producing new looms, increasing the production of silk, selling it to the Tessians for a large amount of silver; Although we have increased the business tax, but the income of the people is higher because of the technology we provide, is it reasonable for us to collect taxes? Wang Xinyu said.

Fang Yizhi agreed with Wang Xinyu's opinion, shook his fan and nodded: "That's right!" If we help people increase their incomes, it makes sense to levy corresponding taxes. ”

"But that's all for later, what we have to do now is to do a good job here in Qiongzhou first. The wasteland to be developed here is opened, iron ore is to be mined, roads to be built, and spices to be harvested. But doing all these things requires manpower, and at present we are understaffed, and there is a shortage of officials and petty officials. Wang Xinyu smiled slightly.

Fang Yizhi smiled slightly: "The construction of these places is on this official!" I will definitely be able to handle it well and give an explanation to the court and the king of Yanping! ”

"Then there's Mr. Law!" Wang Xinyu thanked him.

Although the two cannot reach an agreement in many aspects for the time being, because they have a common goal, the two can still work well together. Moreover, Wang Xinyu also promised that it would not be unfavorable to the scholar class on the mainland.

Fang Yizhi said again: "There is another matter, this official has already written to Mr. Pu An, Mr. Tinglin, Mr. Shun Shui and Mr. Nan Lei, and they will come to Qiongzhou to help, open a academy, and recruit more scholars to come." ”

The people Fang Yizhi said were Mao Bijiang, Gu Yanwu, Zhu Zhiyu and Huang Zongxi and other celebrities. There is a way to come forward with wisdom, these celebrities who are bent on opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty and refusing to do things for the Qing court are willing to come to Hainan to open academies. These celebrities are different from other Jiangnan celebrities, they would rather sell their property to support the anti-Qing rebels, and after the defeat, they live in seclusion in the mountains and forests, they don't care about abandoning the prosperous land in the south of the Yangtze River and coming to Hainan Island to find the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty.

Heaven and earth will help, and these celebrities can go out on sea and escape from the Qing-controlled areas.

As for Dongfan Island, they were reluctant to go, because in the eyes of these scholars, Dongfan Island was a wild place, and Zheng Chenggong did not listen to Zhang Huang's dissuasion, and was bent on attacking Dongfan Island, which made these Jiangnan scholars very cold. But none of them understood Zheng Chenggong's painstaking efforts: after Zheng Chenggong planned to seize Dongfan Island, the next plan was to seize Luzon Island, then seek control of Borneo, open up an overseas Ming Dynasty, and wait until he had accumulated enough strength in the future to counterattack the Qing court and make a northern expedition to the Central Plains.

And Qiongzhou Island and Dongfan Island are different, originally the Ming Dynasty had a prefect in Qiongzhou, although it is an overseas island, but it is also the territory of the Ming Dynasty, coming to Qiongzhou Island is not considered to give up the homeland, into the wilderness, in the etiquette is barely acceptable.

As for Zheng Chenggong's view of Wang Xinyu's reduction or even exemption from agricultural taxes, he has no opinion. Zheng Chenggong originally relied on sea trade to make money, and the little land in Jinxia would have starved to death if he used agricultural taxes. As for each capture of the coastal areas, the expropriation of grain, that's another matter. When he had money, he bought it with silver, and sometimes when he didn't have it, he forced grain to be levied. As soon as the Qing army came, the Zheng Jiajun fought if they could fight, and ran back to the sea if they couldn't beat it.