Because many high-ranking officials in the DPRK and China abused their power for personal gain and had too many contacts with businessmen, many officials were involved in disputes and impeachment, which was a good thing for Wanli.

In the past, he was not less troubled by the officials about whether or not to reduce the clan lords and nobles, but now, it is impossible for them to mention this matter again, because everyone knows that compared with the people's commercial taxes, those clan income is only a drop in the middle, and it is really not worth mentioning.

But at the same time, Wanli was also a little angry. Because with the continuous attention of the officials of the DPRK and China, more details have been dug out, and at the same time, there are gradually some clear figures on how much benefit those businessmen have made from it.

Although this figure is still not very accurate, it is not far off. As long as he thinks of those officials who are full of benevolence and morality who are so wanton in private to make money, and how selfless they are to behave in front of themselves, and how they always preach, Wanli will only feel angry!

Originally, in terms of personality, Wanli was a person who was very sensitive to money, which may have a lot to do with the fact that he was seen to death by Zhang Juzheng, Feng Bao and others since he was a child, and he belonged to a vengeful money fan. Now that he learned that these officials had collected so much money from him, he naturally refused to give up.

So, not long after the revelation of this matter, a new storm blew above the court. Many officials in serious cases were quickly convicted, and then they were punished by confiscation and distribution, and their family property fell into the state and inner treasury.

However, this situation did not last long, and the hundred officials who came back to their senses reacted quickly and begged the Son of Heaven to intercede. Although Wanli is still obsessed with this, and wants to get back all the money that he thinks should belong to him, but under the joint efforts and persuasion of many officials led by Shoufu Shen Shixing, he can only stop for the time being.

However, when Wanli stopped, he also put forward the condition that the officials must draw up a charter to increase the commercial tax within the specified time limit, and the imperial court would never allow the merchants to make a lot of money, but they hardly paid taxes.

At this time, the officials felt a headache, because this was not a matter of a decree, but more related to the rules that the Ming Dynasty had established since Taizu, that is, the suppression policy of merchants. Because once the taxes and silver that merchants have to pay are greatly increased, their social status will also rise, which is a matter of destroying the laws of the ancestors.

Although over the years, the court officials have secretly broken all the rules set by Emperor Taizu under various banners, but this has not been clearly revealed after all, has it? But now, the court wants to change all this in a clear way, which is somewhat unacceptable to them.

But they can also see that this time Wanli is iron-hearted, and if they want to keep themselves, they must compromise. Therefore, after some private deliberations, everyone had to obey the orders and decided to raise the business tax, and at the same time let the merchants have a broader prospect.

Many officials naturally criticized such a result, but they were helpless. As for the businessmen who are really related to this matter, they agree with it from the bottom of their hearts.

Don't look at the taxes and silver that merchants need to hand over to the imperial court over the years, but in fact, they also have their own grievances. Because their status is too low, they are always subject to the local government, and sometimes they have to bleed profusely for a piece of approval or guidance. But even so, the wealth they have accumulated still has a sense of precariousness, who calls their own status too low, and who does the government not exploit you?

In order to improve all this, they had to use various means to secure themselves, such as bribing local officials, or taking refuge in a certain group of high-ranking officials and becoming their domestic slaves. As a result, more than half of the wealth earned by these businessmen has fallen into the hands of the powerful.

Although the imperial court greatly increased the commercial tax this time, compared to the local forces that were more greedy and ugly, their efforts were much smaller. In addition, with the express regulations of the imperial court, the merchants really have legal protection, and there will naturally be much less trouble in the future.

Because this is the product of the compromise between many high-ranking officials in the DPRK and China to the Son of Heaven, although many local forces are very dissatisfied because of this, they do not dare to go too far under the forced suppression of the government, let alone openly oppose it. After all, their arms can't twist their thighs, and they still have a lot of tricks in the hands of the imperial court.

Of course, this kind of change in the economic foundation of the entire Ming Dynasty can not be completely completed in a short period of time, which requires mutual compromise and game between the imperial court and the locality, the government and the family, etc., perhaps ten years, or even decades later, this decision can be truly implemented.

But at least as long as this opening is opened, the attitude of the Ming Dynasty towards businessmen will gradually undergo new changes, and more policies will be produced to promote economic development and change the original backward concepts.

All this fell in Yang Zhen's eyes, and he was very happy. He didn't expect that his one-handed counterattack would actually pry such a result, as a traverser, he knows too well how much the Ming Dynasty needs such a fundamental change.

For at about the same time, the countries of the West had begun to expand greatly because of the powerful rise of merchants, and with it the magnificent Age of Discovery. The practice of broadening one's horizons and constantly encroaching on the colonies was the foundation of the Industrial Revolution that followed.

With the vast resources and strong strength of the Ming Dynasty, if he also threw himself into the competition for sea power and colonies with these small Western countries in the future, I am afraid that there would be nothing to do with the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal or the United Kingdom.

However, in order to reach this point, the Ming court still has to cross a high mountain, that is, the rules of the forbidden sea set by the ancestors!

When Taizu was in his time, he issued a strict ban on the sea, and at that time it was a big crime to even go out to sea to fish. After Emperor Chengzu, the sea ban was slightly opened, but after the Tumu Fort, the court's self-isolation tendency became particularly serious, especially after the continuous raids on the coastal provinces by the Japanese invaders, the Ming Dynasty's determination to ban the sea became very firm.

Even in today's Wanli period, many of the rules of the predecessors have been completely destroyed, and many family forces on the southeast coast secretly use overseas trade as a good way to make money, but this is still an untouchable high-voltage line.

In this regard, let alone Yang Zhen, even Wanli, the Son of Heaven, would not dare to open this mouth casually. So although Yang Zhen had this idea, he never mentioned it to Wanli.

But he believed that with the prosperity of commerce, as the status of merchants increased, soon, they would be able to turn their minds to the sea ban. When that time comes, the businessmen who have a certain right to speak, and even have spokespersons in the imperial court, will definitely cleanse those old and outdated concepts!

It's just that Yang Zhen, a guy who is very confident in this, doesn't dare to guarantee that he can see this day coming, which has completely broken through the shackles of history.

Yang Zhen's judgment is still correct, just a few decades later, the sea ban that imprisoned the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years was finally abolished, and for a time thousands of sails entered the sea, countless merchants devoted themselves to the completely unfamiliar navigation industry, and thus had one naval battle after another with many European fleets that came to East Asia to make a fortune.

And the result, naturally, needless to say. At that time, the Ming Dynasty had already improved weapons such as muskets and artillery, and rebuilt the lucky ships that Zheng He used to gallop on the seas.

After a few battles, the hegemony of the Ming Dynasty in the Asian seas was completely established, and after that, the fleet was driven farther away, and the colonial hegemony with those countries began.

The development of the colony further increased the treasury and private capital of the Ming Dynasty, and then attracted more people to devote themselves to this lucrative maritime business. There was even a time when there were not as many people who took the imperial examination as there were those who signed up to go on adventures at sea.

Naturally, many scholars among the people complained and were dissatisfied with such a result, believing that this was an evil act that deceives people's minds and deviates from the way of heaven.

But by then, everything was a foregone conclusion. The tide of history is so vast that it can be changed by the remarks of a few corrupt scholars? The Ming Dynasty then completely became a large empire that occupied the most colonies in the world, and people called it the sun never set!

During this period, a country was changed because of the sudden change of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the island country of Wa on the side.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had gradually controlled the large and small forces in the country, and whose ambitions were getting bigger and bigger, had begun to set his sights on the huge Ming Dynasty and its vassal state of Goryeo, and was planning how to start a war.

At this time, a large fleet of ships of the Ming Kingdom suddenly appeared near their harbor and used the powerful artillery loaded on the ships to carry out a round of bombardment on the coast of the Ming Kingdom, and then completely occupied this country that had always had a complicated relationship with the Ming Dynasty into a colony.

When he stepped on the land of the Wa Kingdom and looked at the short Wa people who were crawling at his feet, the leader of this fleet, Yang Yu, the soldier of the Ming Dynasty, was both proud and a little puzzled, and muttered in his heart: "Why does Daddy look down on these humble Wa people so highly?" And even the uncle is ...... "Although he has doubts in his heart, this does not affect the occupation of the entire Wa Kingdom ordered by him......

Of course, all this happened decades later, and the Ming Dynasty is still racking its brains over commercial taxes, and at the same time, the Son of Heaven has encountered a new problem.