When it was time to collect rent, due to the repeated increase in taxes imposed by the imperial court in successive wars, almost all the money, grain and other things accumulated by the Xu family in various granges in the south were handed over, but this year it was in time for the autumn harvest to go to Beijing, but due to the decrease in farmers, the wages of hiring and farming rose sharply, and in order to make up for the old debts owed in recent years, the stewards in the Zhuangzi were unable to make up for the shortfall, and they couldn't force the tenants to sell their sons and daughters, right? One by one, they came to pour bitter water.

Xu Hao didn't think about it, and ordered that all the money and food in the past few years be exempted, and all this year's output should be divided, so that the tenants and the people must have a good year, and even pasted a few thousand taels of silver upside down.

To be honest, the output in the land, Xu Haowei really doesn't see it, the total annual output of 40,000 or 50,000 taels in the south is far less than the profit of Hongye's shops in a quarter.

Compared with the shops in Hongye, Xu Hao's output of gold, silver and iron ore in various places alone reached an astonishing four or five hundred thousand taels of silver a year.

Xu Hao is not a good person, pleasing the tenants below is what most landlords must do in this era, everyone understands the truth of fishing with all their might, there must be a limit to the rich, who will farm for you?

In the study, Xu Hao frowned and played with the red gold gossip small hand stove used in Yushi, and sat and watched the musk moon lingyu exchange the red, yellow and green bamboo, wax and plum in the vase, and the pine and cypress, and the daffodil basin was replaced with daffodils.

There were several large wooden boxes on the ground, and Qingwen and other maids took out all kinds of gold and silver utensils and jade bowls and cups one by one, and carefully wiped them clean.

Zhulan came in with Qiuxiang, and saw the silver wax platform lit up two arm-thick coiled dragon red candles. A pot of benzoin incense was burned, two large New Year's candles were burned on one side of the table, and a stick of incense sticks was inserted into the incense burner.

Xiao Yushi was wearing a pink Qingzhuang satin fox velvet jacket, a white velvet lying rabbit with a snow-white color, dressed in pink makeup, and arranged the furnishings one by one.

Xu Hao smiled and said to Zhulan: "The masters of Beiping read me and specially created a batch of sacrificial vessels to send them. ”

When Zhulan saw the young master who she hadn't seen for many years, her eyes turned red again, and she hurriedly said, "Then I'll help." ”

"Hmm!" Xu Hao did not refuse, and Zhulan was in good spirits at the moment. Turned around and walked over to pick up the silver wire cover of the big three fruit racks on the table. Put oranges, apples, and water chestnuts in three colors, and put hazelnuts, ginkgo nuts, and almonds in the small three-fruit stand; Three dried fruit pots, whole chickens, suckling pigs and carp.

The little girls kept sending things to the ancestral hall, and Zhulan was used to doing this in previous years. Unhurriedly instructed everyone to put mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, shark fins, white wood, fungus, indica rice, bird's nest, dried bamboo shoots, sea cucumbers, bear paws, elm meat, flat tips and the like in the silver plate jade bowl.

On the small table on one side, Zhao Gongming will be sacrificed. A maid put a bowl of pork on the table. Zhulan said softly: "According to legend, Marshal Zhao is a Muslim who does not eat pork and changes to mutton. ”

Soon, white chopped chicken, smoked duck, fish breast, coriander and so on were put on the table. Zhulan quickly poured another plate of soy sauce, a plate of vinegar and a plate of fine salt, and poured a glass of sorghum wine. There are also vegetarian three animals on the side of the three animals, all of which are made of flour, and there are five or six kinds of vegetarian dishes such as gluten.

Seeing this, Xiao Yushi whispered: "In the end, it is Sister Zhulan, Qingwen Musk Yue is far inferior to her in this regard." ”

Xu Hao sighed and said, "Liuzhulan is the housekeeper, and his husband's letter of resignation is almost here." ”

Qiu Xiang said dissatisfiedly: "Why don't you let Zhulan take a break from that Xue Zhen?" Young master, you have a word, Zhulan still has a disobedient? ”

"Two different things." Xu Hao looked helpless, "Zhulan Hufu, that's a person, I know that I did it behind my back, maybe there is some gossip." ”

"That's just as well." Qiu Xiang nodded, and said stupidly: "It's cheaper Xue Zhen, I'm afraid that I will spend all the benefits and come back to entangle, once such a villain has everything to go, it will be as uncomfortable as a maggot on the tarsal bones." ”

Xu Hao smiled, and said in his heart that he would come back if he had a life, Xue Zhen would happily make a letter of resignation if he got his five hundred taels of silver, take some money and go to gamble as soon as possible, and let him lose tonight without even his pants, and was forced to sell himself into slavery by the creditor, and then arranged for him to do hard labor with Zheng He to go to North and South America, and if he is lucky, let's talk about it.

A scroll of gods was pasted on the screen, and the orange and yellow depictions of the dragon and phoenix were replaced, not only the ancestral hall to worship the ancestors, but also to set up another table of home-cooked sacrificial dishes in the study.

Suddenly, the woman in charge came over and said, "Li Dong asked the slave family to pass the word, and Lord Lang Xia, the left attendant of the household department, came to visit. ”

"I'll go right over."

Xu Hao instructed a few words, and immediately came out of the inner house, and when he arrived at the outer study, he saw Xia Yuanji, who was wearing a half-old official uniform, admiring the calligraphy and painting with his hands behind his back.

Xia Yuanji's ancestral home is Dexing, Jiangxi, and when his father Xia Shimin served as the Xiangyin Teacher, the family moved to Hunan and Guiyi. Xia Shimin died at the age of thirteen, and the life of the orphan and widow was extremely difficult, and it is said that Xia Yuanji gained a good reputation while studying hard and teaching Mengxue to support the family.

There are many honest and promising officials in the Hongwu Dynasty, Xia Yuanji is one of them, Xu Hao has always respected this simple and honest official, but he has never liked to deal with officialdom, so he has no friendship in the past.

Xu Hao said with a smile: "I am preparing three animal sacrifices for my ancestors, the so-called gluttonous and old-fashioned, unblessed and drunk." ”

Xia Yuanji turned around, bowed deeply and said with a smile: "The dragon gives birth to nine sons, and the good name is gluttony, and the good food is called gluttony." You're a classic, but it's vulgar. ”

"Vulgarity is also etiquette, and it's not strange that there are many gods!" Xu Hao said again: "Lord Xia came to visit late at night, it doesn't matter if you have anything to say, there is no need to be polite with Xu." ”

Xia Yuanji said happily: "Recently, I received a suggestion from Jiangnan Juzi, saying that the floods in Jiangnan and Zhejiang are serious, and I beg the imperial court to deal with it. Half of the world's wealth is in the south of the Yangtze River, and half of the water in the world belongs to Wu County, western Zhejiang and Susong counties, and dredge Wu Songjiang Gong in Sheji, so Xia wants to go to the palace in front of the book, please go to the governance in person, and take the liberty to come and hope that the adults are not strange. ”

Xu Hao said in surprise: "I will never object to this kind of thing, not to mention that this is a matter within the household department, how can I stop it?" Could it be that there are people in the DPRK who oppose it? ”

Xia Yuanji said with a smile: "That's not true, dredging the river and building water conservancy is not a day's work, maybe you have to gather hundreds of thousands of people, think that now that Jiangnan continues to reduce taxes and reduce taxes, and the treasury is empty, may I ask if you want to use swords and soldiers in the coming year?" ”

"I see." Xu Hao suddenly realized that he was now rewarding the heroes of Jingjing. The great feudal domain, the construction of the imperial mausoleum, the addition of guards, the major shipyards day and night to build sea ships, how much more than tens of millions? It all relied on Xia Yuanji's careful calculations and multi-faceted fundraising, so that the country could not be short.

After four years of war, it is now a period of frequent disasters, not to mention that Xu Hao has no ambition to expand his territory, even if he has that, he has to recuperate for a few years.

Xu Hao said: "Don't worry, my lord, except for small-scale foreign counterattack operations on the border. The Governor's Office of the Five Armies will never mobilize troops on a large scale for the Northern Expedition. As for His Majesty, it's hard to say, if the ministers unanimously oppose it, the Holy Lord should not insist on what he has seen. ”

"Then Xia will be relieved." Xia Yuanji was very satisfied, he was very worried that the young monarch and the two of them were dedicated to making contributions. For this reason, they did not hesitate to make a big move, either the northern expedition or the south. It is to come tonight to think about a good life and persuade Xu Hao. Take a lesson in economics and people's livelihood.

Xu Hao was very interested in Xia Yuanji, the big housekeeper of the household, and invited the other party to sit down for tea, and asked, "May I ask what your opinion is on the gathering of wealth and the use of wealth by the household?" ”

Xia Yuanji said: "Yesterday I wrote to the imperial court. The lower officials believed that the top priority was to cut redundant food, level the service, strict salt law, ban money and money, clear the warehouse, and widely plant, so as to give the people of Bian Su and facilitate business. ”

Hearing the last sentence, Xu Hao's eyes suddenly lit up, and he asked, "I don't know what you think about the forbidden sea?" I heard that Fujian officials truthfully reported that the people in the coastal areas were privately carrying sea boats to foreign countries, so they were embarrassed. The ministers of the DPRK and the Central Committee believed that it was necessary to continue to prohibit civilian sea vessels from going to sea, and to change all the original sea vessels to flat-bow boats, and strictly inspect the places where they were located to prevent them from entering and leaving. ”

Xia Yuanji disagreed: "Illicit foreign countries should be investigated and punished, but the lower officials think that a complete ban on the sea is not a good policy, relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, relying on the sea to eat the sea, and not allowing an inch to enter the sea, which will undoubtedly cut off the livelihood of thousands of sea people." Fujian is mountainous and has little land, and the livelihood of the people is worried in the long run, so the sea ban should be appropriately relaxed and the people should be allowed to go out to sea to fish. Since ancient times, Quanzhou and other places in Fujian Province have the tradition of going to sea to do business, and now the imperial court has restored the city shipping department, and should persuade merchants to pay taxes through the port according to the regulations, and order the sailors to strictly investigate marine smuggling. ”

Xu Hao was pleasantly surprised in his heart, Xia Yuanji was really not a pedantic person who didn't know how to be flexible, and sighed: "The first emperor worked hard for more than 20 years, resettled the displaced people to balance the north and south, exempted the servitude, and exempted the landless and destitute for three years, so that the people could live in peace. I still remember that in the 26th year of Hongwu, the area of cultivated land in various places was about 8.55 million hectares, the grain reserves were 32,789,800 stones, and the banknotes were more than 4,124,000 ingots. At that time, it could be called rich in the world, endowed with envy, rice millet from the Beijing division millions of outside, the county warehouse inspection accumulated a lot of money, to the prosperity of red rot and inedible, so what about today? ”

Xia Yuanji was shocked that Xu Hao was so grateful about the events of the past year, and said sincerely: "My lord really cares about the country, and I won't tell you that today, the acres of land have not increased but greatly decreased, and the grain reserves have decreased sharply by less than eight million stones, and the banknotes have been less than one million ingots. ”

Xu Hao said silently: "After four years of Jingjing, the damage to the people's livelihood is unimaginable, and now we must take the policy of recuperating with the people, persuade the people to return to the fields, and appease the displaced people from all over the country to return to their hometowns and resume business. ”

Xia Yuanji was pleased: "This is thanks to your lordship's assistance to His Majesty for treating the people kindly, and repeatedly issuing orders to give money and food, and now the number of displaced people in various places has reached hundreds of thousands." ”

Xu Hao shook his head and said: "What has not been done is enough, since the first day of the seventh month of the seventh month of His Majesty's accession to the throne, the whole country owes a lot of money and grain, salt, cloth, wood plants, reeds and firewood, as well as military and civilian horse and livestock raising, etc., and those who die and owe the living, all the arrears of money and grain taxes should be exempted; Shandong, Beiping, Henan prefectures and counties have soldiers who cannot farm, exempted from the three-year difference tax; Those who have not been soldiers have been exempted from taxes and grains in the autumn and summer of this year in Zhili, Fengyang, Huai'an, Xuzhou, Chuzhou, and Yangzhou; The rest of the prefectures directly under the prefecture, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangzhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan are all reduced by half.

Shandong, Henan, and the north and south of the river are equally displaced, and the people return to their hometowns and resume their businesses, and the government pays for the seeds and cattle tools, and the government of various places should give them the official cattle if they lack cattle. Each county has its own practical difficulties, and in this regard, it is necessary to work hard for Lord Xia to urge the household officials to deal with them separately according to the local situation. ”

Xia Yuanji was stunned, it is true that this is all urgently needed to be done at the moment, but it is a little too much from Xu Hao's mouth, right?

Suddenly, someone laughed and said: "Xu Hao's words are my intentions, and I will make an order early tomorrow morning." (To be continued......)