In fact, they all knew very well what the mining tax was all about.
Daming's agriculture had reached a bottleneck and could not increase the tax, but the commercial tax was promising. However, the practice had always been to emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce, so the commercial tax was very low. The commercial tax, which was supposed to be a big part of the tax, often became a small part and did not have a sense of existence. Since the reign of Jiajing, the emperor began to deal with the commercial tax. The dispute about whether to open the sea ban or not was actually a game between Emperor Jiajing and the landlord group represented by a large number of administrative officials and imperial censors.
The game ended with Emperor Long Qing successfully fooling him, and most of the profits from opening the sea fell into the pockets of the local business groups. However, Zhu Yijun was obviously smarter than his father. Taught by Zhang Juzheng, Zhu Yijun was definitely not a good person.
Therefore, he used a little bit of his brain and saw through every detail of the battle between his grandfather Jiajing and the officials. He also perfectly bypassed the civil official system and found another way to fight for the commercial tax that should have belonged to the imperial court in the local area.
However, this clearly touched the interests of the local business groups. As the spokespersons of the business groups, the civil officials of the court naturally had to oppose it with all their might. They vigorously resisted and occupied the moral high ground to criticize the Emperor, insisting that the Emperor take back his order. It just so happened that the struggle for the foundation of the country was becoming more and more intense and had reached its climax. The Emperor successfully diverted the attention of the officials, causing the opposition of the officials to become weak and weak. The Emperor had temporarily obtained a stage achievement.
However, would it be so easy to snatch food from the tiger's mouth? Even if the other party was the emperor, it was because the other party was the emperor that they could not let go.
The Empire's industrial and commercial economy was booming, and the landlords, despots, and merchants were getting rich. However, the officials and merchants had joined forces to evade taxes, causing more than half of the country's tax revenue to be lost every year. This was an open secret among the civil officials, and it was precisely because it was an open secret that they had to protect it.
Faced with such a situation, it was impossible for Zhu Yijun to pass the resolution to increase the business tax in a formal way. The civil officials would definitely obstruct him in every way possible. At that time, money would be used to buy lives, and a few "martyrs" would kill themselves to "plead for the people". Due to public opinion, Zhu Yijun had no choice but to compromise. Therefore, Zhu Yijun directly sent a eunuch down to share a cup of meat soup with them. There was only so much meat soup in a pot. If one more person shared it, it would be less.
Originally, everyone had just reached a consensus to split the profits. But now, Emperor Zhu was running over with a big ladle and a bowl. Wasn't this breaking the rules?
Most importantly, the emperor was the heaven. If Zhu Yijun became addicted to the meat soup, it would be bad. He might even take the pot away, and there would be nothing left. Where could they go to cry? Therefore, when everyone saw Emperor Zhu doing this, they immediately became anxious. In short, everyone used all kinds of methods to prevent the Emperor from getting involved in the distribution of benefits.
Song Yingchang and Liu Huangchang, who were well aware of this, immediately understood Xiao Ruxun's thoughts. They also understood what kind of situation Xiao Ruxun would face if these words were heard by the civil officials in the capital.
"Hsiao Jixin, believe me …"
Song Yingchang sighed. He was a civil commander, and Liu Huangchang also had the background of a civil general. In reality, the two of them were no longer accepted by the civil officials. After this battle, Liu Huangchang might continue to stay in the Ministry of War. But if Song Yingchang won this battle, his fate would not be any better than Ye Mengxiong's. At this time, he naturally would not wear the same pants as those scholars.
"It's not easy to produce a famous general. We can't let him die in this matter. Advisor, what do you think we should do?"
"What should we do?" Song Yingchang let out a long sigh. After thinking for a while, he opened his mouth and said, "Only you and I have seen this victory report. Burn it and write another copy. Then, I will write a letter to Ji Xin personally. Tell him to be careful with his words and actions. Don't say such things again. This matter has entered our eyes, and no one else knows. For the sake of the country, Hsiao Jixin must be protected! A good general is hard to come by! "
Liu Huangchang nodded and said, "I understand."
Song Yingchang nodded. He took out a match and blew it, burning the report in its entirety. Then, he wrote a letter to warn Xiao Ruxun about some inside information about the civil officials and the basic principles of being a general in this era. He also warned Xiao Ruxun about the red line. He did not want the seed of such a famous general to fall into this kind of matter.
In the countless years that followed, because of this matter, Xiao Ruxun was extremely grateful to Song Yingchang and Liu Huangchang. It was also because of this lesson that Xiao Ruxun began to reflect on his behavior and began to learn how to be truly careful with his words and actions.
At this moment, Xiao Ruxun was in a military tent outside Pyongyang. He held the string of beads given to him by Zhu Yijun in one hand and tapped on the map with the other to check the terrain of Hwanghae Province and Gyeonggi Province in North Korea. Combined with the latest information, he learned that the Japanese pirates in Hwanghae Province had been scared away by Yuan Huang's letter and two human heads. They left the empty Hwanghae Province behind and stationed their troops in Kaesong, east of the Imjin River, north of Seoul, which was one of the three capitals of North Korea.
There was also information that the main force of the Japanese pirates in Gangwon Province had begun to move in the direction of Seoul. It seemed that they planned to put all their troops in Seoul and defend it to the death against the Ming Army. Xiao Ruxun checked the terrain of Hwanghae Province and Kaesong and decided to lead the army south to Hwanghae Province and attack Kaesong after the provisions were almost ready. He would use Kaesong as a springboard to Seoul and let the North Korean army take over Hwanghae Province and Gangwon Province, which had become unoccupied.
The main force was the infantry, which moved relatively slowly. They needed to move together with the provisions transport team, which would take about two days to complete. However, the cavalry was not subject to such restrictions. Moreover, the terrain of Hwanghae Province was relatively flat. They could reach Kaesong in three days by galloping along the west side of Pyongyang. After resting for a night, it would not be a problem to attack Kaesong.
Xiao Ruxun intended to let Nurhachi bleed a little and let the Female True Soldiers fight to the death with the Japanese army, consuming the Japanese army's strength, and also appease Li Rusong's restless heart.
"General, Commander Li and General Tong are here."
"Please."
Xiao Ruxun walked back to his seat and sat down.
Li Rusong and Nurhachi lifted the curtain and walked in.
"Greetings, Admiral."
Nurhachi was extremely respectful. Li Rusong also cupped his fists and pretended to be polite.
Xiao Ruxun smiled and did not care. He stretched out his hand and said, "Generals, please sit down."
The two sat down. Xiao Ruxun said, "Today, I invited the two generals here because I have something for you to do."
Li Rusong blinked and said, "What is it?"
"According to intelligence, the Japanese pirates have basically withdrawn from Hwanghae Province. There are now 10,000 troops stationed in Kaesong. I want the two of you to lead the cavalry under your command to take Kaesong as a forward base for my army."
"What?!"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
