March 15th, although it was the day of the new year, there was no grand ceremony.┡┢┢.?

Firstly, it was because the emperor had not taken charge of the government at a young age, and secondly, it was because the dynasty system was actually in the late Ming Dynasty, and the emperors had already been abandoned in court. Jiajing did not attend court for thirty years, and the court ceremony changed drastically at this time.

However, although most emperors did not fall in love with court after the Zhongming, they did not mean that they would ignore the government. Holding court meetings and attending courts to follow the government was just a ritual. After the Zhongming, court meetings were more of a kind of etiquette and a formality. Several things were reported at court meetings every day, and many things were even discussed.

In an era when the internal and external dynasty systems of the cabinet and the ritual supervision system of the rituals were already stable, there was no big difference between the emperor who would not attend court and listen to politics.

Liu Jun got up before dawn in the morning. He stayed in Beppu last night, where Chen Man, Liu Rushi and Chen Yuanyuan lived here. Recently, the Beijing epidemic prevention and entertainment industry has been greatly affected. The three of them simply gave themselves a vacation and stayed at home to play the piano and sang music. Liu Jun has been here often these days.

In order to comb his hair, Chen Yuanyuan dressed for him, and Chen Man was beside him and talking.

After finishing the work, Liu Jun said to them, "You go back and sleep and get some sleep. It's not dawn yet. I told you not to get up. You don't listen, so you have to go with it for a long time."

"It's okay, are you still coming here tonight?" Chen Yuanyuan asked.

Liu Jun tied a short gun to his legs and put it on his clothes. "I'll go to the princess's side tonight, so you don't have to wait for me."

Liu Rushi smiled and said, "Your Majesty is tired of running like this. Why don't you ask the princess and see if she can tolerate the three of us. If we can, we will move to the Zhennan Marquis' Mansion and serve her by the way."

"Sister Rushi, don't say it, the princess is pregnant." Chen Man interrupted her. The eldest wife, Xue Qi, could not tolerate them, and the Korean princess probably could not tolerate the three of them. Especially now the princess is still pregnant, they are all people who have been concubines in eunuchs. It is clear that after those women get pregnant, they cannot tolerate concubines even closer. In those deep houses, there is a war between women, and pregnancy can become the initiation of war.

Many families compete for favor with wives and concubines in the backyard. They often use pregnancy and childbirth to compete for favor, and many women also seek to murder those unborn children.

"Isn't it good for you to be like this now? You are free and easy. Why do you have to go to someone else to see your face? You are not happy. If you are really bored, just think of a way and work harder. If you are pregnant, you will have nothing to do." Liu Jun smiled.

"Your Majesty, it's not enough for us women to do our own efforts. You're only ten nights a month for us, and we three sisters can only be divided into three days per month. One year, only thirty-six days, so it's too difficult to get pregnant." Liu Rushi said angrily. He has been following Liu Jun for several years, and he has not been in a state of movement. It really makes them feel uncomfortable.

Originally, I was a concubine, and I could entertain people with sex when I was young, but when my youth was gone, I would be sad if I didn’t have a son or a half daughter. ┡One┢┢… The 6 family in the Great House there didn’t like them very much, and they have never been allowed to visit them yet.

"Okay, okay, I'll take more time to come here in the future, and try to make you all pregnant with twins."

"I want twins!" Chen Yuanyuan shouted shyly.

"I want three children. Three big fat boys." Liu Rushi's appetite was even bigger.

"I want to give birth to a son for the master, too!" Chen Man also said hurriedly.

"Okay, okay, I have all given birth. If you want to give birth, you will have a few more. I'll leave first!" Liu Jun laughed and left.

For the women of this era, sweet words, jewelry, and luxury villas are not as happy as giving her a few children.

Mothers are noble because of their children, especially for these concubines, when they have children, they have a guarantee of status. In many wealthy families, if they cannot have children and their husbands die early, they will even be forced to remarry or become monks by their grandmothers.

Liu Jun has a lot of women, not counting the maids and maids who are not famous and have no name, but only two wives and five concubines. Now, the eldest son born to Xueqi will be called Liu Jun's father, and she has just become pregnant again.

The Korean princess is about to give birth, and Baoer and Yaoyao are also pregnant. However, the three women here at home have not made any noise.

Under the escort of the brigade's guards, Liu Jun sat in a carriage to court.

Although there was no emperor in the court, all the officials went to the Golden Hall to bow and bow to the empty dragon chaise and shouted long live.

The Prime Minister's Office meeting now replaces the emperor's court meeting.

Generally speaking, only a few important officials of the Prime Minister's Office participated in the discussion. When encountering important matters, all the important officials of the Ministry of the Court will be summoned, and even the Censors and the Censors of Kedao will come to attend.

Today, the Prime Minister's Meeting was an enlarged meeting, with more than 100 people attending, and even the emperor was invited to listen to politics.

The ministers attending the meeting had long received a notice reminder that they were discussing the matter of recruiting the rebels of Wu Sangui and reconnecting with the Qing Dynasty.

All the officials looked at Liu Jun, but the King of Liaodong, who was sitting beside the emperor, was talking to the emperor in a cordial manner. The emperor nodded from time to time.

Everyone thought that Liu Jun was talking to the emperor about reunion and peace talks, but in fact, Liu Jun did not mention this in his conversation with the emperor. He was talking to the emperor about salt affairs, and the salt reform had officially begun.

At present, the newly established Salt Services Administration has officially taken over large salt fields such as Changlu and Lianghuai, and has set up transfer salt warehouses in some important places such as Tianjin, Denglai, Kaifeng, Yangzhou, Nanjing, Jiujiang, Wuchang, Xiangyang, etc. The salt warehouses in provincial capitals have also been established. ┡┢╞.(.

These things have been unfolding, just a bit low-key.

Liu Jun directly sent the Jinyiwei to stare at the salt merchants, waiting for them to jump out. But what surprised Liu Jun was that he didn't know if he had always been too strong, which led to these salt merchants being very calm. The salt farm was taken over, the salt was controlled by the Salt Services Administration, and the market was taken back, but these people didn't say anything.

Originally, Liu Jun thought that Wu Sangui had raised the banner of Qingjun killing Liu Jun on his side, so these salt merchants should respond one after another.

As a result, the salt merchants were as cowardly as ever.

Although salt merchants from all over the country are rich, they all know how to change their minds. Now Liu Jun is in power. Even after many years of Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian are not an exaggeration. After many opposing Liu Jun and failing to end, the salt merchants have become much more sensible.

The salt merchants also have a backstage. Now the richest salt merchants in various places are Yangzhou salt merchants, and Yangzhou salt merchants were hit by Liu Jun a few years ago. Now the richest salt merchants in Yangzhou are the three major wealthy families in Beijing.

The Li family of Wuqing Hou, Jiading Bo Zhou family, and Tian family. These three families are all royal relatives. The Li family of Wuqing Hou was the mother of the Empress Dowager Li, and the Zhou family of Jiading Bo was the mother of the Empress Dowager Zhou. The Tian family was the mother of Concubine Tian.

Last time the salt merchant in Yangzhou was investigated, Zhou Kui went to the palace to sue Liu Jun, but was fined by Chongzhen for his salary and imprisonment, which also understood Liu Jun's power. Last time the Beijing army mutiny, the Wuxun family in the capital were basically implicated. Now no one knows that Liu Jun cannot be provoked.

However, Yan Lina is a large piece of fat meat. Now that this piece of meat has been swallowed by Liu Jun alone, these people are also heartbroken, but they just dare not speak out.

Liu Jun also knew this. What he was talking about with the emperor today.

Liu Jun told the emperor that he was willing to contract all the royal shops, and in the future, all the royal shops were handed over to Liu Jun, and then he would no longer have to manage them, just sit and get the money.

"Net income of two million silver dollars per year."

Zhu Cilang was very moved when he heard this proposal. The imperial shop was also a special thing in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor was a private store opened by the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It is said that it began at the time of Zhengde.

Most of these privately owned shops by the emperor are located in places where northern merchants are connected and have convenient transportation.

For example, in Beijing, Jiumen, Mingyu, Jiqing Erfang, Rongjing Street, Lugou Bridge and Zhangjiawan along the canal, Hexiwu, Linqing, and the important military towns in the north, Xuanfu, Datong, Shanhaiguan, Guangning, etc. The shops may come from the searched powerful shop assistants, or from official shops, or were built after the demolition of private houses.

The management managers were directly appointed by the emperor. For example, six imperial shops including Baohe on Rong Government Street during the Zhengde period lasted until the end of the Ming Dynasty were supervised by a governor and eunuch, and dozens of other clerks were also appointed. The hall of the governor and eunuch was set up in Baohe shop.

The purpose of opening a royal shop is mainly to make profits. The specific business is either a tea hotel, a dentist, a warehouse, or a flower shop where prostitutes live, and some are used to collect commercial taxes. Among them, the tax levied by Baohe Liushang alone is as high as tens of thousands of taels per year.

However, the business management officials of the imperial shop often use the emperor's name and power to arbitrarily intercept businessmen, collect intensive taxes, and blackmail them.

Now, although there are many imperial stores, there are very little money actually paid to the emperor. Most of the income has been embezzled by those who handle it.

Not to mention two million a year, the emperor who can have one million a year will be so happy that he can't stop laughing. Although Zhu Cilang is young, he also knows the role of money.

Liu Jun believes that as long as the Huangdian is well-managed, it is really easy to make money. With the golden signboard of Huangdian, what business is not good?

However, Liu Jun did not want to contract the imperial shop to make money. Liu Jun had some tricks. He wanted to contract the imperial shop, but he did not want the officials and eunuchs to succeed in using the imperial shop to embezzle and demand everywhere under the name of the emperor. On the other hand, he wanted to use the imperial shop to make up for the nobles and relatives of the royal family.

Liu Jun planned to bring all these people into the royal store business, but they didn't need to really participate in the business. As long as they invested in some stocks and then took the stocks and waited for dividends.

As long as it is well managed, even if there are so many imperial stores in the Ming Dynasty paying 5 million contract fees to the emperor a year, and then removing the tax, you can still make a lot of money. Liu Jun thinks it is okay to take out part of the profits and distribute them to these nobles.

Just think that it is to spend money to raise these noble worms first so that these guys will not make trouble. It is not that Liu Jun doesn't want to settle them, but it is just that he has to stabilize them before the time comes.

"In the future, all the royal stores will be integrated together, and it will be called the Ming Dynasty Royal Department Store."

"Can I really pay two million silver dollars a year?" the emperor asked with interest.

"Of course, you can pay a deposit of one million first, and the rest will be paid in batches." Liu Jun guaranteed.

"Brother, I still have more than 50,000 hectares of imperial farms, but I receive very little grain every year, and I have to send a large number of eunuchs to manage them. Should I contract these imperial farms too?" Zhu Cixuan is now very sensitive to money and will take the initiative to attract investment.

The imperial village is similar to the imperial shop, and the emperor owns the private fields. However, the imperial shop not only has the emperor's fields, but also the crown prince's fields, the empress and the empress's palace house, etc.

However, the number of imperial farms with more than 50,000 hectares is still very scary, which is more than 5 million acres of land. However, it is nothing compared with the farms occupied by the vassals of various Ming dynasties. Now the farms of the vassal kings of various clans and clans of the Ming Dynasty are more than 200,000 hectares and more than 20 million acres of land.

"If Your Majesty intends to hand over the imperial village to the minister, it will be fine. How about paying the land rent based on the annual output of 30% of the land rent per mu? "

Zhu Cixuan calculated in his heart and asked, "How much is the output in that year?"

Liu Jun thought about it and found that the imperial villages were all good fertile fields, and the output must be quite large. "How many grains can the imperial villages pay in a year for more than 50,000 hectares now?"

According to some of the situations in the imperial villages that Liu Jun knows now, the tenants in the imperial villages are in a worse situation than ordinary tenants. They are called tenants and their identities are hereditary. They not only have to pay the tenants, but also have to bear national taxes, which is considered one tenant and two taxes.

"I found out that the land rent in the imperial village is three times that of the land in the civilians."

"The house rent is three times that of the people's land?" Liu Jun was shocked.

Zhu Ciyang, who was a little proud just now, was a little surprised, "Is it very tall?"

Liu Jun nodded, it was really tall.

"Your Majesty, I think that the rent of the house is too high is not a good thing. It is killing chickens to get eggs, and fishing out of the lake. The court has recently implemented a reduction in rent and interest rate to rest and restore the vitality of the world. I think that the imperial house should also implement rent reduction."

"Do you want to reduce your rent? How much more tenant rent will be available that year?"

"To reduce to 35% of the grain, even if it is calculated by one stone per mu, there are three and a half dou. For 50,000 hectares of land, there are 1.75 million stones of grain a year. Based on the current two silver dollars of grain per stone, it is 3.5 million yuan." Liu Jun replied.

Zhu Cixuan was surprised when he heard this number, "No, there is still 3.5 million silver dollars to reduce to 3.5%? Why do I check the account of Zhuangtian? Now I collect less than one million yuan in rent every year?"

Zhu Cilang felt that he had been cheated again.

"Brother, I have handed over all the more than 50,000 acres of imperial villages to the emperor. I only need to give me three million a year?"

When Liu Jun heard the emperor's words, he also understood that the emperor must have been cheated by the eunuchs below and the managers of the farmland. The grain output was relatively fixed, and the rent collected by the farmland was so high, but the emperor got the rent not as good as the rent received by normal landlords. Undoubtedly, the people in the middle were embezzled layer by layer.

Liu Jun was a little surprised. What did the emperor want so much money? He was a teenage emperor, and he was so jealous of money. After taking so much money, he knew how to spend it?

However, Liu Jun still agreed. If you take over more than 5 million acres of land, even if you don’t make money, you can benefit many people. Although this may offend many eunuchs and the managers in charge of the farm, Liu Jun doesn’t care much about these borers.

After discussing a two-way deal with Liu Jun, he could get a stable 5 million silver dollar in a year. The young emperor Zhu Cilang was very happy and announced the start of the Prime Minister's meeting.

Feng Yuanbiao, the Right Minister of the Ministry of War, made a list of proposals to surrender Wu Sangui and contacted the Qing Dynasty to reconsider the peace talks. Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, agreed, and Wu Yan also agreed.

Zhu Cixuan asked Liu Jun, "Brother, what do you think?"

"Since Yuan Fu and all the ministers felt that recruiting Wu Sangui and discussing peace with the Qing Dynasty was the best strategy, then I have no objection."
Chapter completed!