Chapter 272 Introduction

Zhao Shangshu sat, and two patrolmen stood.

He scolded the two subordinates who had just met, and then Zhao Shangshu ordered with a stern face: "Prince Chen, please hold my order and invite Zhao Wenhua, the Minister of Works, and Hu Zongxian, the Governor of Zhejiang, to come over and talk in the next two days."

He also ordered Wang Yongji: "Wang Xun, hold my token and invite five famous local families and ten common people. I will meet these people within five days." As he said that, he did not allow the two of them to have any questions, so he waved his hand and said, "Go down."

Wang Yongji whispered: "Will the adults move to the inn? It's more convenient there?"

Chen Si also echoed: "Yes, sir."

"No need." Zhao Zhenji snorted: "There are all officials from all over the world. If something happened to the southern capital, I have no shame to live."

The two of them were bored and had to retreat in a bad mood, and then walked out of the inn. They looked at each other and smiled bitterly after walking away. They both felt that this strange old man was not easy to serve.

Chen Si said softly: "My master is so arrogant. Isn't this just a fuss about asking Mr. Zhao to see him?"

"It is also beneficial to have such adults." Wang Yongji spread his hands and smiled: "Just do your best, don't worry about the rest."

Silence shook his head repeatedly, then bowed to him and left his own life.

After silent, I went to Luyuan first. After asking, I realized that Mr. Zhao had gone out to take a hot spring bath. Then I asked when he would return. The housekeeper said, "This is not accurate, it depends on the adult's physical condition." In fact, everyone knows that it is not Mr. Zhao's physical condition, but the progress of the situation.

It seems that Zhao Wenhua is determined to stay out of the matter, and Chen Si has no choice but to go to Hu Zongxian. Hu Zhongcheng did not disappear and could not go against the imperial envoy's intention. However, Chen Si knew that Zhao Zhenji would not get useful things from him... He knew Hu Zongxian too well. Although he was not as old as Zhao Zhenji, his cunning level was even more than that.

Sure enough, after finishing the conversation with Hu Zongxian, Zhao Zhenji looked for silence and said with a very ugly expression: "You are the inspector and military supervisor of Zhejiang. You have the responsibility to supervise the military and political affairs of the province. Tell me your opinion on this matter."

Just as he was about to speak, Zhao Zhenji raised his hand and said, "Don't talk nonsense, don't be perfunctory. I am not easy to fool."

After silent, he realized that Hu Zhongcheng had just used 'censored' and 'perfunctory responsibility' Zhao Butang. No wonder the old Master looked like he lost money. After sorting out his thoughts, he reported: "This time, Your Majesty ordered the Master Tang to thoroughly investigate this matter, just to know three things, who did it, what the purpose was, and who should bear the main responsibility."

Zhao Zhenji nodded and listened to him without saying a word: "There are many different opinions in Zhejiang now. Some people say that Xu Hai, who suffered a great loss in Wangjiangjing, is taking revenge and seeking back the scene; some people say that it is just that the Japanese pirates are lost and the headless flies are bumping into him..." As he said that, he paused and whispered: "There is another saying that it is caused by the 'Title'. Some of the big families paid for the death warriors to give the person their eyes."

The central government of the Ming Dynasty had few finances, and local difficulties had to be solved by local governments themselves. More than 100,000 anti-Japanese troops gathered in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Just eating horses alone would get 2,000 taels of silver a day. If military pay was included, burning and burying weapons and armor were consumed, the amount of silver consumed was far beyond the normal fiscal revenue.

I had to increase the taxes, but the people in Zhejiang had already sent a penny of three cents of the military pay acres in addition to land taxes. In addition to the many other names of taxes and labor levies and strict maritime bans, every family was clean and could not continue. If they were exploited again, it would undoubtedly cut off the people's livelihood and be forced to join the ranks of Japanese and pirates.

But the war must be fought, and the wages cannot be owe it. There must be an immediate way to ensure that the military supplies to fight against the Japanese continue to flow. Raising funds for the army is Zhao Wenhua's main task besides supervising the war, but he obviously does not have the means to solve this huge problem, so he threw this hot potato to Hu Zongxian without any surprise and asked him to find a solution.

Without any other way, Hu Zongxian had to come up with a method of adding additional sects called "Tibian", which is to compile them into tenth grades according to the rich and poor of the people, and then start taxing from the richest grade. If the tax amount paid by the rich cannot meet the needs, the lower-rich class will be charged downward, and so on.

To be honest, this method is very suitable. After all, everyone knows that 90% of the wealth of the Ming Dynasty was concentrated in the hands of less than one-year-olds. Now that there is no money to fight, I don’t ask which one I want, but I still ask who I want it?

But those big-name households who hold huge wealth are unwilling to do so. They have been accustomed to the days when they do not pay donations or pay taxes for more than a hundred years. Of course, they cannot accept it if they suddenly want to take the big head.

It is said that these families are powerful and have the same spirit, so they cannot be provoked or touched. But now it is not as usual. Everything is focused on resisting Japanese people. The excuses used to attack officials, such as "again killing", "arbitrage" and even "authoritarian" can all be forgiven, at least temporarily.

Local governments can hold up the big hat of "Tongwu" and see who dares not listen to the greetings, and then thrust it on, ensuring that your family will be destroyed and the whole family will be killed, and no one can save it. As one goes up and down, local officials have occupied an unprecedented strong position when facing these big families.

Therefore, the "programming method" was implemented, and the big investors had to pay the money obediently. After this additional payment, the Zhejiang Branch collected an additional 400,000 taels of silver in the first half of this year alone, while Nanzhili suffered less due to its larger and richer problems. This number reached 600,000 taels. It barely guaranteed the source of military expenditure and allowed the war to last for a long time.

But in the minds of the big people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the two names Zhao Wenhua and Hu Zongxian have undoubtedly become ghosts and ghosts. Their relationship has long been no longer harmonious, so this kind of rumor has emerged.

Shen Mo already knew about Zhao Zhenji's private visit, so he must have known this, so he simply did not hide it for Zhao Wenhua. Anyway, this matter was very controversial and could not be covered.

After hearing Shen Mo's statement, Zhao Zhenji's expression looked a little better and said, "You are honest." Then he asked in a deep voice: "What kind of possibility do you think?"

Shen Mo shook his head and said, "These are just rumors. No judgment is based on the lack of sufficient evidence."

Zhao Zhenji's eyebrows trembled slightly and said, "Why do I have to let you say one?"

Shen Mo said calmly: "It depends on what result Zhao Butang wants to see."

"Don't you have your own opinion?" Zhao Zhenji snorted unhappily.

"There is no Xiaguan." Shen Mo whispered: "The Xiaguan is also very chaotic."

Zhao Zhenji never showed any valuable clues from silent mouth, and only let him go out.

When the door was closed, Zhao Zhenji seemed to mock herself, saying, "Is this the future prime minister you Tan Zili said? The talent of Biguo?"

The curtain of the inner room was lifted up, and a middle-aged official in his thirties and forties with a majestic appearance walked out of it, and smiled distractedly: "Don't Master Ting think that he performed very well?"

"The melon, a wonderful thing." Zhao Zhenji cursed: "I'm less than twenty years old and I'm not as good as an old bureaucrat."

Then Tan Zili was the governor of Taizhou, Tan Lun, and had a close connection with Zhao Zhenji. So he brought him over with a letter from Master Zhao.

Tan Lun sat down at Zhao Zhenji's lower head and smiled and said, "If he doesn't say that, I will feel really disappointed."

Zhao Zhenji laughed and scolded: "Who are you talking for?"

Tan Lun smiled and lowered his voice, "Brother Dazhou, I really feel that this time, you should turn big things into small things."

Zhao Zhenji's smile immediately stopped and frowned and said, "Zi Li, have you let them get into the water?"

Tan Lun said seriously: "Brother Dazhou, please rest assured, I, Tan Zili, have no doubt about my integrity."

"Then how can you... help Yan Dang speak?" Zhao Zhenji asked, knocking on the table.

"I didn't speak for the Yan Party. I started from the overall situation." Tan Lun said calmly: "Zhejiang cannot withstand any civil strife, so he does not agree with you to take advantage of the situation and defeat Hu Zhongcheng... because he is the best leader in the anti-Japanese war."

"Absurd!" Zhao Zhenji said angrily: "Who do you think of me, Zhao Mengjing? Don't I know that everything is the most important and everything is stability?" He slapped the table hard, and turned his head sadly and said: "Have you ever thought about why I wanted to live in this small inn? Why do I have to do everything privately?"

Tan Lun quickly apologized: "I'm not talking, brother Dazhou must not be surprised."

Zhao Zhenji waved his hand and signaled that he didn't have to do this. He whispered: "If Hu Zongxian did a good job, of course I wouldn't cause trouble, but would he really do it well? If nothing else, just say this extra method of adding to the public. Is the people's wealth sought to be really charged with military pay?" He said with a sneer and said: "Don't forget that I was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. I have already calculated the general account for you Zhejiang. According to your current military support costs, the normal tax burden of Nanzhili and Zhejiang, plus the "Japanese pay" and "released to the public," it can provide 300,000 troops with continuous combat."
Chapter completed!