Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1425, the panicked Jiangnan gentry
While all the young and old in the capital were reading the newspapers and discussing the matter of paying taxes, Gao Yuanlong, Qian Qi and other officials from the south of the Yangtze River gathered together again in a garden somewhere in the capital.

"Tax honor?"

"Since ancient times, these sages and sages have always been frivolous and frugal. I didn't expect that now, they will not only extort money, but also make you feel right from the bottom of their hearts."

"How absurd, how absurd!"

Gao Yuanlong slammed the newspaper in his hand on the table, looking extremely angry.

"Never seen such a brazen person!"

Qian Qi also nodded solemnly.

"The imperial court's tax should be enough. There is no need to extort it. The so-called infrastructure construction is nothing more than a large-scale construction project. The so-called strengthening the army and strengthening the country is also for the sake of some people's militarism."

"My Ming Dynasty is a great country. Since ancient times, I have used virtue to conquer people. That's why I was able to conquer the world and let barbarians from all over the world come to court. I never used force to conquer people, and I didn't like to expand and kill like barbarians. "

"Now that the army is in full swing, and there is a lot of construction, the Ming Dynasty is in danger!"

"Warriors are precious and gentle. Since ancient times, most of them are military generals who seek to usurp the throne. I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty will be in turmoil in the future!"

Others followed suit and nodded, expressing their opinions.

In their eyes, everything in Ming Dynasty is farther and farther away from the dynasty dominated by traditional Confucianism.

Externally, the traditional thinking is to convince people with virtue. The barbarians in all directions are ignorant of education, so they are very barbaric. Da Ming should focus on education instead of conquest by force. It will make them surrender temporarily, but they will not be able to convince others with virtue.

Internally, ignoring corvee and sacrificing taxes is the way of a sage king. The levy of business tax is to search for the wealth of the people. The key is that the emperor and prince still have huge industries, and they are competing with the people for profit.

Building infrastructure is a big construction project, and it does not benefit the people of the country, it will only waste people's resources and financial resources. The country should hide wealth from the people and not collect too much tax. The government's tax is enough.

One after another expressing their views on the current situation, it seems that they are all concerned about the country and the people, and they are truly loyal and patriotic people.

If Liu Jin were here, he would have coldly highlighted the word 'hypocrite'.

"The emperor sent factory guards to investigate the attack on the tax office. Did you write a letter back and ask the house to wipe your butt clean?"

After complaining, everyone regained their composure, Gao Yuanlong thought for a while and asked.

Regarding the attack on the tax office, they couldn't be more clear about it. The gentry, big families, and big businessmen in the Jiangnan area joined forces to make it happen, and their advice was included.

Originally, I was thinking of relying on this matter to use the so-called public grievances to get Wang Shouren away. It would be best to give Emperor Hongzhi some eye drops so that he would not trust Liu Jin so much, and then unite with others to abolish the current tax system.

But who knew that they were defeated in the imperial court. Although there were many officials who supported them, there was not a single one who supported them in terms of heavyweight officials.

Moreover, Emperor Hongzhi asked the factory guards to investigate the matter under the pretext of public grievances.

Once this matter gets involved, the involvement will be very wide. Once they are involved, they will definitely die, and the family behind them will inevitably be exiled thousands of miles away.

Even the entire Jiangnan gentry will suffer a heavy blow because of this, just like the few major cases back then, many Jiangnan bigwigs in the court were dismissed from office.

Once it reaches that point, Jiangnan will really have no right to speak above the court.

"I've already written a letter to go back, and the matter will be dealt with at home."

Qian Qi and the others also replied one after another.

"Well, that's good~"

"But it must be dealt with thoroughly. The power of the factory guards is almost pervasive. Even if it is a very small clue, they can find out the matter."

Gao Yuanlong nodded slightly, his face full of worry.

The factory guards are a terrorist force that directly belongs to the emperor. No one wants to deal with these factory guards. Once they enter the prison of the factory guards, they will be skinned if they don't die.

"Is there any news about the arrangement of the chief envoy of Nanzhili?"

Gao Yuanlong thought for a while and then asked about the arrangement of the position of the chief envoy of Nanzhili.

"There is already news. It was settled in Shangshu's room yesterday."

"Liu Jin's children pushed Wang Shouren to be promoted to be the chief political envoy of Nanzhili. Liu Gong and Xie Qian said that he was young and promoted too quickly, so he was not suitable, but he was opposed by Li Dongyang, Zhang Mao, and Zhong Zhong. Come down, let Wang Shouren be the chief envoy of Nanzhili!"

Qian Qi quickly replied.

"what?"

"Really let Wang Shouren be the chief envoy of Southern Zhili?"

When the others heard it, they couldn't help but exclaimed.

Wang Shouren and the others have already experienced the lesson. The key to being a real master is not to be soft and hard.

These big landlords, big businessmen, and big gentry in the south of the Yangtze River did not fail to find ways to win over this Wang Shouren, but it was useless to send beauties or gold and silver treasures.

Wang Shouren just didn't follow that routine, and he did whatever he wanted, which also caused many people in the Jiangnan area to suffer.

They have never paid taxes, when they saw the people from the tax office carrying away the gold and silver hidden in their house, one box after another, they even wanted to kill Wang Shouren.

Originally, he wanted to get Wang Shouren away, but it turned out to be better now. Not only did he not get rid of Wang Shouren, but he was promoted to a higher level, and directly became the chief envoy of Nanzhili.

If Wang Shouren worked for the chief envoy of Nanzhili for a few years, all the big businessmen, gentry, landlords, and big families in the whole of Jiangnan would be farewell, and they would be punished by Wang Shouren.

"Hmm~"

"It is estimated that the official appointment will come down in the next few days, and at the same time there will be personnel arrangements for this time."

"It is said that this time, Liu Jin abused his power and dispatched a large number of our Jiangnan officials to Australia, Huangjinzhou, Nanyang and other places to take up positions. At that time, these people here may also leave Daming mainland and go to various places. work."

Qian Qi nodded solemnly, looking very helpless.

Their official ranks are still very low, and Liu Jin's arrangement for them can directly transfer them without going through the cabinet and the emperor.

If they want to get them to Australia, they can go to Australia. They have no choice at all, except to return to their hometowns and stop being officials.

"Liu Jin, you are extremely hateful!"

When Gao Yuanlong heard this, he immediately said angrily.

"It's useless to be angry now, everyone should pass the news back to Jiangnan as soon as possible, and let the family discuss countermeasures."

Qian Qi sighed helplessly and shook his head.

Even if you scold the sky here, there is nothing you can do about Liu Jin, and it has no effect on Liu Jin.

But I still need to worry about things at home.

The factory guards completely attacked the tax office, and Wang Shouren was transferred to be the chief envoy of Nanzhili. These two things are enough to worry the gentry in the Jiangnan area.

The news spread back to Nanzhili as quickly as possible.

On a large flower boat on the Qinhuai River in Nanjing.

The scale of this flower boat is huge and the decoration is very luxurious. Accompanied by a gust of river wind on the boat, a scent of rouge and gouache is blown to both banks, making the passing people look at it with envious eyes. To this flower boat.

Different from the past, at this moment, the atmosphere on the flower boat was very heavy, and all the beauties who had always been charming left the biggest venue here, leaving behind these big shots in the Jiangnan area to discuss something.

"The news came from the capital. The emperor sent factory guards to thoroughly investigate the attack on the tax office, and asked us to wipe our butts clean. Don't miss anything. This time, the emperor is probably going to hit us Jiangnan gentry again. .”

Someone broke the heavy atmosphere of the scene.

"what?"

"Is it going to be the same as before?"

"It's hard to say, I also received the news."

"I, Jiangnan Shilin, don't have many people in the court. If this is attacked again, wouldn't it mean that I, Jiangnan, will no longer have the right to speak in the court from now on."

"Do you still think about the future?"

"Let's think about how to pass this level before we talk about it."

"The factory guard thoroughly investigated the attack on the tax office. Once it is found out, those of us present will probably be overwhelmed."

"Is it really going to kill our Jiangnan gentry?"

"My Jiangnan gentry has always been the mainstay of the country, how can the emperor take me to wait like this."

"The emperor was flattered and bewitched by the villain. The ancient kings were all sloppy and poor. Look at the current emperor. Excessive taxation, military violence, and large-scale construction. Is this what the Ming army did?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's all because of being bewitched by villains and treacherous officials, so that I, the upright people in the south of the Yangtze River, can't get important, and they are repeatedly suppressed."

"It's useless to say these things, let's go back and clean up the tails."

"It also said above that Wang Shouren will be promoted to be the chief envoy of Nanzhili, and he will be in charge of our Nanzhili."

"what?"

"Wang Shouren not only didn't get transferred, but he actually wanted to serve as the chief envoy of Nanzhili?"

"That's not true. I guess resignation is already on the way. Once Wang Shouren becomes the chief envoy of Southern Zhili, there will be no peace for me in Jiangnan."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to sit on this flower boat again in the future."

"It's over, it's over~ This Wang Shouren is the chief envoy of Nanzhili for the first time, and I will never have a good life."

"If he really makes me wait for a bad life, I will go to Zhejiang to dig his ancestral grave. He, Wang Shouren, is also from Zhejiang. How can this be the case? Does he really want to break with our Jiangnan gentry?"

"Hey~ It's already broken."

"It's over, it's over, there will be no peace in the south of the Yangtze River, and there will be dark clouds in the bright world. Do we really have to migrate overseas to have a place to live?"

"..."

(End of this chapter)