I'm really not doing business

Chapter 789: Power comes from the barrel of a gun

The land of Dongjiaomin Lane had not even been leveled, and the Ministry of Works had not even produced a map, but the first criminal had already been found. The administrative efficiency of the Ming Dynasty was very high under the emperor's example of diligence and high pressure.

The Ministry of Revenue had a huge gap in computing power, so as to make do with the situation, they raised the wall a little bit and built a few beds, which turned it into a prison.

"Uh, an accountant from the Royal Institute of Technology?" Zhang Juzheng asked in surprise, "Is it a rookie who just started out and took the blame for someone else?"

This kind of thing happens all the time. Kids who have just graduated from school, unaware of the evil nature of human nature, easily believe promises and use their professional knowledge to do daring things. Only then do they regret it when they are caught.

Wang Guoguang shook his head and said, "No, his accounting was flawless. The only thing he overlooked was the priority of the Tax Inspection Office in enforcing the law."

"The Taxation Bureau dispatched 14 tax inspectors and 20 tax inspectors to thoroughly check the details of the goods entering the city in batches through several city gates." Wang Guoguang shook his head and said, "The accountants trained by the Royal Institute of Technology are really amazing."

The priority law enforcement right of the Tax Inspection Office means that if I think there may be some problems and I cannot find them in the accounts, I will use physical means to investigate and collect evidence.

Being deceived, at this time, the students who can pass layers of selection and be admitted to the Royal Institute of Technology are all talents. How can it be simple?

The first batch of students admitted by the Institute of Technology was not a general examination, but were recommended and recruited from many local scholars and juren who had failed the examinations many times. Most of those who were able to pass the exam were slightly biased in their studies, not stupid.

The case involves an oil mill with a booming business. However, since a new accountant was hired in April last year, the tax payment has not decreased. Instead, it has remained stable with a slight decrease. If one only looks at the account books for a few consecutive months, nothing unusual can be seen.

But after nearly a year of changes, taxes have been reduced by 10% and are still decreasing.

However, according to the observation of the tax inspectors, the business of this oil mill is getting bigger and bigger, and it even opened more than a dozen new shops this year. Its oil mill business has expanded from Beijing to Mizhou in Shandong, Chang'an Prefecture in Shaanxi and other places.

The scale continues to expand, but taxes are steadily decreasing.

This was a very typical case of reducing the scale of business, concealing actual income, and evading taxes. The problem was that this guy's accounts were really beautiful. The Tax Inspection Office conducted a total of four tax inspections, and finally had no choice but to use the method of surveillance and comprehensive review of fuel trucks entering the city to catch this guy.

After listening to the brief introduction of the case, Zhang Juzheng said with emotion: "I underestimated them."

Wang Guoguang said with some annoyance: "No, we still have to convince His Majesty to keep these talents. Lin Fucheng's limited freedom theory deceived His Majesty! He is a traitor who brings disaster to the country!"

"What freedom or not? When these polytechnic students were still students, how could it be so troublesome for the tax bureau to handle the case? There was no problem with the accounts at all."

Wang Chonggu was stunned for a moment and said, "Isn't this another way to serve the court? And it saves money. No salary is required, just providing food is enough."

These captured accountants were all imprisoned in Dongjiaominxiang Prison, working for the imperial court for extremely low pay.

"It seems so. Moreover, the Tax Inspection Office can specifically keep an eye on those private households that have recruited students from the Polytechnic Institute. Keeping an eye on them and checking them can not only help with tax collection, but also attract talent." Wang Guoguang's brows relaxed, and there was some doubt on his face.

The Tax Inspection Office once again identified two conditions for tax inspection. The first was that the business had hired students from polytechnics, and the second was that the business had expanded and tax items had been reduced.

Wang Guoguang thought about it and it was the same. More accurate taxation and cheaper talent. Could it be that this was His Majesty's original purpose? !

The talent recovery plan allows people to come back the same way they entered the market. It’s a perfect plan!
Your Majesty's tolerance of limited liberals such as Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi is actually a matter of listening to both sides and not paying much attention to them. In some aspects, Your Majesty is not free at all.

For example, the outflow of gold, silver and brass was legally controlled by using capital gains tax; for example, anyone who violated Mr. Yan's rules would be beheaded; for example, a group of barking censors were sent to Liaodong to reclaim wasteland; for example, Chen Youren, the writer who glorified the Japanese pirates and wrote the Record of the Eastern Expedition, was beheaded in the street.

Is the emperor really a supporter of limited freedom? Probably not.

No matter what, the audit war in the future of Ming Dynasty will be fought between the academic faction and the prison faction.

Zhu Yijun once proposed to establish a more professional tax inspectorate, which would require game-playing and competition among different classes. Otherwise, the professional level of the tax inspectorate would decline and it would be unable to progress in the upward spiral.

The Ming Emperor, who personally wrote the third volume, was very good at using the game theory in the third volume to reach a consensus, allowing the Ming Dynasty to spiral upward in all areas.

Wang Guoguang had every reason to suspect that the Emperor did it on purpose.

Zhang Juzheng's idea of ​​not canceling preferential treatment and increasing punishment is also the same game. At the legal level, it allows poor people and coolies to have the possibility to play games with local elites and gentry. Even in judicial practice, there will still be extremely serious favoritism, but at least there is a law to follow.

Having laws to follow, following the laws, enforcing the laws strictly, and punishing violations of the law is a process of continuous maturity and gradual progress in the judicial system.

At the end of the meeting, Xu Jue chatted with Luo Sigong, mainly asking about the inspection of chili peppers. Strictly controlling the Yuanfu's diet is Luo Sigong's biggest job besides safety.

"You Shouli dared to interfere with Yuanfu's diet because you were here. If the cavalry you brought with you were not here, I'm afraid You Shouli would not dare to tell Yuanfu these things."

“Especially the Five Animal Exercises, you have to keep a close eye on it. If the prime minister doesn’t do it, you will make things difficult for You Shouli, and You Shouli will naturally tell the prime minister.” Xu Jue carefully advised the stubborn Luo Sigong not to be so stubborn.

It was Luo Sigong's responsibility to ensure that Zhang Juzheng maintained a regular schedule, ate healthily, and exercised properly. However, he could not contradict him directly because Zhang Juzheng was the Marquis of Yicheng. If he offended him too much, it would create a rift between Your Majesty and Mr. Luo, which would be bad.

Luo Sigong was not tactful enough, so Xu Jue taught him a way to embarrass You Shouli, the chief steward. Since the chief steward had the emperor's support, he would naturally interfere with Zhang Juzheng's behavior.

Brine some tofu, one thing down one thing.

Luo Sigong thought about it and found that Xu Jue's idea was indeed good. You Shouli was Zhang Juzheng's own man, while Luo Sigong was an outsider. There was a difference in closeness between them, so it would be more convenient to let You Shouli do it. He smiled and said, "Thank you for your advice."

"We are good at reading people's minds and ghosts, which is not worthy of being in a high-class place, so we can't say we are giving advice." Xu Jue looked around and whispered, "These scholars are bad. Captain Luo has been with His Majesty since he was a child, so don't let him learn bad things from these scholars."

"They have a heart full of thousands of eyes."

The East Factory, the West Factory, the Neihang Factory, the Jinyiwei, the Northern Pacification Office, the eunuchs and the Imperial Guards, have been fighting this group of scholars for more than two hundred years since the beginning of the country. None of them have won a single battle. Even if they had a short-lived victory, they still could not escape the fate of suffering a crushing defeat, and this happened again and again.

These ministers in the court all passed the imperial examination and became Jinshi, then climbed up step by step to the highest position and came to the core. Each of them is not simple.

Now the eunuchs in the palace have figured it out. It doesn't matter if they can't fight. His Majesty will lead them to fight. When the master is weak, the ministers are weak; when the master is strong, the ministers are strong. It all depends on His Majesty. The stronger and more wise His Majesty is, the better life will be for these eunuchs and imperial guards.

Luo Sigong also said with lingering fear: "Sir, it is indeed a bit ruthless."

"Being ruthless is the truest emotion. What you have in your heart is the world after all." Xu Jue waved his hand and said, "Let's go."

Xu Jue returned to the imperial study in Tonghe Palace and told the emperor the content of the meeting word for word, especially the process of Wang Chonggu's expression changing four times in a quarter of an hour, from anger, to breakdown, to horror, to submission.

Zhu Yijun was also a little surprised after hearing this, and then he shook his head and said: "Uh, isn't the sir too cruel? But, the sir's method is better."

Wang Chonggu was a bit wishful thinking. A drastic reduction in preferential treatment could easily lead to violent conflicts. Generally speaking, the New Deal of the Ming Dynasty was about the self-help and self-reform of the ruling class, which would take a long time to change the economic foundation of society bit by bit.

Zhang Juzheng's ruthlessness made up for Wang Chonggu's wishful thinking.

Whether it is an individual or a group, when making any decision, it is like walking anxiously in a maze, never knowing whether the road you choose will be full of flowers or thorns.

The more information you get, the higher you stand. You can see more news from the fog and choose the path you should take in the near future.

There is no doubt that Zhang Juzheng was indeed standing slightly higher than Wang Chonggu, so he always won over Wang Chonggu.

"Your Majesty, that fellow Li Yashi has made up another rumor." Feng Bao presented a memorial.

Ever since the Tian Bing Rebellion in Ruijin, the capital's miscellaneous newspapers have had numerous discussions on the issue, with one discussion taking place after another.

Everyone had a very heated debate around the rumors, facts, scale, harm, impact, etc., and the end result was that most of the miscellaneous newspapers characterized it as the government forcing the people to rebel.

The local county magistrate condoned local gentry to open gambling houses, condoned local gentry to cause harm to the village, condoned local gentry to exploit the people below, modified the established tax collection method, and forcibly collected taxes in the countryside, which eventually led to civil unrest.

The people's resistance was extremely mild. They simply captured the county town and arrested the local gentry living there.

The article of the Ministry of Rites was very important. The Ministry of Rites asked its mouthpieces to bring up the example of the Ye Zongliu-Deng Maoqi uprising in the 13th year of Zhengtong during the reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, which affected Fujian, Huguang, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Jiangxi, and in which nearly one million peasants rose up in rebellion.

This time, the Tian soldiers' rebellion only affected the three counties of Ningdu, Ruijin and Ninghua. They were very restrained and their demands were reasonable, so the main approach should be to appease them.

During this process, Legazpi also wrote an editorial discussing the Tian Bing Rebellion.

Li Yashi’s title was particularly shocking: “The Ming Dynasty promptly prevented a potential danger that would have affected the entire world.”

Ming Dynasty insiders thought it was just a simple civil unrest, but Legashi, as an outsider, was surprised at the optimism of the Ming people.

"What he said is also very interesting." After reading the previous part, Zhu Yijun agreed with Li Yashi's statement.

The discussion among the Ming Dynasty scholars was limited by the situation they were in and their past perspectives. They thought it was just a civil riot and all they could do was to put down the rebellion.

Even if the scale of the rebellion reached that of Ye Zongliu and Deng Maoqi, the Ming Dynasty was still capable and powerful enough to quell the rebellion in a short period of time.

The emperor has 100,000 troops in the capital and 130,000 naval forces. Isn't this the time to use them?

However, as an outsider, Li Yashi saw it very clearly. Once the civil unrest led by Wan Qianchang, Lian Yuanhou and Zheng Sanwan was ignited in Ruijin, if it was not handled properly, the whole country would be in danger.

Because the Ming Dynasty no longer had any troops available to quell internal rebellions.

Legazpi has always called the elite soldiers of the Beijing Camp Paladins, which are paladins, templars, and the Paladin Corps under His Majesty's command.

The Rui soldiers possess lofty morals. Even though this morality needs to be maintained by strong logistical supplies and high military expenditures, the core that maintains this lofty morality is still belief.

The Ming Dynasty's imperial camp, whose military soul was to report to the emperor and save the people, was invincible when its guns were pointed at the enemy. However, when the army pointed its guns at its own people, the narrative of reporting to the emperor and saving the people would completely collapse.

Because the emperor and the common people, who constitute the soul of the army, have irreconcilable contradictions.

The moment this narrative collapses, the capital's army and navy will collapse, because the emperor can no longer be trusted, and all kinds of public opinion that promotes civil and military power will completely destroy this invincible army.

And this army is likely to collapse internally.

Just like the Paladin has become a flash in the pan and a legend. Did the Templars really rely on expensive military expenditures to exist? If so, Qi Jiguang would have been crowned with a yellow robe long ago, instead of the Ming army heading wherever your majesty points his sword.

The core of the Templars' existence has always been spirit: loyalty to His Majesty, loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, and loyalty to the people of the Ming Dynasty. These three loyalties are the soul of the Beijing Camp and none of them can be missing.

The people of the Ming Dynasty took the existence of the Beijing Camp for granted, because they had gradually become accustomed to the existence of the army. However, in the eyes of an outsider like Legashi, such Templar Knights should not exist in the world.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty has been engaged in great debates for fourteen years, and the content of these debates can easily turn into a strong wind, igniting the spark throughout the Ming Dynasty.

In this rapidly changing world, what terrible impact would the public and large-scale publication of The Theory of Contradiction, Two Volumes on Public and Private, The Production Diagram, and Three Volumes on Class have?

This is a point that the Ming Dynasty scholars completely ignored during their discussion.

Just as fish do not notice water and people do not notice air, the people of the Ming Dynasty lived in such an environment, taking everything for granted and ignoring the dangers.

The public and large-scale publication of these political and economic books will make the next civil uprising impossible to control.

Even if we rely on the Beijing Army, after the suppression, the foundation of the Beijing Army's elite soldiers will collapse. What will we rely on for the next civil uprising?

Zhu Yijun looked at the newspaper in his hand and continued, "The Wanli Reform has put the Ming Dynasty on an unknown path. In maintaining the survival of the dynasty, many of the experiences accumulated by the Central Plains dynasties will become ineffective. When facing the overwhelming public opinion, the Ming Dynasty should be cautious in handling public opinion."

"I don't know where this unknown road leads to, but I have been in Daming for fifteen years. I have seen more people have enough food to eat. The fields that were once barren are now planted with crops. The abandonment rate has been declining year by year. The roads are becoming smoother, and the engineering corps has paved the way to all directions."

"Agricultural and handicraft production has become more enthusiastic than ever before due to the smooth roads and increased currency."

"The vitality of all things is in full bloom right before our eyes, and this beauty needs to be protected by every Ming citizen."

"The Ming court finally realized that its excessive favoritism and preferential treatment had artificially cultivated a group of rebels who opposed the Ming court's rule. These rebels grew up and thrived under the wings of the Ming court. Fortunately, corrections and changes have been made."

"Yes, these reckless rebels were cultivated by the Ming Dynasty itself."

"Your Majesty, the supreme and majestic Emperor, stands in front of the world like a mountain, resisting the overwhelming..."

Zhu Yijun stopped reading halfway. This Li Yashi had learned all the tricks of the lowly Confucian scholar. He was flattering the master in a very exaggerated way, which was particularly disgusting.

Li Yashi felt that the people of the Ming Dynasty were like spoiled children, with a serious lack of awareness of the danger. The imperial court was intensifying the conflicts, and the soldiers in Ruijin really started killing and burning. The civil unrest would surely sweep across the entire Jiangxi province.

Jiangxi, where gentry are everywhere and land annexation is highly concentrated, will become the prelude to the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty had a great emperor who was aware of the danger and used all his strength and means to block these storms.

"Delete this flattering speech and publish it in the official gazette." Zhu Yijun read Li Yashi's miscellaneous report and found that except for the exaggerated and untrue parts that needed to be deleted, the entire article could be published in the official gazette.

It also tells all the bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty that they must take such mass incidents seriously.

Feng Bao said carefully: "I don't think the word 'great and mighty' can be considered as flattery."

Very objective.

Feng Bao served Emperor Shizong and the previous emperor. Other wise rulers only live in history books and are a thing of the past. Your Majesty, the wise emperor, is alive before us. So Your Majesty is the most great monarch.

"Just delete it." Zhu Yijun gave clear instructions.

Feng Bao was silent for a moment, then bowed his head and said, "I obey your order."

The upper limit of the feudal monarchy is very high. After all, as an emperor, he has unlimited power and can concentrate his strength to get things done as quickly as possible. Of course, the lower limit is also very low. Once the problem begins to arise, he will become a thief who brings disaster to the country.

As the emperor himself, Zhu Yijun had to remain rational enough, and the only person he could completely restrain was himself.

"Aren't you going to delete this rumor?" Feng Bao asked tentatively.

"Keep him. By the way, arrest him and keep him in the Northern Pacification Office for ten days." Zhu Yijun reminded Feng Bao that being able to spread the news does not mean there will be no punishment. The talents in the Forbidden Prison include not only the accountants of the Dongjiaominxiang Prison.

The jokes written by Legazpi are actually quite funny.

[Twenty-nine years after the reign of Emperor Jiajing, the Ming Dynasty and Altan Khan were fighting fiercely in Xuanfu and Datong. Deputy General Ma Gui asked General Ma Fang what our army's tactics were.]
[Ma Fang replied: The court pretends to pay salaries, and we pretend to fight.]
Even under such difficult circumstances, in the 40th year of Jiajing, Ma Fang led the border troops and still won five battles in Tuerling, Yinlong River and other places. Finally, he set up an ambush in Huaian, and his soldiers advanced from the flank, cutting off Altan Khan's army in the middle.

Ma Fang himself charged into the battle and cut off three sabers, but he continued to fight fiercely.

After the Battle of Huai'an, Altan Khan completely lost the military strength to attack the Ming Dynasty, and it was then the Ming Dynasty's turn to take the initiative.

This joke written by Le Ya Shi is highly similar to the current Tian Bing Rebellion. He hopes that the court will no longer close their eyes, cover their ears, and shake their bodies to pretend to move forward.

It is true that there were loyal and good people in the Han Dynasty, but there was a limit to how many of them there were. How could you have so many to waste?
The officials in the court knew the problem better than each other, but it was never solved from beginning to end.

Because of criticizing the inaction of the cabinet led by Emperor Sejong, Legasi was sentenced to ten days in prison.

"The only real violence is the army. Relying on violence, we can sort out production relations, generate morality based on production distribution, and morality builds order, and ultimately gives birth to power. When the army changes, everything will change accordingly." Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "Political power comes from the barrel of a gun."

Zhu Yijun wanted to comment on this court report, but he really couldn't find more appropriate words to describe the changes in the Ming Dynasty, so he had to copy down the famous sayings written by the truly great Optimus Prime.

In Zhu Yijun's personal understanding, this sentence not only expresses that only armed struggle can seize power, but also expresses that what the gun is like determines what the world based on the gun is like.

Violence, production relations, distribution, morality, order, and power are progressive relationships, and the only real and concrete thing here is violence itself.

Violence is not just the army, it is also gunpowder, steel, silver, theory and human hearts.

"The Royal Institute of Gewu requests approval of a sum of money, which is 1.2 million silver coins." Feng Bao handed over a budget proposal and asked His Majesty to approve it. Because of the word "royal" in it, these budget proposals did not need to be reviewed by the emperor. All they needed was His Majesty's approval, and the treasury could allocate the funds.

"Okay." Zhu Yijun said after taking a quick look.

Feng Bao said hesitantly: "Your Majesty, this is 1.2 million silver. Is this thing really useful?"

One million and two hundred thousand silver coins, which is equal to two former emperors' mausoleums and one year's worth of gold and silver, were given away just to build a place for some fresh air.

What Zhu Yijun approved was the artificial wind experiment, which was a basic scientific research project independent of the glider. It used a steam engine as power to artificially create strong winds. It was mainly used in ship design, sail optimization, and propeller research and development. Glider optimization was just one of them.

Most of the graduates of the Maritime Academy went to work in ship design institutes to support the ship design of the five major shipyards.

The Royal Academy of Sciences is going to build a hair dryer with an original wind force of only hurricane level, that is, a wind speed of 65 miles per moment. After being contracted by the trumpet-shaped contraction section, the wind speed can reach 120 miles per moment.

The Royal Institute of Technology requested 1.2 million silver coins to develop wind-driven construction. The purpose of building this thing was purely to model wind and optimize the design of fast sailing ships.

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Build it. The money has not been spent. It just stays with me in another form."

In fact, there are huge differences among the doctors of science on the issue of whether to build a large-scale artificial wind experimental device.

Some of the doctors thought that it was a waste, 1.2 million silver coins were too expensive, and that the Ming Dynasty could now focus its main energy on the research and development of steam engines. Others firmly supported that ship design should be more professional, at least with degree bypass, rather than building ships based on past experience.

Some doctors of science believed that Prince De Zhu Zaiyu applied for such a huge sum of money in order to develop steam turbines.

The doctors of the Gewu School argued for a long time but couldn't come to any conclusion and were too lazy to argue anymore. They just left it to Your Majesty for judgment. If Your Majesty thought it was necessary, then it would be built. If Your Majesty thought it was unnecessary and a waste of money, then it would not be built.

Most doctors of science are against it, mainly because they are afraid of wasting money.

Zhu Yijun had nothing else, but he still had a lot of money.

"The memorial from Xu Wei of the Nagasaki Governor-General's Office." Zhu Yijun frowned and said, "The population of Japan is still decreasing. It is estimated that there will be only 7.5 million by the end of this year."

It took three years to reduce the population from 900 million to 850 million, and one and a half years to reduce it from 850 million to 800 million. Now, 50 people can be consumed in one year.

It stands to reason that the imperial court's policy of reducing the number of people should have a marginal effect, and the reduction in the number of people should be getting worse year by year. However, the estimate given by the Nagasaki Governor-General's Office was extremely optimistic, and the effect of reducing the number of people was getting better year by year.

The basis for the Nagasaki Governor-General's judgment was not the Korean War or the Japanese slave trade, but the false prosperity created by the influx of Ming Dynasty treasure notes in Japan, which led to a high concentration of population and ultimately a rapid population decline.

In short, the Japanese no longer have children.

The excessive concentration of urban population has led to a very serious drop in fertility. According to various intelligence collected by Ming Dynasty merchants, the increase in coastal port cities has siphoned a large number of women into the cities.

These women left the countryside, and as a result, there was a shortage of women in the countryside, and the birth rate in the countryside naturally plummeted.

These Japanese men in the countryside did not resist too fiercely, but chose to farm until they died.

After the Ming Dynasty opened its seas, a large number of large and small port cities appeared in Osaka Bay, Japan, such as Hiroshima, Kobe, Iwaya Castle, Sakai City, Wakayama Castle, Takehara, Mihara, Fukuyama, etc. These towns did not have the ability to sail on the ocean, but even if they could only reach Nagasaki, it was enough.

After these Japanese women entered the towns, because the competition in the towns was too fierce, they chose to become prostitutes, that is, to make a living by selling their bodies. Since there were too many people doing this, they would cross the ocean to become Nanyang sisters.

In the long run, all prosperity comes at the cost of population and silver mines;

When the silver mines are exhausted and the false prosperity disappears, Japan will fall into a long period of silence and its population will further decline.

"Sure enough, it is difficult to destroy the Japanese pirates relying solely on soldiers. They still have to destroy themselves." Zhu Yijun reviewed the memorials of Xu Wei and Sun Keyi, reminding them to pay attention to safety, especially to prevent being assassinated by Japanese pirates. The Japanese have a very strong culture of rebellion.

The main reason was that the emperor was reluctant to see the moral decline of the Beijing camp, but Japan chose to go to its own demise.

(End of this chapter)