Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 502 Returning to Beijing for the first time in two years
Zhu Qiyu was overjoyed when he heard the words, pointed at Lin Xiangyu and said with a smile: "Don't you look at how beautiful the eldest brother's biological mother is. This is the birth tool I found by digging holes in the mountains."

Ruan Zhu had a strong desire to survive, but he didn't dare to follow Zhu Qiyu's words, but quickly flattered him: "Our mothers are all overwhelmed, and the fairies scattered in the world are all gathered together.

Such a perfect mistress, there are fifteen of them at once, they are slaves, oh no, they are such a great blessing. "

This flattery slapped hard, and the concubines who coaxed her into smiles.

Zhu Qiyu made an exception and had a big drink, and everyone ate in a lively manner before they dispersed in the afternoon.

In the evening, Zhu Qiyu woke up from a big sleep and saw several favorite concubines writing and drawing on the couch, so she ordered: "I have to go to the city to do some errands tomorrow, maybe I can't finish it in a day, no accidents." I have to stay three or four days."

"Oh? Where does my husband live in the city? Who do you want to take? Why did it take you so long?"

"The outer walls of our old prince's mansion were all burnt down. Let me take Mao'er and Ning Xiang back to my mother's house and live in Marquis Wuding's mansion. Xue'er and Xi'er are looking after the house.

This time I am going, one is to make a private visit in a micro-service to find out the people's sentiments; second, I want to personally deal with our old prince's mansion, as well as the Huichang Hou's mansion. Everyone pays homage to it all the time.

I also want to meet our Uncle Wang, the former King Xiang, and the current King Lecheng County.

In addition, we should also take a look at the casting and circulation of Jingtai Tongbao, and inspect the construction progress of the outer city.Then check the treasury everywhere.

Also, go to the Fengtian Metropolitan Division to gather the generals, announce the establishment of three Xingdu Divisions, and make another major adjustment to the Gyeonggi Guards.

Also, I want to follow the example of Taizu and add Jing Zhaoyin to take charge of Gyeonggi.

In short, there are a lot of things that I can't count, and I can't come back for three or four days.

For the civil servants, I brought He Yi, Lian Gang, Xu Zheng, Huang Jian, Wang Yue, Gao Yao, Wang Xian, and Ma Wensheng.Generals Liu Chang and Zhao Yu.

The internal officials brought Ruan Xi, Shu Liang, Huang Qi, and Chen Lin, so be it. "

Qianxue smiled and said: "Bring He Yi again, my husband will wait for Xu Wan to scold you."

Zhu Qiyu retorted: "I am the emperor, she cannot scold me."

Qianxue nodded: "Well, yes, I can't point my nose at you and scold you, but she is Brother Fang's mistress, so she can spank your son."

"Why is the little aunt of An Guogong's family so fierce? Well, I was wrong, I was cowardly, and I will let He Yi come back after finishing the work tomorrow. That's okay."

Qianxue smiled and said: "He who understands the current affairs is a hero, the husband really grows more and more handsome, I like it very much."

"Hey, it's not easy to be an emperor. The longer he grows, the more handsome he is. Why do I look more like my third grandson?"

In the early morning of the next day, Zhu Qiyu got up early and set off for the capital with everyone.

……

All the way without words, all the way without incident.

The personal guards escorted the chariot into Wudinghou's mansion, Zhu Qiyu rested for a while, and left the favorite concubines at home to chat with Mrs. Wudinghou, while he took He Yi and others to go out in low clothes.

In the past, he used to hide in the chariot when he went out. Zhu Qiyu hadn't visited the capital well yet, and now it was the first time he walked on the street to take a closer look.

After leaving the Marquis of Wuding's Mansion, he soon went south into Mingshifang and walked all the way to Chongwenmen.

Chongwen Gate connects the inner city and the outer city and is where Chao Pass is located.Goods entering the inner city from Chongwenmen are subject to commercial tax.

Zhu Qiyu stood at the city gate and smiled at He Yi and others: "Let's see with our own eyes how they collect taxes.

If you just sit in the temple, sooner or later you will be blinded by the people below to become deaf, blind, or foolish. "

There are some things that cannot be said, but Zhu Qiyu understands in his heart: "Commercial tax sounds very beautiful, but in fact, it is used to harm the people."

Just like Wang Anshi's reform, every decree seems to be for the sake of the people.In actual implementation, the common people are in a miserable mess, not as good as before the reform.

There are also the seven Chaoguan along the Grand Canal established by Emperor Xuanzong, among which Linqingguan, the famous "Matang Incident" occurred during the Wanli period.

In Wanli's later years, he was crazy about money, and sent eunuchs across the country to collect business taxes, mining taxes, and negotiating taxes. It can be said that there is no bottom line.

One of the eunuchs named Ma Tang collected exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes in Linqing, to what extent, "sporadic rice beans were also taxed, so that many people broke their homes."

In the end, the people of Linqing rioted, burned the tax office, and killed more than 30 people including Ma Tang and his entourage.

As expected, the level of Chongwenmen can be somewhat stronger, but its strength is limited. '

Zhu Qiyu led more than a dozen people to stand at the gate of the city to observe. The tax officials and yamen guards guarding the gate were naturally quite upset to be stared at like this.

A somewhat ferocious-looking official came towards Zhu Qiyu, and a conflict was about to occur. At this time, the guard of Chongwen Gate suddenly ran over and grabbed the official.

The official asked curiously: "Zhao Qianhu, what are you asking me to do?"

Zhao Qianhu hurriedly persuaded: "Brother, leave this to me, it's important that you hurry over to collect the tax."

Zhao Qianhu persuaded the official to go away with all kinds of words, and just walked up to Ruan Xi and bowed his hands: "Mr. Ruan, what wind brought you here, those people below have never seen the world, please don't blame Mr. Ruan."

It turned out that during the defense of the capital, Ruan Xi was ordered to guard Chongwenmen, and this general named Zhao Xin was promoted from a hundred households to a thousand households because of his meritorious service.

Ruan Xi also contributed to this recommendation, so Xin Zhao was very affectionate when he met Ruan Xi.

Ruan Xi smiled and said: "Zhao Qianhu, don't make a fuss, we are just wandering around here, we won't trouble you, so just pretend you didn't see us, and just do what you usually do now."

Xin Zhao asked again: "Then who are these young masters behind you?"

Ruan Xi waved his hand: "Brother, don't ask. It's not good for you to know so much. You don't need to greet us, just continue to defend the city."

Xin Zhao nodded if he had realized something: "Then brother will continue to defend the city. If you are negligent, please forgive Duke Ruan and all the nobles."

Ruan Xi nodded and made a gesture of invitation.

Without the interference of others, Zhu Qiyu led He Yi, Wang Yue and others more than ten steps forward, getting closer to the tax official.

When people and merchants passed by, Zhu Qiyu could clearly observe their behavior and conversations.

People who did not bring any goods, entered the inner city from the south, usually through Xuanwumen and Zhengyangmen.Those who go to Chongwenmen are mostly business travelers.

After five or six business trips had passed, Zhu Qiyu waited for a merchant who sold silk.

Not only Zhu Qiyu was curious, but even He Yi, Wang Yue and others stared intently.

Sure enough, the tax collector stopped the carriage and inspected it carefully.

In the end, the merchant shipped a total of thirty pieces of high-quality silk, and was charged 21 taels of silver.

Zhu Qiyu saw the blind businessman gnash his teeth, and he took out 21 large silver coins with tears in his eyes.

After paying the tax, the merchant wanted to leave this sad place quickly in his carriage.

Seeing this, Ruan Xi hurriedly stepped forward and bowed his hands in greeting: "Brother, my master would like to chat with you for a few words. I wonder if you can do me a favor?"

The businessman looked surprised, not understanding why someone suddenly came over to talk to him.

And from the voice of the voice, could it be a eunuch?
Ruan Xi explained with a smile: "My little brother once worked as an imperial eunuch in Nanjing's internal official prison, brother, that is the high-quality silk from Suzhou, how is the market this year?
My master also wanted to do some small business in the South, so he wanted to ask Xiongtai about the market. "

When the businessman heard what Ruan Xi said, he felt relieved: "It turns out that my brother was on business in Nanjing, and I am from Nanjing. I heard that the north has been hit by disasters in the past two years and materials are in short supply. I wanted to sell some silk to earn some money to supplement my income." Household expenses, hey, I didn’t expect that I’m about to lose everything.”

(End of this chapter)