King of Han Dynasty of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 153 Qingqi’s brain circuit

boom.

As soon as these words came out, it was like a thunder that exploded in everyone's mind.

Everyone's faces instantly turned pale, and their eyes were unconsciously blurry.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Zhu Gaoxu's half-closed eyes suddenly opened, he looked straight at Xia Yuanji, and shouted in vain:

"The imperial court sold a pound of salt for eighty copper coins, and the high price even sold for one hundred copper coins."

"Old Man Xia"

"As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, you should be extremely proficient in numbers and arithmetic, and you should have the most say, and everyone will be convinced."

"For this reason, I calculated based on the cost of refined salt and the selling price of coarse salt in front of me to see how much profit should be made from normal salt in a year."

When Xia Yuanji's name was called, his heart trembled subconsciously, a trace of panic flashed in his eyes, his face turned pale unconsciously, and his body could not stop shaking and swaying. He was stunned on the spot.

He is not a fool.

I didn’t know it before, so forget it if you don’t understand it.

Now, as far as the matter in front of me is concerned, the hidden things have been taken out and put on the table.

He was also the person in charge of the household department. When Zhu Gaoxu mentioned the cost just now, he had already reacted after being stunned for a moment. At that time, he couldn't help but make a simple calculation in his mind and came up with a terrifying figure.

Now when he was questioned, he was asked to make careful calculations.

For a moment, he didn't know whether he should count or not, or how to answer this question.

Have no idea!

It's scary, really scary.

If we really calculate the people and things involved, we don't know how many people will be killed, and what kind of bloody storm will be caused, which puts us in a dilemma.

After a short silence, he turned pale and said with a slight tremor in his voice:

"Your Majesty"

"Why don't we just forget about it!"

"This, this, this"

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu's eyes narrowed slightly, his face instantly darkened, he stared coldly, and shouted in vain:

"Why doesn't it count?"

"Old man Xia, what are you afraid of?"

"Are you afraid to count, or do you have something in the middle?"

"Or do you think that you, Old Man Xia, are the only one in the Ming Dynasty who can settle accounts? Do you think you can do it?"

The sound of loud shouting sounded, and Xia Yuanji's body trembled. He was so frightened that he knelt down and kowtowed quickly:

"It's unfair. It's unfair!"

"Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince, and the veteran ministers have absolutely no involvement in this, and have definitely not done anything beyond their bounds. They are working conscientiously for the court."

"I sincerely ask the Prince of Han and the Crown Prince to learn from this!"

'Humph' Looking at the people kneeling on the ground, Zhu Gaoxu snorted coldly, with endless coldness on his face, and said in a deep voice:

"In that case, what are you afraid of?"

“Can paper cover fire?”

"A dead Taoist friend will never die a poor Taoist, haven't you heard this saying?"

"There is no involvement, so why do you need to hide it?"

Having said this, he paused, stretched out his hand to pull up Xia Yuanji who was kneeling on the ground, and patted his shoulder:

"I know that you are sincere and loyal. If you are worried about the instability of the government, don't worry, I am not a reckless person and will not do anything impulsive."

"We are all trying to make the Ming Dynasty better and better. I think this is what the old man meant when he asked me to supervise the country."

"Do you want the household department to live in such a tight situation?"

"The old man hasn't done it yet. With him sitting in the palace, I can't mess around."

Say it.

Zhu Gaoxu took a deep look at the prince sitting beside him, who was stunned and confused.

Xia Yuanji, who was helped up, frowned and looked around at everyone present, exhaled a long breath, his expression instantly became extremely solemn, and said in a deep voice: "Prince Qi, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

"The old minister just made a rough estimate in his mind. After excluding all consumption and costs, if there are no surprises."

"The annual net profit from salt in the Ming Dynasty will never be less than 60 million taels of silver."

"And our Ming Dynasty's annual salt tax revenue is only about eight million taels of silver."

After hearing this, Zhu Gaochi, who had been sitting on the chair with his eyes half-closed in thought, suddenly stood up, an exclamation of 'Ah' rang out, and he shouted in disbelief:

"Old man Xia, what did you say?"

"How is this possible?"

At the same time, the expression on his face instantly became extremely gloomy, and his eyes were already filled with anger.

The imperial salt tax revenue was only eight million taels of silver, but the real profit from salt was at least no less than sixty million taels of silver.

Such a big gap!

Whose pocket did the remaining tens of millions of taels of silver go into?

Who dares to compete with the court for profit and put such a huge amount into his own pocket?

After receiving a positive answer, not to mention Zhu Gaochi's anger, there was no one among the important ministers in the court who participated in the discussion who was not angry.

These people worked tirelessly. They worked hard for the affairs of the Ming Dynasty and worked hard.

But many times they were in trouble because they had no money, and the court even gave these ministers things in exchange because they had no money to pay them.

Previously, it was thought that the Ming Dynasty's national power was weak and it had experienced too many wars, so that all aspects of taxation had not really recovered.

As a result, there is no recovery?

You've recovered a long time ago, okay?

It's just that the money that should belong to the court went into other people's pockets.

Hey!

These murderous bastards!

Even though they were all well-read sages and highly educated, they couldn't stop swearing in their hearts at this moment.

Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing aside, saw the angry people in front of him with a sneer on his face and shouted:

"That's how it is now"

"The poor court is rich in businessmen, and the rich are corrupt officials."

"Do you think the previous salt law, salt tax, and salt quota should not be changed?"

"Or are you still willing to be old-fashioned, and then watch other people's mouths full of oil, and the imperial court's miserable life, and you also follow the imperial court's miserable life?"

"If this money belongs to the imperial court, and the taxes in the imperial court increase several times, will your salary still only be this small?"

"Why do you still want to accept bribes and commit transgressions, tuck your head in your waistband, and worry all day long about being investigated, having your home confiscated and your family exterminated?"

Everyone fell into silence for a moment, lowering their heads and thinking.

Such words spoke directly to their hearts.

What a fart!

Who wants to live a hard life?

Do you still need to ask this question?

Any fool knows how to choose!

The court had some severe penalties for corruption.

Why did they take risks before?

Not even poor!

As long as you have money, who is willing to put your head in your belt and make fun of your own tribe?

After a while, everyone raised their heads and asked with excitement on their faces:

"My lord..."

"Do you want to give me a salary equal to that of senior officer?"

Zhu Gaoxu: "..."

Is this what I'm talking about?

This brain circuit is really strange!

(End of this chapter)