Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

After saying this, Zhang Shikang narrowed his eyes and looked at the group of civil servants leisurely.

Zheng Sanjun frowned and dared not respond. Liu Zongzhou and Liu Yuliang also stopped talking. Seeing that the three leaders were silent, the censors, who were full of anger, had to hold their anger back.

"Why is no one talking now? Lord Cai, you are the Minister of Revenue, you should know, right?" Zhang Shikang looked at the Minister of Revenue Cai Guoyong and said.

Cai Guoyong had been hiding, and was startled when he heard this. Why did the Marquis finally kick the ball to him while they were arguing? He was standing on the side of His Majesty.

"My Lord, the court has many taxes, and I can't remember them all. I need someone to go to the Ministry of Revenue to check." Cai Guoyong said honestly.

"No need to check! I already knew it.

In the past ten years, the total amount of taxes paid by Shanxi merchants to the imperial court was only 220,000 taels.

That’s less than 30,000 taels per year for 21 families! Haha!”

As Zhang Shikang spoke, he looked around at the group of civil servants with an expression full of sarcasm.

No matter how much they argued about the Shanxi merchants, there would be no result. The reason why he waited for several days was, firstly, to wait for witnesses and evidence, and secondly, to investigate the tax payment situation of the Shanxi merchants.

He knew that even if there was complete evidence and witnesses, these useless civil servants were eloquent and would argue even if they were right, so he did not expect to settle the matter by relying on the evidence and witnesses.

If he wasn't allowed to open a window, he might as well just tear off the entire roof.

“Your Majesty, merchants have no country, they use money to pave the way for corrupting our Ming officials, causing the entire Shanxi officialdom to collude with businessmen for corruption and illegality.

This is one of the crimes committed by Shanxi merchants.

Therefore, I believe that the affairs of Shanxi merchants should indeed be thoroughly investigated, but the focus should be on the officialdom of Shanxi.

Investigate the farmland, eliminate the extravagance in official circles, remeasure the land owned by Shanxi merchants, and redistribute it to local farmers to demonstrate your majesty's grace.

Merchants and the like possess such huge wealth, but pay only such a small amount of tax.

This is the important reason why the Ming Dynasty was in trouble!

This is the second crime committed by the merchants of Shanxi.

I believe that if we want to improve the court’s predicament, reforming commercial taxes is a top priority.

Please make the decision, Your Majesty!"

Zhang Shikang bowed solemnly to Emperor Chongzhen and expressed his views and suggestions in public.

This is Zhang Shikang’s big move that he has been holding back for several days.

Taking advantage of the disaster of Shanxi merchants, Shanxi was used as a pilot to rectify the officialdom. At the same time, the land owned by merchants and gentry was checked, and the land seized by Shanxi merchants and even landlords was redistributed to the lower-level farmers in Shanxi.

Similarly, taking advantage of the disaster caused by Shanxi merchants and the implementation of commercial taxes, as long as the collection of commercial taxes was implemented, at least the court would not be short of money.

Of course, it is difficult to collect commercial taxes, as this would mean striking a blow at the Donglin Party members and the gentry and landlords. Zhang Shikang had thought about this many times before, but he never took the risk.

If commercial taxes were so easy to collect, the imperial court wouldn't have ended up in such a tragic situation.

But now it’s different, he has money.

One thousand nine hundred and eight hundred taels, not including the seven or eight hundred carts of jewels and jade.

It is enough to do a lot of things. At least with this money, the army's morale and loyalty will be there.

As long as the army is not in chaos, everything will be fine.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shikang looked at the group of civil servants again and thought to himself:

"Wall-Facing Donglin Party, I am your Wall-Breaking Man."

This was the most powerful force in the late Ming Dynasty, and he was determined to defeat all of them in the end.

How could Emperor Chongzhen not agree to hear this? He couldn't help but reveal a relieved smile. He had been tempted to take action several times before, but Zhang Shikang always felt that the time was not right.

"The Champion Marquis is right. I..."

"Your Majesty!" Zheng Sanjun's body trembled and he immediately bowed down.

"The country is exhausted, and commercial taxes will only increase the burden on the people. This is an act of competing with the people for profits. How is it different from levying three additional taxes?

I dare to ask Your Majesty to think twice! "

Zheng Sanjun certainly had reason to be shocked. If he hadn't reacted quickly, the order would have been issued.

At this time, he had no time to care about the Shanxi merchants. Although they gave away a lot of silver, they were not the foundation of the Donglin Party.

Besides, the Shanxi merchants had already been completely wiped out. After several days of trouble over a bunch of dead people, Zheng Sanjun felt that he had done his best for that group of people.

But commercial taxes are different. Commercial taxes are for the benefit of Zhejiang merchants, Huizhou merchants and even merchants and gentry all over the world. Of course, they are also their interests.

Therefore, no matter what, this decree must not be implemented.

To this end, he even decided to make concessions. He would no longer care about the affairs of Shanxi merchants and would no longer obstruct Zhang Shikang's proposal to rectify Shanxi and investigate the land.

But commercial taxes are absolutely not allowed.

This time, no one needs to call for it.

Liu Yuliang, Liu Zongzhou, Fang Fengnian, Xiong Mingyu, the six ministries, except for the Minister of Revenue Cai Guoyong and the Minister of Punishment Fan Fucui, included assistant ministers, principals, six departmental secretaries, and the Censorate.

Almost all the civil officials knelt on the ground and begged Emperor Chongzhen to reconsider.

"Your Majesty, what Lord Zheng said is absolutely right. This is an act of competing with the people for profit and will inevitably arouse public anger.

Now the bandits have not been eliminated, if they start another war, how can the imperial court fight them?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, the Marquis of Guanjun is still young after all, and I don't know how much turmoil this move will cause. Please think twice.

This commercial tax cannot be increased!"

The Ming Dynasty already had commercial taxes, but they were in name only. Zhang Shikang wanted to reform commercial taxes, which would certainly mean increasing the levies, and the opinions of the civil servants were surprisingly unanimous.

Beijing officials who can stand in the court are almost equivalent to spokespersons for all the gentry and landlords in the world.

As a leader, he is flattered and honored by the gentry all over the world. Naturally, he has to make decisions for the gentry when something goes wrong.

Over the past six months or so, the emperor has repeatedly made use of military generals, bestowing more than twenty titles on them and publicly expressing his intention to make use of military generals.

This has almost had a very adverse impact on this group of leaders. After all, it is the inheritance of the Donglin Party from generation to generation that has led to the current situation of civil servants.

If their generation were to be wiped out, how would they face their fellow officials across the country?

If commercial taxes are added, they will be the sinners of the entire group!

Civil servants value their reputation the most. If they fail to handle this matter well, not only will their reputation be ruined, they may even be nailed to the pillar of shame in history.

The civil officials were so excited and gave impassioned speeches that the entire court was in chaos.

At this moment, Jiading Earl Zhou Kui and Chengguo Duke Zhu Chunchen stood up one after another.

"Your Majesty, I also think that commercial taxes should not be increased any further." Zhou Kui said in a muffled voice.

“Your Majesty, although I have little contact with Lord Zheng and his people, and even have some conflicts with him, I must speak according to my conscience on the matter of commercial taxes.

Commercial taxes involve too much, and once they are increased, it will definitely cause unrest. I also urge Your Majesty to think twice."

Zhu Chunchen said that some people in the noble family group came out to oppose it.

If there was one, there would be two or three more. Under the influence of the herd mentality, most of the nobles and relatives stood up to oppose.

Marquis of Taining Chen Yanzuo and Marquis of Xining Song Yude looked at each other, then glanced at the calm Duke of Yingguo and Duke of Dingguo, as well as Marquis of Xincheng Wang Guoxing who seemed to be about to fall asleep.

I finally held back.

……