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

Of course, the ones who had the most fun were the nobles and relatives.

The new tax system stipulates that no matter whether one is an ordinary citizen or a prince or noble, as long as they have related industries, they must comply with national policy and pay labor tax and business tax.

This was equivalent to depriving them of some of their privileges. As the privileged class of the privileged class, the nobles and relatives of the nobles naturally made the most noise.

It is this group of people who dare to raise prices blatantly, even exceeding the commercial tax collection rate.

Relying on the influence of their ancestors, they thought that even if the emperor knew about this little thing, he would not do anything to them.

After all, emperors of all dynasties have been doing this for more than two hundred years.

The most outrageous among them were those caused by Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen and the father-in-law of the current emperor Zhou Kui.

These two men, one relying on their high position and power, and the other relying on their relationship with the emperor, not only raised prices like other merchants, but also resisted taxes and even beat up the tax collectors who came to check the accounts.

As the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing was also an important pilot city for this tax reform. In order to ensure a good start, on the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhang Shikang volunteered to take over the task of tax collection in Beijing.

It was noon, the sky was gray and extremely cold. Zhang Shikang, with a team of personal guards, a team of Jinyiwei captains and several tax collectors, went straight to a restaurant opened by Chengguogong Zhu Chunchen in the capital.

The first bird to stick its head out gets shot; to catch a thief, catch the leader first.

Since this old guy insists on coming forward, let’s see whether your prestige, Zhu Chunchen, is greater, or my fist is bigger.

Since it was not meal time, there were no customers in the restaurant.

Perhaps they had been prepared for this situation, as there were more than a dozen servants from the Duke's Mansion alone in the restaurant, and Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen was sitting in a private room on the second floor.

Zhang Shikang entered the restaurant and kicked an eight-person table away.

A group of servants were facing a serious enemy. Zhu Chunchen also came out from the second floor after hearing the noise.

"Zhu Chunchen, considering the friendship between our ancestors for more than 200 years, I will give you one last chance. Are you sure you want to refuse to pay taxes?" Zhang Shikang said calmly.

"What a joke! Nephew, you still know the friendship of your ancestors, but you betrayed the nobles and only targeted your own people. This is really a disgrace to the nobles and relatives!" Zhu Chunchen said bluntly.

"Shame on you!" Zhang Shikang muttered.

"Zhu Chunchen refused to pay taxes, Jinyiwei arrested him!"

After saying that, the Jinyiwei was about to rush towards Zhu Chunchen, and the servants of Chengguo Mansion came out with sticks to stop them.

"How dare you! I am the Duke of the current dynasty. Even if I want to arrest someone, I must have an imperial decree. What gives you the right to do so?" Zhu Chunchen shouted angrily.

Although he knew that Zhang Shikang was not someone to be trifled with, Zhu Chunchen didn't think he would dare to do anything to him.

"With this." Zhang Shikang drew the Emperor's Sword from his waist and pointed it at Zhu Chunchen.

"Everyone listen up, arrest Zhu Chunchen, and kill anyone who dares to resist!"

After saying that, Zhang Shikang's personal guards and the Embroidered Uniform Guards behind him ran towards Zhu Chunchen. The servants of the Duke's Mansion hurried to stop them and immediately started fighting with Zhang Shikang's personal guards.

Those who could serve as members of Zhang Shikang's personal guard were all skilled men personally trained and selected by Sun Weifan.

They were not at a disadvantage against the Jiannu on the battlefield, let alone the dozen or so servants of the Duke's Mansion. In just a few moments, most of the servants fell to the ground.

Soon, Zhu Chunchen was tied up by the Jinyiwei. Zhu Chunchen was still cursing:

"Zhang family boy, I will never let you go, if you dare, kill me, or I will punish you.

You have brought chaos to the imperial court and deceived His Majesty. The world will be in chaos and your clan will be exterminated!"

"Just take care of yourself first. Put him in the imperial prison and wait for his fate!" Zhang Shikang said with a cold face.

After Zhu Chunchen was taken away, Zhang Shikang did not leave the restaurant. Instead, he found the shopkeeper who was slumped on the ground behind the counter and said:

"Do you want to go to prison?"

There were wailings everywhere in the restaurant. The shopkeeper was so frightened that he could not speak coherently and just kept shaking his head.

"If you don't want to, why don't you take out your account book and pay your taxes!"

……

The turmoil did not last long. After the shopkeeper honestly paid more than four hundred taels of silver, Zhang Shikang left the restaurant satisfied.

A quarter of an hour later, the group arrived at a cloth shop owned by Zhou Kui, the Earl of Jiading, and collected more than one hundred taels of tax silver under the threat of swordsmanship.

Then they raided Zhu Chunchen's two shops, and then went to Zhou Kui's largest business in the capital - Wenxiu Jewelry Shop.

Unfortunately, Zhou Kui was in charge of this shop.

Zhang Shikang had reason to suspect that the two old guys had already discussed it and would not even attend the morning court session in order to resist the tax collectors' collection of taxes.

"Marquis Jiading, it's time to pay the taxes." Zhang Shikang looked at Zhou Kui and smiled. Although his words were calm, his smile was full of disdain.

“How dare you arrest the Duke of the dynasty, Zhang Shikang, without an imperial order? Do you still have laws and the emperor in your eyes?” Zhou Kui sneered.

"Don't talk nonsense to me. Pay your taxes, or you will end up like Zhu Chunchen."

Zhang Shikang was too lazy to talk nonsense. Among all the nobles in the court, he hated Zhu Chunchen and Zhou Kui the most, and he hated the latter even more.

Zhou Kui is a miser, but he wants to take advantage of others today.

“Humph, you disrespectful fellow, even if the emperor were standing here, he would never dare to speak to me like that.

I am standing right here. If you have the guts, take me too and see if the emperor will spare you!"

Zhou Kui said coldly that although he had a cold relationship with the emperor, he was the father-in-law of the emperor after all. Even if the emperor did not care about him, he should care about the queen.

The emperor cares most about his face. If he is arrested, he will be ashamed.

His daughter and the emperor have a good relationship. Based on these two points, Zhou Kui is not afraid of anyone in the capital.

"Did you hear that? This old man asked me to arrest him. I have never heard of such a request in my life.

What are you waiting for? Go get him now!"

Zhang Shikang couldn't help but frown when he saw the embarrassed look on the Jinyiwei's faces.

"Sir, that... that is the father-in-law of the emperor after all, Your Majesty... Your Majesty..." A centurion from the Northern Pacification Office said in embarrassment.

"So what? Anyone who dares to resist the national policy is the enemy of the court and the enemy of your majesty.

Listen, the Jinyiwei is the emperor's personal army, and I am the commander of the Jinyiwei. I will kill first and report later. This is a special permission granted by the emperor. As long as your majesty and I are here, what are you afraid of?"

Upon hearing this, the centurion rushed over with his men. Zhou Kui was shocked and tried to struggle, but was eventually subdued.

"Zhang Shikang, how dare you do this! I will never let you go, never!" Zhou Kui had never suffered such humiliation before, and he cursed loudly.

"Okay, I'll wait." Zhang Shikang said casually.

"Zhu Chunchen is also in there, you two brothers can still chat together, but the food in the imperial prison cannot compare with that outside." Zhang Shikang joked.

After Zhou Kui was taken away, Zhang Shikang went to find the owner of the jewelry shop as usual.

“Pay taxes!”

……