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

After hearing this, Zhang Shikang rolled his eyes.

In the past, he thought that he was a very successful hands-off boss. The Guards were managed by Sun Weifan, Huang Degong and others, and he didn't have to worry about training, marching, or even fighting.

The Tiger Guards were led by Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting, Qin Liangyu, and Wu Sangui; the Embroidered Uniform Guards were led by the Liu brothers Wenbing; and the General Manufacturing Bureau was led by Song Yingxing, Bi Maokang, and Mao Yuanyi.

He Liansheng was in charge of his brother, Chen Yanzuo, and Song Yude, and the navy was led by Ma Tong and Mo Wu.

As for myself, although I am quite busy on weekdays, I basically just run around, sign documents, stamp documents, and make decisions on strategic matters.

He was even very proud of it and felt that he was a qualified hands-off boss.

But now it seems that this brother has become his superior, subtly and quietly.

This brother is quite capable when it comes to being a hands-off boss. The elder brother passes the tasks to him and he passes them to his subordinates. The eldest brother does not laugh at the second brother.

"That's the worst ending. It's best to avoid it as much as possible. Let's just take it one step at a time." Zhang Shikang said helplessly.

After all, Zheng Zhilong controlled three shipping routes, including the East and South Seas, and had many industries and businesses in the South Sea islands, and was familiar with the routes.

If it could be resolved peacefully, perhaps the imperial court would be able to directly inherit many things.

But if a war really breaks out, not only will the Ming Dynasty's coastal defense be out of control, but Zhang Shikang will inevitably contact the Small French, the Dutch, and even the Big French to deal with the Zheng family together.

Even if they could win in the end, the losses would inevitably be huge. This would not only be a loss for the Ming navy that had been formed with great difficulty, but also a loss for the Zheng family's overseas bases.

It is also a loss of share in ocean trade. The European colonists will not help for nothing. They will definitely plunder the Zheng family’s many overseas strongholds and colonies.

That's a really bad thing.

Well, after all, Brother Chongzhen is the best boss. Look at him, he doesn't worry at all.

But Zhang Shikang was very worried. He was not able to make progress in going out to sea and many things could not move forward.

"The day after tomorrow, which is the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, this year's finance meeting will be held.

Alas, Wuji, you don’t have to come to the court meeting, but remember to come to the financial meeting early.” Emperor Chongzhen sighed and continued:

"This year's expenses are really too high. The Minister of Finance, Hai Ge Lao, will probably get mad."

Who said that Emperor Chongzhen had no worries?

Seeing that his brother was also worried, Zhang Shikang suddenly felt mentally balanced.

After agreeing to this, the king and his minister left the cellar.

After leaving the palace, Zhang Shikang did not go home directly, but asked the coachman to go to the residence of his cousins Ma Xianglin in the capital.

After finding the two brothers, Zhang Shikang told them about the possible conflict with Zheng Zhilong in the future, promoted Qin Yiming to general, and ordered him to return to Sichuan as soon as possible.

At the same time, he wrote a letter to Qin Liangyu, ordering her to hand over the 20,000 regular troops out of the 40,000 troops in Sichuan to Qin Yiming.

Qin Yiming led his troops to station in Taizhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, and recruited 10,000 soldiers locally, expanding the number of troops to 30,000 to guard the southeast.

At the same time, Qin Liangyu expanded the remaining 20,000 White-Pole Soldiers by 10,000. Taking into account the fact that there were many mountains and forests in the southwest, she still only recruited local soldiers, expanding the number of White-Pole Soldiers to 30,000.

On the day he received the order, Fenwu Earl Qin Yiming returned overnight with dozens of his personal guards.

When Po Lu Bo Ma Xianglin heard that there might be another war, he actually wanted to go back. After all, the court was different now, but if there were military merits, rewards would be given.

In fact, Zhang Shikang was supposed to give this job to his future father-in-law, but after some consideration, he gave it to Qin Yiming.

After all, he and Ma Lingqi are going to get married in three months. Qin Liangyu and Qin Yiming are not around, so his biological father must be in the capital, otherwise it would be too inappropriate.

After explaining everything to the Ma Xianglin brothers, Zhang Shikang chatted with Ma Lingqi for a while. The two had been together for more than half a year and had already developed feelings for each other. In addition, they were engaged, so they became much more intimate in private.

But precisely because of the engagement, it was not convenient for them to meet often. After chatting for a while, Zhang Shikang went back.

The next day, the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple of the imperial court jointly held a ceremony to bestow the Nine Gifts on Zhang Shikang.

Emperor Chongzhen knew that Zhang Shikang did not like such complicated etiquette, so he ordered the Ministry of Rites to shorten the process as much as possible, but the whole ceremony still took Zhang Shikang more than an hour.

But since then, Zhang Shikang's status in the court has been greatly improved again.

Of course, he would not really enter the palace wearing a sword and shoes, but from then on, not only did he not have to kneel when attending court, he also had a special VIP channel, and no one, whether from the Ministry of Rites, the Honglu Temple, or other officials, could address him by his name anymore.

Zhang Shikang didn't care about these. He only knew that this process was more painful than the coming-of-age ceremony. He was so exhausted that he chose to lie in the arms of a group of wives that afternoon.

At noon on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhang Shikang got up very late and dawdled until the 9th hour before he finally got into the palace in a carriage.

When Zhang Shikang arrived lazily at the Qianqing Palace, cabinet ministers such as Hai Zhongqi and Li Banghua had been waiting for a long time with sullen faces.

"Since everyone is here, Lord Hai, let's begin." Emperor Chongzhen was not angry and just sat in the main seat.

Hai Zhongqi was not vague either. He immediately took out a document book from the coffee table behind him. The book was much thicker than the one used in last year's meeting. At the same time, Hai Zhongqi's expression became much more serious.

"Your Majesty, this year's annual revenue of the court totals 26,824,760 taels.

Compared with the same period last year, it increased by more than 8 million taels. The court exempted this year's land tax, so the main source of tax revenue is commercial tax.

According to the agreement reached at last year's meeting, unreasonable regulations on commercial taxes were revised this year, and this was supported by merchants from all over the country.

The court has also granted many conveniences to merchants, so I estimate that commercial taxes will grow steadily next year.

Starting next year, land tax will continue to be collected. Since scholars, royal family members and other classes no longer enjoy the privilege of exemption from land tax, all land has been equally divided, and the people's lives have become much better after a year of relaxation.

I estimate that the total amount of land tax next year should also increase significantly."

Hai Zhongqi was flipping through the account books while reporting the situation to the cabinet and the emperor.

Especially the land tax. After the land was divided equally, according to current regulations, all classes including royal family members, noble relatives, and even the emperor were allocated a few acres of land.

But at the same time, even the few acres of land that belonged to the emperor had to pay land tax according to regulations.

Because of this, Hai Zhongqi is very optimistic about the land tax revenue next year, and he believes that it will directly set the record of the Chongzhen period.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen showed a satisfied smile on his face. For the entire year, no land tax was collected from the lower-class people. The commercial tax alone exceeded the total annual revenue of last year by more than 8 million.

This would have been unthinkable in the past.

He looked at Zhang Shikang again and found that the boy was picking his fingernails and slacking off again, but he was not angry at all.

What Wuji said was true. The imperial court's collection of taxes does not necessarily mean that the people will suffer. There is hope for the future.

"Of the 26.82 million yuan in annual revenue, more than 4.7 million yuan did not come from business taxes.

More than 4.7 million miles, 40% of which came from illegal merchants who evaded taxes. In accordance with the instructions of Lord Zhang, I imposed heavy penalties on merchants who dared to evade taxes. Some merchants fled for fear of punishment. The farthest I ordered people to chase them was a thousand miles, and the tax evaders were captured.

The other 60% came from the proceeds of corrupt officials’ house raids.”

"Can we skin them and stuff them with straw according to our ancestors' custom?" Zhang Shikang finally raised his head and interrupted.

……