Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 9 Loyalty Wei Jinzhong
"Long live...Long live...Slaves deserve to die!"

Just as Zhu Youjian was thinking about how to deal with Concubine Li Kang, he suddenly heard howling like a pig being killed.

He heard the sound and looked, and saw an old eunuch in his fifties kneeling on the ground and howling in the distance, and was stopped by two Jinyi guards.

Zhu Youjian is very familiar with this person, he is Wei Jinzhong who has taken care of Zhu Youxiao's mother and son for more than ten years.

Perhaps this name is not well-known to future generations, but according to the historical process, he will be named Wei Zhongxian by Zhu Youxiao later...

It was this Wei Zhongxian who planted one of the foreshadowings of the sudden death of the Ming Dynasty.

Although some people in later generations said that when Wei Zhongxian was there, how stable the frontier was and how taxation was...

But in fact, among Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party, it was the Donglin Party who advocated increasing the commercial tax, and Wei Zhongxian was indeed the initiator of the reduction of the commercial tax.

During the period led by Yang Lian and other six people, the Donglin Party advocated the abolition of mining tax, reduction of land tax and miscellaneous taxes, and increase of commercial tax.

The reason is simple. At this time, the Donglin Party is relatively clean, and they are not a township party, but a party organized by volunteers from all over the country.

Their opponents, before the rise of Wei Zhongxian, were mainly the Chu Party in Huguang and Henan, the Zhejiang Party in Zhejiang and South Zhili, and the Qi Party in Shandong and North Zhili.

These three major parties can be seen from the region. The birthplace of the Chu Party is a place rich in food, while the Zhejiang Party is a place where merchants are rampant, and the Qi Party is a place rich in salt and iron.

In addition to them, there are also some small parties, such as the Sichuan Party, the Fujian Party, the Qin Party, etc., which are gathered together by geography and hometown.

They colluded with the government and businessmen, exploited the people together with the big businessmen, and shared the taxes of the big businessmen on the people.

That is to say, when the tax was paid, the big merchants came out to stand in line to pay the tax, and the common people followed blindly. After the tax was paid, the gentry and merchants paid back in full.

In such a situation, the people suffer the most, not only being exploited by officials, but also by big businessmen.

Therefore, Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou would advocate reducing land taxes and increasing commercial taxes and miscellaneous items.

Later generations believed that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty did not know the potential of commercial taxation, but among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, especially Wanli, Zhu Changluo, and Zhu Youxiao, they all knew the potential of commercial taxation.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been using the Donglin Party.

To put it bluntly, the Donglin Party is a good backer, and even Zhu Youxiao used the Donglin Party's idea in the first four years of his succession.

But this kind of problem started and ended with the infighting within the Donglin Party in the fourth year of the Apocalypse.

Wei Zhongxian came to power, and he had an enmity with the Donglin Party, and he was the kind who would never die.

At this time, all the township parties were miserable by the Donglin party, so they turned to Wei Zhongxian one after another, and formed the so-called "eunuch party".

If Wei Zhongxian wants to win over his subordinates, he will naturally give benefits, and the most intuitive benefits are business tax reduction and miscellaneous items.

Wei Zhongxian won the support of big local businessmen by reducing or exempting business taxes. In order to make money and flatter Wei Zhongxian, the local township officials, together with the big businessmen, shared the business taxes on the heads of the big businessmen equally. to the small businessman.

After making a profit, big businessmen and local officials began to flatter Wei Zhongxian by building a living temple for Wei Zhongxian in the local area.

At this time, there was internal strife in the Donglin Party, and some people defected from the Donglin Party and joined the Eunuch Party, and then the Donglin Party was purged.

Until the end of the Seven Years of Apocalypse, the Donglin Party, who served the country and the people like Yang Lian and others, had died and retired.

It can be said that since the seventh year of the Apocalypse, the real Donglin Party has died. Except for a small group of capable officials such as Xu Guangqi, Zhang Huangyan, Sun Chengzong, and Lu Xiangsheng, the other officials are essentially the former eunuchs.

The end of the Ming Dynasty has been rotten, and it is very difficult to rebuild it, even more difficult than creating a new dynasty.

But Zhu Youjian has no choice, he has become a person in the center of power, whether he wants to be an idle prince or an emperor, he must govern the Ming Dynasty.

He knew that Wei Jinzhong was not a good person, but everyone had his uses.

Therefore, he didn't fan the flames, because he knew that Zhu Youxiao was essentially reluctant to kill Wei Jinzhong.

"Let him come here!"

As soon as Zhu Youxiao opened his mouth, the two Jinyi guards immediately let him go, and Wei Jinzhong also crawled over, knelt down on the ground with snot and tears, and cried:

"Long live, ten thousand death for slaves..."

"Heh..." Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao sneered: "You are not wrong."

"The servant wanted to take this opportunity to rescue Da Wansui, but she didn't want Concubine Kang not to give the servant a chance. The servant had to go to Ke Baba, but Ke Baba had no choice. Fortunately, Wansui Jiren has his own aura..."

Wei Zhongxian was sobbing, but Zhu Youxiao's serious expression relaxed after hearing the word "kebaba".

Zhu Youjian next to him saw this change and didn't say anything, just because he understood the importance of "kebaba" to Zhu Youxiao.

Ke Baba is also the so-called Hakka family. She entered the palace at the age of eighteen and took care of Zhu Youxiao for sixteen years as a nurse. There was no incest that was slandered by later generations. After all, with the inner court system, this could not happen.

For Zhu Youxiao, after the death of his biological mother, Hakka is no less than a real adoptive mother.

Even Zhu Youjian himself is not sure that his status in Zhu Youxiao's heart can be higher than that of the Ke family.

He will not stand out at this time, and he will not do things that he is not sure about.

Once he makes Zhu Youxiao unhappy, maybe the plan in his heart will not be realized.

There are too many things where brothers are separated for women, friends, and status. Zhu Youjian will not gamble with his life.

He stood silently behind Zhu Youxiao, while Wang An glanced at him with surprise in his eyes.

Being able to advance and retreat is a prerequisite for inner court struggles and outer court political struggles.

Put yourself in an invincible position before you have a chance to win.

His silence was not noticed by Zhu Youxiao, because Zhu Youxiao had already put his mind on Keshi at this time.

After thinking for a moment, he said to Wei Jinzhong:

"You tell Ke Baba to let her stay in the inner court for a good life, and I will call Ke Baba again when the inner court is more stable in a few days."

"Long live slave servant, long live slave servant..." Hearing this, Wei Jinzhong knew that he didn't have to die, so he quickly kowtowed and made a red mark on his forehead.

"Okay, you can step back." Zhu Youxiao directly waved Wei Jinzhong to leave, keeping out of sight and out of mind.

"Your maidservant resigns..." Wei Jinzhong, who saved his life, kowtowed again and again, then retreated while kowtowing, and finally disappeared.

Seeing him go, Zhu Youjian also said to Zhu Youxiao:

"Brother was tired last night and didn't have a good rest. Now let's go to the palace and have a good rest. My younger brother will go back to Xuqin Palace to rest first."

"The national funeral will begin after noon, and my brother will go back to rest first."

"Well!" It seems that because Zhu Youjian has arranged everything, Zhu Youxiao is not as uneasy as before, he nodded and said:
"Brother, rest a lot, Wang An will take care of the national funeral."

"The younger brother is resigning..." As he spoke, Zhu Youjian took a few steps back slowly, and then took Wang Chengen away from the main hall of worship.

Looking at Zhu Youjian's back, Zhu Youxiao changed from nodding his head and smiling, to suspicious...

(End of this chapter)