national surname chiming

Chapter 102 The Ming Dynasty will be corrupted on the first day of every tax

While He Jin and He Yilong were staring at Shen Shuren, it was impossible for Shen Shuren himself to know all this immediately.

So until mid-April, Shen Shuren was advancing the work according to his own schedule without being affected by external forces at all.

On the tenth day of April, Jiangkou Town, Huangmei County, Huangzhou Prefecture.

Shen Shuren came here for the first time in person with several sandship-type warships to inspect the Lijin collection and investigation work that had just started.

This is the southeasternmost territory of Huangzhou Prefecture, located at the junction of the three provinces.

From here, after crossing the Xianqian River that flows from the town into the Yangtze River from north to south, and then go east, it is the boundary of Anqing Prefecture in Nanzhili.

And from this town to the south of the Yangtze River, the opposite bank is Hukou Town in Jiujiang Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, which is strangling the throat waterway from Poyang Lake into the Yangtze River.

The day before yesterday, a group of patrol boats came from Nanzhili to patrol the Yangtze River. Anyone who saw a cargo fleet going upstream to Jiangxi or downstream to Nanzhili to ship goods had to follow the instructions. One percent of the value of the goods is taxed.

Now, Huguang has also joined the queue to collect money, and has opened a cruise line not far away.

Shen Shuren only came to inspect temporarily, and would not stay there in person.Zheng Chenggong, a subordinate official of Yanfa Road, is responsible for the daily collection of money and investigations, plus the Zheng family's dozen warships and hundreds of servants.

The money collected will be checked by Shen Shuren at that time, and after checking that the accounts are correct, they will have to be sent to Fang Kongzhang in Jiangling, where the governor of Huguang will be responsible for overall planning and will be used for the expenditure of various garrisons in the province.

Fang Kongxuan couldn't distribute the money casually, he had to accept the supervision of Mr. Yang Sichang, Yang Ge, and send the accounts for the record-but the money would not be transferred directly by Yang Sichang.

Because Yang Sichang is not the governor of Huguang, the imperial court has not appointed a governor of Huguang.Yang Sichang had to coordinate the defense of several provinces at the same time. If Huguang's money was in the hands of old Yang Ge, there would inevitably be suspicions that "the lijin collected by Huguang was embezzled by the Henan government and army".

That would violate the original intention of the lijin system, and it would easily dampen the enthusiasm of local people to pay money, which is already difficult.

Everyone has already paid the official tax of the court in full, and paying extra money is not to protect the safety of their hometown.

……

Shen Shuren sat on the largest river cruiser, boarded the mast tower, and scanned the river with a telescope for a while. He could faintly see the Nanzhili fleet twenty or thirty miles downstream, patrolling there.

The masts of the warships are four to five feet high, and there are no obstacles on the river, so the line of sight is easy to reach, and it is impossible for private merchant ships to slip past.

After waiting and watching for less than half a morning, Shen Shuren discovered three fleets sailing from the mouth of Poyang Lake. One fleet went upstream, and the other two sailed downstream. It is necessary to pay Huguang. In short, as long as the civilian ship leaves Jiangxi, it must pay.

Zheng Chenggong waited for half the morning to receive the tax for such a convoy of ships. Of course, the inspection was very careful, but he didn't make things difficult for the businessmen.

"Four sand ships with 350 materials, and 300 ships with 73 materials, a total of nine ships. They carried [-] shi of rice, [-] knives of paper, [-] shi of tea, [-] jin of lead ingots, and [-] jin of tin ingots. [-] taels, [-] taels per cent.”

Seeing him collecting money, Shen Shuren couldn't help reminding with a smile:

"Brother Damu, it's the first day of work today, that's all. Don't drive the Hongyi cannon boat to collect taxes in the future. This is not a war. Pay attention to the 'tax collection cost'. I think it's only four or five a day here. A single fleet passed by."

Zheng Chenggong was a little nervous and embarrassed, eager to express himself, so he pointed out a shortcoming he found as if asking for credit:
"Brother Shen, this is just the start of taxation. It's okay to be lax. In the future, those profiteers will know how powerful they are, so they can use their prestige. I just watched the three fleets that left the lake's mouth with binoculars. Of the two teams going to Nanzhili, the largest one is the Caoliang Team.

The patrol team from Nanzhili on the opposite side just got so close and took a look around casually, and let them go without boarding the ship for inspection.In my opinion, [-]% of the grain storage fleet also carried private goods to evade taxes!Our family has been a maritime merchant in Fujian for so many years, and we have never seen any storms!

If our Zheng family searched hard, none of them would be able to escape!It's just a little frustrating.If you ask me, this lijin is too troublesome to check, it is better to sell the flag of the ship.It is agreed how big the ship is and how much money is fixed every year, so you can run around as you like.It is also easy to search, just look at the bow of the ship for a flag or not! "

When Shen Shuren heard this, he almost couldn't help laughing.

This is the imperial court collecting taxes!It's not pirates who collect protection fees!Still counting on the sale of flag silver and a fixed annual tax amount? !
Today's Zheng Chenggong, after all, will not turn 17 in half a year, he is still too young, and the banditry he has been exposed to since childhood has not yet worn off.

Shen Shuren knew the truth of not doing evil for a small thing, so he immediately put on a straight face, and taught Zheng Chenggong responsibly:

"This is taxation by the imperial court! Hurry up and collect your wild thoughts, you can't lose the dignity of the imperial court. As for your suspicion of entraining the tank fleet in Nanzhili - what's the point?
I don't think the Nanzhili patrol team may have been negligent in their duties and neglected to check. Maybe they have just arrived, and they have already been dealt with from top to bottom.Maybe after the Cao fleet returns, they will share a little bit of benefits and give them to the officers and soldiers who are patrolling and collecting taxes in private. "

Zheng Chenggong's young mind was instantly shocked:

"It's so dark? They have only started working for a few days, and they have already started to make money? Is there any help for this Ming Dynasty? It's a pity that the Nanjing Ministry of War has not even smelled the smell of money, and the people who have been arrested for taxation have privately Fat!"

Shen Shuren hated iron and smashed the railing of the boat: "Which tax was created in the Ming Dynasty, and the people who handled it were not greedy for ink? My father and I persuaded His Majesty to set up Lijin, and we thought that there would be such a situation from the beginning.

However, lijin is definitely much better than the regular tax. At least there are fewer people and fewer levels to deal with, and there is no need to go through the household department, so the proportion of being distributed is lower.Half of the money from the household department was lost before leaving the capital. In the end, [-]-[-]% of it went to the soldiers, which is already very conscientious.

Let's save the household department, and strive to distribute more than half of the money to the soldiers in the towns of Huguang in the future. The proportion of our Huangzhou Wei and Suizhou Wei should be further increased, and we will strive to distribute [-]% to [-]%!

At least you and I don't want to be greedy for this little money, so I asked you to be this official and collect this lijin.If you change to another state capital, huh, huh, this fat vacancy that controls the Yangtze River waterway at the junction of the two provinces, you have to pay a few 10 taels of silver to get it! "

After Zheng Chenggong listened, he had a new understanding of the darkness of the Ming Dynasty, and his admiration and gratitude for Shen Shuren deepened: "Brother Shuren, don't worry! Although Zheng is not talented, he will guard the Jiangkou tax customs Our Zheng family embezzled a tael of silver!
By the way, on our side, how should we deal with the profiteers and dignitaries who use the grain boats to entrain them in the future?Huguang is located in the upper reaches, so we are not worried about the grain boats from Jiangxi going upstream, and they have no excuse to come.But if the grain boats in this province go down the river, should we strictly investigate them here? "

Shen Shuren thought for a while: "Of course we need to check! But you should also pay attention to the scale, don't be too hard on people, of course you can check the goods that are placed on the surface. What kind of cargo is it? At most, one or two bags will be randomly checked on a ship. It is not allowed to threaten to puncture more grain bags on purpose, so that the fleet can calm down and give benefits!"

After finishing speaking, Shen Shuren paused, patted Zheng Chenggong on the shoulder, and said with earnestness and eyes, "Brother, I believe in you."

……

Shen Shuren inspected Jiangkou Customs for two or three days, and there is no need to repeat the follow-up routine.

It is always the busiest at the beginning, and it is necessary to appease the dissatisfaction of the local powerful business travelers for taxation and repeatedly promote the policy.

It is also necessary to assess the approximate number and value of the cargo ships passing through the Yangtze River northward every day. After the samples are obtained, it is possible to roughly estimate how much tax can be received each month and each year.

These Shenshu people also want to form data and write it in official documents, so that they can be submitted to Yang Sichang and Fang Kongxuan in the future. Firstly, it will let them know what they know, and secondly, it will make them support Lijin's promotion in Huguang more vigorously——

Shen Shuren has already spent a lot of energy to win over the supporters of the Lijin policy in Fujian and South Zhili, but he has not yet won over the supporters in Huguang. The most important ones are Yang Sichang and Fang Kongxuan.

What Shen Shuren thinks is to implement the court's order as soon as possible, to make some achievements first, and then to make some achievements. After having the data, he can do business and ask the governor to support him, otherwise empty words will not be convincing.

Now that the data is available, he has the face to go to Jiangling to visit Governor Fang.

On the day of parting, Shen Shuren drank with Zheng Chenggong on the boat, and the dishes on the wine table were not rich, nothing more than tilapia and white-feathered chicken (hereafter collectively referred to as white-feathered chicken, everyone knows that it is the breed from India) , so as not to explain too many words every time it is mentioned)

Shen Shuren spoke earnestly and earnestly, asking Zheng Chenggong to do a good job.Zheng Chenggong didn't say anything, just swigged and promised, and in the end Shen Shuren persuaded him not to drink indiscriminately when he was still young.

When the two were drinking to talk their hearts out, a few fast horses on the pier came from Huangmei County along the Xianqian River, shouting urgent calls along the way.

When Shen Shuren heard the movement, he woke up from the slight drunkenness, and hurried to the deck, the scouts had already boarded the ship by stepping on the pedals.

Shen Shuren calmly asked: "Why are you panicking? Where is the urgent report?"

The scouts turned over and bowed down: "Back to Daotai, it was reported at noon today by Jiangzhi County, Huangmei County, that it was Tingqian Pass and Dafu Pass, two Yingshan Roads bordering Anqing Mansion, where soldiers and horses from Lin Cheng were found. Invade!
There are not many people at present, but the number of sentry teams sent by Jiangzhi County is not large. They have temporarily retreated to the north of Huangmei County. At present, they can still block the river valley in front of the county, so that Lin Yang's men and horses will not rush out. "

Shen Shuren was slightly surprised, but it was not shocking.He turned to Zheng Chenggong and said blankly:

"I plan to pay a visit to Governor Fang in a few days. After obtaining Governor Fang's support, I will concentrate my forces to deal with He Jin. Unexpectedly, these thieves will also help each other.

Forget it, things in the world never go as we wish, last year Liu Xiyao died so badly, this year these thieves should have learned how to behave, and won't fight alone with me. "

After talking to himself, Shen Shuren quickly accepted this reality.

Isn't it like facing two thieves at the same time, what should come must come.

He thought about it for a while, and immediately repaired an official document and asked someone to send it out. At the same time, he also took care of Zheng Chenggong: "My dear brother, I have asked Shen Lian to lead a battalion, which will be combined with your tax collection fleet. There are about 2000 people in total." .

You cooperate with water and land to block the county Qianhe River Valley in the northeast of Huangmei County, so as to ensure that the enemy cannot invade through the Xianqian River or the Yangtze River waterway.I don't think Lin Yangcheng has the strength to forcibly attack the dangerous pass in the valley, we just need to guard the dangerous pass.

Lin Cheng's real purpose is mostly to contain and share part of my troops, and it is estimated that He Jin will take action soon.But it's not a big deal, even if 2000 people are separated, I can still make He Jin unable to eat and walk around with the remaining 6000 people! "

After Shen Shuren said these words, Zheng Chenggong also gained confidence, saying that he would guard the east side well so that his brother would not have any worries.

Up to now, Shen Shuren hadn't expected "Geliyan" He Yilong to make a move, and he can't be blamed for this, after all, he didn't open his eyes.

(End of this chapter)