Chapter 383 The Jiangnan Gentry Is Courting Death!

Li Yuan is dead.

He was killed outside the hall with a stick alive.

During this period, Li Yuan's screams echoed in the ears of the officials in the palace, making their faces extremely ugly.

A cold light flashed in Xu Mengchun's eyes, and he peeked at His Majesty the Emperor on the dragon throne with a hint of disrespect.

But he didn't say much and seemed to have given up resistance.

After Li Yuan was killed with a stick, the officials stopped talking and the court meeting ended.

After retiring from the court, Emperor Zhu Houzhao urgently summoned Yang Tinghe and Zhu Youqi.

"Today's events prove that civil servants and gentry definitely have other moves!"

"Master Yang, I don't care what method you use, you must find these bastards, including that Xu Mengchun!"

Mentioning Xu Mengchun, Zhu Houzhao's eyes flashed with murderous intent.

Originally, he respected these veterans quite a bit, but the premise was that these people would not hinder him from implementing the New Deal.

Now, Xu Mengchun suddenly jumped out and insisted on singing against his majesty, the emperor, and became the backbone of the rebels. He would do whatever it takes to protect the vested interests, so Zhu Houzhao would no longer be merciful.

If it weren't for Xu Mengchun's great prestige as a veteran of the three dynasties, Zhu Houzhao would have killed him in the hall just now!

The savage Tang Hao is leading his elite men to fight bloody battles on the front line to re-build the defense line in northern Xinjiang!

However, the civil servants and gentry wanted to cause trouble at this time and stab them in the back. Zhu Houzhao would never agree!

Yang Tinghe sighed heavily, then took the order and left.

Yang Tinghe could no longer persuade Xu Mengchun, so he had to find out what these people would do next.

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao also sent out all the factory guards to stare at those who spoke in the court today.

But Zhu Youqi raised a possibility.

"Your Majesty, I wonder if you have noticed that almost all of the officials who jumped out today are from Jiangnan, including that Xu Mengchun!"

After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao suddenly realized.

"Uncle Wang means..."

"The people behind the scenes are the Jiangnan gentry?"

Jiangnan gentry!

This is a giant within the Ming Dynasty!

The Jiangnan gentry was not a person or a gentry, but a whole group.

These gentry families in the south of the Yangtze River continued to send outstanding children to the court through the imperial examination system, allowing them to speak for themselves in the court. However, at the local level, there was an intertwined flow of interests, like the roots of an old tree. The Internet, which firmly controls the countryside and counties, is like a cancer sucking into this dynasty, constantly devouring the fate of the Ming Dynasty.

They not only tried every means to occupy the fields, but also extended their tentacles to everything that the people had, such as the most basic necessities of life such as firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, including food, clothing, and other basic things, all of which were controlled by the Jiangnan gentry. among.

In other words, the Jiangnan gentry controlled half of the Ming Dynasty's tax money and food. This was also the reason why they dared to fight with the Ming Emperor!

And the root of all this comes from the preferential treatment given to scholars by the Ming Dynasty, and from the honors given to these scholars by the court!

Zhu Houzhao gradually came back to his senses.

"It turns out they are coveting the profits from ocean trade!"

One word revealed the secret.

Zhu Houzhao remembered that the savage Tang Hao once said that these Jiangnan gentry went to sea privately to make profits, and at the same time supported the imperial court's strict sea ban policy by holding high the banner of Emperor Taizu Gao.

The reason why they go to sea privately while enforcing strict maritime restrictions is simply to evade taxes.

The taxes in the Ming Dynasty are already very low. On the surface, they have always been taxed at thirty to one, but businessmen still have to evade taxes.

Salt merchants, grain merchants, maritime merchants, cloth merchants, etc. Although merchants in the Ming Dynasty did not have any status on the surface, in fact, because the tax rate was extremely low and they all evaded taxes, merchants basically did not have any status. They need to pay taxes, and behind all these businessmen are one or two Jiangnan gentry. They are just tools for the Jiangnan gentry to make money.

In addition to tax evasion, another function is that the Jiangnan gentry can monopolize the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade.

The Ming Dynasty's silk, porcelain, tea, etc. have been exported overseas since ancient times. It does not need to be shipped to the West. Even if it is shipped to Korea, Japan, Nanyang and other regions, the profits are already extremely considerable.

As long as a strict sea ban is implemented, it is impossible for ordinary merchants to go to sea. Only those truly big gentry and big businessmen can go to sea, thus forming a monopoly, and monopoly means huge profits. Over the years, the Jiangnan gentry have no idea how much profit they have made from it. !

This is also the reason why they really want to discredit Zheng He’s voyages to the West!

Emperor Yongle sent Zheng He to the Western Ocean, and Zhu Houzhao sent Tang Hao to build East China Sea trade. They were both of the same nature, and they both controlled overseas trade in the hands of the emperor himself!

Previously, Tang Hao, the Marquis of Zhongshan, led his army to the sea to sweep across the Japanese countries, and single-handedly created the East China Sea trade. Using Jeju Island as a trading location, he integrated the trade resources of North Korea, Japanese countries, Ryukyu and the Ming Dynasty, and made huge profits from it.

Zhu Houzhao himself also made a lot of money from this, and a large amount of money was transferred to the internal treasury every quarter. This was the real reason why he and Tang Hao had the confidence to launch a war to rebuild the northern Xinjiang defense line!

However, now the Jiangnan gentry suddenly took action and kept causing trouble in the court, trying to put pressure on him, the emperor!

What they really want is the profits from overseas trade!

When he thought of this, Zhu Houzhao's eyes turned cold.

Haha, they are really daring!

A group of greedy and crazy dogs!

For the sake of profit, they don't care about anything and can do anything!

Zhu Houzhao's eyes turned cold, and then he thought of a counterattack policy.

"Uncle Wang, I want to re-enact the commercial tax!"

"Don't these damn dogs like to make trouble? I want to give them a hard blow, otherwise these dogs will never be honest and obedient!"

Zhu Youjun nodded, but shook his head.

"Now all the soldiers of the Beijing army have gone to war, and there are less than 10,000 people in the capital. If something goes wrong, these Jiangnan gentry will be forced to jump off the wall, which may cause chaos in the capital!"

"Your Majesty, please be patient and wait for Marquis Tang to return to Beijing. By then, all the evil spirits can be suppressed!"

Zhu Houzhao smiled when he heard this.

"Uncle Wang is thoughtful."

"But you misunderstood a little!"

"It's not that there are no soldiers available in the capital. All the soldiers of the Dongguan Hall have indeed gone to war, but who told Uncle Wang that I only have the Dongguan Hall?"

After these words came out, Zhu Youlu's face changed drastically, and he looked at Zhu Houzhao in disbelief.

This emperor is really hiding it!

In addition to the Dongguan Hall, when did he secretly hide a large army?

"When Tang Hou swept across Japan and returned to Beijing, he brought back gold, silver and jewelry worth millions. All of them were placed in Shandong's preparation for Japan by Tang Hou, and a combat base was built there to train Shandong's preparation for Japan."

"Over the years, the training methods of Shandong's preparation for Japan and Beijing's combat soldiers are exactly the same, and they are all powerful combat soldiers equipped with firearms. I have mobilized 30,000 troops to station in the western suburbs of the capital, but I have never mobilized them to go on an expedition."

Zhu Youlu looked deeply at the young emperor, then smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Your Majesty is wise, but I am worried about nothing!"

The young emperor has really grown up!

This forbearance alone is far beyond the reach of ordinary emperors.

Marquis Tang, oh Marquis Tang, what kind of emperor have you cultivated?

It makes people...shudder!