Cutting 1719

Chapter 451

In the midsummer of June, the city of Nanjing is like a furnace, but it is so hot that the common people dare not stay in the open air, and have to huddle under the shade of trees to enjoy the coolness, like those teahouses, which are now even more crowded with people, everyone listen It is a good pastime for a storyteller to tell about the latest news in the newspaper.

Teahouses like this have spread all over the south, and many people are illiterate, so if they want to understand the facts, they often come to life through those storytellers, spend a copper dollar and buy a pot of tea, and they can sit together and listen to the On the stage, the gentleman was full of enthusiasm and eloquence.

Of course, for those rich and noble people in Nanjing City, they don't have to huddle together like these rough men. Some of them charter a flower boat on the Qinhuai River, and some sit in private rooms by the river. Listening to those storytellers talking about the world is very interesting.

"Master Ning, you can count on this one! A few days ago, we Qingyun Tower invited an iron speaker, who was very transparent when talking about the great affairs of the imperial court. Originally, we wanted you to come to cheer us up, but it took a long time. Gone are the days, hey!"

Under the signboard of Qingyun Building, a waiter with a towel on his shoulder is greeting a young man respectfully at this time. The young man is wearing a blue gown and a net scarf on his head. He appeared to be gentle and polite, and he didn't have much interest in Xiaoer's words, but he walked towards Qingyun Tower.

After the two entered the teahouse, they saw that the teahouse was full but many people had already sat down, but everyone did not speak, but looked at a storyteller in Taichung, who was talking about the great affairs of the court.

"A few days ago, after the imperial court issued a decree on land taxation by gradient, the land prices in Jiangnan and Huguang have plummeted. Some people say that there are hundreds of acres of gold, thousands of acres of silver, and tens of thousands of acres of broken copper and rotten iron!"

"Someone asked, what do you mean? The meaning is very simple. This family holds less than [-] mu of land, and the annual tax paid is much cheaper than in the past, that is, gold is not exchanged! But once the land of [-] mu is less than [-] Mu, then I’m sorry, the tax on this field has to be bleed, and the income is not as good as before, but if the land reaches tens of thousands of mu, well, it’s not as good as scrap copper and iron, so sell the excess quickly.”

Someone shouted loudly, "The more land here, the better? Why is it going to be sold?"

"Hey, the more the better? Go and have a look, this land of more than [-] mu will no longer be subject to land tax. It's all a serious industrial and commercial tax. No matter how rich you are, you can't Will be dragged down by this tax for a few years!"

When the crowd was noisy, the young man came to an empty table under Xiao Er's guidance.

The young man smiled slightly, "This man's explanation is quite thorough. It's just the great government of the court. It's a blessing for the small people, but it's a complete disaster for the nobles."

As soon as these words came out, everyone around them looked sideways, but a short and fat merchant clasped his fists and said: "This little brother dare not say these things. We should always listen to the great affairs of the court. There is a spectrum in mind about how much tax to collect—but there are some things that shouldn’t be said, but don’t say them.”

The young man returned the salute, and then said softly: "Since the imperial court has done this, it is natural that they are not afraid of people talking about it."

Well, when others heard it, they immediately knew that this master was either too young to understand the seriousness, or he had such weight in his family, otherwise he would not have dared to open his mouth like this.

But at this moment, the storyteller brought up another matter. He glanced around at the people in the teahouse, but he patted the gavel and said with a smile: "Everyone, if any of you are familiar with my Zhang The iron-mouthed ones should understand that ordinary storytellers would pick up bits and pieces of newspapers and shake them out with everyone, but our iron-mouthed ones are different, in addition to the things in the newspapers, there are also some news from our own family."

When everyone heard this, they became a little curious. After all, for some public news, people wanted to know more about the things hidden under the water. Even the young man was a little curious at this time.

Snapped--

Hearing the sound of the gavel, Zhang Tiezui proudly said: "If you want to know something else, please invite those who have money to hold a money market, and those who don't have money, please give me a shout, thank you all Ladies and gentlemen."

For everyone in the teahouse, this is well said, and it is reasonable to reward some copper coins more or less, so some people do throw money into the disc in the middle, but most of them are some Copper coins, a few of them are generous, and they will throw copper coins into it.

Zhang Tiezui quickly bowed his hands to thank everyone, and then pretended to be mysterious: "If you want to tell this news, I can be sure that you can't find it in the newspapers, but this matter is not easy."

Seeing that Zhang Tiezui was still talking in circles, it made everyone a little impatient, and immediately someone shouted: "Zhang Tiezui, if you don't say anything, we will smash your business!"

Zhang Tiezui had no choice but to beg for forgiveness, "Hey, let's say it right away, this is a very important matter, and that is our Great Chu Northern Expedition, which will start immediately!"

"Hey, you boy are just waiting to wash the men!"

Everyone stopped doing it when they heard this, and even the young people were a little annoyed, what kind of bullshit news is this!
Although the newspaper didn't mention the Northern Expedition, who doesn't know that the Northern Expedition is coming?This basically no longer belongs to the so-called news, on the contrary, it is almost old news.

Seeing that everyone was trying to expose his spies, the iron mouth had no choice but to say loudly: "Masters, what you know is not the same as what we said! Everyone knows about the Northern Expedition, but you know it is What day is it?"

Hearing this, everyone was a little surprised. Even the young man's expression became serious at this time. How can a storyteller know such important confidential matters?Could it be that he is more powerful than the members of the Privy Council?

If this is the case, then a new cleansing of the court may be inevitable.

Zhang Tiezui seemed to be uncovering the mystery, he laughed and said: "We didn't know about this at first, but yesterday we watched the stars at night and found that the stars have changed drastically. It is a sign that my Great Chu King is coming to the world."

Everyone didn't know what to say, but the young man took a deep look at Zhang Tiezui, and finally left the teahouse.

The young man is none other than Ning Qianqiu who has just returned to Nanjing from Xi'an. As Ningchu's envoy, he went to the Dayi Army for a mission. The purpose is to contact the Dayi Army. In the upcoming Northern Expedition, As an ally of Ningchu, Nian Gengyao held back Gansu's direction.

As an envoy this time, Ning Qianqiu has successfully completed the mission. After all, as the leader of the Dayi Army, Chen Daoxian, he did not inherit the Hanwang title of Lao Shizi, but chose to be a minister to Ning Chu early on, and was later enshrined by Ning Yu For King Yong, the two sides are in the honeymoon period of cooperation.

It's just that Chen Daoxian is still busy clearing the original Liu Ruhan's influence, and he doesn't have more energy to do anything - the strength is no longer comparable to that day, so he told Ning Qianqiu tactfully, with the current strength of the Dayi Army, I am afraid that it will not be able to deal with Gansu's forces. Nian Gengyao could not play the role of containment, and still needed Ning Yu to provide some help with weapons.

Under such circumstances, Ning Qianqiu rushed back to Nanjing to discuss this matter, but when Ning Qianqiu rushed back to Nanjing, it happened that Ning Yu was out to inspect the army, so he did not present it immediately In the past few days, I have been working in Nanjing, and I often go to Qingyun Tower to listen to ditties.

It’s just that Ning Qianqiu just heard the so-called date of the Northern Expedition from Zhang Tiezui, and his heart skipped a beat. He thought that there was a leak in the Privy Council—just after thinking about it, he found it funny, even if there was a leak, it’s impossible to let Such a storyteller speaks out in public.

Thinking about it, the biggest possibility is that it is just hearsay, and then grandstanding in Qingyun Building.

After Ning Qianqiu returned to the mansion, he got the news that His Majesty had already returned to Beijing, and he was overjoyed at the moment, thinking of going to the palace to face the saint, he quickly packed up some documents and materials that he had communicated with the Dayi Army, and then Go in the direction of the palace.

But what Ning Qianqiu didn't expect was that when he just left the door, the attendant from the attendant's room came and rushed over with the emperor Ning Yu's order, telling him to go directly to the Privy Council instead of going to the palace.

Nanjing’s Privy Council is also within the imperial city, but its scale has been expanding all the time, even catching up with the Cabinet and the Executive Yuan. It occupies a dozen houses. Because it is located to the west of the Cabinet, it is also called the West Court. The opposite Cabinet and the Executive Yuan are collectively known as the Eastern Yuan.

The East and West courtyards run side by side, and no one can control whoever is in charge. They are only responsible to the emperor Ning Yu. Apart from wrangling and fighting on finances and taxes, they have no communication at ordinary times. This actually makes some civil servants feel dissatisfied, because the two The courtyard is equal, which hurts the civil servants.

It has to be said that since the Song Dynasty, this literati has been a bit more prestigious in front of the warriors. Like the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the top military generals like the commander-in-chief not only have to be restrained by civil officials like the governor, but even the more powerful The Taoist platform below did not dare to disrespect and offer offerings, so in the hearts of many civil servants, they felt that this general should be under their control.

However, since Ningchu was established, this point has completely changed. The emperor's emphasis on the army is seen by everyone, not only materially, but also in terms of actual status. , just like the Privy Council, which is independent of the cabinet, can reflect the emperor's thoughts.

After arriving at the Privy Council, Ning Qianqiu saw that there were more guards at the door than usual, and many officers were holding documents and heading towards the strategy hall, which is the largest strategic command room of the Privy Council, which can accommodate more than a hundred people at the same time. People attend meetings, so whenever there are important strategic meetings, they will be held in the strategic hall.

Ning Qianqiu couldn't help feeling nervous, he knew that the Northern Expedition against the Qing court was about to begin.

(End of this chapter)