The Reborn Duke of Ming Dynasty

"Yuande, is there a big change at home compared to before?" Zhang Yufang couldn't help saying when he came to the capital again and walked into Zhang Fan's home.

"Uncle said that," Zhang Fan, who was by Zhang Yufang's side, said with a smile, "This is the last time, after my uncle's family left, my mother asked me to build a few wing rooms in the open space in the backyard, for the future. It doesn’t look so crowded when my uncle’s family comes here.”

"Oh, I have a heart," Zhang Yufang sighed.

And Zhang Fan felt a little ashamed in his heart. Although after several people's words, Zhang Fan had already let go of the matter in his heart, but now that this matter is brought up, Zhang Fan still feels a little ashamed in his heart. It was the last time Zhang Yufang's family came to the capital, and when they just returned, Zhao's was built by someone.

Of course, Zhang Fan did not stop him. He also felt that it was not a bad thing to have a few more houses in his family, but he still felt ashamed in his heart. Zhang Yufang's family probably won't come here again in the future. Thinking about it now, Zhang Fan will naturally feel a little ashamed.

"By the way, I heard that you have another daughter," Zhang Yufang naturally didn't know the thoughts in Zhang Fan's mind, so he asked about it.

"Exactly," Zhang Fan nodded and said, "Ling'er gave birth to a daughter, and my nephew named her Lianqing. In half a month or so, it will be Lianqing's full moon. Shangjing also has this meaning, uncle can definitely drink the full moon wine of this niece and granddaughter."

"Hahaha, it's so good," Zhang Yufang became happy after hearing what Zhang Fan said, "But in this way, I have to drink less in the past few days, and I won't be able to get drunk until that day."

"Uncle was joking, of course this wine is enough," Zhang Fan also laughed when he heard Zhang Yufang say this, "But uncle, tonight, that won't work, since we haven't seen each other for so many days, we need to drink a few more glasses Only then can it be done,"

Hearing what Zhang Fan said, Zhang Yufang smiled even more happily. The two walked and talked like this until they reached the courtyard in the backyard. Although it is midsummer, it is also very hot, but the weather is beautiful today, and the sun is not counted. It was too strong, and there were gusts of breeze. When they were really refreshed, the two sat down at the stone table in the courtyard, and the maids at home served tea.

Zhang Fan poured tea for Zhang Yufang with his own hands, and said, "By the way, although my nephew has some news, it's not as clear as my uncle's. I still want to ask my uncle about some things."

"I don't know what Yuande asked about," Zhang Yufang took a sip of hot tea, feeling refreshed.

"It's still about going to sea," Zhang Fan asked. "Although there is some news from the court, my nephew still wants to hear what the merchants think. Uncle also knows a lot of merchants who are doing business on this trip, so My nephew wanted to ask, before, the imperial court never collected taxes from merchants, but now it only collects taxes from maritime merchants, do the people below really have no idea in their hearts?"

"I don't know what news the court received, but I can tell you that the people below are really happy," Zhang Yufang said with a smile.

Hearing what Zhang Yufang said, Zhang Fan thought he was lying to him, but when he looked carefully, it didn't look like it. Zhang Fan couldn't help being very confused, and asked: "This... my nephew is a little confused, the court collects taxes, and The income is quite a lot. Isn’t this businessman doing business to make money? How can he be happy when the court takes half of his hard-earned money?”

"Well, there is a reason for this," Zhang Yufang said, "Since ancient times, scholars, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen are the cheapest. This concept, not to mention other people, even the merchants themselves think so. Since the founding of this dynasty, Since then, merchants have not been taxed. It is true that merchants have earned more in this way, but they also feel that something is wrong. Scholars don’t need to collect taxes. This is natural, but merchants are not scholars, but the same is true. It makes people feel a little uncomfortable, not to mention agricultural workers. In the final analysis, it is still human self-esteem at work. The more they refuse to accept, the more wrong they feel in their hearts. It seems that the businessman's profit-seeking principle has been confirmed average.

"Nowadays, the imperial court has begun to collect merchant taxes. Although it only collects merchants from the sea, it gives people a very different feeling. However, merchants are after profits. Let's not talk about what the imperial court can do for the people when they are rich. The truth is, as far as the merchants are concerned, they also feel that they have done a good thing for the court at least in their hearts, and they are very happy just because they feel better in their hearts."

"I see..." Zhang Fan agreed with Zhang Yufang's words in his heart. After all, even if there were only a few merchants who were considered profit-seeking people in the past, they could still say that the court daily The cost also has my own efforts in it. Although this sounds nothing, it feels very different to those merchants.

"And that's not the only reason why they're happy," Zhang Yufang continued, "In the past, like a street market with a lot of shops, although it was quite prosperous, it also had a lot of troubles. There are also a lot of troubles. Some street gangsters and bullies often come to provoke troubles, asking for money or other things. The shop can be troublesome.

"Nowadays, yamen often have people patrolling these markets. This kind of thing is much rarer now. Just one thing is enough to make merchants willing to pay taxes, and they are still willing to pay, not to mention those who demand tax. The merchant ships that went out to sea, the imperial court actually sent warships to protect them, and they didn’t turn back until they passed Qiongzhou Mansion. Just one item alone made those merchants extremely happy to pay taxes. You don’t know Yuande, those Japanese pirates Robbery really scares these sea merchants, by the way, I heard that you, Yuande, have contributed a lot to this, so I must thank you very much."

"Uncle is too serious," Zhang Fan said hastily, "Zhang Fan can only do so,"

"This Yuande, you are being modest," Zhang Yufang said, "You don't know that for businessmen, especially those who go to sea, it is certain to make money, but how to make money safely is the most important thing. Yes, things like going to sea are inherently risky, not to mention encountering strong winds and waves, even a small reef can silence a sea ship, which means dozens of lives, just worrying about these It's enough to worry about, if you still have to worry about those Japanese pirates, this kind of money is worthless.

"Nowadays, there is no threat of Japanese pirates. Although the fleet of the imperial court is only sent to Qiongzhou Prefecture, there is no threat from the merchants in the back. Although there are some pirates in Europe, you know that the pirates there Most of them came out to rob under the order of their country's emperor, and the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty used to carry most of the things that the royal families and nobles wanted. They didn't dare to rob casually. It's eye-opening, but it's not as fast as our ship. In addition, the imperial court allowed the ship to be equipped with artillery.

"How should I put it, since the imperial court began to collect taxes, it is much safer to go out to sea, especially this year, now midsummer is over halfway, although there are still a few ships that have not returned, but it is almost the same, this time, there is no one If there is a problem with the ship, they all get home without incident, because of this matter, the first thing the owners of these ships come back to do is to pay taxes, which is a bit funny to say, "

Hearing what Zhang Yufang said, Zhang Fan was also a little happy, but besides being happy, he was also a little emotional. It has to be said that it makes people feel a little sideways that there will be such a big change.

"By the way, how is our family's business doing?" Zhang Fan asked about this matter.

"Our jade wares sell well there," Zhang Yufang said, "It's kind of funny to say it. When I first started this business, to be honest, I didn't want to make money. I just saw people running away. Our family I have some spare money, so I'll give it a try.

"But for the first time, I did make a lot of money, but I didn't sell a few pieces of jade. I also felt strange at the time, and I found out when I asked. It's not that there are no jade in Europe, but there are very few, many. No one has ever seen it before, most of them are princes and nobles, but the quality is not as good as ours, not to mention the carvers, so when our goods arrived, they scared off a group of people, and then sold a few I was shocked when I heard it. For a piece of jade Ruyi, the quality of the jade is not high-quality, at most it is only average, and the carver is passable. If it is placed in a shop in Yangzhou Among them, it is impossible to do more than one hundred taels of silver, but there, it can be sold for more than ten times the price.

"Later, I asked about the local situation. After that, I didn't buy such large pieces. I specialized in making some high-quality jade jewelry and selling them. To be honest, this is really a lucrative business. Originally, I I didn't want to sell it so expensive, but no one bought it when it was cheap. Then I thought, those savages don't make money for nothing. No, this year our family shipped nearly 10 pieces of things, all of which are here The side is only worth about 6205 taels, and when I came back at the beginning of this month, I brought back gold and silver, which is equivalent to [-] million taels of silver."

Hearing what his uncle said, although Zhang Fan already knew about the violence of going out to sea, he was still speechless. The return of more than sixty times was enough for anyone to do anything.