Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 123
"Then the five hundred thousand taels of old Fang is ready for you!"

As soon as Fang Wenzhen finished speaking, a voice suddenly came from outside the door.

Kang Wanwan and Fang Wenzhen looked back anxiously, and saw another middle-aged man coming in. This middle-aged man was a bit rich, and his whole body was about to turn into a spherical shape.

"Brother Zhang."

"Old Zhang."

Kang Wanwan and Fang Wenzhen stood up to greet each other at the same time.

The person who dared to come here is another wealthy businessman in She County, Zhang Han and Zhang Yuanwai.

Zhang Han met Kang Wanwan and Fang Wenzhen, and continued, "Just now, I went to visit a distant relative. He was reinstated as the head of the Ritual System Department of the Ministry of Rites a month ago. Guess what news I heard?"

Fang Wenzhen asked urgently: "The Holy Majesty wants to remove the guarding eunuchs in Huizhou Mansion?"

"It's not the Huizhou government." Zhang Han waved his hand, and when Fang Wenzhen's face showed disappointment, Zhang Han suddenly emphasized, "The Holy One wants to remove all the guarding eunuchs from all over the world!"

"Really?" Fang Wenzhen said happily when he heard the words, "Your Majesty really wants to remove the guarding eunuchs from all over the world?"

"Can this be false?" Zhang Han said solemnly, "The Ministry of Rites is already drafting an edict, and it will be announced to the world soon, and all guarding eunuchs, mine supervisors, and tax envoys will be withdrawn."

"The sage is really the sage of the ages!" Fang Wenzhen was so excited that he couldn't help himself.

Zhang Han patted Fang Wenzhen's shoulder and said with a smile, "So you've decided on the five hundred thousand taels."

"It's easy to say, easy to say." Fang Wenzhen said calmly, "Let's go, let's go to Meixianglou, this matter needs to be celebrated."

"Hey, that won't work." Kang Wanwan said in frustration, "It's agreed that I'll clean up the dust for you guys tonight, so how can I make Brother Fang spend money on you? That's okay."

"I only said to go to Meixiang Tower, Brother Kang, you should come to meet the accounts." Fang Wenzhen laughed loudly.

"Uh? Well, well." Kang Wanwan laughed out loud, and Zhang Han also laughed.

These three have been able to leap from little-known small businessmen to dominant giants in a few decades, and their business sense is unparalleled. They have already foreseen an unprecedented big business beckoning to them. However, They still can't imagine that an era belonging to industry and commerce has officially kicked off.

……

Guozijian Doctor Hall.

Scholars have successively submitted their written articles to the imperial court of Chongzhen.

After Chongzhen read a few articles, he didn't want to read any more. Instead, he lay back on the armchair and let Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong take turns reading scholars' articles to him.

"The Husband, the Three Emperors and the Five Emperors, Yao and Shun successively... What kind of nonsense articles are written."

Zhu Cijiong threw it away and grabbed another: "Emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business is the foundation of the country..."

Now it was Chongzhen's turn not to listen, and said, "There's no need to read this book, it's not worth listening to rotten Confucianism."

Zhu Cihong grabbed a book and read: "The people are rich and the country is fully used. If you want to make the people rich, you must respect the foundation and restrain the future. Buddha, witches, prostitutes, actors, and those who sell goods that are not suitable for civilian use, etc., should all be condemned!"

Chongzhen stood up suddenly: "This article is quite insightful, read it again."

Zhu Cihong went on to read: "Confucianism in the world does not observe, regards business and commerce as the end, and discusses it arbitrarily and suppresses it. Kung Fu solidifies the desire of the sage king, and the merchant makes his wish come out of the way, and it is all root!"

"This son is so courageous." Zhu Cijiong said, "Dare to say that scholars, farmers, businessmen are all national!"

"Well said!" Chongzhen praised, "Scholars, farmers, businessmen and commerce are the foundation of the country, and what you say makes sense!"

Zhu Cihong originally wanted to criticize a few words, but when he heard Chongzhen's praise, he quickly swallowed the criticism words that came to his lips, and then read on.

"That is why the prosperity of industry and commerce leads to the prosperity of the people, and the prosperity of the people leads to the sufficient use of the country, but the sufficient use of the country does not necessarily mean that everything is sufficient."

"The frontier salary is not enough, so that the east is not good, and the thieves are successful, because it is not used for the purpose."

"Those who are not on the way, one is drifting, and the other is the clan, and the damage of the clan is ten times worse than drifting!"

Hearing this, Zhu Cijiong said angrily: "This son is so presumptuous, he dares to criticize the clan!"

Zhu Cihong also felt terrified, holding this article and dared not read any further, because the text behind it was even more terrifying.

"Hey, I still have to let people talk. Back then, Hai Rui pointed at Emperor Sejong's nose and said that the family of the Jiajing family was clean, and Emperor Sejong didn't care about him. He wanted people to talk." Chongzhen waved his hand, and then turned to Zhu Cihong. Said, "You continue to read, Hong'er, I want to see what else he can say."

Finally, a scholar dared to stand up and openly criticize the harm of the clan.

Chongzhen was actually happy to see the success of this, and he actually wanted to eradicate this cancer a long time ago.

It is really unnecessary to spend several million taels of silver to raise millions of waste every year.

However, under the guidance of the Confucian values ​​of kinship and respect, eradicating the clan is an act of treason and injustice. Therefore, before a strong public opinion is formed, Chongzhen's idea can only be pressed.

Zhu Cihong had no choice but to continue reading: "The order and chaos of the world does not lie in the rise and fall of a family, but in the joy and sorrow of all people. Today, all the wealth and resources of the world are gathered for the enjoyment of one family and one family. After that, the four directions are troubled by it, and all people work for it." Is it emaciated, is it sad? Compared with the harm of the clan, the harm of drifting away is nothing but the disease of slenderness."

"It is for the purpose of making the country sufficient and all things sufficient,"

"If you have to go to the clan's harm, you can't do it!"

Seeing Zhu Cihong stop, Zhu Cijiong asked, "No more?"

"It's gone." Zhu Cihong said, "I've read the whole article."

"Too short." Zhu Cijiong said, "Such an article is really short."

"The article is not short and long, but sharp in its words. Who is this person's name?" Chongzhen asked. From his perspective, the son's remarks were not too much, after all, he was just attacking the clan.

You know, there was even a trend of thought that restricted the power of the monarchy in the late Ming Dynasty.

For example, Zhang Pu and Huang Zongxi, the leaders of Fushe, insisted on limiting the power of the monarchy, and their ideas had great influence among scholars in the south of the Yangtze River.

Zhu Cihong turned to the previous page again and replied, "Yuyao Huang Zongxi."

"It turned out to be Yao Jiang Huang Xiaozi, no wonder." Chongzhen said with a smile.

Zhu Cijiong asked: "Father, is Huang Zongxi famous?"

"It's not only famous, it's even famous in the capital." Chongzhen laughed, "Back then he defended his father, stabbed Xu Xianchun in public in the hall of the Ministry of Punishment, beat Cui Yingyuan, and pulled a beard from Cui Yingyuan to return home to pay homage to his father! Therefore He has earned the reputation of 'Yao Jiang Huang Xiaozi', and there are few officials in the capital who have not heard of his name."

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "However, the most commendable thing about this son is that he can never return to the evil of chaos."

"The harm of not returning to the chaos?" Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong were at a loss. What is the harm of not returning to the chaos?

Chongzhen said: "The so-called evil of never returning to chaos means that all tax reforms can reduce the burden on the people to a certain extent at the beginning of the reform, but it will not take long before the bottom officials and subordinates can find out the disadvantages and deal with them. By making use of it, the burden on the people is still heavier than before the tax reform, and there is no exception throughout the ages."

Zhu Cihong frowned and said: "Throughout the ages, there is no exception? Is it really so?"

"Indeed." Chongzhen nodded and said, "The two tax laws of the Tang Dynasty, the Changping New Law of the Song Dynasty, and even the one whip law of this dynasty all achieved the goal of reducing the burden on the people and increasing the revenue of the treasury at the beginning of their introduction, but within a few years, they became The law that harms the people, on the contrary, increases the burden on the people."

Zhu Cihong asked: "Doesn't that mean that the more reforms are made, the more mistakes will be made?"

Chongzhen nodded and said: "In the later period of the dynasty, the tax law was indeed the case. At this time, the biggest problem is not the tax law but the people, so the tax law system can only be reduced. Don't think about adding new laws, but think about reducing regulations. , make it as convenient as possible for the common people, but in terms of the employment system, it is necessary to make bold additions, formulate and strictly implement various supervision systems, so that grassroots officials and subordinates will be awed by the supervision system and dare not take advantage of it.”

"I understand." Zhu Cihong nodded, and said sincerely, "Father, Huang Zongxi is truly a great talent."

"This man is indeed talented, worthy of being a prime minister." Chongzhen nodded and said, "Lang'er, Jiong'er, when you go north this time, you brothers can communicate with him more."

Huang Zongxi is undoubtedly a great talent.

As for the idea of ​​restricting the monarchy, what are you afraid of him doing?

Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong respectfully replied yes.

Zhu Cihong asked again: "Father, are you still reading?"

"Read, of course, keep reading, anyway, idle is idle."

After Chongzhen finished speaking, he leaned back and lay back on the back of the chair.

Zhu Cilang picked up another article and read aloud: "If you want to use the country to its full potential, the water transport should be abolished and China and France should be reopened, and merchants should be asked to transport grain to Xuzhou in exchange for salt, silk, and wine..."

"This son is too biased." Chongzhen commented, "But there is something to be said, what is the name?"

Zhu Cijiong flipped through the previous page and replied: "Students from Ningbo Prefecture, surnamed Hua and named Xia, what a nice name."

"Huaxia?" Chongzhen nodded, then said, "Read again."

Zhu Cijiong picked up another article.

……

Kang Wanwan, Fang Wenzhen and Zhang Han rushed to Meixianglou, but they encountered a soft nail.

"Some inconvenience today?" Fang Wenzhen said angrily, "What's the inconvenience? I saw Miss Xiangjun's carriage just now, so it can be seen that she has not gone out."

The madam Li Zhenli said with a contrived smile, "Mr. Fang, I'm so sorry, Mr. Xiang has an appointment tonight."

This is the inconvenience of the prostitutes in Meixianglou. Usually there is only one popular celebrity, and they can only receive one group of guests in a night, so they can only reject other guests.

"An appointment?" Fang Wenzhen became angry, "I will pay double the tea fee."

"Where did the philistine come out? This smell of copper is simply unbearable."

"Double? What a big tone, how many stinky money is it? You must know that this is Nanjing."

"Believe it or not, my son will write another public report on riot prevention, so that you will be ruined and get out of Liudu?"

When the three of Fang Wenzhen looked back anxiously, they saw four boys in silk shirts coming side by side. All four of them held folding fans of the same color in their hands, facing Fang Wenzhen and the three of them.

The three of Fang Wenzhen immediately fell in love, and the son of the family couldn't afford to provoke them.

(End of this chapter)