I'm only seven years old, Lao Zhu, you let me supervise the country?

Chapter 25 Zhu Yunzhen’s analysis and ideals

Leaving the palace and returning to the mansion, it was getting late.

After dinner, Zhu Yunxi shut himself in the room.

The night was getting darker, and there was the melodious chirping of cicadas outside.

Zhu Yunxi looked at the candlelight and began to think.

Lao Zhu asked him to do two things. The first is to write a memorial about collecting business taxes, and he must write it himself.

The second is to try the case of the Bu family father and son.

No matter what Zhu Yunxuan thought, he felt something was wrong.

It is not the turn of a seven-year-old child to do these things.

I'm afraid no one will believe it.

What exactly is Lao Zhu's intention?
"Wait!" Zhu Yunxi felt a flash of lightning suddenly flashed in his mind: "Could it be..."

In an instant, an idea welled up in his heart.

Could it be that Lao Zhu wants to establish himself as the grandson of the emperor?
Hope he comes out and does something for others to see?

Otherwise, how could it be...

"No, it's impossible." Zhu Yunzhen shook his head quickly and quickly denied the idea.

The possibility of Lao Zhu wanting to make him the prince should not be great.

On the one hand, he also has a group of uncles.

Even if Zhu Xun is not suitable, there are still Zhu Xun, Zhu Di, Zhu Xun...

In addition, there are two older brothers.

Whether it is Zhu Yunqi or Zhu Yunxi, in Lao Zhu's eyes, they should be more suitable to be grandsons.

Whether it is to establish a son or a grandson, it will never be his turn.

What's more, Zhu Yunxi was only seven years old at this time.

And Lao Zhu is 65 years old this year, already a dying candle in the wind, and may die at any time.

At least that's what everyone thinks except him who knows the history.

If that day, Lao Zhu suddenly traveled west on a crane, how could his seven-year-old grandson succeed to the throne and suppress the ministers and the vassal kings?

Although it is possible to set up assistant ministers to help the young emperor manage the court.

However, that was also a helpless move. It was only done when there was no one else to stand on.

That would be a very high risk for the imperial family.

If one is not good, the Assistant Minister becomes the Assistant Emperor!
But now, there are actually several candidates for the crown prince.

There is no need to leave the older one alone and raise a younger child.

Who knows whether the auxiliary minister will hold the emperor hostage to order the princes?

The last point, even if Lao Zhu really wanted to do this, the court would not allow it.

It is a rule recognized by the whole court, not to establish virtuous people.

Although Lao Zhu is an emperor, it is not easy to break it.

At this time, Zhu Yunmin and Zhu Yunxi are already in their teens after all, so they are not young!
If they were only a few years old, then they really wouldn't have any emperor grandsons, they would only choose from King Qin, King Jin, King Yan...

Zhu Yunzhen thought about it and did not believe that Lao Zhu would risk the disapproval of the world and establish himself as the emperor's grandson.

Having ruled this out, it was decided to start by analyzing two tasks.

Gradually, his thoughts slowly became clear.

The first one is to collect business tax, which is easy to understand.

Perhaps it was just as Lao Zhu said, just to test him and see what he would say.

Anyway, it's just a memorial, not an imperial edict.

Lao Zhu also said that it doesn't matter if you make a mistake.

It's like a parent assigning a composition to a child about major national events.

Not really trying to get kids involved, but wanting to take this opportunity to see what kids think.

And the second one is more interesting. He was actually asked to handle the case of the Bu family.

Historically, there have been almost no such cases of handling cases at the age of seven.

What does Lao Zhu mean?

Zhu Yunxi thought hard, but couldn't think of a reason.

Suddenly, Zhu Yunxi thought of the identity of the Bu family,

They work for Sapphire.

Sapphire? !
Sapphire case!
Zhu Yunxi suddenly widened his eyes, as if a door suddenly opened in his mind.

The Lanyu case involved tens of thousands of people.

There must be many corrupt officials among these people, and the water is deep.

Could it be... the affairs of the Bu family are involved a lot?

Zhu Yunzhen knew that the reason why Lao Zhu didn't move away from the Bu family was definitely not because of connivance. A person like him who was very perceptive would definitely not be unaware of what the Bu family and his son were doing.

The only possibility is that the Bu family and his son involve too many people.

Lao Zhu never had the right opportunity to take action.

And now, the opportunity has come.

The reason why Lao Zhu asked him to handle the case was probably because he wanted a child to muddy the water.

In this way, Lao Zhu can watch from behind and catch them all in one fell swoop.

Yes, definitely so.

The more Zhu Yunzhen thought about it, the more it made sense.

How could Lao Zhu not know that seven-year-old children cannot handle cases?

He just wanted to let himself mess around, and he just wanted to keep this matter in chaos.

Zhu Yunxi let out a long breath of relief, as if a big stone in his chest was suddenly let go.

As long as Lao Zhu doesn't want him to inherit the throne, everything will be fine.

Zhu Yunxu didn't want to be the emperor.

What's so good about being imprisoned on a dragon chair in a good age, working hard for the country every day, endless memorials, and endless political affairs.

Life is alive, and the grass and trees are in autumn.

It's just a journey after all.

Working hard is a fool.

Wind, flowers, snow and moon, traveling in mountains and rivers, this is life.

Having figured out what Lao Zhu was thinking, Zhu Yunxi probably knew what to do.

The first is the business tax.

Although Lao Zhu may just want to test him, Zhu Yunxuan knows very well that as long as he does this well, he will have a greater say in front of Lao Zhu on the matter of establishing the crown prince.

So not only do it, but also do it well and beautifully.

"Business tax collection... um..." Zhu Yunxi held his chin, frowning slightly.

This is no small matter, and there are many difficulties involved.

Agricultural business.

In ancient times, although the status of merchants was not high, they had absolutely great energy.

In fact, the beneficiaries of the low business tax are the rich businessmen of the gentry represented by Su Yang.

And they have great energy in the entire Daming officialdom.

If you want to increase the commercial tax, you will offend these people.

If this matter affects the whole body, it cannot be sloppy.

However, this is a headache for Lao Zhu.

This peasant emperor, who always raised his butcher's knife high, must have his own ideas.

As for him, he only thought about how to raise the high business tax.

This is not determined solely by imperial power.

A merchant is different from a farmer.

Farmers' fields can be harvested as long as they are measured clearly and apportioned.

How much land does each household have and how much tax should be collected, as long as they follow the rules.

But businessmen are completely different.

In addition to the fixed shops, there are many merchants, but they run around.

How much business did they do, how much money did they make, purchase and shipment...

Even how many goods are sold in the shop every day, and how much income is earned, it is also unclear.

These things are very complicated, and it all depends on what they say, who can know the real situation?

Even if you are a regular businessman, it is not difficult to falsify your books.

Maybe not before, but with high taxes, there is no guarantee that no one will take the risk.

Later generations had a perfect tax system and developed science and technology, so it was not easy to collect business taxes.

Under such conditions, there are still many businessmen who use various loopholes to evade taxes.

How much more so in this day and age?

It is not so easy to solve this matter.

The business tax in Ming Dynasty is very low, but even so, this very low business tax does not actually bring in much.

Many of them were collected indiscriminately.

To put it bluntly, it is relying on apportionment and coercion.

Some merchants overcharged, some undercharged, and it was a mess.

Anyway, businessmen who charge too much can't afford to offend the government, so they can only hold their noses and admit it.

Businessmen who charge less are naturally more happy.

But in Zhu Yunxun's view, this is always a serious problem.

Chaotic taxation has a great impact on business development.

"What should we do?" Zhu Yunzhen muttered to himself while leaning on his chin.

Time is passing by gradually, and the night is getting quieter and quieter.

But Zhu Yunzhen's brain was spinning rapidly.

"If you want to collect a lot of business tax, you must have something to prove the income of the businessman..."

Suddenly, Zhu Yunzhen's eyes lit up, and he patted his thigh: "Yes!"

(End of this chapter)