The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 383 The Jiangnan gentry are courting death!
Li Yuan is dead.

He was beaten to death outside the hall.

During this time, Li Yuan's shrill screams echoed in the ears of the ministers in the hall, making them look extremely ugly.

A cold light flashed in Xu Mengchun's eyes, and he glanced at the Emperor sitting on the dragon throne with a slightly disrespectful look.

But he didn't say much, as if he had given up resisting.

After Li Yuan was beaten to death, the ministers stopped discussing anything and the court meeting ended.

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

"Today's events prove that the civil officials and gentry definitely have other plans!"

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

When Xu Mengchun was mentioned, a hint of murderous intent flashed in Zhu Houzhao's eyes.

Originally, he was quite respectful to these old ministers, but the premise was that these people would not hinder him from implementing the new policies.

Now, Xu Mengchun suddenly jumped out and insisted on singing a different tune from the Emperor, becoming the backbone of the resistance, and would stop at nothing to protect his vested interests. Zhu Houzhao would no longer be merciful.

If it weren't for the fact that Xu Mengchun, a veteran of three dynasties, had great prestige, Zhu Houzhao would have killed him in the hall just now!
The wild man Tang Hao is leading his elite troops in a bloody battle on the front line to rebuild the northern border defense line!
However, the civil officials and gentry wanted to stir up trouble at this time and stab them in the back, but Zhu Houzhao would never agree!
Yang Tinghe sighed heavily, then took the order and left.

Yang Tinghe could no longer persuade Xu Mengchun, so the next step was to investigate what actions these people would take.

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao also ordered all the factory guards to go out and keep an eye on those who spoke in the court today.

However, Zhu Youqiu proposed a possibility.

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

Hearing this, Zhu Houzhao suddenly realized.

"Uncle Wang means..."

"The people behind this are the gentry from Jiangnan?"

The gentry of Jiangnan!
This is a huge monster within the Ming Dynasty!
Jiangnan gentry is not a person or a gentry, but a whole group.

These aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River continuously sent outstanding children from their families to the court through the imperial examination system, allowing them to represent them in the court. At the local level, there was an intricate network of interest transfers, like the roots of an old tree, which firmly controlled the countryside and counties. They were like cancers that fed on the dynasty, constantly devouring the fortune of the Ming Dynasty.

Not only did they try every possible means to occupy farmland, they also extended their tentacles to everything of the people, such as the most basic necessities of life such as firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, and other basic things to eat, wear, and use, all of which were under the control of these Jiangnan gentry.

In other words, the Jiangnan gentry controlled half of the taxes and grain of the Ming Dynasty, which was the reason why they dared to fight against 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 to his senses.

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

A word that breaks the sky.

Zhu Houzhao remembered that the wild man Tang Hao once said that these Jiangnan gentry went out to sea privately to make profits, while at the same time supporting the court in holding high the banner of Emperor Taizu Gao and implementing a strict maritime ban policy.

The reason why they went out to sea privately while implementing strict maritime bans was simply to evade taxes.

The tax rate in the Ming Dynasty was already very low, and on the surface it was always 1% of 30, but merchants still evaded taxes. Salt merchants, grain merchants, maritime merchants, cloth merchants, etc. Although merchants did not have any status in the Ming Dynasty, in fact, because the tax rate was extremely low and they all evaded taxes, merchants basically did not need to pay taxes. Behind these merchants stood one or two Jiangnan gentry, and they were 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. There is no need to mention shipping them to the West. Even if they were shipped to Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and other regions, the profits would be very considerable.

As long as a strict maritime ban is implemented, it will be impossible for ordinary merchants to go out to sea. Only the real great aristocrats and big merchants can go out to sea, thus forming a monopoly. Monopoly means huge profits. I don’t know how much profit the gentry in Jiangnan have made from it over the years!
This is also the real reason why they want to discredit Zheng He’s voyages to the West!

Emperor Yongle sent Zheng He to the West, and Zhu Houzhao sent Tang Hao to develop the East China Sea trade. They were of the same nature, both of which put overseas trade under the control of the emperor himself!
Previously, Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao led his army to sweep across Japan and created the East China Sea trade. He used Jeju Island as a trading location, integrated the trade resources of Korea, Japan, Ryukyu and Ming Dynasty, and made huge profits from it.

Zhu Houzhao himself also made a fortune from this, with a large amount of silver coming into the imperial treasury every quarter. This was also the real reason why he and Tang Hao had the confidence to launch a war and rebuild the northern border defense line!
However, now the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River suddenly took action, constantly making trouble in the court, trying to put pressure on him as the emperor!
What they really want is the profits from overseas trade!

When he thought of this, Zhu Houzhao's eyes couldn't help but turn cold.

Haha, what a coward!

A bunch of greedy and crazy bastards!
For the sake of profit, people will do anything regardless of anything!

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

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

"Don't these damned bastards love to stir up trouble? I'm going to give them a good beating, otherwise these bastards will never behave themselves!"

Zhu Youqiu nodded, but then shook his head.

"Now that all the soldiers of the capital army have gone to war, there are less than 10,000 people in the capital. If something goes wrong, and these gentry in the south of the Yangtze River are forced to do something desperate, it will probably cause chaos in the capital!"

"Your Majesty, please be patient and wait for Marquis Tang to return to the capital. Then we can suppress all the evil spirits!"

When Zhu Houzhao heard this, a smile appeared on his lips.

"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 Eastern Office have indeed gone to war. But who told Uncle Wang that he only has the Eastern Office?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhu Youqiu's face changed drastically and he looked at Zhu Houzhao in disbelief.

His Majesty, this emperor is really good at hiding things!
Apart from the Dongguan Hall, when did he secretly hide a large army?
"When Lord Tang returned to Beijing after sweeping across Japan, he brought back gold, silver, and jewelry worth millions. Lord Tang placed all of them in the Shandong Preparatory Office for Japan, and built a combat base there to train the Shandong Preparatory Office for Japan."

"Over the years, the Shandong Army's preparations for the Japanese invasion have been trained in exactly the same way as the Beijing Army's soldiers. They are all strong soldiers equipped with firearms. I have already mobilized 30,000 troops to station them in the western suburbs of the capital, but I have never mobilized them to go on an expedition."

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

"Your Majesty is wise, but I am worrying too much!"

The young emperor is really growing up!
This level of forbearance alone is far beyond the reach of ordinary emperors.

Lord Tang, Lord Tang, what kind of emperor have you cultivated?
It makes people...chilled!

(End of this chapter)