Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 269 Don't threaten me, your Zheng family! (Second more)

When Zheng Zhilong entered the Forbidden City, his palms were all sweaty. He never thought that one day he would be summoned here alone by His Majesty the Emperor of Ming Dynasty.

At this moment, Zheng Zhilong was also very disturbed.

His experience in the Daming School of Administration made him certain that the court would definitely re-levy taxes.

But he didn't know how to tell His Majesty about the tariffs. He didn't know whether he should show his fists to make His Majesty retreat, or should he give up most of the interests of the Zheng Group.

The former may anger His Majesty and kill himself, while the latter will dissatisfy his brothers.

Zheng Zhilong suddenly felt that he shouldn't have come to Nanjing City, but he thought that if he was killed by the emperor, then the Zheng Group could take the opportunity to mess up the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang according to his prior arrangements, and even go north to the Qing Dynasty!

Your Majesty shouldn't know that his Zheng family is a force he can't move now, and the Zheng family is not the Donglin Party!
Thinking of this, Zheng Zhilong couldn't help straightening his chest again, entered the platform of Qianqing Palace, and waited for Zhu Youjian's arrival.

Zhu Youjian saw that the man in front of him had thick eyebrows, big eyes, and big ears. He didn't seem like a big pirate, but an ordinary old bureaucrat. It seems that I want to see something from my look.

"Ai Qing, what's your opinion on the imposition of tariffs?"

Zhu Youjian didn't intend to hide anything from Zheng Zhilong, so he asked straight to the point about the tariff.

In fact, Zhu Youjian was quite aggrieved. He was also the emperor of Ming Dynasty after all, and he had to ask a pirate for his opinion if he wanted to collect a tax.

Zheng Zhilong didn't expect that the emperor would ask him this matter directly, and he was a little surprised. He began to think that His Majesty the emperor didn't seem to be arrogant enough to ignore his Zheng family's sea power, otherwise why would he ask himself a pirate.

Since the emperor was still afraid of his own Zheng family, Zheng Zhilong had the confidence to clap his hands and replied:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, since Longqing opened, there has been trade in Yuegang, and the court's tax has been paid by the Yuegang Coastal Defense Museum. Therefore, I don't know what your Majesty means by imposing tariffs. It is possible that the court did not receive this tax before. No?"

Zhu Youjian laughed. He naturally knew what Yuegang trade was. This was the only legal trading port since the opening of Longqing in the Ming Dynasty. At first, Chinese and foreign merchant ships gathered here. The income is nearly 27 taels of silver, and it is even called the Nanku of the Son of Heaven.

However, after the apocalypse, as local officials on the southeast coast colluded with pirate forces and coastal gentry, the smuggling trade became more rampant, which directly led to the decline of Yuegang's trade. The scale of trade controlled by the imperial court was greatly reduced, and tax revenue was also greatly reduced.

"Zheng Zhilong, why are you arguing with me? You are from Fujian, and you often hang out in Yuegang. Why don't you know that only a few cents of Yuegang's profits have flowed into the pocket of the court?" Zhu Youjian said, throwing away a stack of memorials In front of Zheng Zhilong:
"This is the memorandum submitted by the tax supervisor. Yuegang collected less than 3000 taels of tax last year, and according to Jinyi Weibao, your Zheng family smuggled 300 million taels of tea in Yuegang this year in half a year! Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhilong, you guys The Zheng family is really fat, my salt tax income is only one million taels a year, it is not even a little bit worse than your Zheng family."

As soon as Zhu Youjian said this, Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but shivered, and hurriedly prostrated himself on the ground: "Your Majesty, don't listen to other people's slander. Although my minister is a pirate, and doing business is also the Zheng family's business, but he has never dared to smuggle. Through the serious business of the Coastal Defense Museum, it is just a small profit to make a living."

"It's a serious business through the Coastal Defense Museum. I'm afraid the Coastal Defense Museum will be opened by your family now." After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he suddenly pointed at Zheng Zhilong and roared: "Zheng Zhilong, don't think that I dare not kill you! Now , as long as you dare to lie to me, I will let you, like Shang Kexi, be quartered by five horses outside Hongwu Gate!"

Hearing what Zhu Youjian said, Zheng Zhilong also remembered the scene he saw in front of Hongwu Gate, so he was so frightened that he gave Zhu Youjian a big gift, and also knew that the more he covered up, the easier it would be to anger His Majesty, so he might as well directly frank:
"Your Majesty, calm down. I dare not lie to Your Majesty. I did smuggle some goods, but I did it for the long-term peace and stability of my Ming Dynasty! Your Majesty, please think about it carefully. Why do you think that His Majesty does not have to worry about the dangers of the sea and borders when fighting against the establishment of slaves, and I have never asked His Majesty for a military salary, and it is all due to the benefits of this, please Your Majesty to be aware of it!"

boom!
Zhu Youjian threw a teacup on the ground, which scared Zheng Zhilong back instinctively:
"Why is your majesty pointing at this humble minister? What the humble minister said is the truth!"

Zhu Youjian squeezed out a smiling face uglier than crying, and patted Zheng Zhilong's shoulder: "Get up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Zheng Zhilong stood up timidly, he dare not look at Zhu Youjian's murderous smile now.

He knew that what he said just now was suspected of contradicting Zhu Youjian, so he was a little worried that Zhu Youjian would kill him in a fit of anger.

"You are right, I seem to have to thank Aiqing, thank you for not turning to Jiannu, and for not causing chaos in my rear, but Zheng Zhilong, don't think that you can threaten me like this! My great cause of resisting the Qing Dynasty has never been Rely on your Zheng family, but now I can still take care of your Zheng family." Zhu Youjian said, and then said: "Many people in the government and the opposition have advised to restart the sea ban, and even advised me to move the residents of the thirty miles along the coast. In the interior, in order to put an end to the danger of the Zheng family being rich against the country, I think what they said is very reasonable, although it makes the coastal people a little bit cruel, but it seems that my court will no longer be controlled by your Zheng family."

"Your Majesty can't do it! I have never thought of restricting the court, and I can't restrain the court, but if the sea ban is restarted, it will only reproduce the chaos of Japanese pirates! Besides, since your majesty intends to impose tariffs, why do you need to ban the sea?" Zheng Zhilong He yelled anxiously.

Although his Zheng family has great power at sea, they are relying on the human, financial and material support of the coastal areas in southern Fujian. Once the imperial court bans the sea in the way His Majesty said, then his Zheng family will become a rootless duckling and can only live in exile. Overseas, and the profit will be reduced by more than half, or even unable to survive. After all, the Daming market is the largest market for overseas trade. Once Daming closes this market, the scale of trade will be greatly reduced, and his Zheng family will have no foundation for survival.

Zhu Youjian walked up to Zheng Zhilong: "It's good to know that I can't be restrained. Without the support of the court, what will your Zheng family do to fight the red ghosts and the Fulang robot! Zheng Zhilong, I will not let your Zheng family live, I know that you, Zheng Zhilong, have no ambitions, but I am the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and I have the determination to revive the Ming Dynasty, and I don’t want someone else to sleep soundly beside my couch, do you understand or not?"

"Understood, Wei Chen understands", Zheng Zhilong could only obediently reply according to Zhu Youjian's meaning, he also knew that he and the Ming court could not tear each other apart, although he was strong, he could not leave the support of the court, but he was unwilling In this regard, he gave up most of the profits in the ocean trade to the imperial court. After all, this is his hard work for decades, and even if he is personally willing, the entire Zheng Group behind him is not willing.

(End of this chapter)