Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 272
Seeing this situation, the young man in Jinyi couldn't help shouting: "Why do you arrest me, you know who my father is!"

"No matter who your father is, if you drag him out, if you dare to obstruct the collection of taxes, you will be detained in a prison for a day first!"

Wu Jiayin, a member of the household department, said something, and the shopkeeper of Huitonglou, who was caught by the East Factory, sneered: "He is the son of Yao Fuxian, the censor of the left deputy capital, and the property here belongs to Xin Chengbo. Do you dare to seal it up?"

"Why don't you dare, remember to take the tax bills and silver or tax receipts to the Tianfu to redeem people", Wu Jiayin said, and then detained the shopkeeper of the same building and the so-called son of Vice Xian Yao.

At this time, Huang Jiayi, the censor of patrolling the city, came to a grain store. Huang Jiayi waved his hand, and a pawn from the Tianfu household came forward: "This is Gu Ji's grain store. Do you have a tax stamp?" ?”

"Yes," a man wearing a lazy scarf came out, and took out a tax stamp and ten silver dollars: "This is the tax stamp of Ying Tianfu, and this is the tax money we should pay. Please take it, sir."

Huang Jiazheng's family was also a grain merchant from generation to generation. He can judge the income of this grain store just by looking at the size of the grain store. Therefore, seeing the size of the grain store now, he can't help but say: "This grain store looks like After all, you have an income of tens of thousands of silver dollars a year, and according to the latest tax rate announced by the Ministry of Households, grain shops like yours should be at least [-] silver dollars, so why only pay ten silver dollars."

"My lord, please see clearly that the tax stamp on it is indeed ten yuan in tax silver. We paid according to the tax stamp issued by Yingtian Mansion, and this is the property of our Marquis Zhenyuan, so we dare not falsify the slightest bit. Originally, we planned to go to Yingtian Mansion to pay in person, but we forgot because of the delay. It happened that you, the official, came to collect the tax in person, so we took the initiative to hand it over to you, the official. I wonder if you can give me the tax receipt? "

The middle-aged man showed a harmless smile on his face, but what he said clearly understood that this was the property of the Marquis of Zhenyuan, and he had already paid the tax according to the tax stamp of the imperial court. Huang Yushi, who collected the tax, could not No more fooling around.

"You don't take the initiative to go to Yingtian Mansion because you are worried that the court will find out what's going on here."

Huang Jiazheng, the censor of Xuncheng, came over and said quietly: "This involves Li Butang and Liu Shaoqing, and this is still the property of Zhenyuan Hou. Look, Master Fengxian, or we will give it to them." The tax receipt, this will be regarded as the tax has been collected, and the Lord Hou will send the money to your hometown when the time comes."

Huang Jiazheng nodded: "Give him the tax receipt. After it is issued, don't write about the grain shop, but only write about the bookstore."

……

Chen Yu, the co-prefect of Yingtian Mansion, sat in the government office and waited for merchants in Nanjing City to come to the prefect's office to pay taxes.

The family members of Yang Mingshen, vice president of the Central Bank of Ming Dynasty, first came to pay taxes with 20 silver dollars, followed by the family members of various bureaucrats who were interested in coming to pay taxes.

But when the steward of Zhang Zuochen, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites of Nanjing, came to Chen Yu with a tax receipt, Chen Yu was surprised, because the servant of this family gave him a tax receipt of only [-] silver dollars.

"Doesn't Zhang Shangshu's family have a tea garden of [-] mu? There are also six or seven tea shops in Nanjing City. Let alone an income of [-] to [-] silver dollars a year, why only pay a tax of [-] silver dollars?"

When Chen Yuzheng asked this question, the butler smiled: "Chen Tongzhi was joking, when did my Zhang family have so many tea gardens, even though I have been a housekeeper for decades in the mansion, I didn't know it, how did you know, this is Yingtian Mansion It’s a real tax invoice, if you don’t believe me, please read it again.”

As he said that, the butler quietly clipped a two thousand silver dollar withdrawal receipt from the Central Bank of Ming Dynasty under the tax receipt.

Chen Yu's face turned cold suddenly, and he took the bill and the tax bill in his hand: "Purchase the housekeeper of this mansion, suspend tax collection for an hour, find a fast horse for me, I have to go to the household department immediately yamen!"

After finishing speaking, Chen Yu immediately ran out, took the horse from the people below, stepped on it, and rode the horse to the yamen of the household department.

……

As soon as Ying Tianfu's co-prefect Chen Yu came to the yamen of the household department, he saw Dang Chongya, the left servant of the household department outside the main hall.

"Wait a minute, where are you an official? What are you doing here?" Dang Chongya stopped Chen Yu, the co-prefect of Yingtian Mansion.

"Maybe the Dangbutang doesn't know the lower official, but the lower official is Chen Yu, the co-presbyterian of Ying Tianfu. If the lower official has an urgent request to see Elder Fan Ge, please ask the Dangbutang to help introduce him." Chen Yu hurriedly bowed to Dang Chongya.

"What's important, it's the same to tell the official. I will pass it in for you. You go back and deal with it quickly. This household department is an easy place for you to come?"

When Dang Chongya said this, Chen Yu handed over the tax invoice from Zhang Zuochen's residence in Nanjing's Minister of Rites, "As far as I know, the great uncle Zhang Shangshu's family was born as a tea merchant for generations, and his tea garden is no less than [-] mu. Half of the good tea is supplied by his family. The tax receipt should only cost one thousand silver dollars. There is also a two thousand silver dollar receipt that his housekeeper gave to the lower official. Please check it with the party department hall. The lower official thinks that the tax receipt is It was tricky when it was drafted."

Dang Chongya took a look at Chen Yan and smiled slightly: "Seeing that you know everything, you are indeed the favorite student of Mr. Luge, but I have to talk about it first, so don't say anything about it beforehand. I will hand it over to the chief assistant, but above Before the results come out, I don’t want any gossip about the wrong drafting of the tax invoice. Do you understand? Do you know that when the tax invoice was drafted, the commander was the governor of Nanzhili! Moreover, Zhang Zuochen, Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, and Qi Xieyuan, the son-in-law They are in-laws, and the wife of the son-in-law Qi Xieyuan is His Majesty's eldest sister, you have to weigh the importance of this!"

Chen Yu's heart tightened, and he also knew that this matter involves a lot of people, so he nodded: "Your official understands."

"Go down", Dang Chongya waved his hand, and walked into the screen wall. After confirming that Chen Yu had left, he smiled coldly, tore Zhang Zuochen's tax stamp into pieces, and put it in his sleeve pocket.

However, at this moment, an official from the household department came to Dang Chongya: "The department hall, Xin Chengbo sent someone to say that the household department member we sent, Wailang, seems to be ruthless!"

"The tax collectors are not under the control of the officials. Just tell them that they have paid all the taxes that should be paid. When the time comes, the officials will refund them according to the tax receipts. But don't resist the tax!"

As Dang Chongya said, he was about to walk into the main hall with his hands behind his back.

As soon as Dang Chongya came in, Fan Jingwen, Minister of the First Assistant Department of the Cabinet, asked, "Is the tax collection going well?"

"Everything is going well, Mr. Ge, but don't worry, there are people from Dongchang and the Guards, and the dignitaries in Nanjing City will not dare to do anything," Dang Chongya said with a smile.

Dang Chongya, the left servant of the household department, guessed that from today onwards, there would be uninterested officials who would reveal some shameful things to the chief assistant of the cabinet, Fan Jingwen. Because of the reason, they have been waiting for the arrival of these officials in the outer hall of the hall.

Therefore, Fan Jingwen didn't know the real secret behind it.

(End of this chapter)