Chapter 312: Hongzhi New Year's Day: One Country Is Eliminated

Da Shi Yong Fang, in a mysterious house.

Black robes have become the standard attire of this group. Everyone wears the same black robe when they get off the sedan chair, and they will not reveal their true appearance until the meeting room.

The number of people in this meeting has reached eight, and the person sitting in the main seat is still Ma Wensheng, the former Left Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Ma Wensheng's face is haggard, and he is holding a cup of tea and sighing helplessly, and he finds that this year is indeed unlucky.

At the beginning of the year, the court rectified the finance, and the pawnshop under his name suffered huge economic losses. His stupid son was dragged to the West Market and beheaded for making trouble and injuring people.

The reason why this group of people can get together, in addition to forming a common political interest body, is also to form an alliance in finance and real estate.

Originally, the pawnshop they run has accumulated a lot of houses. Because the funds were squeezed out of the financial shops, they directed the hype of houses in Beijing this year.

With their financial advantages, and the fact that houses in Beijing are indeed very scarce. In order to drive up the price of houses in the capital, they also raised funds to purchase a lot of houses, resulting in at least 100 houses worth more than 1,000 taels.

Who would have thought that at the end of the year, the hype of the most proud houses in the capital this year would be hit hard by the court again.

Now facing the upcoming luxury tax, not only are almost all the houses in their hands, but they may also have to pay a terrible luxury tax on real estate after the new year.

This luxury tax is not 10,000 or 20,000 taels, at least one zero must be added to the back, and the actual amount of collection must be even more. Just thinking about it makes people feel painful.

At this moment, he also realized the horror of power, but the power now is not in the hands of the civil service group, but in the hands of the young emperor.

With this thought, he knew that the key to all problems was that young man, and the solution to the problem was about to come out.

"Is it really impossible to stop the luxury tax?"

"Stop it? Who can stop it now?"

"Before, it was three cabinet ministers made of paper and six ministers made of clay, now it's twenty ministers!"

...

Facing the twenty ministers in the current supreme meeting, the people present have already lost their favor, and even couldn't help but mock them, and even put on the hat of "twenty ministers".

Whether they admit it or not, the court is now completely controlled by Zhu Youtang, and he has the strong support of the twenty ministers.

But their voices are destined to be nagging, and the court has become Zhu Youtang's one-man show.

If Zhu Youtang hadn't changed his mind, with Zhu Youtang's current power and reputation, this luxury tax would have been introduced without hindrance, and they would have become the biggest victims.

"You really deserve to die!"

"This is clearly robbery!"

"Calm down, you dare to... what?"

...

The people present seemed very unwilling, many people felt that it was clearly Zhu Youtang who was robbing them of their money, but everyone knew that they were powerless.

Although they were in such an occasion, there were two words that no one dared to say.

"If you want to tell me, this is all caused by those treacherous officials! Especially Dong Shan, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, who ignored the stability of the country in order to please the emperor!"

Wu Shanchang knew that he couldn't always stare at Zhu Youtang, so he criticized the treacherous officials in the court, and even pointed the spearhead directly at Dong Shan, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

"Dong Shan is not a good guy, I will collect his evidence and hand it over later!" The oldest old man gritted his teeth and made a decision.

Wu Shanchang suddenly noticed that Ma Wensheng had not said anything, so he took the initiative to ask: "Brother Ma, do you have any solution?"

The elders present turned their heads to look at Ma Wensheng, but found that the corners of Ma Wensheng's mouth were slightly raised, and they immediately had expectations in their hearts.

In terms of strategy, none of them present were actually as good as Ma Wensheng.

If it weren't for some accidents in Li Min's case, with Ma Wensheng's intelligence, he would definitely be a big man who could call the wind and rain in the court.

"You don't need to be so impatient! He ascended the throne at a young age, and he has been smooth sailing in the past two years. His luck is really too good. But no matter how good the luck is, it will run out. Let him offend everyone in the world first, and then the loser will naturally have few helpers!" Ma Wensheng seemed to have a good grasp of the pearls and said confidently.

Wu Shanchang and others found that this was really the truth, and they couldn't help but exchange glances silently.

They also realized that things might not be as bad as they thought. The luxury tax introduced by the emperor this time was not only aimed at them, but also at all the rich people in the world.

If you think in this direction, things are developing in the direction they expect.

But thinking of the upcoming losses and the luxury tax to be paid after the new year, everyone can't be happy. Even if the emperor's final destination is drowned, they will have a heavy bleeding after the new year. How long will this hard life last?

If there is a choice, how much they hope that someone will not see the sun tomorrow.

"Everyone, rest assured, the robe head has a comprehensive plan, and things will soon have a major turn!" Ma Wensheng knew that everyone was worried, so he promised seriously.

Since his son was pushed to the guillotine, he hated Zhu Youtang more than anyone else, but now he knows how to endure better than anyone else.

Now the people behind him have made arrangements, he just needs to wait quietly.

What's more, if Zhu Youtang really introduced this kind of luxury tax targeting the rich, he would definitely offend the officials and gentry of the whole world, and then he wouldn't even need to do it himself.

"Did the robe chief really say that?"

"What? Don't you believe me now?"

"No... no, I'm just too excited!"

"Hehe... if that's the case, then things will definitely be successful!"

...

Wu Shanchang and others didn't dare to believe the news at first, but after getting Ma Wensheng's confirmation, the atmosphere in the entire conference room immediately became relaxed.

From this reaction, it can be seen that the robe chief who had never appeared had a strong prestige in their hearts.

Wu Shanchang's eyes flashed with joy, but he knew the information revealed by the major turning point.

Perhaps, the new year is dark, but the future must be bright.

Beijing has been covered by white snow, the clouds above seem unpredictable, the winter sun also rises and sets, and this capital city always seems to be undercurrents.

In the blink of an eye, time has come to the third year of Hongzhi.

Unconsciously, history has opened a new chapter, and the situation this year is bound to be more complicated.

At dawn, Zhu Youtang got up and changed his clothes under the service of Queen Chang Yourong, and put on the most solemn dragon robe, and the whole person became more and more imperial.

As in previous years, Zhu Youtang came to Fengxian Hall to worship his ancestors.

"Prince Xing, kowtow to your emperor brother!" Concubine Shao seemed to have a natural fear of Zhu Youtang, and hurriedly urged Zhu Youtang when she saw Zhu Youtang just appeared.

Although she was the first concubine under the empress dowager, she was born as a palace maid after all, so some rules seemed to be engraved in her bones.

"Your humble servant Zhu Youtang wishes you a happy new year to the emperor brother!" Zhu Youtang knelt down in a proper manner and kowtowed heavily to Zhu Youtang.

In fact, it was not only Zhu Youju who greeted Zhu Youtang in this courtyard. All the brothers present knelt down one after another, and they seemed to understand this rule very well.

Zhu Youtang knew that his reputation as a tyrant was not only outside, but also in the palace. He was feared by many people, even his brothers.

He glanced at his brothers present, made a few simple polite remarks, and finally his eyes fell on Zhu Youju: "Prince Xing, you will be outside the palace after the New Year. You should be careful in your words and deeds in the palace!"

He is already twenty years old this year, but he is six years older than his eldest brother Zhu Youju, so Zhu Youju is already fourteen years old this year.

Fourteen years old is only the age of junior high school students in later generations, but in this era, you can get married and have children, so it is no longer appropriate to stay in the palace.

Originally, the Prince of Xing should have been sent to a fiefdom, but Concubine Shao, Empress Dowager Zhou, and Queen Dowager Wang came forward to plead for him, and he finally decided to place Zhu Youtang in the Prince of Xing's mansion outside the palace.

Zhu Youtang naturally knew that placing the Prince of Xing outside the palace was not a perfect plan, but now that he had everything under control, he did not need to be so vigilant.

In fact, the plea of ​​Concubine Shao, Empress Dowager Zhou, and Queen Dowager Wang was one aspect, and on the other hand, he wanted to take advantage of the settlement of the Prince of Xing and other royal brothers to find a suitable opportunity to completely solve the current model of keeping the royal family in captivity in the Ming Dynasty.

Although keeping the royal family in captivity is conducive to consolidating the imperial power, the royal family of the Zhu family is indeed too fertile. The original salary of rice given by the court was not low, but the speed of making people could be called an invasion of alien species.

Lin Run, the imperial censor of the Jiajing Dynasty, once said, "The annual tax revenue of the whole country provides 4 million shi of grain for the capital, and the rice salary of the princes' palaces is 8.53 million shi. The most worrying thing in the world today is the vassal state."

Although Zhu Youtang was confident that he had the ability to obtain resources from the outside to nourish China, he was also unwilling to see the cancer of the vassal state grow step by step, so this was a problem that he had to solve during his reign.

It was based on many considerations that Zhu Youtang decided to keep Zhu Youlu in the capital temporarily, and everything was still based on the interests of the country for the time being.

"I, your brother, remember the teachings of the emperor and be careful in what I say and do in the prince's palace!" Zhu Youlu still knelt on the ground and responded with a proper salute.

Zhu Youtang looked deeply at Zhu Youlu kneeling on the ground. When he met Prince Xing last year, he felt that Prince Xing was too timid, but this year he had a different impression.

Although Prince Xing was still submissive in front of him, he had just dared to look up and observe him, and there seemed to be something different in Prince Xing's eyes.

"Go!" Liu Jin saw Zhu Youtang sitting on the dragon chariot, and immediately sang loudly.

Seeing Zhu Youtang leave, the princes present saluted respectfully: "Your humble servants send off the emperor brother!"

Zhu Youtang stood up first, only to see Zhu Youtang disappear around the corner. The earlier timidity had disappeared, and his eyes had a firmness that was inconsistent with his age.

In the third year of Hongzhi, the Ming Dynasty was about to usher in a new chapter.

In the Fengtian Hall, there were shouts of "Long live the emperor".

Zhu Youtang, wearing a dragon robe, sat on the dragon chair, and the officials above the fourth rank in the entire hall saluted one after another, and they felt more and more that the emperor in front of them could not be looked at directly.

The first half of the grand court meeting was for all officials and envoys to congratulate the emperor and present gifts, which was called court congratulations. The second half was the emperor's banquet, which was called the grand banquet.

"On behalf of my father, the King, I present gifts to Your Majesty: five thousand-year-old ginsengs, five leopard skins, five rolls of ramie cloth, ten gold and silver utensils, and ten pairs of mother-of-pearl comb boxes. I wish the Emperor a long and healthy life!" The Crown Prince of Joseon, Lee, stepped out and recited nervously.

After Li Jin was summoned to the capital last time, Zhu Youtang had a face-to-face meeting with Li Jin. Although he did not take the opportunity to kill Li Jin, he had already given Li Jin a good warning, and even left the crown prince Li as a hostage.

After the last warning, no matter what Li Jin's mentality was for becoming so generous, it proved that Li Jin really wanted to please Zhu Youtang, the Ming Emperor.

When Li Si, the Minister of Revenue, and other officials heard the gift list from the Korean side, they nodded secretly.

The two young eunuchs next to them came forward to take the gifts from the Korean side, and then registered and stored them one by one.

Zhu Youtang seemed very indifferent to the gifts from the Korean side, so he gave a look to Guo Yong next to him.

Guo Yong understood and opened the imperial edict, and also returned the gift to the Korean side.

According to the principle of "giving less and giving more", although the gifts from Korea are not worth much, the gifts from Ming are often higher than the value of the gifts.

The Ming Dynasty is now in a tight financial situation, but it still insists on doing things that make it look good.

Huh?

When the Korean prince retreated, a young man dressed in Ming scholar's clothes came out, but this young man was obviously the envoy of Luzon.

"The minister, Yanse, represents Luojia to present gifts to your majesty, wishing the emperor a long and long life!" Yanse obviously has Chinese ancestry, and he congratulated awkwardly.

Li Si, the Minister of Revenue, did not hear the singing of the ceremony, and asked in confusion: "Envoys from Luzon, where are your gifts?"

"Please forgive me, your majesty, I came here in a hurry this time, because most of the gifts were damaged on the way here, and now I only have a carpet as a gift!" Yanse saw that there was no way to avoid it, so he had to bite the bullet and explain.

A carpet?

Li Si, the Minister of Revenue, could not believe his ears. The gift from a Nanyang vassal state to the emperor was actually a blanket.

Guo Yong noticed Zhu Youtang's eyes and said expressionlessly: "Show it!"

"Here is the carpet. It is made of Malani hemp from our Luzon. It is very durable even after being soaked overseas!" Yan Se presented the carpet and explained it again.

Li Si, the Minister of Revenue and other officials saw that the carpet presented was obviously a crude thing woven with hemp rope, and they couldn't help but shake their heads secretly. If we talk about the degree of wealth, these island countries are not even as good as the chieftains of the southwest, and even insult the title of vassal state.

Zhu Youtang knew that Malani hemp was actually suitable for making fishing lines. After a simple glance, he seemed to be talking to himself: "A vassal state actually brought me this gift. It's a rare story in the ages!"

"Please punish me, Your Majesty!" Yan Se realized that this emperor was not an easy-to-talk emperor, and immediately took the initiative to confess.

Zhu Youtang made up his mind and said calmly: "Although Luzon is a big island, as far as I know, there are six major forces on the island, and you, Raja, only occupy the Malani Bay. Since you have not unified Luzon Island and do not have the courage of a powerful country, you should no longer call it the Kingdom of Luzon, and change it to the Kingdom of Malani!"

When these words came out, everyone was shocked. The dignified Kingdom of Luzon was wiped out with just one sentence, but this approach was very Hongzhi.