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Chen Yu said: "You know, the lowest tariff is 50%. The highest is even 100%, 300%. The Ming Dynasty has such a large border. This item alone will not be less than 15 million taels. What a pity!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian were even more heartbroken.

Speaking of it.

Chen Yu suddenly thought of something.

He asked the two men, "Your Majesty, Prince Xin, do you know how much money there is in the capital? Not counting the palace and the common people, but only the officials and the wealthy merchants?"

Zhu Youjian answered boldly, "Twenty million taels?" This was because he had just listened to Chen Yu's introduction to taxation, and heard that the taxation was calculated in at least one million taels. A little more would be tens of millions. That's why he boldly guessed this number. Otherwise, he would have guessed a few million taels at most.

Zhu Youxiao hesitated for a moment and said, "If you count other properties, it should be about 60 to 70 million taels!"

Chen Yu laughed and said, "It seems that His Majesty and Prince Xin are still relatively simple and honest."

Chen Yu raised a finger and said, "In the capital alone, the wealth in the hands of officials and wealthy merchants, in terms of silver alone, that is, gold and silver that can be directly exchanged, is between 150 million and 200 million taels of silver, no more and no less."

"Add to that jewelry, collectibles, and other treasures, as well as land, shops, and houses. The value is at least 500 million."

Chen Yu said to Zhu Youxiao leisurely, "Your Majesty, you also know that eighteen years later, when the rebels entered Beijing, they looted more than 70 million taels of silver in the city alone. At that time, the area outside Beijing was swept by the Jiannu. Moreover, in the eighteen years, at least more than half of the wealth was transferred away."

"Even so, there are still 70 million taels. You can imagine how rich he is now!"

Zhu Youxiao's eyes flickered when he heard this. Zhu Youjian's eyes flickered with murderous intent when he heard this.

Chen Yu knew that the seeds had been planted and would sprout soon.

So he continued, "After talking about the capital, let's talk about the local areas. There are too many places, I will only give a few of the most representative examples."

"First, let's talk about the Shanxi merchants mentioned yesterday. Shanxi merchants had a history of smuggling Mongolia in the early days. It is not surprising that they colluded with the Jiannu after the rise of the Jiannu. After all, the biggest characteristic of these merchants is that they have no country in their minds. This is the so-called representative of merchants without a country."

"It's ridiculous. Although they have no country, they can sell anything for profit. For example, the military arrangements of the Ming Dynasty, topographic maps, etc. If the benefits are enough, they are even willing to act as an insider and open the city gates to welcome foreign enemies!"

"But he values ​​his reputation very much. He would rather die than break his word! This is a very distorted belief."

"Most of these Shanxi merchants have assets worth millions, while the least have assets worth tens or hundreds of thousands."

"When the emperor is short of money, he can kill these traitors at any time. Of course, we must be careful of the civil and military officials who collude with them. It is best to kill them all at once. The wealth of those officials will not be much less than theirs."

"After talking about Shanxi merchants, I won't introduce salt merchants and sea merchants any more. They are all similar. Most of them are stateless."

"After talking about businessmen, let's talk about officials. If we say that all Ming officials are corrupt, then that would be an overreaction. But if we say that 90% of them are corrupt, then that's fine."

"Even officials with excellent reputations are not immune to corruption. Take Yan Song and Xu Jie, both of whom you two know, for example."

"After Yan Shifan was executed, officials went to the Yan family to search and search, and found a total of more than 30,000 taels of gold and more than 2 million taels of silver."

"Xu Jie's family wealth included more than 15 mu of land, of which 6 mu were in his hometown of Suzhou and Songshan alone. It is said that in Huating alone, he collected dan of grain and taels of silver every year. Yan Song served as the Prime Minister for years, but his wealth was less than one-fifteenth of Xu Jie's, who served as the Prime Minister for years. So Xu Jie was even more greedy."

"Moreover, during the more than four years that he served as the Prime Minister during the Jiajing period, many of Xu Jie's practices were no different from those of Yan Song."

"Yan Song killed Xia Yan, Xu Jie killed Yan Shifan and Hu Zongxian; Zhang Cong and Xia Yan were brave enough to take on responsibilities and dared to disobey the emperor's orders, but Xu Jie did not dare to do so; Emperor Jiajing liked to take elixirs, so Xu Jie made elixirs for him; Emperor Jiajing's demand for Qing Ci grew day by day, so Xu Jie recommended Qing Ci masters Yan Ne, the Minister of Revenue, and Li Chunfang, the Minister of Rites, to join the cabinet."

"After Yan Song, Xu Jie was able to hold an important position for a long time. The fundamental reason was exactly the same as Yan Song's, that is, his absolute obedience to Jiajing."

They have become accustomed to Chen Yu directly mentioning the previous emperor's reign title in the past few days. It is not the first time, so they are too lazy to remind him.

Just pretend you didn't hear it, even though it's a bit disrespectful to your ancestors!

Zhu Youjian glanced at Zhu Youxiao. Seeing that his brother did not speak, he knew that what Mr. He said was true!

This once again overturned his outlook on life.

He never thought that Xu Jie, a representative of a good prime minister, would be even worse than Yan Song, a treacherous prime minister. Whether in terms of corruption or in terms of character!

Chen Yu saw that Zhu Youjian looked like he was doubting his life.

No further explanation.

You Ran said, "So, as for the so-called reputation of the civil officials, just listen to it and don't take it seriously."

"Xu Jie is a person of the past. What I want to ask you to do today is to mention him here."

"Because now there is a civil servant faction that is very similar to Xu Jie. It is the Donglin Party!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian stood up immediately.

He retorted: "Mr. He, this king will not allow you to slander the Donglin scholars. The Donglin scholars uphold the expectations of Mr. Jingyang, adhere to the spirit of the academy where the sound of wind and rain is heard, and the sound of reading is heard, and the affairs of family, country and the world are concerned. They are all upright gentlemen. The reputation among the people is excellent!"

Chen Yu said calmly: "Does Xu Jie have a bad reputation among the people?"

"Besides, are the so-called people the real people? They are just the people represented by the so-called scholars."

Without waiting, Zhu Youjian continued to argue.

Chen Yu continued, "Don't be fooled by the loud slogans of the Donglin Party. However, what they really represent is the interests of the big landlords and big businessmen in the south, especially in the southeast. If you don't believe me, you can check it privately. Including Donglin Academy, all the academies in the southeast, which one does not have these big landlords and big businessmen behind it."

"Of course, on the surface, they may use high-sounding slogans such as giving back to the hometown and cherishing talents. Moreover, these big landlords and big businessmen are closely connected with officials. Even the family of the leaders of the Donglin Party is one of them."

"Your Majesty, Prince Xin, do you know how we will evaluate the Donglin Party in the future?"

"Donglin Mouth-cannon Anti-Tax Party!"

Look at the two of them with doubts in their eyes!

Chen Yu explained: "What they mean by mouth cannon is that the Donglin Party is full of people who talk about being invincible, but when it comes to doing practical things, they are all powerless and can hardly accomplish anything. Whether it is military or political affairs. Please pay attention to this point."

"Tax resistance, as the name suggests, is to resist the imperial court's taxation. After all, the Donglin Party represents the interests of the big landlords and big businessmen in the southeast. How can they not protect the interests of the financial backers behind them?"