My uncle is Zhu Di

Chapter 190 The Terrified Zhu Gaochi
Neither Jian Yi nor Zhu Gaochi dared to speak, and there was no way to speak. Zhu Gaochi was worried that Jian Yi would tell others, and Jian Yi did not dare to speak carelessly. He still needed to discuss the matter with the ministers. If they did not discuss it, who would dare to answer casually?

"Okay, Yizhi, you should consider it too. I also need to consider it. By the way, you said you wanted to find some Sakya protectors. Okay, this kid does have ideas and abilities, but he is too young, a little lazy, and has a bad temper. Sometimes he speaks very directly. Please bear with him." Zhu Di said to Jian Yi.

Jian Yi looked at Zhu Di in surprise. Zhu Di actually spoke up for Xu Qin in this way, which showed that he trusted Xu Qin very much.

"No, Your Majesty, everyone has witnessed the ability of the Earl of Haozhou. I heard that the mirrors are selling very well now. My wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law each bought one, and they bought small ones. They didn't get the big ones." Jian Yi said immediately with a bow.

"Well, this guy is really good at studying things. He is much better than those officials and craftsmen in the Ministry of Works. Okay, you can just watch it yourself or ask him. However, as for the administration of officials, there are so many corrupt officials now. You also need to come up with countermeasures in the Ministry of Personnel. You can't just watch the roots rot. It's only been a few years.

Also, don't say anything about the Ming Daily. I have my own plans. It's already very difficult for you to manage the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel. Don't get involved in those matters." Zhu Di hinted at Jian Yi.

Jian Yi immediately bowed and agreed. How could he not understand Zhu Di's words? Zhu Di trusted him very much and had never thought of suppressing him or investigating him. This was also an honor.

"As for Xia Yuanji, please persuade him to take good care of the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue. I have no money now, and I am not making things difficult for him. Do you need me to find something for him to do?" Zhu Di continued as he sat there.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will go to see Minister Xia later." Jian Yi said immediately with a bow.

On Xu Qin's side, he has already started organizing the loading at the dock. The goods being brought out this time are worth more than six million taels. They are mainly destined for the West, that is, the Southeast Sea area, until they are sold out. Moreover, if the other party does not have so much silver, they can purchase grain, timber, sugar, etc., but not the fruits. In addition, he also instructed them to bring back some plants or Southeast Asian species as much as possible!
Although most of the species sent to Nanjing may not be able to be grown, as long as food can be grown, it will be very beneficial to the people.

When the city gates were about to close, Xu Qin returned to Nanjing and rushed to the Duke of Wei's mansion. When he arrived at the mansion, the doorman said that the Minister of Personnel Jian Yi wanted to see him today. When he learned that the young master was not there, he left.

"Jian Yi? Well, I'm not familiar with him. I guess it's nothing big!" Xu Qin waved his hand and said that he didn't have time to take care of those trivial matters now. He had too many things to do. Besides, the entertainment city was also under construction. It was estimated that it would not be completed this year. There was no way. There was no time left. He could only build as much as he could.

Xu Qin returned to his own courtyard, and after dinner, he lay comfortably in the study. He had been very busy today, and the weather was getting hotter and hotter. He had better hurry up and finish the work in the workshop so that he could go out less.

Back in the Eastern Palace, Zhu Gaochi had also finished his work and arrived at the Crown Princess's bedroom.

"That kid Kejian hasn't come to the Eastern Palace yet? You didn't send anyone to look for him?" Zhu Gaochi sat down and said to Zhang.

Zhang sighed, put down the work in her hands, and said, "No, I sent someone to call him over, but he didn't come. Now Shakyabao has taken all his handicrafts, and I don't know where he's going to play now. If it doesn't work, send someone to capture him and I'll give him a good beating."

Zhu Gaochi waved his hands and smiled bitterly: "You want to deal with him, can you outrun him? You have been following him since he was a child. Okay, don't worry about it, I'll do it."

"Can you escape?" Zhang glared at Zhu Gaochi and said.

"Do you think I can outrun him with my physique? There are people who can outrun him. I guess when he sees Sakya Bao, his legs will go weak. I heard that Sakya Bao has beaten him before. This kid is afraid of Sakya Bao. It's good to have someone who is afraid of him!" Zhu Gaochi said with a smile.

"Okay, let Sakya Bao beat him up and don't let him go. Also, ask him to return the money. This kid lost all my money." Zhang was also very angry as she sat there.

"You're dreaming!" Zhu Gaochi said with a smile. Can the money taken out by Zhang Kejian be taken back?

"It has to be taken back. That's the money I saved with great effort. If this guy doesn't take it back, I won't pay any attention to him in the future." Zhang said angrily. It was a lot of money.

Zhu Gaochi did not respond. He did not believe it at all. Although he was responsible for Zhang Kejian's current situation, a big part of the responsibility lay with Zhang, as she doted on her younger brother too much.

Zhang looked at Zhu Gaochi and asked, "When will you ask Shijiabao to go find Kejian?"

Zhu Gaochi shook his head and said, "I don't know. Shijiabao is very busy now. He is loading cargo today and tomorrow. There are too many things that need Shijiabao's attention. If we go to him now, he may not be available. Maybe we can wait for two days. Oh, there are too many things to do during this period. I guess something big is going to happen again."

"What's the big deal? Isn't everything good?" Zhang looked at Zhu Gaochi in confusion.

Zhu Gaochi waved his hand and said, "This matter has nothing to do with us. Of course, it is related to us, but the matter did not come from our East Palace. Don't worry, my father might kill a lot of people for the matter in the court."

"Ah?" Zhang said in surprise. At this moment, a palace maid came over quickly, saluted Zhu Gaochi and said, "Your Highness, His Majesty has sent someone to tell you to go to the Qianqing Palace as soon as possible."

"At this time?" Zhu Gaochi was stunned for a moment, but still stood up and walked out quickly.

Zhang also followed out and told Zhu Gaochi to slow down.

Over here in the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Di was looking at the survey materials in his hands. These were the statistical data that Zhu Di sent to various places to investigate the people's tax payments. Zhu Di sent out thousands of people to investigate similar things, including how much land the people had at home, how much land income they had each year, how much rent they paid, how much taxes they paid, how many types of taxes there were, and how much they paid for each type!

There are also corvée labor and Dingyi labor. How many days do they have to serve respectively? If you don't serve, how much money do you have to pay? And so on.

When Zhu Di saw these data, he was simply shocked. It can be said that the poorer the people, the more taxes they paid and the heavier the burden they had. On the contrary, the rich families who had scholars above the level of scholars and those officials paid almost no taxes.

Zhu Di also estimated that the people of the Ming Dynasty paid about 65 million taels of silver each year, and the money they paid for corvée and labor service was about 10 million taels. Of course, some people also performed corvée and labor service, but the 10 million taels was almost all embezzled by officials.

The current tax collection of the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to about 30 million taels of silver, which means that there are still nearly 40 million taels of money that have not entered the national treasury. All of it has been embezzled by officials of the Ming Dynasty. The money has been distributed to all levels, from the governor to the yamen runners in the county government.

There were more than 1,400 counties and 159 prefectures in the entire Ming Dynasty, with tens of thousands of people, plus the yamen runners and petty officials, who divided up more than 40 million taels of silver every year.

The more Zhu Di thought about it, the angrier he became. He had no money to fight the war, no money to dredge the river, and no money to build the city of Beijing. The Ministry of Revenue always said it had no money, but the people had paid so much money, and in the end it was divided up by those people.

Soon Zhu Gaochi arrived at the Qianqing Palace. After entering the study, Zhu Di asked everyone else to leave and only left them father and son.

"Look, what I told you during the day was delivered to you in the evening. No wonder, no wonder!" Zhu Di pointed at the things on the table, supported his waist, and said with anger suppressed.

"Yes, Dad!" Zhu Gaochi immediately picked it up and looked at it. After reading it, he realized that Zhu Gaochi could also calculate, and his arithmetic was quite good, after all, he was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue.

After the calculation, Zhu Gaochi looked at Zhu Di in horror and said, "Dad?"

"Are you scared? Ah? The money they embezzle every year is more than our national treasury revenue. Our national treasury revenue also includes salt tax, commercial tax, tea tax, iron tax, etc. Look at them, how bold are they? Everyone is trying to get money from the people, making their lives miserable. The people also scold us and call me a tyrant and a tyrant.

These bastards, these bastards! If Shakyabao had reminded me, I would have been kept in the dark by them. I would never understand until my death why the people of the Ming Dynasty are still so poor under our governance. "Zhu Di said angrily.

Zhu Gaochi's hands were shaking as he held the investigation reports.

"It's only been a few years, just a few years, and they dare to do this. When your grandfather was still alive, I guess they did the same. How brave are they? Aren't they afraid of being killed? Are they really not afraid of death?" Zhu Di said angrily.

"Dad, this matter, this matter!" Zhu Gaochi was very panicked, really very panicked. He was not worried about those civil officials. On the contrary, he was worried about his father.

"You are so timid, what are you afraid of?" Zhu Di shouted at Zhu Gaochi.

"Yes, Dad. If, if it gets out, the world will be in chaos!" Zhu Gaochi reminded Zhu Di.

Zhu Di narrowed his eyes and stared at Zhu Gaochi.

"Dad, if this report is made public, those officials will be in danger and will definitely take risks. If they contact the princes and rise up in rebellion, Dad, the world will be in chaos!" Zhu Gaochi said to Zhu Di anxiously.

Zhu Di calmed down at this moment, walked to the dragon throne and sat down. Seeing Zhu Gaochi still standing there trembling, he felt sorry for his son, pressed his hand and said, "You sit down too. Today we two have to discuss a solution. How can we not be bullied by them like this!"

"Hey, Dad!" Zhu Gaochi touched the sweat on his forehead at this moment.

(End of this chapter)