Chapter 122: Zhang Juzheng, You Have Done All Evil Things!

The eunuchs of the twenty-four directorates of the Inner Palace were very resistant to paying taxes, but the Emperor personally ordered that they must comply.

Wang Guoguang was extremely terrified by this matter. In the feudal era, it was too explosive, and he didn't know how to describe it.

Wang Guoguang said with melancholy: "The great ends of employing people and managing finances are the primary tasks of royal governance."

In Wang Guoguang's view, if a country does not manage finances, it absolutely cannot function. Without a method of managing finances, whatever one wants to do is impossible. But the current wind of public opinion in the Great Ming absolutely forbids mentioning the management of finances because it involves the laws of the former kings.

That is, the basic political correctness that the corrupt Confucian scholars of Chonggu like to talk about: "Imitate the three generations."

The *Analects* says: "The gentleman understands righteousness, the villain understands profit." The *Analects* often contrasts gentlemen and villains, saying gentlemen only talk about righteousness while villains talk about profit.

*Mencius* says: "Why must you speak of profit? Only benevolence and righteousness are enough."

The *Benyi* says: "Suppress end-profit and open benevolence and righteousness; do not show them profit. Benevolence and righteousness are the great ends, while profit is the end." One should suppress the end and open the great ends.

Zeng Zi also said: "Those who manage a country and focus on wealth and use must be villains. If they are used to manage the country, disasters will come together. Even if there are good people, there is nothing they can do. This is called a country not taking profit as profit, but taking righteousness as profit."

Wang Guoguang believed that employing people and managing finances were the great ends and the primary tasks of national governance.

The new policies and reforms advocated by Zhang Juzheng now have the program of enriching the country and strengthening the army. Both of these violate the basic political principles of Confucianism and run counter to the ideal country shaped by Confucianism.

Enriching the country requires talking about profit, and strengthening the army inevitably requires conquest. These have nothing to do with benevolence and righteousness.

The ideal country shaped by Confucianism is "When the Great Way prevails, the world is for the public," that is: everyone has virtue, everyone respects the old, everyone loves the young, there is no place that is not uniform, and no one is not full and warm.

The basic method to achieve this ideal country is to practice benevolence and righteousness to win the hearts of the people of the world, so that everyone loves everyone.

For example, Mencius mentioned: "Respect the wise and use the capable, with outstanding people in office, then all the scholars of the world will be happy and willing to stand in his court. If the market is taxed without collection, and the law is not taxed, then all the merchants of the world will be happy and willing to hide in his market."

Respect the wise, use the capable, and have talented and virtuous people in office, then the world will have no missing talents, no lucky positions, and the scholars of the world will be very happy to be officials in the court.

And the market, that is, setting up tax laws without collecting taxes, or even not setting up tax laws at all, so that the merchants of the world do not suffer from the harm of collection. They are very happy and willing to bring things to the market for trade.

Practicing benevolence and righteousness to win the hearts of the people of the world is a thought that runs through Confucian classics and is the main thread that runs through the two thousand years of Confucian development.

For example, the "softening of distant people" in the "Nine Classics of the World and Country" that Minister Wan kept chanting.

The Confucian attitude is: "Pass, inspect but do not collect."

That is to say, the pass is a place where travelers gather. If you are afraid of spies and scammers, it is natural to interrogate them, which is called "inspecting." If you set up a tax for the sake of extracting taxes on goods, you will lose the hearts of distant people.

There must be a pass and market law, but if you only inspect people with different words and clothes, and do not collect their taxes, then the travelers of the world will all be happy with our policy of softening distant people.

Therefore, opening the pass at Yuegang was a hesitant reform.

In terms of reason, Confucian etiquette is completely logical, but in the practice of reality, it is always a mess. Therefore, in system design, one must practice reality.

People are constantly challenging the shackles of this etiquette, but they always end in failure one after another. Since ancient times, how many people have ended well in reform?

The Great Ming Dynasty experienced frequent wars in the middle and late Jiajing period, and turmoil spread over most of the Great Ming country, selecting a large number of ambitious people in the court. But for the world, they were still a small group and a minority.

Wang Guoguang said with slight disappointment: "Difficult."

"What if it's difficult?" Zhang Juzheng said with a full smile: "Facing various difficulties, a kind of pessimism naturally arises. Isn't this what the Great Minister said? Why is the Great Minister disappointed?"

"I am not disappointed at all now, nor am I pessimistic. His Majesty's wisdom is gradually opening, and the Great Ming is thriving."

"Look, His Majesty takes the lead in paying taxes. In the public interest of the Great Ming, His Majesty, as the Emperor, pays taxes for the public and the great benefit of the world. Isn't this a kind of great benevolence and righteousness?"

Zhang Juzheng sorted out the young Emperor's plan from beginning to end for Wang Guoguang, from the Tax Inspection Room to the Tax Inspection Bureau, from the Embroidered Uniform Guard's independent tax inspection to the multi-party checks and balances of tax officials, financial management, Embroidered Uniform Guard inspection, and eunuch supervision, from the initial tax receipt to the establishment of a complete basic tax collection system.

His Majesty was protecting taxes and basically treating the powerful as enemies. This was all the Emperor's great benevolence and great righteousness.

"Grand Secretary, by teaching His Majesty such principles, are you not afraid of the endless gossip of the world?" When Wang Guoguang heard of this series of combined maneuvers, he was utterly astonished and stared blankly at Zhang Juzheng. What kind of principles was Zhang Juzheng teaching the young Emperor every day?

Zhang Juzheng's expression could be described as indescribable. He shook his head and said: "I actually want to say it wasn't taught by me, but it seems it was indeed taught by me."

"Wait and see. If necessary, it doesn't matter if these Confucian scholars are not done." Zhang Juzheng thought for a long time and said a rebellious word.

In terms of the national system, the Son of Heaven is the greatest. In terms of etiquette, Confucian etiquette is the greatest.

Zhang Juzheng's words were a betrayal of the Confucian sages.

"The Senior Grand Secretary is a brave warrior." Wang Guoguang finally said no more. He was just a worker. Let the Emperor and the Senior Grand Secretary discuss things about the direction of the country!

The next morning, Zhu Yijun appeared in the Zhao Wenhua Hall as usual, almost no different from usual.

"Ministers, no need for courtesies. Today, several items have arrived from the Southern Yamen. I would like to show them to you, ministers." Zhu Yijun said with a smile: "Feng Banban, bring the auspicious signs sent from the Southern Yamen for the ministers to see."

The auspicious signs from the Southern Yamen were toys specially made for the young Emperor by Wang Daokun and others. They were extremely exquisitely made, almost using all the craftsmanship of the shipyard. They were made to scale, all made of teak, brushed with tung oil for anti-corrosion, hung with hard sails, and made vividly and lifelike. There were also various small figures, sitting, standing, or pulling sails.

The craftsmanship of the Great Ming artisans couldn't be said to be supernatural, but it could only be said to be exquisite.

Seeing these hand-made figures, Zhu Yijun could only say that "The Record of the Nut Boat" did not deceive him. The "Record of the Nut Boat" used walnuts to carve a boat, while the toys built by the Southern Yamen officials for the Emperor were assembled.

To please the Emperor, this was a kind of bribery. Only when the Emperor was happy could he continue to support the Great Ming's maritime affairs and shipbuilding affairs.

This was a helpless move by the Songjiang Shipyard. How to let the Emperor see their achievements after building a three-masted large ship became a problem. Models, or hand-made figures, became a compromise.

"Clapboard ship and clapboard giant ship." Feng Bao placed three sailboats among the many models on the long table of the court discussion.

Feng Bao pointed to the small boat and said: "The West calls it a caravel sailboat, meaning it is made of oak, meaning it is extremely sturdy. But teak ships are even better. The length is nine *zhang* and two *chi*, the width is two *zhang* and six *chi*, and the length-to-width ratio is 3.5 to 1, four hundred *liao*. Compared with the Great Ming's merchant ships, Western ships are more slender. Most of the Great Ming's merchant ships are relatively wide, making navigation and turning difficult, and they are not resistant to strong winds."

The Great Ming is wide, while the Western ship method is slender. This is caused by the environment, not technical reasons. In terms of ocean-going ship design, the Great Ming also has narrow ships, such as the seal boat.

Feng Bao continued: "On this basis, the Great Ming designed a watertight bulkhead. The structure of the watertight bulkhead is like this, divided into two upper and lower layers with more than seventy compartments. Once there is seepage, the watertight holes are automatically sealed, ensuring that the ship will not sink due to seepage."

"The Western ship is a soft sail, while the Great Ming's ship sail is a hard sail. Taking the strengths and discarding the weaknesses, when the Songjiang Shipyard planned, it retained the triangular sail at the tail to assist the ship's rudder in turning, and changed the other two masts to hard sails."

"The Songjiang Maritime Academy and the Shipyard reported that soft sails have their own benefits, but hard sails have their own benefits. They are designing a kind of sailboat that has both soft and hard sails, cutting the soft sail into sections of horizontal sails."

Horizontal sail is a method of transforming a soft sail into a pseudo-hard sail. In short, it is to cut the soft sail into individual wind sails, with the same purpose as the hard sail.

Hard sails can sail against the wind, while soft sails cannot.

In the fifth year of Longqing, a missionary named Chad Guildford wrote in his notes: The sailboat he took always liked to enter the port at night, and when there was no wind or against the wind, it had to anchor on the sea, rising and falling with the waves. It generally didn't use oars, so it couldn't sail against the wind.

Hard sails can use the wind from all eight directions. Improving the ship's sails can reduce the number of rowers, can greatly increase the load, which is a necessary improvement.

But hard sails are not very suitable for ocean-going voyages. How to solve this dilemma? That is to cut the large soft sail into small soft sails.

Wang Guoguang shook his head and said: "Four hundred *liao* is really too little. Are there no bigger ships?"

*Liao* is how much wood is needed to build a ship. One *liao* is about three hundred *jin*, which is roughly equal to the weight of two Qi Jiguangs and three and a half young Emperors.

For example, in the fourth year of Xuande, it was stipulated: from Nanjing to Tongzhou, each ship of 100 *liao* would be charged 100 *guan* of paper money, later reduced to 60 *guan*, which was called *liao* tax or beam-head tax. After the paper money method failed, the paper money pass method was abolished during the Honghua era. Since then, the Great Ming merchants were no longer taxed, and only sitting merchants were taxed.

This was also the reason why Francisco set conditions for the first time, saying he wanted tonnage tax, which was the Great Ming's beam-head tax. But Yuegang implemented the extraction method, where all goods arriving at the port were taxed at six percent of their value, which could be converted into silver.

By the Longqing era, the unit of *liao* gradually evolved into the buoyancy capacity of the ship's wood in water, used to calculate the size of the ship. The first type of clapboard ship displayed by Feng Bao, including the hull, machinery, full personnel, provisions, fresh water, and cargo, had a full displacement of 234 tons.

For the West, this kind of ship was already big enough, but for the Great Ming, this kind of ship was too small.

The treasure ships built during the Yongle era had a maximum of five thousand *liao*, and the main ships were about one thousand *liao*.

Four hundred *liao* was just a small boat. For the Great Ming, especially the court, four hundred *liao* was too small. In the fortieth year of Jiajing, the seal boat built by Guo Rulin to go to Ryukyu was about two thousand *liao*. For the court, the ships that displayed imperial power, four hundred *liao* small boats, were a bit insufficient.

Feng Bao nodded and said: "Yes, a five-masted clapboard ship."

He pulled away the second piece of red silk cloth. This ship was an improved version of the clapboard ship. He continued to introduce: "This is a ship under planning. Wang Daokun doesn't know if this ship can work. It has five masts, the ship length is twenty *zhang*, the width is four *zhang*, the length-to-width ratio is 5 to 1, the height of the three main masts is three *zhang* and two *chi*, each pole hangs six sails, the tail is a triangular sail, and there are three oblique sails under the bow oblique pole, totaling 21 sail surfaces."

"It is a large ship of about one thousand *liao*."

"If it can be launched, with trade winds, it can travel six hundred *li* a day. It only takes five days from Guangzhou Prefecture to Manila in Luzon, and only half a month from Luzon to Tianjin Wei."

The five-masted clapboard ship under design further expanded the length-to-width ratio, increased the number of masts, improved the sails, further increased the speed and load, and also satisfied the court's need for larger ships to promote national prestige.

Build one generation, design one generation, this is the generation under design.

Zhu Yijun looked at the data of the seal boat in the forty-fourth year of Jiajing. The seal boat was the ship used by the court to confer titles on the King of Ryukyu, and it was about the same as the ship Feng Bao mentioned.

The Great Ming's seal boat was fifteen *zhang* long, two *zhang* and nine *chi* and seven *cun* wide, one *zhang* and four *chi* deep, with five masts and four hard sails, a length-to-width ratio of 5.77, and one thousand *liao* (567 tons). That is to say, the ship the Songjiang Prefecture planned to build was even larger than the court's seal boat, faster, and had gun positions.

This was a warship used to promote national prestige.

The Great Ming Minister of Rites, Wan Shihe, looked at the five-masted clapboard ship in front of him and said with a solemn expression: "Isn't this a seal boat? If it is used for warships or merchant ships, isn't it a bit presumptuous?"

"It is indeed presumptuous, so Guo Rulin of the Songjiang Shipyard had to submit a memorial to request the imperial order to build this thing." Feng Bao also affirmed Wan Shihe's idea. The five-masted clapboard ship was a one-thousand-*liao* large ship modified on the basis of the seal boat.

Zhang Juzheng also said helplessly: "The practice of reality in the form and the etiquette in the form have conflicted."

Zhu Yijun looked at the five-masted clapboard ship and said to Zhang Juzheng: "Guo Rulin spent one year in the fortieth year of Jiajing to supervise the construction of the seal boat and went to Ryukyu to confer titles on the King of Ryukyu. No wonder when the Master built the Maritime Hall, he said he wanted to visit the wise, it really makes sense."

Just like the Great Ming's financial taxes, the court was so poor that it was wearing pants, while the powerful were so rich that they were intoxicated. The Great Ming also had talented people in the folk who could build ships. When the court issued an edict, it could really find all kinds of talents from the folk.

This is the Great Ming, a country with infinite potential, but trapped in the quagmire of etiquette and unable to extricate itself.

As soon as Wan Shihe saw that this thing looked so much like a seal boat, he immediately raised a question about etiquette. This was his job.

"Then build a larger seal boat. In this way, there will be no worries about being presumptuous, right?" Zhu Yijun proposed his own solution. The five-masted clapboard ship had the suspicion of being presumptuous, so building a larger seal boat and placing it there would solve it, right?

"Ah, this..." Wan Shihe was stunned. He always felt something was strange, but he couldn't say what was strange. What the Emperor said was very reasonable.

Presumption is something that cannot be crossed, so raise the threshold. The Emperor's majesty will not be offended, and the urgent need for the practice of reality can also be satisfied.

Zhang Juzheng saw that Wan Shihe was "seconded" by the young Emperor's words and asked with a smile: "Then let's do it this way?"

"Then let's do it this way." Wan Shihe thought about it again and again, looked at Ge Shouli and Hai Rui, and seeing that neither of them had any objections to this flexible method, nodded in agreement.

The Aoshan fireworks were taller year by year, so the Wanli Emperor's seal boat should also be larger than before.

"This third item is an imitation warship." Feng Bao didn't introduce this warship too much. In the eyes of the shipwrights of the Songjiang Shipyard, this warship with oars was built specifically for fighting. It had its shortcomings and advantages, and it was still being improved.

Zhang Juzheng wrote the floating ticket and handed the memorial of Wang Daokun's auspicious signs to Zhang Hong.

After the court discussion on the Emperor's edict ended, Wang Guoguang took out a tax receipt, placed it on the table, and said: "The Great Ming's first tax receipt was paid by His Majesty. A total of six hundred taels in the first month has been entered into the Taicang."

After Wang Guoguang took out the tax receipt, all the court ministers gasped!

By this time, if they hadn't realized that the young Emperor wasn't playing around but was preparing a big package, then there was no need for them to sit in the Zhao Wenhua Hall.

There was one person who didn't realize it, and that was Wan Shihe. Wan Shihe looked at the tax receipt in a daze, pointed at the tax receipt, looked at Zhang Juzheng, then at Feng Bao, and then at the young Emperor on the stage who looked as usual. Finally, he confirmed it: the Emperor had paid taxes!

Wan Shihe was still thinking about who was presuming imperial power and who was trampling on imperial majesty.

Zhang Juzheng said: "His Majesty has issued an edict to the Wenyuan Pavilion to set up a Tax Inspection Room in the Northern Suppressing Faction to specifically handle tax inspection matters. It is appropriate to send thousand-household officials of the judicial department to each province and road. The second item of today's court discussion is this Tax Inspection Room."

"This Tax Inspection Room is authorized by imperial power. Taxes that the Ministry of Revenue cannot inspect will be inspected by the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

The Minister of Justice, Wang Zhi-gao, immediately said: "Wouldn't that be a confusion of criminal names? Each prefecture has judges, each county has assistant county magistrates, each road has a clean official division. Isn't this a repetition?"

The Great Ming's officialdom can be divided into capital officials and outer officials. This is a block. The court is one block, and the local area is one block.

The Great Ming's officialdom also has strips. The Six Ministries and the Censorate have strips set up from top to bottom in the thirteen provinces of the two capitals of the Great Ming. For example, the Ministry of Justice has a Ministry of Justice yamen in the capital and a Henan clean official division in Henan Road. The prefecture yamen has a judge, and the county has a judge in charge of criminal names.

Only by understanding the basic political ecology of strips and blocks can one further understand the complexity of the central-local contradiction, which is also a complex contradiction of "you have me and I have you."

Zhang Juzheng immediately said: "Neither the Ministry of Revenue nor the Ministry of Justice has the authority to investigate and inspect financial taxes. Therefore, the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Tax Inspection Room has no conflict with the functions of the Ministry of Justice. The thousand-household official in charge of taxes is only responsible for tax inspection matters."

"Just tax inspection, nothing else."

"In that case, I have no questions." The Minister of Justice nodded after hearing this.

Zhang Juzheng looked at Wan Shihe and asked: "What about the Ministry of Rites? How do you view this matter?"

"Is this the Senior Grand Secretary's idea, or the Emperor's idea?" Wan Shihe still looked at the tax receipt in a daze and asked.

Zhang Juzheng took a deep breath and said: "The minister's suggestion."

After repeated weighing, the Senior Grand Secretary decided to bear this infamy with the Emperor. The young Emperor's shoulders were still too tender. As a minister entrusted by the late Emperor and as the Emperor's teacher, Zhang Juzheng had the power and obligation to hold up a sky for His Majesty, just like the sky he held up for Qi Jiguang to pacify the Japanese pirates in the southeast, shielding the Emperor from wind and rain.

Let the storm come more violently.

"Fu Yingzhen was right! Zhang Juzheng, you have done all evil things!" Wan Shihe said in a rage: "Treacherous minister with wolfish ambition! You bully the young master, the imperial majesty is not clear, the power shakes the master, and the disaster sprouts! No wonder you die soon, and the humiliation follows!"

"If you have the ability, go up! Sit on it and see how the people of the world tear you to pieces!"

Wan Shihe was really angry. Zhang Juzheng had the heart to let the young Emperor pay taxes and mobilize the Embroidered Uniform Guard to inspect taxes. In the future, Zhang Juzheng would probably mobilize the Embroidered Uniform Guard to launch a palace coup, get on that platform, and sit on that throne himself!

Zhu Yijun held his forehead, and the ministers frowned.

It can only be said that Wan Shihe is worthy of being the last one.

Ge Shouli spat out a turbid breath and said: "Minister Wan, this is the Zhao Wenhua Hall, where the solemn and sacred artifacts are located. Since we are sitting in the Zhao Wenhua Hall for court discussion, please address him as Senior Grand Secretary. You are shouting and calling him by his name like this, which is not very polite and insults the scholars."

These words were what Zhang Juzheng used to teach Ge Shouli back then. Now Ge Shouli used these words to hit Wan Shihe on the forehead. Calling him by his name was very impolite. It was a pity that Wan Shihe was still the Minister of Rites.

Wan Shihe's brows were tightly locked. Ge Shouli said all day long that he respected the monarch's power, but it seemed that he was just talking. For such a big thing, Ge Shouli actually stood on Zhang Juzheng's side.

"Changing dynasties, how can it be so simple? The Senior Grand Secretary is just the Senior Grand Secretary." Ge Shouli looked at Wan Shihe's surprised and puzzled eyes and still said a fair word for Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng, a leader of civil officials, wanted to subvert the Great Ming's system. How could he have such ability? The mandate of heaven is very mysterious, and it is not mysterious at all. If the world is not in chaos, how can the mandate of heaven be changed just because one says so?

If Zhang Juzheng really wanted to usurp the throne, why would he need to enrich the country and strengthen the army? The Great Ming had so many Senior Grand Secretaries who didn't act like people. If Zhang Juzheng did nothing, the Great Ming would be able to tear itself apart, and only then would Zhang Juzheng have an opportunity.

The world is moving towards governance. The more Zhang Juzheng consolidates the country, the harder it is for him to usurp the throne.

Zhu Yijun heard someone scolding the Emperor's teacher and immediately said: "Wan Shihe! Usually, I let you read more books, but you just don't listen! Listen to what you are saying. I am sitting here properly. After the court discussion, which major event has not been implemented after I signed it? Is there one? Which eye of yours saw that the Master is shaking the master with power?"

"This tax payment matter of the Imperial Manor is my own edict for the inner court to implement! Stop talking nonsense!"

"I am the Emperor of the Great Ming. The Great Ming is a larger collective. The world is the world's world. I and the inner court are groups contained within the Great Ming and the world. Public is a relatively speaking concept. The larger collective is public. 'When the Great Way prevails, the world is for the public.' Do you understand?"

"Even if I tell you, you won't understand. You don't understand the national system, you don't understand the definition of public, you can choose not to speak, instead of talking nonsense because you don't understand."

Wan Shihe was confused. He was protecting the interests of the young Emperor, but the young Emperor was reprimanding him. Was it inappropriate?

He was scolded twice and gradually understood the situation. This Tax Inspection Room was the young Emperor's idea! Zhang Juzheng was standing out to shield the young Emperor from wind and rain!

"The minister... the minister is dull, Senior Grand Secretary, please forgive me." Wan Shihe had a forehead full of sweat. How did he know that the Emperor and the Senior Grand Secretary were playing such a high-level game?

Zhang Juzheng said with a smile: "No harm. Distance tests a horse's strength, and time reveals a person's heart. Whether it is presumption or not, Minister Wan will see it with his own eyes in the court."

Wan Shihe was relatively stupid. He couldn't even see the situation clearly.

But other ministers knew more or less that the Emperor paying taxes and the establishment of the Tax Inspection Room were just the beginning.

What was the young Emperor going to do?

Under the Confucian etiquette system, the supreme Emperor had paid taxes. If anyone in the world didn't pay taxes, wouldn't that be equivalent to having a higher status than the Emperor?!

The world belongs to your Zhu family, and the national treasury also belongs to your Zhu family. In the end, didn't it go into your Zhu family's pocket? If you, the Emperor, pay taxes, isn't it just a gesture?

But in the practice of reality, the Great Ming's national treasury and inner treasury had already been cut off, in a state of mutual begging for food and a state of balance. Taking the Imperial Manor's tax payment of six hundred silver in the first month of Wanli as an example, one hundred and eighty taels of this six hundred silver had to be entered into the inner treasury, and the remaining seventy percent was left for national use.

The Emperor paying taxes was definitely not a redundant act, but the Emperor personally formulating a terrible rule.

"Minister Wan, do you have any objections to the Tax Inspection Room?" Zhang Juzheng asked Wan Shihe for his opinion on this matter.

Wan Shihe was also calculating Zhang Juzheng's presumption. Since there was no presumption, Wan Shihe thought about it and said: "A gentleman is ashamed to talk about profit, but the country's finances are in great deficit, so he has to talk about it. Then let's do it."

The Ministry of Justice had questions about functional conflicts, and the Ministry of Rites had questions about presuming the master. The Ministry of Revenue had no questions because this was the national straw tax, not the private treasury that all entered the inner treasury. The Ministry of Revenue naturally would not have questions.

"His Majesty is amazing." Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang looked at each other and nodded continuously. They realized that this young Emperor, when doing things, was really carved from the same mold as Zhang Juzheng!

Zhang Juzheng let Xu Jie return the land, which also put Xu Jie in a position where he had to return it.

And the tax law the Emperor is playing with now is the same. He pays first, putting everyone who doesn't pay taxes in a state of rebellion.

The Ministry of Works, the last of the Six Ministries, Zhu Heng, also hoped that the young Emperor could build more shipyards and weaving factories, so that the Ministry of Works would have more power.

As for the Minister of Personnel, Zhang Han, he would only say: "The Senior Grand Secretary handles things well!"

Only then did Zhang Juzheng continue: "In order to clear the occupation, the Southern Yamen took the first step. Therefore, the Tax Inspection Room will take the first step in the fourteen prefectures of the Southern Yamen. His Majesty has issued an edict to the Southern Yamen's thousand-household official Luo Bingliang to handle this matter. With General Yu's southern army on the side, we can discuss it while doing it."

"If you ministers have no objections, then let's do it."

Zhang Juzheng wrote the floating ticket and presented it to the Emperor. Zhu Yijun stamped it, and the Tax Inspection Room was officially established.

"The case of the Lu family in Shanzhou, Henan Prefecture." Zhang Juzheng began the court discussion on the major case of the Lu family taking advantage of the disaster to engage in human trafficking.

After the court session, Wan Shihe found Zhang Siwei, who was proofreading the *Yongle Dadian* in the Zhan-shi Mansion, and told him about the court session, especially the tax receipt.

"Minister Wan, wait a moment!" Zhang Siwei jumped up and walked hurriedly toward the door.

Wan Shihe asked puzzled: "Where is Minister Zhang going?"

"Go to the Ministry of Revenue to get the tax receipt!" Zhang Siwei shouted loudly and walked away hurriedly. He walked very fast and urgently. The great victory in Liaodong made Zhang Siwei even more afraid to let Wang Chonggu play any tricks about the border police in the northwest.

The Imperial Manor had already paid taxes. Zhang Siwei was afraid that if he was a step late, the Embroidered Uniform Guard would kick down his door, ask him for tax money, and punish him for the crime of rebellion, and his nine clans would be buried together.

I went out to do things today, so it was a bit late. Ask for monthly tickets, Aowu!!!!!!!!!!!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 123 =====