Chapter 146 Tim Xi
Boss Huang uttered an "uh," thinking of what Boss Zhao said, and gritted his teeth, "Master Zhou, just on the way out of customs, I met a boss who was also running border trade in Nvyue Country. Didn't the court cancel the local pairing?" Are there any rules for merchants to charge various lijin, but the boss told me that the local officials there will still collect money under various guises." Boss Huang finished speaking in one breath, and then looked nervously at Zhou Yi.
Zhou Yi listened, and nodded thoughtfully: "Thank you, Boss Huang, for telling me this. I know, and I will deal with this matter.
" Boss Huang hurriedly stood up.
The next day, when Boss Huang was about to leave the border town to enter Nuyue Kingdom, he saw Zhou Yi riding a horse and galloping westward from the border town. Boss Huang sighed in his heart: Mr. Zhou is really responsible and close to the people!
Zhou Yi traveled from north to west all the way, traveled to more than a dozen border towns in a month, sorted out a lot of regulations that needed to be improved, and then hurried back to the capital.
All in all, the series of plans he designed before are still not deviated, but no matter how good the design is in advance, there will always be unsatisfactory places. The biggest problem is that after the imperial court issued a list and canceled various lijin collections, local There are still various names on it.
The current commercial tax is not light. If local exploitation is added, the merchants will really not be able to afford it. If it exceeds the limit, maybe the good situation he created with painstaking efforts will collapse. But official corruption has always existed since the concept of officials existed, not to mention here, even in his time and space, the political system has reached a relatively mature level, and official corruption in various countries is a persistent problem. It is completely impossible to prevent it, what Zhou Yi can do is to reduce the pressure of this evil wind, so that it will not blow so recklessly. But it’s not yet the time, not all the greedy local officials enjoy themselves, many of them have been enshrined in the capital, and a complete industrial chain has been formed. will encounter great resistance.
Let’s wait until the commercial tax revenues come up this quarter. As a courtier under Emperor Chongzheng, Zhou Yi has a very thorough understanding of him. It may be that the imperial treasury was too empty a few years ago, and Emperor Chongzheng was afraid of poverty. So for him, no matter how sweet your words are, they won't be as effective as real money.
Zhou Yi rushed all the way back to the capital. Along the way, he saw many small workshops springing up like mushrooms in many cities. Kiln firing...the list goes on and on.
Of course, there are also large-scale workshops that employ hundreds or even thousands of people.
The establishment of these workshops needs to register with the Ministry of Commerce and issue a license, and then collect taxes uniformly, and Zhou Yi also encourages merchants who run border trade to purchase from these workshops, because the scale of border trade is large, and the goods were not enough before. The workshop solved the problem of the supply of goods, and the merchants were also very happy.
In this way, a chain of production and sales is formed, not to mention how much tax these workshops can increase for the imperial court, the real key is that these workshops have absorbed countless refugees, and with the booming border trade, this number is still increasing.
As Zhou Yi traveled from west to north, the number of refugees on the road was at least half less than before.
Zhou Yi let out a sigh of relief, he was so inspiring, he finally saw some results.
Zhou Yi went out for a month, and Li Yingru waited at home, and sent servants out of the city to inquire all day long. For some reason, she always felt irritable these days.
"Qingzhu, when do you think my uncle will come back? I think my wife has lost a lot of weight." Qing'er talked with Li Yingru for a while, and Li Yingru said that she was going to be tired and wanted to sleep for a while. Seeing the green bamboo in Li Yingru's room, he couldn't help but worry about him.
"I don't know what happened to Madam recently, she was such a lively person before." Qing'er said distressedly.
"I just said that madam doesn't like to laugh anymore, and she spends less time with old madam." Qingzhu frowned, and then said suddenly: "I know, madam must miss the young master, wait for the young master to come back Enough."
Qing'er rolled her eyes when she heard the first half of Qingzhu's sentence, she really felt that the old lady was like a child who didn't understand anything, she needed to be coaxed by her lady every day, her lady was so obedient to the old lady, she One is not good, and she has to cry silently. Qing'er really doesn't understand. Now that my son-in-law is so promising, the master is also very kind to the old lady, and her young lady is also extremely filial. She has done everything properly. What else does the old lady have? can be sad. It's just that she is not happy, but the key is that she is not happy, and she likes to sigh in front of others. Even the master has changed from hush and inquire before to now perfunctory. old lady. As for the old lady, she turned a blind eye to her young lady's condition. Even though the young lady ate half of her meals than before, the old lady didn't seem to notice it at all. Thinking of this, Qing'er feels wronged for Li Yingru. But Li Yingru didn't care. She told Qing'er that a mother-in-law like Wang Yan doesn't make things difficult for her daughter-in-law, doesn't make troubles to control Zhongfu, and doesn't want to put a concubine in her son's room. She just likes to immerse herself in her own world. I'm a little sentimental, meeting such a mother-in-law is already considered a high incense, as a daughter-in-law, so what if she coaxes her mother-in-law. While the two were talking, they heard a commotion at the door, and ran out to have a look, only to find that it was Zhou Yi who had returned. Qingzhu hurriedly stepped forward happily, "Master, you are back, you must have suffered a lot after walking for a month..." Qing'er pushed Qingzhu away: "Master, go and see Madam, she wants The days are always very tired, and I can’t cheer up.” Zhou Yi immediately became nervous when he heard this, and asked as he strode forward: “What’s wrong with Yingru, what’s wrong with you, did you call for a doctor?” Qing’er shook Shaking his head: "Madam said she was afraid that the old man and the old lady would be worried, so she didn't invite the doctor, and said that she knew about her own body and was fine. " Their yards and robes were all brought up.
When Wang Yan heard that Zhou Yi was back, she was still sitting in the front hall waiting for Zhou Yi to come to see her. After a while, she heard that Zhou Yi had gone to their own yard first. Wang Yan felt a little wronged at that time. She said to Zhou Yi : "Father, look, what's the use of raising a son, pulling him up with shit and piss, saying that after marrying a wife, he forgets his mother..."
Zhou Er didn't care too much, " Liu Lang just came home. The young couple are newlyweds. After being separated for so long, they naturally think a lot. Besides, how do you know that Liu Lang didn't go back to the house to wash up. He will come after changing clothes. Think so What are you doing more!"
After Zhou Laoer said this, Wang Yan stopped talking, just sighed, got up and went back to the house.
When Zhou Yi came to their yard, Li Yingru was sitting at the table and dozing off. Zhou Yi gently walked to her side, saw her tired face, and touched her with distress.
"Master, you're back!!" Li Yingru was startled awake, and subconsciously wanted to make a move. Fortunately, seeing that it was Zhou Yi, she immediately withdrew her hand and rushed forward in surprise.
Zhou Yi hugged Li Yingru into his arms, and said with pity: "What's wrong with you, I've only been away for a month, why did you become like this, you need to see a doctor if you don't feel well, what should I do if something happens to you? "
Li Yingru was extremely sensitive during this time, and couldn't sleep thinking about Zhou Yi all night. Now that Zhou Yi said this, tears immediately fell down.
Zhou Yi was shocked immediately, "Yingru, don't cry, what's wrong with you, I said something wrong? Well, what's wrong, tell me, don't scare me..." Li Yingru wiped away her tears and shook her head, "It's
okay , I know my own body, it’s just that I’m a little tired these days, so my spirit is not very good. Don’t worry.” “
No, I don’t feel relieved when you look like this. I’d better ask the doctor to take a look.” Zhou Yi hastily Call someone to invite the doctor.
Li Yingru didn't stop him, she just propped her chin and looked at Zhou Yi without moving her eyes for a moment. During the month Zhou Yi left, she always felt empty, especially in the past half month, she always had inexplicable thoughts. He lost his temper, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep well, and was afraid that Zhou Laoer and Wang Yan would be worried, so he had to pretend to laugh in front of them. But now that Zhou Yi came back, Li Yingru felt refreshed in an instant, and the irritability that could not be shaken away disappeared without a trace.
The couple talked for a long time before Zhou Yi was urged by Li Yingru to go take a shower and change clothes.
After Zhou Yi finished tidying up, the invited doctor also came. The old doctor stroked his beard, frowned for a while, and smacked his lips for a while, only seeing Zhou Yi's heart fluttering.
"Doctor, what happened to my wife?" Zhou Yi asked anxiously.
The doctor waited for a while, then stood up, said with a happy smile: "Congratulations Mrs. Zhou, Madam Ling is very happy, the child is more than a month old." "What!!"
Zhou Yi felt that he was hallucinating Alright, what does the old doctor mean? Are you happy? If you are happy, do you have a child? He is going to be a father?
Zhou Yi stood on the spot dumbfounded, with his mouth open, how could Master Zhou, who is now so famous in the court, be so clever.
Li Yingru also covered her mouth in disbelief. She always thought that she couldn't cheer up these days because she missed Zhou Yi too much, but she didn't expect that she was pregnant! ?
"Sister?" Li Yingru looked at Zhou Yi standing there in a daze, stood up and waved in front of his eyes.
Zhou Yi seemed to have just come back to his senses at this time, and grabbed Li Yingru's hand: "Yingru, just now the doctor said that you are happy, did I hear it right?" Li Yingru nodded with tears in her eyes: "Yes, I am pregnant,
you I'm going to be a father."
"Hahahaha, I'm going to be a father, I'm going to be a father..." His mind was spinning like a horse racing, and finally accepted the fact that he was going to be a father. Pick up Li Yingru: "I'm going to be a father, I'm going to be a father, Yingru, we're going to have a baby!!!"
Li Yingru was also very happy. She hugged Zhou Yi's neck and blushed: "Master, you put me down first, the doctor is still here!" Give me more..." Zhou Yi put down Li Yingru and grabbed the old doctor's hand.
The doctor twitched, but he didn't twitch, so he could only smile. Mr. Zhou is a celebrity in the capital now. When this doctor was invited to diagnose Li Yingru, he was afraid that the diagnosis would be bad. Zhou Yi was angry. Now it seems that Mr. Zhou He was as old as his grandson, and he didn't have any airs, so it's pretty good...
Qing'er, who was waiting outside, heard Zhou Yi call that Li Yingru was pregnant, and rushed in, "I'll get the consultation fee." Every strand of hair is jumping for joy.
The news of Li Yingru's pregnancy spread in the Zhou mansion instantly. After hearing about it, Zhou Laoer and Wang Yan couldn't contain their excitement.
Wang Yan took Li Yingru's hand: "It's all my mother's fault. I didn't find out that you were pregnant. It's because my mother didn't take good care of you."
Li Yingru hurriedly comforted: "Mom, how can I blame you for this? Didn't I find out myself? "
Zhou Yi continued beside him: "Rest well, take good care of your body."
Li Yingru smiled and said, "Got it, Dad."
Li Yingru was happy, and Zhou Yi specially stayed with her at home for two days before going Go to the Yamen to get busy with taxation.
Anyone who meets Zhou Yi recently feels that Mr. Zhou seems to smile more than before. When he smiled before, he always squinted his eyes and slightly raised the corners of his mouth. Anyone who has dealt with him knows that this kid is good at making tricks with a smile on his face! Seeing him smiling at people, the most direct reaction of these people was not to be happy, but to wonder if Zhou Yi was going to do something wrong again.
But now Zhou Yi is different. He often laughs loudly, and sometimes his back teeth are exposed. Sometimes he even sits in his own seat and looks at the official documents submitted, covering his mouth and laughing until he trembles. .
It made some people in the commercial department baffled, and some privately wondered if Mr. Zhou had picked up the money.
He was despised by his colleagues and replied: "Master Zhou is still short of money? Our department has more money than the household department..."
Zhou Yi couldn't help shaking when he walked out of the commercial department after a day's official duties. Shoulder, hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee heh heh he has a child and he is going to be a father.
"Sleep quickly, baby, I will accompany you in your dreams..." Zhou Yi thought about it, and hummed a song involuntarily.
Tao Dihua, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, walked out of the yamen, and at a glance he saw Zhou Yi whose eyes were bent into crescents, and joy reached to the tip of his eyebrows.
"Master Zhou, what kind of happy event has this happened to you?" Tao Dihua stepped forward, stroked his beard and asked with a smile.
Zhou Yi was about to show off, but he heard that it is better not to make any noise in the first three months, so he had to suppress his desire to have fun in his heart, "No, Mr. Tao, are you leaving the office now?" Zhou Yi It was because he was rushing back to accompany Li Yingru, so the time spent in the yamen was shortened as much as possible, but Tao Dihua was different. In the past, he was always busy until it was almost dark before returning home.
"It's all thanks to Mr. Zhou's wealth. The investment promotion a few years ago will fill up the national treasury. I don't have to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall. Naturally, there will be fewer things."
Zhou Yi hehe for a while, not like before. He was also humble, and said goodbye to Tao Dihua as soon as he left the yamen. It seemed that he always felt a little anxious.
Tao Dihua looked at Zhou Yi's back, stroked his beard, and said to himself, "Your Excellency Zhou must have encountered a great thing!"
Zhou Yi was immersed in the joy of being a father for the first time, and after a few days like this, It was the time when the Ministry of Commerce collected taxes in the first quarter. No matter how hard Zhou Yi wanted to be with Li Yingru, he had no time left.
"Yingru, I'm going to be very busy these few days, and I might come back later, you must take good care of yourself..." Zhou Yi told Li Yingru worriedly when he went out.
Li Yingru waved his hand: "Master, go away, I'm not so coquettish, there are so many servants in the house, and parents, they will take good care of me." Zhou Yi tidied up and took a few steps
forward Suddenly, he ran back to Li Yingru and put his head on his belly: "Baby, Daddy went out to earn money for you. Be good in Mommy's belly and don't bother Mommy, you know, mua!" Printed a kiss on Li Yingru's stomach.
Li Yingru was confused by him: "I just got pregnant, how does he know this!"
Zhou Yi said solemnly: "Why don't I know, children are smart, and I will give the baby good prenatal education in the future and send him to study." , playing the piano, drawing..."
"Okay, Mr. Hurry up, go out, or it will be late." Seeing Zhou Yi talking endlessly, Li Yingru quickly pushed him away.
Zhou Yi's enthusiasm for this child really exceeded Li Yingru's expectations. Often when the two of them sat together, Zhou Yi would giggle and laugh. After laughing, he would touch her belly lovingly and ask softly: " Baby, daddy smiled nicely just now..." Or when he was sitting, he would feel a little uneasy, and sometimes he would touch his belly and keep asking Li Yingru: "What should I do, Yingru, I seem to be I'm pregnant with one, and he just kicked my stomach!"
Li Yingru: "...", the pregnancy didn't do anything to her, but Zhou Yi's nervousness made her a little irritable.
When Li Yingru took this as a joke to Mrs. Li, who was about to come to see her, Mrs. Li laughed for a while, and then said: "It's not like this is the case. I heard Mama Cai say that there is a family The hostess of the house is pregnant, and the hostess of the house also has exactly the same symptoms, sometimes even more intense than the hostess, and it will be fine when the child is born." Li Yingru was very surprised when she heard this: "There is also such a symptom
. What's wrong!" She thought Zhou Yi was so weird alone!
"No, but it also shows that the son-in-law has you in his heart. He is so nervous. Yingru, you have chosen a good husband. By the way, you are pregnant now. Has the son-in-law hired a servant? Man, do you mean to add a concubine?" Mrs. Li still asked worriedly.
Li Yingru heard this, and couldn't laugh or cry and said: "He sticks to me as soon as he gets up, crying and laughing for a while, he is very nervous, I think he is going crazy, how can he have time to think about those messy things?" Son!" "What about your mother-in-law? Since ancient times, the problem of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has been a big problem. Like me, your father didn't intend to take concubines at that time. Did your grandmother force him to take a few concubines? Seeing it is difficult, he is very happy in it!" Speaking of this, Mrs. Li was still a little bit upset, but what can she do? Under Mrs. Li's arrangement, he didn't refuse much. Man, if there is such a condition, how many people can really be single-minded? And as a wife, she can't even say anything against her, and she has to take the initiative to make arrangements, otherwise a hat of jealousy will be put on top of her head. Li Yingru shook her head: "My mother-in-law didn't say that my father-in-law has never taken a concubine in his life, so she shouldn't let him take it, right?" Mrs. Li pressed the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief: "This is the best, but it's not necessarily, your father-in-law won't you?" Na, it was unconditional when I was young, but now that I am old, there is no need for that, you still have to be careful and watch your mother-in-law's movements." "I see." Li Yingru nodded, although she thought she was not Not the kind of person who cares about every detail. Due to the influence of the whole environment, it is only natural for a capable man to take a concubine, but as soon as she thinks that Zhou Yi will also take a concubine and make out with others, she can't stand it immediately. She just feels like breathing It was all difficult. Thinking of this, there was a sudden click. It turned out that she crushed the cup in her hand in a moment of excitement. "You child, why are you still so careless, you are going to be a mother!" Mrs. Li, you thought she couldn't control her strength for a while. Who would have thought that Li Yingru would put the cup on the table with a slam, her eyes fixed, and she said each word: "If the husband and wife take a concubine, then we two will die together..."
This startled Mrs. Li. If this man wanted to take a concubine, it was like it was going to rain. How could he stop him? In the beginning, Mrs. Li was afraid that Li Yingru would be a fool. She would not be happy with the people who warmed Zhou Yi's bed for the sake of the reputation of being virtuous and virtuous. Now it seems that she was really worried, not that Li Yingru agreed with Zhou Yi to take a concubine. , but worried that this girl will be impulsive if she is not good.
It took a long time to comfort him before leaving.
The commercial tax formulated by Zhou Yi is different from the commercial tax. The agricultural tax is collected twice a year, in summer and autumn, while the commercial tax is collected every three months, four times a year.
When the regulations came out, there were not a few people who jumped and scolded him, saying that he was competing with the people for profit and wasted money, and that if he continued to do so, the Ministry of Commerce would end sooner or later.
Zhou Yi was naturally very timid and went back one by one, sneering in his heart, a bunch of turkeys, if the current situation didn't allow it, he would still want to collect it once a month!
So now that it's time to collect taxes, many people want to see if it's what Zhou Yi said, or if he is bragging without any basis.
The commercial department is completely busy. From the capital to the local areas, each branch is like a high-speed rotating machine under Zhou Yi's planning.
How much goods have been shipped, how much money has been earned, and how much tax has been paid? Other businessmen have hefty fines.
After punishing a few in this way and making a fuss in the Da Viet newspaper, the tax-paying businessmen no longer dared to do anything wrong. They still had the idea of fluke, thinking how much money they had earned in business The Ministry of Commerce doesn’t know, but now the Ministry of Commerce has opened branches all over Da Viet, and I don’t know how they operate. Anyway, how much money should be paid can be calculated clearly, and the certificate can be produced. very subtle.