"Okay!"
The cook agreed and began to scoop rice for Xu Wenchang. After he was done, he handed it to Xu Wenchang with a smile.
Holding his rice, Xu Wenchang smiled and came to a table not far away. There was only an old man at this table.
He took a bite of the pancake and drank a mouthful of radish soup. He was enjoying it very much.
There was probably only one person who could eat such delicious food. That was the current county magistrate of Daxing County, Hai Rui, Hai Gangfeng.
After sitting down, Xu Wenchang said with a smile, "Just now, the gate officer sent a message. A group of people entered Daxing County.
It was a young man who specially asked about guarding the gate and collecting taxes. "
"The gate officer felt that something was wrong and sent the news over."
Hai Rui was stunned. He raised his head and looked at Xu Wenchang. Then, he continued to eat with his head down. "He didn't do anything illegal. Why care about him?"
Looking at Hai Rui helplessly, Xu Wenchang sighed and said, "Don't you think it sounds familiar?"
"It doesn't matter who it is!"
Hai Rui still didn't care and said, "We have nothing to hide. Whoever wants to see it can see it."
Shaking his head helplessly, Xu Wenchang didn't know what to say. However, he knew that Hai Rui was like this. It was useless to say anything.
After they finished eating and left the kitchen, a yamen runner came to report that there was a group of people at the door. The leader was holding an waist token from the palace. He was an imperial guard.
After listening to the yamen runner's report, Xu Wenchang wasn't surprised at all. He glanced at Hai Rui and said with a smile, "They're here. Let's go out and welcome them!" As he spoke, he walked to the door. Hai Rui didn't say anything and followed him directly.
When they came to the door, they naturally saw Zhu Yijun in the crowd at a glance.
Seeing that they were about to salute, Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said with a smile, "Well, there's no need for that here. I wanted to go out for a walk, so I came to Daxing County to have a look." As he said this, Zhu Yijun stepped into the county government.
When they came to the second hall of the county government, Zhu Yijun sat down in the main seat, while Hai Rui and Xu Wenchang bowed and stood in the hall.
When Zhu Yijun was seated, the two of them lifted their clothes and paid their respects to him.
Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said with a smile, "Please get up!" He pointed to the chairs next to him and said, "Sit down and talk!"
After they sat down, Zhu Yijun and Hai Rui and Wenchang. "I came to Daxing County today and found that you did well!"
"I didn't want to disturb you, but I couldn't help it!"
Glancing at them, Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Since I'm here, I'll have a chat with you. By the way, where are the people from the Tax Department?
Go and find the people from the Tax Department. I have something to ask them. "
"I'll send someone to do it!" Xu Wenzhang hurriedly agreed, then went out to send someone to find the Deputy of the Tax Department.
Xu Wenchang and Hai Rui were not familiar with the Tax Department, and they didn't have much contact with each other.
After the establishment of the Tax Department in Daxing County, there were tax laborers wandering around all day. No one knew what they were doing. They seemed to be planning something, but they also seemed to be doing nothing.
Seeing that Xu Wenchang had gone to find the people, Zhu Yijun didn't say anything else. Instead, he talked about Daxing County.
"I've seen it along the way. You have done a good job, and you have also done a good job as a civil servant," Zhu Yijun asked with a smile, "You, who will tell me about the situation in Daxing County?"
"Let him tell me!" Hai Rui glanced at Xu Wenchang and said expressionlessly.
In fact, Hai Rui wasn't good at this kind of thing. On the contrary, Xu Wenchang was very good at it.
"Well, then you tell me, Xu." Zhu Yijun nodded and said with a smile.
"Daxing County now has a total of 76 yamen laborers, and the other yamens employ 16 petty officials. Every month, it costs 92 strings of silver. Including the yamen's food expenses, it's about 100 strings of silver every month."
"Some exorbitant taxes have been abolished, but after the city gate tax, the yamen still has a surplus of 100 strings of silver every month," Xu Wenchang knew what Zhu Yijun was concerned about, so he said directly.
Listening to Xu Wenchang's words, Zhu Yijun nodded, but he felt a little emotional in his heart.
A city gate tax could collect 200 strings of silver every month, and this was only for Daxing County. If it was the entire Shuntian prefecture, the entire South Zhili, and the entire Daming, how much money could it collect?
The city gate tax was only a drop in the ocean in the commercial tax system.
In the past, the rich and powerful didn't collect taxes, and the court couldn't collect the commercial tax at all. This was a great loss!
"It seems that the introduction of the commercial tax cannot be delayed!" Zhu Yijun said with a sigh.
Xu Wenchang nodded and said in a deep voice, "After the reorganization of Lord Hai and I, there are no more hooligans on the streets in Daxing County, and the yamen's people don't take bribes anymore. In addition to the exemption of the original monthly fee, the merchants have earned a lot more."
"The time to collect the tax is ripe, and we also want to petition His Majesty!"
The so-called monthly fee was not only collected by the yamen, but also by many people, such as the Imperial Bodyguard and other yamens.
The salary of the Daming was too low, and it couldn't support the people at all.
In addition, the court allocated too little manpower to the yamen, and many of the manpower had to be provided by the county magistrates themselves.
For example, yamen laborers, petty officials, and so on.
This required the yamen to raise their own money, and the monthly fee was a large part of the income.
This was the main reason why Zhu Yijun didn't dare to rashly collect the commercial tax.
The commercial tax was not confiscated, but existed in another form, and this form had become an unspoken rule in the bureaucracy.
If they didn't first solve the problem of the bureaucracy and directly collected the commercial tax, the merchants would rebel.
Of course, a large part of the monthly fee went into the pockets of the individual, and not the country's money.
This was also the reason why the monthly fee was like the commercial tax, but not the commercial tax.
As the three of them were chatting, someone came to report that the deputy of Daxing County's tax department had arrived.
The deputy of Daxing County was called Lu Wei, and he was originally from the inner factory, or rather, from the inner factory school. In fact, he was one of the earliest batch.
After coming out of the inner factory training school, he entered the pear orchard.
In the inner factory school, the students were generally divided into three types.
The first type was those who were strong and could fight, and they usually entered the action team. The second type was those who couldn't fight, but had a good brain and were good at reading and writing. These people entered the business department, which was the management and management of the pear orchard.
The inner factory also had its own business. You couldn't always ask the emperor for money. While the business was hidden, it also had to generate revenue!
The third type was those who weren't good at either of the above, but they could be undercover and act. These people basically entered the intelligence department.
Lu Wei was from the business department, and he could be considered an old inner factory worker. He had performed meritorious deeds, and that was how he was able to work in the tax department.
Now, many people in the inner factory wanted to perform meritorious deeds, and then be transferred out.
Who didn't want to live under the sun like a normal person, and also have an official position?
Other than a few perverts in the action team who liked that kind of life, everyone wanted to be a normal person again, marry a wife, and have children.
After entering the hall, Lu Wei didn't expect there to be so many people in the room.
"Hurry up and greet the emperor!"
After Lu Wei came in, Zhang Jing was the first to scold him.
Lu Wei was stunned, and then he knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Zhu Yijun. "Daxing County's tax department Lu Wei greets the emperor. Long live the emperor!"
"Get up and reply!" Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said calmly.
After Lu Wei stood up, Zhu Yijun then continued, "Did the tax department send you the document?
About the business tax collection in Daxing County? "
"Your Majesty, the document from the tax department has arrived. In order to preside over the business tax collection this time, the head of the tax department, Mr. Wang, will arrive in Daxing in two days," Lu Wei quickly replied.
Wang Yongji was coming?
After hearing Lu Wei's words, Zhu Yijun nodded in satisfaction. It seemed that Wang Yongji did a good job, and he also knew the seriousness of the matter.
As long as they could open up the situation in Daxing, they could set the rules for the future.
Knowing that Wang Yongji was coming, Zhu Yijun didn't ask Lu Wei's opinion anymore.
"Alright, I understand. You can leave!" Zhu Yijun nodded and let Lu Wei leave.
There were two reasons why Zhu Yijun came to Daxing County. Firstly, he wanted to see the civil servants, and secondly, he wanted to take a look at the business tax.
The civil servants did a good job. As for the business tax, Wang Yongji was coming over to preside over it. He would go back and ask him!
After everything was done and there was nothing he was dissatisfied with, Zhu Yijun prepared to return to the palace.
After leaving Daxing County, Zhu Yijun sat in the carriage and returned to the palace. Just as he returned to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, before he had time to rest, Zhang Jing came to report.
"Imperial Majesty, the Royal Academy of Sciences sent over a report today. They said that they made something and want to offer it to the Imperial Majesty."
Royal Academy of Sciences?
Zhu Yijun suddenly remembered that he still had the Daming Royal Academy of Sciences. Xu Guangqi was still there.
It was just that he had been busy with the war in the northwest and didn't have time to care about them.
Hearing this, Zhu Yijun remembered that he had given them a lot of money!
Now that they had made something and wanted to offer it to him, it must be something good!
"It's getting late, and I'm tired. Let them send it in tomorrow!" Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the Kunning Palace. I'll go to the Empress's place for dinner."
The next morning, Zhu Yijun woke up very late. He didn't have many days to laze in bed.
Empress Wang looked at Zhu Yijun with her big belly and a happy smile on her face.
To Empress Wang, the Emperor was the best man in the world. He was gentle, wise, and liked her.
Recently, she was pregnant, and the Emperor came to her place more frequently than before.
Reaching out to touch her belly, Empress Wang revealed a happy smile.
Zhu Yijun opened his eyes and glanced at Empress Wang. Then he smiled and said, "Looking at me like that, are you infatuated with my beauty?"