I

  Chapter 318 316 [He's treacherous minister, my capable minister] (addition for Shangxian Qitian)

  Nanjing, Daqiao South City.

  Two officials came to post the notice, and hundreds of people crowded to watch.

   "How did you say it? How did you say it?"

   "What kind of regulation is the quick read that you can see in the front?"

   "Are there any tax cuts!"

   "..."

After the official posted the notice, one of them turned around and shouted: "Silence, silence, I'll read it... From the beginning of August, all shops in and out of the city should go to the industrial and commercial office of the county government to apply for a business license. Before the first day of October, all No tax is levied on commercial shops or business names in the city. Since the beginning of October, the tax has been reduced for all businesses, and those who do not have a business license will be fined heavily!"

   "Long live Zhao Zongzhen!" The merchants shouted in unison.

  The key word they heard was "tax reduction". The industrial and commercial tax in Nanjing is very heavy, and it has only increased since the founding of the country.

  Even if the new emperor came to the throne and ordered a temporary tax cut for the whole country, he would add an additional sentence: "The two capitals of the north and the south are not in this case."

  The official errand shouted again: "From now on, the errand office, recruitment, and corvée will be cancelled. The government's city surveys will be randomly inspected from time to time, and the interval between city surveys should be at least one month!"

  As soon as this remark came out, all the merchants were stunned, and then they all knelt down towards the notice.

   There were people who shouted everything, some asked the Bodhisattva to bless Zhao Han with a long life, some simply called Zhao Han a living Bodhisattva, and some cried and kowtowed to the notice.

  Escorts, recruiting, corvee...these contents are equivalent to the government's robbing in the open, which can drive merchants to bankruptcy.

  Market survey, once every three days.

  The original intention is good, survey prices, survey commercial tools such as scales, rulers, buckets, etc., to prevent merchants from cheating and driving up prices. But the implementation is pure nonsense, which is equivalent to every three days, the industrial and commercial law enforcement officers will come to extort money.

   "Bang bang bang bang!"

  The sales of firecrackers in Nanjing City today are extremely good, and the firecrackers are sold out immediately, and all the merchants are cheering and celebrating.

  The merchants are very clear that no one in the whole world can give such preferential treatment except Zhao Han.

  In Zhao Han's eyes, it is only natural not to exploit merchants indiscriminately. But in the eyes of the merchants, this is unprecedented good governance, and Zhao Han is his own person who speaks for the merchants.

   Merchants flocked to the county government to apply for business licenses, anyway, they had to register before.

  Industry, population, and business status must be written clearly. According to the industry, location, store size, and revenue, it is compiled into nine categories of three grades, and different taxes are levied for each grade.

  Many merchants in ancient cities were integrated with industry and commerce.

   That is, the front shop and the back square. The front is the store, responsible for sales; the backyard is the workshop, responsible for manufacturing.

  The wealth of the world comes from Jiangnan, and Jinling is its meeting place. Nanjing is the commercial center of the entire Jiangnan area.

  During the reign of Chongzhen, there were hundreds of thousands of people in the inner city alone. There are more than 9,000 households of outer city residents registered with the government, and these are all local residents with household registration. In addition, there are many people living outside the city attached to the city.

  The total population of Nanjing at the end of Ming Dynasty must exceed one million!

  There are more than one hundred types of merchants. There are dozens of merchants of each kind, and hundreds of merchants at most.

  There are more than 500 pawnshops alone, and Anhui merchants are the most powerful pawnshops, followed by Fujian merchants.

   There are also large and small restaurants, with six to seven hundred seats; and large and small tea houses, with more than one thousand places.

  Nanjing is dominated by the service industry, followed by freight.

  Hou Fangyu walked through the streets, listening to the cheers of merchants everywhere, sighed and walked towards the teahouse he frequented.

   On the way, another official came to post a notice, and after a while, there were even more terrifying cheers.

  This time, the whole city cheers!

  Reform the fangxiang system and cancel the fangchang and xiangchang.

   Cancel the fire armor system.

  No matter where the household registration is, except for staying in hotels, the rest must apply for household registration or temporary household registration.

  Hou Fangyu stared at the notice for a while, then sighed, "Nanjing is settled!"

  After the two notices were posted, merchants and private households became Zhao Han's diehard loyalists. Even if the imperial army counterattacked and Zhao Han was temporarily short of soldiers, all the people in the city would spontaneously help defend the city.

  The Fangxiang system, ignoring the differences, can be regarded as the Lijia system of the city.

  There are squares in the city and chambers outside the city, and the chiefs of the squares and chambers have to collect taxes. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the head of the square and the head of the chamber had all become local snakes, not only exploiting the people, but also raising domestic slaves and thugs.

   What is even more abnormal is that, inside and outside Nanjing, the local population is very small, and the foreign population is several times more.

   There are few local people, so they have to pay taxes.

   There are many people from other places, so they do not pay taxes.

  The locals are at a disadvantage and often cause civil riots.

  At the same time, both parties must compile it into the character Puhuojia, which is to serve as errands for the government for free. Fighting fires, dredging gutters, cleaning streets, and sometimes catching thieves all have to help. These things should have been done by Wucheng soldiers and horses, but Wucheng soldiers and horses are doing things for dignitaries and officials for free.

  Now Zhao Han treats everyone equally, and sets up police stations in each Fangxiang, and the people only need to pay the security money every month, and they don’t have to worry about other things.

  Nanjing’s public security money must be higher than that in Ji’an, because the prices here are also higher.

  Outsiders seem to have to pay an extra security fee, but they don't have to deal with messy guards, and they actually live more easily than before.

  Everyone benefits.

  These benefits were taken away by dignitaries, officials, clerks, and bosses in the past.

   "Good catch!"

   "Behead, catch and behead!"

  At the end of the street, there were people cheering again, Hou Fangyu turned around and looked, but it was a workshop chief, and his gangster thugs were arrested.

  The deformed urban grassroots governing ecology has led to the fact that the head of the workshop must be a local snake. A workshop leader is a gang leader, and the bigger the city, the more serious this situation will be.

  Zhao Han personally ordered that the head of the square and the head of the chamber be arrested, without interrogation, beheaded and ransacked directly.

  As for those gangsters, after the trial, they will be punished according to the law.

  A large number of people followed, and they wanted to see with their own eyes what happened to the head of the workshop. After passing through several streets in a row, and finally arrived at the place of execution, the officials took out a rope and hanged the head of the workshop.

   Beheading is too dirty, and it has to be disinfected with lime. It is more convenient to strangle with a rope.

  The gangsters who used to roam around seemed to suddenly disappear. Some of them were caught, and the rest were all hidden, or they simply fled Nanjing.

  By September, Nanjing household registration and industrial and commercial registration were basically completed.

  Only the public security fee paid by the residents is three thousand taels of silver a month.

  The Fangxiang silver collected by the Ming Dynasty was only more than five hundred taels a year.

  Zhao Han collected 3,000 taels of tax in January, and Daming collected 500 taels of tax a year. But all the people felt that Zhao Han was implementing a benevolent government. Daming's tax collection was extremely low, which often led to civil riots.

   Isn’t it weird?

  Where did the seventy-two times the price difference go?

   Restaurant.

   Ma Shiying watched all this with cold eyes, suddenly drank the wine in his glass, and muttered: "This person is really the reincarnation of the Taizu, I dare not be an official under him."

  Ruan Dacheng sighed: "I don't dare to be an official anymore, so I let my children and grandchildren become officials. I have to teach them well and don't fill their pockets, otherwise the family will be destroyed."

   "But I'm not reconciled," Ma Shiying said, "The world of the Great Revolution is once in hundreds of years. You and I are in a grand event. Why don't you just stand by and don't participate in what to do?"

  Ruan Dacheng asked: "Is it too late to be an upright official now?"

  Ma Shiying smiled and said, "How old are you?"

   "Fifty-three." Ruan Dacheng replied.

   "I'm only forty-eight years old," Ma Shiying said, "Whatever I did in the old dynasty, the new dynasty won't care about it. Tomorrow I will go to see Zhao Han and ask to be a small official in the town."

  Ruan Dacheng exclaimed in shock: "My dear brother, to be a small official in the town? This is a shame!"

Ma Shiying said with a smile: "If you want an official directly, will Zhao Han give it? Then simply start from the bottom and make a good impression on Zhao Han. As long as you work hard, you will be promoted quickly. I understand it, what are eunuchs and Donglin?" In Zhao Han's eyes, the party and the restoration of the society are all the same thing. He doesn't look at his background, he only looks at whether he can do things well. I will do whatever he wants. If he wants a clean official, I will be a clean official; I will be an official! If he wants to be a minister, I will be Wei Zheng!"

   "Your brother is really a great talent," Ruan Dacheng sincerely admired, then shook his head, "Let me start as a small official, I can't hold back my face, let me be a county magistrate."

  Ma Shiying smiled and said nothing, he had already figured it out thoroughly.

   Serving different monarchs requires different ways of being an official.

  He is old, and he joined the gang relatively late. Before he died, he could at most be a magistrate, and if he lived longer, he might be able to reach the level of participating in politics (province and department). This is enough, paving the way for the children and grandchildren, the Ma family can continue to prosper.

The more Ma Shiying thought about it, the more feasible he felt. He pointed to the excited crowd on the street: "Nanjing is already named Zhao, and the people in Nanjing are also named Zhao. At most three to five years, Zhao Zongzhen will sweep the world. Haha, see you again, brother. Be an honest official."

   "Goodbye!" Ruan Dacheng stood up and cupped his hands.

   Ma Shiying feels relaxed. He has lived in Nanjing for the past two years, and he has been in a constant state of anxiety about being rehabilitated.

   Instead of dawdling all day, it is better to work hard.

  He admits that he is a villain, but as long as the emperor is happy, he can become a gentleman at any time, because he used to be a gentleman. He can also become a minister at any time, because he was a minister before.

  How simple, it's just going back to the old business.

  The next day, Ma Shiying asked to see him, but Zhao Han did not refuse to summon him.

   "You want to be a small official, and a small official in the town?" Zhao Han smiled strangely.

Ma Shiying said awe-inspiringly: "Many of the good governance of the general town in Nanjing, I can see it in my eyes. In this era of great revolution, and I meet a wise master, although I have little talent and learning, I am eager to join in it. I am concerned about Jiangxi's politics. I don’t know much about it, so I want to start as a township official, please give me permission from the head of the town!”

   "It's rare for you to have such a heart," Zhao Han praised, "Go to Chunhua Town to help divide the land."

   "Thank you, Chief Township, I will definitely work hard to divide the land in Chunhua Township properly." Ma Shiying bowed out.

  Chunhua Town is located in Jiangning County, not far from Nanjing, where there are many noble lands.

   There is no difficulty, Xungui is finished, it is purely a springboard for promotion.

  Since Ma Shiying is sensible, Zhao Han doesn't mind giving it a chance, and he can even set it up as a model: the treacherous minister of the Chongzhen Dynasty is actually a capable minister under me!

   (Thanks to Big Brother Penguin, the Silver League of Shangxian Qitian, thanks to the Beatles, I am the black brother of the Republic, and the leader of Ziyi Zi for the reward.)

   (I have agreed on the fourth update, I will not break my promise, the update may be very late, so don’t wait.)

  (end of this chapter)