Huang Taiji's mind was very complicated at this time.

Now that he has become a prisoner, he naturally has nothing to say.

Faced with the questioning of Emperor Apocalypse, he could only answer: "The success and the king will succeed and the defeat will fall into your hands today. What else can I say? It's just a death."

Say this.

Emperor Tianqi said coldly: "Why is it so easy to die? Take him down and take care of him."

At this time, he didn't want to talk too much with Huang Taiji. Since the other party was asking for death, Emperor Tianqi had not had enough fun. Think about it, it would be a pleasure to take out Huang Taiji every few days and make everyone think of his great achievements in Liaodong.

Huang Taiji is like a sign of Emperor Tianqi. Emperor Tianqi was even thinking at this time that I would catch him and wander around the capital after a few days of leisure.

With a command, several guards dragged Huang Taiji down.

Immediately, Emperor Tianqi issued another order. Wei Zhongxian was ordered to take a group of factory ministers to the Daming Gate Tower, and then read out that His Majesty had returned safely, Wang Huan's tribe destroyed the three tribes, and believed in the king's decree of the vassal.

Those scholars who were mixed with righteous indignation outside seemed to have atrophy suddenly.

At this time... the cavalry and the warrior camp soldiers and horses were transferred from all sides. The layers of warrior camp soldiers and horses were marching in large shields, and the mountain-like oppression was already scared, so in just a moment, most of the people dispersed.

After a while, even a scholar and the people disappeared outside the Daming Gate.

Wei Zhongxian, who was standing on the city tower, didn't feel relaxed.

This time he taught him a great lesson. His Majesty is here, and he is the arrogant nine thousand years old.

Once His Majesty had something unexpected, he found that sometimes he could not control the situation at all. The appeal brought by a legitimate royal bloodline was amazing. Most of the people who had flattered him, except for a few of his godsons and godsons, did not dare to act rashly.

This is true for the capital, so there is no need to mention outside the capital.

At this moment, he sighed deeply and looked at the mess outside the Ming Gate. Then he summed up two things in his heart. One is to recruit more descendants, and to accept any good seedlings, especially Zhang San... If he can come back safely this time, he must collect them immediately.

Second: Your Majesty must not have any trouble.

And at this moment, Tian Ergeng, who was standing beside him, said: "Godfather..."

Wei Zhongxian turned around, glanced at him lightly, and said lazily: "Okay, there's nothing you have to do here."

"Yes." Tian Ergeng nodded, and suddenly thought of something: "The Marquis of Xinxian... is getting more and more prosperous."

Wei Zhongxian narrowed his eyes slightly, with a warning, and looked at Tian Ergeng with a meaningful look: "Why, are you afraid?"

Tian Ergeng said embarrassedly: "Where is it? I just think I should remind my godfather."

"We don't need to remind you. We are eunuchs, he is a relative and a minister of honor. Can he still cut off his own roots and come to the Silijian to grab the position with us? I'm afraid you want to remind yourself, afraid that by then... your own position will not be guaranteed?"

Wei Zhongxian smiled and said, "Stop using this trick to fool us. Could it be that you still pointing at us to charge you? We know very well that the person who can replace us is in the palace."

Tian Ergeng dared not say anything anymore and quickly said in fear: "Yes, yes, my son will die."

Wei Zhongxian brushed his sleeves and said coldly: "This time the Jinyiwei dealt with the failure of the predicament, which almost caused a disaster. If His Majesty had not come back in time, Tian Ergeng would be responsible for your fault. Please go and reflect on it."

Tian Ergeng hit a nail and quickly responded to the sound of insects.

...

At this time, in the warm room.

Emperor Tianqi had already sat down, and he seemed a little tired. What King Xin did hurt his heart and made him feel depressed.

But what made him even more sad was that after seeing this subject today, he realized that many people really wanted him to die outside.

This trend of wanting to support King Xin immediately made Emperor Tianqi realize how unpopular he was.

Therefore, in front of Zhang Jingyi, Emperor Tianqi couldn't help but complain: "I've reached the top, and I'm walking on thin ice? These people ask for my money everywhere, but I want me to pay less attention to the people's taxes? I sent the mining supervisors to avoid letting the eunuchs find ways to earn money. Could this money be distributed to the people? What is the situation where the people are poor and destitute? Civil changes are everywhere. What else can I do besides the mining tax and commercial tax?"

He took a sip of tea and was so angry that he was wandering around the warm pavilion. Then he cursed: "These people always talk about the king, the minister, the father, the son, and the son. I also said that although they were stupid, they were stupid in their studies, at least they had no other intentions. But I never expected that they had these thoughts."

"King Xin is young, and now he is in a hurry to believe in their own way. Now he is so brave that he wants to replace me. How could I have such a brother..."

Zhang Jing stood aside and silently watched Emperor Tianqi scold.

In fact, Zhang Jingyi knew very well that any comfort now is useless. He just wanted to find someone to talk to and scold others.

So he just put it as a wooden stake.

This made him feel like he was back to when he was a general of the Han Dynasty.

"I have decided that I won't go to court, so I'll let them go. I want to see what they can do."

Zhang Jingyi smiled and said, "Your Majesty... Why should you be angry about such a thing? Since King Xin is ignorant, let him be a vassal, and he gradually becomes sensible. As for some ministers and scholars, I have a word, but I don't know whether to say it or not."

Emperor Tianqi stopped and stared at Zhang Jing and said, "You said that."

Zhang Jingyi said: "At the time, my Ming Dynasty promoted the Yellow Book, recorded the population, and the records of the Ministry of Revenue, when Emperor Taizu Gao was there, my Ming Dynasty had 59.87 million. And just two years ago, the sixth year of the Tianqi period, Your Majesty ordered people to check the population, but the registered population was 51.65 million. Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty has been pacified for more than 250 years, but... the world has not increased, but the population has decreased by nearly 20%. Isn't this a strange thing?"

Any dynasty often has a sharp decline in the population during war, but with the establishment of a new dynasty, the population will continue to increase.

But the Ming Dynasty was also considered strange. From the early days of its founding, the population actually decreased.

The decline in the population means a decrease in taxes. In other words, after more than two hundred years of development in the Ming Dynasty, not only did the registered population decline, but the ability to collect taxes was also declining.

So in the early Ming Dynasty, the court could use countless troops, fight south and north, and even sweep across the desert, voyage to the West, and conquer Annan again and again. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it could still plow the courtyard and sweep the caves. When Emperor Tianqi came to Emperor Tianqi, a Liao salary had already made the court full of trouble.

Emperor Tianqi said with a gloomy face: "I know this too. When the registered population was reported, I didn't believe it and asked for a further investigation, but the person who reported it at that time said that the investigation had been very carefully. They said that this was caused by refugees and the people refused to be content with themselves."

Zhang Jing smiled and said, "Of course there are certain reasons for refugees, but the number of refugees... is limited after all. It is ridiculous to blame them for refugees. I think the key to the problem is also the hidden households, those gentry families hide their populations, so that they do not pay taxes. However, the money the imperial court has to spend cannot be reduced, so... can the taxes be reduced? In this way, the taxes are forced to be levied on those who do not hide, and these populations are the most inaccessible people!"

"Their taxes are getting heavier. A year-round, not to mention the food stored, they can't fill their stomachs even after eating them. Once they encounter natural disasters, they either starve to death or they can only sell themselves as slaves."

Emperor Aoki frowned and said, "I know this too."

Zhang Jingyi continued: "The most terrifying thing is that those who hide the population and have a large amount of land have annexed large amounts of land, but they dare not ask about the local governments. What is the difference between these people and the emperor in the local area? Their children will hire famous teachers, and then teach them the Four Books and Five Classics every day, allowing these children to go to the exam for fame and fortune, so there will be three Jinshis, five Jinshis, and nine Jinshis. Their children are officials in the court, and they annexed the land in the local area, and hide the population that should have paid taxes to the court, becoming their slaves. They even open mines, support business behind their backs, and make gold fights every day. However, the court is unsustainable. The money and grain collected every year are not as good as Emperor Taizu Gao when he was there. Your Majesty think about it, what will the court do if this goes on, and what will the common people do?"

Emperor Tianqi said: "It is precisely because of this that I have sent eunuchs to collect mine taxes and commercial taxes."

Zhang Jingyi shook his head, "Look, this is a treatment of symptoms but not the root cause. The tax collection cost of the eunuchs in charge is too high, and the strong dragon does not suppress the local snake. When these eunuchs arrive at the local area, they face those families who have been operating locally for hundreds of years. Some of these people and their children are also in marriage with each other, controlling both public opinion and money and grain. Now the eunuchs are going to collect taxes, how can they be willing?"

Emperor Tianqi held his hands behind his back, his face became heavier, and then he looked straight at Zhang Jing and said, "What do you think you should do?"

He didn't think Zhang Jing would say so much to him on this matter for no reason.

Zhang Jingyi said: "At the beginning, the Ming Dynasty and the scholars and officials ruled the world together. This was actually nothing wrong. Using the scholars and officials to manage the people of the world does not have to do it themselves. The emperor just needs to manage the major policies well. But now... I have found that these gentry who managed the place for His Majesty had grown bigger and bigger, just like Taotie. They were far from satisfied with the small profits the court gave them."
Chapter completed!