Chapter 75                                                             �

What was Zhou Mengchen most worried about when he went out to war? What was he worried about the most was always news from the court. It can even be said that Zhou Mengchen was not the one who was most worried about, but the thing that all the generals were most worried about. There were no treacherous ministers inside, but the generals made contributions outside.

Therefore, as a left-behind aide, Lu Yi's biggest task is to monitor the movements of the court. If there are public opinion and trends that are unfavorable to Zhou Mengchen, report to Zhou Mengchen first, so that Zhou Mengchen has time to prepare and react.

However, Zhou Mengchen was on the front line and received reports from the court every day. In order to get the latest news from the capital, he even secretly opened a route from Tianjin to the Korean Peninsula to Japan, no other reason, just for the sake of smooth intelligence.

Although the information Zhou Mengchen received during this period was a bit turbulent, it was generally calm. It seemed that the three major cases last year were fighting too fiercely, and now the two sides are on standstill. Of course, after last year's Beijing inspection, Xu Jie won the hearts of the people with his kindness and kindness, and surpassed Yan Song in the court and the reputation of the scholars. It can be said that now Xu Jie and Yan Song have reached a critical moment of changing strength and weakness.

Zhou Mengchen was dedicated to the outside world, so he naturally hoped that the capital would not be too big, and the following meaning ignored some possibility.

At this moment, when Lu Yi reminded me, I was shocked and thought about what happened in recent times. There were about two major events in the Ming Dynasty recently. The first was that Zhou Mengchen inspected Japan. As Zhou Mengchen's identity, going to inspect the sea was a precedent in the Ming Dynasty. Of course, everyone was talking about it, but the above did not express their opinions. They were just talking about it. Another thing was that Yang Bo made contributions in Liaodong.

Yang Bo took office with food, integrated the internal forces, fought several battles with Tuman, and finally made Tuman run away in shame. However, Yang Bo's military talent was revealed. There was even a bad trend in the court, advocating that Yang Bo's ability to use military forces was above Zhou Mengchen. I don't know if it was to provoke the relationship between Yang Bo and Zhou Mengchen, or to promote Yang Bo out and become a competitor of Zhou Mengchen.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Zhou Mengchen's military talent is now rising step by step, and there is a big reason why Zhou Mengchen's military talent is taken seriously and has gained one opportunity after another.

If someone in the Ming Dynasty could compete with Zhou Mengchen and even replace Zhou Mengchen, Zhou Mengchen's progress would be slower.

Zhou Mengchen felt that it seemed to be Xu Jie's method. However, Zhou Mengchen did not think that these small methods could be of use. After all, Zhou Mengchen knew very well that his alliance with Yang Bo would definitely not be a political alliance between the two sides, but there were too many places for cooperation in economic and other aspects.

Although this kind of covenant is not undestructed, there is no political possibility. However, Zhou Mengchen felt that this price was not something that Xu Jie was willing to give to him now.

Therefore, Zhou Mengchen didn't take it seriously.

Now, after careful reflection, I suddenly felt that something was wrong. Many times, the bigger the matter, the smaller the matter, and many things were silent, but there were big things brewing.

At this moment, Zhou Mengchen deeply felt the discomfort outside, and he also felt something was wrong. However, he was far away in Jiangnan, and a lot of the news he received was second-hand, third-hand, and even fourth-hand. Many of the news were inaccessible. In this regard, he fell into a passive state.

Many things have been settled. He only realized.

It is naturally at the mercy of others.

Lu Yi smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know. I just think it's wrong. Now I don't have the energy to study it more. I can only figure it out by myself."

Zhou Mengchen couldn't calm down for a moment. He took a few deep breaths and then said, "Mr. Lu, please rest assured. Since I'm back, I can handle it no matter what the situation is."

Zhou Mengchen's words may not have been indifferent to comforting Lu Yi. However, Lu Yi smiled slightly, but he looked sick, and his smile was also ugly. He said, "I know this is not a problem. When the lord comes to me, I will put down a thousand pounds of burden."

Zhou Mengchen was slightly stunned, and there was a hint of bitterness in his heart.

He may not have confidence in himself, but now he is the backbone of the entire Zhou sect. Many people are counting on Zhou Mengchen to give them confidence. In addition, Zhou Mengchen has encountered many things in many years, and has done many careers that many people dare not even think about.

In the eyes of many people, they are almost mythological.

One by one, I felt that nothing could hardly help him.

Zhou Mengchen himself didn't know it.

The pressure in this can only be borne by oneself. It even needs to maintain this feeling externally. People's hearts are easy to disperse but not easily gather. No matter what makes people's hearts gather, they cannot let them disperse. Otherwise, it will be easier to get together again.

"Cough cough cough." Lu Yi said: "I mainly want to tell the adults that it is actually the bank's business. Today, the adults borrowed money from Jiangnan Bank in Jiangnan, but there are only 200,000 to 300,000 taels left. It is estimated that the second half of this year will be enough to pay it off."

"So fast?" Zhou Mengchen was shocked and said, "There are so much taxes in customs?"

Lu Yi said: "Mr. Xie is familiar with sea transportation. He has counted thirteen major categories and dozens of minor categories, and set taxes separately. The lowest is for grain, export taxes, and imports are completely exempted from taxes. In addition, silk, cloth, tea, porcelain, medicinal materials, salt and iron, etc., all have ten taxes and one fifteen taxes. It can be said that everything is fine. A standard box was formulated, counted by boxes, and those who were not enough were discussed in one box, and the complex goods were classified into categories, with a small amount of slightest. A slight slightest must be paid. In addition, there are also overseas taxes levied by ships. Apart from this, there are no miscellaneous taxes, but Shanghai County has collected some dock fees. But not much."

"It's less than a year now. I estimate that the tax this year will be between 4 million taels and 5 million taels. It may exceed some, but it won't exceed too much. Now, one or two years later, if all the ports previously planned to open, the tax will have to be reduced. It is estimated that the customs duty of Shanghai Port can be between 3 million taels a year, which is already good."

"The deficit of the adults in Jiangnan is nearly 20 million taels. How can it be offset by just customs?"

"Unless customs, there are still commercial taxes and two major items: official shares, which are only more than 10 million taels in total, and most of the adults' deficits have been offset."

The so-called standard container is actually the idea of ​​containers. Of course, the idea is the idea and the specification is the specification.

Although Zhou Mengchen did not participate in the formulation of this standard box, he has seen it. It seems that the length and width are between one meter and two meters. Why is it so big? It is just to be hung with a moving pulley. If it is larger, it will not be able to be hung.

After all, the power that can be used on the wharf now is more human and animal power. Even if some pulleys and cranes are used, the carrying capacity is still quite limited.

And do this. The most important thing is to collect taxes.

It is also convenient for statistics.

Zhou Mengchen did not expect that the two items of commercial taxation and official stocks could support one-third of the country.

Zhou Mengchen asked: "Official stocks, I remember there are official stocks, but they are just Jiangnan Bank and shipyards. As for commercial tax, isn't the new commercial tax near Shanghai Port? It's not implemented in other places at all?"

"That's right." Lu Yi took a deep breath and said, "Sir, I forgot that there is still a weaving bureau."

"Jiangnan Bank, shipyard, and weaving bureau have made money every day after opening the sea. It can be said that as soon as the port is opened, all the ups and downs are revitalized. Seeing that sailing can make money, countless people purchase ships. In just a few months, Jiangnan Shipyard has launched at least 300 large ships and various small ships, which is hard to say. If all counts, there are probably as many as a thousand ships. The biggest problem now is that the wood is out of stock. It can be said that Jiangnan Shipyard has been out of stock now. The supply of wood is in short supply."

"The Weaving Bureau produces the best cotton cloth from the Ming Dynasty. It is the most popular goods in the maritime trade. It is said that overseas, the cotton cloth and silk from the Ming Dynasty can be used directly as money. By the way, there is one thing that the adults must be happy that the Portuguese have already shipped a ship of cotton."
Chapter completed!