However, Zhou Kui, the father-in-law of Jiading, who had been ill at home, also learned about the news from the court the next day.

Zhou Kui was actually not sick, at least not in his body, but his heart was so uncomfortable that he was almost terminally ill.

It was because everything was not delicious and I was upset when I saw everything. He couldn't eat the food brought by the servants at home, and he couldn't bear to throw it away. When the next meal came, he couldn't eat the leftovers even more.

His son Zhou Chaoxian was more open-minded than him. He still walked around the streets with friends from other noble families in the capital every day, and the brothels and brothels were not happy every night.

"Master, Duke Cheng is here." The servant whispered.

"What's this old maggot doing? Come to our house for free and eat?" Zhou Kui muttered to himself, then stood up to greet him.

"Why is Brother Zhou so thin?" Zhu Chunchen was shocked when he saw Zhou Kui's appearance. He hadn't seen him for a few days, and Zhou Kui had almost lost weight.

"Help! I can't eat it. When we think about the commercial tax, our heart hurts. Also, you know that our family has a lot of land, and how much land tax will be paid in the future.

Your eldest nephew is always uninvolved in the family and is fooling around outside. I begged my daughter to say good things, and then he mobilized the official of the garrison. But our son-in-law just took it away and didn't give him any affection. It was like cutting the flesh on our body. We can still eat there!" Zhou Kui seemed to have found a hole in his catharsis, and he vomited bitter water.

"Who said no! You didn't go to court yesterday, but I'm so miserable. You don't know how unreasonable your Majesty is. He added twice the salary to those civil servants. It was our turn to be the honorary relatives. Not only did they not add a cent, but they also charged our taxes and collected our land." Duke Cheng also echoed.

Although he was a Duke of the State, Zhou Kui was the father-in-law of the current dynasty. In addition, he knew that he was not favored by Emperor Chongzhen, so he did not dare to be arrogant.

"Then why are you here to do it? We can't do anything. We won't post the cold butt of our son-in-law." Zhou Kui still wanted him to go to the palace to say good things, and his face was stunned.

"Brother Zhou is saying this! We don't mean that. We just come to chat with you, walk around, and chat in the room." Zhu Chunchen said and walked inside.

Zhou Kui winked at the servant and then followed him into the house.

Soon, the servant brought two cups of tea. Zhu Chunchen picked up the tea bowl and wanted to transfer a bunch of tea leaves with the lid of the bowl. But he was surprised to find that even the tea leaves were in the tea bowl, and he couldn't help but look down on Zhou Kui even more.

But no matter how despised you, Zhu Chunchen put the tea bowl on the table and still smiled:

"The commercial tax has already begun to be collected. We are the capital here and are the first to bear the brunt of it. Brother Zhou has made plans?"

"I don't mention any plans for commercial taxes. Just the fertile land. When my daughter married into the palace, the imperial court rewarded me many lands. The Ministry of Revenue has its own names. Although we made some land later, we couldn't keep it over. Our son-in-law killed people without blinking!" Zhou Kui said in pain.

Although he was stingy, his life was more important than those of his family property.

"We know that it's hard to fool around about land, but what about commercial tax? Do you know what the tax rate of the jewelry shop is? 40%! It actually charges 40% of our profit!" Zhu Chunchen's eyes were on fire when he talked about commercial tax.

In fact, the tax on brothels is higher. The business rules clearly state that brothels pay 50% of the money, but most nobles are disdainful of doing such flesh-and-skinned business. Even if they want to do it, they just secretly invest in shares and dare not blatantly.

Zhu Chunchen has a jewelry shop in the capital, and there are also in Nanjing. Most of his other shops are luxury-related shops with relatively high profits, so the tax rates are very high. Today, Zhu Chunchen is simply an ant on a hot pan.

He knew that the Zhou family also had a jewelry shop, so he wanted to discuss a countermeasure, otherwise the loss would be too great.

"What else can I do? If I don't hand over, I have to take all the shops away." Zhou Kui said.

"Brother Zhou, it's not that we are talking about you. You are the father-in-law of the country in the dynasty. How could the son-in-law eat meat? His father-in-law can't even drink soup? Didn't Brother Zhou say that last time? Just make the account book again?

Then the people from the Ministry of Revenue are brave enough to make trouble on you?" Zhu Chunchen urged.

Zhu Chunchen is obviously trying to attract allies. After all, no matter how stingy Zhou Kui is, he is also the father-in-law. With this ally, he feels confident.

"When will we be afraid of the Ministry of Revenue? You are not unaware of our son-in-law, which is not easy to mess with!" Although Zhou Kui didn't want to admit it, he was indeed a little afraid of Emperor Chongzhen.

"No matter how hard it is to mess with him, he is your son-in-law. Could it be that he can still kill his father-in-law? In the past three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, how could there be an emperor who killed his father-in-law? In a word, can you do it?" Zhu Chunchen knew that Zhou Kui understood what he meant, so he said excitedly.

There are many industries in the two companies. If you don’t think about it, the commercial tax plus the land tax plus the land tax to be paid will lose 100,000 taels in just one year. What is the number of 100,000 taels? Even Zhu Chunchen was so heartbroken that he couldn’t sleep.

Zhou Kui was obviously moved and sat in his seat without saying anything. When Zhu Chunchen saw that there was a show, he kept admonishing him and patted his chest to promise that he would go to the Duke Dingguo's house later, and that the law would not punish the public. Moreover, their ancestors were all Dukes who had been fought with Emperor Taizu three hundred years ago. He did not believe that Emperor Chongzhen was willing to take action.

"Sure, as long as Duke Ding agrees, then we will make up. But when it comes to ugly things, we have to bear it together if something happens."

...

A few days later, Emperor Chongzhen was practicing boxing with Zhu Cixuan in the newly established martial arts field in the palace. Wang Chengen hurriedly ran over in small steps.

"Your Majesty, I just got the news. Wu Xiang's family... hanged themselves for fear of crime!"

"What? Made, I didn't let him die, why..." Emperor Chongzhen frowned and said with a fragrant smile.

"Oh, who said no? I'm afraid I can't stand the guilt in my heart." Wang Chengen sighed.

A few days have passed since Wu Xiang sent a letter to Wu Sangui. If Wu Sangui really had the intention of abandoning the darkness and turning to the light, he would have had news long ago.

Emperor Chongzhen actually didn't have much hope for this matter. After all, surrendering is not a joke. How could he vote and rebel whenever he says he wants to vote. But he didn't expect that Wu Xiang would feel so guilty about this matter and show his ambition to die?

Wu Sangui, Wu Sangui, you don’t even care about your parents’ lives, but are you sure you have chosen the right master?

Emperor Chongzhen's face was gloomy and Wang Chengen was not afraid to breathe. Emperor Chongzhen was not his ex-boy, so this matter actually had little to do with Wu Xiang. After all, it was raining and his mother wanted to get married, which was Wu Sangui's own choice, but this person...ah!

"I wrote an order to award the title of Prince Wu Xiang's young army, Minister of War, and a funeral to Wu Xiang's wife, a second-rank imperial edict.

Order the Jinyiwei to spread the news to Wu Sangui."
Chapter completed!