After a break, Qian Yuan said seriously: "Hu Kerou is a man with a strong and upright nature. He has not been in the Ministry of Revenue for a long time, but he has been in the Ministry of Revenue. He also hangs in Zhenhai for several months and has a deep understanding of the business process."

"But the tax silver...is unlikely to be able to recover in a short period of time."

If you are facing Emperor Jiajing, Qian Yuan’s little thoughts will be fully visible, but Emperor Longqing is... too young.

Having made a lot of preparations and having been crafting several times, Qian Yuan did not talk nonstop first, but sighed.

"In the 37th year of Jiajing, in the battle of Hou Taoshan, I trapped eight maritime merchants and cut off their heads to build Jingguan at the wharf, so as to intimidate the Southeast merchants."

"I have heard of this matter and I have also heard Duan Fu's detailed explanation." Emperor Longqing nodded and said, "It is said that those eight maritime merchants are the real culprits behind the attack on Nandu by more than a hundred Japanese pirates?"

"That's true. At that time, I was also entangled in it. Therefore, when Hou Taoshan fought, I used personal grudges as an excuse..." Qian Yuan emphasized, "But the true meaning of it is actually anti-smuggling."

"No one dares to smuggle Jingguan First Branch, but it has been three years since then, and smuggling has been rampant again."

"Since the Taizu period of this dynasty, Japanese pirates appeared along the coast. During the Yongle period, Jinshan Guard was newly established to prevent Japanese pirates. However, there were frequent smuggling incidents in the southeast at that time."

"Until Zhengde and Jiajing periods, although Japanese pirates became increasingly rampant, the smuggling in the southeast had become blatant."

"On the one hand, the smuggling was caused by the court's ban on the sea and was not allowed to trade with each other, and it was helpless to smuggle. On the other hand, the eunuchs of Ningbo City Shipbuilding Department were too heavy for bribes, with ten taxes of three or four, and even ten taxes of four or five."

"But in the 36th year of Jiajing, I set up a city in Zhenhai to trade. Today's smuggling vendors... are mainly because they are not allowed to pass the customs documents."

"No document of clearance is allowed?" Emperor Longqing glanced at Chen Hong, who quickly brought two cups of tea on his own.

Qian Yuan thanked him and picked up the teacup and sipped, "In the time when the establishment of a city to trade, the Jingchuan Duke set a rule that anyone who had become a Japanese pirate, killed people and robbed money, or bully the market, or even ships could not withstand huge waves... Anyway, there are more than ten, so it is very harsh on issuing customs clearance documents."

Emperor Longqing probably understood it, but he still had many doubts, "The big company has a rare pass to pass the clearance documents, so he can only take risks and not pay tax silver, but the tax silver has been reduced to this point. Did so many sea boats turn to smuggling before?"

"I remember that the tax silver is only ten taxes and one, and it is calculated based on the value of the goods before going to sea..."

"It's not the case." Qian Yuan pointed to the teacup on the table. "Going to sea to sell goods and earn silver. The goods are like water in a cup, tea, silk, cotton cloth, porcelain, etc. Although the annual output increases, it will not increase too much."

"In the past few years, all kinds of goods gathered in Zhenhai through waterways. Marine merchants purchased goods here, and after receiving the customs clearance documents, they set sail to sea."

"But nowadays, the large smugglers buy goods from Hangzhou and even Jiaxing and Susong..."

Emperor Longqing suddenly realized, "There are only so many goods, and the smugglers buy and sell them, so that the sea merchants in Zhenhai lacked the source of goods!"

"Your Majesty is wise." Qian Yuan nodded and said, "The sharp reduction in tax silver is caused by the coming of storms, as well as the establishment of cities in Ninghai, Xiamen, Quanzhou and other cities to divert traffic. However, the sharp reduction to this point, the most important reason is that the large smugglers intercept the supply of goods."

"After all, once you can go out to sea to sell goods, the profit is extremely high and you don't pay 10% of the tax. So they are willing to buy it at a high price. The merchants who specialize in this business... can make a move without sending the goods to Zhenhai, and they can sell more money. What's wrong with it?"

"The Duke of Wei in Nanjing has many industries. It was originally sent to Zhenhai by ship every month, but now it is directly in Yangzhou and Suzhou. The big family loaded ships in Jiaxing and Songjiang and went straight to the sea."

Emperor Longqing repeatedly thought in his heart, "What do you say about Li'an Gong?"

"Mr. Li'an." Qian Yuan smiled bitterly: "He wants to do something bad..."

"Hard-handed?"

"Anti-smuggling." Qian Yuan curled his lips and said, "He just saw that others were not struggling to carry the burden... Well, once anti-smuggling is formally anti-smuggling, the maritime merchants will inevitably be frightened. After all, there is no conclusion in the court to lift the maritime ban."

Emperor Longqing whispered: "Where will the maritime ban on trade and anti-smuggling be carried out at the same time?"

Qian Yuan's eyes flashed, "Those wealthy families in the southeast are not good at slaughtering. When they were rejected by Jingchuan Duke, most of them were once Japanese pirates..."

Emperor Longqing interrupted directly, "What if Zhan Cai went south and was full-time anti-smuggling?"

"Your Majesty, what name should I go south to anti-smuggling in the Zhan Shi Mansion?" Qian Yuan was stunned. "Originally, if Brother Deng went south to serve as the prefect of Ningbo, he would relax his customs clearance conditions and set up a formal market in Hangzhou for maritime merchants to purchase..."

Sighting at Emperor Longqing's expression, Qian Yuan said with a bitter face: "I set up a plan in Hou Tao Mountain back then, and the killings were rolling. The smuggling companies hated me to the core. Once they went south, they might be buried in the southeast... I am not afraid of death, but I will never see Your Majesty again..."

"Okay, OK." Emperor Longqing hummed unhappily, "I heard that you have a nickname in the southeast, money is beheaded, it is said that you can stop children from crying at night... and you can be as famous as Zhang Wenyuan!"

Qian Yuan laughed a few times and added: "Hu Kerou is a little capable, and in addition, the Zhejiang inspector Wang Zimin... It is a bit difficult to restore the tax bank to the level of the previous year, but it should be somewhat restored."

Emperor Longqing glanced at him, "Inner Transportation Depot?"

"The Royal Fleet has a total of twenty-three ships... Well, no, four were sunk last year, and there were nineteen more ships, and there were not many cargoes. Sun Wenhe must first meet the Royal Fleet's cargo source." Qian Yuan whispered: "If your Majesty is worried, please reward Jing Haibo some items, and then..."

"Then?"

"Then I won't mention the matter of lifting the sea ban."

Emperor Longqing couldn't help but kick the foot, "I have a lot of ghostly eyes!"

The maritime ban is not officially opened, but the reward of Wang Zhiyu's pen... The inputs to the internal transportation warehouse are basically unlikely to be small.

It was almost dusk, and Qian Yuan was about to say goodbye, when Emperor Longqing suddenly asked: "Zhejiang Governor Hou Ruliang, may this person take on a great responsibility?"

This sentence is obviously asking, if the anti-smuggling incident in the southeast is successful, will Hou Ruliang succeed?

Qian Yuan pondered for a moment, "This person was once the governor of Liaodong and was familiar with military affairs. After entering Zhejiang, he was quite enthusiastic about shipping and canals, and was not a conservative person."

After leaving Xiyuan, Qian Yuan grabbed his head, and there was a layer of slight sweat beads behind his neck, and he finally fooled it.

Today, Qian Yuan is the real one and the fake one. He can’t say that one is fake, he can only say that he didn’t speak frankly.

The main reason for the sharp decline in tax silver is that the Dong family has joined hands with many Southeast investors to smuggle and intercept supply, which has led to insufficient supply of goods in Zhenhai, resulting in a decrease in tax silver.

What Qian Yuan did not say was that he privately sent a letter to the Southeast, and the generals led by Qi Jimei and Yang Wen turned a blind eye to this, and the Suiyuan Party led by Sun Wenhe used various means to instigate and even force...

There is no way. If Gao Gong reached into Zhenhai, Qian Yuan might be able to bear it, but Xu Jie stretched out his hand... Qian Yuan was really worried if he didn't leave any backhand.

When I returned to Suiyuan, I happened to run into my mother, sister-in-law, and Qian Yuan, who came back from the temple to burn incense at the door, remembered the letter my father had come some time ago.
Chapter completed!