Ye Qi seemed very excited after hearing Zhang Yue's words, and went to speak righteously and talked to Zhu Youting.

"Your Majesty, what Jianchang Bo said is false. The merchants in the capital have always fulfilled their duties and have never had any affair with the foreign countries. There are no medicinal materials sold outside the warehouse in the capital. Jianchang Bo did this so much that our Ming Dynasty law cannot tolerate!"

Ye Qi buckles Zhang Yue’s hat when she comes up.

It sounds very reasonable, but it is all very empty, which will also cause a question in Zhu Youting's mind.

The uncle said that medicinal materials vendors in the capital transport medicinal materials to the Gentiles. As a minister of the Ministry of Revenue, how could you be so sure that this is not true?

Before Zhu Youting could ask questions in his heart, Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Is this the Minister of Ye from the Ministry of Revenue?"

Ye Qi has always looked down on Zhang Yanling, who was a relative of the foreigner. After hearing Zhang Yanling's words, he just snorted and ignored him.

In his opinion, Zhang Yue was sure to lose.

All the colleagues present stood on the side of "axiom". So what if the emperor protects you? The emperor does not consider public opinion?

Zhang Yue laughed and said, "It seems that Ye Shangshu is really dedicated. Even the merchants who operate medicinal materials in the market know whether they have an affair with the Gentiles. Whether the Ministry of Revenue has installed manpower among these merchants to focus on how they do business?"

Ye Qi still ignored it because he had no obligation to answer Zhang Yue's question.

Since you have won all of them, it is easy to make mistakes if you say too much. It is better not to say it.

As the Minister of Revenue, Ye Qi has been immersed in the officialdom for so many years, how could he not even understand this truth?

When Zhu Youtu saw Ye Qi's contemptuous attitude towards Zhang Yanling, he seemed to see these court officials who usually showed a proud attitude to teach him a lesson. He sighed softly: "Uncle, since you think what Ye Shangshu said is untrue, do you have evidence to prove that those merchants are indeed suspected of having an affair with the Gentiles?"

Zhu Youzhe is a brother-in-law who is very helpful to him.

There is no need for too conclusive evidence, as long as you can prove that you have reasonable doubts, as long as the reasons are reasonable, I will not make things difficult for you.

Zhang Yue said: "When it comes to evidence, I naturally have it, but before I present the evidence, I have something to ask Shangshu Ye."

Ye Qi did not respond.

Zhu Youzhang was very curious.

You kid, you are a man who used to do evil and ignorant, but now he still dares to ask questions to the important officials of the Ming Dynasty in the court?

Who gives you the courage?

"Ask." Zhu Youzhang's tone was calm.

"I have always admired Ye Shangshu's restructuring of the salt tax. I heard that after the salt tax reform, the treasury revenue of the Ming Dynasty's treasury increased by 30% or 40% per year. In recent years, the taxes in various places have been paid in full, which is greatly improved compared with the poor income of the treasury in various places at the end of Chenghua..."

Zhang Yue didn't ask questions, and came up to compliment Ye Qi first, which made the ministers present frown secretly.

I was very busy every day, but now I am called by the emperor to watch such a confrontation farce.

It doesn't make any sense to waste time.

No matter how eloquent you are, will you be the opponent of Ye Qi, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue?

Zhu Youzhang frowned and said, "If you have something to say something."

Zhang Yue bowed and said: "I obey the order. I want to ask Mr. Ye's question, why the salt tax reform of the Ministry of Revenue can actually drive the stability of the tax revenue of the Ministry of Revenue in the Ming Dynasty. What is the connection?"

Ye Qi still doesn’t want to pay attention to Zhang Yue. What is this problem? Is it related to the issue discussed today?

However, since it was the emperor who asked Zhang Yanling to ask, he patiently said in a proud tone: "This is naturally thanks to the current emperor's diligence and love for the people. In a few years, the Ming Dynasty was blessed by the emperor, and the weather was good, and the people were full of food and clothing, so the taxes from various places could naturally be collected."

The ministers present, including Zhu Youzhang, agreed with Ye Qi's words.

Before Ye Qi, the Ministry of Revenue was often unable to collect taxes. Once there were some locust plagues, floods and droughts, the court would even raise funds for disaster relief.

It’s different now. In recent years, Bai Ang and Liu Daxia supervised the Yellow River River construction. The river embankment was successively repaired and completed in the middle of the eighth year of Hongzhi. In February of the eighth year of Hongzhi, Emperor Xiaozong personally ordered the construction of the Yellow River Temple and gave it a plaque "Zhaoying".

This is an important event in Hongzhi Zhongxing.

In the eyes of the emperor and the ministers, Ye Qi, the Minister of Revenue, made an indelible contribution. This was a top-notch capable minister in the Ming Dynasty to manage the Ministry of Revenue. In recent years, Zhu Youzhang's trust in Ye Qi has also increased day by day.

Zhang Yue sneered: "Shangshu Ye said it really righteously, but why do I hear it below? It is related to the fact that the Ministry of Revenue has repeatedly increased the consumption of money when collecting taxes from local governments in recent years? It was just a waste of money of less than three cents, but now it has increased to more than 30% for the sake of money. The Ming Dynasty's treasury is full, but thanks to the heavy taxes distributed to the people, the people have already complained!"

"ah?"

When Zhang Yue said this, Zhu Youzhe was the one who was most surprised.

In the Ming Dynasty, the government collected taxes to cast fifty taels of official silver to transport it to the capital. Because the quality of the folk silver was different, there would inevitably be losses when casting official silver.

Therefore, we need to increase "swishness".

That is, it is stipulated that one tael of silver will be collected and how much additional portion will be added.

Official tax is a fixed quota, but with the matter of sacrificial, there is a lot of room for control in the local area. When the treasury is short of food or local officials are short of money, they will make a fuss about sacrificial.

Other ministers have actually known this to be the case, but because the Ministry of Revenue is short of food and money, increasing consumption and envy can not only increase the treasury revenue, but also increase local officials' subjective initiative. When the ministers knew about this, they naturally turned a blind eye.

To be exhausted was a bad habit of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and by the middle of the Ming dynasty, it became more and more serious.

Zhu Youzhang has always been known for understanding the hearts of the people, but he did not know that he had become a victim of deceiving his superiors and concealing his subordinates in this matter. He was the emperor and he had no idea about this matter.

He was still wondering why the official tax ratio was not increased after he ascended the throne, but the treasury income of the Ming Dynasty was getting more and more years?

He had always attributed this matter to Ye Qi's good work before, but now he realized that there was something else.

After hearing this, Ye Qi was shocked and said, "Brother Jianchang, don't talk nonsense."

This time it was Zhang Yue who ignored Ye Qi. Zhang Yue turned to Zhu Youtang and said, "If Your Majesty does not believe it, you can send someone to the public to investigate and know if I have a false statement."

Ye Qi felt cold sweat on her back.

He did not expect that the secret that the Ming court had kept tacit understanding and adhered to for several years would be exposed by inconspicuous relatives. He could not understand how Zhang Yue learned these details.

Zhu Youzhang's face looked very bad, so he looked at Xiao Jing first and said, "Eunuch Xiao, don't you know if it's the case?"

Xiao Jing really didn't know that this happened, so he replied tremblingly: "I don't know."

"Is what my uncle said true?" Zhu Youzhang glared at the ministers present again.

This question is too acute. Who would explain it to Zhu Youzhang rashly?

At this moment, Ma Wensheng, the Minister of War, who had been silent, walked out and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty, the matter of increasing consumption and envy in various places when collecting grain in various places should be investigated carefully, but this seems to have nothing to do with the fact that Jianchang Bo was involved in bullying and dominating the market."

Ye Qi quickly followed the words and said, "Yes, please ask Your Majesty to pursue Jianchang Bo's crime of bullying and dominating the market."

Zhu Youzhang's attitude was still on the verge of Ye Qi.

But at this point, if he still maintains full trust in Ye Qi, then there will be a real ghost.

Zhang Yue said calmly: "Ma Shangshu of the Ministry of War, right? Do you think these two things have nothing to do with each other? On the contrary, the Ministry of Revenue has increased its consumption and envy, not only the local governments have imposed taxes on farmers, but also the increase in taxes on merchants. This has been happening in recent years, especially in the salt tax."

"Originally, the official salt in various places could be purchased by merchants themselves in exchange for the qualification of salt in the world. However, in recent years, after the Ministry of Revenue changed the salt intake and changed the salt, if the salt merchants did not increase the price by more than 50% from the original price, they would not be able to buy salt intake at all. The increase of these 50% of the benefits never fell into the hands of the court and were all filled with their own pockets."

After hearing this, Ye Qi pointed at Zhang Yue and said angrily: "You are talking nonsense."

Zhang Yue continued: "Take the merchants in the capital as an example, tax increases, and it is necessary to increase revenue and reduce expenditure to maintain profits. The northern merchants rely on the mutual markets in Xuanfu and Guyuan. After our Ming Dynasty sent troops to the northwest Hami in September last year, the mutual markets in various places have been closed. By November, Hami was captured. After the next year, the mutual markets have not reopened. The wealth of northern merchants has been cut off for half a year."

"This will inevitably cause northern merchants to take risks. Some of them are illegal, selling medicinal materials to the Turpan thief in the northwest, Aheima, etc. This medicinal materials have always been war-banned goods. Aheima bought medicinal materials from the black market at a high price, and his intention was to be clear. If it was expected, Aheima had already moved to occupy Hami again, and he might have sent troops to Hami at this time."

What Zhang Yue said lacks evidence.

He threw dirty water on the Beijing medicinal merchants, and the reason he used was based on his understanding of history and current affairs.

Especially the historical events of the "Hami dispute" between the Ming Dynasty, the Turpan Khanate and the Mongolian Ola tribe.

An important turning point in the Hami dispute was the regaining gains and losses of Hami in March of the ninth year of Hongzhi.

Let me make it clearer.

Zhang Yue was making nonsense based on the historical events he knew, looking for reasonable excuses for seizing the warehouses and residences of pharmaceutical merchants in Beijing.

Even if it was nonsense, after he finished speaking, all the king and his ministers were silent.
Chapter completed!