Looking at Tai'an City, Zhang Jiadi voiced another question.

"Brother Haoran, there is one more thing that I don't understand either."

"You raised the commercial tax so much, so why did the merchants in the capital not only not complain, but their business became even more prosperous?"

Seeing Zhang Jiadi's puzzled expression, Li Chang'an burst into laughter.

"Brother Zhang, oh Brother Zhang."

Do you know what your words reminded me of?

"Brother Haoran, what have you thought of? Why are you laughing like this?"

Li Chang'an shrugged and said with a smile, "You remind me of a landlord's servant."

"Even though they themselves are eating coarse food, they are still worried that the landlord might not be able to enjoy the food since he didn't have any big fish or meat today."

"The increase in commercial taxes is a tiered tax system, meaning the more you earn, the more taxes you pay."

"The money that ordinary vendors earn is just a little bit more tax."

"Only the extremely wealthy merchants would raise taxes significantly."

"So, does raising taxes have anything to do with ordinary people?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jiadi said, "But if commercial taxes are increased, those merchants will raise prices as well, so the burden will still fall on ordinary people."

"My dear Zhang, guess what my general store is for?"

"If anyone tries to raise the prices of daily necessities, I will step in and regulate the prices of goods."

"My original intention in establishing the grocery store was to control the cost of living for ordinary people."

"Whoever raises the price dies!"

Upon hearing this, He Qiang weakly retorted, "But the prices of some silks from Sichuan and some jewelry from Fujian have recently skyrocketed due to the introduction of commercial taxes."

Li Chang'an looked at him as if he were a fool.

"What does this have to do with ordinary people? Can ordinary people even afford this kind of thing?"

"Even if the price of this stuff skyrockets, it has nothing to do with ordinary people, right?"

“I sell mirrors in my grocery store for over a thousand strings of cash each, but it hasn’t affected people’s lives.”

Upon hearing these words, He Qiang suddenly understood.

Yes, these things are sold by high-ranking officials and wealthy people; they seem to have nothing to do with ordinary people.

Li Chang'an continued, "Besides, raising commercial taxes wasn't my idea."

"This is His Majesty's opinion. His Majesty also wanted to increase the commercial tax to 60%, but it was only after I pleaded with him that His Majesty accepted the idea of ​​tiered taxation."

"Besides, the person who pays the most taxes in the Ming Dynasty right now is me, Li Chang'an. How could these merchants blame me?"

Zhang Jiadi was fishing and did not refute these words.

Although everyone in the court knew that this increase in commercial taxes was Li Chang'an's idea.

But the merchants below didn't know that.

They genuinely believed that His Majesty wanted to raise commercial taxes, and that Li Chang'an was the one standing up for them.

"And do you really think this money is that important to merchants?"

Li Chang'an looked at He Qiang and said...

"Although I proposed raising commercial taxes, I also elevated the status of merchants."

"Since the founding of the country, Emperor Taizu has established the social classes of scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants, with merchants always ranking at the lowest position."

"No matter how rich a merchant is, in the eyes of the court officials, he is just a fattened pig waiting to be slaughtered."

"Merchants from Jiangnan are the wealthiest people in the world."

"But those who are truly the richest in the world are the prestigious families; merchants are just a facade."

"The book on business rules that I wrote not only protects the transactions between merchants, but also ensures that they don't have to worry about being restricted by the powerful and being slaughtered like pigs."

"They could also wear gold and silver, qualify for the imperial examinations, and their descendants could also serve as officials in the court."

“How could these merchants hate me? They keep the commercial rules I wrote in their homes every day.”

“Some merchants even came to thank me, pulling cartloads of silver.”

"Therefore, the increase in commercial taxes really affects those large families."

"But true merchants don't care about money at all."

"Status is what businessmen care about."

Zhang Jiadi remained silent upon hearing Li Chang'an's words.

Indeed, the wealthiest people in Sichuan were often not the merchants, but the officials appointed by the imperial court.

The mastermind he uncovered was also a local official.

Those merchants were merely brand names being promoted.

Zhang Jiadi remained silent, and He Qiang also kept quiet.

He didn't understand a word Li Chang'an was saying.

As a martial artist, he had nothing else to offer besides his martial arts skills.

Therefore, he also understood that if the people wanted to live a good life, they really needed officials like Li Chang'an and Zhang Jiadi who had the people in their hearts.

Just as the three of them fell silent.

A fast horse galloped in, carrying a command flag on its back. The cavalryman on horseback hurriedly headed towards Tai'an City.

Li Chang'an looked at the command flag, stretched out his fishing rod, and blocked the middle of the road.

The cavalryman saw him and, somewhat annoyed, roared.

"Urgent message! Get out of the way! Otherwise, you'll get hit and killed, and you'll deserve it."

Li Chang'an didn't speak, but instead took off his mask, revealing his face.

Upon seeing this, the cavalryman immediately stopped his horse, knelt down, and spoke with a sob in his voice.

"The Governor-General of Fujian, Yang Wenguang, sent an urgent message: Japanese pirates were launching a night attack on the coast. General Yang organized his men and repelled them."

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