Chapter 548 is also a good story
On the second day of June, the emperor left the capital.
Wei Fengting brought the Longxiong Guards with him for protection, and Yuan Shenjue, Bai Gusheng and Hao Huashi also accompanied him.
Although Xinbao has his own car, he basically doesn't use it and usually stays in the emperor's carriage.
Seeing that they were far away from the capital, Tuanzi felt very guilty: "If Daddy, Mommy and Brother left Xinbao to play alone, Xinbao would definitely be sad and might even cry, but Xinbao left his family to play alone... just, I am a little happy. Xinbao is really heartless."
Emperor Mingpei laughed and said, "Then Xinbao accompanied his father, mother and brother, and let Yeye go to the other palace by himself. Does that mean he has a conscience?"
Tuanzi paused and blinked his big eyes: "Yes, Xinbao loves so many people, but unfortunately there is only one Xinbao, so we have to make some choices."
"Well," Emperor Mingpei laughed and nodded, "You think very clearly."
Outside, Hao Huashi said with a smile: "Your Majesty."
Emperor Mingpei nodded, and Fang Wuyou asked him to come in.
Hao Huashi came in and greeted them, then said with a smile, "Your Majesty, Master, guess what? There are a few people from the capital, the Chen Sande I mentioned last time, and a few similar people, who actually followed the emperor out! I went over to take a look, and Chen Sande said that he heard that there are also practitioners over there, and in case the people over there don't know about these things, they can tell others. I saw that they seemed quite interested, and I looked at their faces and there was no disguise, so there was nothing suspicious."
"Very good." Emperor Mingpei also laughed: "Tell Feng Ting not to pay attention to them, just let them follow, and take care of them at the same time."
He sent people to investigate last time. This Chen Sande has two older brothers, both of whom are very capable and come from a wealthy family. He has no family responsibilities. He has loved reading and painting since he was a child, traveling and living a very leisurely life. He is a real old Beijinger and there is nothing wrong with him.
He might have happened to help the He family, which aroused his interest. He was not short of money and had nothing to do usually, so he actually followed out.
Hao Huashi agreed and continued, "I just heard them talking about He Qingwen's sister. Didn't she sell herself to be a maid in order to save her brother? Later, the owner of that house, a court official named Wang Wuyou, heard about this and returned his sister and her indenture yesterday."
"Wang Wuyou?" Emperor Mingpei said with a smile, "It's him."
He paused and said, "If He Qingwen could pass the provincial examination this time, someone would definitely record this event, and it would become a good story."
After that, he casually asked Hao Huashi: "Can you play chess?"
Hao Huashi shook his hands at that time: "I can't do it! I'm leaving!!"
He ran away like the wind. Emperor Mingpei twitched his lips and asked Fang Wuyou, "Where is Xuan'er?"
Fang Wuyou said, "The Duke has been inspecting from the beginning since early in the morning, and he hasn't even finished his inspection yet."
Emperor Mingpei laughed and said, "He is also a worrier."
He casually touched Tuanzi's little chin and asked her, "Who does Xinbao want to invite over to chat?"
Xinbao thought for a moment and said, "Uncle Shen!"
Emperor Mingpei smiled and raised his hand, and Fang Wuyou went out to send someone to summon him.
Shen Shouyan was chosen to accompany the emperor, and stayed in Yan Shichang's carriage during the day. Yan Shichang couldn't sit still, so he rode back and forth on horseback, so he was alone at the moment. When the emperor summoned him, he was startled and hurried over to pay his respects.
Emperor Mingpei said: "Don't be restrained, sit down."
Shen Shouyan thanked him and sat down. Tuanzi asked him, "Uncle, did you eat the dates and grapes that Xinbao gave you?"
"I ate it." Shen Shouyan smiled as soon as he saw the dumplings. "I ate it all. It was very sweet."
Tuanzi smiled at him.
Emperor Mingpei said: "I am free now. You have been in the martial arts world for a long time. Tell me about the martial arts world."
Shen Shouyan said: "Yes."
He thought for a moment and said, "I am not very knowledgeable, so I will just start from my own family."
He started from the beginning when he entered the underworld, how he was noticed by his master, how he started learning martial arts, and how he joined a gang.
Shen Shouyan was not a scheming person and spoke very casually.
Tuanzi listened to the story with great interest, and Mingpeidi also looked relaxed, but in fact he was already thinking about the problem in his mind.
For example, a very important source of income for the gang is security fees, and the so-called tribute...
Logically speaking, merchants pay taxes to the court, so the court should protect the merchants' safety and allow these people to compete fairly and give full play to their strengths. This is not the case. In addition to paying taxes, merchants must also pay security fees, which is a heavier burden for merchants.
Of course, some of those who pay security fees to the gangs are forced to do so, but there are also some wealthy businessmen who just want to have such a backer to bully their peers and make more money.
So if we want to reform, many issues will be involved.
The first is how to control the lower-level officers and soldiers so that they can perform their duties conscientiously and not engage in extortion; secondly, how to govern these gangs and how to make a smooth transition.
Yuan Shenjue finally finished scanning the area, came in and took a look, then asked, "Xinbao, what's wrong?"
There is no wrong version in the 1619 book forum!
Emperor Mingpei was sitting cross-legged, with Tuanzi sitting in the hollow of his legs, holding his arms with both hands, his whole body leaning on his arms, motionless.
Emperor Mingpei lifted up the little face and looked at it: "Are you uncomfortable from the shaking?"
Tuanzi nodded: "A little bit."
Emperor Mingpei quickly asked someone to make mint tea. Yuan Shenjue washed his hands, took out a small bottle from his pouch, poured out two cooling pills, and fed them into Xinbao's mouth. Emperor Mingpei touched Tuanzi's forehead and asked, "Do you want to go to sleep for a while?"
"No," Tuanzi changed his arm and tilted it with his other arm, saying listlessly, "Xinbao wants to listen to Uncle Shen tell stories."
Emperor Mingpei said, "Then uncle, after you finish talking about Xinbao, go to sleep, okay? If you get up early in the morning, you will easily feel dizzy when you get on the carriage."
Although Shen Shouyan was not a very tactful person, he was an old hand after all, and he could still understand such obvious words. He smiled and said a few more words, then left.
Xinbao drank half a cup of mint tea, and Huashuang carried her to the back to sleep.
Emperor Mingpei said to Fang Wuyou, "Tell someone to tell Feng Ting to walk less in the first two days and go to the post station early."
Fang Wuyou responded and went down to give orders, and Emperor Mingpei summoned Cheng Fuju to come in and talk.
Emperor Mingpei asked him, "Do you know that gangs in the private sector charge security fees from merchants?"
Cheng Fuju said: "I am ashamed that I am not very clear about this."
As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he was not completely ignorant of this, but he was certainly not clear about it.
Yuan Shenjue was sitting nearby, and he knew what the emperor wanted to say, so he said, "I have heard Uncle Shen talk about this before. At that time, Xinbao even quietly asked me if Chaotianmen was a gang. Later, Uncle Shen explained the matter, and I did a brief investigation afterwards."
He was extremely meticulous in his work. When Xinbao asked him about something, he didn't know enough. Even if Xinbao wouldn't ask again in the future, he would still investigate and find out more, and then he told him in detail.
What Yuan Shenjue said was far more comprehensive than what Shen Shouyan said.
For gangs like Chaotianmen, which are one of the largest gangs, merchants are begging to give them money because this brand is indeed very useful.
But for some small gangs, it is far from the case. They cannot compete with the big gangs in terms of merchants, so they have a bit of the "king of the mountain" attitude and collect protection fees from the villagers near them.
The protection fee is the kind that if you pay it, they won't care about anything, but if you don't pay it, they will make trouble and the people will suffer terribly.
(End of this chapter)