Chapter 1229 Falling behind and getting beaten

The next morning, all the ministers who had attended the morning court stood at the palace gate in silence. It was obvious that they were thinking of the palace coup a few days ago and were all traumatized.

As the palace gate was pushed open, everyone's heart skipped a beat. Even though the palace had been cleaned, people still had the illusion that there was blood everywhere.

Zhou Shuren has been to the palace many times, and this feeling has not diminished. Looking at the long palace alleys, Zhou Shuren felt a chill in his heart. This is the imperial palace, a place that represents power, and also a place where the dead are piled up.

In the hall, the emperor and the prince arrived first, and the prince stood under the dragon throne.

Zhou Shuren took a glance and then looked away. He followed the ministers into the hall. After they finished kneeling, they stood up.

The emperor had no intention of speaking, and he did not sit with his back straight as usual. Instead, he sat in a very casual position, with his arms leaning against the armrests of the dragon chair.

The prince stepped forward and said, "Yesterday, the marquis's army returned from exterminating the remaining evildoers and brought back the ointment that harmed people. The amount was so large that I was shocked to hear it. It was as much as 2,000 kilograms. The court banned the ointment from entering the country, but some people still took the risk to sneak it into the country for the sake of profit. I am very angry."

The prince paused, "Two thousand kilograms, I don't know if it's a year's supply, or how long it will take. I only know how many families could be harmed by two thousand kilograms, and these things were found on the island where the Zhang family hid, and not only that, we also found the foreigners who made them."

As soon as the prince finished speaking, the ministers below began to discuss whether the remnants of the Zhang family had cooperated with the foreigners, whether the foreigners and the Zhang family were purely motivated by profit, or were they involved?

The meaning is different.

Zhou Shuren knew history by heart. He knew all the humiliating history. The history of the previous dynasty was auspicious. Although the previous and later dynasties were incompetent, they changed history. Moreover, the population continued to grow. Even after ten years of war, the population was still at a certain level today.

Now that he has slowly laid some foundations, he will not allow them to be destroyed. He does not want to let these foreigners go. He believes that those who are not of my race must have different hearts. He prefers to think of conspiracy theories.

Zhou Shuren took a step forward and said, "I have something to say."

There was surprise in the eyes of the prince, and the emperor's expression also became much more serious. In previous court meetings, Zhou Shuren would never speak unless it was necessary, and would never be the first to speak. Today was the first day he spoke.

Zhou Shuren felt that everyone was looking at him, but he straightened his back and looked directly at the prince.

The prince looked at his father, the emperor nodded, and the prince said, "Master Zhou, please speak."

Zhou Shuren organized his words in his mind, "Before I talk about foreigners and harmful ointments, I want to talk about the Ministry of Revenue's taxes."

He paused and continued, "Before we opened up our maritime trade, commerce was not very prosperous. Although we valued agriculture, we were exempt from tax and the national tax was not high. The salt tax was heavily evaded at that time."

After these words were spoken, the faces of the old ministers in the court fell silent. Indeed, in the early days of the dynasty, the court was in a difficult situation, especially the treasury.

Zhou Shuren continued, "After the opening of the maritime trade, the country relaxed its policies on merchants and the trade prospered. With the continuous development of maritime trade, the tax revenue from maritime trade has become one of the important taxes of our country. Last year's tax revenue was double that of the year before. This year, before the beginning of autumn, the money collected has almost caught up with the annual tax revenue from maritime trade last year."

The ministers in the court all gasped; this growth was too fast.

Zhou Shuren did not give a specific amount, but some ministers would estimate it. They knew better than Zhou Shuren how much tax these controlled businesses paid every year.

Zhou Shuren's expression was serious. "Taxes represent interests. As our glass and other technologies improve, the advantages of foreign goods decrease. In the eyes of many Western countries, our country is a gold mine, and everyone wants to take a bite."

I wanted to say cake, but unfortunately this metaphor was not intuitive in ancient times.

The prince already understood what Zhou Shuren wanted to say by laying so much groundwork. It should be said that Rongchuan was worthy of being taught by Lord Zhou, as he had a broad vision.

After Zhou Shuren and the others digested the information, they said, "I want to say now that I think the appearance of foreigners on the Zhang clan's island is not accidental. I heard that there are cannons on the island, plus the gunpowder used in the palace coup. I firmly believe that it is the foreigners' support and cooperation with the Zhang clan. The foreigners support the Zhang clan to take the throne because the emperor and the prince blocked their way. These foreigners want to disturb and interfere in our country's internal affairs. Their intentions should be punished. Please judge for yourself, the emperor and the prince."

As soon as Zhou Shuren finished speaking, more discussions began to arise in groups of three or two.

Some pedantic ministers said, "I think what Lord Zhou said is too extreme. The Ministry of Rites is preparing to welcome the envoys from afar. I think there may be a misunderstanding."

Zhou Shuren frowned. Damn the misunderstanding. He really hated talking to some pedantic ministers. Why didn't he want to speak up before? Sometimes he was really pissed off. His teammates were so stupid that he didn't want to continue talking.

The emperor was amused to see Zhou Shuren angry, but then he thought that Zhou Shuren and Rongchuan had basically the same idea. The emperor also felt that his younger son was so far-sighted, and it was obvious that he learned it from Zhou Shuren. His younger son also believed that the foreigners had evil intentions.

The prince looked at the old ministers who were talking big and pedantic. If he was not afraid of discouraging them, he would have had enough. He secretly thought that when he succeeded to the throne, he would definitely choose someone with a quick mind.

The prince signaled for silence, "There is solid evidence that the foreigners on the island made the ointment to harm people. As for the other charges, I will send someone to investigate."

Some ministers who had received benefits from foreigners had kept silent at this time. Sometimes they could plead for mercy, but since the prince had said so, it was obvious that they could not plead for mercy.

Zhou Shuren knew in his heart that the Crown Prince and the Emperor wanted to convict the foreigners, but several countries were involved. Even if they were certain that the foreigners had evil intentions, they would not come to a conclusion in just one court meeting.

Zhou Shuren didn't say anything else. He had already said what he needed to say. Brainwashing is not something that can be done in one go. Zhou Shuren counted the people he knew around him, and he didn't believe it. If he brainwashed more, he would have more teammates sooner or later.

Zhou Shuren curled the corner of his mouth. Sometimes, he really hated some arrogant ministers. He didn't know where their confidence came from. A strong country is the real superior country. It is not enough to just brag. Only the big fist can do the job.

What followed was the publicity for the harmful ointment, as well as the laws that had been drafted long ago, and the political affairs were quickly handled.

After the morning court was over, Zhou Shuren was too lazy to listen to some people's grand speeches. He suddenly felt that the emperor was also quite miserable sometimes. Even though he didn't like it, he still had to concentrate and listen most of the time. He couldn't even be distracted.

Master Wang came over and said, "Today I saw the sharp-tongued Master Zhou."

He had always thought that Zhou Shuren was smooth, and too smooth, but today changed his impression of him a lot.

Zhou Shuren, "I'm just worried. You know my second son likes foreign knowledge, and my wife also reads it. Although I don't have time to read these, but there are people in my family who understand and listen more. Foreigners are developing too fast, so fast that it scares me. In a few hundred years, if our descendants are not enterprising, what will happen in the future? If I fall behind, I will be beaten."

Mr. Wang was stunned. He muttered, "If you fall behind, you will be beaten?"

Zhou Shuren nodded, "Yes, that's right. In the future, it's not just about population, it's about technology and firepower."

Only by maintaining an advantage can we maintain our status.

Old Master Wang stared at Zhou Shuren. In his eyes, Zhou Shuren's image changed from a skinny fox to a looker worried about the future. Zhou Shuren was looking into the future, but he was still confined to the inheritance of his family.