Chapter 332 Zhouzhuang

Since he accepted the conditions of the court, in return, Zhang Yang released some of the arrested officials, led by Da Zhi Tiemeng.

Dazhi is still the position of Zuocheng of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province. However, at this time, a large area of rich places in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province have been occupied by Zhang Yang. There is also a staring Zhu Yuanzhang in the north. Dazhi has to move the capital of Jiangsu Province to the south.

Zhang Yang has been fully considered. Now he is close to each other, and he is almost afraid of being beaten by himself. With him, he will continue to be Zuo Cheng of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province. I'm afraid that he will give him a great courage and dare not attack him again. Besides, now both of them are officials in the same dynasty. If he dares to fight, he will sue the emperor. I don't know who he will favor at that time?

If you change to someone who is not afraid of death and fight with you, now that you have occupied such a large place, the troops begin to appear nervous again. There is no extra strength to defend the vast area. As long as the other party comes to his own territory every few days, burns and plunders, he can't stand it.

In another half a year, after integrating the resources of these areas, coupled with a new round of conscription, there will be enough ability to build the occupied area solidly. Moreover, it also has the ability to sweep the whole country.

The coastal salt farms all concentrate coarse salt, transform it into refined salt, and sell it to all regions of the country! This is already Zhang Yang's idea.

The source of finance is a big problem that must be solved. However, finance must not be achieved by exploiting the people. Only when the people's lives are stable can the society be stable, which is also the reason why he abolished the three-year tax.

As soon as this measure was put forward, it was enthusiastically supported by the people. Therefore, the people were very supportive of Zhang Yang's struggle. Every time he recruited, the people enthusiastically signed up.

There is no tax, but the surplus grain of the people must be handed over to him for sale. In this way, it is also equivalent to realizing the largest resource in disguise: the control of food, the people take food as the first necessity, and grain is an urgent problem to be solved by any dynasty.

If grain is traded freely, there will inevitably be many illegal grain merchants who hoard. In this era, such behavior should be banned. Only when the productive forces develop and the degree of grain surplus increases can they be considered for liberalization.

And the other, salt and iron, must also be official. However, the huge profit of salt trafficking has led to the risk of private salt dealers. Zhang Yang's idea is to take is: with the increase of refined salt production, the price of refined salt will be gradually reduced, so that private salt dealers will not be profitable. In this way, it will naturally disappear.

Drying salt with seawater greatly improves production efficiency, while private salt dealers will never dry a large area of salt fields, which will be found. Boiling salt with seawater is a waste of labor, and the color of the finished salt is not good.

If your own refined salt occupies all the markets, this kind of coarse salt will almost lose its market, and naturally there will be no need to exist.

And iron is a strategic material. With iron, you can make weapons. Therefore, iron must also be the official. However, Zhang Yang did not want to have a lot of restrictions on the use of iron for the people as in some dynasties.

All kinds of agricultural tools can be made of iron to improve labor productivity. None of this is understandable.

The base has been able to make advanced fire. Even some malicious people have a large amount of iron and make big knives and spears, and they can't compete with themselves.

With these as a source of finance, it is only a small part. Most of the finance will come from taxes on industry and commerce.

There is no modern industry at present, but some products of modern industry can be introduced, such as cement and glass.

In Suzhou and Hangzhou, there are also a lot of people engaged in business. Among them, the most famous one is probably the rich Shen Wansan.

"Your lord, there have been some abnormality in Pingjiang Road recently. Many people are gathering in Zhouzhuang." Luo Guanzhong came in and reported to Zhang Yang.

In the occupied area, Luo Guanzhong arranged a certain number of personnel in time to inquire about the people's situation and pay attention to the following situation.

In the past few days, he learned that some people in the occupied area were gathering to Zhouzhuang at the same time, with bad intentions!

"Zhou Zhuang?" Zhang Yang is very familiar with the name of Zhouzhuang. Zhouzhuang is a famous tourist destination, which is antique.

"Yes," Luo Guanzhong said, "After investigation, most of them are businessmen. We suspect that these businessmen are ready to destroy the policies we implement. The leader is the great rich man Shen Wansan."

Zhouzhuang is only 90 miles away from Pingjiang, which is an important base for commodity trade and circulation. Here, Shen Wansan used the convenience of the Baiyan River (Dongjiang) to connect the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in the west and the Liuhe River in the east. He transported silk, ceramics, grain and handicrafts from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to overseas. At the same time, he carried out "international trade", that is, "Tongfan" and earned great wealth.

Shen Wansan, who is almost a representative of Jiangnan businessmen, gathered all of them in Zhouzhuang this time, which must be related to the recently implemented policy: to levy taxes on them.

Do you also need to collect taxes when doing business? And the tax is a little high. This makes these businessmen very dissatisfied, because there has never been such a policy.

In Luo Guanzhong's view, these merchants must have plotted something. He secretly reported to Zhang Yang that if the lord agreed, he would send troops to take them all down, and he could confiscate a large amount of property, which was enough for the needs of the rebel army for several years.

It seems that we have to give them some benefits. Zhang Yang doesn't want to correct them all on the spot. Business is an act of encouragement. However, this business system must be established to let them know that while making money, they also have to pay taxes!

"Notify the water army of a hundred teams." Zhang Yang said.

Hearing this, Luo Guan's heart moved and sent a hundred-person team to catch them all, or solve them on the spot? However, the 100 team is a little small, at least we have to send a thousand-person team. Unexpectedly, the words behind him surprised him.

"Let them go to Zhouzhuang with me. I want to meet Shen Wansan for a while."

"Lord, if you want to see Shen Wansan, then let him come. Why do you go in person?" Luo Guanzhong was surprised.

"I have my own intention to do these. Since those businessmen have arrived in Zhouzhuang, let's hold a business meeting in Zhouzhuang." Zhang Yang said.

He also wanted to make an attempt to explain to businessmen the important surnames of paying taxes in accordance with the law, and draw a pie for them so that they could see the future prospects. Now, since the other party has arrived in Zhouzhuang, he will save himself of trouble and gather again.

And the reason for leading a hundred-person team is for safety reasons. So far, most of the group of Miao Jun who are good at using poison have been captured. After interrogation, these evil people have been retributioned, but a small number of people still escaped, especially Miao Jun. Commander Yang Wanzhe, this makes Zhang Yang careful about everything. The open gun is easy to hide, and the hidden arrow is difficult to prevent. If the poison arrow is still shot, once the arrow is hit, the soul will completely disappear.

The Water Army Hundred People's Team was ready in half an hour. Bian Yuanheng personally led the team and immediately set out for the north with Zhang Yang.

There is a lot of water in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are rivers everywhere. The cavalry can't use it in the south, but the navy has greater practical value.

Luo Guanzhong's flying pigeon sent a letter to inform Shiyi, who was guarding Pingjiang, and asked him to send troops in advance to protect Zhou Zhuang. Although the lord does not require so, the safety of the lord is the most important thing.

Zhang Yang looked at the scenery on both sides of the river and imagined Zhou Zhuang. In later generations, he once visited Zhou Zhuang, which is a typical small bridge and flowing water in the south of the Yangtze River. The whole town is connected by the river into a street, connected by a bridge street, a deep house courtyard, a heavy ridge and high eaves, a river port Langfang, a street riding building, through bamboo and stone railings, and a riverside pavilion, which is simple and quiet. That simplicity and nature make everyone who visits Zhouzhuang linger.

In this era, Zhouzhuang should be more fresh and natural.

Unexpectedly, when he arrived in Zhouzhuang, Zhang Yang found that all the atmosphere had been destroyed.

Three steps and one guard, five steps and one sentry, there are soldiers everywhere. Looking at this situation, there is a scale of a thousand-person team.

At the entrance of the village of Zhouzhuang, there are many people standing. Looking at the texture of the clothes, you will know that they are all rich masters. I'm afraid it's those businessmen. Their feelings will blow them out and stand at the door to greet them?

Zhang Yang feels a little big. It seems a little too much to do it like this, right? After all, they didn't commit any crime. They gathered in a private party, not to plot against the crowd.

The leading person is dignified and serious, kind and close to others. However, Zhang Yang always feels that how can this person's appearance be so similar to that of the God of Wealth?

This place was naturally arranged by Shiyi. When he learned that this group of illegal businessmen gathered here, although the eldest brother did not say anything, he came in person. Shiyi was very angry and immediately took a team of thousands of people to surround it, and then drove all these merchants out to welcome the arrival of the eldest brother at the entrance of the village.

If the eldest brother is coming, it will be more grand. It's also to give them a show. Here, everything has to be done by the eldest brother!

In their hearts, they don't know how many times they have greeted Shiyi's direct female relatives, and they have to try to pretend to smile on their faces. It's reasonable for Xiucai to meet the soldiers!

Seeing a big ship coming in front of them, they showed a forced smile on their faces. They froze in the cold wind for a long time, and finally waited for the Lord!

Zhang Yang stepped down the boat and saw Shi Yi coming up: "Brother, why are you here? If I had known that you wanted to meet them, why didn't I just take them all to Hangzhou?

Before he finished speaking, he saw that there was something wrong with the eldest brother's face: "Brother, are you not feeling well?"

Zhang Yang stopped, looked at the group of lamb-like merchants, then looked at Shiyi beside him, and sighed, "Shiyi, you did something wrong."

(to be continued)