98, Plan

Little Chang San bent down and reached into the basin, rubbing his hands non-stop. In no time, a thin layer appeared on the surface of the water. Little Chang San kept gently tearing and pulling, until the entire layer of skin was peeled off from his face. With a few strong pulls, he shattered the mask.
Sun Wuji looked at the perfectly good thing being destroyed, with a look of regret on his face: "Alas, I told you to take it down, not to destroy it. Such a valuable thing, what a pity!"
“这张面具已经被他瞧过，还能用么？早晚查到你头上来。我替你毁了，正是为你好。”小长三淡淡说着，抬起头来，转眼已经变成一个满脸胡子，糙眉瞪眼的大汉。
"What's next? What's your plan?" The big man, still called Xiaochangsan, asked Sun Wuji to sit back in his chair.
"Since there is such a master by Zhu Houzhao's side, our plan to take action directly may have to change. I've just thought about this, and it seems that it will have to fall on the Xia family..." Sun Wuji's words were interrupted by Xiaochangsan, "Your plan is not very good, the master has changed his mind." It turns out that these two are not in a superior-subordinate relationship!
Sun Wuji said in astonishment, "Oh? Why is that?"
"The Lord actually agrees with your point of view, Zhu Houzhao is much more powerful than his father. Initially, I also thought you were right, but if Zhu Houzhao makes the first move, who will benefit? Isn't it the Lord?"
Sun Wuji nodded silently, "Hmm, it was my negligence."
"It's not your fault, actually you saw it very clearly. But you just didn't think further." Xiao Changsan's deep voice, not matching his rough appearance, still carried a lot of authority.
“So what should we do next?”
“Change the plan. Your job is to find ways to further intensify the conflict between Emperor Zhu Houzhao and the civil and military officials,” Xiao Changsan said calmly.
“这个可有些为难了，那么你呢？”孙无忌皱眉说道。他的身份只是张延龄家一个门客，顶多算半个管事。要让相隔如此遥远的太子和文官加剧矛盾冲突，的却是有些强人所难。
"As for me, there is one thing," Xiao Changsan said.
"What's the matter?"
"You need to help me find an identity, enter the Zhang family, and be their servant."
"Why do you have to come? Can't you go to another family?"
"Okay, but it's better to use Zhang's name."
"Alright, what's your name?" Sun Wuji asked, unable to introduce this person to Zhang's family as Xiao Zhangsan.
"Well, let's just call him Zhang Shun, it sounds good and easy to remember." Now Xiao Zhangsan officially changed his name to Zhang Shun. Zhang Shun smiled lightly and said, "From my observation of Zhu Houzhao, this kid is exceptionally smart. The things that happened today, he definitely won't mention them to his old man. Most likely, he will deliberately show a flaw to lure me into the trap again. Hmph, I won't fall for his tricks, and I'll make him wait!"
"I wonder, after talking for half a day, what exactly do you want to do?" Sun Wuji is very dissatisfied with his attitude, everyone is just working, you are not my boss, what's with the attitude?
“呵呵，我的任务很简单，杀朱佑樘！”张顺阴阴一笑道。
孙无忌终于明白了。
于是，最让朱厚照郁闷的事发生了，他带着高凤和暗暗部下的护卫在仁和大街上大摇大摆逛了三天，愣是一个跟踪的人都没发现。那个什么小长三消失的像空气一样无影无踪。
“这不对啊，这小子怎么不出现呢？”朱厚照苦恼地问。
There are no answers.
朱厚照苦笑道：“真是怕什么来什么，他还真躲起来了。也罢，我已经把他的样子画了下来，大伴你回头拿去让锦衣卫照样子描几百份，暗中查访。只要这厮还在京城，不信他不出现。”说完随手从怀里摸出小长三的画像交给高凤。
高凤拿来看了，佩服得五体投地：“太子丹青妙手，果然惟妙惟肖！”
除了这个郁闷写，也算还有好消息，按刘瑾等人的报道，仁和大街开业三天，一共成交额达到十七万贯钱，折合银子相当于九万多两。
Emperor Zhu Houzhao smiled and played with the abacus: "We spent over 90,000 taels of silver on buying those tribute goods, but the cost of processing and reforming them is only about 30,000. That's nearly double the profit. Hmm, after deducting the 12,000 taels for the eight-one duty, we still have 28,000 left. By the way, how many people are involved in our joint venture?"
“Master Taizi, there are indeed many people investing, with different businesses and varying amounts. It’s difficult for me to say for sure at the moment. We have to wait until we go back and calculate together to know for certain.” Liu Jin smiled and said, “But one thing is certain, those who invest one or two dozen taels of silver naturally won't get much benefit, but those who invest more will receive more.”
"Of course, take Qingyun for example, she is definitely a top performer in the inner palace. If you calculate it, she should make at least seventy or eighty taels of profit in two days." Zhu Houzhao calculated slowly, "At this rate, she could make nearly a thousand taels in a month. But this is just the first three days, it's too early to be overly optimistic. After these few days, the enthusiasm will definitely gradually diminish."
Yong Zhang said, "That's extraordinary. With five to six hundred taels of income in a month, all the silver invested by Qingyun can be recovered in a year, and the source of wealth will be endless in the future."
Even he himself, all seven eunuchs felt a little envious. Why didn't we add more earlier? Now it's a pity, letting those small retail investors pick up the bargain for nothing.
Emperor Zhu Houzhao chuckled and nodded, saying, "Don't just focus on this one area. If it's done well, you won't lose out in the future."
The seven people looked at each other with joy on their faces. It's great to have the right leader!
However, the slaves can't figure out why the market is run by the prince, and the shares are contributed by everyone. Why should we be taxed at 8 to 1, while elsewhere the tax is 30 to 1? Do we deserve to be cheated?
“是啊是啊，凭什么啊？”六人虽然不是人人开口附和，但眼神里都充满了疑问。
“还有啊，既然是皇家自己的生意，那么所得税银该归宝藏库，或是内东裕库才对，凭什么归司钥库？太子，这不是白白送人么？”这些问题，开始没赚头的时候，人人都没什么概念，所以不甚在乎，现在已经能看见眼前红利了，自然便觉得吃亏割肉。
Zhu Houzhao nodded and said, "If we don't give these things to them to shut them up, can the market still be opened?" He couldn't tell the whole truth to this group of people either. They are in different positions, even if he completely tells his thoughts to them, they still won't understand.
He Zhu Houzhao is not really interested in making money to spend. The whole world belongs to his old Zhu family, even if he is just a crown prince now, he already has everything he should have and can have. What's the use of making more money?
His reason for doing this is nothing more than to use practical examples to tell the court, especially to tell his father, that the old practice of collecting thirty taxes a year needs to be changed.
Our ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely shrewd in everything, except for this matter, which was quite unreliable. He originally looked down on commerce, thinking that it was a kind of exploitative and despicable industry!
可你既然觉得它贱，干嘛还便宜它呀？抽这么低的税，可不是明知猫儿爱吃鱼，你还偏把它放在鱼塘边吗？
说到这个，朱厚照想想都有些好笑。这位老祖宗有时候真是挺“神”，瞧不起商业，却让他们发财。可是又偏偏充满了恶趣味的规定，商人出门不能坐轿、不能骑马，顶多准许骑驴。不能穿绫罗绸缎，被人看见可以立刻扭送官府治罪······
It seems to announce: Laozi can make you rich, but even if you get rich, Laozi won't let you enjoy it, let you hold the money and stare!
Zhu Yuanzhang, who spent his whole life calculating the world, finally failed to understand a truth: no matter how strong people are, they will die, and no matter how strict the rules are, they will be broken. Even if you have harsh laws and kill people like crazy, even if you flay and torture, there will always be people who take risks for profit, like revolutionaries, who cannot be killed or eliminated.
And you, there will always be a day when someone will take over your rule.
So, when he died, the Ming Dynasty gradually turned into a paradise for commerce and corrupt officials. When he was alive, even with such harsh penalties as flaying and quartering for embezzling sixty taels, he still couldn't eradicate all the corrupt officials. Who cares about that now? Especially those who are in business.
Those merchants at first still kept it secret and sneaked into their homes to show off the satin and silk. Not satisfied, they wore them inside and covered them with coarse clothes when they went out. In the end, they were still the leading characters, just like in any normal society, always the rich ones?
But the problem is, isn't it said that the whole Ming Dynasty is full of gentlemen and sages? Isn't it said that everyone is a follower of Confucius, brave in righteousness and ashamed of profit? Why do we just stand by and watch these rich people eat and drink luxuriously, wear gold and silver, and only pay such low taxes, allowing them to gain without labor? And yet, no one speaks up about this rule, no one shows any dissatisfaction with this phenomenon?
这问题说起来很复杂，其实很好回答：因为大明朝到现在，已经慢慢演变成了官商勾结的社会结构。官员已经变成了大资本，大地主利益集团的代言人，他们站在朝堂之上，不管自身是清廉还是贪渎，他们的身后，总是有一个庞大的利益集团。不管他们愿不愿意，这些利益集团已经操控了他们的一言一行，掌握了他们的行为模式。无论是谁，都不会想着去改变这一切不合理。
假如再深一层次地提问：这又是为了什么呢？
也好回答：因为满朝朱紫贵，都是读书人！
;