In the Ming Dynasty, the population of the capital reached 550,000 households, so the commercial grain market was naturally extremely beneficial. However, the reason why there were so many people in the capital was mainly related to the Ming Dynasty's inattention to control household registration, and people's migration was relatively casual.

Nearly half of these 550,000 households are composed of soldiers from Beijing camp.

Some of these Beijing soldiers were soldiers and workers, and some soldiers were doing small businesses.

In addition to these Beijing soldiers, many of them were refugees who entered the capital. After entering the city, many of these refugees settled in the city.

A large number of people crowded in Beijing, which really caused a population explosion in Beijing. The sanitary and living conditions in many places are relatively poor.

Now that the military camp is reclaimed, 160,000 households will be moved out of the capital city, and there are still 390,000 households left, and there are still two million people in the capital city. At this time, Beijing City, with 1.6 million people squeezed into the city, which is still relatively crowded. Later, the reason why Beijing's population was restricted in the Qing Dynasty was that it was very popular in Beijing's household registration because it learned the lessons of the Ming Dynasty.

What are so many people doing in Beijing?

Beijing can support so many people, basically the country's political interests are supported. First, the national salary and military pay. Secondly, the income of high-ranking officials and nobles, whether openly or hidden. High-ranking officials and nobles always need some slaves, thugs, and workers.

In fact, most of the labor force is abandoned.

Or in other words, most of the population is actually serving those dignitaries. Previously, nearly two million people were serving more than 100,000 people.

The gap between the rich and the poor is extremely serious in society.

Zhu Youxiao decided to develop royal monopoly capital as soon as possible. Only by annexing private capital can the huge gap between the rich and the poor be reversed at this time.

"Your Majesty, the largest grain shop in the capital is these eight grain shops. Six of them are from Shanxi merchants, two are from the capital's powerful people, and one is from Shandong. There are many other grain shops, but they are all small shops." Li Jinzhong investigated the distribution of grain shops in the capital and presented the information to Zhu Youxiao.

"Haha! Let's launch an indiscriminate attack first. Li Jinzhong, you will immediately send someone to the city gates of the capital to set up checkpoints. Any goods entering and leaving the city will be charged 30% of the tax rate." Zhu Youxiao ordered.

"Master, will this be too much?" Li Jinzhong asked cautiously, "It's better to directly impose taxes on these grain banks, so that the resistance may be smaller."

"No matter what we do, as long as we touch the interests of merchants, the resistance will be equally great. If we only target those grain merchants, won’t those grain merchants be anxious? We don’t have much grain in our hands. If those grain merchants don’t release the grain, the capital will be in chaos." Zhu Youxiao said.

"I am stupid, I will do it now." Li Jinzhong quickly knocked his head, then took the initiative to make arrangements. Walking out of the Palace of Harmony, Li Jinzhong ran to the East Factory to call a group of eunuchs, and found a few accountants who settled the accounts, and went out of the palace with the imperial edict.

The group first came to Chongwenmen. Passing merchants looked at the group of eunuchs in East Factory in surprise, and some even stopped to watch the fun.

Li Jinzhong waved his hand, and the eunuch from the East Factory directly blocked the Chongwen Gate and then posted a notice.

"Now the national treasury is empty and the income is not enough. The soldiers at the border are hungry and cold. His Majesty reopens the commercial tax in the capital, and all merchants entering and leaving pay 30% of the goods to fill the national treasury."

The merchants around were shocked when they heard this, and wanted to enter the city but were stopped.

"Stop, stop, stop all." The eunuch in the East Factory pulled out his waist knife and looked like he was about to chop people. The merchants were so scared that they quickly stopped the boat.

"It's over, the emperor is going to collect taxes again."

"There is a huge loss now."

A group of businessmen were frowning, but the business still had to be done. They were taxed 30% of the tax, and others were also taxed 30% of the tax, and they could still be transferred to consumers, but the sales scale would not be so large.

Emperor Wanli has only been dead for half a year, so these businessmen can get used to it.

Chongwenmen had just set up checkpoints, and Li Jinzhong then set up checkpoints at other gates, and taxes will be paid when entering and leaving the caravan.

The Dongchang directly collected commercial taxes at the city gates, which immediately caused an uproar among the government and the people. In particular, the Donglin Party was about to go crazy and angrily accused the emperor of being greedy.

Soon, Zhu Youxiao, who was in the palace, received a request from a group of ministers to enter the palace to meet him.

"No." Zhu Youxiao waved his sleeves and went to Xiyuan for a leisurely outing. It was the season when grass was growing and the beards were flying, and the spring breeze and Buddha's faces were very suitable for outings.

"Get out of the way, we want to see the emperor." Yang Lian and others came outside the palace gate to ask for an audience with the emperor, but they waited for a long time without any results. Soon they pushed the eunuch on duty again.

But this time, it was different from when Zhu Changluo died. When the emperor passed away, people were in panic. These eunuchs were scared by Yang Lian and others and made a fuss, so they rushed to the Qianqing Palace and snatched Zhu Youxiao away. At this time, Zhu Youxiao was very grateful to the hearts of these internal officials in the palace. They all fulfilled their duties and blocked Yang Lian and others outside the palace gate, preventing Yang Lian and others from rushing into the palace.

"Mr. Yang, this is the palace, not a place where you should make trouble. Please pay attention to your virtue." Zhang Yan, the eunuch in charge of the imperial horse, is responsible for the security of the palace on weekdays and balances with Li Jinzhong. When Zhang Yan came to the scene, he immediately shouted coldly.

Yang Lian and other radicals of the Donglin Party were almost angry. They were accused of being unethical by an eunuch. This was the first time that they were so angry.

What's even more annoying is that they supported the new king who was in power and started to impose commercial taxes silently, which is completely contrary to their fundamental concept. And they wanted to ask the emperor in person, but they couldn't even find a figure.

Asking the emperor in person is nothing to these Donglin Party officials. Although the emperor is supreme in name, they will not directly question the emperor's decision, but will guide him in the direction of "the emperor is bewitched by villains". In this way, they did not commit any crimes. Once the emperor punished the "villain", it means that they won and were also a great hero.

This is also why Wei Zhongxian's reputation was so bad in history.

In history, because Emperor Tianqi attacked the Donglin Party, he was soon portrayed as an illiterate carpenter emperor by the Donglin Party, and had an ambiguous relationship with the wet nurse Keshi.

In fact, Keshi is very devout Buddhism and is diligent in serving Zhu Youxiao. There are no rumors at all.

The best way to deal with these Donglin Party is to not attend court like Emperor Wanli, and secretly support reliable ministers. Zhu Youxiao needed this even more, because he was supported by the Donglin Party. If he went to court every day, he would not be completely manipulated.

Jumping behind the scenes first and gradually getting rid of the control of the Donglin Party has also become Zhu Youxiao's current strategy. Therefore, Zhu Youxiao has been extending the interval between attending court during this period.

This time, the Donglin Party mobilized a large number of troops to question the emperor. Zhu Youxiao received news in the imperial city and simply announced that it would be extended to ten days.
Chapter completed!