After talking to the emperor for a while, Gao Gong was about to lead a few people to retire, and Longqing sent them to the door, but stopped Shen Mo and said, "Master Shen, you stay for a ......while."

Shen Mo had no choice but to stand in the eyes of several people, and returned to the warm pavilion with the emperor.

The earth dragon burned very strongly, the warm pavilion was as warm as spring, and the emperor sat on the couch and beckoned Shen to sit silently every few times. Excitedly, his face turned red and said, "Fang Caizhen's performance is not bad, right......"

"Heavenly grace is like a ......" said silently and softly, "the posture of the Holy Monarch." ”

"Hehe, it's ridiculous." Long Qing wanted to say that I had been thinking about it for a long time. I felt that it was too cheap, so I said something else: "Do you want to make an eyebrow about that matter?" When he said this, he looked anxious, and he lost the maturity he had just pretended.

Shen Mo knew what the emperor was talking about, and said in a low voice: "It seems that the emperor already has an idea*......"

"It's not my idea, it's Teng Xiang and they gave it to me." Long Qing said: "They say that they are still rich and comfortable.

Shen Mo's brows moved imperceptibly, and he heard Long Qing continue: "They also said that the emperors before the first emperor were rich, but when they arrived at the first emperor, the inner money began to be empty, and the money had to be asked for from the household department, which was not only unjustifiable, but also ruined the reputation. He said with emotion: "I have deep feelings about this......"

Shen Mo looked at the emperor's overly drunken face, and said in his heart, "If you don't have money, you can play like this, if you have money, won't you toss it to the sky?" , He really wanted to persuade Longqing, but there was always a voice in his heart, and he was not allowed to say it himself. When the words came to his lips, he became: "This is also reasonable......

Seeing that ......he was encouraged, Long Qingxing said: "Let them check the old affairs of the previous dynasty, and find that the income in the palace before the Jiajing Dynasty came from the nine taxes, the manager's warehouse, the admiral's construction, the pearl pond, the silver field, the market, weaving, burning, firewood, and charcoal...... There are also royal shops, customs and so on......"

Shen Mo listened to it tightly, this was obviously an excuse for the eunuchs to increase the emperor's income, and they wanted to wantonly loot the people's fat and people's ointment, and sure enough, the dog couldn't change the, it seems that after changing the master of Kuanren, the eunuchs began to move again. He suppressed the anger in his heart and asked calmly, "What about the Jiajing Dynasty?" ”

"Jiajing Dynasty ......" Longqing was speechless for a while. Of course, he knew that since Chenghua, the arrogance of the inner servants has become increasingly rampant, which eventually led to the chaos of the Eight Tigers represented by Liu Jin in the Zhengde Dynasty, so that the anger of the heavens and the resentment of the people turned against the sky. Emperor Jiajing witnessed the disaster of the previous dynasty with his own eyes, and only after ascending the throne did he serve very strictly. In the end, although the old people of Xingdi were in charge of the ceremonial supervision and supervised the East Factory, they were all cautious and did not dare to be presumptuous. The first emperor also withdrew the world to guard the ministers and the Dianjing camp warehouse, and did not re-establish it for more than 40 years, so the momentum of the ministers, since the end of Hongwu to the present, only the Jiajing Dynasty killed a little.

It's easy to cut off the clutches of the eunuchs who stretched out to all corners of the Ming Dynasty, but now Longqing wants to make a fortune from the eunuchs, won't he restart the magic box of the eunuchs and the country?

The silver charcoal in the furnace burned silently and tastelessly, and the emperor fell into deep thought, speechless for a while.

Waiting silently and quietly, it was quite helpless in his heart, for the eunuchs, every word that the Son of Heaven said without secrets would reach the ears of those dead eunuchs. But no matter what way he came from, he could only say to this friend, and there was nothing he could do if he offended them.

"It's definitely not okay to be like the Zhengde Dynasty, eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics, this is the ancestral system set by Hong Wuye*......" Long Qing finally finished thinking about it, and said carefully: "But can you let some irrelevant places out, just let them take care of the pearl pool, Yinchang and the like, which is not related to the overall situation, and there can be a huā pin in the palace." ”

Silently sighed, he knew that Longqing was too poor firstly, and secondly, his ears had always been soft and boneless, even if he persuaded him today, he couldn't stop the eunuchs from blowing the wind tomorrow, so it was not okay to blindly dissuade him. So he said slowly: "Gu Shiyun, will be the top of the mountain, at a glance of the mountains and small" Your Majesty, as the supreme of the Ming Dynasty, is a trivial point in your eyes, and it is also the fundamental ...... that tens of thousands of people rely on to survive."

Long Qing showed a look of disappointment on his face, and said in a low voice: "You helped me back then, why do you learn from them now and manage me to death." ”

Shen Mo smiled faintly and said: "The emperor misunderstood, Weichen is still the same Weichen, sharing worries for the emperor, this has never changed*......"

"I still thought ......" Long Qing immediately said with relief: "When you become a scholar, you only speak from the standpoint of an official." ”

"How so?" Shen Mo shook his head and said: "Since I knew the emperor's difficulties, the ministers have been restless, and they have been thinking about how to make the emperor rich and not be talked about by the ministers. ”

"It would be great if it could be like that............" Long Qing cheered up, and then said again: ", but how is it possible? ”

"It's entirely possible*......" Shen Mo smiled slightly, and said mysteriously: "As long as we don't move what is in front of them, naturally no one will make noise*......"

"Where is that......" Longqing said confusedly.

"Overseas." Shen Mo went straight to the point, and said sharply: "I am not the only one in the world, but also the Taixi countries in the far west, they have obtained huge wealth through plundering all over the world, they love luxury and greedy for enjoyment, so every year from my Ming Dynasty imports giant coconut tea, silk and porcelain." and all sorts of other elaborate luxuries, so that tens of millions of taels of silver flowed into our country*......"

Longqing is no stranger to these, and when he was in Yudi, Shen Mo told him about the geography of the world, as well as the history of the Western countries, and he was no stranger to maritime trade. Hearing this, he suddenly said: "That's right, since the people can trade with Taixi, of course the royal family can also earn their money!" He said very excitedly: "Teng Xiang They also said that the best money to make today is the Francois people, and they also proposed to form a royal merchant fleet*......"

"Emperor Ying*......" Shen Mo finally patted his ass, and Longqing's bones suddenly crisped half, so he listened to him continue: "But the cost of each of the big ships suitable for ocean voyages has risen to more than 10,000 taels of silver, and to build such a fleet, the funds of Huā Fei are really amazing, and this money cannot be paid by the inner court, and the outer court will definitely not pay it." He said word by word: "Although Liu Daxia has become an ancient, there are still countless Zhang Daxia and Ma Daxia in the court, and there will be no more ...... of the Three Treasures fleet."

Listening to Shen Mu's words, Long Qing once again fell into deep thought. He naturally knows a lot about the glorious history of his ancestors...... During the period from Yongle to Xuanzong, the Ming Dynasty created seven Western Oceans that shook the ancient and the present, from Fujian to the south through Malacca, the Indian Ocean to the east coast of Africa, almost all of the Ming Dynasty's world, only during the Yongle period, the tribute missions of the vassal states were as many as 318 times, and the name of "the Heavenly Empire" was established. However, since Chenghua, the imperial court officials forbade the ships of China to go to sea again on the grounds that the ocean-going fleet was too consuming national strength, and Liu Daxia, who was the secretary of the military department and the name of the Qing Dynasty, burned the priceless information of Zheng He's voyage to the sea and ordered the Nanjing Longjiang Dock and the Fujian Dockyard to stop the construction of all long-distance giant ships.

Any undertaking must pay attention to efficiency, and the output must be greater than the input in order to achieve sustainable development. Zheng He's fleet had a large number of soldiers and a huge amount of money, and each time he sailed, he had to spend a lot of money to purchase gifts, and the large amount of tribute he brought back was provided for the royal family and nobles to enjoy for free. However, when the relocation of the capital to Beijing and the five expeditions to Mongolia cost a huge amount of money, so that the imperial court had to cut expenditures, it was regarded by civil officials as "waste, and when they went to the West, they naturally bore the brunt."

"Moreover, the sea voyage is too long, the wind and waves are treacherous, only eight out of ten ships can reach their destination, and often thirty percent of the goods ** deteriorate and cannot be sold." In order to dispel the emperor's thoughts, Shen Mo was a little alarmist: "So the risk is too great, if you don't get it right, you will lose all your money, the royal family wants to make money, and naturally earn the most stable share in the world, how can there be anyone who licks blood on the tip of the knife?" He said with a mysterious smile and said: "Actually, the palace doesn't have to be directly involved, just make a name for yourself and you can make a lot of money, and there is no risk ......at all."

Let Shen Mo flicker like this, Longqing completely dispelled the idea of building a fleet to go to sea, but he was aroused with a glimmer of hope, as if he had a little hand tickling in his heart, leaned over and looked at him and said, "Don't sell it!" What the hell to do, let's talk about it! ”

"Your Majesty, the share that the ministers offered, the Kunyu Wanguo Map, is still there?" Shen Mo asked. The so-called "Kunyu Wanguo Map" is an oval-shaped world map drawn by Xavier himself, which is more comprehensive and detailed than the "Ming Dynasty Mixed One Map" treasured in the palace. There were two copies, one for himself to educate his children, and one for the emperor.

"Here, I often play with it, just like I said, I don't know if I don't see it, the world is really wonderful." Long Qing smiled: "I found it for you?" ”

"Since the emperor often sees it, then there is no need to * ......" Shen Mo smiled and said: "At present, there are two main lines of trade between my Ming Dynasty and Taixi, one is to go to Malacca through Guangzhou to trade with the Francois people, and the other is to trade with the Spaniards through Nanyang to Luzon.

The former was early and developed, and the latter was new, but there was a great tendency for the latter to catch up....... "In fact, there was a third, which was to buy and sell with the Japanese* himself, who lacked nothing but silver, but after all, the imperial court still forbade trade with the Wa Kingdom, so the silence did not mention it.

"Uh-huh......" Long Qing nodded, he was no stranger to the place name that Shen Mo said...... It is also a loss of silence and painstaking solitude, and ten years of sharpening the sword. How many years in advance to reserve knowledge for the emperor, at this moment Long Qingben listened effortlessly and with relish. This moisturizing and silent water mill is more like Xu Ge Lao than Zhang Juzheng.

"These two waterways are the so-called Maritime Silk Road, and they are also veritable golden waterways." Silent and said in a deep voice: "But it is not peaceful, in addition to the stormy waves, there are also rampant pirates in the middle of it, and the fleets are often invaded, often with no people and money, and there is no return......." ”

"Uh-huh." Long Qing nodded and said: "The sea dart game, even if it is not as good as the tap on land, it must be a big profit." Benba looked at Shen Mo and said, "This, what's the situation now?" "I'm afraid of being disappointed again.

"At present, it is mainly the maritime merchants who pay for it, and my Ming sailors escort it." He smiled silently.

Sure enough, he was still disappointed, Long Qing even bent his waist for a while, and said depressedly: "Then this money, it still doesn't have a share in the palace......"

"But," Shen silently gasped, "Lord Asari is very dissatisfied with this, and I can't wait to get rid of it as soon as possible." ”

"Why?" Long Qing asked.

"There are three reasons, one is that they think that the army is a public weapon of the state, but escorting merchants is a loss of imperial court. Second, the previous escort only charged the cost, so the seam and the money were seen. , said silently and lightly: ...... Third, one by one is the composition of the sailors, except for a part of the naval army from Yu Dayou's training, most of them are adapted from Xu Hai, Wang Zhi, Lin Feng and other former Haikou * ...... who were recruited to "pause" is not without irony: "The adults in the court are all clean, at the beginning, under the pressure of resisting the Japanese, they opened high-ranking officials and Houlu, turned them from thieves to officials, and then let them fight thieves, and now that the sea is flat, it is time for rabbits and dead dogs to cook............ "So the opposition between Shen Mo and Yang Bo, southeast merchants and Jin merchants is almost everywhere, In addition to the bank ticket number, the Jin merchants also wanted to use their influence in the court to eliminate Xu Hai and others, so as to achieve the goal of controlling the sailors through the military department, and then controlling the trade routes.

But they accepted the lessons of the previous times, conducted an investigation first, and found that Xu Hai and others were unruly and unruly, "claiming that their subordinates are giving face to the court, and if they are unhappy, they can turn out of heaven in every second." lest they be stimulated to defect from the imperial court and make trouble again, so the Jin merchants did not act rashly against them, "but on the one hand, they continued to install people in the naval division by the military department, and even issued three orders to Yu Dayou, who was suppressing bandits in Guangdong, ordering him to go to Beijing to report on his work, and his intention was uneasy; On the one hand, he created public opinion in the DPRK and China, hoping to attack from both sides with the pressure of Jingcha, so that Shen Mo, who was inseparable from Xu Hai and others, would make a compromise, and at the worst he would take over the part of the sailors that originally belonged to the imperial court.

Silence naturally does not sit still, and has long been in full swing to prepare for the confrontation that will come at any time...... Today's play is a key part of his plan.

"It's not very authentic............ Longqing was isolated from the state government back then, and he didn't feel the pain of the Japanese invaders, so he listened to the silent narration, "I feel some sympathy for Xu Hai and them."

"It's not just not authentic, it's just that he only cares about his own reputation, but he lets the emperor be a villain! even regarded the country's faith as a child's play! Shen Mo said with a look of indignation: "Haikou is shrewd, but back then, they didn't see the holy decree and did not surrender, and the officials were forced by the situation to instigate the first emperor to issue the will of Zhao'an, but now they want to openly violate the holy decree of the first emperor and kill the donkey!" Not only did he give the emperor a notorious reputation for unfilial piety! I also want to make the Ming Dynasty lose its morality, who will still believe in my Ming promise in the future! People can't stand without faith, and the country will be in danger without faith, Your Majesty! ”

"Well......" Long Qing thought so, but he couldn't help muttering in his heart, but what does this have to do with making money.

Fortunately, Shen Mo finally lifted the lid and said: "The minister is selfish, the minister is a member of the original Zhao'an negotiations, and he doesn't want the court to lose his trust in the world, but he also doesn't want to make trouble with his colleagues, so he came up with a workaround......." said and spit out a sullen breath: "I followed their wishes, let Xu Hai and them leave the army, and didn't let them go back to be bandits, but escorted them as civilians, wrote letters to communicate with them, and they were all fed up with the bird's spirit of the military department, and they were willing." But there is also a concern...... Without the identity of the official army, who still believes them? Willing to find their bodyguards? Then he bowed down to Longqing and said: "Therefore, the minister dares to ask the emperor to receive them in the name of the royal escort, so that they can continue the original escort and give them a livelihood, then the sea and the border will be peaceful, the emperor's merit is immeasurable, and the minister can also be loyal and righteous." "At the end of the day, it's all emotional.

"Hurry up*......" Long Qing hurriedly pulled up and said silently: "It's so easy for you to ask me for something, I have to agree, besides, they were already recruited by the holy decree of the first emperor, and I should give shelter, no one can say anything." ”

"The emperor's kindness...*......" Shen Mo squeezed hard and didn't squeeze out tears, but his heart was really iron, although the first emperor was also very good to him, but he was far from being as sincere and enthusiastic as Longqing, people's hearts are flesh and blood, how could he not be moved?

"I know what you mean now......" Long Qing frowned and said, "You should also tell me about the prospects of this matter?" Just by making a name, I'm afraid I won't get much benefit. ”

"Hehe, the emperor is too underestimated, royal, these two words" Shen Mo laughed and said, "The pickles of Liubiju, the jewelry of Bao Daxiang, the gouache of Shuiyunzhai, and the silk cloth of Ruitaixiang are famous all over the country, and the signboard is loud!" What else in the world is more shining than, royal, this gold-lettered signboard? Moreover, not only is it famous, but it also has great benefits...... Giant merchants, tax collectors, and sailors, no one dares to bully them, for fear that the bandits will flee when they see it. Business is prosperous, and natural wealth is abundant*......"

After saying this, Long Qing smiled: "How much money can Hua make?" ”

"It's hard to say how much money you make...... "But the royal name can't be used in vain, you have to fix a sum of money to the palace every year, and then dividends." ”

"How much is that?" Long Qing was impatient.

"The first year, it's not quite sure." Shen Mo said: "But they know that the palace is in urgent need of money, so they are willing to pay one million taels first, and wait until the end of the year, if there is no dividend, if there is ......, then divide the palace into three percent" paused, and said: "According to Weichen's estimate, from next year, it should be able to stabilize between one hundred and two million taels." ”

Long Qing was completely stunned, he really didn't expect that his name would be so valuable...... The day before yesterday, he just asked, the annual expenses in the palace are about 1.5 million taels, isn't it enough to cover it all at once?