"Okay, you are all ministers of my Ming Dynasty, get up quickly!"
Jiajing looked at the ministers kneeling on the ground and said softly.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" After the ministers finished speaking, they stood up and sat down in their seats.
Jiajing then turned his attention to Xu Jie and asked, "Mr. Xu Ge, how is the distribution of supplies required by the frontline soldiers?"
Xu Jie immediately stood up from his seat, bowed and said in salute: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Commerce is urgently allocating the ordnance, food, grass, and wages required for the soldiers ahead. They will surely arrive in Zhejiang tomorrow. In addition, the Ministry of Commerce has also allocated an additional One hundred and fifty furlong cannons!”
"Well, your household department should be more careful during this period and don't make any mistakes!" Jiajing said calmly after listening to Xu Jie's report.
"I will kill you for His Majesty's sake, even if I die!" Xu Jie said solemnly, and then returned to his seat.
"Zhang Juzheng, what's going on at the Ministry of War?" After asking Xu Jie, Jiajing turned to Zhang Juzheng and asked.
"Your Majesty, I have recently received a letter from Governor Hu. He hopes that our Ministry of War will send a navy to cut off the Japanese pirates' retreat. At present, I have approved this matter." Zhang Juzheng immediately went out to report to the emperor.
"Well, Yan Shifan, where are you?"
"Your Majesty, the personnel department has already sent out all the personnel transfers!" After hearing the emperor's call, Yan Shifan followed closely and said in a deep voice.
"Your Majesty, I have this report!" Yan Song, who had always been with the old god, suddenly stood up and said.
"speak."
"Your Majesty, you said in the last court meeting that you wanted to rectify the administration of officials, but the ministers took it upon themselves to make decisions and recently eliminated a large number of officials. Here is the list, please take a look!"
As Yan Song spoke, he raised the memorial in his hand high above his head. Seeing this, Lu Fang, who was beside Jiajing, quickly took the memorial from Yan Song and handed it to the emperor.
"This Yan Song is so cruel!" Gao Gong on the side saw this and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
Everyone present knew that all the people on this list were die-hard members of the Yan Party, and Yan Song was actually able to be ruthless and eliminate them all! Ask yourself, if they were put in Yan Song's position, they would never be able to do such a cruel thing.
Jiajing took the list from Lu Fang and flipped through it a few times. The first name on the memorial was that of Kaifeng Prefecture Yin. He was impeached by his subordinates for accepting bribes and hiring murderers. Later, it was verified that it was true and he was sentenced to death. All property confiscated!
Jiajing just glanced at it briefly and lost interest. He put it aside and said in a deep voice: "Well, Mr. Yan Ge is loyal to the country. He works hard and does a good job. Insects like this should have been eliminated long ago. !”
"Weichen just did what Weichen should do." Yan Song bowed, his face full of humility.
…
After the cabinet meeting, Jiajing returned to the Yangxin Hall and continued to try to build the spirit gathering array. Through the part of the text translated by Li Lisheng's master and apprentice, coupled with Jiajing's painstaking research, it can be said that the formation of the array is now established. This is the first glimpse of the door, at least it won't be like before, just build it once and blow it up once.
"Calm down and drive away distracting thoughts!" Jiajing forced himself to calm down and began to build the spirit gathering array according to the shape recorded in the book.
Jiajing followed the explanation in the book and slowly injected mana. At first, the lavender mana gathered into a singular point, and then the mana gathered into a point quickly spread out and turned into countless lavender threads. Then these threads Under Jiajing's control, an obscure formation was gradually formed. After the formation was completed, it gradually expanded to cover the entire Yangxin Hall.
"Successful!" Jiajing was overjoyed when he saw this. Just when he was about to take out the spirit stone from the storage bag and put it into the formation eye, the previously completed formation collapsed directly in front of him.
"Failed again, the one hundred and thirty-eighth time." Jiajing sighed helplessly and had no intention of continuing to build the spirit gathering array.
At this moment, Lu Fang's voice came from outside: "Your Majesty, this is Hu Zongxian's memorial to you!"
"Bring it in." After Jiajing finished speaking, he picked up the teapot on the side and poured himself a cup of hot tea.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Lu Fang said, opened the door, walked quickly to Jiajing's side, and handed the memorial to the emperor.
Jiajing slowly opened the memorial. When he saw the content above, he couldn't help but take a breath: "Twenty-eight million nine hundred and twenty thousand taels! And there are acres, mansions, and antiques?"
"Your Majesty?" Lu Fang was so surprised to see the emperor and was also curious about the contents of the memorial.
"See for yourself." After Jiajing finished speaking, he handed the memorial to Lu Fang. When Lu Fang saw the numbers on it, his pupils shrank suddenly, and he knelt on the ground.
"Your Majesty, this is truly a blessing!"
"Huh, 28.92 million taels. If you take into account the remaining acres, mansions, etc., 30 million taels of silver is more than enough. The total tax revenue of the imperial court last year was only 32.8 million taels! These moths are just lying on my body sucking blood, I will kill them all sooner or later." Jiajing said every word with a gloomy face.
"You can get so much money from smuggling alone. If the sea ban is lifted, wouldn't the court be able to collect more? Lu Fang, you ask, should I open the sea?" Jiajing said, turning his eyes to Lu Fang , quietly waiting for his answer.
At this time, Lu Fang was kneeling on the ground as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. He knew that if he could not answer this question well, it would be a trivial matter to offend His Majesty, and it might even cost him his life!
After thinking for a moment, Lu Fang quickly organized her words and said respectfully: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, I agree to lift the sea ban. This move is beneficial to both the court and the people!"
"After the maritime ban is lifted, the court can charge a fixed tax on ships going to sea, which can greatly alleviate financial tensions. At the same time, seaside residents can also go to sea to make a living. As long as the people have a mouthful of food, he will not think of causing trouble! The Japanese pirates along the coast can also be completely eliminated, which is a great thing that benefits the country and the people with one stone, but..."
Lu Fang said, with a look of hesitation on his face. When Jiajing saw this, he couldn't help but urge: "Just what? Don't give me a pass!"
"It's just that it's not a good time to lift the sea ban. Japanese pirates are now frequent along the coast. If we lift the sea ban rashly, we may lose more than the gains! Not only will the court not be able to collect much tax, but it will also further worsen the security near the coast."
Lu Fang finished speaking tremblingly, her back already wet with cold sweat.
"You, you, you and Mr. Yan Ge have the same idea." Jiajing said calmly after listening to Lu Fang's words.
"I don't dare. What I just said was from the bottom of my heart. I hope your majesty will see clearly!" After hearing what Jiajing said, Lu Fang kept kowtowing on the ground to apologize.
"Get up, I don't mean to blame you. I understand what you said! I'm just unhappy with these moths lying on my body sucking blood."
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for being brave. If the Japanese pirates in Fujian are to be wiped out, the imperial court only needs to send 4,000 people! And now Zhejiang is drawing elites from various guards, and the number of soldiers has reached 10,000. Many, and also used Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou, Tan Lun and other generals."
"This slave thinks that there is no point in killing a chicken with a butcher's knife. Or, Your Majesty, would you like to..."
At this moment, an extremely terrifying suspicion suddenly emerged in Lu Fang's mind. Could it be that His Majesty wanted to take advantage of this Japanese campaign to clean up all the powerful gentry forces along the coast?
Lu Fang suddenly raised his head and saw Jiajing looking at him with a playful expression.
"Now that you know it, shut your mouth and stop talking nonsense." Jiajing said, carefully stroking the carved dragon head on the dragon chair.
"Yes, I know this. I will definitely keep this in my stomach forever!" Lu Fang was frightened in her heart and kowtowed like garlic.
"By the way, you will inform Jinyiwei later to send someone to Zhejiang to transport the silver back to the treasury."
"yes."
(End of chapter)
