"I hope so!"
Min Xichen sighed and replied.
"Otherwise, the emperor has the final say in distributing the benefits of the world."
"But if this is the case, what if the emperor in the future has no virtue and only knows how to squander the world's wealth and reward sycophants?"
Then, Min Xichen expressed his worries again.
"That's what I'm afraid of."
Xu Jie replied, almost crying, "Jiang Ling and his gang must keep tossing this endlessly! Sooner or later, the Ming Dynasty will die in their hands!"
Min Xichen smiled at this time and said: "However, old gentleman, there is no need to be anxious. What you just said is still possible."
"how to say?"
Xu Ying asked eagerly at this time.
Min Xichen said with a smile: "First of all, Jiangling's reputation among the people has gone bad! There are few scholars in the world who don't scold him!"
[In view of the general environment,
"I can't even tear through the anonymous posts scolding him. Even with the thousands of eyes of the imperial guards, they can't stop the officials and gentry who are in charge of the world from hating him in their hearts."
"Therefore, good words and flattery about Jiangling are strictly prohibited, while bad words about Jiangling are explicitly forbidden and implicitly allowed. If His Majesty really sends the Jin Yiwei to inquire about the public opinion about Jiangling, all he will hear is how Jiangling is. How lustful, how greedy for money, how greedy for power.”
"Why did they transport six million taels of silver to Jiangling? Even the floor tiles were paved with gold."
"The mansion was expanded to several times the size of the palace, and hundreds of eunuchs were employed."
"Even if the "Huangming Daily" and "Di Bao" run by the Superintendent of Ceremonies keep saying good things about him, no one will believe these good words outside the inner city of the capital."
"Under Shilin's overt and covert instigation, anyone who is literate will instinctively feel that serious reports from the imperial government cannot be trusted!"
"What's more, those tabloids secretly printed by the private sector and published with headlines that are outlandish and seduce people's selfish desires are already easier for people to believe."
"I'm afraid the emperor will believe that he controls so much power in Jiangling. It's impossible not to make money for himself, and it's impossible not to show off his wealth extravagantly and go beyond etiquette."
"What's more, Jiang Ling is a person with a very dishonest career. Some of the things he said are true and not just groundless rumors."
Having said this, Min Xichen asked Xu Jie: "Old sir, do you think His Majesty won't believe it? Wouldn't he be disappointed in the gentleman who pretends to be a saint in front of him?"
Then, Min Xichen said: "Secondly, the emperor still has to attend lectures and readings very early every day. Rain and snow are unavoidable. He is forced by Jiangling to be the king of Yao and Shun, and he cannot rest!"
"But as long as you are an individual, you cannot be inert, and you will not be willing to be controlled like this. Especially at the age of the emperor, I am afraid that you have already had a rebellious heart! I am just waiting for the news from the outside world to pour in. If the emperor knows about it in the capital, maybe the emperor will only hate Jiangling, and even the civil servants and military generals who trust Jiangling will be disgusted and commit suicide."
"And once it's done, it will be very difficult for the emperor to take it back. After all, what's the emperor's face?"
After hearing this, Xu Jie nodded: "I hope so. It's just that judging from the current implementation level of the New Deal, it doesn't seem to be what Jiang Ling wants to achieve."
…
"Your Majesty, I have discussed with Old General Yu. Since the trade between Hirado and Nagasaki is now controlled by the imperial court, the customs tax will naturally have to be decided by the imperial court. Therefore, I dare not make any arbitrary decisions and only follow the old Japanese customs. Collect taxes."
After Qi Jiguang entered the capital, he entered the palace first, met Zhu Yijun, and told Zhu Yijun his thoughts about the Japanese country Haili.
Zhu Yijun smiled faintly, and then asked: "How much tax does Japan collect?"
"The average tax is five to one."
Qi Jiguang replied.
Zhu Yijun was stunned after hearing this and said: "These Japanese chiefs are quite ruthless!"
"The chiefs of the Japanese country attacked each other without restraint.
, so taxes are very high. "
Qi Jiguang replied.
Zhu Yijun frowned and asked, "How can our own businessmen tolerate this? Not letting me know about it, but asking me to condemn them? Such heavy exploitation! If this were our own country, wouldn't it have already boiled over?"
"What your Majesty is saying is that because smuggling is rampant, you don't want your Majesty to know about it, and you don't want the court to interfere."
Qi Jiguang replied.
Then, Qi Jiguang took out the secret memorial: "When Yan Zhongji, Yang Xie and others met with me, I have recorded the content of their conversation in this book and made it known to your majesty. From this, your majesty can understand that they actually prefer to I asked my ministers and the generals who were in Japan to share the profits of the Japanese people with them. I also did not want the imperial court to benefit. I also advised my ministers that the Yidong Yi was a barren land with no property, and its people were like savages. However, the profits gained were maintained. We used the excuse that military expenses are difficult to deceive Your Majesty, so that Your Majesty does not know the great benefits of Dongyi Haihai."
Zhu Yijun nodded, and did not say that he had already known that a member of the army had met Qi Jiguang through the detailed work of the Jin Yiwei in the Japanese conquest army. Instead, he only waited for Qi Jiguang to tell him the content of the conversation when he came to Beijing. He only took Qi Jiguang's memorial and read it. He stood up and laughed:
"The courage of those who dare to go to sea is extraordinary. They dare to say these things. They are really a group of people who dare to sell the ropes used to hang themselves for huge profits! If they don't take the court seriously, they feel that the court really doesn't care. Do you dare to touch the people behind them?"
With that said, Zhu Yijun ordered Zhang Jing: "Ask the factory guards to investigate a few people and follow the clues to find out the forces behind them!"
Zhang Jing raised his hands and said yes.
Zhu Yijun looked at Qi Jiguang: "Ai Qing should have already learned about the real and actual Haili of Dongyi by taking over shops in Hirado and Nagasaki in Dongyi. From Aiqing's perspective, how should this Haili be divided?"
"Back to your majesty, because Dongyi produces a lot of silver, and because the chiefs in the country are fighting each other, they need a lot of saltpeter, iron materials, etc., so Haili is actually very rich. Whether it is a merchant from the West or a merchant from the country, basically I mainly sell my goods from China to that place and earn silver, and then I come to China to buy more goods and sell them to that place."
"As for how to divide this Haili, it will naturally be decided by His Majesty!"
"Thunder, rain, and dew are all for your kindness. Your Majesty can divide them however you like."
Qi Jiguang did not hide anything from Zhu Yijun, nor did he directly ask Zhu Yijun to give them more of these military honors at this time.
Zhu Yijun nodded: "Well, let's prepare for the prisoner presentation ceremony for a few days. Tomorrow I will ask you to go to the political hall to talk to the ruling ministers about the Japanese country's Haili, so that they can understand better. This involves the national economy and people's livelihood, and cannot be taken casually. The ruling, especially whether the tax rate for goods imported and exported from Japan should be reduced or increased, requires careful decision-making."
"I obey your decree!"
When Qi Jiguang saw that Zhu Yijun asked him to go to the political hall to discuss the matter of dividing the world's profits, Qi Jiguang couldn't hide his excitement and hurriedly replied.
Then, Zhu Yijun suddenly asked: "I heard that you brought back some Japanese dogs to give away?"
Qi Jiguang couldn't help but be startled, and a chill suddenly appeared on his back.
Then, Qi Jiguang replied truthfully: "Your Majesty, they are some Japanese slaves. I am thinking that because of the New Deal, the big officials and gentry have to cut their expenses and release their servants. Even your Majesty's inner court has fewer people who are willing to castrate themselves and enter the palace." The men who did menial work also brought some back, ready to be presented to His Majesty or given away. The ones presented to Your Majesty were all bitches that could plow the fields. Your Majesty could have sent them to the Imperial Mansion to make up for the losses of the runaway tenants. .”
"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I bought them all with my own salary. These Japanese slaves are extremely cheap, almost the same price as buying a dog. Therefore, I and the Japanese officers and soldiers have become accustomed to calling them dogs, in order to distinguish them from the ones we brought." Servant."
Qi Jiguang obviously knew that the emperor and reformist civil servants, who were also landlords, had also lost some interests because of the New Deal.
After all, the landowners and the officials and gentry all paid the grain and acted as errands, so the people who managed the land under them had to increase the rent to make up for the losses. Therefore, the phenomenon of tenant escape was also very serious, and cheaper serfs were needed to be replaced.
Even if Zhu Yijun and some reformist bureaucrats took the initiative to reduce rents out of sympathy for the tenant farmers, due to the increase in the income of the common people and the decrease in the income of the officials and gentry, there will be fewer and fewer people in the country who can work as slaves, and more people are needed.
Cheap slaves to make up for the reduced quality of life after releasing many slaves and maids.
Therefore, Qi Jiguang now took the initiative to send cheap Japanese slaves to the emperor and the ruling ministers who advocated reform. He obviously knew their needs, and also intended to use this method to let the emperor and the ruling ministers continue to support Wu Xun and civil servants, and let They are also more willing to support restructuring selfishly.
"A Japanese plow dog?"
