Father can be an enemy to the country

Boss Zhu immediately summoned the fourth child.

Zhu Di quickly cleaned up and looked brand new inside and out, removing all bad luck. Accompanied by his brothers, he walked into the long-lost Qianqing Palace.

He originally thought that it was possible that his father would scold him, or even give him a whip if he got angry.

Unexpectedly, his father did not scold him, let alone beat him. Instead, he personally walked down the steps and helped the fourth son who was crying into tears.

"Stop crying, how did we teach you when you were a child?" Boss Zhu wiped his tears with his thumb.

"Back to my father, I am willing to admit defeat when gambling and admit punishment when making mistakes." Zhu Di sobbed quickly.

"That's right. If you make a mistake, you have to admit the punishment. After the punishment, won't the story be over?" Zhu Yuanzhang patted his shoulder hard and said: "You are such a stubborn person, you can't just lower your head like this! Remember, no matter it is No matter you are a prince, you are still Zhu Yuanzhang’s son! Wherever you fall, you have to get up from where you fell, and you have to jump higher than before! "

"Yes, I will keep my father's teachings in mind and will never let him down!" Zhu Di nodded heavily, his eyes red with emotion.

"You have never disappointed my father." Zhu Yuanzhang whispered in his ear: "Well done, fourth child!"

When Zhu Di heard this, he couldn't hold himself any longer and cried so much that he had runny nose and tears.

Zhu Yuanzhang waited for him to calm down with wet eyes, and then said in a low voice: "Hurry up and see your mother. She has been worried a lot these days."

"Yes!" Zhu Di responded, kowtowed three times to Zhu Yuanzhang, and said emotionally: "My son will leave the capital tomorrow with his sixth brother. I'm going to say goodbye. I don't know how many years it will take to see my father again. You, old man, must take care of me." Body!”

"Go, go, don't be sensational here." Zhu Yuanzhang was almost driven to tears by him, and waved his hands and said: "How can you be so polite, gentlemen, crying and moaning?"

"Yes!" Zhu Di quickly wiped his tears with his sleeves, kowtowed to his father three more times, and then left reluctantly.

Zhu Biao and Zhu Zhen also resigned together, preparing to accompany the fourth child there, but Zhu Yuanzhang stopped Zhu Zhen and said, "Don't join in the fun, stay and talk to us for a while."

"Hey." Zhu Zhen responded and stayed obediently.

~~

In the Qianqing Palace, only the emperor and Lao Liu and his son were left.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at his favorite son for a while and then said in a low voice: "You really want to leave?"

"Father, didn't you say that? I will come back next year for the Heroic Crowning Ceremony." Zhu Zhen said softly.

"Not only next year, but also every year!" Zhu Yuanzhang said more aggressively: "When things in Yunnan stop, you can live in both ends."

Zhu Zhen couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "At the end of the year, I'll just be on my way."

"It's a bit hard to force others to do something difficult." Zhu Yuanzhang sighed: "Dad is getting old, so I just want to see you two more times..."

"Yes, Father. We will come back more often." Zhu Zhen also felt sad. The biggest feeling he felt when he came back this time was that Boss Zhu, who had always been domineering and unparalleled, was getting old.

"Well. No matter what, your focus will be on Yunnan from now on. Some things still need to be clearly settled to avoid quarrels in the future." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, walked to the imperial case, picked up an edict and handed it to him road:

"We have discussed it with your elder brother. The Prime Minister's Office will be under your control forever. Of course, you will have to hand over 20 million taels of silver every year. The court is still waiting for the rice to be cooked. How about it? Do you feel any pressure?"

"I can only say that it's okay..." Zhu Zhen nodded, not giving up his habit of crying because of the father-son relationship just now: "But the current twenty million taels of silver is indeed the limit that Hai Zheng Yamen can come up with. No more. It won’t be possible to open the pot.”

~~

What Zhu Zhen said is true. At present, the Hai Zheng Yamen's profits mainly come from overseas trade, Japan Yinshan and Caoliang shipping.

Among them, overseas trade accounts for the bulk, with an annual income of about 30 million taels, but the fluctuations are relatively large. Especially in the past two years, the Timurid Empire has risen and occupied Persia and Mesopotamia. Although it has not affected trade yet, such a power will bring great uncertainty. No one knows if they will suddenly fall out one day.

As for Japan Silver Mountain, plus trade with Japan, it can steadily bring in 20 million taels of income every year. Now that Japan is being squeezed hard, there is no need to worry too much.

Then there are grain shipping and the accompanying domestic trade, which also generate an income of 10 million taels... This area is growing rapidly, and with the rise of the Ming Dynasty's national power, it will continue to grow in the next few decades without any major accidents.

Therefore, the total income of the Hai Zheng Yamen is 60 million taels. It seems to be extremely wealthy, but its expenses are also staggering!

The headquarters in Taicang and more than a dozen domestic shipping companies are just the tip of the iceberg. If the overseas part is included, the entire Maritime Administration has tens of thousands of large and small ships, more than 300,000 sailors and employees, as well as twelve port cities all over the Ming Dynasty and Southeast Asia, as well as annual shipbuilding and ship repair expenses... there are all kinds of things. In total, it would cost almost 20 million taels.

This is still the case when there is no major war. The so-called cannon fires a thousand taels of gold. Once you start a war with any country, the expenses will be overwhelming!

Oh, by the way, Yunnan has to subsidize millions of taels every year...

Therefore, Zhu Zhen can hand over more than half of his profits to the court every year, which is definitely a selfless contribution.

Of course, this is just the current balance of payments. In the future, once the Maritime Administration opens new prospects overseas, such as establishing Eurasian trade routes, opening South American galleons trade, or even entering North America, its income level will inevitably rise.

But that's all in the future, there's no need to reveal everything now.

~~

Seeing that Lao Liu was so reluctant, Boss Zhu took the initiative to give in and said, "Of course, we know that you have a big hole in Yunnan, and it all depends on the income of the Navy. Let's make a rule. 20 million taels per year is the upper limit, and we will never ask you for more than one tael. If the year is not good, you can also apply to the court for a partial exemption. Is that okay?"

"Okay, I listen to you, father." Zhu Zhen nodded. He was a little touched, thinking that his father had really changed and actually allowed bargaining.

Who knew that the touch lasted only three seconds, and then Boss Zhu waved his hand and said:

"Don't worry, I haven't finished talking yet. I've thought about it carefully. The two overseas provinces you requested to set up, Jiuzhou Provincial Administration and Goryeo Provincial Administration, are not like Yunnan, which is integrated with the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, they are separated by mountains and seas, with narrow land and poor people, and it is difficult for the court to directly manage them. Although it has been decided to send a prince to govern, it is inevitable that he will have to provide relief today and ask for rebellion suppression tomorrow. If the court agrees, the burden will be too heavy; if it disagrees, the prince will not be able to sit in power, so let's put them under the Prime Minister's Navy Office. All overseas provinces set up in the future will follow this example and be under the jurisdiction of the Navy Office."

"Father means that their expenses will also be borne by the Navy Office in the future?" Zhu Zhen finally understood why the old thief emphasized that only 20 million taels were needed. It turned out that he wanted to dump these burdens on himself.