Father can be an enemy to the country

"You are obviously a coward, why do you insist on pretending to be a hero?" His Royal Highness the King of Chu chuckled. In order to ruin the reputation of this man named Lu, he ordered someone to put him face down on the porridge pot, and put paper and pen on a tray. He writes.

The porridge pot was steaming hot, making Lu Zhonghe's whole body hot. The sergeants who grabbed him didn't know whether they were doing it on purpose or because they were really weak, but their hands were shaking all the time.

Mr. Pingjiang was so frightened that he quickly wrote out the guarantee letter with a brush and signed his name and fingerprints.

"I didn't force you, did I?" Zhu Zhen asked quietly again.

"No, no." Lawrence Lu quickly shook his head.

"Then write another guarantee that I won't force you..."

"..." Lu Zhonghe wanted to die.

~~

Somehow or another, Lu Zhonghe finished writing the letter of guarantee that the King of Chu asked for, the letter of guarantee of the letter of guarantee, and the letter of guarantee of the letter of guarantee before he was steamed... and then he was not thrown into the pot.

But when the sergeants put him down, Lu Zhonghe had collapsed on the ground and had to be helped back to his seat...

With Duke Pingjiang here to show off, who would dare to make a mistake? Including Xie Yunzhang, who has always been arrogant, all the big businessmen in Jiangnan obediently wrote the guarantee letter and the guarantee letter of the guarantee letter, and then signed and signed it.

Seeing a thick stack of guarantee letters with red handprints put away, King Chu was so happy that he couldn't open his mouth from ear to ear. This thing is just useless paper in the hands of others, but in the hands of a prince, it is the life-saving talisman of the Lord of Hell.

"Let the banquet begin!" He then waved his hand and gave the banquet kindly.

In fact, we have already reached this point, so it doesn’t matter if we don’t waste food. But our sixth brother is a face-seeker, how can we let people go back with an empty stomach? He kept saying that His Royal Highness the King of Chu was stingy and made people come all the way, without even caring about a meal. How unseemly?

Moreover, His Royal Highness the King of Chu’s Laba Banquet was not just porridge, but also Laba garlic, Laba cake, Laba tofu and Laba noodles with Laba vinegar.

There was even a band playing trumpets to add to the fun...

Amidst the ticking sound of the trumpet, His Royal Highness King Chu held the bowl and smiled at everyone: "Let's all eat. Don't worry, I am watching. He didn't urinate just now..."

"Haha, okay..." All the wealthy households had no choice but to hold their porridge bowls and bite the bullet.

On the platform, Luo Guanzhong rolled his eyes because His Highness King Chu was eating Laba noodles...

After a bowl of noodles, His Highness King Chu wiped his mouth with satisfaction, and then spoke to everyone:

"Normally, you guys have nothing to do with Haitrade, but there is no reason to hold back what I want to say. So I'll let you hear it."

"Yes, yes, I'm all ears." A group of Jiangnan bigwigs had a very good attitude. Because the big iron pot was empty, but the fire underneath was not extinguished, no one wanted to turn it into a teppanyaki.

"I, the scholar generation in my dynasty, do not know the military and national plans, and move the clouds to forbid all communication, in order to avoid the danger of the Du Kou. I do not know that the people of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong are taking advantage of the government's prohibitions and occupying the land for private use!" Zhu Zhen said without mercy:

"This is an old drawback of the previous dynasty, and this dynasty is just following the same rules. The so-called shipping department is close to the capital and is easy to attract bandits. It is just an attempt by right-wing tyrants to monopolize the benefits of sea trade and not want the imperial court to share the profits!"

"..." All the wealthy people in the south of the Yangtze River were frightened when they heard this. It turned out that His Royal Highness King Chu knew everything!

In fact, it is not surprising to see that Luo Guanzhong, Shen Rong, and Gu Yuanchen have become his subordinates. They knew that no secret could be kept...

But why didn't His Highness the King of Chu say anything at first, instead of pretending to be dumbfounded and forcing them to write a letter of guarantee?

"Since I have already boasted to my father about Haikou, if I want to restore the former glory of the Ship Ship Company, I must first concentrate on studying the reasons for the rise and fall of the Ship Ship Company.

"I have discovered the benefits of shipping. The reason why during the Song Dynasty and the early Yuan Dynasty, it could be used as a 'fund for the military state' is because the Shipping Department has strict management and strong control over maritime trade. All ships going to sea must be boarded for 'inspection'. before they can be released; ships returning to Hong Kong must "check the facts" before they can return to Hong Kong. They can only be sold after taxing according to regulations. Therefore, during the two Song Dynasties, the revenue from commercial ships has always accounted for 10% to 20% of the national annual revenue.

"Later, the Yuan Dynasty implemented the 'Official Shipping Law', in which routes were monopolized by the government, and trade was jointly operated by government and merchants. At the same time, in order to ensure the smooth implementation of the Official Shipping Law, the Yuan Dynasty implemented a maritime ban and prohibited private sea trade. As a result, the revenue from commercial shipping increased sharply, and at one time the annual income was four A million taels of silver!"

"Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. The huge profits from maritime trade not only attracted wealthy merchants to do business illegally, but also ordinary maritime merchants went to sea for trade privately and dumped them at extremely low prices, causing the official ships to fall into losses. The merchants were unable to benefit from legal operations. To gain profits, we can only either join the ranks of private traders or withdraw from maritime trade sadly."

Zhu Zhen continued: "Many people have told me that it was the official ship that destroyed the Shipping Department. I believed it before. But after coming to Zhenjiang and seeing everyone's performance, I suddenly understood. It was not the official shipping law that ruined the Shipping Department at all - this law is not a bad law! It was the greedy bad guys who colluded with government and businessmen who ruined the Shipping Department!"

As he spoke, his sharp gaze swept across the crowd and said:

"Even if there is no official shipping law, these borers will still take advantage of the Yuan Dynasty's muddle-headed governance to eat up the big tree of the Shipping Department!

"So I have decided to follow the official shipping law and establish a municipal fleet! Anyone who wants to profit from maritime trade can sign up to join."

"So how does it work?" someone couldn't help but ask.

"Roughly speaking, the shipping company will ship the ships, and the merchants will ship the goods, sharing the risks and profits." Zhu Zhen said calmly: "The specific details will have to be brainstormed after the city shipping company is established. You just need to have an idea first... But I can guarantee the personal and property safety of all shipping merchants when they go to sea; I can guarantee that they will get a lot of money; and I can also guarantee that I won’t take a penny from you who shouldn’t be charged! Whoever dares to violate the three chapters of this agreement, no matter what No matter how old an official is, I hang him upside down on the mast, dry him in the sun and feed him to the fish! Even the Buddha can't save him!"

"..." The big households had different expressions when they heard this, and there was a buzz.

Since His Highness the King of Chu took care of Lu Zhonghe, these large Jiangnan households are no longer in the same state as before, with no food or salt coming in.

Then His Royal Highness the King of Chu emphasized in a deep voice:

"One more thing that can be made clear is that after the establishment of the municipal fleet, private overseas trade was prohibited - there is no room for bargaining on this issue. Sailors and bodyguards on sea ships are actually powerful private armed forces, which the court has always been worried about. Reason. So it must be in the hands of the court."

Of course, King Chu's words were a naked threat to those giants who owned private fleets.

But for the vast majority of wealthy households who do not have a fleet and can only drink soup, His Highness King Chu’s words mean an opportunity to reshuffle the cards...

In any case, the Chaohu Navy's incarnation of the Shibo Division fleet is parked on the edge of the Yangtze River. If His Royal Highness the King of Chu can really keep his word, the pattern of the sea will definitely be reshaped!

ps. It’s past 10 o’clock when I got home after drinking, so I woke up and wrote as fast as I can now…