Daming Junior Scholar

Seeing that the red-haired barbarian didn't follow the routine, Cai Yu felt a little angry in his heart. After repeated attempts to stop him but no effect, he could only let him walk around the city at will, watching the astonishing expressions of the people around him. Cai Yu was worried that someone would suddenly stand up to this red-haired barbarian.

Fortunately, my worries did not come true. Although the language was poor, the red-haired barbarian was very interested in gesticulating with the people with his hands. As he walked, he saw the majestic tower of the capital from a distance. city ​​walls.

Now Cai Yu smiled, pointed to the city wall ahead, and expressed himself with gestures, saying that the end was over, and he had to go back.

The Frangipulator glanced at the city wall, nodded knowingly, and just as the group of people were about to go back, a team came running from the direction of the city gate.

You know, unless there is an urgent military matter in this capital, you can't run around at will. Cai Yu couldn't help but looked up. Seeing that it didn't matter, Cai Yu's face was stunned, and then he greeted loudly: "Master He, stay a step, it's me."

Chapter 1254 The Silk Road

Chapter 1254 The Silk Road

He Jiaan glanced at Cai Yu in surprise at the sound of a war horse neighing, and before he could speak, his eyes naturally fell on the distinctive Franji man beside him.

Without any intention of exchanging pleasantries, He Jiaan turned his gaze back again: "Why is Mr. Cai here?"

At this time, Cai Yu also realized that he was a little reckless when he spoke just now. Judging by He Jiaan's dusty appearance, he should have just rushed to the capital from Paju. The place he should go to now should be the palace to meet the emperor. Why is he here when he is free? Say hello to yourself.

Thinking of this, Cai Yu showed a trace of guilt on his face: "I'm really sorry, Mr. He has been traveling all the way really hard, please come to the palace to meet His Majesty as soon as possible, as for other things, there is time to talk about it later."

"En." He Jia'an nodded, and after glancing at the red-haired barbarian again, he stopped entangled with Cai Yu and drove towards the Leopard Room.

When the group arrived at the door of the Leopard Room, the courier went in to pay the order first, while He Jiaan waited outside the door of the Leopard Room for Zhengde's call. Sure enough, it didn't take long before he saw Zhang Yong coming in a hurry from inside. When he saw He Jiaan He cupped his hands and smiled with a smile on his face, but He Jiaan could vaguely see an unnatural expression in his smile.

He Jia'an didn't think much about it, after all, as a foreign minister, he shouldn't make friends with internal ministers. Since ancient times, any collusion between inside and outside has no good end. Since Zhang Yong intends to distance himself from him, then he can only wish for it.

"Master He has worked hard all the way, please come in quickly, Lord Long Live has already been waiting for a long time."

"Please, Eunuch Zhang."

"Master He please."

There was a trace of unfamiliarity in the two people's words, and He Jia'an acted very naturally, but Zhang Yong was a little uncertain. Last time King Ning sent someone to ask, he sold He Jia'an's details, and he didn't know what to do. I don't know if He Jiaan knew about this matter, but I just peeked at the expression on He Jiaan's face along the way, until I came to the door of the imperial study room, I didn't notice any abnormality in He Jiaan's face, so I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Later, he didn't know that it was himself who betrayed him.

Arriving at the entrance of the Imperial Study Room, He Jiaan entered inside just for a moment, and when he saw Zhengde, he hurriedly bowed his hands and said, "My minister, He Jiaan, has seen my emperor, long live, long live, long live."

"He Aiqing get back on your feet quickly."

As soon as Zhengde stretched out his hand, he let He Jiaan stand up first, and he couldn't help but sighed: "It was really hard for He Aiqing to rush all the way back from Paju. I also know that you usually have a lot of things to do, and you may not be able to relax, but..."

Speaking of this, Zhengde couldn't help but smiled wryly and said: "This time, the Franji man came to Beijing again. I remember that when the Franji man came to Beijing last time, if it wasn't for He Aiqing, I'm afraid our dynasty would lose all face. In the end, there was a war, and this time the Francois came again, I'm afraid...they came here because of what happened last time, so they called you back from a long distance."

Along the way, He Jia'an has analyzed Zhengde's meaning of asking him to come back countless times. No matter how he thinks about it, he feels that Zhengde is just afraid of making a fool of himself. He didn't expect to hear what he said, but he also thought it was for the sake of Jiangshan Sheji. I hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly: "Your Majesty has considered it thoroughly."

He Jiaan patted Zhengde's flattery first, and then smiled slightly: "Although the Franji Kingdom is powerful in force, after all, the country is too far away from Daming, and it is inconvenient to go back and forth once, so I rashly started a war with Daming for the sake of those hundreds of people. It's not a wise move, not to mention that the current Daming is no longer what it used to be. We also have Francophone guns in our hands, and we have also researched coastal defense guns with larger calibers. Way to shore."

"Oh, there is such a powerful cannon?" Zhengde had seen the cannons of Daming before, no matter the rate of fire or power, they were much worse than the Franco cannons, and now he heard that Daming actually had more powerful cannons , I was so excited that I wished I could grow my wings and fly to Paju to see it.

Going to Paju is just one of my own ideas, but there is still one thing that bothers me right now. If the Franji people are not here to seek revenge, then what are they here for?

With doubts and incomprehension, Zhengde asked He Jiaan this question.

It's not that He Jia'an hasn't thought about this issue. After much deliberation, these Frangji people probably have only one purpose.

After organizing the words in his mind, He Jia'an just smiled: "Your Majesty, I feel that Frangji came to the capital from a long distance for only one purpose."

"What?" Zhengde asked repeatedly.

"Trade."

"Trade?" A big question mark immediately appeared in Zhengde's mind. I remember that the Franji man seemed to have made such a request when he came here last time, but He Jiaan rejected it because of the conditions. What happened this time? Someone came to mention this matter again. Is this business really so important?

Seeing Zhengde's puzzled face, He Jia'an explained to him: "Your Majesty, you know that in fact, we have had contacts with these foreign nations hundreds of years ago."

"Ah?" This question obviously exceeded Zhengde's cognition. In his memory, Daming had always implemented a policy of banning the sea. It is indeed unexpected that I have been with Fanbang for hundreds of years.

Seeing the strong interest on Zhengde's face, He Jiaan talked about the so-called Maritime Silk Road in this imperial study. At that time, porcelain, silk and tea in the Song Dynasty were continuously transported to Fanbang through the three major seaports on the coast. The income of the people has been greatly improved, and it has also earned a lot of cash for the Song Dynasty. Quanzhou alone will collect millions of taels of tax every year.

There are millions of taels in taxes alone?

This number really shocked Zhengde, and this is only the tax of one port. If the three ports are all added up, this number is really too shocking.

Thinking of this, Zhengde couldn't wait to ask: "He Aiqing, if we do business with Franji now, will our Ming Dynasty also get so much tax money?"

The idea is good, but it is not an easy task to realize it. He Jiaan shook his head with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, the Japanese pirates were rampant back then, which made Taizu issue an order to ban the sea, which made the three major ports decline a lot. Although it has recovered somewhat over the years, it has already been occupied by the fleets of those big families. It is not impossible to take it back, but..."

Although He Jiaan didn't say anything about it later, Zhengde reacted. He Jiaan's meaning was clearly that if the three ports were reopened to trade with the outside world, it would be tantamount to moving other people's pockets. If these big families unite at that time If so, I am also quite embarrassed.

Seeing so many silver taels flowing in front of his eyes every year, but he could only see but couldn't catch them, Zhengde was also extremely anxious. After thinking about it, he suddenly raised his head and told Zhang Yong: "Zhang Yong , let everyone in the room retreat, I have something important to discuss with He Aiqing."

"Yes." Zhang Yong didn't talk nonsense, and directly drove out the little eunuch and maid in the study, and then stood beside Zhengde, and when he was about to speak, he heard Zhengde's faint voice ordering: "You too Back off."

Chapter 1255

Chapter 1255

This is probably the first time that I have been excluded from the Imperial Study Room.

Zhang Yong was a little uncomfortable with such a scene, but still pretended to be meek and respectful, and retreated outside the imperial study with a smile. When he saw that there was no one around, the expression on his face suddenly fell down.

The so-called people are not good for a thousand days, and flowers are not red for a hundred days. Zhang Yong used to think that as long as he worked hard and carefully served Zhengde, his position would be stable all the time, so even if King Ning offered a higher price, he would He never revealed the secret of the Franc cannon to him.

However, the situation is probably different now.

Although he didn't know what He Jiaan and Zhengde were discussing inside, Zhang Yong could just subconsciously feel that this matter must be very important. Except for He Jiaan, Long Live Lord probably couldn't believe it himself.

Or did he hear something?For example, that private meeting with Zhu Yi?

For a moment, Zhang Yong's head was in a mess, and he couldn't find a clue at all, but he could only stay not far away obediently, looking at the closed door of the imperial study, in a daze for a while.

In the imperial study room, He Jia'an is trying to settle an account with Zhengde, an account that seems to be close at hand but far away in the sky.

"Since the Ming Dynasty sealed off the sea, silk and tea can only be transported to other neighboring countries through land caravans, and fragile heavy objects such as porcelain cannot be transported out. Among them, corruption must be inevitable, not only The Ming army, even the Tatars can also be bought, or if it is silver, or a bag of tea, those things that are not worth much in Ming Dynasty will become the sweet pastry that everyone is vying for in the west."

He Jiaan's voice slowly echoed in the imperial study room, but the expression on Zhengde's face became more and more surprised. What He Jiaan told himself now was something he had never heard of before, and no one had ever told him about it. Tell myself the details, and what I hear is always that there is a shortage of money here and there, and no one has ever thought about it for me, how to increase the amount of money in the treasury.

"What He Aiqing means is that if Daming reopens the sea ban, the national treasury will be greatly replenished?"

He Jiaan shook his head with a wry smile: "Things are not that simple. Just now, the minister also said that since the Ming Dynasty implemented the sea ban policy, it has indeed played a great role in curbing the Japanese pirates, but it also made the people along the coast empty their treasures. sigh."

He Jiaan did not blindly criticize the Ming Dynasty's ban on the sea, but criticized its mistakes. After all, each era has a situation. It is also very different from before.

The voice continued: "Mingzhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou have been trading hubs leading to other countries since ancient times. Although the ban on seas in these years has made the status of the three major ports drop a lot, the private caravans of those big families have The foreign trade has never stopped, but all the profits here have been annexed by them, and the size of the fleet has also increased. I think that when the minister was fighting Japanese pirates in Zhejiang, he encountered a ship specially transported to the Japanese country. A team, but a village of only a thousand people, can be described as rich and invincible."

"It's so rich?" Zhengde seemed to be frightened by these four words, and his eyes gradually showed fanaticism: "Now there are only two of us here, so He Aiqing will tell the truth, how can these profits flow into our society?" in the treasury."

The desire for silver has made Zhengde not to cover up his greed. He Jiaan also understands this very well. Since ancient times, no king would want to have a thicker pocket, especially in the present, when money is needed for repairing everything, saving money No, Masanori naturally set his sights on open source.