The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde reported the story of the disappearance of merchant ships heading to Yuegang from Zhejiang, Guangdong and other places, and suggested that the navy should first undertake this transportation service.

Although the current export trade volume of Yuegang is not large, as long as the imperial court sets this policy, it will be equivalent to giving the fledgling Daming Navy a way to monopolize and make money.

In the future, the navy can use this policy to monopolize shipping in the coastal provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and the money is still rolling in.

Moreover, Wei Guangde's last words, about "making his name known overseas", were actually nothing more than an excuse.

This is his purpose of visiting foreign countries and doing business to make money without missing a beat.

The most profitable thing is to ship Ming's goods out. Domestic shipping trade is more about training sailors and making them familiar with ship operations and ports.

Of course, no matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. In the future, when the Ming Dynasty's economy develops, this will also be a huge sum of money.

At the very least, it would be no problem to earn enough money to maintain the warships.

As for the navy to take Ming Dynasty goods on a mission, Wei Guangde didn't have to speak too clearly. Zhang Juzheng and others already knew the meaning of his words.

Without saying anything, Wei Guangde had obviously found a way to make money for what he called the Ming Dynasty Navy. The navy could develop without too much investment from the court.

Although, the speed may be slower.

However, this doesn't seem to matter.

As long as the Japanese pirates along the coast are gone and pirates no longer raid coastal counties, the existence of the navy will actually have little meaning.

Originally, these warships would be allocated to the coastal guards. Now Wei Guangde means to continue to retain the organizational system, that is, part of the military pay will be allocated by the Ministry of War. This can naturally be discussed.

"The Ministry of War may give at most 20 to 30% of the military salary, but the navy has to raise the bulk of it."

Zhang Juzheng said.

He had to help Huo Yi to come forward for this matter first, and it couldn't be discussed later when the cabinet and the Ministry of War were discussing it.

After all, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel now have good relations with him.

"Two to three percent? How can this be done?"

Before Wei Guangde answered, Yin Shizhen said: "Because the Inland Guard is working in the fields, the military pay is less, but it is only 40 to 50%. The Navy belongs to the border town, and it is at least 70 to 80%."

"Can't the imperial court authorize the navy to help coastal merchants transport goods to Yuegang and other places? This part of the income can supplement the lack of military pay. This is a treatment that is not available in other local guards."

Zhang Juzheng said.

The implication is that he agreed with Wei Guangde to let the navy find money, imitating the old practice of the Cao Army.

Since this mouth is opened, naturally the money should be given less.

"The navy can also visit the surrounding countries every year to let them see the power of our Ming Dynasty. By the way, they can also bring some goods. Naturally, the goods of these merchants are not shipped in vain, and they have to collect money.

This time, the income will not be less if you think about it.

I think the imperial court is in dire financial straits and if the navy can make money, it is not impossible to set up admiral offices for the northern and southern admirals to oversee the northern and southern navy. "

Zhang Juzheng clearly supported Wei Guangde, but the only thing he had to change was not to have excessive demands on the court, and the demand was naturally money.

The imperial court gave policies that allowed the navy to make a living and earn money to support the army, and the imperial court would not lose money.

Moreover, Zhang Juzheng also mentioned the Beiyang Navy, which was actually a clampdown on Wei Guangde's words.

Wei Guangde sometimes talks about the Nanyang Navy, and sometimes the Daming Navy. He has to understand what Wei Guangde said before.

The navy admirals' mansions were built in the north and the south respectively, and they were not related. However, we could not just let Yu Dayou take over the Denglai Navy and other northern naval forces in a daze.

Zhang Juzheng is not worried about whether building naval forces and allowing naval forces to help merchants transport goods will change the ancestral system.

Being able to maintain a navy along the coast is also a great deterrent to pirates and Japanese pirates.

As long as the pirates and Japanese pirates disappear, isn't this the credit of these cabinet ministers?

Even if something is beneficial, it can be changed even if it goes against the ancestral system.

This is the way of thinking of civil servants. What is not good for civil servants is of course that the ancestral system cannot be changed lightly. But if it has no impact on civil servants, it must keep pace with the times.

If it is good for civil servants, even if there are no conditions, conditions must be created.

After that, Zhang Juzheng raised several more questions of concern, and Wei Guangde also answered them one by one.

When no one asked any more questions, the room fell silent.

Li Chunfang then said: "Do you have anything else to say? It happens that Shandai can answer them one by one. If not, just follow Yifu's wishes and Shandai will draw up a charter when we go back. Let's discuss it. If you don't have any opinions, let's Report to His Majesty for your decision."

Li Chunfang has also made some calculations. If only 30% of military pay is allocated to the Navy, the Ministry of War should be able to accept it.

Although it is extra money, it can be used to redeploy sailors to the garrison. If the number of soldiers decreases, the amount of money allocated will also decrease. The increase and decrease does not actually add much to the expenses.

However, there is an extra naval force on the coast out of thin air to defend against threats from the sea, which is equivalent to building a Great Wall on the sea.

Good governance, this should be good governance.

When Li Chunfang looked over, Chen Yiqin nodded directly to express his attitude, which was agreement.

Then he looked at Yin Shizhen, who nodded after thinking, with the same attitude as Chen Yiqin.

When Zhang Juzheng arrived, he had already received the answer and knew Wei Guangde's plan. He thought it was acceptable, so he naturally nodded in agreement.

"This matter is settled like this. Yu Dayou wrote this letter well. If he makes it public, I don't know how much trouble it will cause."

Li Chunfang finally said.

Yes, Yu Dayou used to be straight-tempered, and he would say anything he saw was wrong.

But he had no connections in the capital, so he had no choice but to file a memorial.

Look at this matter, the tone set by the Governor of Fujian and Guangdong and the Governor of Fujian, if Yu Dayou publicly reported it, it would be like a slap in the face, offending people without even realizing it.

In the end, it had no effect, because the officials in the capital would listen to the governor and governor, but not Yu Dayou's explanation.

After things were agreed upon, everyone stood up and said goodbye to Li Chunfang, each going back to his or her own room.

Wei Guangde, Yin Shizhen, and Chen Yiqin came out on the way, and Yin Shizhen whispered: "Gao Suqing's incident is strange. The officials below were discussing it fiercely, but no one really took it seriously."

Wei Guangde and Chen Yiqin just smiled when they heard this. If they expressed that they did not want Gao Gong to come back, they would probably submit a memorial asking His Majesty to think twice, but they could not.

The news that the emperor plans to recall Gao Gong is still a rumor. The emperor has not issued an order, and the cabinet ministers have kept it secret. Although the officials below have understood it and know that the matter is 80% true, no one has taken the lead. If I don’t want to make this chicken head, I’m afraid it will offend the emperor and kill the monkey.

"On the other hand, Mr. Xu Ge seems to have been inactive."

Wei Guangde did not answer Yin Shizhen's words, but talked about another matter, that is, Governor Hai Rui Yingtian.

It was more than a month ago that Hai Rui took over the governorship of Yingtian, and it had been more than half a month since Hai Rui arrived at the station. I heard that as soon as he arrived, he inspected several river embankments and arranged for the local government to recruit corvees to dig rivers and build embankments. , I also have some understanding of water conservancy in Jiangnan, and I heard that many places need to be changed.

Hai Rui is not only Qingtian, but also a rare expert in water conservancy in the imperial court.

"That's so fast. Hai Rui is still busy repairing the river, so he might not even consider provoking Mr. Xu Ge."

Yin Shizhen thought Wei Guangde was talking about Hai Rui's affair, so he replied angrily.

"no."

Wei Guangde just lowered his voice and answered, "It's impossible for Zhang Shuda not to tell Mr. Xu Ge about the emperor's intention to recall Gao Gong. Ordinarily, Mr. Xu Ge would have made arrangements. It's impossible for him to remain indifferent to this."

"Shandai, Mr. Xu Ge has become an official. How do you think he will respond? Should Zhang Juzheng be asked to stop the emperor?"

Chen Yiqin shook his head and smiled.

Of course Wei Guangde didn't know how Xu Jie would respond. He was a veteran of two dynasties and had rich experience in political struggles, which was not comparable to a newbie like him.

Facing Chen Yiqin's question, he naturally could only shake his head, saying that he didn't know either.

"Ordinarily, as Shandai said, Xu Ge should take action."

Chen Yiqin suddenly thought of something, and suddenly echoed Wei Guangde's previous words.

"What did you think of?"

Not only Wei Guangde was surprised by Chen Yiqin's sudden change, but Yin Shizhen also noticed it, so he asked about it.

"His Majesty first revealed his thoughts to us, and then spread the news after the parade. However, it has been so long and His Majesty has not issued an order on this matter. It is a bit unreasonable."

Chen Yiqin opened his mouth to express the doubts in his mind, and then looked at Wei Guangde and Yin Shizhen.

The two of them reacted to his words.

Emperor Longqing's recall of Gao Gong seems to have been delayed for a long time. It is indeed not his usual style.

"What do you think, Your Majesty? You won't change your mind and don't plan to recall Gao Suqing, right?"

Yin Shizhen tentatively said what he was thinking, but when he saw Chen Yiqin and Wei Guangde shaking their heads, he knew that they did not agree with his idea.

"Oh, wait a minute, maybe the incident happened suddenly, and Mr. Xu Ge might have lost his mind for a while."

Chen Yiqin suddenly said.

At this time, in the Xu family's mansion in Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture, Nanzhili, Xu Jie was indeed, as Chen Yiqin said, a little uneasy.

It had been a long time since he received the news. He really didn't expect that Emperor Longqing would re-activate the high arch so soon.

Judging from the good governance of the government in the past two years, he originally thought that Gao Gong would stay idle in his hometown for a long time.

In fact, he did not think that Gao Gong would stay in Xinzheng for the rest of his life. When affairs in the court became complicated, the emperor would often consider his veterans and recall them to the court to handle various affairs.

But in the current court, there are actually not many major issues that are difficult to resolve, but just like this, the emperor still thought of recalling Gao Gong.

"Master, it's time to eat."

The old butler Xu Fu came over and saw that his master was sighing. Although he knew the reason, he could not help the master solve his problems, so he had to do his best and serve the master well.

No, it was time for lunch again, but Xu Jie looked like he had no appetite.

"Put it there, I'll eat it later."

Xu Jie just said lightly.

"Master, you will be in bad health if you do this."

Looking at Xu Jie's look, the old housekeeper knew that he wouldn't be able to eat much even for a while.

In the past half month, Xu Jie has lost a lot of weight visibly to the naked eye.

"You have been in the officialdom for more than forty years, and you have experienced the two emperors Jiajing and Longqing. People who have been through the storms will definitely come up with a solution. It's just that the authorities are confused now and are confused for a moment. As long as you relax, it will definitely be easy. You can figure it out soon."

The old housekeeper did not go down, but tried to persuade him earnestly, "Everyone in the court knows what kind of person Gao Gong is. He has a rough personality and a bad temper. He is also straight-tempered. He scolds everyone he sees. He will be offended." There are a lot of people, even Yu Zhuan and his gang don't they seem to be inseparable from him?

But it’s just that those people save face and cherish their feathers, so they show a unity outside.”

"etc."

The old housekeeper said this, but was suddenly interrupted by Gao Gong waving his hand: "What did you just say?"

"Did I say something?"

The old housekeeper was surprised. He just said it casually and didn't even know what he said.

"You said that Yu Zhuan's group of people seem to be incompatible with each other, but that's what you said."

"They save face, cherish their feathers, and pretend to be united, but actually they have long been divided internally."

The old housekeeper hurriedly said what he had just said, and at the same time finished what he was thinking.

"Save face and cherish your feathers."

Xu Jie couldn't help but start reciting it. After reciting it a few times, his brows suddenly relaxed. The sorrow that had been depressed for many days seemed to be gone all at once, and he couldn't help laughing happily.

"Hahaha"

The loud laughter startled the old housekeeper, but if he looked closely at Xu Jie's eyes, he found that he didn't seem to be crazy about gain or loss, and his eyes were still alert.

"You're right, save face and cherish feathers. This is how Gao Gong behaves. He wants to build a chastity arch after being a bitch, hahaha.

I'll erect the archway for you first and see how you deal with it. "

Xu Jie couldn't help but said loudly, sweeping away the previous depression.

"Master, have you thought of a way?"

The old housekeeper couldn't help but asked with concern.

"I thought of it, haha. I thought I knew the tempers and personalities of the officials in the imperial court very well, but I didn't expect that it was your reminder that made me realize a major flaw in Gao Gong's character, hypocrisy, haha."

Xu Jie said casually.

"Then what do you want me to do? Just tell me, I will do it beautifully for you."

The old housekeeper said hurriedly.

"No need. You have been in my family for many years and you are getting old. Just stay with me and serve me. There is no need to travel back and forth. The fatigue of traveling and traveling is not good for your health."

Xu Jie smiled and said, "I will write a letter later, and you can call a few stewards at home who are familiar with the capital to come over. I will give you any instructions."

"Master, I can really still do things."

The old housekeeper said hurriedly.

"Okay, it's actually a trivial matter. You don't need to go."

Xu Jie said. As he spoke, he had already sat down at the table and reached out to pick up the chopsticks.

However, I glanced at the old housekeeper and saw that he seemed a little worried. Perhaps he felt that he was old and the master looked down on him. After all, his family had been serving in the Xu Mansion for generations. If the master didn't like it, he wouldn't know what to do.

"Hey, I just want them to go to the capital to spread some news, so don't think too much about it."

Xu Jie said: "That Gao Gong should want to deal with me, so I will spread the news all over the city and the world first. I will see if Gao Gong dares to take action against me.

Take revenge on me, haha. When Gao Suqing entered the capital and heard people all over the city saying that he wanted to take revenge on me, I wanted to see if he could still take action. "