The Wife is First - 96 Chapter 96 Maritime Trade

Gu Huaiqing stood on the tower and looked at the arrogant fourth prince, and slowly raised her lips.

“Your Majesty, if you let the last general go, you will definitely beat the shit out of that kid!” The generals around him were gearing up one by one, watching the fourth prince become restless like a pack of wolves seeing fat.

“Shh,” Gu Huaiqing stretched out a slender index finger and put it on her pale lips, “This is the prince, you can’t say such vulgar words.”

“Your Majesty, what should I say?” The general blinked.

Gu Huaiqing glanced at him and slapped him on the head: “Say what you say, if you don’t win, you won’t have anything to eat tonight.”

“Yes!” The general received a slap happily and ran away quickly.

The battle report from Jiangnan has not had time to be sent to the capital, which is busy discussing maritime affairs these days.

“Maritime trade has a long history. The previous dynasty had bans on the sea, but it was banned repeatedly. Just because merchants valued profits and maritime trade was so profitable, they even risked their lives.” Mu Hanzhang stood in the center of the hall, his voice was not loud, but he spoke every word. Clear, neither urgent nor slow, in the quiet court where you can hear the sound of a needle dropping, each word is clearly transmitted to everyone’s ears, “I believe that it is better to clear the air than to block it.”

Marquis Wenyuan’s charter has been copied to some extent, and the important ministers in the court have also read it. It lists in detail the price comparison between Fan people’s gold coins and Dachen’s products. The most exciting thing is the establishment of a maritime tax. With such huge profits, the court only needed to set up ports and maintain order to collect generous taxes. In this way, the tax revenue of the national treasury can be increased by at least 10% every year.

“I think this method is feasible,” the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue was the first to stand up and reconsider. As a person who manages the treasury accounts, he naturally knows how much benefit this can bring to the Chen Dynasty. “With the continuous wars in the past ten years, the treasury is in urgent need of replenishment. , the maritime tax just meets the urgent need.

“The establishment of a port will inevitably attract the prying eyes of the Japanese, and it will be necessary to increase the number of troops to protect maritime merchants along the coast. This is very time-consuming and labor-intensive. I think this matter needs to be discussed.” The Minister of War disagreed.

“If we want to allow maritime trade, corresponding laws must be established. These are also mentioned in Wenyuanhou’s charter, but I think it is not detailed enough.” Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment said.

“If you want to open a port, you need to set up corresponding yamen, and official ranks and salaries have to be reset.” The Minister of the Ministry of Personnel did not object or agree, but just raised the corresponding issues that he was responsible for.

Only the most irrelevant Minister of Rites did not interrupt and stood silently.

Mu Hanzhang listened to everyone’s discussion, his expression remained calm, and he did not have any intention of retreating due to many obstacles.

Emperor Hongzheng listened quietly, then turned to look at the two remaining princes: “Jingrong, what do you think?”

The eldest prince’s body has recovered as before. At this time, his eyes were burning, and he was waiting for the opportunity to speak. Hearing the words, he immediately came out and said: “Wenyuanhou’s Zhang Erchen also studied it carefully. I thought that Wenyuanhou Yijie, a scholar, said These methods of doing business are nothing more than talking on paper. The reason why the previous dynasty had a sea ban must have a certain reason. Opening the port rashly may cause disaster. “

When Mu Hanzhang heard this, he frowned. The eldest prince was clearly opposed to it by saying this, and many veterans in the court must also have this kind of mentality. It can be said that he won the hearts of many veterans by saying this.

As expected, after the eldest prince finished speaking, many conservative veterans came out to speak.

Emperor Hongzheng still didn’t say a word and asked Prince Rui for his opinion again.

Jingchen came out of the queue, paused for a moment and said: “I think that if this method is feasible, it will be a good thing for me, Dachen. However, it turns out that it is shallow after reading it on paper. It is better to draw up the things that the gentlemen have mentioned. Here is a provisional regulation. Let’s try opening a port first, and if it doesn’t work, then ban it.”

This matter has been debated in the court for several days. Jingchen’s words can be regarded as satisfying people on both sides. Those who think it will work will naturally wait and see, and those who think it will not work will just wait and see the joke.

“What the second emperor brother said is absolutely true. It’s just that the person in charge of the port must record all the omissions in detail. I thought that I should appoint someone who knows the most about this matter.” The eldest prince lowered his head, but glanced out of the corner of his eye. Xiang Mu Hanzhang.

Mu Hanzhang did not speak, but stood quietly. He naturally understood what the eldest prince meant, and this matter was exactly what he wanted, but it was not the right time yet.

As expected, Emperor Hongzheng did not accept the eldest prince’s words: “What Jingchen said makes sense. Each ministry will draft a charter within seven days and submit it to me for review.”

After going down to court, Mu Hanzhang didn’t say much to anyone, and directly got into the carriage of Prince Cheng’s Mansion and went back.

“Your Majesty.” Dingnanhou walked a few steps quickly and caught up with Jingchen, who was dressed in Prince Yuebai’s uniform.

“Master Hou.” Jingchen responded politely.

Dingnanhou saw that Jingchen still looked serious and steady, and the expression on his face was also light, without any warmth. He couldn’t help but become more enthusiastic: “I heard that the princess has been feeling unwell recently. Her mother is very worried and wants to go to the palace. , so they clamored for me to ask the prince when the princess would be free.”

Normally, there is no need to report such reports when visiting female relatives. Dingnan Hou knew that his daughter was banned by Prince Rui, so this statement was naturally a polite and euphemistic way of saying it.

Thinking of Mrs. Xiao, Jingchen resisted the urge to frown and said calmly: “That’s enough for today. The princess has been thinking too much lately, so please ask Madam to give her a few words of comfort.”

When Marquis Dingnan heard this, he immediately laughed and said, “That’s natural.”

Mu Hanzhang’s face looked a little bad. Jing Shao worked a little late last night, and the morning session was delayed for a long time. After standing for nearly two hours, he felt sore all over his body. As soon as he got into the carriage, he was held tightly by a pair of strong hands.

The curtains were drawn in the carriage, and it was very dark. Mu Hanzhang was startled, and then he was hugged into a familiar warm embrace, and then he slowly relaxed: “Why are you here?”

Jing Shao hugged the man well, told the driver to drive the car, and kissed the man’s tired face along the way: “I saw that you haven’t been back for a long time, so I expected that the morning meeting would be late today, so I came to pick you up because I was afraid that you would be tired.”

Mu Hanzhang moved, found a comfortable position in his arms, and yawned: “You know I was tired, so I should have exercised more restraint last night.”

Jing Shao stretched out his hand to rub his sore waist and hummed: “It’s not my fault. Who asked you to look at me like that? You are obviously begging to be my husband again.” Thinking of Jun Qing being bullied last night My eyes were watery, and my mouth felt dry for a while.

“You…” Mu Hanzhang wanted to raise his head and glare at him, but the darkness in the car had no effect, so he was too lazy to pay attention to him. He turned around and buried his face in his chest, trying not to see but to sleep for a while.

Jing Shao continued to knead and knead everywhere, massaging and eating tofu at the same time: “The letter from Luniao came today, saying that the house in Pingjiang has been purchased.”

“Yeah.” Mu Hanzhang responded vaguely.

“Jing Yu was severely punished by Gu Huaiqing as soon as he arrived. I just didn’t know how he would write the battle report.” Jing Shao couldn’t help but want to laugh when he thought about Lu Zhanpeng’s gloating tone in the letter, “The maritime business matter how’s it going?”

“Brother has already mentioned it. Father asked all ministries to write the charter, but we haven’t said where it will end yet.” Mu Hanzhang was so sleepy that he couldn’t open his eyes. He responded in a coherent manner while unconsciously rubbing against Jing Shao’s chest.

Jing Shao felt itchy from being rubbed, but he couldn’t bear to move. Knowing that he was really sleepy, he stopped talking and let the person in his arms sleep peacefully for a while.

“King Cheng can no longer succeed to the throne. Winning him over will be a help to the prince. Why bother to embarrass him?” Mrs. Dingnanhou looked at the pale Princess Rui lying on the bed and sighed. These were the words that the Marquis asked her to take care of. She was not Princess Rui’s biological mother, but was just married to fill in the house. It was inconvenient to say many things, but the words that the Marquis asked her to be brought had to be said.

“If the concubine lives in another courtyard, my mistress is still gone.” When Princess Rui said this, tears welled up in her eyes again, “Master has calculated that apart from that bitch… the concubine, the only one who can compete with him is King Cheng!” As he spoke, there was already a bit of hatred in his eyes. I heard that the child was held by King Cheng when he was less than one month old. He has been killing on the battlefield all year round, and his body is full of the evil spirit of injustice. If such a weak child is contaminated, why not? Is it short-lived?

“Ouch!” Mrs. Dingnanhou exclaimed, looked around, got up and pushed the girl outside the door further away, then came back and sat down, “Don’t say this nonsense, please listen carefully to Prince Rui.”