Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 16: Changing rice into mulberry, making huge profits from smuggling!
"Once the performance evaluation system is implemented, officials appointed by the imperial court can be dismissed for dereliction of duty. This is the beginning of the end. We will lose dozens, or even hundreds of our peers."

Yan Song was in particularly good spirits at this time, his eyes were no longer blurry, and he looked intently at Xu Jie in front of him, analyzing the impact of the performance evaluation system.

Xu Jie continued sadly: "A few thousand."

You know, these people were the backbone of the corruption in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty. After they were all dismissed, no one would send money to the capital every year.

To oppose the performance evaluation system is to oppose the emperor's will, and your life or death is uncertain.

Implementing the performance appraisal system is digging one's own grave.

Xu Jie became more cautious and asked again: "Lord, what should we do?"

Yan Song's face showed a trace of bitterness, and he sighed, "The Cabinet must increase its importance to the Emperor in the next few days. This way, the Emperor can rest assured that the power to inspect and evaluate the officials of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty will be handed over to the Cabinet. Now, Jinyiwei Du Commander Lu Bingke often enters and leaves Yuxi Palace."

Having been in charge of the central government for twenty years, Yan Song knew everything that was happening in the world even when he was sitting at home.

Among them were the number of times Lu Bing entered and left Yuxi Palace, as well as the two eunuchs of the Silijian who had just been beaten to death and had their property confiscated, and the eunuch in charge of the Dongchang who had been sent to Chaotian Temple to become a Taoist priest.

Countless intelligence reports have proved that the Imperial Household Department and the Eastern Depot have lost the emperor's favor, and the Jinyiwei that replaced them are a tiger that has been hungry for a hundred years.

Once they gain power, they are wantonly showing their fangs and claws. If they are ordered to monitor the whole country, both the Yan Party and the Qingliu will be in trouble.

If you keep a tiger indoors, the tiger will hurt you when it grows up.

Originally, the Jinyiwei was locked up by Emperor Chengzu Wen, the Eastern Depot, and civil officials. Now that they have been released by the emperor, it would be strange if they didn't eat people.

It would be good if the emperor always trusted the cabinet. The Jinyiwei would be afraid and would not dare to kill people.

But the emperor has no trust in the current cabinet at all.

After the Wanshou Palace caught fire last year, Yan Song, as the chief minister of the cabinet, chose "or" between rebuilding the Wanshou Palace or moving back to the imperial palace.

Advise the emperor to move to the Nangong Palace.

He was the Nangong who was sent back to the court by the Oirat Khan, the God of War Emperor Zhu Qizhen of the Ming Dynasty, and then launched the coup d'état.

Therefore, the coup d'état is also known as the Nangong Restoration.

Since the God of War Emperor, Nangong has become a taboo and forbidden place for the Ming Dynasty royal family.

Moving to Nangong would not cause much harm to the emperor, but it would be extremely insulting.

As a son, Yan Shifan decisively chose to follow in his father's footsteps and wrote a letter to persuade the emperor to move to Nangong.

Although the matter ended with the emperor moving to Yuxi Palace, the Yan family and his son could clearly feel the emperor's alienation during these days.

There is no need to say more about Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng. The emperor cannot trust Zhou Yunyi's backers even if he wants to.

If the five-member cabinet wants to compete with the Embroidered Uniform Guard for the supervisory power of the Performance Evaluation System, they must regain the emperor’s trust.

And, hurry up.

"Lord, what should we do?"

"What does the Emperor like most?"

"Silver." Xu Jie answered without hesitation.

Not only the emperor liked it, everyone in the world liked it. Even Xu Jie was worried about offering silver to the emperor.

He and the Xu family of Songjiang Prefecture really didn't want to donate silver. "Shaohu, you are the only one missing from the things promised at the imperial finance meeting." Yan Song reminded.

Zhang Juzheng directly handed the Zhang family of Jiangling over to the Jinyiwei for disposal. The Yan family also compromised and mobilized more than 20 million taels of silver to offer. According to incomplete information, the Imperial Household Department also offered silver to the emperor. The deaths of Meng Chong and Shi Yi were due to the fact that the silver offered did not satisfy the emperor.

In Yan Song's view, Xu Jie was on the road to having his property confiscated and his clan exterminated.

"Sir, that is the savings of several generations of my Xu family, hundreds of years." Xu Jie said with his eyes lowered.

Yan Song knew that Xu Jie was persuaded, and said with a smile: "If people are gone, everything is gone. As long as people are alive, there is hope for everything. If the old does not go, the new will not come."

Xu Jie selectively filtered out Yan Song's words and keenly grasped the key point, "What's new?"

"Shaohu, Zhang Juzheng talked to you about reopening the sea trade route," Yan Song said straight to the point.

Xu Jie was startled and subconsciously looked at Yan Song with a dark look in his eyes. Could it be that Zhang Juzheng had a private relationship with Yan Song?

"Don't think too much. Zhang Juzheng was a Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing, and was awarded the title of Hanlin Academy Scholar. At that time, I was also a Hanlin scholar. To be honest, I can be considered Zhang Juzheng's master."

Yan Song ignored Xu Jie's vigilant eyes, fired a shot, and continued to speak: "When Zhang Juzheng was in the Hanlin Academy, he told other Hanlins that since the third year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizong Wen ordered the eunuch Zheng He to lead a fleet to the Western Ocean seven times, and commercial goods were transported far and wide. Until the Jiajing period, maritime trade was still frequent.

Later, due to the disturbance caused by Japanese pirates and the unrest on the sea, commercial transport was obstructed and suspended.

Zhang Juzheng said that they should focus on the Ministry of War, increase the military pay of Fujian and Zhejiang, let Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou recruit troops, build warships, and then take the initiative to attack, wipe out the Japanese pirates, and reopen the sea route.

No one cared at the time, and I certainly didn’t take it seriously.”

These were all true, and Yan Song didn't care whether Xu Jie believed it or not.

In the 23rd year of Jiajing, he was busy fighting with Xia Yan and really didn't take the words of a small Hanlin official to heart.

After defeating Xia Yan, Yan Song, who held great power, had many ways to make money, many of which were more convenient and direct, so he forgot about reopening the sea route.

After reading all night, Yan Song's mind, which had been drowsy for nearly twenty years, became clearer than ever before, and he finally woke up.

Since it is not easy to make a fortune in the Ming Dynasty, why not open up the horizon and make money from Westerners?

"As long as the trade on the sea is smooth, the next question is what to transport to make money. Tea, porcelain, silk, etc., Western wealth can be seized at will. The royal family will make endless money from these." Yan Song pointed out a new way to make money.

smuggling!

Use the Ming Dynasty's army to maintain the smooth flow of cargo on the sea, and then load your own ships with goods to the West to make huge profits.

However, Hu Zongxian, Qi Jiguang, and Yu Dayou were fighting the Japanese pirates in full swing, and victory or defeat was still uncertain. Yan Song knew that the benefits of smuggling were too far-reaching to make Xu Jie completely tempted, so he once again pointed out a way out: "Tea and porcelain are difficult to transport, but silk is easy.

A piece of high-quality silk could be sold for six taels of silver in the mainland, but if it was sold to the West, it could be sold for more than ten taels of silver.

There are now 10,000 looms in Yingtian and 8,000 looms in Zhejiang. If the emperor wants to increase the profits of Western merchants, he will certainly order the increase of looms and the production of silk in Jiangnan.

With the increase of looms and silk, it became inevitable to increase mulberry fields.

Yingtian's silk has always relied on Zhejiang for its silk supply. Due to the climate, Zhejiang is suitable for mulberry planting and silkworm production.

However, in this way, farmland was converted into mulberry fields, and the people of Zhejiang could only get food from other provinces.

Grain prices in other provinces were high, so in order to compensate the Zhejiang people for their losses, the cabinet petitioned for tax reductions or exemptions, or to levy farmland taxes on mulberry fields.

Shaohu, you should present the land that the Xu family of Songjiang Prefecture occupied in the past to the emperor, and then find another way to buy land at a low price and plant mulberry fields instead. The mulberry fields will pay low taxes, but you can earn money from selling silk. In a few years, the scene of half of the city being occupied by the Xu family will reappear. "

(End of this chapter)