The Holy Emperor of Ming

Chapter 100: Establishing the Ministry of Commerce and appointing merchants as officials
"This is not something I can decide completely. It depends on the severity of the crime your father committed and your level of cooperation." Guo Bujing shook his head and said truthfully.

"Okay, sir, don't worry, Jianxiong will fully cooperate." The young woman said solemnly.

"I hope so." Guo Bujing nodded.

The Sword Casting City is a large and powerful city. If the person in charge cooperates, it will be much easier to confiscate the property and make plans.

With a wave of his hand, the Sword Forging City was completely taken over, and they immediately began to search and search for property.

In the Sea Shark Palace.

"boom!"

"puff!"

With a roar, Sea Shark Palace Master Helian Ba ​​took a few steps back, with a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth.

"Grandmaster!"

"Who are you? A grand master actually attacked me?" Helian Ba ​​looked at the figure in front of him with horror.

"Hehe, in order to prevent you from running away, we have to use some tricks." Cao Zhengchun smiled as if he was already confident of victory.

There was no other way. His lightness skill was relatively average. According to the intelligence, Helian Ba ​​was very good at it. In order to prevent him from escaping, he could only launch a sneak attack. Anyway, he didn't care about his reputation.

"Eunuch! Are you from the Ming Dynasty court? Cao Zhengchun, the head of the East Factory? Or Cao Youxiang, the head of the West Factory?" Helian Ba ​​suddenly realized and was even more shocked.

The court has set its sights on him!

"Haha, the director of our East Factory." Cao Zhengchun said with a smile.

"Why is the East Factory targeting our Sea Shark Palace? Why does the East Factory Director have to take action personally?" Helian Ba ​​said in a deep voice.

"You, the Sea Shark Palace, smuggled salt to the Jiannu and the Oirat, and also provided waterways. Why do you think my East Factory took action against you?
As for our personal action, haha, don't underestimate your Sea Shark Palace.

The Sea Shark Palace has more than 4,000 people and controls almost half of the waterways in Jin. It is worth our personal effort. "Cao Zhengchun explained patiently.

"The smuggling incident is not limited to our Sea Shark Palace, but occurs throughout the entire Jin area. Why did the East Factory only target our family?
Could it be that the East Factory is using my Sea Shark Palace as an example to scare the monkeys?" Helian Ba ​​said unwillingly.

"You are wrong, you are wrong. Your Sea Shark Palace cannot be considered a chicken. All those involved cannot escape." Cao Zhengchun shook his head.

"Are you going to attack the entire Jin area?" Helian Ba ​​said in horror with his pupils shrinking.

"Oh, that's right." Cao Zhengchun admitted frankly.

Helian Ba's heart was in turmoil. The imperial court was going to take action against the entire Jin area!
How can it be?

How many people in Jin are involved in smuggling Jian slaves and grassland people?
How could the imperial court take action against everyone?

But thinking about the emperor who was rising to prominence, the sudden addition of four grand masters to the court, and the so-called new policies, he fell silent again.

Not necessarily impossible.

His expression changed several times, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Eunuch Cao, I, the Sea Shark Palace, am willing to work for the East Factory. Can you let me go this time?"

"You are indeed a man who knows the times. Our family can give you a chance. Please cooperate wholeheartedly and tell us everything about the Sea Shark Palace.

As for how to deal with you in the end? That depends on the emperor's personal decision. "Cao Zhengchun nodded with satisfaction. Isn't it for this reason that he said so much?
If Helian Ba ​​cooperates, it will be much easier to reorganize the Sea Shark Palace.

"The emperor will make the decision personally? Eunuch Cao, you won't even give me a guarantee?" Helian Ba's face changed and he gritted his teeth.

"How ridiculous! Do you think you are still qualified to bargain?" Cao Zhengchun sneered disdainfully.

"Hmph, you're going too far." Helian Ba ​​snorted coldly, turned around and ran away.

"Can you run away? You're looking for death." Cao Zhengchun's eyes became fierce.

"Demonic Clone!"

"Distraction Palm!"

"Oh!"

Helian Ba ​​was helpless after being caught up. He left several afterimages and hit Cao Zhengchun's protective shield with several palms.

The shield didn't budge.

Cao Zhengchun smiled contemptuously.

"Little tricks."

"boom!"

"Pfft~!"

The Tiangang protective true energy burst out, directly knocking Helian Ba ​​away and knocking him to the ground.

"Hehe, capture all the people in the Sea Shark Palace. Kill those who dare to resist."

····
On January 21st, months of preparation finally came to fruition.

It was like a thunderbolt, sweeping across Jin with unstoppable force.

On this day, the East Factory, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the army, and the righteous forces joined forces to wipe out the most powerful people and forces in the smuggling of Jiannu.

The entire Jin area, including its four prefectures, twenty states and seventy-seven counties, seemed to be filled with fighting.

The eight major charges of smuggling Jiannu and treason spread throughout Jin.

From the princes to the common people, everyone was terrified and locked their doors tightly, not daring to say anything.

The fighting did not end after this day.

Because the first day is to defeat the most powerful people and forces, the next step is to follow the clues and uproot all the related parties.

As for cleaning up the mess, that will take more time.

However, the gains from the first day were enough to be reported back to the capital, so as to gain more support in a legitimate way.

It was only a thousand miles away, and in less than half a day, Zhu Houzhao received the information from the first day.

After reading it, even though he knew it a long time ago, he still couldn't help but get angry.

He called in people from the Cabinet, the Six Ministries, the Left and Right Censors-in-Chief, and the Military Cabinet.

"Look, look, what a great Shanxi Provincial Administration Commission!
One second rank, two third rank, three third rank, and hundreds of officials.

They dared to smuggle Jiannu, sell out the country, and collude with bandits, damn it, they all deserve to be cut into pieces." Zhu Houzhao shouted angrily.

When they heard that so many officials were involved, officials from the cabinet, six ministries and other departments were all shocked.

The first reaction was that the factory guards took action.

The first strike was towards Jindi, and the strike was very fierce.

From the second-rank provincial governor, the third-rank provincial judge, and the military commander-in-chief, there were hundreds of officials.

There is going to be a major earthquake in the officialdom of Jin.

The second reaction was that the entire Jin area was about to become unstable.

Because they all know how many people are implicated behind those officials.

Those people are not ordinary people. They are people who possess force and dare to kill people.

They quickly looked at the information report the emperor gave them.

This sight made me even more shocked.

Within one day, hundreds of officials were arrested, and the righteous forces in the martial arts world also took action.

In cooperation with the Imperial Guards and the Eastern Depot, they wiped out more than a dozen martial arts forces including the Sword Casting City and the Sea Shark Palace, thirteen escort agencies, and more than twenty bandit groups.

The eight major Shanxi merchants were also uprooted.

In just one day, the amount of silver and various assets obtained was countless, according to preliminary estimates.

The court is going to get rich!

This thought flashed through their minds, and Liu Jian and others quickly considered the overall situation and knelt down skillfully to apologize.

"Your Majesty, I am guilty." Minister of Personnel Ma Wensheng said immediately.

With so many officials in trouble, he, as the Minister of Personnel, certainly cannot escape responsibility.

"I am also guilty." The three elders of the cabinet, the left and right censors Li Hui and Wang Zongyi, said immediately.

"Of course you are guilty, check and see how these officials got promoted.

Is it related to you? Or is it related to taking office?" Zhu Houzhao said mercilessly.

"Your Majesty, the last two ministers of the Ministry of Personnel have both retired and returned to their hometowns," said Ma Wensheng.

"I don't care whether he retired or died.

Whoever made the mistake should take the responsibility. If you want to just leave and cancel the account, it is impossible.

Even if he dies, I will hold him accountable." Zhu Houzhao said sarcastically.

The ministers were powerless to refute.

"What are you kneeling for? Get up and work, one by one. Can you give me some relief?" Zhu Houzhao looked at them kneeling and scolded them angrily.

The civil servants stood up helplessly.

Fortunately, after being scolded so many times, I've gotten used to it.

"Your Majesty, the most urgent task is to send officials to Jin. We must not allow Jin to fall into chaos.

And if we take down so many martial arts forces, in the end, there will probably be tens of thousands of people in the martial arts world. These people must be dealt with properly, otherwise they will be the source of cholera.

Finally, the court should send people to take over various assets, and they must not be abandoned, otherwise it may affect the livelihood of the people. "Liu Jian said immediately.

“The Ministry of Personnel will select a group of officials to go to Jin immediately, and those captured Jianghu people will be handed over to the Military Council for disposal.

The confiscated gold, silver and other treasures were counted and sent to the capital.

The Imperial Household Department and the Ministry of Revenue will first send people to count the assets of various places, and will not classify them for the time being." Zhu Houzhao said.

"Yes, we obey your order." Liu Jian, Wang Shouren and others said immediately.

Zhu Houzhao was silent, as if he was thinking about something.

The ministers were stunned and their heartbeats immediately accelerated.

Your Majesty is obviously thinking about something. Every time at this time, Your Majesty would act unreliably.

"I want to set up a department specifically to control state assets." Zhu Houzhao said suddenly.

"Your Majesty, it's already in the court." Liu Jian and others thought to themselves, as expected, and quickly reminded.

"Not enough." Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and said without question: "In the future, the court will acquire more and more assets, and someone must be in control.

Establish a Ministry of Commerce. Yes, establish a Ministry of Commerce, parallel to the other five ministries.

This department is directly responsible to me. We cannot use officials who are educated, but only businessmen who know how to do business.

From now on, all the land and property acquired by the court will belong to me.

All the acquired shops, mines, manufacturing and the like will be managed and operated by the Ministry of Commerce."

Hearing this, Liu Jian and others were all shocked.

I knew it was unreliable, but I never expected it to be so unreliable.

Even Wang Shouren was stunned and frowned in thought.

"Your Majesty, it's fine to set up a Ministry of Commerce, but how can you employ businessmen as officials?

Your Majesty, you must not do that."

"Your Majesty, merchants are only interested in profit and are lowly people. How can they be officials?"

"Your Majesty, if merchants control such a large industry, they will be parasites of the country. They should be managed by orthodox officials."

····
"Enough." Zhu Houzhao shouted softly, suppressing the rising and falling voices, and angrily said: "What lowly people? Do you really think I don't know how rich the merchants in the Ming Dynasty are?
Also, can you do business?

I'd be a fool to hand it over to you."

"The imperial court is to establish a Ministry of Commerce, with all officials, from the Minister of Commerce to the Minister of Commerce, to be merchants.

If there are businessmen from all over the country who are willing, they can come to the capital for an interview.

In addition, there will be an additional examination for merchants in the imperial examination, which can be taken individually, and 100 people will be selected."

Upon hearing this stubborn imperial decree, Liu Jian and others were extremely helpless.

“Your Majesty, most merchants have their own businesses. If they were officials, how could they balance the state’s industry and their own businesses?
By then, it will be a mess, with hamsters everywhere." Xie Qian suddenly said.

(Please subscribe, my grades are still dropping, it’s sad.)
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　Thanks to the old book friend who ignored me and gave me another reward of 10000 Qidian coins. Thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)