The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

If they were really that wealthy, why did so many bankrupt samurai come to wreak havoc on the southeastern coast during the early Ming Dynasty?

But the current situation makes it impossible not to have doubts!

It should be noted that Japan's foreign trade was previously firmly controlled by powerful clans along the southeastern coast.

Based on the information currently available, when the Xue family and the Prince Zhongshun's Mansion purchased ships in the southeastern coastal region, they had already made guarantees to the major clans along the coast.

Without their permission, we will absolutely not voluntarily go to Japan to do overseas business!

Upon first hearing such domineering conditions, the current emperor was slightly taken aback!

Even he wouldn't dare to make such harsh demands on a group of royal family elders, but the powerful clans along the southeast coast do!

Later I learned that they had mastered very advanced shipbuilding technology, which even the government couldn't match.

To be honest, it's hard to say whether the naval warships deployed by the imperial court in the Guangdong seas can compare to the private ships of these powerful families along the southeast coast.

There was nothing I could do if others had it but I didn't, so in the end, Prince Zhongshun had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

Of course, times have changed now, and Prince Zhongshun is no longer so honest.

Following the trade routes opened up by Jia Huan's men, they only did a small business with Japanese nobles, but the amount of gold and silver they earned astonished Prince Zhongshun.

To put it simply, the amount of gold and silver that the official copper coins minted by the Great Qian Dynasty could be exchanged for in Japan was much greater than what was available in the Great Qian Dynasty!

Just by shipping a boatload of copper coins over to trade, the gold and silver they bring back can make a fortune!

Not to mention, the Japanese were quite interested in and eager to buy many of the products of Daqian, making a fortune through gold and silver transactions.

Japan has a large population and its purchasing power is much stronger than that of Korea.

As long as the trade routes are open, one can easily earn an astonishing profit of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year.

The so-called trade route at present does not include the entire Japanese island, but only a part of the Japanese kingdom.

One can only imagine the astonishing wealth hidden in the hands of the powerful families along the southeastern coast who had been doing business with Japan since the Song Dynasty; just thinking about it makes one's heart tremble.

No wonder that whether it was the late Yuan or the late Ming dynasty, powerful warlord forces emerged in the southeast.

Zhang Shicheng at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the Zheng family at the end of the Ming Dynasty both left a deep mark on history.

At this point, we now understand a little better why the Donglin Party was so powerful in the late Ming Dynasty!

With powerful and wealthy families from the southeastern coastal region supporting them, how could they not be exceptionally strong?

Regardless of what I'm thinking, all I can do right now is watch silently.

He will definitely intervene. As the current leader, he naturally wants to obtain the best resources, including trade routes; he wants to take the lion's share.

It's just that there hasn't been a suitable opportunity to bring it up yet.

Knowing that money was easy to make in Japan, he naturally wouldn't give Prince Chungshun and other members of the royal family the opportunity to quickly accumulate wealth and expand their power rapidly by taking advantage of overseas trade.

These royal family members have been quite active lately, even proposing the audacious idea of ​​buying out the private salt quota. It's utterly baffling. Could it be that these royal princes are going to openly sell private salt?

Even if the current government wanted to agree, those old fogies in the cabinet would never agree!

Among them, the interests of some were intertwined with those of the salt merchants, but no one knew the truth!

Chapter 394 Jia Huan: Don't disappoint me, Your Majesty!

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The current emperor is quite interested in the proposal from members of the royal family to purchase a share of smuggled salt.

These members of the royal family are all wealthy; they just asked for two million taels of silver.

Although he knew that the profits from smuggled salt could be five times that amount each year, these profits were divided up by salt merchants of all sizes and related entities, leaving the imperial court with no involvement.

Currently, if we can obtain an additional two million taels, plus the normal salt tax of over six million taels, the annual salt tax revenue can be stabilized at over eight million taels.

Having such a fixed income every year gives the national treasury a lot more confidence.

They now have large territories in the open sea, so they naturally know what the royal family and relatives want to do!

If he could, he would want to get involved!

Of course, such a thing had nothing to do with the emperor; otherwise, his reputation would be ruined, and the history books would surely record it harshly.

Isn't there also the Imperial Household Department?

What is the Imperial Household Department for? In critical moments, it naturally has to take the blame for the emperor.

Do you really think that the current government is unaware of the despicable things the Imperial Household Department does in private?

It's just about using money to win people's hearts; when it really matters, they'll have to honestly step up.

However, it's not going to pass through the cabinet.

The cabinet system has developed to a fairly complete stage, and it also serves as a constraint on the emperor.

At the very least, if the emperor wanted to act recklessly and the cabinet did not cooperate, the imperial edict would lack legitimacy.

Time flies, and a year has passed since the old master passed away.

As a nephew, Jia Huan's period of mourning has ended.

Lin Daiyu, his niece, was in the same situation, as her year-long mourning period had also come to an end.

Of course, Lin Daiyu was living in the provincial capital of the Central Plains with her father, Lin Ruhai, at this time, and the situation in the capital was not very clear.

As for Jia Huan, he simply invited some close relatives to his home for a meal, and that was considered the end of the mourning period.

The next day, a small stack of invitations arrived from outside and were placed on the desk.

In fact, many people are already eagerly waiting.

I didn't notice Jia Huan's previous activity, but I don't know how he managed to take care of so many things at once, and he did them all quite well.

But when this guy suddenly went silent, some things started to go wrong.

In the past, I always consulted with my partners before doing anything.

However, since Jia Huan couldn't visit other people during the mourning period, he could only rely on his subordinates.

His businesses and influence are developing well, but his partners, while not exactly in bad shape, have lost that drive that's immediately apparent.

Take recruiting heroes from the martial arts world, for example. If there is sufficient communication beforehand, the other partners will not be slow to follow up and will have already made arrangements, which would have wasted a lot of time.

As for the matter of salt production and sales, simply passing messages is definitely not enough; some things can only be accomplished through face-to-face communication.

Since Prince Zhongshun personally invited him, Jia Huan couldn't possibly refuse.

Although the mourning period was over, Jia Huan did not have any intention of being too high-profile.

After all, Jia Cong and Jia Lian were still in mourning, and it wouldn't be a good thing for him to act too aggressively at this time. Who knew how many people and forces were secretly waiting for him to make a mistake?

The gathering took place at the martial arts school where the Ningrong Street branch was located.

As the scale of the martial arts school has grown, a complete logistical system has been established here.

Things like private rooms in the cafeteria have already been arranged.

Prince Zhongshun was quite bold, as he brought his trusted chief secretary and two capable guards with him.

After meeting and sitting down, exchanging a few pleasantries, the conversation quickly got on track.

"According to news from the palace, the Emperor is very interested in salt production and intends to agree!"

"However, the current leader is worried about opposition from the cabinet, so he has been hesitant to speak up!"

Prince Zhongshun spoke directly, his tone full of displeasure.

"Then let's find a way to keep the cabinet busy, so they won't have the time or energy to fight us!"

Jia Huan smiled and said, "For example, based on Zhang Juzheng's New Laws of the Ming Dynasty, there were policies such as 'returning the fire tax to the public' and 'officials and gentry paying taxes together.'"

Upon hearing this, Prince Zhongshun couldn't help but gasp, and the way he looked at Jia Huan changed.

"You, you, you, do you know what the consequences will be if this gets out?"

He was shocked; he never expected that Jia Huan would have such a crazy idea in his mind.

"Fire loss returned to the public treasury" was a policy aimed at lower-level officials, directly cutting off a stable source of income from their salaries.

As for the "officials and gentry paying taxes together", it was an event that shocked officials and people all over the country!

Jia Huan did not rush to answer, but waited for Prince Zhongshun to calm down before speaking slowly: "Your Highness, tell me, is such a proposal really enough to make the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet have no time to worry about external matters?"

"That's really true!"

Prince Zhongshun realized what was happening and gave a thumbs up, saying, "If someone were to bring this up in court, it would definitely be a huge scandal!"

"Just to clarify, this has nothing to do with me!"

Jia Huan said with a smile, "Anyway, I've come up with the idea. Whether Your Highness is willing to adopt it or not is your own business. Just don't drag me into it!"

"You little rascal, you really know how to shift the blame!"

Prince Zhongshun said irritably, "I can't bring this up myself. Do you even want to work in the court anymore? You've offended too many people!"

"Then let's offer it to the current emperor; he'll definitely be interested!"

Jia Huan said dismissively, "If we can accomplish these two things, it will definitely be recorded in history books as something brilliant and powerful. The national treasury revenue will not only double, but it will increase by five or six levels without any problem. What do you think, Your Highness?"

"What I think is unimportant; the key is what the current ruler thinks!"