Song Dynasty: Yuan Dynasty, you didn't expect this, did you? I'm still alive.

Zhao Xi placed Zhu Di's letter of state on the table, which had been there for two days.

I was speechless every time I watched it over the past two days.

Why does it feel like the money the Song people earned wasn't earned, but rather bestowed by the Ming Dynasty?

Today, he brought the official letter to the Wenhua Pavilion.

The council hall of Wenhua Pavilion is not large and not as grand as Zichen Hall, but the chairs are comfortable.

This was changed after Zhao Xi ascended the throne—all those luxurious and imposing hardwood armchairs were replaced with cushioned ones.

When Zhu Ge first sat down, he adjusted his glasses and said, "The Emperor is very considerate."

Both of them were practical people who didn't care about superficial things.

Everyone has arrived.

"Have you seen them all?" Zhao Xi asked.

Everyone nodded.

"What advice do you gentlemen have for me?" Zhao Xi leaned back in his chair.

Li Wen was the first to speak.

"I believe it is permissible to grant this request."

Zhu Ke stopped waving his feather fan.

Li Wen didn't look at him and continued, "Setting up factories in the Ming Dynasty has three advantages. First, it saves on transportation costs. From Xinxiang to Quanzhou, sea freight takes two months, and the transportation cost for a bolt of cloth accounts for 15% of the cost. Setting up factories in Yingtian Prefecture means cotton can be collected locally and cloth can be sold locally, making that 15% pure profit. Second, it saves on tariffs. Zhu Di promised to open all ports, but tariffs will still be collected. After setting up factories, the factories will be within Ming territory, and the goods will be within Ming territory. Tariffs? What tariffs? Third—"

He held up his third finger and paused.

"Thirdly, the factory is in my hands. I decide when it opens and when it closes. If the looms start turning, the weavers in Songjiang Prefecture will lose their jobs. If the looms stop, the people of Yingtian Prefecture will have no cloth to wear. At that time, it won't be Zhu Di setting the conditions, it will be us setting the conditions."

After Li Wen finished speaking, he picked up his teacup, took a sip, and glanced at Zhu Ke.

Surprisingly, even Confucian scholars understand economics.

And they are very knowledgeable.

Zhu Ke ignored his gaze. He took the feather fan off his lap, shook it twice, and then spoke in a low voice and at a slow pace, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

"What Prime Minister Li said is all correct. Saving on shipping costs, saving on tariffs, controlling the lifeline—all correct." He put down his feather fan. "But there is one condition."

"What are the prerequisites?"

"The machine won't be lost."

There was a moment of silence in the council chamber.

Zhu Ke, without waiting for anyone to respond, continued, "The Song Dynasty's steam engine, from the first one built by Lü Te to now, has existed for sixty years. In those sixty years, the technology has been updated generation after generation, but the core principles have never been leaked. India didn't have it, Persia didn't have it, Egypt didn't have it, Europe didn't have it. Why?"

He looked at Li Wen.

"Because the machine doesn't leave the country."

He pointed his feather fan at the official document on the table.

Li Wen put down his teacup: "Would the craftsmen we sent sell their machines to the Ming people? Do you believe the people of the Song Dynasty would betray the Emperor?"

Never mind, let's just put a label on them first.

"There's no need to sell it to the Ming dynasty people," Zhu Ke said. "The machines are there; they'll just take them apart. Once they take them apart, they'll draw them, and once they draw them, they'll copy them. If they can't make it in six months, they'll make it in a year; if they can't make it in a year, they'll make it in ten years."

He turned to Zhao Xi.

"Your Majesty, technological barriers are like a wall. If you make a hole in the wall, the wind will rush in. If you make a door in it, the whole wall will collapse."

Li Wen opened his mouth, about to speak, when Zhu Ge took off his glasses.

Everyone stopped.

When Zhu Ge took off his glasses, it was a signal in the Wenhua Pavilion—it meant he was about to start settling accounts.

This isn't a metaphorical calculation; it's a real calculation.

After he became the Grand Secretary, every time he took off his glasses, a string of numbers would follow, and he never made a mistake.

"Both of you are right." Zhu Ge wiped his glasses clean and put them back on. "Minister Li is talking about profits, and Minister Zhu is talking about technology. Let me offer a different perspective."

He picked up the top report in front of him.

"The Ming Dynasty is not India."

The words were spoken casually, as if simply stating that the weather was nice today. But Li Wen's osmanthus cake remained on his lips, and Zhu Ke forgot to wave his feather fan.

"How many languages ​​are there in India? Seventeen. How many scripts? Eleven. During the Delhi Sultanate, decrees issued from Delhi would be incomprehensible by the time they reached Mumbai. Therefore, the Song Dynasty established a governor-general's office in India, using our script, our laws, and our officials. After a hundred years, the best people in India spoke Chinese, wrote Chinese characters, took the imperial examinations, and became Song citizens. And the rest?"

He turned to a page of the report.

"The rest of them grew cotton in the plantations. They didn't resist because they didn't know if they were of the same ethnicity as the people in the neighboring plantations. They had no concept of 'all under heaven,' no concept of 'orthodoxy,' no concept of 'us.' When the Turks came, they grew cotton for the Turks; when the Song Dynasty came, they grew cotton for the Song Dynasty. To them, there was no difference."

Zhu Ge put the report down.

"The Ming Dynasty was different."

His voice didn't get louder, but the air in the council chamber seemed to grow heavier.

"The Ming Dynasty is a sleeping lion. Once it awakens, it will surely shake the world."

"The scholar-officials of the Ming Dynasty studied the Four Books and Five Classics. They knew about 'Chinese civilization,' 'orthodoxy,' and the distinction between 'civilized and barbarian.' Zhao Qian spent half a month in a brothel in Yingtian Prefecture and came back to tell me something—he read Jane Eyre to the courtesan, and the first question she asked him was: 'Can women in the Song Dynasty be equal to men?'"

Zhu Ge pushed up his glasses.

"A courtesan, after hearing a story, can ask the question of 'equality.' Ladies and gentlemen, this is not India. This is someone who has been educated and understands the meaning of 'reason.' Give them machines, and they will build them. Give them time, and they will learn. Give them hope—and they will rebel."

He pronounced the last two words very softly, but to everyone's ears, they sounded like two stones hitting water.

The council chamber remained quiet for a long time.

Zhao Xi leaned back in his chair, his gaze sweeping over the three people's faces one by one.

"But if that happens, how will the Ming Dynasty respond by blockading the ports or imposing tariffs?"

Zhu Ge adjusted his glasses. "We can issue smuggling licenses to the merchants, allowing them to smuggle goods within the territory of the Ming Dynasty."

Goodness, Jug is really ruthless.

Since taking office as prime minister, in addition to improving the financial regulatory mechanism, he has focused on cracking down on tax evasion and smuggling.

Now it's the Ming Dynasty's turn; they can just issue smuggling licenses directly, isn't that acceptable?

Li Wen chuckled, "What if the Ming Dynasty uses this as an excuse to infringe upon our merchants?"

"Merchants can be granted unlimited self-defense rights." Jug has invented a new term once again.

"Unlimited self-defense?"

"The merchants of the Great Song Dynasty possess mysterious needle guns and cannons. Unless the regular army of the Great Ming Dynasty is mobilized, it will be unable to deal with our armed merchants. If the regular army is really used to deal with the scattered armed merchants, the first thing to collapse will be the finances of the Great Ming Dynasty," Zhu Ge answered with great certainty.

Li Wen remained silent upon hearing this.

Zhu Ke also waved his feather fan, showing no intention of refuting.

"A decree was drafted to grant smuggling licenses and unlimited self-defense rights to merchants of the Song Dynasty."