Da Ming: The system granted me immortality; I clock in every day.

Pei Yuan acted as if he hadn't heard.

He strolled leisurely to the wooden boxes filled with sable fur and ginseng.

He reached out and touched the fine fur, letting out a soft click of his tongue.

"What you say, Lord Zhou, is irresponsible. Why can't I come? These things were all earned by me and my brothers from the Beijing Garrison, fighting our way through the freezing cold of Liaodong."

"What, Lord Zhou, you're using the silver I stole, and you still dare to treat me with disrespect?"

Pei Yuan turned his head, his cold eyes sweeping over every official from the Ministry of Revenue present.

Those officials whose gaze swept over him all felt a chill run down their spines and quickly looked away.

Cannibals are soft and short.

Although they were fierce in their criticisms in court, their confidence faltered when faced with this substantial wealth.

"You...you mustn't spout nonsense! This was loot obtained by the Ming soldiers during the suppression of the rebellion; it's only right that it go into the national treasury!"

Minister Zhou forced himself to retort.

"If Lord Pei has come here today merely to show off his power, then please leave. I have official business to attend to and cannot keep you company."

Pei Yuan clapped his hands, abandoning his casual demeanor, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his lips.

"Lord Zhou, you misunderstand. I am not here today to ask for these junk. I will naturally not touch the things that the Emperor bestowed upon the Taicang."

Pei Yuan walked up to Zhou Shangshu, looked down at the high-ranking official in charge of the nation's finances, and lowered his voice.

"I have come today on the Emperor's orders. I have come to the Ministry of Revenue to request funds."

"You want money?!"

Upon hearing this, Minister Zhou's voice immediately rose eight octaves.

"What does His Majesty need money for? Hasn't the imperial treasury only received half of the spoils from Jianzhou? That's a full million taels! Isn't that enough for His Majesty's expenses?"

Pei Yuan sneered, took out a bright yellow imperial edict scroll from his sleeve, but did not unfold it; he merely weighed it in his hand.

"His Majesty is undertaking a momentous event that will last for generations. He has decreed that I be given full authority to oversee the construction of the Ming Dynasty's treasure ships! Construction will commence simultaneously at the three major shipyards in Jiangnan, building fifty treasure ships exceeding 1,000 liters in length, and one hundred Fujian-style ships!"

"The timber for shipbuilding, the wages for the craftsmen, the casting of cannons—all of these cost money!"

Pei Yuan gently tapped the scroll of the imperial edict against Minister Zhou's chest.

"His Majesty has other uses for the funds in the imperial treasury. As for the funds for shipbuilding, His Majesty has said that they will be allocated from the imperial granary."

"The first installment is three million taels. Lord Zhou, please give me the money."

Three million taels?!

A collective gasp filled the entire Ministry of Revenue compound.

Minister Zhou was so angry that he trembled all over. He pointed at Pei Yuan's nose and didn't even care about etiquette anymore.

"Insane! Utterly insane! When the late emperor was alive, building a single 500-liao grain transport ship required countless calculations! Now he's ordering fifty 1,000-liao treasure ships! And they want them built in Jiangnan!"

"This kind of wasteful and extravagant act is absolutely unacceptable to me! Even if it were an imperial edict, I would fight to the death to reject it!"

"Exactly! We, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue, would rather die than comply with such a wasteful act of public funds!"

The vice ministers and officials below echoed him, displaying righteous indignation.

Pei Yuan looked at the group of indignant civil officials and chuckled to himself.

These pedantic scholars still retain the stingy habits left over from the Jingtai era.

Trying to squeeze three million taels out of them to build ships is harder than climbing to heaven.

However, this was within his expectations.

Because he didn't come here today to reason with people.

Pei Yuan slowly tucked the imperial edict into his sleeve, put his hands behind his back, and walked around Minister Zhou once.

"Lord Zhou, I am a rough man and do not understand your civil officials' theatrics of remonstrating to the death. I only know that if I fail to accomplish what the Emperor has entrusted to me, I will not be happy."

"Whenever I am unhappy, the Imperial Guard prison will have to be filled with a few new people."

Minister Zhou glared angrily.

"Pei Yuan! How dare you threaten an official of the imperial court! Do you really think there is no law in this Ming Dynasty?!"

"The law?"

Pei Yuan stopped in his tracks, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

He leaned close to Minister Zhou's ear and whispered something in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"Lord Zhou, in the thirteenth year of the Zhengtong reign, the Yellow River breached its banks. You were then the Governor of Henan. The imperial court allocated 300,000 taels of silver for disaster relief. You handled the accounts flawlessly."

"But why were half of the bluestone blocks used to build the dam replaced with inferior red sandstone?"

When Minister Zhou heard these words, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

He froze abruptly, the color draining from his face instantly.

This happened in the thirteenth year of the Zhengtong reign!

That's an old story from over a decade ago!

Moreover, the late emperor investigated so thoroughly, and he, in conjunction with officials at all levels, made sure nothing was missed.

Even the Censorate couldn't find the slightest problem.

How did this head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who had only been transferred to the capital for less than two years, know such confidential details?!

Pei Yuan looked at Minister Zhou's terrified eyes and sneered inwardly.

How did he know?

When he audited the accounts back then, Gu Yannian saw through the fraudulent practices of burning firewood at a glance.

However, at that time, in order to stabilize the situation in Henan, and because the Minister of Works later made up for the deficit.

He then suppressed the matter, treating it as a trivial matter.

Unexpectedly, more than a decade later, this seemingly insignificant move was used against him in his role as a "treacherous minister."

"Lord Zhou, the archives of the Embroidered Uniform Guard contain quite a few interesting things."

Pei Yuan stepped back half a step, patted Minister Zhou on the shoulder, and his tone returned to its usual irritatingly relaxed manner.

"I only need three million taels. The Taicang can provide that amount. The treasures of Jianzhou are enough to cover the deficit."

"Does Your Excellency wish to preserve your good reputation and remain a respectable Minister of Revenue, or would you rather go to the Imperial Guard's prison and explain to me how that red sandstone turned into bluestone?"

Minister Zhou's legs went weak, and he could barely stand.

He looked at the brocade-clad guard in front of him with a sinister smile.

This monster is truly despicable!

"You...you..."

Minister Zhou pointed at Pei Yuan, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.

"Lord Zhou, my patience is limited. I need to see the first batch of 500,000 taels of silver allocated to the shipyard in Taicang within three days. If even one tael is missing..."

Pei Yuan didn't finish his sentence, but left with a cold smile before turning and striding away with his Imperial Guards.

Until Pei Yuan's figure completely disappeared outside the Ministry of Revenue's gate.

Minister Zhou, as if all his strength had been drained, slumped down on the wooden box filled with sable furs behind him.

"My lord! My lord, what's wrong?"

A group of officials from the Ministry of Revenue quickly surrounded him and inquired with concern.

"What a tragedy...what a tragedy..."

Minister Zhou's face turned deathly pale, and he muttered to himself.

"How could such a monster have emerged from the Ming Dynasty..."

Three days later.

It was unusual for the Minister of Revenue not to remonstrate to the death in court.

Instead, he obediently allocated 500,000 taels of silver, which was then handed over to the Embroidered Uniform Guard to be escorted directly to the Longjiang Shipyard in Jiangnan.

When this news spread, the entire court was in an uproar.

Grand Secretary Li Xian was so angry that he smashed two teacups in the Wenyuan Pavilion and pointed at the Minister of Revenue, cursing him for lacking integrity and succumbing to the tyranny of treacherous officials.

Minister Zhou could only grimace and stammer, unable to give a coherent explanation.

They simply claimed it was an imperial decree that they could not disobey.

Meanwhile, Pei Yuan had already packed up and was preparing to head south.

Shipbuilding is not something that can be accomplished simply by having money.

The three major shipyards in Jiangnan gradually fell into disrepair after the Yongle reign.

The officials in charge of the Ministry of Works had long since shelved the shipbuilding technology and blueprints.

He needed to personally go to Jiangnan to build an invincible fleet capable of dominating the world.

Using his set of rules, he got that rusty machine running again.

The Forbidden City, the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Jianji hosted a private banquet to bid farewell to Pei Yuan.

"Minister Pei, the journey to Jiangnan is long and arduous. Shipbuilding is a complex undertaking, and if you encounter any obstacles, you may act as you see fit. I bestow upon you the Emperor's Sword; any official in Jiangnan, high or low, who obstructs shipbuilding, may be executed without prior approval!"

Zhu Jianji handed Pei Yuan a long sword inlaid with gemstones, his eyes full of expectation.

Pei Yuan took the Emperor's Sword with both hands, and the heavy feel of it brought a smile to his lips.

"Your humble servant will certainly not fail in his mission. Three years, at most three years. Your humble servant will make the treasure ships of the Ming Dynasty cover the seas of the South Seas."

"Let all the foreign lands know the mighty name of the Chenghua Emperor!"

The emperor and his minister looked at each other and burst into laughter.

The next morning.

Pei Yuan, accompanied by several hundred elite Imperial Guards, boarded a government ship bound for the south.

With the spring breeze filling the sails, the official boat sailed along the Grand Canal, cutting through the waves, heading towards the misty, rain-drenched Jiangnan region.

Standing at the bow of the boat, Pei Yuan faced the river wind, unfastened the embroidered spring knife from his waist, and carefully wiped it in his hand.

"I've returned to Jiangnan. But this time, I'm not here to drink tea or listen to music."

He gazed at the receding green willow branches on both banks, his eyes gleaming with a keen, insightful light.

Under his deliberate guidance, the Ming Dynasty finally broke free from its stagnant and closed-off past.

According to official history, the next few hundred years...

This world will belong to the era of powerful ships, cannons, and endless oceans.