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

These words immediately caused an uproar in Haiyantang.

Li Xian, disregarding the loss of five hundred taels of silver, dragged his aged body and knelt down with a thud, holding the imperial tablet high in both hands.

"Your Majesty, you mustn't! The maritime ban is an ancestral law; how can it be lightly abolished? Once the maritime ban is lifted, trouble will surely arise along the coast. Merchants, driven by profit, will likely breed pirates, leading to endless troubles, Your Majesty!"

Several ministers also knelt down and pleaded desperately.

The censors, frozen stiff, mustered their last breath and joined in shouting, "The ancestral system must not be abolished!"

Zhu Jianji coldly looked at the group of old ministers who were wailing and lamenting, and snorted coldly.

"Ancestral rules? Can ancestral rules conjure up silver in the granary? You all cry poverty to me every day, and now that I want to open up new sources of revenue, you're using ancestral rules to pressure me!"

Zhu Jianji descended the imperial steps and came before Li Xian.

"Grand Secretary Li, are you aware that Pei Yuan established the Maritime Trade Commission in Jiangnan, and within just three months, he sent two million taels of silver to my imperial treasury?"

"I will not only lift the sea ban, I will also establish a royal trading bureau!"

Zhu Jianji turned around, faced the assembled officials, and loudly announced his grand ambitions for hegemony.

"The Royal Trading Company, with capital allocated by the Imperial Household Department, is solely responsible for overseas trade. Spices from Southeast Asia and gems from the Western Regions are all purchased and distributed under its sole jurisdiction!"

"The general manager of this trading company will be Pei Yuan! All merchants in the world who wish to go to sea must purchase a license from the Maritime Trade Commissioner's Office and be escorted by the navy!"

Zhu Jianji flicked his bright yellow sleeve, his tone decisive.

"This matter is settled and requires no further discussion. Anyone who dares to invoke ancestral rules again should go and raise the three million taels annually for the navy's military expenses themselves!"

This statement completely blocked all escape routes for the civil officials.

Three million taels of silver annually?

Even if you sold the Minister of Revenue, you still couldn't raise the money!

Li Xian slumped onto the brocade cushion, his face ashen.

He knew that the situation was hopeless.

The national policy of the Ming Dynasty, fueled by the emperor's greed and Pei Yuan's instigation, had become like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins.

They rushed headlong toward that unknown, vast ocean.

Pei Yuan stood aside, watching the once high and mighty civil officials now looking as if they had lost their parents, and felt a sense of peace in his heart.

This move was extremely prudent.

Using imperial power to break ancestral rules, and using personal gain to silence public opinion.

In the end, everything in this world boils down to one word: "profit".

Three days later.

The emperor's procession, amidst the deafening roar of cannons, slowly departed Zhenhai Fort and embarked on its journey back to the capital.

The journey back took much longer than the journey there.

The snow on the official road was trampled into a muddy mess by the passing soldiers and horses, and the wheels of the carriages made a dull "crunching" sound as they pressed down on it.

Pei Yuan did not ride a horse.

Instead, he sat comfortably in his large, luxurious rosewood carriage.

The carriage was covered with thick Persian carpets, and a pot of fine Shaoxing wine was warming on a small red clay stove in the corner, emitting an enticing aroma.

Pei Yuan leaned back on the cushion, holding an exquisite brass hot water bottle in his arms, and reading a book with great interest.

In contrast, life was much harder for the civil officials.

The charcoal they brought had long been used up in Zhenhaibao for heating.

Now, sitting in a drafty sedan chair, all I can do is wrap myself tightly in my fur coat.

As the sedan chair swayed, I shivered from the cold.

Li Xian sat in the sedan chair, listening to the wind outside, and occasionally let out a violent cough.

Through the gap in the sedan curtain, he looked at Pei Yuan's smooth and luxurious carriage from afar, his eyes filled with grief and helplessness.

"When a nation is about to perish, monstrous evils will surely emerge. Is the Ming Dynasty truly destined to fall into the hands of this treacherous minister?"

The former prime minister sighed deeply, closed his eyes, and a single, cloudy tear slid down his cheek.

Little did he know that Pei Yuan, whom he regarded as a national demon, was sitting in the warm carriage.

At this moment, I am looking out the car window at the dilapidated villages and the pale-faced people along the way.

Pei Yuan put down the book he was reading, picked up the warm wine cup, and his gaze became incredibly profound.

"Defeat? I have protected the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years, how could I watch it fall?"

Pei Yuan murmured to himself as he downed the warm wine in his cup.

He used greed and power to break the maritime ban.

The purpose was to pull the Ming Dynasty out of the vicious cycle of agricultural involution.

Spices from Southeast Asia, silver from the Americas, and even Western firearms technology.

Only by riding this surging tide of trade can it continuously flow into this ancient land.

As for his reputation as a "treacherous official," he no longer cared.

This is the unwavering resolve of an immortal spectator.

More than ten days later.

The royal procession has finally returned to the capital.

Upon returning to the palace, Zhu Jianji immediately issued three imperial edicts to announce the news to the world.

Firstly, the ancestral rule that prohibited even a single plank of wood from going to sea was formally abolished, and the Maritime Trade Offices were reopened in the coastal provinces, under the unified jurisdiction of the Maritime Trade Supervisory Office led by Pei Yuan.

Secondly, the Royal Trading Bureau was established, with Pei Yuan as its director, fully responsible for the Ming Dynasty's official overseas trade.

Thirdly, three newly launched treasure ships of 1,000 liters each and one hundred Fujian ships from the Jiangnan Shipyard were transferred to the Northern Navy and stationed at Zhenhaibao in Tianjin.

The moment these three imperial edicts were issued, the entire business world of the Ming Dynasty was in an uproar.

Especially in and around the capital, wealthy merchants who had long heard the news flocked to the Right Viceroy's Mansion on the shore of Shichahai Lake.

In the days since Pei Yuan returned to the capital, the gates of the Governor's Mansion have been almost worn down by the merchants who came to visit.

Inside the front hall.

Pei Yuan, dressed in a casual blue robe, sat upright in a grand chair.

Below are Shanxi merchants led by Qiao Shouye, and several managers from Jiangnan sent by Wan Dafu to reside in the capital.

They stood respectfully on both sides.

"Gentlemen, you are all aware of the Emperor's decree."

Pei Yuan held two iron walnuts in his hand, slowly turning them, making a crisp grinding sound.

"With the lifting of the maritime ban, going overseas to do business is now a legitimate business. Our Royal Trading Company is engaged in this unique monopoly business that is unparalleled in the world."

"The Bureau of Commerce will collect all high-quality silk, porcelain, and tea produced in the Ming Dynasty at market prices. They will then be loaded onto our naval warships and transported directly to Southeast Asia."

Pei Yuan looked at the merchants whose eyes were gleaming with shrewdness, his tone calm yet authoritative.

"If you merchants who handle large quantities of goods want a share of the profits, you have to follow the rules."

"The Bureau of Commerce will issue you supply contracts. Whoever has the most contracts will have their goods loaded onto the ship. As for how to buy these contracts..."

Pei Yuan picked up his teacup and smiled.

"Prices are clearly marked, and there is no deception of the young or old. A certificate that can hold a thousand dan of goods has a starting price of fifty thousand taels of silver. The highest bidder wins."

Upon hearing this, the merchants below all gasped in shock.

Fifty thousand taels of silver, that's just the bottom price!

In order to compete for a spot on the ship, these wealthy merchants will surely drive the price up to an outrageous level.

But everyone knew that as long as the goods could be loaded onto the ship and transported to Southeast Asia to exchange for spices and gems, the profits would be ten times or even dozens of times greater.

The ticket cost 50,000 taels of silver, but it bought a mountain of gold.