As Ma Mingsong said, maritime trade is becoming more and more developed, and naturally Shanghai is becoming more and more prosperous.

Chen Wenhui couldn't help but say: "In this way, the emperor's income is also too much." ”

Ma Mingsong was in front of Chen Wenhui, and the Ming people didn't say secret words, so they said: "Now the emperor, in terms of income in Shanghai, enjoys more than the previous emperor." Today, 10% of the shares of Shanghai City are in the exclusive hands of the emperor. That's a huge benefit. The emperor couldn't beat him like this. ”

But no, Chen Wenhui's Yicheng was handed over when he was the emperor. She was the first to hand it in. For more than 10,000 prisoners, some people in the three counties, the development rights of Nanyang. There is not a penny of money. Then there was the Ma family, and the Ma family did not get the money, and the Ma family exchanged for the trade rights in the northwest, of course, this trade right was not all trade rights, but the monopoly of prisoners of war, as well as the salt monopoly in the northwest. These two items made the Ma family make a lot of money.

Then there is the Chen family land. The Chen family did not ask for silver, they exchanged control of Goguryeo and Silla, and of course, these territories had to be taken down by the Chen family themselves. Of course, the first emperor didn't go too far, and still gave some people to the Chen family.

Then the shares of Xiao Chen's family were also given to the emperor, in exchange for the development rights of the Wa Kingdom. Of course, the territory still has to be fought by himself, and the first emperor didn't help anything, but the emperor who was still the crown prince at that time was a little embarrassed, after all, the Xiao Chen family helped him too much, so the general who commanded the army sent Zhao Chongli, the loyal and righteous duke. also gave Chen Wenjun some people from the Central Plains.

In the end, it's Princess Lichuan's. This is the eldest daughter favored by the emperor. The princess of Da Chu has made a lot of contributions to Shanghai for so many years, so when the emperor took back this part, he gave two million taels of silver with real money, and gave it back to the people of the three counties, and gave her the right to develop Siam.

This really has to be envied, but there is no way, who makes the family the biological daughter of the emperor? So. Except for the prince's Ichisei shares in his own hands. The rest of the shares were eventually received by the emperor.

However, less than a year after the emperor got these shares, the emperor died. Didn't enjoy it. The heir to the crown prince was cheapened for nothing. That is, the current Emperor His Majesty.

Now Emperor Liu Yan holds the entire ten percent of the shares. Isn't that a huge gain?

Chen Wenhui asked: "Master Ma, now just with the income of Shanghai City, the emperor can get 10 million taels of silver every year, right?" ”

Ma Mingsong said: "Now the construction of Shanghai City is basically saturated. Therefore, it is unlikely that you can buy a house or a shop. This is a big gain, and there is no more. However, taxes have increased. Because the new houses and shops are gone, they have to trade the old ones, and they give us taxes for each transaction. It's still small. The key is that the market has prospered, and the import and export volume of goods have increased, so the tax revenue and tariffs in the market have greatly increased. What's more, a lot of trade routes have been opened recently, and it's all money, and the sale of ships is much faster. Orders are scheduled for the following year. In this way, the profit is still about the same as before, or even more. and a year of twelve or three million taels of silver. However, Shanghai City is free of charge, there are free schools, and there are some basic construction, greening, roads, and the welfare of officials, which can also cost millions of taels of silver every year. Therefore, even if the emperor gets all the shares, he will only get a profit of 800 to 9 million taels of silver. ”

Chen Wenhui nodded and said, "Is this number still small?" With these nine million taels of silver, how much can the emperor do? ”

Zhao Chongyi was also very happy and said: "The armor of the soldiers of the army can be changed, and the weapons can be used new and sharp." Some of the big siege machines can also be built. In addition, the money and food for the soldiers can also be increased. Even officials in the world can gradually implement high salaries and maintain a clean government. ”

Chen Wenhui knew that it turned out that Emperor Liu Yan still had these revenges, but these were very urgent. For example, with the new supply of equipment, money and food for the army, the soldiers will be able to provide more security and fewer casualties when they go to the battlefield in the future.

There is another point that Zhao Chongyi did not say, if the equipment continues in this way, ten years later, it will definitely be able to train elite soldiers, and it will be useful to attack southern Xinjiang at that time.

Also, before, Zhao Chongyi told her that Liu Yan hated the corrupt officials and corrupt officials in Dachu very much, and made up his mind to rectify the rule of officials. Since we want to rectify the rule of officials, we must first improve the treatment of officials, so as not to let people be greedy, and we must first give people enough to live, or people will be greedy if they are forced by life?

It all costs a lot of money. In this way, the emperor has an income of nearly 10 million taels of silver every year, and he has not become rich.

When Ma Mingsong said this, he said with a smug look on his face: "Shanghai City now earns so much every year, and it has solved a lot of problems for the emperor, and the emperor praised the officials of Shanghai City before. “

Chen Wenhui said: "Master Ma, tell you good news, you will be able to earn a little more soon." ”

Ma Mingsong was a little puzzled, but immediately understood, and immediately asked, "But there is a new trading location?" New routes are going to be opened? Is it the county lord, are you going to build a new city again? No, your fourth city is still under construction, where is the energy to build a new city? ”

Chen Wenhui said: "The construction of the new city is still slow. However, this is a good place to trade readily. It is the hometown of Mu Li Gongzi, southern Xinjiang. This time, we were ordered by the emperor to go to southern Xinjiang to do business, and reached an agreement with the queen of southern Xinjiang to trade with the queen of southern Xinjiang and open up sea trade. Guangzhou City in southern Xinjiang, as you know, was originally a key city of maritime trade in the previous dynasties, and its status was no less than that of Shanghai City. ”

This news is not trivial, Ma Mingsong is happy, this trade route is a ready-made trade route, and the benefits can be seen immediately. As soon as the new trade routes come out, you can make a lot of money just by selling routes, not to mention the increase in the throughput of goods, and the increase in taxes. These add up, probably, next year, the money given to the emperor by Shanghai City will reach 10 million taels of silver, so the emperor must be very happy.

When the emperor is happy, he will naturally be especially gracious to the Ma family, and he will also be especially gracious to the daughter of the palace, Concubine Ma Shufei and the children born to Concubine Ma.

Although the emperor ascended the throne, the empress was Chen Wenfeng, and the crown prince was not decided. However, everyone knows that this position is for Chen Wenfeng's eldest son. The eldest son of the emperor is both the eldest and the eldest grandson, and when the emperor was there, he was the eldest grandson of the emperor and was favored, so his status was unshakable. It may be that the one of the Bai family is still a little unwilling, although his Ma family is now prominent, Ma Mingsong has not forgotten his origin.

Although his family has been favored by the two emperors for two generations, after all, the foundation is too thin, and he is only from a slave family. Where can you think that a prince of such blood will inherit the throne in the future. Ma Mingsong's wish is that his daughter will be peaceful and honored in the palace, and she will rely on each other with the Ma family, and the prince and princess in the future can be a prince or something, just protect the Ma family.

Therefore, Ma Mingsong was very happy about this and said: "This is really good news, we have to prepare quickly." In a moment, I'll go and inform the people below. ”

Chen Wenhui smiled slightly.

Zhao Chongyi said: "Master Ma, you also received the emperor's secret order, right?" ”

Ma Mingsong's expression moved, and he said, "I have received a secret order from the emperor." In fact, regarding the investigation of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, this matter should indeed be done. At that time, the emperor was still a county king, and it was the news given by our Ma family that allowed the emperor to behead many corrupt officials in Jiangnan. Later, the county lord Wenhui helped me to sit in Shanghai City, and I also cleaned up some corrupt officials in Suzhou Province. ”

"After these two purges, the corrupt officials in Jiangnan may be the least in the entire Great Chu. However, there are still some, such as the previous Royal Bank. However, now, the Wang Family Bank has also collapsed, and all the semicolons have been taken over by the county lord's Dachu Bank. Wan Shuhui is busy all day. The Wang family was also beheaded. ”

At this time, Chen Wenhui knew the news of the Wang family, and couldn't help but glance at Zhao Chongyi.

Ma Mingsong continued: "The rest are small fish. However, because our Ma family's energy has been focused on the northwest in recent years, we have not done anything to supervise Jiangnan. There may not be much information that is known. However, since the emperor has entrusted this matter to Lord Zhao, I will definitely do my best to help. ”

After speaking, Ma Mingsong got up and took out an account-like thing from the drawer and said, "At present, everything we have is here, so let's hand it over to Lord Zhao." However, Lord Zhao, please carefully verify the situation before dealing with it, these are different from the previous ones, many of these are not verified, just hearsay. After all, we are understaffed. There are only a small number of people in our Ma family in Yangzhou City, and most of them live in Shanghai City, Tiebiguan in the northwest, and in the capital. ”

Zhao Chongyi understood, thanked him, and accepted the account book.

Then the three of them talked about something else. Ma Mingsong said: "Since your Xiao Chen family received the Wa Kingdom, the trade volume of the Wa Kingdom has increased a lot. Especially good for our Ma family. Bought a lot of prisoners of war from us, Hu people. But we made a lot of money. You know, in addition to selling prisoners of war and going to the northwest to sell salt, we also sold back the war horses in the northwest. The famous horses in the northwest are very popular with the nobles of Great Chu. However, I didn't expect that your Xiao Chen family also needed so many Northwest horses? ”

War horses are controlled strategic materials, and of course the imperial court has to inquire about his whereabouts and uses. Xiao Chen's family and Nanyang bought war horses like this, and it seemed that they were concerned by the imperial court. (To be continued......)