"A bunch of bastards!"

Zhu Yuanzhang slapped the table fiercely, startling Zhu Biao next to him, and hurriedly walked over and asked, "Father, what's wrong with you, why are you so angry?" ”

"See for yourself!" Zhu Yuanzhang angrily threw a notebook into Zhu Biao's arms.

Zhu Biao took the notebook and opened it, and found that it was a notebook sent by the ministry, mainly to report the list of people who had been funeral by officials last month.

For the funeral, although there is no explicit provision in the Ming Dynasty, according to the customs that have been circulated before, whether it is the death of parents, uncles, brothers, etc., officials will go to the funeral, according to the different relatives, the period of mourning is also different. For example, when a parent dies, filial piety must be observed for three years, while when a grandparent dies, filial piety must be observed for one year.

Zhu Biao looked left and right, but he couldn't see anything wrong with this recital, so he asked, "Father, this is just a routine recital, there should be no problem, right?" ”

"How can it be!" Zhu Yuanzhang is still angry, "I remember clearly, last month, there were only nine officials who mourned and kept filial piety, but last month it suddenly became seventeen, they went home to keep filial piety, and I still have to give them money, just take money and don't do anything, it's unreasonable!" ”

Zhu Biao couldn't cry or laugh when he heard this, although he had long been accustomed to Lao Zhu's unreasonable trouble, but this time he still felt that his father was a little too harsh, but he still patiently persuaded: "Father, no one can do anything about birth, old age, sickness and death, after all, people's relatives have died, so they can't help but go back to mourn, right?" ”

"Why can't it, so many people have died in Li Jie's family, and he still has to work for me?" Zhu Yuanzhang widened his eyes and said, and even directly took Li Jie out as an example, without thinking that Li Jie's relatives were all killed by him.

"This ......" Zhu Biao didn't know how to complain when he heard this, Li Jie is not the same as others at all, others work to make money, but Li Jie works to earn his life, he wants to rest, but his harsh father is staring at it, does he dare to rest?

"Father, it is not easy for officials, they are usually busy with government affairs, and by taking a break during the period of filial piety, they can also show their father's compassion for his subordinates!" Zhu Biao held back for a long time, and finally came up with another reason.

"Busy?" Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly when he heard this, "No matter how busy they are, can they be busy?" Can you be busier than you, the prince? When have you ever seen me leave the government and politics and run to mourn for others? ”

"Father, aren't you an orphan?" Zhu Biao scratched his head and asked.

I have to say that Lao Zhu's words are simply too shameless, his father and mother died early, and all his brothers and sisters died, even if he and Zhu Biao wanted to mourn, they couldn't find anyone to let them serve.

"What did you say?" Lao Zhu was pierced by his son's words, and immediately became angry, and habitually reached out to grab the inkstone, but his hand finally stopped halfway through, after all, he had promised not to mark Zhu again.

Zhu Biao saw that his father's half-stretched hand was also frightened into a cold sweat, and immediately admitted his mistake: "My father is angry, and my son is speechless!" ”

Lao Zhu was also angry at this time, but it was not good for his son to attack, but he quickly found an excuse to vent, only to see him snatch the recital of the official department and said angrily: "This mourning system must be changed, otherwise if a person has five or six mourning periods in a row, wouldn't he have to take several years off in a row?" ”

In fact, Lao Zhu's words also make sense, it is indeed too time-consuming to run for mourning and filial piety, especially in this era when the transportation is not developed, if the deceased relatives are far away, it may take a year just to go back and forth on the road, if several mourning periods are connected together, it is not impossible to mourn for more than ten years, and the life span of the ancients is relatively short, so it is impossible to stand up to such consumption.

Zhu Biao also pondered for a moment when he heard this, and then nodded and said, "Father's words are also reasonable, but how to change them?" ”

"Let the officials come forward, and they will write a letter to lift the system of running for funerals every year for hundreds of officials, except for the death of their parents, the rest of the annual service system, no funerals are allowed, but people can be sent to sacrifice!" Zhu Yuanzhang quickly made a decision that this kind of thankless task could not be ordered directly by him, but someone must come forward to top the tank, and the officials were obviously the most suitable candidates.

"Father is wise!" Zhu Biao has no opinion on this, although after the promulgation of this policy, it will definitely arouse the criticism of some officials, but as long as it takes a long time, they will have no problem after getting used to it.

"By the way, Li Jie is having a treat at the Zhenfu Division today, have all those rich businessmen gone?" Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly thought about Li Jie at this time, so he opened his mouth and asked, of course he knew everything about Li Jie's every move in the Zhenfu Division.

"Mao Xiang personally sent the invitation, how dare those rich businessmen not go?" Zhu Biao also smiled when he heard this, but then he said a little puzzled, "But what did Li Jie invite so many rich businessmen to do, did he want to force these rich businessmen to donate money?" ”

"This kid can't do such a thing!" Zhu Yuanzhang said with great certainty, compared to Zhu Biao, he sees Li Jie more thoroughly, maybe some of Li Jie's behaviors seem a little out of line, but he has some of his own persistence and bottom line, so there are some things he will never do.

"If it's not forcible force, then what can he do to get the rich businessman to take out the money?" When Zhu Biao heard this, he also asked suspiciously, Li Jie himself definitely couldn't take out so much money, and the only way was to let the rich businessman take the money.

I saw that Zhu Yuanzhang also pondered for a moment at this time, and then shook his head and said: "I don't understand this, but since he dares to invite the rich businessman to go, he obviously has his own plans, and he also brought Yun Xi with him, probably to let him learn something." ”

"Yun Xi has changed a lot recently, the whole person seems to be more confident, and he is more courageous in speaking and doing things, all of which are due to Li Jie!" When it comes to his son, Zhu Biao is also very happy that since he gave up prejudice, he has also paid a lot of attention to Zhu Yunxi, and he has seen the changes in his son.

"Yun Xi is indeed a good child, you used to ignore him too much, and Yun Xi can't just let him study to death, if necessary, arrange some practice for him!" Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a while when he heard this, and then said, in his heart, Zhu Biao must inherit his throne, but as for who can succeed Zhu Biao, it depends on the performance of Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Yunxi.

"Erchen understands!" Zhu Biao also felt a sigh in his heart when he heard this, and immediately saluted.

At this moment, a eunuch came in to report that Li Jie and Zhu Yunxi wanted to see him, which made Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao also feel shocked, and immediately let them in.

Soon saw Li Jie and Zhu Yunxi walking into the warm pavilion with a happy face, and the two saluted Zhu Yuanzhang's father and son successively, and Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't wait to ask: "How much money did you raise?" ”

"Grandpa Huang, you would never guess that those rich businessmen are all vying to send money to Li Banyu, as if they are afraid that Li Banyu will not want it!" Without waiting for Li Jie to speak, Zhu Yunxi preemptively said with an excited face.

Li Jie next to him smiled slightly, after he expressed his sincerity, those rich businessmen also quickly showed their sincerity, especially after they learned that the current payment was proportional to the future income, they were even more scrambling to send money to their hands, Li Jie couldn't think about it, and the amount raised in the end was far beyond the previous estimate.

"Don't sell it, how many are there?" At this time, Zhu Biao couldn't help but ask.

Only then did Li Jie take out a list from his sleeve, and then offered it with both hands: "Please Your Majesty!" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang snatched it, and when he saw the numbers on it, he was also startled: Gu Xuewen, 100,000 yuan; Lu Yang, 80,000 runs; Yu Sanqi, 70,000 Guan......

Just the three people who donated the most in front of them together have reached an astonishing 250,000 guan, of course, these three people have the most abundant financial resources, and the number of donations from the rich businessmen in the back is much less, but the least one also donated 10,000 guan, and these more than 20 rich businessmen together finally donated 830,000 guan, more than double the 400,000 guan that Li Jie promised at the beginning.

When Zhu Biao stretched his neck and saw the amount on the list, he was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth.

But unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed at first, and then gritted his teeth and said: "These profiteers are so rich, I am the emperor, but I have to worry about the lack of money every day, it is unreasonable!" ”

Lao Zhu Zu has been a poor peasant for eight generations, and he has a natural hatred for the rich, even if he becomes the emperor, he will not change his original intention, otherwise Shen Wansan would not have ended up in exile, it can be said that he hates others to show off his wealth in front of him the most in his life, and now although these rich businessmen are donating money to the imperial court, they still cause Lao Zhu's dissatisfaction.

Seeing that his father's pink eye was committed again, Zhu Biao was also a little crying and laughing, and immediately stood up and persuaded: "Father, businessmen buy east and sell west, accelerate the circulation of goods, although they have accumulated a lot of wealth, but they are also very beneficial to the country and the people, as the so-called Shinong industry and commerce, all of them are indispensable!" ”

Li Jie also pouted secretly, he had long been accustomed to Old Zhu Qi's logic.

Although Lao Zhu was angry, he did not lose his mind, he quickly calmed down, and then looked at Li Jie and asked again: "As the so-called no traitors are not businessmen, these profiteers will definitely not take out so much money for no reason, right?" ”

"Your Majesty is wise, these rich businessmen are willing to take out the money, but they put forward three conditions, but two of them have nothing to do with the imperial court, they need to negotiate with Zhang Dingbian and others, and the only thing that the imperial court needs to agree to let their fleet follow Zhang Dingbian and others to the sea, and they can also travel freely between the Wa Kingdom and the Ming Dynasty in the future!" Li Jie smiled again.

Li Jie played a trick when the rich businessmen negotiated, when he put forward the three conditions, he did not ask Zhu Yuanzhang's consent in advance, but in addition to the right to go to sea, the other franchise rights and priority trading rights, they need to negotiate with Zhang Dingbian, and Zhang Dingbian and others are a bunch of poor ghosts, as long as the rich businessmen pay, no matter what the conditions they will agree, the only trouble is Lao Zhu's side, if Lao Zhu does not nod, the ships of the rich businessmen will not be able to go to sea.

To put it bluntly, Li Jie played the white wolf with empty gloves once, first promised the rich businessman, and then took the amount of donation given by the rich businessman to persuade Lao Zhu, and then it depends on Lao Zhu's choice, if Lao Zhu wants to get the money, he must agree to the rich businessman's fleet to go to sea.

Of course, Lao Zhu can also disagree with the conditions, and then force the rich businessman to pay, but the impact of this kind of thing is too bad, but Lao Zhu will not do it if he has a little brain.