"Your Majesty," Zheng Zhilong smiled, "As far as the minister knows, this Shen Hou actually wants to be an official!" He is different from the minister, the minister is a vulgar businessman, and he really does not want to be an official and be constrained. And Shen Hou was born as a prisoner of the country, how could he not want to be an official? It's just that when he reaches his status, ordinary officials have long been disdainful. ”

Of course, Shen Tingyang wants to be an official, but the officialdom under Emperor Zhu has always had an unspoken rule that southerners suffer! Otherwise, with Shen Tingyang's qualifications and talents, he would have been a cabinet minister a long time ago, even if he didn't enter the cabinet, there should be a governor, where could he be a Beiyang minister? This Beiyang minister sounds quite big, but in fact he is just the head office of an armed transport company with a public-private partnership (very few public shares).

In the early Ming Dynasty, when there was no navy and the civilian shipping industry did not develop, it was indeed necessary for the two "companies" of Beiyang and Nanyang to exist. But now that the civil shipping and the imperial navy have risen, it is time for the two "companies" of Beiyang and Nanyang to return to their private nature.

"That's right!" Zhu Cihong nodded lightly, "Quanguo Gong, what kind of official do you think I should give him?" ”

"Didn't Your Majesty set up a special yamen to deal with the unofficial property of the Northern Expedition?" Zheng Zhilong said, "Besides, isn't the voice of the DPRK and China still very loud now?" His Majesty might as well set up a cabinet to stay in the capital, headed by Shi Yugong, and then the secretary of the household department of the capital was awarded to Shen Hou, and the household department of the capital was ordered to be in charge of the Northern Expedition.

This pavilion elder who stayed in the capital is also a pavilion elder, and His Majesty can also promise to let Shen Hou become the pavilion elder of Nanjing in the future. In this way, he will definitely be happy to stay in charge of the capital household! ”

Zhu Cihong laughed: "Okay! Good! It's a good idea! Shen Tingyang must be willing to be the elder of the cabinet, and there is no one in my Ming Dynasty who does not want to be the elder of the pavilion. And Liudu should indeed have a cabinet, which can also appease the northerners who want to move north. ”

He paused, "Old Taishan, today's discussion, don't talk about it outside." In addition, the accounts of the household department still have to be poorer...... Let's make a plan to borrow again! Before the cabinet meeting on the third day of the fourth month, the early plan should be prepared, and the old Wei Ge should discuss it with them, and explain the difficulties of the household department clearly. ”

Zheng Zhilong said continuously: "I know, I know, the minister must cry poor!" ”

Emperor Zhu smiled: "Okay, I will cry with you when the time comes!" That's all for business...... I have already asked the imperial concubine to prepare a family banquet, let's eat some together! ”

Zheng Zhilong hurriedly got up and saluted: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the banquet." ”

......

Shen Tingyang, the second rich man of the Ming Dynasty, also assumed great responsibility in the Northern Expedition in the past three years. His Beiyang Governor Yamen was the general contractor of the Northern Expeditionary Army's logistics and material shipping, especially after Shi Kefa took Tianjin Wei and opened up the Wei River channel, Shen Tingyang had more to do, not only to undertake the shipping of Shanghai-Tianjin, but also to be responsible for the dredging and water transportation of the Wei River and the canal. Later, when he attacked Beijing, he also had to transport the grain, grass, baggage, and siege artillery needed by the 250,000 army all the way to the city of Beijing.

The battle of Beijing, his contribution is not small!

Therefore, in Emperor Zhu's merit book, Shen Tingyang's name is very high, just after Shi Kefa, Prince Kongdai, Yan Yingyuan, Gao Jie, and Huang Degong.

Because he wanted to return to the dynasty to be sealed, Shen Tingyang also returned to the south, but he did not go to Nanjing, but returned to his hometown Shanghai, where he was visiting his fellow countrymen Luo Dagong, Xia Yunyi, and Hou Xuanyan.

Luo Dagong is the prefect of Shanghai and the foreign transportation and trade envoy, and he has done a good job as an official, so he has no end to it......

Xia Yunyi, who is now in his sixties, has set up a Gezhi Academy to teach the standard curriculum of Nanjing Primary School and Nanjing Middle School, and has recently been preparing for the Shanghai University Hall with several Shanghainese gentry officials.

And Hou Xuanyan is a person from Jiading County in Suzhou, but Su Song is one, so he is also a fellow villager with Luo Dagong and Xia Yunyi. He is also a Jinshi of Chongzhen for 18 years, but his official fortune is mediocre, and now he is the official worship of Shanghai Zhixian County, and he is the deputy of Luo Dagong.

And Shen Tingyang, who settled in the Chongming Institute of Suzhou Prefecture, has always been the leader of Su Song's officialdom because he took refuge in Zhu Cihong early enough and his official title is high enough.

Now is another critical moment when the political situation will change, so as soon as Shen Tingyang returned to his hometown, Luo Dagong, Xia Yunyi, and Hou Xuanyan came to visit together.

After some chattering greetings, in the back garden of Shen Garden in Shanghai, Luo Dagong turned the topic to the relocation of the capital and finance.

"Master Hou, I heard that Your Majesty completely rejected the proposal to move north on the grounds of financial deficit?"

Shen Tingyang snorted: "Deficit? Now that the Holy Lord and the Quanguo Gong have gotten together, can they still lose? Grand Duke, you have been an official in Shanghai for more than ten years, don't you know? ”

Grand Duke Luo smiled: "The imperial court will not lose money in Nanjing." But many people are worried about what will happen in the north! Especially the towns of Anbei, Beiping, Daning, and Shuofang......"

Xia Yunyi nodded and said: "After all, the royal spirit of Jinling is insufficient, and when Emperor Taizu was alive, he wanted to move to Xi'an and Kaifeng, but unfortunately he couldn't make the trip. ”

"If you want to go to Kaifeng and Xi'an, you might as well go to Beijing!" Shen Tingyang shook his head, "Beijing can still be maintained by sea, if the capital is moved to the Central Plains or the northwest, hundreds of thousands of capitals will have problems eating and drinking." ”

Hou Xuanyan is a genius in the south of the Yangtze River and has never been to the north, so he was surprised at the moment: "How can the Central Plains be so broken?" Hundreds of thousands of people in the capital can't be raised? ”

Shen Tingyang said: "Even if you can live, there is no future...... The wealth of the world has long gathered in the southeast! And the wealth of the southeast is still increasing! ”

"The southeast is not a place to use!" Xia Yunyi said, "Since ancient times, there are only Emperor Taizu Gao and Jinshang, and there is no one else." ”

Shen Tingyang shook his head: "In the past, the armed forces of the northern land relied on war horses, and the armed forces of the southeast relied on boats and boats. And if the boat does not go to sea, there are not many places to go after all. The strength of the northerners' armed forces is also due to this. But today's force relies on flintlock pistols and smoothbore cannons! However, both of them are from the south. And now the population of the south is several times or even ten times that of the north, there are more people and more guns, and the armed forces can be weaker? Even the horses of the north are no better than the horses of the south from the sea...... Therefore, the proposal to return to Beijing will not succeed, and we must know in our hearts. ”

As he spoke, one of his sons hurried in, still holding an envelope folded out of yellow paper.

Seeing this envelope, the faces of several people present changed slightly, and they cast envious glances at Shen Tingyang.

Shen Tingyang said: "Is it an edict? ”

"It's the middle order," said Shen Tingyang's son, "and it's the imperial guards who came." ”

Now the edicts of the Ming Dynasty are divided into two categories: holy decrees and middle decrees, the holy decrees are issued by the cabinet or the generalissimo's office channels, and need to be signed by the first assistant or military advisors to be effective, and the central decrees are issued directly from the palace.

However, the middle decree is not an "illegal" holy decree, Zhu Cihong will not issue an "illegal" holy decree, and the difference between the middle decree and the holy decree is only that the purpose is different. The main purpose of the decree was to summon foreign ministers and others to the palace for an audience, to give orders to the Jinyi guards, or to issue rewards with internal funds.

Shen Tingyang is not a Jinyi guard, and he is the second richest man in the Ming Dynasty, so he doesn't need Emperor Zhu's money, so the sudden Zhongzhi is to summon him to the palace for an audience.

Now that the meeting between the two governments has not resumed, and the emperor is still nominally recuperating, he is in a hurry to summon "Shen Erfu", is it to let him enter the cabinet?

Since the Ming Dynasty moved south, Emperor Zhu has always pursued the principle of using the north to control the south, and used the exiled northerners to suppress the gentry in the south. Now there are only two southerners among the cabinet ministers, Qian Qianyi and Zheng Zhilong, and Qian Qianyi has always been useless, just a vase. And Zheng Zhilong is not a southern gentry, but also a national ruler...... Of course, others can't compare!

And now that the north is recovering, shouldn't the official fortunes of the southerners go to the next level? Shouldn't the governors of the northern provinces and the top leaders of the state capitals come up with some for the southerners to do?

Should the ratio of north and south among the ministers be adjusted to three to three?