After a rain, the original gray road turned black, the black road was paved with a layer of fine crushed peas, such as broad bean-sized stones, the stones were glued together with asphalt to become neat, this kind of asphalt road, the whole Ming Dynasty used to only have in the capital, in fact, it is not only in the capital, Guangzhou also has an asphalt road. And this asphalt road leading to the wharf is the only asphalt road in the whole Ming Dynasty except for Zhongdu. The reason why this road was built is to facilitate merchants from all over the world - Guangzhou as the most important port of the Ming Dynasty, attracting merchants from all over the world, the port is lined with merchant ships, these merchant ships from the West, the Ming Dynasty porcelain, silk and cotton cloth and other commodities were continuously transported to Europe and the Americas, and a large amount of silver was brought into the Ming Dynasty, bringing sufficient money supply to the economic prosperity of the Ming Dynasty. Although now, due to the lifting of the sea ban, there are many ports such as Xiamen, Ningbo, Haizhou and other ports for foreign merchant ships to sail into, they are still accustomed to sailing into Guangzhou, after all, it is closer, and the arrival of foreign merchant ships has also brought prosperity to the city. After all, with the return of taxes such as land endowment, salt tax and customs duties to the imperial court, the Jin royal mansion can only rely on the allocation of the imperial court, and only rely on maritime merchants to obtain certain benefits. Even for the King of Jin himself, in addition to military and political affairs, the most important thing every day is to listen to the chief of the "Tonghai Xing" report on the affairs of Tonghai trade. "Compared with the same period last year, the number of merchant ships sailing into Guangzhou has decreased by more than 30 percent, and the trade volume has decreased by 40 percent. Zhao Fengming is a native of Guangzhou, and it is because he is good at dealing with Western merchants that he will enter Shang Kexi's mansion and become Shang Kexi's cloth slave to do some business for him. After the King of Jin conquered Guangzhou, although Shang Kexi was killed, he survived as a coat, and slowly gained the trust of the King of Jin, and continued to do some business for him, engaged in business with Westerners.

However, the business is getting worse and harder.

Zhao Fengming's words made Li Dingguo's brows furrow, and he asked in a deep voice.

"What's going on?"

Although he never valued money, Li Dingguo also knew the importance of this sea trade to the Jin Palace, and the annual income of one million taels was enough to maintain the various expenses of the Jin Palace, of course, the prosperity of trade was also extremely important to the local Guangzhou, and now he heard that there were fewer and fewer merchant ships, Li Dingguo naturally frowned.

"Back to the king, all because of the Nantianmen, since last year, at least hundreds of merchant ships from Haizhou and other places sailed into the Nantianmen, shippers from all over the world have chosen Nantianmen closer to them, instead of Guangzhou, as a result, now there are naturally fewer ships to Guangzhou, in addition to the Spanish ships also come to Guangzhou, there are fewer and fewer merchant ships from other countries."

Zhao Fengming's answer made Li Dingguo's face change slightly, and his expression became more and more solemn, what is the place of Nantianmen, he naturally knows very well, it is an overseas colony occupied by the emperor in Jiangbei, which happens to be located in the important place where Westerners travel to and from China. Now that there are shipwrights bringing goods to Nantianmen, it is natural that maritime merchants from various countries are willing to trade closer to them.

But for Guangzhou, the blow was fatal.

Without the annual income of one million taels of sea trade, how could the Jin Dynasty maintain an army of 50,000 people? Moreover, there are all kinds of expenses in the palace, and the annual payment of the imperial court is only hundreds of thousands of taels. It was only through sea trade that silver could be obtained to maintain the army and the expenses of the royal government.

"Great King, although the imperial court said that the tariffs of all ports are uniform, all of them are ten taxes and one tax, but the imperial court's ships go to Nantianmen, but there is a subsidy for transporting exiles, and every exile prisoner is sent, you can get 10 taels of silver, so that a ship transporting dozens of exiles can get a few hundred taels of silver, which is enough to supplement their freight, so that the shipbuilders in Jiangnan are naturally willing to transport goods to Nantianmen, load the goods in the cabin, and then take the exiles, so that there are more and more goods in Nantianmen, and the maritime merchants of various countries are naturally willing to buy goods near Nantianmen, Instead of Guangzhou, thousands of miles away, the king, this move of the imperial court is a draw from the bottom of the kettle! ”

Isn't it just a draw from the bottom of the kettle!

Li Dingguo's brows suddenly locked, so that he couldn't speak for a long time, in the past two years, the imperial court has been tightening the rope little by little, and the rope is getting tighter and tighter.

From last year's resumption of the right to appoint local officials in Guangdong and other places, to the recovery of local taxes, and then to the clearance of land, in the past two years, the imperial court has tightened that rope, and now, His Majesty has begun to tighten the last rope. 50,000 royal palace guards, how much is the expenditure in a year?

Not less than one million taels, how much is the expenditure of the royal government office?

If there is no 1.5 million taels a year, it will not be able to last, but how much money is allocated by the imperial court?

Just a million taels!

There is a difference of 500,000 taels every year, and how to solve the other differences - on the spot tuntian, this is the will of the imperial court.

"The Qing captives slaughtered more than 10 million people in Guangdong, so that now there are many famines in Guangdong, and the guards of the Fuzhong domain can be stationed in the field to supplement military supplies."

The will of the imperial court is very direct, that is, to tell him bluntly that the imperial court does not have so much money to raise soldiers, so he needs to figure out his own way, but what can he think. The field endowment is the imperial court's, the salt tax is also, the customs duty is also, and even now, together with the sea trade, the imperial court has to intervene.

"King, if you let the court do this, I'm afraid it will ......"

Without waiting for Zhao Fengming to finish speaking, Li Dingguo said in a deep voice.

"Go down!"

"The King's ......"

"Go down!"

Again, Li Dingguo reprimanded sharply.

Facing the angry king, Zhao Fengming had to bow and retreat, and after he retreated, Li Dingguo was pacing back and forth there, his brows were tightly locked, and his face looked extremely solemn.

"Your Majesty......"

The moment these two words came out, Li Dingguo still sighed.

When he learned of the death of the first emperor, although there were many doubts, he chose to believe that it was Li Ziyuan who killed him. ”

Back then, the reason why Li Dingguo made such a choice was because he knew what was the most beneficial choice for the Ming Dynasty.

Since he is the son of Emperor Xiaolie, then the world of the Ming Dynasty is naturally his.

As far as Li Dingguo is concerned, although no matter who is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he will not have any ideas, but deep down, he still has deep feelings for the first emperor, that is, Emperor Xiaokuang, and it is precisely because of this that he will write to the imperial court last year and ask Guiwang Zhu Cixuan, that is, the son of the first emperor, to go to Beijing from ten thousand years to guard the tomb of the first emperor. The reason why he mentioned this matter in the letter to the court was actually to remind the court that he would not tolerate any more accidents for King Gui.

For Li Dingguo, protecting King Gui's safety is the only thing he can do.

"Perhaps, it's time to invite the imperial court and let King Gui return to the domain!"

Almost when Li Dingguo said his plan, Bai Wenxuan, Li Sixing and others immediately understood his plan, and they all said in a lost voice.

"King, at this time, it must not be, how can King Gui be able to save his life!"

As the king of Gongchang, Bai Wenxuan, although he is also a king, is a county king with a slightly lower status than Li Dingguo. Now that he is also attached to the Jin Domain, he naturally knows what Li Dingguo's decision means to him.

"Father-in-law, what King Gong said is very true, his father-in-law was loyal to the emperor back then, and there is no need to sacrifice the lives of more than 100,000 people in the Jin clan for a yellow-mouthed child."

Li Sixing also retorted loudly that the more than 100,000 people in his mouth, in addition to the 50,000 guards of the Jin Domain, there are also their families, and handing over the military power is equivalent to handing over the lives of more than 100,000 people.

"I'm not a murderer!"

Li Dingguo shook his head.

"Now that Guangzhou Port has been slowly replaced by Nantianmen, there is no million taels of silver from the sea, how can the government maintain it? Do we have to wait until the mountains and rivers are exhausted before making plans? ”

Li Dingguo, who was once at the end of the mountains and rivers, naturally knew what it was like to be exhausted, and he also knew what the result would be if one place was against one country.

"If you are alone, I am afraid that the lives of more than 100,000 people in the Jin Domain will not be guaranteed, and now, taking advantage of the current opportunity, I can still talk to the imperial court......

There is still some possibility of negotiation, and if we wait until the rope is all tied, I am afraid there will be no chance of negotiation.

"Hong Shiming, Xian Guoan, Li Guoan, how did they die?"

"They're traitors!"

Li Dingguo said in a deep voice.

"Lone is the king of the Ming Dynasty! and how can they be compared? ”

Although this sentence is righteous and awe-inspiring, Li Dingguo's heart understands very well that these words are just talking. He set his sights on Liu Zhen again, he is the son of Liu Wenxiu, the king of Shu, although he has attacked the throne of Shu last year, but he has not been sealed so far, and the court has summoned him to Beijing several times, but he has postponed it for some reason. Maybe...... Maybe you can let him enter Beijing first, so that you can test the thoughts of the imperial court.

Seeing King Jin's eyes on himself, Liu Zhen, who knew his intentions, smiled, and then said.

"Uncle Wang, if Uncle Wang doesn't dislike it, let the little nephew go to the capital to explore the way for your old man first!"

Since his father was recalled to the court and lost his military power, Liu Zhen was just a decoration in the court, and now there is not much difference between it and the decoration in Guangzhou.

In this case, what is the difference between Guangzhou and Jingshi?

"Virtuous nephew ......" Liu Zhen's initiative made Li Dingguo smile helplessly.

"It's not that Uncle Wang wants to put you in danger, it's just ...... Uncle Wang had to consider the safety of the Jin Domain, so there would be a nephew of Lao Xian! ”