"I also ask Your Majesty to agree that the next time a maritime merchant goes to sea, he will send a court warship to protect his safety along the way, just in case of accidents," Zhang Fan said.

"This ......" In the face of Zhang Fan's request, Longqing was silent, not that Longqing did not agree, or that this request was too difficult to achieve, it was a normal thing to send troops to protect the caravans of his country, even in the Ming Dynasty, when those merchants went to Mobei to do business, the imperial court would also send troops to escort them, and now Zhang Fan just asked the imperial court to send a few warships to go to sea with those merchant ships, which is not a big deal.

"It's not a problem, it's just that this ......" Long Qing had a doubt, just now he and Zhang Fan were discussing how to make money from foreigners, but Zhang Fan suddenly mentioned such a thing, although the two are related, but Long Qing does not feel that there is any direct connection between them.

Zhang Fan didn't need Longqing to say it to understand what he was thinking, and said directly: "Your Majesty, please listen to Weichen in detail, Weichen's trip to the south of the Yangtze River was also where he met a lot of businessmen who returned from going to sea, talked to them, and knew some information.

"It has been three years since His Majesty switched, and with the rich returns brought back by the first few people who dared to go to sea to do business, many people feel that this is profitable and are ready to join, but even so, there are only a small number of people who really dare to go to sea to do business.

Wechen asked them why, they returned to Wechen is also varied, there are all kinds of reasons, some feel that the journey is too long, some are afraid of suffering, and some are afraid of storms and the like, but Wechen feels that these are basically excuses, and look at those businessmen who have successfully returned, which is not to return with nearly a hundred times the value of gold and silver with the goods before departure, so much money, no matter what, there will be many people who want to earn their lives, what kind of situation Wechen said earlier, in front of people's hearts, But it all became irrelevant.

"But, even so, there are still a lot of people who have the idea of going to sea to do business in the end did not go, in the final analysis, what they are afraid of is man-made disasters, this ship is on the sea, there is no land for thousands of miles, if you encounter pirates, there is no way to escape, and those pirates know that there are no weapons on our merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, even if a certain ship in a fleet is robbed, other ships know that there is no way to come to the rescue, and the money carried by our merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, But there are far more merchant ships than other countries.

"How can a place with a lot of money and no defense not attract the poisonous hands of the gangsters?"

"What Aiqing means is that although those people want to go to sea to do business and make money, but because there is no one to protect them on the road, they are afraid of being robbed by pirates, so they give up," Long Qing After listening to Zhang Fan's words, he actually understood in his heart, but he still couldn't help but ask.

"That's right," Zhang Fan said, "Actually, speaking of which, if these pirates just boarded the ship to rob, it is estimated that no one will be afraid, after all, they all understand the so-called truth of breaking wealth and eliminating disasters, and even if those pirates take it, it is estimated that they will not be able to take much silver, but they are afraid that these pirates will suddenly break out, hurt people's lives, and lose money, even if they take their own lives, I'm afraid no one will want to,"

"Well, what Aiqing said makes sense," Long Qing nodded after listening to Zhang Fan's explanation.

Seeing that Longqing agreed with his point of view, Zhang Fan continued: "And Your Majesty, as long as the imperial court releases the news that it intends to send warships to sea to protect those merchant ships sailing together, it is conceivable that those who have already had the intention of going to sea will have no reason not to go after knowing that their safety at sea is guaranteed,"

"What Aiqing said is reasonable," Long Qing said, "and it is not a big deal to let the imperial court send warships to protect merchant ships, it is said that the three treasure eunuchs went to the Western Ocean seven times, and they were also strong ships and guns, didn't he also do a lot of business along the way,"

"What Your Majesty said is," Zhang Fan agreed, but in his heart, he always felt that there was always something wrong with comparing Longqing's matter with Zheng He's seven trips to the West.

"But Aiqing, you still didn't answer the doubt I had before, not only did you not answer it, but it also made the problem more serious," Long Qing suddenly changed his appearance, looked at Zhang Fan and said, "If the imperial court really sent warships to guard those merchant ships, then there will inevitably be more people who plan to go to sea to do business, and the more people there are, the more silver they will earn, although Aiqing, you just found out about Liu Shan's huge greed before, but in the face of so much silver, it is difficult to guarantee that no one will have bad intentions again, After all, there are a lot of people in this world who want money and don't want to die,"

Long Qing said the most greedy thing about him, this matter is indeed very difficult to do, after all, for how much ambition and courage can people be aroused by such a thing as money, although Zhang Fan does not have a specific standard in his heart, but he already understands this problem very well, as the saying goes, money can make ghosts grind, this is not wrong.

"Your Majesty, about this matter, Wechen has already considered it in his heart," Zhang Fan said, "This time there will be such a large-scale corruption case in Jiangnan, Wechen thinks about it, this matter is still related to the local Ship Division, all the merchant ships in various places are managed by the Ship Department in various places, whether they are going to sea, returning to the sea, or doing business, they must be approved by the Ship Department, and there are already big problems in this, not to mention those merchant ships after they come back, Whether it is loading and unloading goods or paying taxes and silver to the imperial court, it is all under the management of the Ship Division, so it is too convenient for the people of the local Ship Department to do anything about it,"

"Well, that's exactly what Aiqing said," Long Qing nodded and said, "When I ordered the switch, I didn't think about it so comprehensively, especially when I didn't take into account that these merchant ships brought back so much silver when they went to sea, so I handed over everything to the local ship department to manage, and now it seems that my decision at that time was a big mistake,"

"Your Majesty doesn't have to be like this," Zhang Fan said, "After all, this is the first time that the switch has happened, and who would have expected this kind of thing to happen, and now we still have to find a solution,"

"Oh, so, Aiqing, you already have a way," Hearing Zhang Fan say this, Long Qing hurriedly asked, "Tell me quickly,"

"Wechen does have an idea in his heart, but it is not yet complete, and I still hope that His Majesty will give him guidance," Zhang Fan said, "Wechen thinks that in the future, we should still let the local shipping departments manage the local merchant ships, but the yamen above the shipping department will be replaced,"

"Aiqing means ......" Long Qing already knew what Zhang Fan meant.

"Yes, let the people of the household department directly accept the ship department," Zhang Fan said, "In this way, the appointment of officials of the ship department in various places will also be carried out by the household department, so that it will also make people feel a lot more at ease, of course, Weichen also understands that the officials of the household department are also people, and there must be people who love money as life, and it is inevitable to guard and steal, but at least the supervision of the household department is much more convenient than before, if Your Majesty is not at ease, Your Majesty can let Weichen or Feng Gonggong's subordinates follow them, so that If they make any moves, Your Majesty will know immediately,"

The Ship Division was placed under the management of the Ministry of Households, so that in the future, whether it was collecting taxes or anything else, the money would no longer go through the hands of the local officials, but would be handed over directly to the imperial court, so that the problem of greed for ink and taxes would be solved.

Send Jinyi Wei or Dongchang people to monitor them, no matter whether they are open or secret, as long as someone dares to be corrupt, it is a terrible thing to be caught by the factory guards, and after a while, it is estimated that no official dares to be corrupt anymore.

Maybe these people will still think of a way to use silver to pull these factory guards to help them embezzle together, but Zhang Fan has already taken countermeasures to this, and the factory guards sent over will definitely not stay there for a long time, and they may be replaced by a group of people after a while, so that those who have worked hard to get through the relationship are just about to make a move, but they find that a new group of people who monitor themselves have been replaced, and I am afraid they will not be able to play any tricks.

Although Zhang Fan also understands the power of money, he doesn't know that someone will definitely find a loophole and risk being killed to make money, but it can only be a very small number, and it is impossible to have blatant corruption like Liu Shan, Zhang Fan called this situation "error" as if comforting in his heart, after all, mistakes can be avoided, but errors are inevitable.

"Aiqing's method is good, although I haven't tried it before, but it doesn't seem to have any omissions," Long Qing thought for a while and said, "Although it's not very detailed, it can be regarded as a general solution to this problem, but Aiqing, I still have something I want to ask you, if all this is possible, you really plan to just do serious business,"

"Back to Your Majesty, our land of China is a country of etiquette, how can we do that kind of dirty behavior that enslaves others," Zhang Fan said, "We don't need to do that at all, our things, porcelain, tea, silk, all of them are what they need, and they can't do it themselves at all, and all their things, except for weapons, I'm afraid we don't want anything, this kind of business is definitely a profitable deal, what else do you need to think about,"