"Thirty million, this is the money left after the officials at the back office take it, counting their share, how much can you earn when you go to sea once?"

Zhao Yan still knows a little bit about the methods of officials who are greedy for ink, isn't that what the officials of the Imperial History Observatory say every day?

"Your Majesty, this minister is not very clear. However, the minister estimated that the money they took should be four or five million, all of which had accounts, and they couldn't take too much. ”

"I don't think so, if not 10 million, there are 8 million! Knowing that the imperial court needs money everywhere, they are still working together, and they can make a little money, and if they make a little more, the less money they have in the treasury, and they don't care about the difficulties of the court at all! It's still too indulgent for them. ”

Liu Xi was secretly shocked, could it be that the emperor was going to attack Hui Yi?

"Your Majesty, in fact, it is not easy for them, a trip to the sea is two years, crossing the ocean, sometimes they have to live on a ship for several months, they can't eat or sleep well at sea, and they often encounter strong winds and waves, and if they are unlucky, their lives will be gone. Also, it is hot and humid at sea, it is easy to get sick, once you get sick, it is difficult to get better, you will die after ten days and half a month, and once you die, you can't put it on the ship, and you don't dare to put it on the ship, for fear of the plague, you will be thrown directly into the sea, and finally there will be no bones left. It is not easy for people who go to sea, all of them are dead and alive, but in order to make money for the imperial court, they can't go only once, and the officials who return to the exchange department want to appease the people who return from going to sea, and hope that they can go out next time, and the best appeasement is to give money. A hundred large ships, with no less than five or six thousand people in their entourage, have to pay money, give rewards, and pay pensions for those who die at sea, and have to spend a lot of money. If the return office hands over a lot of money from the sale of exotic goods to the inner treasury, the return office will be disbanded immediately, and there will be no one left to run, and I am afraid that even the sailors will not be found next time they go to sea. ”

Liu Xi was known to all the provinces in the inner service, and he didn't know for what purpose, so he immediately began to intercede and complain for the return to the Yi Office, as if he had also gone to sea with him.

Sure enough, as soon as his voice fell, Zhao Yan asked, "Liu Xi, who are you in Huiyi?" ”

I only heard Liu Xi immediately kneel down on his knees, kowtow to the ground and say: "Back to the emperor, the younger brother of the minister's mother is in the army, he was selected to be transferred to the Hui Yi Guard, and went out to sea with the fleet." After the fleet returned, he came to Bianjing, and the minister met with him and asked him in detail about returning to the Yi fleet. ”

"Your brother?" Zhao Yan frowned slightly.

"Yes, he is more than ten years younger than the minister, he was born after the minister entered the palace, and he has only recognized each other in recent years." Liu Xi replied immediately without the slightest hesitation.

"What position does he hold in the military?"

"Just a conductor."

"Well, then let him keep an eye on the Hui Yi fleet, and keep all the big and small things in mind in the future."

"Yes, Emperor Xie Longen, the younger brother of the minister!"

"I won't investigate how much money was shared up and down this time. But next time you divide the money, you must have an account, and the amount of money must be recorded and documented, so as not to leave people with the opportunity to catch the wind. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty. The minister will pass on the original words to the Hui Yi office. ”

"Get up. Lu You is in charge of returning to the Yi Office and the City Division, collecting money for the imperial court, it is really hard, if there is anything I have to say to him, there is no need to pass the word, you just need to let some rumors go out. ”

"I understand."

"The fleet will go to sea this year, what news do you have?"

"I heard that this year, many merchants bought their own ships, ready to take their own goods, with the fleet of the Hui Yi to go to sea, the Hui Yi and these merchants asked for a good price, it is said that the contract was signed, which agreed that the merchant ship should return to half of the profits to the Hui Yi office, if the misfortune on the way to the shipwreck, the loss by the merchants themselves. Although the conditions are harsh, the Hui Yi Office is willing to take the merchants' ships to sea, guide them the way, and is also responsible for protecting their safety. ”

"Take the ship's merchant to the sea, do these people in Bianjing even have to earn their hard-earned money overseas?" Zhao Yan showed a hint of displeasure on his face.

"In Lin'an, some people are red to return to the Yi fleet, it is the Emperor Taishang who strictly forbade irrelevant officials and businessmen to participate in the affairs of the Hui Yi Department, so they have not been able to intervene, and now the imperial court is short of money and urgently needs to make money, so they let their merchant ships also participate, anyway, bring more ships, it will not cost too much. In fact, many maritime merchants already knew about the sea route from the Great Song Dynasty to the Nanyang countries, and only the sea route to the West was in the hands of the Hui Yi Office. ”

"Sooner or later, they'll know the sea route to the West, right?"

"Since the eighteenth year of Shaoxing, the first time the Huiyi fleet went to sea, there have been many people who have been to the South Seas and the Western Ocean, and those who have been to the West have obtained the charts, but they are not detailed enough. In addition, the road is too far away, far away from the Great Song Dynasty, whether the fleet is at sea or in the Western countries, the merchants themselves cannot guarantee the safety of goods and lives, so no one has dared to go west from the South Seas. There are so many people who have been to the West over the years, and it is not impossible for the businessmen to be willing to work hard and spend money, and they can still find hundreds of people to take a risk to the West. ”

"It's been more than 20 years since the Huiyi fleet went to sea for the first time, and it's really impossible to hide what you want to know. Zhao Yan sighed slightly, and then asked, "Liu Xi, as far as you know, how much money can the richest person in Bianjing City come up with?" ”

"The richest person in Bianjing City is naturally the emperor, the world is the emperor, and the money in the world is naturally the emperor." Liu Xi didn't know why the emperor suddenly asked this question, and in desperation, he could only say vaguely immediately.

"The money in the treasury is the world's, I asked you to talk about private businessmen and officials and squires, you have a lot of news in Bianjing City, you don't know it."

"Yes, the minister does know some about Bianjing City, but he has never deliberately approached those high-ranking officials. But as for the wealth they possessed, the minister had heard a little. The minister heard that once there was a singer who looked like a fairy in Bianjing City, and many dignitaries wanted to kiss Fang Ze and keep it for themselves, so hundreds of people bid on the spot, from 100,000 all the way to 1 million, there are still dozens of people competing for the price, and then it rose to 2.5 million, there are still three people fighting, and finally suddenly someone asked for 4 million, and the others gave up the fight. That singer bought it, and it was just a concubine, but if someone can buy a concubine for four million, it means that his family property may be ten times or dozens of times. ”

"Is there really such a rich person in Bianjing?" Zhao Yan's pupils shrank, expressing suspicion.

"There are many obscure rich people in the world, and some people don't seem to have much money, but in fact, they have too many fields to count, and some can even occupy most of the county. The money is gone, but the production capacity of the fields they own has has been passed down from generation to generation, even if the dynasty changes after thousands of years, it should be their field, or their field. On both sides of the Yellow River, there are countless such large households with thousands of hectares of fertile land, some of them are eunuchs' families, and some are squires who are extremely rich, and their wealth is not even counted by the household department. The real rich people are not in Bianjing City, they are all hidden in the place, and the land title deed in their hands is the real wealth. ”

Listening to Liu Xi's words, Zhao Yan was silent.

Yes, what is the value of having money in hand, the inner treasury collects so much money every year, and it is not quickly spent, only the land that can grow crops from the ground every spring is the real wealth, and the person who owns a thousand hectares of fertile land is the real great wealth.

How much of the land in the world is in the hands of those people, and how much of the land in their hands is subject to land taxes?

Although the emperor said that he owned the world, how many acres of land did he really own?

Zhao Yan doesn't have land, so Yang Congyi shouldn't have either.

Yang Congyi was in charge of the Hui Yi Office in his early years, basically at sea, even if he had money in his hands, he had no time or opportunity to buy a large piece of land, not to mention that his family used to be in Quanzhou, which was full of mountains, and there was not much fertile land at all, and it was impossible to buy a few acres of land if he wanted to.

After leading the army north to the Yangtze River, Huai River, and Yellow River, he was busy with war, and it was impossible for him not to have the leisure to buy farmland.

Zhao Yan thought about it carefully and thought that Yang Congyi had made some money with the help of the Huiyi fleet in addition to carrying private ships, and it was impossible to buy land.

No land is water without a source, no matter how much money you have in your hand, it will be gone if you spend it, although Yang Congyi once had 30 million in money, he may not be really rich, because almost all of that money was spent.

Although he thought so, Zhao Yan was still a little worried, after all, the power in Yang Congyi's hands was too heavy, and there were too many soldiers and horses that could be mobilized.

"Liu Xi, do you know where the best rice and flour are in the world?"

Zhao Yan suddenly came up with this question, and Liu Xi, who listened to it, was confused for a while, so he could only reply truthfully: "The minister has not heard of it." ”

"Actually, I don't know, the Great Song Dynasty is so big, the climate in the south and the north is very different, the food grown is naturally different, and the crops grown in different lands must be different." Zhao Yan muttered to himself.

"Yes, what the emperor said is right, isn't there a saying that orange is born in Huainan is orange, and orange is born in Huaibei is orange, and this should be what he said." Liu Xi immediately agreed.

"I want to know where the food in the world is more delicious, give you half a month, you go and check it carefully."

"Your Majesty, the world is so big, where can you let the ministers check?" Liu Xi was taken aback, didn't the emperor wait to see him? Want him to leave Bianjing?

"Bianjing is the capital of the Great Song Dynasty, and all the good things in the world will eventually gather in Bianjing. And the people who are qualified to enjoy the good things in the world in Bianjing, in addition to the high-ranking officials in the court, are wealthy and rich. If you figure out where the food they eat every day comes from, you will understand everything. ”

"Yes, the minister is stupid, the minister understands, and the minister will do it immediately."

"Go ahead, find out and report quickly."