When you enter the imperial city, you don't have to guard it as if you were outside the palace. Yun Xi and Yun Zhi and her two maids walked in front, and only two guards continued to follow Yun Xi all the way to Qianqing Gate.

Yun Zhi instructed her two maids to open up, and said to Yun Xi with some puzzlement: "Brother Huang, my sister looks at those two people who are neither like civil officials nor military generals, what does the imperial brother have to tell them?" ”

"One of the brothers had met and was a businessman, and the other brother had not met, but most of them were businessmen." Yun Xi replied casually. did not realize that Yun Zhi was suspected of interfering in politics.

"Merchant? What did the royal brother do when he saw the two merchants? Yun Zhi asked with some surprise. Since the Han Dynasty, the four people are the order of Shinong industry and commerce, although the status of merchants in the Mengyuan period has been greatly improved, but Zhu Yuanzhang succeeded to the throne and imposed strict restrictions on merchants until Yunxi succeeded to the throne more than a year after the gradual lifting of the ban. But due to inertia, most people still look down on businessmen.

"Of course I have something to tell the two of them." Yun Xi said: "Since my grandfather founded the Ming Dynasty, he has always wanted to abolish the situation of Han people as slaves, and it is also stipulated in the "Daming Law", but it has never been realized. But when my brother saw these two people today, he realized that there was hope for solving this problem. ”

"In addition, merchants also have the role of merchants, and sometimes, they will be better than Jinyiwei, and they don't have to spend the money of the imperial court."

Yun Zhi was very surprised when she heard this, and she couldn't understand the two points that Yun Xi said. Two businessmen, how to solve the things that the eloquent grandfather did not solve? And how can a merchant be better than Jinyiwei?

However, at this time, she had realized that her words were suspected of interfering in politics, so she kept her mouth shut.

Not long after, Yun Xi took her to Kunning Palace, called Yun Lan and Yun Yun again, and had dinner together. Yun Zhi took out the gadgets she bought from outside the palace and distributed them to Yun Lan, Yun Yun sisters and her two sisters-in-law and nephews and nieces, and told them about what they had seen and heard about leaving the palace this time. She emphasized that she saw those amazing performances in Wayan, which made Yunlan and others very envious.

Yun Xi saw the envy in their eyes, and said with a smile: "You don't have to envy Yun Zhi. Turning around, I asked Wang Xi to discuss with the people of the Teaching Workshop Division how to make arrangements, and summon these people into the palace in the name of the Teaching Workshop Division to perform for you. ”

Of course, Yun Lan and the others were overjoyed, thanked them repeatedly, and Yun Xi responded with a smile.

After dinner, everyone dispersed, Yun Xi said a few words to Xi Yao, got up and went to the temple. Although Xi Yao was a little puzzled that he still had something to deal with at such a late hour, he didn't ask anything, just told him not to be too late.

……

……

In the temple, two men who were not short of objects were fidgeting in a pavilion. This is the imperial palace, the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty, and they were already very nervous; At the same time, there were many people around them who lacked an object staring at them, and their eyes swept over their crotches intentionally or unintentionally, which made them even more nervous.

One of the dark-skinned people couldn't help it, and said to the person next to him, "That person just now is really the emperor of the Ming Dynasty?" Is this really the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty? ”

"You have asked several times, who else in the world can there be other than His Majesty the Emperor for such a graceful and luxurious person? With such a magnificent palace, where else can there be in the world except the palace of the Ming Dynasty? ”

"However, what did the emperor of the Ming Dynasty call us to do?" Although the person who asked the question was not a common man of the Ming Dynasty, he had also done business in the Ming Dynasty - he had done smuggling business, and he also knew that the status of the merchant in the Ming Dynasty was not high, so he was puzzled that the emperor would personally meet the two merchants.

"Probably there's something to order. When the emperor summoned me off the coast of Shanghai, he instructed me to accompany the army and merchants. ”

"Could it be that we are going to fight again, and recruit merchants to accompany the army?" The man was excited. When there is a war, doing business is all about profiteering.

"No, with the example of the last time, as long as the imperial court did not declare that it was not necessary to follow the army merchants, there would definitely be many merchants who would be willing to follow the army to do business. The emperor doesn't have to come again. ”

"And why is that?" After the dark-skinned man said this, he was about to mutter a few more words, when he suddenly heard a voice from the door, and immediately stood up straight and stood side by side with the other person, and when a man surrounded by the crowd walked in, he immediately knelt down and said: "Xiao Zhuo, the grass people/Zheng Pai, the people outside the fan, I have seen Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty, long live Long live, long live!" ”

Yun Xi stood in place, waiting for them to kneel three times and bow nine times according to etiquette before sitting down, and Wang Xi commanded: "Flat." ”

Xiao Zhuo immediately stood up with the Zheng faction and continued to stand in front of Yun Xi with anxiety.

Yun Xi turned his head sideways and asked Wang Xi, "The people you saw that day are these two people?" ”

"Your Majesty, Xiao Zhuo is undoubtedly the person he saw that day; But this is called the Zheng faction, and the minions don't dare to guarantee it. Wang Xi replied.

"Xiao Zhuo." Yun Xi turned his head to him and said.

"The grass people are here."

"You sold slaves that day, but with this man?"

When Xiao Zhuo heard this, his heart trembled, and he paused before saying: "The grass people sold their slaves that day, not with this person, but with another person, that person had left the capital three days ago and went to Shanghai, and now most of them have gone to sea. ”

He immediately knelt down and said: "The grass people sell slaves from the outside without authorization, violating the "Da Ming Law", and the crime deserves death!" Sin deserves death! ”

Zheng Pai also reacted at this time, although his movements were a little stiff, but he also knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, the people who sold slaves with Xiao Zhuo at that time were the people of the outer fan, if Your Majesty wants to execute Xiao Zhuo, the people of the outer fan are also willing to die together." ”

Xiao Zhuo listened to Zheng Pai's words, and suddenly felt bad in his heart. Facing the emperor to say that the crime deserves death is just a common phrase, and it does not necessarily mean that he has a capital crime. But as soon as Zheng Pai said this, the emperor might really kill the two of them.

He was anxious, but he couldn't say anything at this time, so he could only "bang bang" and stumble on the ground and admit his guilt.

Unexpectedly, Yun Xi suddenly laughed out loud and said, "Xiao Zhuo, Zheng Pai, the two of you are even." When the two of them stood up, they said, "I have said that I will deal with you for selling foreign slaves. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Xiao Zhuo immediately said again. At the same time, I thought to myself, 'There is no punishment for this?' What exactly is the emperor going to tell us? Can you even ignore "Da Ming Law"? ’

After that, Xiao Zhuo stood quietly outside Yun Xi's three zhang, waiting for Yun Xi's final instructions to him.

But Yunxi said something that surprised him: "From tomorrow onwards, you will not only sell foreign slaves, but also sell them on a large scale, so that the powerful families in the capital will know about it, and sell the slaves to such people." ”

It turned out that after Yun Xi returned to Beijing, Wang Xi took more than ten days off to go home to accompany his mother's family. On this day, he chatted with a few brothers, and heard his eldest brother say: "Old five, the price of a slave in this capital is too expensive, a good-looking maid costs dozens of yuan, even a small maid costs ten yuan, and an adult man also needs five or six yuan." In our hometown, no matter how beautiful a girl is, it's just a few dollars. ”

"The capital is rich, not to mention that the government is also strictly managed at the feet of the Son of Heaven, so it is so expensive." Wang Xi said.

The two of them said a few more words, and suddenly Wang Xi's fourth brother said: "Speaking of which, in the past two days in the human market, there are people who sell slaves very cheaply, and a big man is only two or three times. ”

"How can there be such a cheap slave?" His eldest brother immediately asked.

"It's the city of people in the east of the city. This man is a new face, but with a familiar face as a guarantor. His fourth brother said: "But the slaves sold by this man are not the same, he doesn't know how to speak official language, and he can't understand a mouthful of words, the man said that he bought it from the mountains of Fujian, but how do I listen to it like a person from Fanguo." ”

When Wang Xi heard this, he immediately paid attention. In the "Da Ming Law", it is stipulated that people who are not allowed to sell foreign fans without permission, how can this person be so bold and dare to come to the capital to sell? And the price is still so cheap?

Later, he went to the market with his fourth brother to see it, and immediately recognized that one of the people who sold foreign slaves had seen Xiao Zhuo for him, and immediately understood why he sold it so cheaply.

On this expedition to Annam, more than 300,000 Annamites were killed, and more than 300,000 Annamite were sold into slavery. Annan is close to the sea, so the transportation cost is also low, so Xiao Zhuo came up with the idea of selling them to Daming.

Several major cities in the Ming Dynasty were very prosperous, and the price of slaves was higher than that of the countries of Nanyang, and the profit from selling one was more than that of selling two in Nanyang, among which the capital was the most expensive place. He may not be willing to take this risk in normal times, but this time, because there are too many slaves supplied to the entire Oriental Market, it is difficult to sell in the Nanyang Lands for a while, and even if he is willing to buy them, the money is too low, Xiao Zhuo can't care about the danger in order to make money as soon as possible, and Zheng sent two people to the capital to sell Annan slaves in person.

Although this matter violated the "Da Ming Law", Wang Xi knew that Yun Xi seemed to have a different opinion on such a thing than the "Da Ming Law", so he did not let the two elder brothers tell Ying Tianfu about the matter, but told Yun Xi himself after returning to the palace.

When Yun Xi heard this, he was overjoyed. He had long wanted to truly abolish the Han slavery system. In order to set an example, the eunuchs in the palace have long been castrated since childhood, and the palace maids can leave the palace as long as they are not favored by him, and most people can leave the palace at the age of twenty.

But Yun Xi also knows that his prestige is not as good as Zhu Yuanzhang, and what Zhu Yuanzhang has not done, it is very difficult for him to do it. It is impossible for a large family not to have slaves, and it is impossible for all the subordinates to be hired, and some of the servants who serve closely must hold their deeds in their hands, otherwise they will not be at ease; It is also impossible to make them all use the Yimin: under normal circumstances, the cost of catching a Yimin to come to the Central Plains is scary, and of course the price will be far higher than that of the local slaves, and no one will buy it.

But this time, the price of the slaves sold by Xiao Zhuo was lower than that of the people in Daming, so he gave Yunxi a way to do this: let Xiao Zhuo contact all the traffickers who bought cheap slaves from the Ming officers and soldiers, and send all Annan's slaves to Daming to sell.

At the same time, he took advantage of the loophole in the "Da Ming Law" that "it is only stipulated that the people of the foreign fan are not allowed to be sold as slaves, but Annan has now become Zhu Zanyi's fief, and the people of Annan are theoretically not the people of the foreign fan, and they can be sold in the Ming Dynasty", so that the courtiers have nothing to say.

In this case, on the one hand, there are cheap and legal Annan slaves, and on the other hand, there are expensive and easy to violate the "Da Ming Law" of the native Han slaves, and most people will choose to buy Annan slaves.

As for the future, Yun Xi plans to find a suitable time to abolish this provision and allow the people of the foreign fan to be slaves in the Ming Dynasty, so as to completely solve this problem.

Of course, he would never allow people who looked too different from the Han Chinese, or who believed in the Heavenly Sect, to be trafficked into slavery in the Ming Dynasty, and it was even more impossible to allow blacks to be trafficked. However, Daming is so far away from the origin of black people, so there is no need to worry too much.