Wang Qiong saw Liu Yu looking at him with a puzzled expression, and only smiled secretly in her heart, thinking that she was regretting that when His Majesty first ascended the throne and fought for power, because he was in a foreign office, he did not seize the opportunity to invest money in royal business for His Majesty, so that he missed the opportunity to make a fortune.

Now, His Majesty the Emperor has proposed to form an infrastructure construction bureau, and he will naturally not let go of the opportunity to make a fortune with His Majesty.

Although, Wang Qiong actually knew the word infrastructure, and even knew that it might mean building roads and bridges.

But he believes that His Majesty the Emperor will definitely not let himself suffer if his officials take out ill-gotten wealth to invest in the Infrastructure Construction Bureau, after all, the emperor will not let him suffer a loss.

In order to make a fortune with His Majesty the Emperor, and get rich with His Majesty the Emperor and even the country behind His Majesty the Emperor, Wang Qiong will naturally seize this opportunity immediately, so he directly exaggerated that he received a bribe of 300,000 taels from King Ning, and he now understands that as long as he follows the emperor and invests more money, the more benefits his Wang family will get in the future.

In front of him, the first assistant lord who consumed no less than 1,000 taels a day for food, and Wang Hua, the former first assistant who had just resigned and bought half of the mountain in Shaoxing Huiji to repair the garden, are examples.

As for the fact that he took the initiative to confess that he had accepted so many bribes from King Ning, Wang Qiong believed that His Majesty the Emperor would not really be strict with himself, after all, His Majesty himself said that he, the emperor, had also accepted the benefits of King Ning, and the implication was that he himself did not intend to pursue too much about accepting bribes from King Ning before King Ning's rebellion.

Moreover, Wang Qiong also knew that if the emperor really wanted to investigate, it would be the same whether he admitted it or not, and it might be better to take the initiative to admit it.

Zhu Houzhao pretended to be angry and put the teacup on the table, and pointed at Wang Qiong:

"Humph! This King Ning is really rich enough, he bribed you Wang Qiong with so much silver, and you dare to accept it, and I can't wait for the people to force the criminal department to peel you and grass you! ”

"The minister is guilty, but Your Majesty, the minister was also trying to paralyze King Ning at that time, so that King Ning mistakenly thought that the ministers and others were not aware of his rebellion, and even because they received his benefits, they didn't dare to stop him from rebelling! That's why the minister had the courage to accept King Ning's silver! ”

Wang Qiong knew that His Majesty the Emperor was deliberately beating herself, after all, His Majesty the Emperor would not openly say that he had accepted bribes well.

Zhu Houzhao really just wanted to do some superficial work, and after talking about all the bad things about accepting bribes, he said: "Of course, if you can take the initiative to hand over this ill-gotten gain, it is enough to show that you really did not intend to collect money and ask for bribes, and I will believe you, but this capital crime can be avoided, and the living crime will not escape, I will issue an order to the Ministry of Officials and punish you for half a year!" ”

"As for the more than 300,000 taels of ill-gotten gains, I will decree that they will be put into the reserve funds of the Infrastructure Construction Bureau, but I will not let you donate in vain, just as your shares, become a shareholder of the Infrastructure Construction Bureau, and in the future, after the Infrastructure Construction Bureau contracts the construction of the project, a part of the profits will be distributed to you, however, only half of the 300,000 taels can be divided into your own, and the other half will be handed over to the imperial court to participate in the formation of the imperial court's shares."

When Zhu Houzhao said this, Wang Qiong naturally had no opinion, and could only hurry up and be grateful, after all, if the emperor was willing to copy all his family property, he would not be able to resist.

But now what makes Wang Qiong more suspicious is why the imperial court also has to take shares, and of the half of the ill-gotten wealth donated by herself, the imperial court actually wants to take half of it directly!

"Your Majesty, the ministers don't understand that the court, the court is not physical, unlike families and individuals, the court also owns shares, and accounts for half of the shares, so where will the profits distributed to the court go?"

Wang Qiong asked.

Zhu Houzhao knew that the Ming officials of this era did not quite understand the concept of public ownership and private economy, and naturally did not understand what state holding was.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao had to continue to patiently explain:

"The imperial court is the country, that is, the Ming Dynasty, is to represent the interests of all the people of the entire Ming Dynasty, the imperial court shares are the national shares, that is, the shares of all the people of the Ming Dynasty, he not only has to account for half of the shares, but also has to account for more than half of the shares, because the infrastructure bureau can only belong to the imperial court! He must make all the people of Daming profitable! ”

"This is called the Central Commercial Bank (Ming Dynasty version of the central enterprise), the central court controlled the commercial bank, private individuals can have part of the equity of the central commercial bank, but this is only a return on national investment, but also to stimulate the enthusiasm of private operators when the central commercial bank, and the control of the central commercial bank must be in the hands of the central court!

In this way, most of the profits of the infrastructure bureau should be attributed to the state, so that the state can better control the world's infrastructure and the income derived from it, understand? ”

"Otherwise, if all the official roads, bridges, canals, and ports and ferries in the world are controlled by the powerful and powerful, then how can the common people in the world enjoy the benefits brought by the large-scale infrastructure construction of the imperial court, and in addition, how can the imperial court control your group of rich chaebols! When the time comes, I'm afraid that the court will be controlled by you! ”

Zhu Houzhao said this, Wang Qiong also understood what Zhu Houzhao meant, this is somewhat similar to the clan Tian clan property in the big clan, the clan property Tian accounts for the majority of the clan in order to facilitate the relatively weak clansmen in the clan to get basic care, which is conducive to the stability of the clan, and for the country, it is conducive to the stability of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Wang Qiong admits that this is right, and also believes that His Majesty is doing this for the sake of the people of the world, but for the royal family and powerful people like herself, it is naturally not the best, because in this way, it means that in the future, the big commercial houses will still be controlled by the imperial court, and it is still difficult for the powerful gentry to compete with the imperial court and make the most profits.

"Your Majesty is very worried, this will prevent the powerful from being too rich and the common people from being too poor, but it will also affect the infrastructure bureau to achieve the maximum profit," Wang Qiong said.

"The Infrastructure Construction Bureau is not only able to do business in the Ming Dynasty, for example, if I give the king of Korea a statue of the Holy Master (Confucius), and require the king of North Korea to raise a ten-zhang high platform, with a magnificent Confucian temple for offerings, and must use cement concrete, and ask the Ming Infrastructure Construction Bureau to undertake its project, and the Korean royal family will allocate the project money, first allocate two or three million taels of silver or something, if there is no money, I can let the bank of the Ming Dynasty give him a loan, but if he can't do it, The Infrastructure Construction Bureau has the right to develop one of his ports and lease it for a hundred years to collect taxes for profit, and can't it take the wealth of the four seas to benefit my Ming Dynasty? ”

"In addition, the surrounding other feudal domains can do the same, in order to facilitate the silk trade, all countries are required to build roads, and in order to facilitate trade between neighboring countries with a strip of water and Daming, they are required to repair ports, all of which can be let the Infrastructure Construction Bureau go!"

As soon as Zhu Houzhao said this, Wang Qiong and Liu Yu suddenly realized.

Wang Qiong knew that this was actually tantamount to building infrastructure for the foreign domain, and in fact, it was to seize the interests of the foreign domain for the benefit of the Ming Dynasty, which was much better than directly carrying out war plunder, so Wang Qiong hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this matter is very good, and it is really the best policy to start a war lightly and benefit the Ming Dynasty!" The minister thought that he could also ask the Tuxie Ministry and the Ordos Ministry to build roads, and he could also let Manraka also build roads, and even let Jiaozhi also build roads to pass through the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty could also have roads in the future and take back Jiaozhi more cheaply! ”

"In addition, the minister believes that the dissemination of Confucianism to the outside world is conducive to the stability of the Ming Dynasty, and this matter should be done sooner rather than later, and the cabinet should immediately ask the Ministry of Rites to evacuate the envoy to Korea."

Wang Qiong said and looked at Liu Yu again: "I don't know what Shoufu thinks?" ”

Even if Liu Yu, the first assistant of the cabinet, did not react as quickly as Wang Qiong, he could understand the benefits after listening to Emperor Zhu Houzhao and Wang Qiong for so long, so he only made a gesture to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty!" The minister is guilty! The minister also received the benefits of King Ning, about 100,000 taels, the minister is determined to hand over this ill-gotten gain, the minister does not dare to deceive His Majesty, nor does he dare to hide his secrets, please Your Majesty punish the crime of the minister! ”

At this time, Wang Qiong couldn't help but be shocked when he heard Liu Yu say this, he didn't expect that Liu Yu, an official who had always been relatively honest, would admit that he had also received the benefits of King Ning because of the huge wealth in front of him, and wanted to invest in the Infrastructure Construction Bureau.

Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but shake his head: "Liu Qing, you have changed!" ”

Liu Yu knew that His Majesty the Emperor meant that he, who had always been honest and self-controlled, would actually see the benefits in front of him and take the initiative to admit that he had also received benefits, but only he knew that if he followed His Majesty the Emperor to invest, the benefits in it were indeed great, and not only did they make money openly, but they would not even hurt the people, because the money earned was all foreign money.

Liu Yu couldn't help but bow his head: "Your Majesty is disappointed, the minister is really, I really want to contribute to the construction of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

Wang Qiong was very depressed, thinking to herself that your Lord Shoufu wanted to contribute to the construction of the Ming Dynasty, obviously he did not resist the temptation to make a fortune with His Majesty, and did not hesitate to give up his reputation for honesty.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but shake his head, he naturally understood Liu Yu's fundamental purpose of wanting to contribute to the infrastructure construction of the Ming Dynasty, but in addition to sighing in his heart, "The hustle and bustle of the world is all for profit, and the hustle and bustle of the world is for profit", it is not easy to refuse the first assistant to take 100,000 taels of silver to invest, and only snorted: "As the first assistant, you are also embarrassed!" ”

"Your Majesty allows the ministers to distinguish, and the ministers are also as Wang Qiong said, accepting bribes from King Ning is also to paralyze King Ning!" Liu Yu had to continue to make up reasons to justify.

"In that case, you will be fined for one year! Take away your title of prince and princess! If I do this shameless thing again in the future, I will not spare it! ”

Zhu Houzhao brushed his sleeves away as he spoke, Liu Yu is the first assistant, and he is the only official in the court who is a first-class official, and he will be fined for one year and then take a loose official from the first grade, which can be regarded as saving a lot of money for the imperial court.

But for Liu Yu, it was nothing, and he hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for not killing you!" ”

"Your Majesty! Ministers also", Sanfu Kanghai saw that the emperor was leaving, and hurriedly chased after him.

Zhu Houzhao didn't bother to look back, he could see through the true face of these court officials, because a group of officials had made a fortune with him earlier, and now these new officials really believed that they could make a lot of money by following him, and they didn't even want a reputation for honesty, and they were vying to admit that they had received the benefits of King Ning.

Zhu Houzhao had no choice but to reply: "Those who have received the benefits of King Ning, go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to surrender themselves, I am too lazy to care about your shameless things, it really ruins my Ming atmosphere!" ”