"The lower official is intended to welcome the general, the general triumphantly returned to the dynasty, recovered my lost land in the South China Sea, so that the lost land of 20 years returned to my Ming court, it is the good fortune of my Ming country, the emperor decreed, reward the general with a thousand brocades, ten pearls, and a thousand gold coins to show ...... appreciation."

Cao Bianjiao has just returned to Nanjing, has not yet entered the city, Wan Yuan Ji went out of the city to greet him, this time Cao Bianjiao did something, that is the Ming Dynasty has been working hard for 20 years, but it was solved by Cao Bianjiao, this merit is here, no one is dissatisfied, and no one dares to guarantee that it can be done.

"Jiren, there is no need to be like this, what I am doing is what I should have done, I am the first and auxiliary minister of the cabinet, the general of the imperial court, and I am always in charge of military and political affairs, these are my duties, the emperor is too favored, let me be flattered!"

"General, the emperor has also decreed that Mrs. Garn has rewarded many things for the 'first-class order'......"

"Thank you for your kindness! Jiren, I still have some things I want to discuss with you, you can go home with me! ”

"Yes!"

At the moment, Wan Yuan Ji is also on the horse, and followed Cao Bianjiao back to the house, the matter of thanksgiving, Cao Bianjiao is not in a hurry, it is not too late to go tomorrow, anyway, it is almost dark now, as for when he will thank him, it is just a form, he knows this, and the little emperor Zhu Cijiong also knows.

"Ji Ren, this time I went south for three months, I saw a lot, I felt a lot, at present, the southeast coast, the prosperity of trade, is beyond what you and I could have imagined before, not to mention others, it is Zheng Zhilong, the wealth obtained from the sea every year is as much as 10 million taels of silver, such a huge profit, you say how can we turn a blind eye, so I am ready to increase the intensity of overseas trade, so I want to hear your opinion."

After the two returned to the General's Mansion, Cao Bianjiao and Wan Yuan Ji entered the study, ordered someone to brew the Taiwanese camellia he brought back, and discussed with Wan Yuan Ji.

"Overseas trade prosperity, the profits earned are huge, this is undoubted, I have seen the table of taxes in the early years of Wanli, Wanli five years, just silk this item, the opening of the seaport is only two or three, but the tax has increased by more than two million taels, which shows that its profits are huge, but there are also a lot of problems in it, first of all, the first is that the interests drive people's hearts to float, when the number of people who abandon agriculture and engage in business increases, the grain is not harvested, how to deal with it, and there is after the opening of maritime trade, There will inevitably be some lawless people who disregard the law of the country for the sake of profits, officials seek personal gain, collusion between officials and businessmen, tax evasion, such things are inevitable, and in the end there are bandits, under the interests, those who want to seek huge profits will inevitably take risks and turn the people into thieves, so the pros and cons of this, please also ask the general to be able to consider. ”

Listening to Wan Yuanji's words, Cao Bianjiao also nodded frequently, without interrupting Wan Yuanji, until Wan Yuanji finished speaking, Cao Bianjiao said: "You are right, but we can't waste food because of choking, we can suppress the unfavorable side to the minimum, what you said about the collusion between officials and businessmen, I also have some consideration, so what I mean is that a special yamen will be set up to manage commercial affairs, without going through the local government, and the imperial court will directly govern overseas commercial affairs in various places. In Nanyang and Beiyang respectively set up economic and trade divisions, Nanyang is in charge of the coastal commerce of Liangguang and Fujian, Beiyang is in charge of the coastal commerce of Zhejiang and Nanzhili, and the economic and trade department is set up to be in charge of the Shaoqing, stipulating that the internal and external maritime trade must be carried out by the ports opened by the imperial court, and every time you go to sea, issue certificates, and hand them over to the Economic and Trade Department for archiving after returning, and send sailors to inspect the sea lanes. ”

"Then if the farmer seeks profit and abandons farming to become a business, what should be done?"

"Reducing taxes, building water conservancy at the same time, encouraging farmland technology improvement, think about it, if the people can still make a lot of profits from farming, why should they go back and forth to do business, and overseas trade, must be a large transaction, the small people will not join, although the tax will be reduced at that time, but our output has come up, the commercial tax has increased, and can make up for the loss of the imperial court, and the household has enough surplus grain, the price of grain will inevitably be controlled, which is also a good thing!"

Wan Yuan Ji also thought about it, analyzed and considered the meaning of Cao Bianjiao's words, and only nodded after a long time, and said: "What the general said is not unreasonable, the land of trade is nothing more than the land of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, and the rest of the land is still dominated by agriculture. ”

"In the central government to set up the economic and trade premier yamen, I will serve as the premier, you will serve as the vice premier, I know that you have always done things fairly, you come to serve as this vice premier, I can rest assured, as for the young secretary of the Nanyang and Beiyang economic and trade departments, I have also thought about it, and Gu Yanwu, secretary of the Ministry of War, and Huang Chunyao, Yushi Huang, will be the two young secretaries of the Nanyang Economic and Trade Department, in charge of the commercial and trade affairs of the various treaty ports. The Nanyang Economic and Trade Division is located in Zhangzhou, and the Beiyang Economic and Trade Division is located in Hangzhou......"

"That being the case, then everything should be done in accordance with the general's wishes, but this matter still needs to be discussed in the cabinet, and then this matter can be decided, the emperor is there, a lot of things have happened recently, I heard people in the palace say that the emperor asked Han Zanzhou to go out several times to find some teenagers of the same age as the emperor, and he bowed to practice his arts, and the time for studying is getting less and less, and Mrs. Huang has also sent messages to the cabinet many times, saying that the emperor is often late, and sometimes he even cancels it because he is unwell."

Wan Yuan Ji also showed a sad color, although the emperor is not in power now, but one day he will control the court situation, so he is afraid that he will be the second Wanli Emperor in the future, which Wan Yuan Ji does not want to see.

"The emperor is young, it is the time when the heart is playing, he can do what he wants, we do our own things, the court is governed well, the emperor has nothing to worry about, the emperor doesn't like to play Keju, let him have a good time, he is not willing to study, then shorten the time to study, the more we control, the more dissatisfied he is with what we do, in the emperor's heart, there is no court affairs, why not a good thing?"

Although he said that, Cao Bianjiao really didn't dare to be careless, when he heard that Zhu Cijiong recruited a teenager of the same age as him to play Keju, what did he think of, it was the matter of Kangxi in history to remove Aobai, and he was also interested in it at the moment, Zhu Cijiong, this young man is not so simple, what happened to Lu Jiude at the beginning proved that this young man was scheming, Cao Bianjiao did not dare to be careless, and made a lesson from Aobai.

"If you think about the first emperor, it is because the heart of seeking governance is too earnest, so that the officials do nothing, the emperor alone cannot control the court situation, and needs the assistance of our ministers, so we let him play, and when he is tired of playing, he will know what he should do."

Hearing Cao Bianjiao say this, Wan Yuan Ji also nodded at the moment, I don't know what to say, maybe Cao Bianjiao is right, but that deep worry is not something that can be eliminated by elimination.