"Zirui, I didn't expect you to really explain Your Majesty..."Xia Yan laughed as soon as he entered Peng Yue's mansion. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"Lord Xia... It's a long way off..."Peng Yue's tone didn't show how happy he was.

"What? Tired these days? I don't look very good..."Xia Yan sat on the seat, but he looked quite casual.

"I'm a little tired, although the emperor has succeeded in playing, but... After all, there are still a group of ministers to solve..."Peng Yue responded and sat down.

"This is natural, those southeastern officials will definitely not give up..."Xia Yan straightened his robe and sat in a comfortable position, "But haven't you already thought of a countermeasure?" ”

"This countermeasure is not mature..."Peng Yue smiled, "It depends on the specific implementation in the future..."

"Then you can tell me about this coping strategy..."Xia Yan leaned back in the chair and stretched out his hand to make a gesture of invitation.

"I'm going to take this opportunity to ask the emperor to open a private mouth and conduct private trade..."Peng Yue said calmly.

"What?" Xia Yan straightened up from his chair suddenly, "Do you want to open a private mouth and conduct private trade?" ”

"No, absolutely not!" Xia Yan swallowed his saliva, "You haven't arranged the affairs of this city, how can you be in a hurry to open a private trade, it will definitely not work!" ”

"Lord Xia, I also thought about it for a long time before I decided..."Peng Yue saw that Xia Yan was a little excited, and unconsciously raised his voice.

"Okay, then you can tell me what you think..."Xia Yan sighed helplessly.

"The emperor is a little slack about the affairs of the court now, I am afraid that in two years, this reform matter..." Peng Yue paused, knowing that it was enough to say this, after all, this kind of thing is not easy to say.

Peng Yue knew that in history, Emperor Jiajing would one day go to the road of slacking off the government, which was something he wanted to stop at the beginning, but found that he couldn't stop it at all. Now Zhu Houyu is indifferent to many things, and he seems to have no enthusiasm, if he doesn't take advantage of Zhu Houxi's enthusiasm now, I'm afraid that this reform matter will really run aground.

"So that's what you think..."Xia Yan's tone softened slightly, "Then it's too abrupt and reckless for you to do this..."

"Lord Xia, in fact, I have other thoughts when I do this..."Peng Yue whispered on the side.

"Oh? Then I won't ask, you can just say all your thoughts yourself. Xia Yan spoke calmly and sat down in his seat and drank tea.

"In the final analysis, the reason why those southeastern officials oppose it is because they are worried that their interests will be damaged. As long as we guarantee their interests, right? Peng Yue said with a smile, "And the best way to protect their interests is to open private trade, if after opening the market, they can still use private trade to make profits, naturally they will not object..."

Of course, Peng Yue still had his own plans, and he was afraid that in the process of the development of the city, the imperial court would be reluctant to let go of such huge profits, so there would be a monopoly trade with many drawbacks. This was what Peng Yue did not want to see, and it also went against Peng Yue's original intention, so he needed to open a private trade immediately, and use the power of those officials to balance the official trade of the imperial court.

"It turns out that you want to use the power of those officials to help you complete the idea of opening a private trade..."Xia Yan stroked his beard and said, "It's indeed a good method, but it's difficult to implement..."

"If you restore the city, the power of the imperial court will intervene in foreign trade. At this time, even if you open a private mouth, I am afraid that you will not be able to compete with the power of the imperial court, at least it will definitely not be as profitable as the previous smuggling trade of only individuals..."Xia Yan calmly analyzed on the side.

"I've thought about this, and I've thought of ways to solve it..."Peng Yue said with a smile, "When opening a business opening, there are both official and private outlets, and there are also official and private outlets. Guankou is a treaty port that is specially used by the imperial court for foreign trade, and private mouth is a treaty port that is specially used by private individuals for foreign trade. The mouth of the government and private is used to observe whether the imperial court trade is prosperous or private trade is prosperous, so that according to the proportion of foreign trade in this mouth, it can be decided whether to support the imperial court trade or private trade. ”

"Good... This strategy is very good..."Xia Yan was also happy for Peng Yue's meticulous mind at this time, "It's just that I'm afraid that this private trade can't compete with the imperial court trade after all, and I'm afraid that it will be defeated in the future." ”

"Lord Xia's words are wrong." Peng Yue restrained the smile on his face and calmly analyzed, "I think that at the beginning of the founding of our dynasty, the official kiln was prosperous, because of the abundant funds and advanced technology, it seemed that at that time, there would never be a place for the development of private kilns." But now, the private kiln is prosperous, but the official kiln is in decline. Therefore, we cannot judge the future development trend based on the momentary situation. Moreover, those private trades have been secretly developed for a long time, and they must have accumulated a lot of strength, and they may not be able to withstand the imperial court. Besides, isn't the official and private mouth I set up to prevent it from being wasted? If there is difficulty in the development of private trade, the imperial court will find a way to support it. ”

"In this way, can you ensure that the officials of the DPRK and China will not object?" Although Xia Yan did not see this issue as thoroughly as Peng Yue, he also had a lot of thoughts, and he knew that this was not enough.

"That's it, I'm afraid it's not going to work. Those selfish officials in the DPRK and China will certainly oppose it if their interests are damaged as a result. Peng Yue looked pensive, "We must let them know that this matter will be beneficial to them, and it will only benefit more." After all, all they think about is interests, as long as they are persuaded and guaranteed from the aspect of interests, they will agree. ”

"You mean you're guaranteed that they'll get more than they used to?" Xia Yan had a surprised expression.

"I can't guarantee it, it's just that I have privately calculated an account for them..."Peng Yue said as he snapped his fingers, "Lord Xia, you think, they used to trade secretly, although it was a monopoly, although they didn't have to pay taxes, but there were also great drawbacks. First of all, they are illegal trade, and they dare not make too much noise, so they do not dare to scale too much. But if this trade is legalized, they will be able to expand in an open and honest way, and the profits will naturally go up. Second, although they didn't have to pay taxes before, they still had to spend a large part of the money to pamper the upper and lower officials, so that their illegal trade could be tacitly approved. But if this trade is legalized, they save this part of the silver, and as long as we do not set the tax rate very high, the part of the silver they save will probably be more than enough to pay the taxes. In addition, the current pirate rebellion is very rampant, and they have nothing to do about it, but once the imperial court opens its door to trade, the imperial court will definitely contribute money and efforts to solve these pirate rebellions, and they are happy to do so. Finally, if we put in place measures to protect the development of private trade, so that private trade is not overcrowded out by the development of official trade, then their greatest concerns will be guaranteed. They are all businessmen, they all pursue interests, this account, they will still calculate, and if they understand the benefits, they will naturally not object. ”

"But the officials who oppose the DPRK and China are not just for this reason." Xia Yan still couldn't help but remind.

"I know that, too. The other officials who opposed it were only two factions, one because they were deceived by those officials, believing that the tributary trade was really costly and costly. But I'm not practicing the kind of tributary trade, so why do I have to work the people and lose money? So the rhetoric of these officials is self-defeating..."

"What about the other faction?"

"The officials of the other faction are nothing more than the deep-rooted ideology of valuing agriculture and suppressing business, abiding by the ancestral system, and the pedantic, I don't bother to deal with them, and I can't talk to them if I reason. However, what they rely on is nothing more than the power of public opinion written by their own pens. But now the power of public opinion is not something that can be led by the splendid articles written by them alone, and we now have newspapers in our hands, which is a sharp weapon to guide public opinion. As long as we publish in the newspapers all kinds of remarks about the great benefits of trade and trade, the people will see more and will naturally be convinced, and in this way, will public opinion not come to our side? Peng Yue said with a smile.

"Zi Rui's talent, I admire it very much..."Xia Yan said with a smile, "You can always quickly find the key to the problem." ”

Peng Yue laughed after hearing this, this is not because he is from the next generation, these things have already been thoroughly studied by his own study of history.

"I think those officials are dignified all day long, but they can't escape a sharp word..."Xia Yan sighed with a wry smile.

"Of course, since ancient times, this has been the case. I think that when I first called for the reform of the transportation industry and the development of private transportation industries such as land and waterways, if it were not for the generous profits that were promised to the relevant people, so that they could invest in the trip and easily share the dividends, would they have agreed? I've been quarreling with the emperor for a long time..."Peng Yue said helplessly.

In fact, when Peng Yue thought of this, he felt depressed. At that time, he persuaded Zhu Houxi to reform the Cao Yun, which was a very good thing, but he did not expect that it still touched the interests of the Cao Yun officials, and they wrote against it. Those officials who didn't know why also scolded, but Zhu Houxi couldn't help but waver when he saw that the opposition was quite strong. In the end, I still found those Caoyun officials and asked them to contribute to them and promise huge profits, so that the opposition gradually subsided. is only a group of officials, Zhu Houxi is also tired of them in his heart, so he can't provoke any storms.

"But Zirui, relying only on one public opinion to suppress and then rely on one interest to win over, I'm afraid it is impossible to solve all the opposition forces. You must know that there has always been no shortage of such stubborn people in the court..."Xia Yan looked out the window, as if intentionally, as if unintentionally, unintentionally, he flicked the folds of his robe, "Now there are still people in your textile and weapons offices... It's attacking..."

"I know that, but I don't care about it." Peng Yue smiled lightly, "Throughout the ages, no one has opposed any reform measure. If there is opposition from others, and if they are afraid of their opposition, they will stagnate, and I am afraid that no reform will be implemented. As long as the resistance to this reform is not too great, it will be easy to do. The measures I just mentioned can already solve most of the resistance, and the rest will be left alone. The main thing now is to convince the Holy Beings today. You also know the emperor's temper, as long as it is something he recognizes, no one can stop it. Although the emperor now also knows that he takes into account the feelings and opinions of the ministers, after all, the opposition will not be very large, so the emperor naturally will not care. Otherwise, my textile and armory would have been abolished, haha..."

This is reasonable, I think that in the original Great Rites Discussion, Yang Shen led more than 100 officials to oppose it, and finally even cried up and down, and if the emperor did not withdraw his order, they would not give up. As a result, didn't they all be punished by the emperor's court staff in the end? Several of the elderly ministers were killed on the spot, and several later died of their wounds. The other deposed deposed, the exiled exiled, isn't Yang Shen still in the mountains of Yunnan now? When Xia Yan said this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Peng Yue was also embarrassed when he heard this. Every time I think of this Zuo Shunmen incident, I can't help but feel a chill. Zhu Houxi was indeed ruthless, just because the courtiers were opposed, he actually made such a poisonous move, and Zhu Houxi's paranoia and violence can be seen. However, if we want to reform now, we have to rely on Zhu Houxi's hard-line methods and iron-fisted policies.

"Well, I think this can be done, but you still need to plan slowly, after all, many things are easier said than done." Xia Yan took a sip of tea and leaned back in the chair, as if he didn't want to talk about it.

"I'll pay attention to this..."Peng Yue bowed to Xia Yan, "But I hope Lord Xia will support me a lot..."

"Hmm..."Xia Yan replied softly, but didn't say anything else.

"Zirui, I don't know what I thought about the marriage I mentioned to you last time?" Xia Yan suddenly straightened up from the back of his chair, looked at Peng Yue and asked with a smile, "You seem to have reached the age of marriage now, and you are a high-ranking official in the imperial court." Little... I'm very fond of you, haha..."

"Ahh Lord Xia, Ling Qianjin is knowledgeable, and she is indeed quite good, and in her heart... It's very admirable, but..."Peng Yue scratched his head a little embarrassedly, "It's just that I already have a place in my heart, marriage is a big event, or... I can't help it..."

Peng Yue didn't know why Xia Yan held on to this marriage, he had reminded Xia Yan that the emperor was afraid that the two would form a party and become bigger, and if this family affair was completed, it would inevitably arouse the emperor's suspicion. In fact, this matter has existed since ancient times, in the Song Dynasty, the son of Prime Minister Zhao Pu married the daughter of the privy envoy Li Chongju as his wife, Zhao Kuangyin was jealous, and even the two of them faced the saint, Zhao Kuangyin ordered the two to separate. But Xia Yan didn't seem to care about it.

"Huh?" Xia Yan couldn't help but be a little unhappy when he heard Peng Yue say this, but it was not easy to attack, but he was really reluctant to give up this young and promising "good son-in-law" with an immeasurable career in the future, so he had to say: "It's okay for a big man to have three wives and four concubines, if you still like other women in your heart, you can be included in the room and be a flat wife." ”

In fact, Xia Yan also considered what Peng Yue said, but her daughter did admire Peng Yue and loved her daughter very much, so she didn't consider Peng Yue's words. And he thinks that he has never been a party on weekdays, which Zhu Houxi is clear, and Zhu Houyu should not snub himself because of this incident.

Peng Yue knew that Xia Yan would definitely let his daughter be his wife, and he really had no feelings for Xia Yan's daughter, he really couldn't accept this kind of "political marriage" in his heart, and most importantly, he did have a heart!

"Lord Xia, I can't decide on the marriage matter for a while, and I hope you can allow me to think about it for a while." Peng Yue said sneeringly.

When Xia Yan heard Peng Yue say this, he didn't want to ask any more questions, so he had to put away the words that he had prepared a lot, "Okay, Zirui, after I go back, I must take care of this matter... Think about it. ”

"Hmm... I'll think about it..."Peng Yue vaguely heard the anger in Xia Yan's words.

Peng Yue suddenly felt that Xia Yan had come to his house this time, not for the affairs of the city, but for his daughter's marriage. It's just because I paid too much attention to this matter that I started talking.

And when he asked Xia Yan for more support just now, Xia Yan's noncommittal attitude also made sense. Peng Yue felt a worry in his heart at this time, he was a little afraid that Xia Yan would not support his reform because of his daughter's family affairs, could it be that he really wanted to "sell his hue"?

Peng Yue thought like this, and sent Xia Yan out of the house with some numbness.