"Zirui, do you really plan to give office?" Xia Yan was in the living room of the Peng Mansion at this time, but he felt a little restless. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Yes, I want to take a good rest..."Peng Yue sat there, still a little listless, "I've been busy for so long, it's time to be quiet..."

"Silence yourself?" Xia Yan's expression at this time was really crying and laughing, "Zirui, why are you doing this?" You... What the hell is going on? ”

"It's not much, I just want to be quiet..."Peng Yue smiled, "I want to reflect on what I've done in the past few years, and what I've got..."

"Zirui, are you kidding me?" Xia Yan pursed his lips with some disdain, "Could it be that you want me to praise your "great achievements" in the past few years?" ”

"Lord Xia, I don't mean that..."Peng Yue shook his head with a smile, "In the eyes of others, I am on the top of my career, and I am not too old, so I am in a high position, but... That's not what I want..."

"Huh? So what do you want? Xia Yan obviously didn't expect Peng Yue to say such a thing, although in getting along with Peng Yue, he knew that Peng Yue was not the kind of person who was extremely keen on fame and fortune, but Peng Yue said that what he wanted was not these things, which really surprised Xia Yan.

"That's a good question, this is where my question lies now, because I don't know what I want..."Peng Yue stared at somewhere in the distance in a daze, "Actually, at first... I just wanted to get rid of the fate of a scholar, and I didn't think about it so much, but later, I thought about protecting myself and making a good life, and by the way, for Lord Yang... vented his evil anger and repaid his kindness. Later, I thought a lot, opening a newspaper, building a school, weaving bureau, ordnance institute, changing the transportation, opening the sea ban... But what am I doing this for? I often wonder if the more a person gains, the greater his ambition, but in this way, the more he loses invisibly..."

"There will be gains and losses, this is inevitable..."Xia Yan flicked his sleeves, deliberately tilting his head to the side not to look at Peng Yue, "All this you got today is beyond the reach of most people, you should be content, you should be happy, but you want to get more, this is normal..."

"No, Lord Xia, I said, this is really not what I want..."Peng Yue shook his head with an indescribable expression, "I did this just... I just want to use my own strength to try my best to make some changes, because I didn't have this ability before, and I have infinite longing for this in my heart, and now that I have the ability to make a little change, I naturally don't want to let go of this opportunity..."

"What do you want to change?" Xia Yan frowned, his face full of puzzlement.

"It's useless to say this now, because I found that my strength is too weak, and I haven't made any big changes at all..."Peng Yue's smile at this time was so unnatural, so bitter, "It's all a formal thing, there is no substantial progress at all, the country is still this country, the society is still this society..."

"What substance? What society? Zirui, your words are getting more and more outrageous..."Xia Yan tapped his fingers on the table, and his eyes were a little strange when he looked at Peng Yue at this time.

"Forget it, don't talk about this..."Peng Yue waved his hand, and didn't notice Xia Yan's attitude at this time, "Actually, I don't want to think about these things anymore, because I find that I am very ridiculous and pathetic now, because I have never understood what I really want, what I really can't live without... Actually, what I want most now is... I just want Ling'er to be with me all the time, I want to have a light that is on to wait for me every night when I go back to my room, I want to have someone next to me to comfort me, encourage me, help me, let me... I'm in a good mood, I'm now... I want to eat a meal that Ling'er cooked for me now..."Peng Yue said, his tone became choked.

"Zirui..."Xia Yan saw Peng Yue's languishing appearance, and really wanted to scold him on the spot, because he really couldn't figure out why Peng Yue became like this because of a woman, but he knew Ziling's position in Peng Yue's heart, and he didn't want to conflict with Peng Yue again because of this matter, so he swallowed back the few words of indignation that he wanted to say the most in his heart.

"Zirui, I know... Ling'er went, you feel uncomfortable in your heart, in my heart... It's the same, but you're a man, if you collapse because of this incident, I'm afraid... I'm afraid Ling'er will be sad to see you like this..."

"I know, I know all of this, but... But I just can't help but feel sad in my heart..."Peng Yue covered his mouth and sobbed, "I know I can't go on like this, but... But I regret it now, I just feel sorry for Ling'er, I didn't accompany her well, she... Her eyes are still open..."

"Zirui, I... Understand you..."Xia Yan walked up to Peng Yue and patted him on the shoulder, although he had not experienced the pain of losing his wife, but he also knew what happened between Peng Yue and Ziling, how could he not be moved by it at this time, "You..."

"Lord Xia doesn't have to worry... I won't go on like this..."Peng Yue barely squeezed out a smile to Xia Yan, "Something... It's going to take time to fix, maybe after a while... It's going to dilute some of the emotions..."

"Since that's the case, then I won't say anything more..."Xia Yan pursed his lips and looked out the window, and suddenly turned his head to look at Peng Yue, "Actually, I'm here to tell you another thing, a private matter... The emperor is still very hesitant..."

"Huh? Why? Peng Yue seemed to have heard something that could stimulate his nerves, and he raised his head suddenly.

"Although we have done a full job of public opinion, and there are not many ministers who oppose it, we have not fully taken into account the emperor's thoughts..."Originally, Peng Yue seemed to have regained his vigor all of a sudden, and Xia Yan was still a little happy, but when it came to the success of this family, Xia Yan was a little depressed, "Actually, the emperor is very smart and realistic, and now that the market is reopened, we can all get the benefits of foreign trade, so the emperor naturally doesn't want to open any more private doors, and if he does, A large part of the trade profits will flow into private hands, which is certainly not what the emperor wants to see, you must know that the tax profits paid by the city department are a large amount, and the emperor attaches great importance to this, so you don't have to worry about those southeast officials clamoring to shut down the city department all day long, because they can see the emperor's thoughts, and they will definitely not dare to mention this matter..."

"Alas... I'm cocooning myself..."Peng Yue leaned his arm on the table and leaned his head weakly in his hand, "I didn't expect things to develop like this..."

"Zirui, in fact, the emperor's consideration is also reasonable..."Xia Yan whispered on the side, "Now that the situation of the city is very good, there are a lot of profits, and a lot of new things have been introduced from foreign countries, so it can be said that the benefits of foreign trade have been obtained by the imperial court, so why should we open private trade?" ”

"Lord Xia, this is not a thing at all, many of the benefits of private trade are not available at all..."Peng Yue was also a little speechless when he said this, he didn't know whether Xia Yan could understand and accept the truth of "hiding wealth from the people", but he knew that just opening the market was not too big, at most, it could only make Daming a rich feudal country, and it would make it a more and more mature feudal country, which Peng Yue did not want to see, Because in this way, it will be more difficult for China to make progress, and it will be very difficult for an extremely mature feudal country to transform into a modern country.

Peng Yue thought about it at this time, how many successful cases did he really have in transforming from a feudal country to a modern country? Japan's Meiji Restoration, Germany's Bismarck's iron-blooded policy, but these are the feat of many people working together for decades, and their feudal system is not so perfect, there are many accidental factors, there are a lot of borrowed templates...

This is really a long and endless road, I know how difficult it is to do it, I am really naïve, I think things are so simple, maybe now I should lead the army to discover the New World, colonization, maybe I should overthrow the feudal "tyrant" rule at this time, develop capitalist democracy, maybe I should do a lot, but it seems so unrealistic, I want to open a private trade now is so difficult to complete, what else can I do!

"I understand this, after all, now this trade is monopolized by the imperial court, it is not good after all, and I have never agreed with the matter of competing with the people, but... The emperor's mind is there, we can't turn a blind eye, we still have to convince the emperor..."Xia Yan sighed and said in a low voice.

"This is natural..."Peng Yue couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he heard Du Xia Yan say this, although this matter is not easy to explain, but as long as Xia Yan is willing to support himself, it will be easy to do, "In fact, if you open a private trade, the profit of the imperial court will not necessarily decrease, maybe it will increase, but this matter is more troublesome to explain, and it is not very convincing, and it needs to be proved by practice." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Xia Yan frowned, and his curiosity was also mobilized, "Since it is a fact, it can always be explained, if it is really as you said, the profits of the imperial court will not only not decrease, but also increase, then I will definitely fully support this matter!" ”

"This... I just said maybe, but I can't guarantee it..."Peng Yue smiled bitterly, "I just calculated that amount in advance, you think about it, although the imperial court has a monopoly on foreign trade now, this expense cannot be ignored." First of all, it takes a lot of money to spend on personnel and maintain institutions, secondly, the security of the army is also quite worrying, and it is not completely guaranteed, and finally, the current income of the imperial court in this regard is only profits, not taxes, but the profits are still not so satisfactory..."

"You're right, these problems do exist, but after the opening of private trade, these problems can be solved, and the profits of the imperial court will rise?"

"This... It needs to be verified by practice, but it is still possible to think about it carefully..."Peng Yue's fingers tapped lightly on the table, and his constantly flashing eyes also showed that he was thinking deeply, "If you open your mouth, the imperial court can dismiss many officials in charge of commercial affairs, and in my opinion, they are not so good at business matters, but they are not as good as businessmen." In my opinion, those merchants are really good at doing business, and we don't have to care whether the business is lost or earned, just collect taxes, and finally, if we open a private mouth, I'm afraid that the cost of maintaining the army will be less because of this..."

"You make a lot of sense... However, in terms of army spending... What does that mean? ”

"This involves the second reason why I desperately want to open my mouth..."Peng Yue nodded, and his thoughts suddenly became clear, "Now the army is arresting thieves at sea, and there are mainly two kinds of people, one is the Japanese robbers, and the other is the Chinese people who risk killing their heads to smuggle, but there is no way to stop this kind of thing, because the profits in it are too great, and what the people along the coast who have no other livelihood want is just a legitimate trade right, which is not an exaggeration..."

"But what can it be? The emperor will not do it for the sake of these people..."

"That's enough!" Peng Yue said categorically, "If you don't open your mouth and solve the problems of these people, then these people will be like the Japanese Invaders, then the Japanese rebellion will be even worse, and the military expenditure of the imperial court will be even greater, and one day the coastal area will be disturbed. ”

"Is it really that serious?"

"Why isn't it that serious? When the market was opened, the emperor said that it was forbidden to trade with the Japanese people, and I had a sense of foreboding in my heart, and now you have also seen that the coastal Japanese rebellion is getting worse day by day, this must be the Japanese people's revenge, and the smuggling trade is also increasing unabated, this pile, one by one, entangled, I don't know what to do now, I didn't expect such a small thing to be so troublesome..."

"Zirui, the matter is not so serious, the Japanese rebellion is not too strong now, and the coastal officials are now fighting against the Japanese with great strength, and the results are effective... It's also very significant..."Xia Yan saw that Peng Yue was a little excited, so he comforted him on the side.

"What's the use of being effective now, if you don't solve this problem from the root, sooner or later it will lead to a catastrophe!" Peng Yue clenched his fists unconsciously, "But I don't have the ability to change at all, I'm just a courtier, an ordinary courtier..."

"Zirui... Your current status is already the envy of many people, and it is not easy to maintain honor and favor in the imperial court, you must not think about anything that you shouldn't think..."Xia Yan couldn't help but be startled when he heard Peng Yue say that just now, and quickly diverted the topic.

"Hehe... Yes, it's not easy for me to have where I am today... Lord Xia, don't be surprised, I was just in a hurry just now, talking nonsense..."Peng Yue said this, and he also smiled bitterly in his heart. Even if he is Zhu Houxi, will he be able to do everything well? Many things are easier said than done, maybe when you reach Zhu Houxi's position, there will be many other problems that you have to face, many problems that are difficult to solve that you have never expected.

"Zirui, in the imperial court, it is not easy to protect yourself, when you want to do something that is not easy, it is even more difficult, this... You should be clear, and you need to be clear..."Xia Yan said softly on the side, but his tone was a little vicissitudes and helplessness, maybe this is the truest thought in his heart for many years of his career in the sea.

"I'm already clear about this..."Peng Yue smiled bitterly, "But I still want to work hard again, I really don't want to let this matter go down halfway, Lord Xia... Can you help me one more time..."

"Zirui, I said that you can't do without the imperial court..."Xia Yan smiled and patted Peng Yue's shoulder, "Don't worry, I will try my best to support you in this matter, and you also... Let's return to the court as soon as possible..."

Looking at Xia Yan's departing figure, Peng Yue couldn't help but be a little stunned. Originally, he didn't want to pay attention to the affairs of the government at all during this time, but when he was so inadvertently provoked by Xia Yan, he was anxious again. Maybe it's all fate, since I've already gotten on "this boat", I guess I can't get off easily. Maybe she really should restrain her emotions, she shouldn't be so deliberately indulgent, if Ling'er sees herself like this, maybe she will really be unhappy, right?

Thinking about opening a private mouth, Ling'er has always been helping herself sort out those complicated documents. On the desk, on every important document, there is her breath, her temperature, and even her sweat... If you give up halfway, I'm afraid Ling'er will regret it and be unwilling, right? Thinking of this, Peng Yue raised his feet and walked quickly towards the study...