Shi Kefa nodded: "That's right, find someone to make money for the imperial court." Since the benefits of sea trade are so large, instead of letting those people who go to the sea earn money in vain, why not let the court go to the sea by itself and take these huge profits to solve the urgent needs of the court. If the power of sea trade is enough, the saint can also be exempted from the three salaries, so that all the people in the world can recuperate! ”

To share the emperor's worries and let the people live, compared with the former, the latter is more important to Shi Kefa, as a Confucian who truly believes in the way of Confucius and Mencius, he has a sense of mission to put the people in his heart.

Yang Chao nodded and said: "I understand, the imperial court wants to find someone to do the business of sea trade, and then prohibit those giant gentry who have access to the sea privately, and return all the sea trade to the court!" ”

Shi Kefa nodded and said, "That's exactly what I mean." ”

Yang Chao suddenly felt a sense of collapse of his worldview, this is the emperor, if he wants to collect the benefits of maritime trade in his own empire, he needs to smuggle it himself, and it is not a million profits to open a customs office to collect taxes directly.

If it were another emperor, whether it was Wanli or Longqing, who didn't care much about the attitude of the hundred officials and didn't care much about the people's comments, I am afraid that he couldn't wait to get it up, but Chongzhen was an extremely face-loving person, he didn't want people to say that he violated the ancestral system, or let people laugh at him for competing with the people, and he refused to admit that the Ming Dynasty was his mistake from his death, this is a person who loves his wings too much, and such a person is definitely not a good politician.

Yang Chao couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Then the Holy Lord and Master Shi, can you think about what to do, and who to find to do it?" ”

This was completely different from Yang Chao's initial plan, which was to let the imperial court open the sea ban, encourage trade, and stimulate industry and commerce.

As a result, a simple matter was made so complicated by the emperor.

Shi Kefa shook his head: "If I knew that this official wouldn't have consulted with you." To tell you the truth, this official wants to protect you. ”

"Me?"

Yang Chao was both surprised and thoughtful. It is not uncommon for things to be provoked by themselves, and it is not uncommon for them to fall on their own heads in the end.

But originally Yang Chao wanted to promote the opening of the sea, and then he could logically get a piece of the trade. Yang Chao is entrenched in Xinjiangkou, which is close to Nanjing. There is also a wharf controlled by himself, plus more and more formal exchanges, Yang Chao can control a logistics chain, from the organization of goods to transportation transactions, one-stop service, so that Yang Chao's own financial resources can be greatly improved, and it is probably not a problem to raise tens of thousands of soldiers at the time, so that it will really have its own foundation.

But the emperor's idea was too special. There is no intention to open the sea ban at all, but on the basis of the sea ban, secretly organize smuggling.

How to operate this, Yang Chao really didn't think about it.

So Yang Chao shook his head slightly.

Shi Kefa's expression suddenly calmed down: "You don't want to share your worries for the imperial court and the saint." ”

The civil and military officials knew about the prevarication, and they knew about the party struggle, but no one was willing to think about it from the side of righteousness, the more they saw through this situation, the more lost Shi Kefa became, and even Yang Chao, the military attache who had always been loyal to him, was reluctant to come forward.

Yang Chao saw Shi Kefa's appearance. I couldn't bear it in my heart: "It's not that the last general is unwilling to come forward, it's that the last general really doesn't know what to do?" ”

Shi Kefa's eyes suddenly lit up: "Then you are willing." It doesn't matter if you don't know how to do it, you think about it slowly. Now that you know about sea trade. I can always think of a way. I don't know anything about this, so I can only do my best to support you. ”

Yang Chao opened his mouth, but he couldn't find a reason to refuse.

I could only grit my teeth: "Okay then, I will try my best." ”

Shi Kefa was relieved at this time, and his expression was a lot more relaxed.

After sending Shi Kefa away, Yang Chao suddenly realized that he had taken over a hot job, and there were countless forces involved in the maritime trade in Jiangnan, you must know that Westerners and Japanese were wielding silver to buy silk and porcelain from China. These two things, the whole world recognizes Chinese products.

Therefore, although the imperial court has always forbidden the sea. But openly and secretly these goods are flowing out, smuggling this kind of thing. I can't help it after a few hundred years, let alone the Ming Dynasty, think about how powerful the sea power of the American emperor in later generations was, and it can't stop the smuggling boats, and the Ming Dynasty has been abandoning martial arts for more than a hundred years, Zheng He's fleet has even burned the charts, how can it stop smuggling, to put it mildly, the naval strength of the Ming Dynasty is not as good as those pirates, what can be used to prevent people from getting rich.

That is, because the technology in this era is not developed enough, and the risk of sea navigation is too great, so the trade volume is not large enough to affect the price of the Ming Dynasty, so the government has not paid full attention to this matter, and smuggling has become an open secret, but others can do it, the emperor can't do it, and the court can't do it.

Therefore, if Yang Chao wants to help the imperial court make money in sea trade, the near ones will take food from the wealthy families in the Songjiang Mansion area, and the far ones will fight openly and secretly with one maritime merchant force, not to mention anything else, just the Zheng Zhilong Group in Fujian can destroy Yang Chao with a finger.

The wealthy families of Songjiang Mansion are easy to do, they generally only supply to marine forces like Zheng Zhilong, the real terrible thing is a giant crocodile like Zheng Zhilong, Yang Chao can do his own goods, he can build his own ships and go to sea, but when he gets to sea, his fate is not in his own hands, not only to see God's face, but also to see Zheng Zhilong's face, Zheng Zhilong is not happy, it is estimated that Yang Chao's fleet can only go and have no return.

Not to mention Yang Chao, even the sea coachman Dutchman can't obediently pay taxes to Zheng Zhilong in exchange for the Zheng family's order flag, and then he can do business in this sea area of the East.

Obviously, Yang Chao has no way to compete with Zheng Zhilong Group at sea, and even if he competes, he has no hard power in his hands.

On land, on the Yangtze River, Yang Chao can still do something, but at sea, there is no captain Yang Chao who operates the sails, and Zhang Dawei has no problem driving a boat on the Yangtze River, but when he gets to the sea, he can't even tell the direction.

From the perspective of various strengths of soft and hard, Yang Chao felt that he still couldn't compete with forces like Zheng Zhilong, so he could only cooperate and still allow them to get a piece of the pie.

When thinking about it like this, Yang Chao suddenly felt that the potato in his hand was indeed very hot, but the temptation was also very great, because this difficult thing also meant a huge power.

That is, if he does a good job, he may be able to carve up the maritime trade territory of the Ming Dynasty with Zheng Zhilong. Thinking of Zheng Zhilong Group's annual profits of tens of millions, Yang Chao felt that this risk was worth taking.

After planning for three days in a row, Yang Chao finally brought the written plan. Find Scofa again and talk to him.

"You want to work with Zheng?"

After Shi Kefa heard what Yang Chao meant, he immediately had some concerns.

Yang Chao nodded: "That's right." The Ming Dynasty at the moment. It is only the Zheng family that has a large number of fleets that open to the sea. If we were to do the sea trade ourselves, it would be impossible to raise sailors who are familiar with the sea conditions and sea conditions without ten or eight years. So if you want to profit from the sea as soon as possible, you have to let Zheng get a piece of the pie. Or let's get a piece of Zheng's pie. ”

Shi Kefa nodded, this is not wrong, Zheng Zhilong was born as a pirate, and later defected to the government, relying on black and white, and then the support of the government. Sweeping away all the pirates in the southeast coastal area, he has thousands of warships in his hands, and tens of thousands of seafarers who died, even the imperial court can't easily move him, so he can only acquiesce in destroying the imperial court's maritime ban from Fujian and Guangdong, and make huge profits!

But cooperating with Zheng Zhilong is not something Shi Kefa is worried about, what Shi Kefa is worried about is: "Once you cooperate with the Zheng family, if the matter is leaked, I am afraid that it will be very difficult for the saint and the imperial court." ”

Yang Chao smiled lightly: "The person who cooperates with the Zheng family is obviously the last general, what does it have to do with the saint and the imperial court?" ”

Shi Kefa heard Yang Chao's words. couldn't help but be moved, Yang Chao was taking on this role for the emperor and the court.

Shi Kefa secretly felt a little unfair to Yang Chao in his heart, and couldn't help but instruct: "General Yang is still careful." If the matter leaks, it will still be very troublesome. ”

Yang Chao nodded, of course he knew the risks, once the matter was leaked, there would definitely be a large number of officials to impeach him, especially those civil officials who were born in Jiangnan and had a close relationship with the smuggling giants and gentry, they would definitely impeach Yang Chao madly.

And Emperor Chongzhen is not an emperor who can take responsibility for his courtiers, Chen Xinjia is an example. Yang Chao didn't want to be another Chen Xinjia, but although Chen Xinjia was a secretary of the military department. is still just a civil official, but Yang Chao is a military general.

Take Zuo Liangyu as an example. Zuo Liangyu was defeated by Li Zicheng in the battle of Zhuxian Town last year, and then fled to Xiangyang with his troops, Li Zicheng captured Xiangyang, Zuo Liangyu fled to Wuchang, Zhang Xianzhong attacked Wuchang a few months ago, Zuo Liangyu fled to Jiujiang with his troops, plundered in Jiujiang Mansion, and clashed with local civil officials, but the emperor did not acquiesce, Xiong Mingyu only sent Hou Fangyu with a letter to pacify.

Zuo Liangyu can do it to make the emperor, the court and the civil officials helpless, what does it depend on, it is the 200,000 army in his hand, and even the court can endure the robbery of the people of Jiujiang, how can the court not be able to bear the matter of doing business with Zheng Zhilong, it depends on Yang Chao's strength, if Yang Chao is still the current hundreds of people, the civil officials must think about doing it, if Yang Chao has 10,000 soldiers in his hands, the civil officials are afraid that they will throw a mouse taboo, and they have to endure it if they can't bear it.

Therefore, Yang Chao's next step is to expand his troops: "The last general is not afraid of trouble." It's just that you need the support of Master Shi. ”

Shi Kefa nodded: "How do you want this official to support you." ”

Yang Chao said in an orderly manner: "The profits of sea trade are limited, if the imperial court wants to get a piece of the pie, then the gentry of the giant family will have a little piece of the pie." The gentry of the giant room will not give up, in the south of the Yangtze River, which gentry is not in the huge room that has raised hundreds of thugs, outlaws and family members. The last general only has a few hundred elite soldiers in his hands, and even if he can recruit enough people from Haizhou, there are only about 2,000 people. Although these people can keep the safety of the ship, they can't prohibit the giant room from opening to the sea. ”

Shi Kefa suddenly doubted: "So you want to expand the army?" ”

Yang Chao nodded: "That's right, the last general needs to expand the army, not only to expand the army, but also to expand a number of ships." ”

Shi Kefa suddenly pondered.

Yang Chao knew Shi Kefa's concerns, since there was a Zuo Liangyu, the imperial court was very wary of the generals' forces, and they easily did not allow the generals to expand their forces, so over the years, there was also a Zuo Liangyu, after Zuo Liangyu, there were only a handful of generals with tens of thousands of soldiers.

After a long time, Shi Kefa said: "Then how many more troops do you want?" How many boats do you need? ”

Yang Chao has been quietly waiting for Shi Kefa, just waiting for him to choose, if Shi Kefa does not agree to expand his army, Yang Chao can just stop doing this, after all, this matter has offended too many people, but the benefits are for the imperial court, if he can't take the opportunity to expand his strength, then he can't even protect himself, it's not worth doing.

Shi Kefa finally spoke, it seemed that he already had a choice in his heart, that is, to choose to trust Yang Chao, after all, a traitor could not use 600 soldiers to fight 10,000 soldiers to the death.

Seeing Shi Kefa's question, Yang Chao had already prepared: "In fact, the last general doesn't need to expand the army too much, the last general has three thousand headquarters troops in his hands, a total of 2,400 soldiers, and it is not enough for a battalion, and the last general wants to expand a battalion." As for the ships, the last general only has three in his hands, and if he wants to go through the sea trade, he needs at least thirty large ships. ”

Yang Chao has always wanted to squeeze out the left and right thousand headquarters, and squeezed them out Yang Chao can only take charge of the water camp alone, but he has not been able to find a suitable opportunity, and last time he negotiated with the two thousand generals to let them operate and leave, and gave them one thousand taels of activity funds each, but the two of them sued Yang Chao and sued Shi Kefa here.

Now Yang Chao didn't say to let these people go, he only said that he needed a battalion of soldiers, if Shi Kefa really wanted to do sea trade to make money for the imperial court, then he himself had to find a way to transfer those officers away.

Yang Chao didn't think that the lion opened his mouth and asked Shi Kefa for a hundred or twenty thousand soldiers at once, but that would make Shi Kefa scruples, and if he didn't get it right, Shi Kefa would transfer Yang Chao out of the water camp.

Yang Chao is entrenched in the water camp, but he has always used it as a base to build, and now it is more and more foundational, if he is transferred, he will give up halfway, so Yang Chao wants a battalion of soldiers just right, squeezed out the other thousands, and the number of soldiers in his hand is four or five thousand, and if he trains four or five thousand people according to Yang Chao's standard, it is not inferior to other people's 10,000, or even tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, if the court wants to move him, then you can try.

Sure enough, hearing Yang Chao's words, Shi Kefa's brows slowly relaxed, although the imperial court was afraid of military generals, but there were more generals who controlled a battalion of soldiers, and the north casually pulled out a general soldier, who did not hold thousands of soldiers and horses, and Yang Chao's character has always been very good, Shi Kefa still trusts.

As for the problem of the ship that Yang Chao said, it is not a problem, the imperial court has craftsmen, it is good to issue tasks, and the materials are also ready-made, Shi Kefa believes that if he embezzles it, the emperor will not mind.

So he felt thoughtful and nodded, "In that case, this official should allow you." This official will play the Ming court, and you will be allowed to recruit a battalion of soldiers. There is no ready-made ship, but a batch of timber has recently been imported here in Nanjing, which was originally intended to be allocated to King Fu to build the palace, but Henan is in chaos again, so it has not been sent away. It is just right for you. ”

Yang Chao nodded, Shi Kefa agreed, the ship that was built now will definitely not be available immediately, and it will be fast if it can be built in half a year and a year, but Yang Chao doesn't need to use so many ships right away, he still needs to train the captain.

Those who should get their hands have been handed over, and it is not in vain to help the court do things.

After saying goodbye to Shi Kefa, Yang Chao immediately rushed back to Jinchai Building, and asked He Mingyu, who was reselling on the exchange, to talk to him early the next morning.

He Mingyu was the agent who had introduced Wang Xiao to supply to the maritime merchants, and Yang Chao told him to have only one purpose, and asked him to contact Zheng Zhilong's people.

Yang Chao wants to talk to Zheng Zhilong, and he wants to carve up the power of the Ming Sea with Zheng Zhilong! (To be continued...... ）。