"It's been a long time since I've seen His Majesty, right?" After talking for a while, Li Yanzhi suddenly asked.

"The last general met His Majesty once, or in the first year of Chongzhen, he was ordered to go to Beijing to meet him, and he has not seen him since." Zheng Zhilong said with emotion. Before that, he was just a coastal defense guerrilla who had just been recruited, and he was humble and light, and he had to nod his head when he saw even a county official.

Since he went to Beijing to meet Emperor Chongzhen, he became a shareholder of the Royal Maritime Trade Company, and his status increased rapidly, and the governor of Fujian was also kind to him. After several years of hard work, his official position changed from a coastal defense guerrilla to a deputy chief soldier of Fujian, and became the commander of the escort of the maritime trade fleet, and made a lot of profits in the maritime trade.

In fact, Zheng Zhilong is not very eager to make money, because in his pirate career, he has earned (grabbed) too much silver, even if he can't spend it in ten lifetimes. What really satisfied Zheng Zhilong was his status, the deputy general soldier of Fujian, among all the generals and leading officers in Fujian, only under the chief soldier Li Yanzhi, he could be regarded as a glorious ancestor.

In this era of official position, whether it is a thief or a pirate, unless he is determined to subvert the imperial court and fight for the world, there is no one who does not want to be recruited by the imperial court, even if he is subject to various constraints after recruitment, it is better than being a bandit pirate. Zheng Zhilong naturally didn't have the intention of being a king and hegemon, he used to be a pirate just because he didn't have a way to be an official, but now he is an official, which is very rare for his official position.

"Then after a few days of rest, you and Mao Liangzhe will go to Nanjing together." Li Yan said with a straight smile.

"Really?" Zheng Zhilong was overjoyed. It is naturally a great thing to meet the emperor.

"It's the ...... of the Haimao Commercial Bank," Zheng Zhilong hesitated.

"The sea trade firm has become formal, and the next few days are just a large number of purchases of goods, let the various shopkeepers do it. If you go to Nanjing, Your Majesty may reuse you. Li Yan said with a straight smile.

"What do you mean?" Zheng Zhilong said hurriedly.

Li Yan said straightforwardly: "It won't be long before Your Majesty will send a large army to attack Jiangxi, and now is the time to employ people, and Your Majesty will definitely reuse you after you go to Nanjing." ”

"That's a good feeling, a good feeling. Thank you, Commander-in-Chief, thank you, Commander-in-Chief. Li Yanzhi rubbed his hands and was overjoyed.

Li Yanzhi was named Jinghaibo by the emperor because of his great contribution to the war against thieves in Jiangxi, if he can also make a contribution, maybe he can also get a knighthood, thinking about Zheng Zhilong is excited.

......

"General Li, aren't we about to send troops to quell the rebellious gentry army, now is the time to employ people, why do we want to transfer Zheng Zhilong?" Zhang Huang asked puzzled.

Encouraged by the Jiangxi rebels' attack on Nanjing, and bewitched by Jiangxi's dispatch of meticulous work, in the past few months, the gentry in Jianning, Shaowu, Yanping, Tingzhou, and other prefectures have gathered to make rebellion, and there are at least more than 10 units, and most of them are tens of thousands, and there are thousands of people.

Previously, these rebel armies were very arrogant, wanting to attack Quanzhou while Li Yanzhi was away, and wanted to take down the lair of the Royal Maritime Trade Firm, but they were repelled by the 3,000 Praetorian Guards who stayed in Quanzhou.

After the Battle of Nanjing, as the news of the defeat of the Jiangxi anti-thieves came back to Fujian, the rebellious troops in various provinces panicked, fearing that they would be attacked by the Praetorian Guards, and there was already a tendency to unite with each other, and troops must be sent to encircle and suppress them as soon as possible. In this case, Li Yanzhi actually transferred Zheng Zhilong to Nanjing, which made Zhang Huangyan a little puzzled.

"What is the strength of these rebels in Fujian?" Li Yanzhi asked with a smile.

"I haven't made contact, but judging from the fact that its attack on Quanzhou was repulsed some time ago, the combat effectiveness should not be very powerful." Zhang Huang said.

"Ah, the rebel armies in Fujian seem to be huge, but in fact they are just a group of local chickens and dogs, and their combat effectiveness may not be comparable to that of Jiangxi anti-thieves. It didn't take much to pacify them. Now it is important to take advantage of the pacification of the rebellion to integrate the entire Fujian army and unify it into the Praetorian Guard system, including those old pirates under Zheng Zhilong. Li Yan said straight.

The composition of the officers and soldiers in the whole Fujian is very complicated, in addition to the Praetorian Guard Navy Division under Li Yanzhi, there are also former pirates under Zheng Zhilong, whose descendants have as many as five or six thousand troops, and there are also peasant soldiers who have been cultivated on the island of Taiwan, and they are also very deeply influenced by Zheng Zhilong, after all, it was Zheng Zhilong who first developed the island of Taiwan, and there are too many of his old brothers in it.

Then there is the Yu Zhigao Department stationed in Funing Prefecture, Yu Zhigao is the son of the famous general Yu Dayou, although his fighting skills are not as good as Yu Dayou, but he has a great influence in the original Fujian army. Li Yanzhi has always been worried that Yu Zhigao will do something against the gentry.

In addition, there are many local guard troops in various provinces in Fujian, and the entire Fujian army is as many as 70,000 or 80,000, and among these troops, the number of Praetorian Guards is only 15,000, and this is the result of Li Yanzhi's expansion of troops in several years.

Therefore, it is important to take this opportunity to integrate the army in Fujian, and those who can be included in the Praetorian Guard will be included in the Praetorian Guard, and those who cannot will be directly disbanded and returned to the peasants. After that, there were only Janissaries in the whole of Fujian Province. After controlling the whole of Fujian and integrating all the armies, you can ask the emperor to send someone to Juntian to reform the system.

And if you want to integrate the army, you can't ignore Zheng Zhilong's influence, and the best way is to transfer it.

After some explanation, Zhang Huangyan also understood.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong didn't know anything about all this. After talking to Li Yanzhi, Zheng Zhilong returned to his hometown Anping Town by boat.

Anping is Zheng Zhilong's ancestral residence, since he was recruited to become a general of the imperial court, Zheng Zhilong began to build a mansion in Anping, and in a few years, he built a mansion covering an area of 50 acres. Rockeries and flowing water, pavilions, bamboo forests and flowers, the newly built house is simply a Jiangnan garden. Because Anping Town is leaning against the sea, in order to prevent pirate attacks, the house is surrounded by a two-zhang high wall, and there is also an arrow tower watchtower in the corner, and the defense function is very good.

After placing the Tian Chuan clan in the house and staying with his wife and children for a few days, Zheng Zhilong returned to Quanzhou with his eldest son Zheng Sen and went to Nanjing by boat with Mao Liangzhe to meet the Son of Heaven. Also on the ship was Zeng Zhong, the envoy of the King of the Ryukyus.

"Quanzhou City is really prosperous, I don't know what about Nanjing?" Sitting on the sea boat, looking at Quanzhou City, which was gradually moving away, Zeng Zhong, the Ryukyu envoy, couldn't help but sigh.

In the past few days in Quanzhou, Zeng Zhong was simply dazzled, Quanzhou City, with a population of more than 100,000 people, was full of shops and commercial houses, and the streets were extremely lively, so that Zeng Zhong, who left Ryukyu for the first time, was dizzying. The entire Ryukyu Islands have a population of more than 100,000, which is estimated to be less than the population of Quanzhou City. Located in the middle of the ocean, far away from the mainland, it is too wild.

"The city of Nanjing, with a population of more than one million, is ten times more prosperous than Quanzhou." Mao Liangzhe said with a smile. Although Mao Liangzhe has never been to Nanjing, he has heard that Nanjing surpasses Beijing in terms of population and wealth, which is naturally ten times more prosperous than Quanzhou.

"Is there really a city with a million people in the world?" Zeng Zhong couldn't believe it.

"In my Ming Dynasty, there is more than one Nanjing in a city with a population of one million? Beijing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou all have a population of more than one million, and Yangzhou City has a population of 800,000. Mao Liangzhe said with a smile.

"Sure enough, it is the upper kingdom of the Celestial Empire, and the overseas small states are far inferior." Zeng Zhong sighed. Such a Ming Dynasty is really desirable, no wonder the lord of the country has to ask the Ming Emperor to attach it.

Although as an envoy, at the beginning, Zeng Zhong did not agree with the move of the lord Shang Feng to annex the Ming Dynasty. As the saying goes, rather than the head of the chicken than the queen of the ox, Ryukyu is also a kingdom, if it is attached to the Ming Dynasty, the status is at most equivalent to the county of Damingzhou, whether it is for the Ryukyu King Shangfeng or the Ryukyu clans, I am afraid it is not a good thing. Baba is a grandson, where is it good to be the master of your own house?

Of course, Zeng Zhong can also understand the approach of the lord Shangfeng, after all, Ryukyu is too small, if there is no protection of the Ming Dynasty, sooner or later it will be annexed by the Japanese State, so it is better to raise the Ryukyu to attach the Ming Dynasty. However, although he understands the Ryukyu King Shangfeng, Zeng Zhong still disagrees with the attached approach.

However, after coming to Daming, seeing the prosperity of Quanzhou, and hearing that the prosperity of Nanjing was ten times that of Quanzhou, Zeng Zhong's heart was shaken. I began to feel that it was not a bad thing to have a Ming inside.

Living in the prosperous Ming Dynasty is many times better than being a landlord in the barbaric Ryukyus.

"I also ask Master Mao to teach the lower officials some etiquette for meeting the emperor." Zeng Zhong pleaded.

Mao Liangzhe smiled: "Don't worry, when you arrive in Nanjing, there will be officials from the Ministry of Etiquette to teach you etiquette." ”

The sea ship went all the way north from Quanzhou, because it was a headwind, the speed of the ship was too slow, and it took ten days to reach Chongming Island. It took another six days to reach the outside of Nanjing from Chongming.

Hearing that Mao Liangzhe led more than ten sea ships to arrive, Zhu Youzhen was overjoyed. The silver of Haimao has finally arrived, and I am rich again!

"Your Majesty, this is the account book of this sea trade." After knocking, Mao Liangzhe respectfully handed over several account books with both hands.

Zhu Youzhen bowed slightly, Wang Chengen stepped forward to take the account book from Mao Liangzhe, and in the future, he would summon a eunuch who was proficient in arithmetic to check the account book.

"Just tell me how much you earned from this trip to the Japanese Kingdom." Zhu Youzhen said with a smile.

"With the blessing of His Majesty, this trip to the Wa Kingdom really made a lot of money, and all the profits added up to five million silver, and when the fleet returned from the Wa Kingdom, the minister ordered the purchase of a lot of goods, so the minister brought back less than four million taels ......of silver," Mao Liangzhe told the trip to the Wa Kingdom again.

Hearing that he had obtained such a huge benefit, Zhu Youzhen was also very excited. What also interested Zhu Youzhen was the current situation in the Japanese state.

"It is really a great crime to invade the coastal area of our Ming Dynasty during the Jiajing period, and then invade the Ming vassal state of Korea during the Wanli period. Mao Qing, you support the grass army that day, it is good to make the country chaotic, even if you make less money, it doesn't matter. Zhu Youzhen said. At the time of Wanli, the Japanese invaded the vassal state of Korea with 200,000 troops, and the Ming Dynasty spent a great price to repel the Japanese invaders. And it was precisely because of the war of aid to Korea that the Liaodong soldiers lost too much, which gave Nurhachi the opportunity to raise troops to rebel, so that after more than ten years of the Jiannu Rebellion, he had no good impression of Zhu Youzhen of the Japanese State at all.

The emperor's praise made Mao Liangzhe smile.

"Has the Haimao Firm ever been on the right track now?" Zhu Youzhen asked suddenly.

"It's on track. The shipping routes of the Japanese state have been completely controlled, except for the Ming maritime merchants, the Xiyi people are not allowed to go to the Japanese country, the coastal maritime merchants have been subservient, and their trade at sea must be approved by the maritime trade firms, and last year the sea trade firms earned one million taels of silver just by selling the permits. Stalls in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other provinces have also been spread, and branches have been set up in each province responsible for purchasing goods, and the goods for overseas trade are very sufficient. Mao Liangzhe told Zhu Youzhen about the current situation of the Haimao Commercial Bank.

"In that case, there's no need for you to stay in the Maritime Trade Firm, I'm going to move your position." Zhu Youzhen said.

"I don't know what Your Majesty wants your ministers to do?" Mao Liangzhe's voice trembled.

"I am going to upgrade the Department of Taxation to the Department of Taxation, which will be in parallel with the six departments and will be dedicated to tax collection. Except for the land tax, which is still the responsibility of the Ministry of Households, other commercial taxes, salt taxes, and mining taxes are all under the responsibility of the Ministry of Taxation. You came to Nanjing, how about being the secretary of the tax department? Zhu Youzhen asked.

"The minister, the minister is willing, that is, the minister is from the grass people, and he has no fame, if he is a scholar, I am afraid that the ministers will not be convinced." Mao Liangzhe's voice trembled. Shangshu, a member of the second grade, is definitely an important minister of the imperial court. Mao Liangzhe was just a shopkeeper in a trading house, and he didn't even have a reputation for showing off his talents, so he never thought that he could be such a high-ranking official. And his background is too low, can he really be a scholar?

"I don't care if I don't come from a background. If you are not famous, it will be of little use to me in the future. Zhu Youzhen waved his hand.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you, Your Majesty!" Mao Liangzhe was overjoyed. Compared with the second-grade Shangshu, the treasurer of the Royal Maritime Trade Company is not worth mentioning at all, one is a businessman, and the other is an important minister of the imperial court, which is not a rank at all.

Zhu Youzhen smiled and nodded. Mao Liangzhe set up the Royal Maritime Trade Company for himself, earning millions of taels of silver every year, which is really hard work, and giving him a Shangshu is considered a reward.

"Your Majesty, after the minister leaves, who will be in charge of the maritime trade firm?" After Mao Liangzhe was overjoyed, he asked for instructions.

"The scale of the Haimao Commercial Bank is too large at the moment, and it can no longer be responsible for one person, so the Haimao Commercial Bank can be divided into three, divided into Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, and appoint three shopkeepers respectively, and you can recommend specific candidates to me." Zhu Youzhen thought about it and said.

The annual profits of the Haimao Commercial Bank are too large, and it is completely in the hands of one person, Zhu Youzhen is a little uneasy. Even after being divided into three, Zhu Youzhen had to send people to the three commercial houses to supervise them.

In this way, in the future, Zhejiang merchants will take the route of the Japanese state, and the Fujian commercial bank can also go to Luzon in addition to the Japanese foreign countries, and the Guangdong commercial bank will be responsible for developing the Nanyang trade. As for the candidates for the three shopkeepers, Rong Chen thought about it for a while and then recommended them to His Majesty. Mao Liang Zhe said.

"That's very good." Zhu Youzhen nodded with satisfaction.