"Anchor ......"

With the shouts of the boatmen and the rattling of the iron chains, the magnificent royal fleet sailed away from the Jishuitan Wharf, like a mythical fairy and dignified heavenly beast, slowly entering the main road of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

Zhu Youxiao stood in the flower hall on the second floor with nanmu as the wall and crystal as the window, facing the warm and pleasant spring breeze in the daytime, looking at the busy scene of hundreds of boats competing for the stream, his face was full of excitement, and he kept asking Cao Huachun and others who were accompanying him this and that.

But soon, his various questions were not answered fluently.

Cao Huachun said embarrassedly and frankly: "Brother, the old slave only listened to errands in the palace when he was a child, and this time he was also blessed by his brother's reward, and it was the first time to take a big boat. ”

Zhu Youxiao glanced at him: "You go and invite Master Zheng." ”

A small chamberlain ran to the deck, and after a while, led a red-robed figure upstairs.

Although the Ministry of Rites controlled by Donglin agreed that Zheng Haizhu and Lu Xiangsheng would accompany Zhu Youxiao to go east to Mount Tai to worship, they were unwilling to give the Zheng family the title of a ceremonial official according to Zhu Changluo's wishes, let alone give Zheng Haizhu the official uniform of the Ministry of Rites.

Zheng Haizhu didn't have time to spend his precious time arguing with the diehards in Donglin, but directly dressed in the clothes of the Wenhua Hall and got on the boat.

At this moment, Zhu Youxiao saw the red robe, and once again showed a sly smile: "Master Zheng, just now at the dock, the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple came to see you off, Zhao Siqing saw you coming, that face was longer than a gourd, I was close to him, and I heard him say the words 'Cheng He System' angrily." Hehe, hey, he's angry with an old winter fern. ”

Zhu Youxiao had heard Wei Zhongxian talk about Master Zheng being besieged in public, and he was angry that Donglin was bullying others, so he was particularly disgusted with Zhao Nanxing.

Zheng Haizhu glanced at Cao Huachun, who was showing approval, and said lightly to Zhu Youxiao: "The prince of the country, you can't say nothing to a court official like Zhao Siqing. Besides, it is false to take advantage of a few words in words, and it is enough to fight back with actions without exceeding the rules. I traveled as a prince speaker, and I could wear the red robe of the lecturer of the Hanlin Academy. ”

Zhu Youxiao listened and grinned in agreement.

Last year, because of the matter of the guest grandmother, he thought that Master Zheng had some ruthless skills in silence, and he was once shocked by this female master.

But as the teachers and students got along, the horror melted away like the ice floe on the lake after the beginning of spring.

Master Zheng's style of not liking nonsense, but pulling out the obstacles set by his opponent in every gesture, made Zhu Youxiao, who is already an adult, want to follow suit more and more.

It seems that if he masters such a skill, he who has been under the pressure of Li Xuan's servant since he was five years old can really break out of the cocoon and become a butterfly and get rid of the nightmare of a man and a young man being bullied.

I only heard Zheng Haizhu say: "The eldest son of the emperor invited me to come up, what do you want to ask?" ”

Zhu Youxiao regained his fresh demeanor and pointed out the window: "Master Zheng, are those canal boats you mentioned?" ”

"Well, it's a Cao boat from the south," Zheng Haizhu nodded, "The eldest son of the emperor, please see, those sailors who are uniformly dressed are Cao Ding, and like my soldiers in the Zheng Zi camp in Chongming, they are the battalion soldiers of the imperial court, not the guard army." The leader, there are thousands of generals or generals, and they are serious military positions registered in the military department. ”

Zhu Youxiao stared at it and asked, "Master Zheng, didn't the Cao boat transport grain and cloth to Jingshi Taicang?" Why is there such a large number of ships at this time, and you see, the ships are piled up with either dried fruit and flesh, or bamboo and wood furniture, which is no different from ordinary merchant ships? ”

The question of the young prince was asked to Zheng Haizhu's heart.

This kid really has the keen observation of an engineering genius, which just guides him to understand national affairs and national conditions on the basis of his interests.

"The eldest son of the emperor, the southern provinces pay the land taxes to the imperial court, some of which are converted into silver taels to facilitate transportation, so it is not only the season when the fields produce grain, but the Cao Yun will be busy. Most of the boats that traveled during this period were made up by the states for the silver that had not been paid in the previous year, and were transported to Beijing. As for the boats, they are piled up like a warehouse opened by our people, because this is allowed by the household department, and the Cao Ding can do their own business along the waterway. ”

When Zhu Youxiao heard this, his two eyes widened, revealing an expression of "this is okay".

Zheng Haizhu smiled helplessly and said bluntly: "Because the imperial court can't afford to raise so many Caoding, they can only rely on the convenience of the waterway to pay themselves their own salaries." ”

"Master Zheng, how much do I get for raising Cao Ding?"

"The question of the eldest son of the emperor may as well be replaced, how much silver does it cost to maintain Cao Yun in my Ming Dynasty. Father-in-law Cao, please give me pen and paper. ”

Cao Huachun spread the pen and ink on the sandalwood table in front of Zhu Youxiao.

Zheng Haizhu took up the pen and wrote it while calculating it for Zhu Youxiao: "The household department stipulates that Shandong, Anhui, Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other eight southern provinces will give the grain to the Jingshi Liberation every year, which is four million stones, regardless of the natural grain, rice, cloth, or silver, spread to each boat, about two or three hundred stones per ship, and this alone will release the ship more than 10,000 times a year. There were more than 10 people per boat, and there were many stretches of river along the way to hire porters. Moreover, Caoyun not only transported fields to the household department to pay military salaries, but also undertook the tribute products transported by various provinces to the Beijing Division, weaving silk satin, etc., as well as the folding color of so many officials in the Beijing Division. Therefore, Caoyun's soldiers have 120,000 personnel, plus the labor of the people, and they need to pay more than 100,000 yuan of silver every year. There are more than 10,000 boats, and the cost of each boat will not be less than 100 taels of silver, two years of overhaul, five years of scrapping and replacement, and the cost of new boats every year is about 300,000 ......"

Zhu Youxiao was speechless: "Then the silver that the imperial court invests in this river every year gets two million?" ”

Zheng Haizhu put down the pen and said very simply: "That's still less." ”

Zhu Youxiao frowned: "A few days ago, Master Lu said that the sea ship is fast and loads a lot of things, and during the Yuan Dynasty, the grain in the south was transported to Dadu by sea ship, so why don't we use sea ships to transport it?" ”

"Your Royal Highness, the dynasty has implemented canal transportation for three hundred years, and how many merchants and people along the road have pointed to it for food, and there are so many Caoding, and they also have families. What would they do if they switched to ocean freight overnight? ”

Zhu Youxiao was stunned for a moment and muttered: "Oh, I thought that Master Zheng was bent on opening a few more customs, and he was familiar with sea routes, so he would respect shipping." ”

"It's about the national economy and the people's livelihood, how can I ruin the whole business regardless of where my own ass is, people and ministers shouldn't be like this, and people and kings can't be like this."

Zhu Youxiao's eyes warmed up, and then he comforted himself: "Fortunately, my Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, and there are large areas of land in the south of the Yangtze River. ”

Zheng Haizhu sighed: "Your Highness, I am Daming, there are indeed many good fields, and the people of Daming are indeed very good at farming, but the production in the fields and the silk cloth on the spinning machine may not be able to enter the treasury. ”