Anyway, the year in the palace still has to be passed.

According to the algorithm of this era, the two children of Zai Yan and Zai Yan, who spoke out in the second year of Zhengde, are four years old.

At the age of four, he could already understand his father's face, because their mother was a sister, so the two children were raised together.

In the first lunar month, the emperor took one of them with two hands and took them to greet the Empress Dowager Zhang.

These two babies are the heart of the Empress Dowager Zhang, and after arriving, they pinched their faces and touched their heads.

"Call grandma."

"The grandson kowtows to his grandmother, wishing his grandmother a long life and a long life."

The two children said together, obviously what they had been taught before.

But it's good that such a young child can speak smoothly.

"Okay, good," Empress Dowager Zhang's face was loving, "all up, all up." Come to Grandma's. ”

By the emperor's side, Empress Xia and all the concubines were there, and today they came to reunite with the family.

Concubine Shu also held one in her arms.

That's Zhu Houzhao's princess, she got her name Xiuyu, because she is really too young now, so she has been sleeping.

Zhu Houzhao sat down at the side of the Empress Dowager Zhang and said, "Queen Mother, Ping Haibo has also returned to Beijing." Since the twelfth year of Hongji, he has only returned home almost once a year, and it is not easy every year. It was rare to come back, and the son wanted Concubine Ning and Concubine Zhao to take the child back to live for a few days. made Meifu happy and happy, and let the two little guys meet their grandfather. ”

"Ouch, how many days does that have to go?"

"Seven or eight days, my son thinks it shouldn't be a problem."

Empress Dowager Zhang was a little worried, "Then, will you take Zai Yan and Zai Yan out of the house?" ”

"The queen mother can rest assured, her son let Shenwuwei and the people from Dongchang follow, and there will be no accidents. And Ping Haibo also knows the severity. ”

Concubine Ning saw that the Queen Mother was not very satisfied, so she said, "Your Majesty, or ......."

"Grandpa still wants to see him." Zhu Houzhao raised his hand to signal that she didn't need to say much, "These two little guys will start reading and learning in a few years and learn from his grandfather's skills." There are many countries overseas, and most of the annual income of the imperial court is supported by sea trade, so it is necessary to have more contact with overseas countries. I'm still waiting for them to grow up, and I'll send envoys on my behalf to take over a few overseas vassal countries. ”

This in itself is like a joke, after all, these two children are only how old, and when they grow up, it will be fifteen or twenty years later.

However, the meaning of the emperor's words seems to be to send them some errands.

This is different from the tradition of the previous dynasties.

"The emperor has to give birth to a few more children, and there are more vassal states. All of you, too, have to fight. ”

"Yes, Queen Mother."

Except for Empress Xia, who was pregnant, the other concubines Jing and Shun did not move, and secretly glanced at the emperor, and there was some shame on her beautiful face.

"Emperor."

"Huh."

"I heard that King Su and King Han entered Beijing at your behest this year?"

"Ah, yes, yes."

"All the family, you, you have time for them to come and see me."

"Okay, that's no problem. Uncle Su Wang and Uncle Han took the lead and cooperated with the imperial court to clean up Tuntian, but the son did hear that the palace cost a lot of money, and the queen mother could give some rewards appropriately when she saw the two imperial uncles. ”

Those who cooperate should be given sugar, and those who do not cooperate should be beaten with a big stick, so that it is good. It's impossible to kill them all in one go, that's too brainless.

~~

"Ping Haibo has shipped a lot of silver this year, right?"

Mei Kejia doesn't quite remember what the spring, summer and autumn of Jingshi looks like, he returns every year during the New Year, and leaves immediately after the Great Dynasty Meeting. It's been many years in a row.

The high place of the restaurant can see the carved buildings and paintings of the city that never sleeps, row upon row, and then like a six-storey pagoda in the distance, in fact, there is still a little more dilapidated in winter, but when the time is close in recent years, the excitement is still full, and the streets and alleys below are crowded with people coming and going.

"Ping Haibo?"

Mei Kejia was called out more, and hurriedly apologized, "I'm distracted, please forgive Chengguogong." ”

"It's okay, what is Ping Haibo thinking?"

"Alas, the business of sea trade is getting harder and harder."

"What's wrong?"

"The Franco-machine people who appeared on the side of Mangara, we have inquired that they have the intention of gradually occupying Luzon Island, in recent years, I have opened up sea trade in the Ming Dynasty, and the Luzon Islands have slowly turned into a trade transit station of the Ming Dynasty, but ......"

"What is a transit station?"

Mei Kejia didn't know how to explain it, so she thought about it for a while and said, "It's like a post station on the official road." When boating on the sea, there is no way to replenish fresh water except for docking. But once these people from the Far West really occupy Luzon, it will be equivalent to controlling our business routes, and if we want to make so much money, we must first take care of them. ”

Cheng Guogong suddenly understood, why he felt that Mei Kejia's whole state was stunned, not as high-spirited as in previous years, it stands to reason that he was crowned uncle, and that was the happiness of life.

"Ping Haibo, the silver of sea trade is not only about the income of the imperial court, but also about the dividends of many lords, which ...... This can't be a problem! It was supposed to be a private meeting, but Cheng Guogong said the same sense of seriousness in the court.

In fact, he didn't need to remind him of this.

"Cheng Guogong's words, of course, understand below. However, doing business is to lose money and make money, in the past three years, the next year has shipped back tens of millions of taels of silver, how can this scale not be noticed? Overseas people in the extreme west are more important than righteous, like bandits, they see that the Ming Dynasty has obtained heavy profits every year, and they have long been hot, and they want to occupy Luzon is the measure they want to take, in order to control the throat of the Ming Dynasty, bargain with us, and the purpose is to share the profits of our sea trade. ”

Cheng Guogong felt that it was wrong, "This matter must be reported to the emperor." Nowadays, the imperial court has trained hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers in Gansu, Hetao and Beijing, especially the cavalry, and its military grain and grass sources are half dependent on sea trade. ”

"After the Spring Festival, I will report to the emperor at the next meeting."

"Is there a way?"

"Yes, too. In addition to valuing profit over righteousness, overseas barbarians only recognize guns and cannons, but do not know Confucius and Mencius, so that they can have peace of mind, then they have to ...... Find a way to teach them a lesson. ”

"Wu Wending," Cheng Guogong still remembers, "Didn't Your Majesty appoint Wu Wending as the commander of the water division?" He's also coming to Jingshi, right? ”

"Here we are."

After a while, there was a knock on the door outside the room, looking for Mei Kejia.

"What?"

The subordinate said respectfully: "Master, the house has a message to call back." Someone came to the palace. ”

Mei Kejia knew what was going on as soon as he heard it, so he bowed his hand to Cheng Guogong, "Grandpa Guo, goodbye." ”

"Good, good."

Cheng Guogong patted his big belly, and he was always a little worried in his heart, now the emperor is very concerned about the matter of collecting money from his ministers, and everyone originally pointed to getting a dividend on the sea trade silver at the end of the year.

But now it's a problem here, how can this be rectified?

"Someone."

"The villain is here."

Cheng Guogong instructed, "Go and invite the Duke of Dingguo and the Duke of England to the house tomorrow, remember, be sure to call them all over." ”

"Yes."