Chapter 11 Zhang Juzheng is a member of the Yan Party

Gao Gong said this not because he was confused but because he wanted to embarrass the emperor.

Instead, they wanted to use this opportunity to force Yan Shaoting to reveal that he was using the Yan family's money to make up for the deficit in the palace.

Then why does the Yan family have so much money?
It must be due to corruption.

Since you are corrupt, you should be punished.

Jiajing's eyes fixed, and he glanced at Gao Gong indifferently, but he did not speak. Instead, he moved his eyes to look at Yan Shaoting.

The palace has always kept the accounts of the two capitals, thirteen provinces, and various ministries and government offices of the Ming Dynasty.

How did the three million come from?

He is probably the one who knows it best in the world.

When the East Depot reported the matter that day, Jiajing knew that the three million taels were all the assets the Yan family could afford.

As for those antiques, calligraphy and paintings, I just took them based on the friendship they had with the Yan family over the years.

It's not too much, everything can be negotiated.

Yan Shifan didn't wait for Yan Shaoting to speak, but glared at Gao Gong angrily and said, "Gao Suqing! Just now you were nitpicking about the court's deficits, and every sentence you said called us traitors.

Now my son works for Your Majesty, and has earned three million taels of silver through business overseas, and has sent it to the palace. You can't come up with the silver, so my son has delivered the silver to Your Majesty, and you keep complaining. Are you jealous again?

I think you are really villains who cannot distinguish between loyalty and treachery!"

Yan Shaoting glanced sideways and cast a sidelong glance at the one-eyed dragon.

This guy was not like this at home years ago, but now he calls me son all the time.

Gao Gong, who was stumped by the question, could only stare with his eyes wide open. Even though he was filled with rage, he could not utter a word.

It has long been the case that they have been unable to raise money for the court and the palace, and this is precisely why they have not been able to bring down the Yan family.

Jiajing finally looked at Yan Shifan at this time: "Yan Shifan, you really should learn more from your son! It's okay to quarrel here, as long as we can solve the problem. There are no treacherous ministers in my Ming Dynasty, only loyal ministers!"

Yan Shifan was stunned for a moment, but dared not say anything. He could only bow and lower his head.

Yan Shaoting had a blank expression on his face, but he felt that Jiajing's words should be prefixed.

Anyone who could make money for Jiajing was a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty.

He turned to look at Gao Gong and said, "There is a reason why Lord Gao does not know about the three million taels.

This transaction was originally entrusted to me by Your Majesty. It is a business within the palace and involves overseas transactions.

It is only now that I understand how much profit the eunuch Sanbao made when he sailed to the West. "

Gao Suqing, you are just stubborn, how can you have a temper with the emperor?

Finally, Yan Shaoting brought up the story of Zheng He's voyages to the West, and hinted at the benefits that could be brought from overseas.

Gao Gong glanced at Yan Shaoting and closed his mouth silently.

It is actually impossible to delve further into the matter of the three million taels at this point.

Even if he said that the silver was obtained by the Yan family selling their property, the emperor would never admit it.

Today, nothing is more important than silver.

Yan Shaoting, however, set his sights on Gao Gong.

He looked at the angry cabinet minister and said, "There is one more thing. As the cabinet minister, I think you should focus on the court."

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere became a little weird.

Gao Gong glared at the treacherous little minister from the Yan family.

"Master Yan, what do you mean by that? How can I be an official that I need Master Yan to teach me?"

After saying this, Gao Gong glanced at Yan Song, and then bowed to the emperor.

The meaning is obvious.

Gao Gong was a cabinet minister, so it was not up to a young man like Yan Shaoting to teach him how to do things.

Yan Shaoting smiled and said, "Last time, Lord Gao claimed that my father had nine concubines. How has this matter ever been related to state affairs? Even if Lord Gao mentioned nine concubines, you can go to my Yan family and see if they are still there."

Gao Gong looked back coldly: "Isn't it?"

Yan Shaoting chuckled: "The Yan family is considerate of their servants. The so-called ninth concubine is just a marriage arranged by the Yan family for the common people in the farm outside the city. If Lord Gao doesn't believe it, you can send someone to check." After saying that, Yan Shaoting looked at everyone present with a smile on his face.

Check it out!

My Yan family now loves its servants so much.

He even personally arranged the marriages of his servants.

This is a selfless contribution to the population of the Ming Dynasty.

Gao Gong felt a sigh of relief in his chest. Since Yan Shaoting had already said this, it couldn't be false.

Yan Shifan also had a lot of grievances that he couldn't express, and the expression on his face was extremely interesting.

Jiajing suddenly laughed out loud and glanced at everyone with a deep gaze.

"Family affairs, national affairs, world affairs, governing a country is like governing a family, nurturing the people to give them food and nourishment, that is a good thing."

After saying this, Jiajing glanced at Yan Shaoting with an ambiguous look.

He wanted to see what a farce the Yan family would be in if Yan Shaoting took away his father's concubine.

Seeing this, Yan Song slowly said, "The Ming Dynasty, the country, and all other matters depend on your Majesty. If we can help your Majesty with some of your worries, it will be worth your Majesty's trust in us."

Jiajing retracted his gaze and said, "Without you, I am afraid I can't do anything well in this world."

This is just the emperor and his ministers flattering each other.

Then, Jiajing looked at Zhang Juzheng and said, "Zhang Juzheng, I just heard you make a very thorough calculation. You said that as long as the trade routes on the sea are unblocked, our Ming merchant ships can transport goods to Persia and India, and we can earn more than 10 million yuan every year. Previously, Yan Shaoting also mentioned that the eunuch Sanbao's voyages to the West benefited our Ming court a lot."

Zhang Juzheng nodded and said, "What Captain Yan said is correct. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He was ordered to lead a fleet to the Western Ocean seven times, and commercial goods were transported smoothly. Until the Jiajing period, maritime trade was still frequent. Later, due to the riots caused by Japanese pirates, the sea was not peaceful and commercial transportation was blocked.

I was in the Ministry of War, and I also focused on the Ministry of War. I thought that it seemed that we should increase the military pay for Zhejiang and Fujian. Let Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou recruit troops and build warships. Then we should take the initiative to attack, wipe out the Japanese pirates, and reopen the sea trade route.

this matter……"

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, no one ever dared to say that Yongle's voyage to the West was a losing deal.

Everyone knows how much benefit overseas trade can bring to the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Juzheng's intention was to reopen overseas trade sponsored by the court.

Yan Shaoting saw the opportunity and immediately interrupted, "Lord Zhang and Lord Yan have discussed this matter, and I was there at the time."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhang Juzheng immediately raised his head and looked at Yan Shaoting and Yan Song, grandfather and grandson.

His eyes rolled and he thought, how come I, Zhang Juzheng, don’t know about this?
Yan Shaoting went on to say, "According to what Lord Zhang meant, as long as we clear the sea trade routes, doing business with foreign merchants can bring greater profits to our Ming Dynasty."

Zhang Juzheng blinked violently.

But Jiajing did not give him a chance to speak, and asked: "Oh? Then according to your discussion, what kind of business will bring the greatest profit?"

Yan Shaoting replied: "Originally, the minister and Lord Yan thought that this trade would be most convenient from the southeast, and it would be nothing more than cotton or silk.

What Zhang Ge Lao meant was that if we were to do this business, silk would naturally bring the most profit.”

After saying this, Yan Shaoting did not look at Zhang Juzheng's expression, but looked at his teacher Xu Jie.

Change rice to mulberry, or change rice to cotton.

In fact, these are two policies that exist at the same time.

Changing rice to mulberry is naturally what the Yan Party wants, and changing rice to cotton...

And as Yan Shaoting said, Zhang Juzheng intended to do silk business with overseas merchants.

Xu Jie, who had been old and silent, immediately glanced at his good student Zhang Juzheng.

Gao Gong looked even more wonderful.

Xu Jie's good student actually discussed maritime business with Yan's party and even supported the silk business.

Could it be that Zhang Juzheng has also become a member of the Yan Party?

Jiajing didn't care about all this. What he cared about now was how to make the Ming Dynasty have more money.

"Zhang Juzheng, if Southeast Asia wants to do business with foreign merchants, is silk more profitable?"

(End of this chapter)