Chapter 1538

"Your Majesty, this matter is simply a hundred benefits and no harm."

Wang Yan said, "Everything is me being daring, using Your Majesty's holy grace to create it. I don't need to hide it; there are so many people doing maritime trade, why can't Minister Hu do it? Why can't I do it?

We do things quietly; not only can we get rich, but we can also build a strong navy at sea in the process of maritime trade. In addition, we will find some craftsmen, build some large ships, and even reproduce the treasure ships of Zheng He's voyages.

We won't go to far places, just go to the Nanyang. I heard there is a lot of grain there, and it just so happens we have little grain here. First, do the grain trade, and we can control these grain merchants in Great Ming, and even influence the canal transport. Not only can we earn silver, but we can also protect the people's livelihood.

If there is more grain, we can also raise poultry and livestock, and even brew wine. In this way, the poultry and livestock I raise will be more..."

Yuxi Palace, Wang Yan spoke eloquently to Jiajing about the benefits of him organizing a fleet to go out to sea for smuggling, as well as the crackdown on armed smuggling groups along the coast and the control of the southeast.

Money, Jiajing wants it. Stability, Jiajing wants it. Greater power, Jiajing also wants it.

Everything Wang Yan said was a solid good thing, without a single bit of bad. Even the worst reputation problem, Wang Yan took it all upon himself. It was him relying on favor, acting privately, and it had nothing to do with Jiajing, the Emperor.

On the other hand, Wang Yan proved his ability to cause trouble, do things, and solve problems for Jiajing. Hu Zongxian fought for four or five years, beating the Japanese pirates until they had no momentum, restoring peace to the coastal areas—this was also outstanding ability.

Thus, Jiajing only needs to do two things here: protect some of Hu Zongxian's people when Xu Jie cleans up the southeast, and at the same time pretend not to know about other things.

At the same time, he also maintains absolute control over Wang Yan and Hu Zongxian. After all, this kind of thing is beheading; there is no need for armed smuggling, Wang Yan took 100,000 taels of silver, and this matter is enough to behead him.

Although that sum of silver was fined by him creating a fire hazard fine, if it were someone else, or even if Jiajing himself came, he wouldn't be able to collect this silver. But Wang Yan is a magistrate, acting on behalf of the government's power, and the silver collected is public funds; him taking 100,000 taels of silver is embezzlement of public funds, there is no argument.

And Jiajing himself is sitting firmly on the fishing platform, without any risks other than the palace catching fire, just like the cleaning fees, fines, and clearing fields and checking households Wang Yan collected in Daxing before; he didn't lose a bit.

And if we really talk about it, it's hard to say whether armed smuggling is more difficult, or the things Wang Yan caused in Daxing are more difficult...

Jiajing's eyes shone as he listened: "You say you can earn over ten million taels of silver a year?"

"Your Majesty, at the beginning, our ships are small and people are few, and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers at sea is not enough. There must be a process of growing stronger. According to some of my understanding when I was in Chun'an, if there are relatively few accidents, it is no problem for a ship to earn tens of thousands of taels of silver a year. If Minister Hu goes back to his hometown and starts doing it, he should be able to make two or three trips, and at the very least, he can escort things worth 100,000 taels of silver to the capital.

If development goes smoothly, next year there can be 200,000 or 300,000, and the year after it can exceed 500,000. By that time, Your Majesty should have a large fleet that dominates the ocean, and a navy that is invincible at sea."

The "earn" Wang Yan and Jiajing are talking about is net income. An annual net profit of 500,000 taels of silver requires a considerable fleet, with thousands of people, and a gross profit of over a million taels. Only then, after removing various costs of ships, people, and goods, would 500,000 taels remain.

By this point, saying it is invincible is a bit of an exaggeration, but it is certain that there are generally no opponents at sea.

Especially since the direction of development is different. The armed smuggling groups along the coast mainly aim to earn silver. The armed smuggling group Wang Yan proposed is to raise people, to raise a deep-sea navy, to destroy other smuggling groups, blockade the sea borders, and clean up the large families in the southeast.

Jiajing gave a hum, and turned to talk about the scenery at sea.

Clearly, this meant tacit approval, letting Wang Yan and Hu Zongxian go ahead and do it.

But Wang Yan did not stop there, and turned to say to Jiajing: "Speaking of silver, Your Majesty, I have recently continued to think about the way of circulating wealth, and have some insights, and want to say them out for Your Majesty to give some guidance."

Jiajing, who glanced at the tactless Wang Yan, but happened to be in a good mood because of the new source of wealth, did not speak, just strolled to the window, feeling the convective breeze.

So Wang Yan tactfully opened his mouth and said: "Your Majesty, our Great Ming has little silver, and not many copper coins. Among the large families I confiscated, they all had ornaments melted from copper and silver. These large families earned silver but didn't spend it, or rather they didn't spend as much as they earned; they were truly too rich, and the extra money was all melted to increase their family's foundation and accumulate a sum of wealth for their descendants.

It is also because of this that there is little silver, little copper, and little gold, and these large families are constantly hoarding it. Over time, this naturally aggravated the situation of little money, thus causing a money shortage. To put it simply, it is that money has not circulated, or rather it has not circulated thoroughly.

Because the powerful and wealthy families are constantly annexing land and evading taxes. Clearly, they are only tax-exempt for 500 acres, but they dare to make 5,000 acres. Those below clearing fields and checking households also have many connections, and it is impossible to check the land and households truthfully...

All these things have created a situation where the money the common people earn through hard work ultimately gathers in the hands of these large families. The part that our Great Ming court collects is only a small part of it. How much actual silver is there in the annual revenue?

..."

"I racked my brains for a solution and finally thought of our Great Ming's treasure notes!"

"Treasure notes?" Jiajing couldn't help but ask.

He listened to Wang Yan for a long time, and he also listened in, feeling that what Wang Yan said made sense. Hearing treasure notes at this moment, his deep eyes flashed with brilliance.

"Our Great Ming's treasure notes are no longer recognized by anyone; whoever is issued them dislikes them very much, and the people in the Treasure Note Bureau are one more sluggish than the other."

Even Jiajing complained, and then asked, "Do you mean that Great Ming's treasure notes are actually waste paper, so no one is willing to hoard them?"

"Your Majesty is heavenly wise, and understands the world."

Wang Yan praised, "Our Great Ming's treasure notes are the best of the best. What is money? It is nothing more than an equivalent recognized by people. What is equivalent?... Thus, gold, silver, and copper have no price; it is our Great Ming court that endowed them with value, and it is also recognized by people, giving them value, so they can be spent anywhere in Great Ming... Treasure notes are the same..."

"So I racked my brains, summarized it, and believe that the failure of our Great Ming's treasure notes is the failure of over-issuance, and the failure of no recycling. We must take back the old and damaged treasure notes, issue treasure notes according to our Great Ming's national strength, and have a planned deficit, borrowing tomorrow's money to spend today.

In this way, our Great Ming's treasure notes can circulate, so that the common people will not be disgusted and avoid them. It can also solve our Great Ming's money shortage and make our Great Ming more prosperous and strong."

Jiajing frowned and pondered, not speaking for a long time.

Because there were too many knowledge points in Wang Yan's words, and there were many concepts to understand, and the logic of operation also needed to be understood. This was not one or two nouns, but a whole set of logically rigorous theories, which needed some time to understand.

So while Jiajing was understanding, the sensible Lü Fang seemed like a curious baby and began to ask questions.

"Magistrate Wang, I didn't quite understand; can you explain it to me again?"

"Please speak, Eunuch."

Lü Fang didn't know what Jiajing didn't understand, but he knew what he didn't understand. So from why there should be a deficit, how to increase issuance, how much to increase, how to recycle, currency anti-counterfeiting, national issuance, commoner recognition, supervision and regulation, and so on, a series of questions were considered very comprehensively.

Reaching Lü Fang's position, of course, was not given for nothing; he also had a considerable level of ability in governance. Letting him go down to govern a locality could also stir up a situation.

It was the cognition of the system, the grasp of interpersonal relationships, personal understanding and decision-making, and so on, all combined abilities...

Lü Fang asked so many, and Wang Yan answered them one by one, even using more time than he had used to explain it once before. He came in the morning, and now the outside was already a fiery cloud.

Jiajing finally spoke: "Lü Fang, let the people in the Treasure Note Bureau listen to his orders, and you keep an eye on it. First, make new treasure notes and promote them in Daxing, and see how it goes."

"Yes, Master."

"Your Majesty, I will definitely do my best to make the promotion of treasure notes successful and make our Great Ming more prosperous and strong."

"Go." Jiajing waved his hand.

Wang Yan paid his respects to Jiajing, nodded to Lü Fang, turned and walked out of Yuxi Palace, and was sent out of the palace by a little eunuch.

Speaking of which, Wang Yan's status improvement was obvious. When he first entered the capital to see Jiajing, he spoke while kneeling, his head was half-raised, and his back felt like it was being pricked by thorns. Now when he enters the palace to see Jiajing, he just kneels and pays respects when he first goes in, and then he can stand and speak.

As for Lü Fang sending him off personally, it must be because there was something Jiajing couldn't ask or say, so he came out to ask and give instructions.

Now Wang Yan enters and leaves the palace, and it is Lü Fang's unknown generation of grandchildren who pick him up and drop him off. When he comes, he walks faster, and when he goes out, he strolls slowly. There is nothing to do anyway, so he chats and enjoys the scenery along the way, which is quite leisurely and comfortable.

Along the way, he met some ministers of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers who were handling affairs, and they all gave him a good face, smiling as if both sides had never offended each other. But in reality, these people had all been scraped of silver by Wang Yan.

"Greetings, Grand Secretary Gao." Looking at Gao Gong walking towards him, Wang Yan cupped his hands very politely to greet him.

Gao Gong gave a hum, standing with his hands behind his back: "Magistrate Wang, you have been entering the palace very frequently recently."

"Grand Secretary Gao, I have only entered the palace twice recently. Since I entered the capital, I have only entered the palace four times in total; where does this talk of frequency come from?"

"Stop talking nonsense." Gao Gong waved his hand impatiently, "The last time you entered the palace was when Hu Zongxian was locked in the Imperial Prison; this time you entered the palace, it was when Hu Zongxian was dismissed and returned to his hometown. I heard Hu Zongxian is living in your mansion, Wang Yan, you are trying to protect Hu Zongxian."

"Grand Secretary, these words are wrong. It is the Emperor who protects Hu Zongxian, not me. I once served as a registrar in Chun'an and had a meeting with Hu Zongxian, and we talked happily. I don't have many friends, and drinking and talking with Hu Zongxian, this dismissed frontier official, is no big deal."

Gao Gong laughed: "You don't need to tell me; you need to tell Grand Secretary Xu."

"Even his second son was beaten, what else is there to say?"

"I heard you call Grand Secretary Xu an old thing in private?"

"Oh." Wang Yan looked terrified, "They say one should be cautious in speech and action; it seems this is true. Private jokes were actually passed to Grand Secretary Gao's ears; wouldn't Grand Secretary Xu know too?"

"And how did you speak of me?"

"I respect the Grand Secretary the most and have never criticized you behind your back."

"It doesn't matter if you say it; who doesn't talk about people behind their backs? And who isn't talked about by others?" Gao Gong waved his hand, "Take care of yourself."

After saying that, Gao Gong turned and walked away, walking like a dragon and a tiger, full of vigor, looking very sturdy...

"Magistrate Wang, why didn't I understand what Grand Secretary Gao meant?" The little eunuch asked curiously. He knew Wang Yan was a good person and easy to talk to, so he dared to ask after giving him silver.

Wang Yan answered with a smile: "Take care of yourself, Grand Secretary Gao is warning me. He is not angry that I beat Grand Secretary Xu's second son, and he is not angry that I called Grand Secretary Xu an old thing behind his back, but he is very angry that I am trying to protect Hu Zongxian."

The little eunuch kept flattering that big figures don't speak directly...

Actually, Gao Gong's words had another meaning, which was that Wang Yan shouldn't become Jiajing's new balancing tool. He already had enemies everywhere, and his end wouldn't be good...

Wang Yan's mansion was not far from the county yamen, just a few hundred meters away. It was a two-courtyard compound, originally lived in by a royal relative who participated in the activity of assassinating Wang Yan and was killed, so the house was confiscated by Wang Yan.

In the courtyard, there was a pavilion, and the table was already full of dishes made by Wang Da and his son. Wang Yan and Hu Zongxian sat opposite each other.

Hearing Wang Yan talk about the process, Hu Zongxian cupped his hands towards the palace and drank a cup of wine himself: "The Emperor is wise."

"The matter is mainly handled by the Minister, and it also involves supervision. The factory guards must have their own way of saying things. Minister, don't be in a hurry to leave; let's discuss this carefully these few days. We must do this well and not fail the Emperor's high expectations."

Watching Wang Yan still not forgetting to flatter Jiajing in private, Hu Zongxian let out a long sigh: "It's hard for you."

"The Minister has floated and sunk in the officialdom; how can you not understand? This is the foundation of my standing. Otherwise, as a mere provincial graduate, how could I be the Daxing Magistrate today? How could I collect cleaning fees, and how could I clear fields and check households? As long as I don't make major mistakes, my position is the most stable."

"You see clearly, then I won't advise you."

"I met Grand Secretary Gao when I came out today, and he also advised me..."

Hu Zongxian let out another sigh: "You are right, the heart is like dead wood, the body is like an unmoored boat..."

"Minister, from now on, the sea is wide for fish to leap, and the sky is high for birds to fly..."

"I hope so."

"It is certain!"

Wang Yan raised his wine glass and drank with Hu Zongxian...

?? Daily thanks to the good brothers who reward, vote for monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support!