Chapter 350

A crude poison simply extracted from the juice of the poppy.

It has also transformed from an original Chinese medicinal herb into the Devil Flower!

"Is it weakness of the body, unable to survive without it, weeping in tears without dignity, a thin body, black teeth, and so on..."

Su Qiao pursued the question with great tension.

204, the Land of the Rising Sun with its national gates pried open!

"That's right, that's right, Mr. Su is indeed erudite; I guessed Mr. Su would know this thing!"

Wang Chengen nodded repeatedly and said.

Su Qiao's heart sank; he was certain, it was opium!

But shouldn't this thing only be forcibly dumped into the Central Plains during the Qing Dynasty?

How could it have been sent here now in the sixteenth century?

However, Su Qiao knew that opium had long been prevalent in Europe by this time.

Hmm, it is very likely that it leaked out from the Maritime Trade Office.

Now, Su Qiao was actually more anxious in his heart than Wang Chengen.

No one understood the dangers of this thing better than Su Qiao.

Even a mighty and powerful nation, if it touched something like opium, would turn into trash.

The Great Ming had barely survived the crisis, and the Tatars had also been destroyed.

It cannot be ruined by this!

"By the way, did Your Majesty not ask the Imperial Physicians to see what the matter is?"

Su Qiao suddenly spoke up and asked.

Wang Chengen explained: "They looked, and the Imperial Physicians said it seems that long-term smoking of that thing is harmful, injuring one's foundation; to say it is poisonous, it seems there is no poison at all."

"Tsk!" Su Qiao spat angrily and cursed, "Incompetent doctors! With no poison at all, is there something wrong with their brains?"

Wang Chengen shivered directly in fright.

He was quite puzzled in his heart, not knowing what was wrong with Su Qiao.

Usually, Mr. Su has always been very elegant; why does it feel wrong today when this farming is mentioned?

Could this thing really be dangerous?

"Mr. Su, I rarely leave Jingcheng, so I understand little; Mr. Su, you should know what this thing is, please tell me, is it very dangerous?"

Wang Chengen asked Su Qiao tentatively.

Su Qiao nodded with a heavy expression, "That's right, it is not just dangerous, it is extremely dangerous; as long as one smokes this thing, regardless of whether you are a strong tough man, you will basically be tortured until you go mad, and your dignity will be trampled upon at will..."

"Hiss..."

Wang Chengen shivered violently with a cold tremor.

"Then who brought this thing here? They should be killed!"

"Yes, they should indeed be killed."

Su Qiao entered the palace again.

With practiced ease, the guards at the palace gate were not seeing him for the first time.

He greeted them skillfully, was searched skillfully, with Wang Chengen following alongside, all being very polite.

After the search ended, he quickly walked under Wang Chengen's guidance to the Hall of Deliberation.

Inside, there were still noisy sounds, the discussion voices of Hong Hong Chengchou, Du Du Yinxi, and several other Grand Councilors.

"Your Majesty, Mr. Su has arrived."

"Quickly invite him in!"

"Your subject greets Your Majesty!"

Zhu Youjian waved casually, "Someone, grant a seat!"

A Eunuch nearby helped move a brocade stool, and Su Qiao sat down directly.

A glance swept across, and he saw the black paste-like object placed on the desk in front of Zhu Youjian.

Hmm, it looks correct.

"Your Majesty, just now this servant told Mr. Su, and Mr. Su seems to know quite a bit about this."

After roughly understanding the dangers of opium on the way, Wang Chengen was also extremely worried; disregarding the need to calm his panting appearance, he hurriedly spoke to report to Zhu Youjian.

A hint of joy appeared on Zhu Youjian's face.

Pointing at the table, he asked:

"Does Su Qing know what this is?"

The other several ministers in the hall also focused their gazes on Su Qiao.

Su Qiao nodded and said, "That's right, if Your subject is not mistaken, this thing should be opium, extracted from the juice of the fruit of a certain flower; originally it belonged to medicines, but all medicines have some toxicity, and the toxicity of this thing is not merely one-third, it should be seven-tenths to eight-tenths!"

Su Qiao did not mind the surprise of the crowd, but continued to explain the dangers of opium to everyone.

The people in the hall occasionally drew in a sharp breath of cold air.

The smile on Zhu Youjian's face had long since disappeared, replaced by anger and solemnity.

"It seems this opium must have leaked out from the Quanzhou Maritime Trade Office; I do not know if it was intentional or unintentional, but I tend to think it was intentional; these Frankish people are truly not good people!"

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he was still not satisfied and slammed the table hard.

The other several court ministers also had bad expressions on their faces.

The treatment of these Frankish people in the Great Ming was actually quite good; the court spent money to support them.

They also put on an appearance of being harmless to both humans and animals.

Who would have known they were secretly smuggling such dangerous things into Great Ming?

In an instant, this refreshed Great Ming's understanding of the Franks.

Su Qiao nodded and said, "They are not truly great benefactors. It is simply that Great Ming's national strength is mighty and its lands far richer than their own, so they dare not prick the thorn. But once Great Ming weakens, they will turn into wild wolves. Doing such a thing is nothing surprising."

"Now that the situation is clear, should we not quickly notify Grand Secretary Sun to thoroughly investigate the Maritime Trade Office?"

Du Du Yinxi spoke with urgent speed.

He was clearly frightened by the situation of opium.

"Excellent!" Zhu Youjian nodded.

Su Qiao clasped his hands, rose, and said, "Your Majesty, they say to catch a thief, catch the loot. Currently, we only suspect the Franks smuggled this in secretly; it could also be people from other nations. We must carefully find the source so they have no words to say!"

"How should these opiums be handled? Burn them all?"

"No. This subject believes that since this thing has already flooded Europe, it would be better to dump it in reverse. We strictly forbid it domestically; we can send it to other countries, such as the Japanese pirates of Fuso, or even send it back to the Franks in exchange for gold and silver!"

...... 0.......

Su Qiao's proposal was indeed very bold.

It left everyone somewhat surprised.

"Is doing this not improper?"

Zhu Youjian frowned tightly; he did not immediately scold or refuse, even though he valued Su Qiao greatly.

"Your Majesty, if we burn it, it is simply burned. But the silver and money belonging to Great Ming would have flowed from our nation into the hands of the Franks. Ultimately, we still suffer the loss. If we dump it in reverse and bring back silver and money, only then will our nation become increasingly wealthy."

"What does 'dump in reverse' mean?"

"It means to resell it back to them!"

"Ah, that makes sense!"

……

Having persuaded Zhu Youjian, he still had to persuade the other ministers.

For instance, when Su Qiao proposed to mess with Fuso, many opposed it.

They said Great Ming is the Celestial Empire and cannot do such dark, petty villainous things, and so on.

However, Su Qiao directly argued with them using national interests, finally suppressing them; none dared to speak recklessly again.

"Su Qing, are these poppies to be planted?"

Su Qiao nodded and said, "Correct, they need to be planted. However, it is best not to plant them within Great Ming's borders, because as long as they are within Great Ming's borders, they might leak out and circulate domestically, causing harm to us instead. If planted elsewhere, it is convenient for management and ensures safety."

"Very well, then we shall proceed according to Su Qing's request!" Three.