Chapter 849: The Wanli Reform and the Emperor's Salary

In Zhang Juzheng's view, the decline in land taxes and the increase in the proportion of commercial taxes were great things, but the fact that the Ming Emperor's "Golden Flower Bai Yin" had not been touched for so many years was detrimental to the stability of the state.

The salaries of Ming officials were set every year and increased annually, but for the supreme Emperor, his salary had not been raised since the third year of Wanli, when it was increased by 200,000 taels of silver.

If the Emperor could not reap the benefits of the Wanli Reform, how could he be expected to support it as he always had?

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng wanted to raise the Emperor's salary, and to double it directly, from 1.2 million taels of silver to 2.4 million taels; this was the typical mindset of a feudal bureaucrat: politics is achieved through bribery.

"The Inner Treasury still has silver. I have the income from overseas plantations, half of the customs revenue, and so on. Although the annual silver in the Inner Treasury is not as much as the State Treasury, it still amounts to 13 million taels." Zhu Yijun did not immediately agree to the salary increase.

Zhang Juzheng immediately said, "The silver in the Inner Treasury is used by Your Majesty for dividends and for storing gold. It is a fact that not much silver is left in the palace at the end of the year."

"The last time the palace saved up 30 million taels, it was all given to the Longguan Imperial Road. I fear this road will be difficult to profit from; it belongs to the distribution of silver to the interior."

"Since then, the silver in the palace has always been a bit stretched."

"Before I came to the Tonghe Palace, I had already discussed it with the Grand Minister of Finance. He highly approves. If annual revenue continues to grow in the future, it would be appropriate to increase the Golden Flower Bai Yin to 8 million taels within five years, and eventually to 12 million taels."

"Your Majesty, 12 million taels is exactly the cost of the Ming Dynasty's annual military expenditures."

Zhang Juzheng almost stated the purpose of this silver outright: it would be used at certain times, such as when Your Majesty needs to directly control the army—or to put it more simply and bluntly, for suppressing rebellions.

If you don't have rice in your hand, even the chickens won't come. If the Emperor wants to mobilize troops and generals without silver in his hand, there will be huge hidden dangers. From the perspective of political stability, giving this money to Your Majesty is not a loss; Your Majesty is the final anchor of stability for the Ming Dynasty.

In any case, Your Majesty is frugal; if the silver is given to Your Majesty, Your Majesty will only use it for state affairs.

According to feudal rites and laws, officials are all domestic slaves of the Son of Heaven, and the entire world belongs to the Emperor. But the reality is often not so. When the Jiajing Emperor wanted money, he only got 200,000 taels of silver; when the Longqing Emperor wanted money, he asked for 300,000 taels and was only given 100,000.

"Your Majesty, I am worried about the old affair of 'holding the Emperor to command the vassals'." Zhang Juzheng looked around; the Secretariat Drafters were not there, only Feng Bao, Zhang Hong, and the Embroidered Uniform Guards. Zhang Juzheng's speech immediately became bold.

"During the Southern Song Dynasty, after Emperor Xiaozong, the Southern Song Emperors could do nothing. The Southern Song calculated 30 million strings of cash a year, but where did the money go? It seemed that everything had a place to go, and the Emperor could not move."

Zhang Juzheng was straightforward, letting the Emperor pay attention to the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties. The commerce of the Northern and Southern Song was highly developed, and the proportion of commercial

taxes was extremely high, and the annual revenue of the imperial court was also very high. However, the imperial court was still very, very poor because all expenditures were fixed, and nothing could be moved; if anything was moved, someone would get anxious.

No matter what they wanted to do, they couldn't get it done.

In the late Southern Song Dynasty, the Emperor couldn't even struggle if he wanted to; there was no money.

This is completely different from the situation of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty has actually always been very poor. After the Xiaozong reign, land taxes were basically gone, and the imperial court was so poor it clattered, even owing the salaries of the imperial clan.

In Zhang Juzheng's view, the Emperor is the final certainty of the Ming state.

Because of the attribute of "the world as a family," no matter what, the Emperor cannot sit idly by and watch the Ming state perish. Therefore, allocating a portion to the Emperor, enough for one year's military expenditure, is very reasonable.

"Fine." Zhu Yijun no longer opposed it. He knew Zhang Juzheng's worries very well. The monsters and demons hiding in the shadows were still very powerful. They were watching all the achievements of the Wanli Reform with covetous eyes, waiting for an opportunity to swallow these achievements in one gulp.

The achievements of the Wanli Reform were numerous: the coke and steel plants of the Xishan Coal Bureau, the official wool factories of Yongsheng and Yongding, the official wool factory in Lanzhou, the coal plant in Womagang and Shengzhou, the iron pot factory in Foshan, the five major shipyards, and the iron smelting offices built by the Ming government;

the official fields confiscated for various reasons scattered across various places, the military farms established by the military colonies; the vast overseas plantations, copper towns, etc.;

the needle charts, star charts, shipping routes, built ports, and the huge profits from official ships and official trade controlled by the Ming Dynasty;

the talents controlled by the Ming Dynasty through the construction of the Nine Dragons Academy, the Maritime Academy, the Normal Academy, the Medical Academy, and so on;

these means of production were all targets of these monsters and demons.

Just like the feast of carving up all the legacies of the Yongle reign by the landlord and bureaucratic class after Emperor Chengzu Wen passed away.

"Why are there 3 million taels more this year?" Zhu Yijun was a bit curious. The experts of the Ministry of Revenue had expectations for the growth of the Ming Dynasty, and this extra 3 million taels of income made people a bit puzzled.

Zhang Juzheng sat up straight and said with a solemn expression, "The sugar industry output in Guangdong and Guangxi this year is the main reason for this exceeding expectations. Last year, a total of 1.4 million shi of granulated sugar and white sugar were sold, with profits exceeding 2 million taels. It is simply shocking."

"Next is opium and tobacco. The Huimin Pharmacy needs opium-based drugs for pain relief and surgery, and tobacco growth has also far exceeded expectations. Next is the output of quinine from the Governor's Office of the Old Port this year, which has reached a new high. These three items have added 600,000 taels, and the profit from tobacco tax this year is 1.8 million taels."

"The final part is the customs tax. With the complete maturity of the shipping routes, the customs tax collected by the five major Maritime Trade Offices and the four major Governor's Offices this year was escorted to the capital, amounting to 12 million taels, with the State Treasury and the Inner Treasury each getting 6 million taels."

The account book of the 16th year of Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, after being audited again by the Ministry of Revenue, would be sent to the Emperor. Zhang Juzheng entering the palace was just to explain the situation in advance.

?? Customs, tobacco, and sugar.

What surprised the Ministry of Revenue the most was the exorbitant profit of the white sugar business.

The scale of sugarcane planting in Guangdong and Guangxi has expanded again, with 3 million mu of sugarcane planted. Coupled with the inflow of sugar raw materials from Nanyang, the output of granulated sugar and white sugar this year exceeded 1.5 million shi. Everyone knew that selling sugar was profitable, but even the Ministry of Revenue did not expect that selling sugar would be so exorbitantly profitable!

Those who sell smiles cannot compare to those who sell medicine, those who sell medicine cannot compare to those who sell drugs, and those who sell drugs cannot compare to those who sell sugar. The scale of selling sugar is even larger. The profit of one shi of sugar exceeds 1.5 taels of silver, and the profit is astonishingly thick.

What is interesting is that the new Governor of Guangdong, Liu Jiwen, came up with a rather interesting indicator: whether the situation in Annam is good or not can be measured by the number of laborers who enter Guangdong and Guangxi from Zhennan Pass to cut sugarcane every year.

The more laborers who enter the Ming Dynasty from Annam, the worse the situation in Annam is.

Cutting sugarcane is a bitter and tiring job; anyone who does this does it to survive.

The people of Annam enter the Ming Dynasty like wild geese during the sugarcane harvest season. In the past two years, as the situation in Annam has deteriorated and the four major families have engaged in infighting, the number of Annamites entering Guangxi has surged, growing from 30,000 to 70,000.

This is also the reason why the sugarcane fields are constantly expanding.

Liu Jiwen increased the import price of foreign grain, encouraging more sea merchants to go to Da Nang, Annam, to buy grain. This further catalyzed the domestic contradictions in Annam. Grain shortages, floods, infighting among the four major families, and many other reasons led to Annam becoming a mess. The surge in laborers entering the Ming Dynasty is the result of multiple contradictions.

These laborers are not only in the sugarcane fields, but many also participate in the construction of roads, bridges, dams, and canals. However, when they "return like geese," they are urged by the government to return to Annam, which is the responsibility of the heads and thugs of these laborers. Entering and exiting Zhennan Pass is calculated.

"Nanyang sugarcane plantations are still expanding production and will soon exceed the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty. Raw materials are brought into Guangzhou for processing into sugar, and profit growth may far exceed the Ministry of Revenue's expectations." Zhang Juzheng talked about the development of the white sugar industry.

The processing of white sugar is somewhat similar to salt: cleaning, juice extraction, clarification, filtration, centrifugation, steaming, crystallization, drying, crushing, etc. Because Nanyang does not have the ability to process white sugar, the raw materials are all produced in Guangzhou.

And a skilled sugar boiler has an annual labor remuneration of 17 taels of silver. This does not count the starting silver (profit sharing). This remuneration for a sugar boiler is already very high. You must know that the way Qi Jiguang maintained the combat effectiveness of the Southern Army was 18 taels of silver a year.

"Your Majesty, can white sugar become the next global commodity?" Zhang Juzheng held one hand and said with some longing, "Having more global commodities will lead to more profits, and then this Dinghai school system can be implemented."

Zhang Juzheng longed for more profits. Just the tea industry alone supported how many tea farmers in Zhejiang and Fujian? Those rotten tea leaves, the rotten leaves that no one wanted, stir-fried and chopped into foam

?? put into bags, and shipped to the West. Even if they were moldy, people would scramble to buy them.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty has a kind of tea box similar to the Taiyue box, one box of 120 jin, specially used for transporting tea, which will not get moldy.

The Ming Dynasty has six major global commodities: porcelain, tea, silk, ironware, cotton cloth, and spices. If white sugar can become a global commodity, it will undoubtedly inject a shot of adrenaline into the Ming economy.

Zhu Yijun thought for a while and said, "How about selling white sugar with salt? Markets, after all, are developed."

If any country does not allow Ming ships to sell global commodities, the Ming's strong ships and cannons are not for fishing. No matter who it is, they cannot destroy free trade. Refusing the Ming Dynasty is refusing freedom, and refusing civilization!

The Ming Dynasty is now using gunboat diplomacy. For the development of the Ming Dynasty, let the barbarians suffer a bit. In any case, the Emperor does not care about notoriety.

"Your Majesty's words are reasonable. Let's sell them together first and build white sugar into a global commodity." Zhang Juzheng raised his eyebrows. The salt road can also be the sugar road.

The Ming Dynasty's white sugar output is still very low, and the per capita possession of the Ming people is less than 5 liang. White sugar is mainly used for life-saving.

There is a huge demand overseas. Using the huge profits from overseas demand to expand local production, and finally using the scale of production to meet domestic demand, this is the successful experience of the Ming Dynasty opening the sea, and it has been successfully practiced for 16 years.

The reason why such a path was formed is that domestic demand profits are low. The Ming Dynasty does not produce gold and silver, and only a little bit of Yunnan copper is being mined. The money shortage is severe. Domestic prices cannot be sold, and low profits make expansion slow.

"The former Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, now Minister of Justice Wang Jiaping, handled a large number of officials in Guangxi when he was in Guangdong and Guangxi, about 120 people. After handling them, Wang Jiaping reported in detail to the imperial court. The main problem with this batch of officials was that they blindly expanded sugarcane production, causing an increase in local grain prices. Wang Jiaping dismissed them all."

"After Liu Jiwen arrived in Guangdong, another batch of people blindly expanded production and were investigated and dealt with by Liu Jiwen. This time there were only about 30 officials, but the families of three powerful and wealthy families had their homes confiscated." Zhang Juzheng talked about the official governance of Guangdong and Guangxi.

This matter looks like blind production, but Wang Jiaping and Liu Jiwen both think that this is simply rebelling, which is "doubling it."

When you want to oppose something, you execute it doubly. Excessive execution is full opposition. This is a way of expressing opposition from the bottom up. "Doubling it" was defined as rebellion a long time ago, so Liu Jiwen started confiscating homes directly this time.

"It used to be that the national surname Zhengmao dismantled doors, then it was Ling Butang killing people, and when it reached Wang Jiaping, it became pretending to be confused. Now it's good, Liu Jiwen has started confiscating homes again. Our powerful families in Guangdong and Guangxi are really suffering from disasters." Zhu Yijun spread his hands and said helplessly, "Analyze specific cases specifically. Liu Jiwen is a new official taking office. I highly approve of this home confiscation."

"

However, the Censor-in-Chief is nagging. How about this: return half of their family property to them, and exile them all to Java and the Yuanxu Islands. Don't they like planting sugarcane? Go overseas to open up sugarcane plantations. If the development is successful, receive an pioneering title from me, which can be considered as bringing honor to their ancestors."

Zhu Yijun approved of Liu Jiwen's handling of the case because the batch of bureaucrats investigated this time was different from the last time. This time they played the trick of destroying rice and changing to sugarcane, so Liu Jiwen tore off his face and arrested people and confiscated their homes. It was really too much.

Changing rice fields to sugarcane fields, isn't this nonsense?!

The reason why this case has a certain controversy is entirely because imported grain is increasing. Guangdong and Guangxi do not seem to be short of grain, and they are indeed not short of grain. Under the action of an invisible hand, these three powerful families destroyed rice and changed to sugarcane, which is also the pursuit of economic interests, and it does not fully conform to the definition of "doubling it."

The definition of "doubling it" is very strict. First, it must conform to double execution, and second, it must be opposition for the sake of opposition. Obviously, these three powerful families do not meet this definition.

It doesn't seem to be short of grain, but once imported grain is insufficient, a great famine in Japan might occur in Guangdong and Guangxi. This is something Liu Jiwen absolutely does not allow. This is not an official hat, but a head problem.

Heads should grow on necks!

Zhu Yijun doing this is of course not smoothing things over, but also to support Liu Jiwen's work in Guangdong and Guangxi. According to the definition of the Censorate officials, Liu Jiwen is a bit overreacting and urging too much, and should return all family property.

Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng, and those who raised their hands in the Wenhua Hall are not afraid of the Censorate officials, but Liu Jiwen is afraid. In order for Liu Jiwen to continue to progress, Zhu Yijun returned half of the family property and exiled them to the Yuanxu Islands to reclaim sugarcane plantations, which can be considered as appeasing the Censorate officials and giving Liu Jiwen room to continue to progress.

These three families have also changed from criminals to pioneers. The process of pioneering can get the support of the Governor's Office, which is already the best ending. If they call again, Zhu Yijun will withdraw his order.

The national policy of the Ming Dynasty is to prevent conservatism, but mainly to prevent being too radical.

"Sir, arrange it. White sugar technology is forbidden to flow out." Zhu Yijun pondered for a while and added an item to the Ming Dynasty's list of technologies forbidden to flow out.

Antonio once paid tribute to the West's granulated sugar, which was that kind of scorched yellow sugar block, very sweet, but with many impurities and sour. Not to mention Zhu Yijun, any wealthy family was not very interested in granulated sugar.

The Ming Dynasty's white sugar is white granulated sugar, crystal clear, snow-white and without impurities, with a clear and sweet taste. Zhu Yijun doesn't like it very much either. He likes to eat sugar-hearted sweet potatoes. After all, he participated in the cultivation of sugar-hearted sweet potatoes, which is a powerful proof of the success of agricultural science.

"I obey the order. Your Majesty, the reason why I mentioned the sugar industry in Guangdong and Guangxi is also for this meaning. Sugarcane planting, harvesting, crude extraction, and refining have supported nearly 400,000 households. The expansion of the industry supports more people." Zhang Juzheng expressed his approval again. White sugar industry technology can support

a million households.

This industry supports households, not individuals. How many households rely on this for a living? If the technology flows out, causing these people to lose their livelihood, that is a sin. Since the imperial court has a list of restrictions on outflow, it must be strictly implemented. Relying on maritime defense inspections and the Ming Dynasty's control over various ports, strictly guard against it to prevent technology outflow.

"What has Wang Qian been doing recently? Last time I suppressed him and didn't let him transfer to the Censorate as Chief Censor, is there any resentment?" Zhu Yijun talked about Wang Qian's situation. Wang Qian himself submitted a memorial citing his youth as a reason, declined the recommendation, and did not transfer to Chief Censor. These days, he hasn't come to the palace.

A small eunuch at the door, hearing the Emperor's inquiry, hurriedly bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, Censor Wang is asking to see you outside the palace. When the Minister arrived, Censor Wang arrived right after, but he felt that the Minister's business was more important, so he is waiting in the West Flower Hall, waiting for the summons."

Wang Qian is in Tonghe Palace.

"Summon him to see me." Zhu Yijun said with a full face of smiles. Since he is willing to come, there is not much resentment in his heart.

"I pay my respects to Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty." Wang Qian bowed his head to salute. His expression was beaming. It looked like he had accomplished something, and he was in a very happy mood, without any resentment about being suppressed and unable to transfer.

"Exempt from ceremony. Sit down and speak. What happy event does Censor Wang have?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously.

Wang Qian took out a book from his sleeve, bowed his head and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the 16th year of Wanli's 'Romantic Anecdotes of Famous Confucian Scholars of the Clear Stream' has been compiled. Those who are not upright in their actions, have unseemly conduct, are licentious and unrestrained, yet insist on hanging the name of a famous Confucian scholar of the Clear Stream, should have their filthy virtues made known to the world! Everyone should despise their conduct."

It was a lie to say there was no resentment, but Wang Qian also knew that it was because his father was still in the imperial court. Only after his father retired could his path of promotion be unimpeded. He vented his resentment on these famous Confucian scholars of the Clear Stream.

Wang Qian, who controlled the intelligence network of the capital's gossiping women, updated "Romantic Anecdotes" again and again.

"It is simply unbearable to look at!" Zhu Yijun opened it and looked at it twice, then handed it to Zhang Juzheng. It was really unwatchable.

There is a famous Confucian scholar, Xu Chengzhou, a scholar of the Imperial Academy with many students, who was a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing.

The year before last, Xu Chengzhou took a concubine on the grounds of having no sons. As a result, the concubine became pregnant. The concubine was sixteen years old. The concubine's mother said she came to take care of her, and not long after, she became pregnant. Both mother and daughter lived in the Xu family.

The concubine's father asked for a sum of silver and returned directly to his hometown in Shanxi.

There is also Li Shangmo of the Clear Stream, a Censor of the Hanlin Academy. This person raised an outside room, the Hu family. As a result, the Hu family mother became expensive because of her son, entered the house, not only lived at home, but also angered the original wife back to her mother's house. This has already become a big fuss.

This evil book "Romantic Anecdotes" records the dog-shit rotten things of 72 famous Confucian scholars of the Clear Stream.

"I won't look at it

." Zhang Juzheng flipped through it twice and handed the evil book to the Emperor. Zhang Juzheng was not surprised by these rotten things.

"Take it to be printed into a book and distribute it for sale." Zhu Yijun handed the evil book to Feng Bao and asked Feng Bao to take it to the Sanjing Factory for carving. "Romantic Anecdotes" has been updated several times, but if there was one thing that was false, Wang Qian would have been thrown into prison for false accusation and counter-punishment long ago.

Wang Qian didn't write down those things that were just catching shadows. Every one of them was supported by solid evidence.

"I also did one thing, Your Majesty." Wang Qian took out a memorial and handed it to Feng Bao.

Zhu Yijun picked it up and read it for a long time. While reading the memorial, he looked at Wang Qian. The Emperor did not comment and handed the memorial to Zhang Juzheng.

After the Emperor and the Grand Minister finished reading the memorial, they kept looking at Wang Qian, making Wang Qian feel hairy in his heart!

"Your Majesty?" Wang Qian tentatively said, "If Your Majesty thinks it won't work, then don't do it."

"No, I think your idea is very good. What does the Minister think?" Zhu Yijun waved his hand and asked for Zhang Juzheng's opinion.

Zhang Juzheng said with some emotion to Wang Qian, "I have to say, Censor Wang has great talent in economic matters. Your plan is excellent. I remember you once said that good things are not circulated. Sure enough."

"Thank you for the Grand Minister's undeserved praise." Wang Qian hurriedly replied very modestly.

Wang Qian did a job of gathering wealth, which is that he planned to set up a Tongji Bank.

All the deposits of Tongji Bank would be invested in the Yanxing Building Trading House to obtain profits, and half of these profits would be distributed as dividends, and the remaining half would be mainly used for storing gold, subsidizing poor students, disaster relief and poverty alleviation, and passing on skills in the craftsman registry.

The source of funds is completely undisclosed, mainly from the subscriptions of merchants of the Workers' Party, Zhang Party, and Zhejiang Party, and the starting price for subscription is 100,000 taels of silver, and fund-raising is not allowed. Only funds that are completely exclusive to oneself can enter this threshold.

The stored gold will all be sent to the Tonghe Palace Treasury;

Poor scholars who fail the exam may need to stay in the capital to prepare for the exam. Born in a poor family, they cannot receive this money of less than 6 taels a year. Only those from poor families can receive it;

Disaster relief and poverty alleviation are mainly for the Yangji Institute and the Huimin Pharmacy;

Passing on skills in the craftsman registry is given to official factories and distributed to master craftsmen as rewards for teaching and learning, calculated based on the number and performance of craftsman disciples.

Wang Qian stood in front of the map, picked up a long pole, pointed to the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty, Songjiang Prefecture, Guangzhou Prefecture, and other places on the map, and said, "Your Majesty, the silver of the Ming Dynasty looks very contradictory."

"On the one hand, silver is dammed up in large towns, and money cannot be spent even if you have it; on the other hand, silver is pitifully small in the hinterland and countryside, and even copper coins are rare. In rural markets, there are scenes of barter."

"The reason why the silver of the Ming Dynasty is so

contradictory is entirely because silver cannot circulate. On the one hand, powerful and wealthy families can only save silver. They don't know what to invest in or what they can invest in; on the other hand, the hinterland lacks silver and industries, even if there are imperial roads and waterways."

"Money, after all, always flows to places where there is no shortage of money."

The development of the Ming Dynasty is very unbalanced. Rich places are rich, and poor places are destitute. Coastal places have developed rapidly due to maritime trade, while the hinterland has not benefited from maritime trade, and even because of population loss, it has not advanced but retreated.

The Qian State Duke's Mansion and places like Yunnan and Sichuan are desperately trying to fight Dongyu, partly because they are eyeing the port. If they fight it down and have a port, it will be a major event that will benefit generations to come.

Wang Qian continued, "In addition, these wealthy coastal places have clusters of industries, forming vicious competition. Governor Wang is in Guangdong and Guangxi. In order to sell iron pots, iron workshops of all sizes in Foshan viciously cut prices, squeezed labor remuneration, and cut corners to exchange for profits."

"If it weren't for Governor Wang building official iron pots and using good money to drive out bad money, I fear these iron pots would really become low-profit."

"This phenomenon not only appears in Foshan, and it is not just iron pots. Kelp and refined salt in Shandong, cotton cloth in Su Song, and tea in Zhejiang and Fujian all have this phenomenon to a greater or lesser extent."

"The reason why this phenomenon appears is that silver is dammed up in these places. As long as there is an industry that can make money, silver will swarm in."

Zhang Juzheng looked at Wang Qian in surprise. After Shen Shixing returned to the capital, he visited Zhang Juzheng's mansion. Shen Shixing talked about this problem. Although Wang Qian was not in Songjiang Prefecture, he saw the phenomenon, summarized the problem, found the cause, and gave a seemingly feasible method.

Wang Qian continued, "This economy is extremely complex. I fear it is difficult to see its truth even if you study the classics for a lifetime. But the best means for the imperial court to intervene in the economy is currency. My Tongji Bank, gathering currency, is for this purpose: to take from those who have more than enough and supplement those who do not have enough."

"Then why do industries go to the hinterland?" Zhu Yijun asked a question he cared about.

Wang Qian hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the workshops of the Ming Dynasty are not mechanical workshops yet, they are all manual workshops. Labor in the hinterland is cheap, and raw materials are also cheap. As long as the hinterland is not coastal, the hinterland has always had an advantage in manpower."

Zhang Juzheng asked with a frown, "Censor Wang, I have a question. Why would others give you silver? You have also set such a high threshold."

"What does the Minister think people are most afraid of?" Wang Qian asked back with a witty remark.

"Ambitions are difficult to fulfill." Zhang Juzheng thought for a while and replied, "A bosom of aspirations cannot be displayed. This is the greatest regret in life."

"The Minister is righteous." Wang Qian was choked hard. What Zhang Juzheng said was the truth. For Zhang Juzheng, Qi Jiguang, and the others, this is the greatest regret in life.

Zhang Juzheng curiously

asked, "What is your answer?"

Wang Qian hurriedly said, "I think what people are most afraid of is that their descendants are unfilial. The family business that was accumulated with great difficulty is squandered by their descendants. Therefore, for many powerful and wealthy families, handing over silver to a reliable Tongji Bank is better than handing it over to their descendants."

"What you said makes a lot of sense." Zhang Juzheng thought for a while and approved of Wang Qian's statement.