Chapter 484: Loyal Remnants of the Toyotomi, Certified by the Shogunate

Chapter 476 — Sooner or Later We'll Trick You into Becoming a Minister. "Thousand Years, I have spoken once with Fan Daming. The four fortresses are priced at two hundred thousand taels of silver..."

When the autumn wind rose, Zheng Zhilong, dressed in a duke's python robe, walked with a swagger along the water's edge of Zhongzhou Isle in the middle of Xuanwu Lake, bowing as he followed behind Zhu Cilang. His pair of shifty eyes kept darting toward the eunuchs and palace maids attending around Zhu Cilang — no matter how you looked at him, he seemed a bit crafty!

Zhu Cilang, for his part, had changed into an oversized set of the Crown Prince's everyday robes — because they were a size too large, they looked like stolen clothes, though they had in fact been sewn by Empress Zhou's own hand. The reason they were a size too large was that Zhu Cilang had grown taller again recently! So when making the clothes, they had to be cut loose, lest they no longer fit in a few months. Zhu Cilang was now visibly close to one meter eighty... truly a fine figure of a man! Having been short in his previous life, Zhu Cilang now wore a face brimming with smug satisfaction.

He was now the legendary tall, rich, and handsome — and the number one tall, rich, and handsome in all of humanity!

A brand-new dragon boat was moored at the Zhongzhou Isle dock at that moment. Chen Shifang, the Director of the Eastern Depot, had brought men to stand guard on the dock. Seeing Zhu Cilang approaching with a smile, he hurriedly knelt to welcome him.

"Rise!" Zhu Cilang waved a hand, then said to Zheng Zhilong, "Old Father-in-law, you've seen Zhongzhou Isle now — not bad, is it? There are still a few more isles on Xuanwu Lake. Shall I give you one as well?"

Zhongzhou Isle had originally been the site of the Yellow Register Repository. But after Zhu Cilang took full control of governance, he no longer treated these utterly inaccurate Yellow Registers as treasures. So he had them moved from Zhongzhou Isle to the Ministry of Revenue's storehouses for safekeeping, and at the same time the vacated Zhongzhou Isle was used to build a "Retirement Palace" for the Chongzhen Emperor.

Zhu Cilang, being so filial, naturally kept a tight grip on the construction of the "Retirement Palace." He spent three hundred thousand taels of silver on it, and even personally took charge of the bidding and contracting — nowadays the Ministry of Works no longer did construction itself, but only handled bidding, contracting, and inspection. And the "Retirement Palace" was a model project, one into which Zhu Cilang had poured considerable thought.

Today, after the noon court session, this great filial son Zhu Cilang had planned to go inspect Zhongzhou Isle. It happened that Zheng Zhilong requested an audience, so he brought him along to see the place where the Chongzhen Emperor would spend his retirement.

After the inspection, the Crown Prince was fairly satisfied. The work was nearly complete, with only the interior decoration still underway. Chongzhen's "Retirement Palace" was built in garden style, modeled on the West Garden of the former Duke of Wei's mansion. Although no great timbers or jade stones were used, it was still built magnificently — three hundred thousand taels was clearly money well spent.

The Chongzhen Emperor must surely be looking forward to moving in, right?

The father-in-law and son-in-law boarded the dragon boat returning to the Taiping Gate dock. After they had taken their seats separately, Zhu Cilang smiled and began discussing the Taiwan Island deal with Zheng Zhilong. "Old Father-in-law, you are the number one merchant of our Great Ming. How business should be done, you need not ask me. But one thing must be settled: once Fort Zeelandia is in hand, those people should be allowed to go live on Taiwan Island for a few years, shouldn't they?"

"Those people" referred to the convicts of the "Eunuch Faction Rebellion" whom Zhu Cilang had sentenced to exile on Taiwan Island. There were several thousand of them, and they had now all reached Fujian. But they had not gone to Taiwan; instead, Zheng Zhilong had arranged for them to go to Gulangyu, near Xiamen Island. Moreover, Zheng Zhilong had built houses for them on Gulangyu and was feeding and housing them well.

Exile to Taiwan had thus turned into a Gulangyu vacation... But Old Zheng had his reasons: Taiwan Island currently had Dutch forces on it. What if these fallen former nobles and meritorious officials colluded with the Dutch?

His reasoning was sound, so Zhu Cilang did not pursue the matter. But now Taiwan Island was about to fully return to the motherland, so the convicts ought to go stay on Taiwan Island!

"Once I return, I will make arrangements..." Zheng Zhilong said with a chuckle. "Actually, Gulangyu is also an overseas barren isle, a wild and desolate place, much the same as Taiwan."

Who are you trying to fool? Zhu Cilang thought to himself: I've been to Gulangyu... you even have to buy a ticket to get on the island! How could that place be wild and desolate?

"The area around Fort Zeelandia isn't bad either, is it?" Zhu Cilang said. "After all, the Dutch have developed it for over twenty years, so it can't be considered virgin land. Let those convicts go live there for a few years first. Once they've adapted to the climate, We shall naturally give them a chance to atone for their crimes through service."

Zheng Zhilong said with a smile, "Then this old subject must thank His Highness the Crown Prince for his grace on behalf of those convicts."

Living conditions around Fort Zeelandia were indeed somewhat better than elsewhere on Taiwan Island. Not seven deaths out of ten, nor six deaths out of ten — at least a fifty-fifty split, perhaps even a bit higher.

If those convicts could endure a few years at Fort Zeelandia, then they would be able to adapt to life in Champa and Water Chenla, and could be sent there as colonial officials.

Thinking of colonial matters, Zhu Cilang asked again, "What about that matter I mentioned last time — buying rice from the Kingdom of Champa and Water Chenla? Have you considered it?"

Zheng Zhilong said with a smile, "Thousand Years, I have already had men work the accounts. The business of buying rice from Champa and Water Chenla won't make much money... The value of rice is too low. How much can one shipload of rice be worth? And we don't have many goods to sell to Champa, Water Chenla, and Annam. But I do still have a way to bring in rice from Champa and Water Chenla!"

Zhu Cilang laughed, thinking: I knew a crafty merchant like you would find a way! You crafty merchants are simply more capable than those scholar-officials!

"Out with it, out with it!" Zhu Cilang urged twice.

"It's actually very simple," Zheng Zhilong said. "Change the port entry tax from silver to rice... Our Great Ming's maritime trade has always been more outbound than inbound. Exports include silk, porcelain, cotton cloth, ironware, wooden goods, tea, and so on — a great variety, in enormous quantities.

The bulk inbound goods are only spices, brass, glass, and rare timber — very few items. That is why Western merchants ship in large quantities of silver every year to make up the gap in the value of goods going out versus coming in. But silver doesn't weigh much, either. So the cargo ships of every country engaged in the import trade mostly arrive empty and leave full.

If the court levies the ship tax in rice rather than in silver, then merchant ships coming from afar to trade will all put in at Champa and Water Chenla, purchase rice, and carry it north. After all, the price of rice in Champa and Water Chenla is only one-third of that in Jiangnan, and the merchant ships pass that way anyway. Paying in rice would be far more economical than paying in silver!

Reckoning the annual port entry tax at three million taels, converted into rice that would be at most three million shi... If it can be purchased from Champa, Water Chenla, and Annam at five qian of silver per shi, the seagoing merchants would save one and a half million taels a year.

And to guarantee supply while keeping rice prices down, the great sea merchants would open up and cultivate land in Champa and Water Chenla. The sea merchants have money, men, and connections. Being merchants, they are skilled at calculation and efficient in their affairs. With the sea merchants taking the lead, the work of colonizing Champa and Water Chenla can certainly be accomplished with half the effort and double the result."

"Good, good!" Zhu Cilang laughed. "The Duke of Quan is truly a right-hand man to Us... If the post of Minister of Revenue were given to you, We would be greatly relieved."

"Thousand Years jests," Zheng Zhilong said, thinking Zhu Cilang was joking with him, and so replied with a smile, "I am but a rough fellow. How could I enter the Grand Secretariat and serve as a Minister?"

"Why not? You are a hundred or a thousand times more capable than those bookworms..."

Zhu Cilang gave a light laugh and did not press the point. But in his heart he thought: Sooner or later I'll have to trick you into becoming a Minister! It doesn't matter that you lack a jinshi diploma — Wu Xiang doesn't have one either, and he became Minister of War all the same. If it truly won't do, you can always take the civil examinations! I can have Qian Qianyi give you proper tutoring. You'd certainly pass.

"How about this," Zhu Cilang said, turning the conversation back to trade and colonization. "The tax-farming for Quanzhou and the tax-farming for the Governor-General's Office of the Southern Seas — let both be paid in rice as well... The two tax farms together come to a million taels. You, old sir, need only hand over eight hundred thousand shi of white rice."

Zheng Zhilong was taken aback. How did it come around to me again? He thought it over and felt the matter was still workable... Taiwan Island would soon be taken, and perhaps more land could be opened up there to grow rice. If the yield matched Fujian's, then four or five hundred thousand mu of good farmland would be enough to pay the eight hundred thousand shi of rice.

Besides, Champa and Water Chenla were certain to be profitable as well! Zheng Zhilong thought: Prey Nokor looks set to flourish. Once Big Wood gets back from his swindling trip to Japan, I'll send him on a trip to Water Chenla... He must go and swindle properly!