"Wai Laoyan."

When Choi Chengxiu first heard this title, she was not angry, but she almost squirted out the wine from her mouth.

I don’t know how many people are tempted by the inner court. The nine thousand-year-old Wei Zhongxian, who is tempted by the sound, was actually called Wei Laoyan one day. If officials outside heard it, they might be able to take over their laughter for a year.

But after all, he is an old man, so Choi Chengxiu still has such a little bit of urgency and quickly shifted the topic elsewhere.

"Dude, you were assassinated last night and killed so many people, have you ever found a clue?"

Yang Feng glanced at him and said that this guy was quite good at changing the subject.

After eating a piece of beef, Yang Feng said carelessly: "I didn't get any clues. There was no sign of identity on the corpses of those people. However, the Kezhang crossbow they used is quite rare. Lord Cui must have known something, right?"

As the Minister of War, Cui Chengxiu was in charge of this business. Yang Feng had already decided in his heart that if this guy dared to shake his head and say something he didn't know, he would turn against this guy.

Fortunately, Cui Chengxiu was not so stupid, so he nodded: "I know this. Before the adults' muskets were equipped with the Jing camp, the Jizhang crossbow was a powerful weapon of the Jing camp. In addition to the Liaodong Army, there were only a few troops in the Jing camp and Jiangnan, and the number was not large.

After all, it is not easy to build this kind of crossbow and the cost is amazing, so ordinary troops cannot afford to be equipped.

After the Duke of the State sent some of the seized crossbows to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice last night, I saw that these crossbows were not made from military battles, but were made privately."

“Built privately?”

Yang Feng was slightly shocked, "Who is so bold that he dares to create such a powerful weapon privately? If it is discovered by the court, it will kill the three clans!"

The status of Jizhang Nou in ancient times was equivalent to that of Barrett in modern time and space.

Imagine that if a Barrett military sniper rifle was suddenly found in modern Chinese society, even the Ministry of Public Security would be shocked.

But now Cui Chengxiu actually told him that this thing was not produced by the imperial military battle, but was a private product, which undoubtedly subverted some of Yang Feng's views.

"Why can't you create your own private ones?"

Cui Chengxiu sneered: "The military battle situation is like, the Duke of the Kingdom is more clear than the officials. The muskets they made out can only be used as fire sticks, otherwise the Liaodong Army would not leave them alone to buy muskets from you."

The military battle situation was officially designated by the Ming Dynasty, but the military battle situation has long become a place where some people make money.

The quality of the muskets and weapons created was extremely different. Except for the troops that were really unable to do anything, any army with some ability would not use the weapons they produced. Otherwise, Sun Chengzong and the generals of the Liaodong Army would not have bought muskets, cannons and armor from him.

Yang Feng picked up the wine pot and poured the wine glass in front of Cui Chengxiu: "Does Lord Cui know where these cleft crossbows are produced?"

Cui Chengxiu looked at Yang Feng's eyes and said seriously: "If it is good as Xiaguan expected, those crossbows should be from the south."

"Southern, are you talking about Jiangnan?"

"Yes...it's Jiangnan."

Looking at Cui Chengxiu's meaningful eyes, Yang Feng immediately understood that now that he counted all the Ming Dynasty, the one who most hoped that he would die was probably the landlords and gentry in Jiangnan.

What is the biggest impact of Yang Feng’s opening of the sea ban? Even a three-year-old child knows this, and it is undoubtedly the big sea commerce companies in Jiangnan.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was undoubtedly a talented and stubborn person. Although he set some policies that seemed very conservative and backward in later generations, it was only limited by the times.

In modern times, even high school students know that no matter how good the policies are, they cannot remain unchanged forever, and must change with the changes of the times.

Take the sea ban as an example. Comrade Lao Zhu decided this policy because the country was poor at the beginning of the founding of the country, and the Ming Dynasty had to concentrate on dealing with the remnants of Mongolia in the north, so he naturally had to adopt a conservative and stable strategy in dealing with the issues in the south. The sea ban was just a last resort at that time.

After his son Zhu Di took office, this policy changed. Zhu Di began to form the largest fleet in the world at that time, and Zheng He's seven voyages to the West were the best proof.

Later generations criticized Zheng He for voyage to the West as a waste of people's and financial resources, which was of no use to the country, so this policy was stopped after Zhu Di's death.

In fact, when Zheng He went to the West, not only did he not lose money, but he made a lot of money. After all, Zhu Di was not a fool. If he couldn't make money in the West, why would he send Zheng He to sea again and again? Isn't this a fool?

However, at that time, all the money Zheng He earned flowed into the palace, which was Zhu Di's hands. The officials below did not get any benefits, so they were naturally full of resentment.

But he was dissatisfied and dissatisfied. Facing Emperor Yongle, the Killing Star, they didn't even dare to let go. You know, this person grew up with Zhu Yuanzhang in the war since he was a child, and he would not be ruthless when he killed people. He invented the word "killing the Ten Clans".

However, after Zhu Di's death, his descendants who grew up in the deep palace would not be able to do it.

I was brainwashed by scholars since I was a child, and I would naturally be fooled when I grew up.

So Zhu Yuanzhang's ban on sea was turned out from the garbage dump by scholars and began to implement it openly.

The huge interests of shipping were divided up by the Jiangnan Gentlemen Group and the civil servant group.

From this we can see that the ancestors' teachings are all false. What is important is whether there is any benefit. Otherwise, why would the ancestors' teachings that greedy for fifty taels of silver that were determined by Lao Zhu, who would have to be peeled and filled with grass, would not be seen by scholars to deduct them out?

Nowadays, with the continuous expansion of the scale of the Fujian Navy, and since the lifting of the ban on the sea, Fujian's customs have provided the court with more than 10 million taels of taxes in just two years.

This result scared countless people, and everyone knew that as long as the Fujian customs was not closed for a day, it would whip the officials who advocated the ban on the sea every day like a whip.

But since the sea ban has begun to be lifted, it is not so easy to close the door again.

Especially everyone understands that as long as Yang Feng is still there for a day, it is undoubtedly a dream to ban the sea again.

Since that's the case, it's all that Yang Feng can be wiped out from his body.

"I see."

Yang Feng sighed and looked at Cui Chengxiu with a hint of kindness, "Old Cui, thank you for coming to tell me this news. I have received this favor."

Cui Chengxiu laughed, "Don't do this, Eunuch Wei said. In the past two years, we have made a lot of money under the banner of the Duke. Even the nobles in the capital have benefited a lot of money. Last night, when he heard that the Duke was assassinated, Eunuch Wei was furious. After learning the result, he asked the officials to come and tell the Duke. So if you want to thank Eunuch Wei, please thank Eunuch Wei!"

“Oh…”

Yang Feng looked at Cui Chengxiu with some surprise. People in later generations said that Cui Chengxiu was sinister, vicious and greedy for money, and was willing to harm the loyal and kind for Wei Zhongxian's lackey. Unexpectedly, this guy was quite loyal to Wei Zhongxian.

"History of Ming Dynasty" records his situation when he was dying: "Zhongxian was dead, and Cheng Xiu knew it was inevitable. Lie Ji's concubine and Luo Zhu's strange treasures were drunk. He blew it all over and threw it into pieces and hanged himself."

In other words, after learning about Wei Zhongxian's death, this guy hanged himself without saying a glass of wine.

From this point of view, Cui Chengxiu is not only loyal to Wei Zhongxian, but also a ruthless person. She is also cruel to others and herself.

It's also interesting to say. People in later generations always show contempt when they mention Choi Chengxiu. After all, this guy's reputation is really bad.

But after coming to this time and space, Yang Feng understood a truth: reading cannot be dull. He must learn to distinguish the people who wrote this book and their motivations, and conduct specific analysis based on the historical situation at that time.

Just like Cui Chengxiu, although he loves money very much, he never ruthlessly when attacking political enemies. From this point of view, he is a cruel official.

But one thing is that he is a capable person, and he is attentive when dealing with state affairs.

Not to mention anything else, during his tenure as Minister of War, the Ministry of War never dragged his back on the issue of Liaodong, Fujian war situation and Lu Xiangsheng's elimination of bandits. It could be supplemented in time in terms of material supplies and soldiers. Cui Chengxiu alone is a hundred times better than those gentlemen of the Donglin Party who shouted slogans on weekdays, but once they did a serious business, they were in a mess.

"Old Cui, you are very good."

After two glasses of wine, Yang Feng patted Cui Chengxiu's shoulders with a loud bang.

"Old Wei and you are considerate, and I can't just do this kind of favor with white-collar workers.

You also know that a few days ago, I just occupied Cebu Island in Luzon and caught a group of red-haired devils. A few of them were pretty good. I know that Lao Cui, you like this. You will take two of them away when you go back later. It is my return gift. As for Eunuch Wei... I guess he doesn't need it anymore. Let's do this. I will pick a few things later and you can help take them back to Lao Wei."

Cui Chengxiu showed a look of not knowing whether it was bitter or a smile on her face, but she couldn't refuse, so she could only raise her hand: "Then the official will thank the Duke for his kindness."

"Don't be polite, which one of us will follow?" Yang Feng hugged his shoulders and looked blank.

Seeing that Yang Feng was always talking nonsense, Cui Chengxiu asked again: "Duke, I wonder how you plan to respond to those people?"

Yang Feng asked back, "What about Lord Cui's opinion?"

Cui Chengxiu asked tentatively: "Dude, since those people are so afraid that the court will lift the sea ban, should we ask the emperor to let Jiangnan start lifting the sea ban?"

Yang Feng looked at him with a smile: "Oh...Is this what you mean or what Wei Laoyan mean?"

Cui Chengxiu looked away unnaturally: "This... is naturally what the officials mean."
Chapter completed!