Zhou Zifan was shocked. As a member of the Donglin Party, he was very concerned about national affairs and knew the state of the country. In the country of Dameng Country, the total tax paid by all oasis is about four million taels of silver a year.

Why is the taxation of such a huge empire in Dameng Kingdom only so small? In fact... this has to start with the tax system of Dameng Kingdom. The people of Dameng Kingdom are divided into four classes: "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce". Among these four classes, "scholars" do not need to be taxed and belong to the privileged class of tax exemption. "Scholars" are low taxes, because the "scholars" of Dameng Kingdom colluded with "scholars" to provide "scholars" with low tax protection umbrellas. "Works" are some craftsmen who make weapons, farm tools, vehicles and ships. They mainly provide labor to the country, and use their own work to tax, without paying real money.

As a result, the pressure on national taxation fell on the "agricultural"...

Anyone who finds a modern person knows that "agricultural" is the poorest class, but the country's taxes have to be borne by "agricultural". Isn't this a nonsense? As a result, the big country cannot collect much taxes at all. The huge empire, vast territory, and 200 million people have only 4 million taels of silver.

As a Donglin Party with a favorable country and people, Zhou Zifan is deeply worried about the country's financial situation whenever he thinks quietly at night. Now he suddenly hears that a group of sea merchants can earn two million taels of silver by traveling to Batavia in two or three months, which is equivalent to half of the taxes of the huge empire. The feeling in his heart is really...

"Zifan. Do you have any ideas?" Yi Yun next to him said with a smile.

"..." Zhou Zifan was silent for a long time before he said seriously: "After the officials returned, they would write a memorial to the court, so that the people above would seriously consider it, set up an official fleet, go to business to make money... to share the worries and solve problems for the country's taxes."

"Well! The idea is good." Yi Yun was very happy when he saw that he had a clue, so he smiled and said, "Do you know why cannons were installed on the merchant ship that just passed by?"

"Of course this is to prevent pirates!" Zhou Zifan said.

"They are pirates themselves..." Yi Yun laughed and said, "They are guarding against Westerners!"

"Those barbarians?" Zhou Zifanqi said: "Has you already defeated? What are the barbarians who are good at defending against?"

"No... the barbarians were not defeated by me, but by these pirates." Yi Yun shook his head and said, "The barbarians are far more powerful than you think. They are flying huge gunboats and showing off their power. The tactical technology on the sea has long exceeded the level of our Da Meng Kingdom for decades. Look. The warship we are currently on is called the Feixiang Henan People. In fact, its original name is Feixiang Dutch, and it is a Western warship."

Zhou Zifan nodded: "This official can see it..."

"But you only see its appearance, but you haven't seen its strength yet!" Yi Yun waved his hand and ordered the soldiers around him: "Imagine that an enemy ship is approaching a few miles away, and order the cannons on the left and right sides to open fire at the same time, and quickly shoot five rounds."

With this order, the entire warship came alive. Dozens of artillery girls ran around the deck and cabin, occupying the cannon positions. Then, the cannons on both sides began to roar at the same time. The huge warships shook violently. The shells fell on the distant sea like rain, and sand columns soared into the sky...

The power of these dozens of cannons was even a brave general who was scared to the point of being so scared. Not to mention an ordinary civil servant, although Zhou Zifan was very brave and had good concentration, he was still shocked by the cannonballs that were like a sudden rain.

"Wow, it's so awesome! So many cannons fire together... an ordinary ship would be bombarded with holes in an instant." Zhou Zifan said in surprise: "No wonder the Beiyang Navy was wiped out. It turns out that Western warships are so powerful..."

"I understand!" Yi Yun sighed: "If you want to eat the rice of a maritime merchant, you don't have strong ships and powerful guns. That won't work."

Zhou Zifan had basically understood Yi Yun's meaning, and he said in a deep voice: "The prince means... you can make a lot of money by running in the sea trade and make up for the shortcomings of the national treasury, but... if you want to run in the sea trade, you must have strong maritime strength, otherwise, the merchant ship will be robbed... Not only can you not make money, but you will also lose money, right?"

"That's right!" Yi Yun laughed and said, "I don't think the Donglin Party is all a person who is old and can't transform. Your thinking is also flexible."

Zhou Zifan said silently. What he received just now was too shocking and it took time to digest it.

In the next few days, Zhou Zifan was a little taciturn, as if he was thinking about something. Yi Yun occasionally said a few words to him, but he was not convinced. Zhu Qingqing and Qingqing also deliberately ran to him to make a face, trying to see if he could recognize her, but Zhou Zifan didn't even look at her.

On this day, the boat arrived near Ningbo. To the east of Ningbo, it was the famous Zhoushan Island, the nest of the Japanese pirates. After arriving here, Zhou Zifan became a little more awake and became nervous. He couldn't help but remind Yi Yun: "Prince, you have to be careful when sailing near this place. If you encounter Japanese pirates, you will be in trouble."

"Well... Japanese pirates are one of the main reasons for forcing the Dameng Kingdom to ban the sea, right?" Yi Yun asked.

"That's right, the Japanese pirates burned, killed, looted, and destroyed the coastal areas. We were helpless and had to adopt the policy of banning the sea." Zhou Zifan said seriously.

"Then... have you ever thought about defending the enemy outside the country's gate? The Japanese pirates came with ships. Let's use ships to fight the Japanese pirates on the sea. Why do you need to ban the sea? Why should you ban the sea?" Yi Yun laughed.

"this……"

"Look, there is a Japanese pirate ship in front of you!" Yi Yun's eyes suddenly discovered that in the shadow of the island next to him, there was a Japanese pirate ship hiding desperately. It seemed that the Japanese pirate ship was coming out to fight Qiufeng. Suddenly, he saw Yi Yun's huge warship and was fleeing desperately.

Yi Yun pointed to the fleeing Japanese pirate ship and smiled: "Look, if we have a powerful fleet, we don't need to fight at all, and the Japanese pirates will run faster than rabbits."

Zhou Zifan looked at the Japanese pirate ship that was fleeing, thinking about Yi Yun's words, and he didn't know what it felt. In the next few days, Zhou Zifan stayed in the cabin and stopped talking. He lay on the table all day long, writing memorials quickly. In a few days, he wrote tens of thousands of words. However, after reading it himself, he seemed to feel dissatisfied. He picked up the pen and made many modifications. When he finished writing, Yi Yun went in and saw that he was writing several pieces, namely "Maritime Trade Income and National Taxation", "The Advantages and Disadvantages of Sea Ban", "Is there a Need to the Strong Fleet"...

Yi Yun couldn't help but nodded secretly. This guy is not a sour scholar, but indeed a guy worthy of promotion.

Two days later, Yiyun's fleet finally returned to the long-lost Shanghai oasis Wusong Port. After several months of leaving here, the development of Wusong Port has undergone tremendous changes, and the wharf has been built more neatly. Now it is divided into two wharfs, one side is a civilian wharf, with a large number of merchant ships moored. On the other side is a military wharf, which is moored with Li Huamei's flagship, as well as the giant dragon boats that came back first and seven Beiyang Navy's Dafu ships.

Yi Yun also drove the flying Henan people, Huberian, and the stolen Dutch sailboat to the military dock and parked it. The five hundred Dutch prisoners captured were escorted by the soldiers and walked out of the cabin. The people surrounding the dock watching immediately burst into loud cheers.

The girls waiting on the dock rushed over happily and hugged Yi Yun and asked about their well-being.

Zhou Zifan also walked out of the cabin together. When he raised his eyes, he saw the Royal No. 1 dragon boat parked beside him, as well as the familiar Beiyang Navy warships, Imperial Guards, and Shenji Camp...

"Ah? It's all here. Sure enough, the emperor must be here with you!" Zhou Zifan exclaimed.

"I don't have to say anything about it. Just look for it yourself!" Yi Yun walked into the girls group with a smile and ignored him.

Zhou Zifan rushed into the dragon boat and searched everywhere. He saw that the dragon boat was full of craftsmen. They were repairing the broken place of the boat and re-driven the cannons to the key parts of the dragon boat. Several sailors dressed in water bandits were hanging Western-style soft sails for the dragon boat. The original hard sail had been removed.

When Zhou Zifan saw someone, he asked, "Where is the emperor? Where is the emperor?"

But no one paid attention to him at all.

He found that everyone was trying to turn the dragon boat into a warship, rather than like the yacht that the emperor took when he was traveling. The exquisite carvings in the past are now gone, and replaced by thick black iron armor. All key parts of the ship are wrapped in iron sheets, and the jade curtains hanging at the door of the cabin were also taken away and replaced with two iron plate doors. The exquisitely carved windows were also replaced with iron plate windows. The cannon positions at the bow and stern of the ship were equipped with iron plate guards!

Seeing such modifications, Zhou Zifan knew that he would not be able to find the emperor, because the emperor would not play in the warship. The playful emperor would only play in the amusement park...

He sighed and decided to search on the shore.

When he walked up to the dock, there was the free trade market managed by Li Huamei. Zhou Zifan saw that it was very lively inside, and it seemed that there were many people. This kind of place was exactly what the emperor liked, so he rushed in. However, he was startled as soon as he entered. He saw that there were many people in the market, not from the same country, but from various countries, all kinds of red-haired, yellow-haired, and green-haired... These people all have one thing in common, that is, they are waving a large number of silver notes.
Chapter completed!