Just when everyone thought that Su Yizhao had completely offended the princes and would definitely be hindered in the court in the future, the reactions of the princes were extremely dull and they actually accepted it calmly.
Zong Zeming laughed heartily after hearing the news.
This girl likes to draw chestnuts from the fire, but what surprised him was that those princes were actually willing to cooperate with her to build momentum. It seemed that they saw Su Yizhao's potential and wanted to make friends with her.
The emperor looked at the green young man in front of him and felt very good.
He was tired of seeing those old men in the court, but now they had some fresh and pleasing faces. If nothing else, it made him feel happy just to look at them.
"I heard that the third child and others wanted to entertain you, but you refused them all?"
The emperor asked someone to give him a seat, and his opening remarks were more like chatting with Su Yizhao.
Su Yizhao thanked him quickly, but he only dared to sit on the small side.
The steward Xu Luo raised his eyelids. There were too many officials coming and going in the imperial study, but the emperor only offered seats to only a few of them.
"I'm really ashamed to say that I'm going back to the emperor. It's the first time I've been on an errand. I'm afraid I won't do it well, so I have to take it back for proofreading. I don't dare to go anywhere until I finish the errand. I think it's just a literary meeting after all, and I'm thinking about it.
If you go on an errand, you will be absent-minded, but fortunately your highnesses don't care."
Su Yizhao smiled very shyly and innocently, as if he was unreasonable and didn't think so much.
"Afterwards, my grandfather reprimanded me, saying that I was ignorant of good and evil, and that I had disgraced your highnesses. I will not dare to act like this again in the future."
The emperor's face twitched, he is a thousand-year-old fox, what kind of chat is he playing?
He would not think that Su Yizhao was young and did not understand this. He had obviously been merciless in his calculations before, and he was still pretending to be innocent!
"Well, if my sons are as hard-working and hard-working as you, then I don't need to worry so much."
The emperor sighed as he spoke, and Su Yizhao immediately stood up in fear.
"Your Highnesses have excellent abilities, so they can do twice the result with half the effort. I am stubborn and blunt, so I can only redouble my efforts."
Su Yizhao murmured in his heart, what exactly did the emperor want to do when he called him to the imperial study? He had already fully explained the previous Haishi.
"Huh! You don't have to be humble. I don't know what you are capable of? Just speak freely in front of me."
The emperor waved his hand, somewhat displeased.
However, Su Yizhao was cursing secretly in his heart, I believe you are a ghost!
"How can I dare to hide anything in front of the emperor? Of course I will tell you everything I know."
The emperor is very satisfied with Su Yizhao's attitude. You are working for me. If you collude with the prince, no matter how capable you are, I will not reuse you.
However, this trick alone was not enough to make the emperor completely believe in Su Yizhao, so he naturally had to test it again.
"Hai Shi has already begun preparations. As you said, the profits in the future will be very considerable, but that is all for the future. The preparations will take less than a year. The initial investment is so large, recruiting troops, building big ships, nothing is necessary.
silver?"
The emperor sighed as he spoke, "You also said that you would send envoys to various countries to recommend trading places. How can you not provide support to each country? You also have to give them some profits every year. I feel sad when I think about it."
"Your Majesty, if you can't let go of your child, you can't trap the wolf!"
Su Yizhao certainly knew that it was not easy to establish a sea market, but once the sea market was successful, the huge profits would definitely reduce the burden on the national treasury. This revenue alone would be enough to cover most of the court's expenses.
The emperor pointed at Su Yizhao and snorted coldly, "That's easy to say, but there is no money to invest in the early stage!"
"Just yesterday?" The emperor pointed in the direction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and said loudly: "Zhu Hongchang, the Minister of Household Affairs, asked me for money as soon as he went to court. He said that the national treasury was already empty. Now that the sea market is open, a large amount of money must be invested first.
Go down with a pen of silver."
The emperor also clapped his fingers as he spoke, "It's been eight months since last year's tax collection, and the treasury is almost at its end. We're just waiting for this year's tax collection!"
Su Yizhao looked at the emperor and was speechless. Why was he counting on his fingers?
The emperor's appearance at this moment was exactly the same as in her previous life, when she was counting days on her fingers and waiting for her salary to be paid. It turns out that the emperor and the court were also so poor.
"Your Majesty! Don't cut corners on this initial investment, and don't be sloppy in conscription and weapons, otherwise there will be endless troubles!"
Su Yizhao's little mind was spinning very fast at the moment. She thought of a way, but she didn't say anything.
How can it be done without some benefit? She doesn't care about the little gold and silver cloth that was given as a reward. She has a lot of treasures in her own hands!
"Then tell me, how can the imperial court get the money? You say it's impossible to raise taxes."
The emperor's helpless look made Su Yizhao feel happy. Give me some benefits and I will tell you. I won't tell other people.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Zhu, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Mr. Li, the Minister of the Ministry of War, handed a sign to the palace, saying that they had something important to report." A servant came to report from outside the imperial study.
The emperor suddenly had a headache, "Look, if you say Cao Cao, Cao Cao will be here. Isn't this what happened?"
"Xuan!"
When Mr. Zhu and Mr. Li came in, Su Yizhao had already stood up to greet them. She had not grown up to this extent, and the two second-rank officials would definitely not be able to sit down.
When the two came in, they saw Su Yizhao was there and were not surprised.
During this period, because of the sea market incident, the emperor always summoned Su Yizhao to give lectures.
In fact, lecturing on scriptures is just a pretext. It is the job of the lecturer, and it is not Su Yizhao's turn.
After Su Yizhao waited for the two people to salute, he quickly saluted them with a very humble attitude.
The two of them just responded. To them, Su Yizhao was just a sixth grader. They didn't need to pay too much attention to it and had to take it naturally.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Luo, Minister of Industry, is admonishing the court today that the ships of this court are all warships and this cannot be changed.
If you want to renovate and repair the warships of the previous dynasty, it will take at least half a year, but the cost is not small. If you want to rebuild a large merchant ship, it will take three to five years to succeed."
Zhu Shangshu felt that the emperor was confused by the cake painted by Su Yizhao.
He admitted that Su Yizhao's plan was feasible, but the early preparations took too long and the investment was huge, so it would never be possible to start making profits so quickly.
"Your Majesty, the current national treasury is not enough to support this part of the expenditure. Please forgive me for my inability to do anything."
Zhu Shangshu once again objected. Anyway, his reasons were sufficient.
The difficulties we are facing now have been laid out clearly. If we do not solve these problems, we will not be able to carry out the project at all.
"Your Majesty, you said that if you want to expand the navy, you must recruit troops. I have already drawn up a plan, but the Ministry of Revenue keeps denying that there is no money. As a result, the recruitment of troops cannot be carried out."
Mr. Li, the Minister of War, also complained. The emperor ordered it to be carried out, but if there was no money, how could it be carried out?
"Your Majesty, we need to build ships, open chambers of commerce, recruit troops, manufacture weapons, etc. These all require money. I have already reported to you how much money is left in the treasury. I have already reported it to you before, so you know it."
Zhu Hongchang glanced at Su Yizhao. This boy knew how to confuse the emperor. Wasn't this going to scratch his skin?