The emperor's inquiry into government affairs was one of his daily tasks.
However, the people they ask for political advice are usually big shots in the court, such as Prime Minister Zhongshu, or senior officials such as Dajiu Qing. For things like Japanese pirates, they should ask officials from the Ministry of War, but they will never ask. to Shen Yi's head.
Shen Yi sat down cautiously, lowered his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty, I am young and ill-informed, and my position is low and I don't dare to discuss government affairs."
"Young and ignorant..."
The emperor frowned, looked at Shen Yi, and said calmly: "If I remember correctly, I am the same age as you, Shen Qing, and I am only two months older than you. So I am too young and ignorant? "
"Don't dare..."
Shen Yi quickly stood up, lowered his head slightly and said: "Your Majesty's talents are naturally different from those of humble ministers..."
"Don't do this, don't be like those old guys, full of empty words."
"Let's just sit and talk."
Shen Yi sat down as instructed.
The emperor looked at the documents in front of him and said calmly: "I'm just asking you what you think. This is not a serious political inquiry. Just say whatever comes to your mind. Don't worry."
Shen Yi was silent for a while, then lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty, if you want to calm down a matter, there are only two methods to treat the symptoms and the root cause. The so-called temporary treatment is to send troops to quell the Japanese pirates at sea, and if you want to cure the root cause, you have to cut off the coastal merchants and their followers. The connection between these Japanese pirates."
"I have read in detail the records of the Japanese pirates' rebellion in recent years."
"Some Japanese pirates rob merchant ships at sea. After the trade routes were blocked, the Japanese pirates plundered the coast. After these Japanese pirates entered villages and towns, they could quickly find local wealthy households and even kidnap the family members of local wealthy households very accurately. To extort property."
"In other words, these Japanese pirates have informants and even owners on the coast..."
Having said this, Shen Yi paused and said: "As far as I know, the trade routes along the coast have not been completely cut off. There are still some people doing business with foreigners from the East, Nanyang and other overseas countries. In other words, some wealthy businessmen , not worried about Japanese pirates.”
The emperor frowned.
He looked at Shen Yi and said, "You mean, these businessmen are colluding with Japanese pirates?"
"Maybe it's not just Gou Lian."
Shen Yi said in a deep voice: "If we are to make assumptions, I even suspect that some Japanese pirates are raised by these merchants!"
The emperor frowned again and looked back at Gao Ming. Eunuch Gao also showed a thoughtful expression.
The emperor didn't speak for a long time, and then he spoke after a moment: "Shen Qing, if what you said is true, how are you going to cure the root cause?"
"Your Majesty, my Di's Newspaper Division is opening branches in various places. Currently they are only in some big cities. I think we can send them to these coastal cities to open branches. Firstly, to expand the influence of Di's Newspaper Division, and secondly..."
Shen Yi lowered his head slightly and did not continue.
Some things are hard to say too obviously.
Secondly, of course, we wanted to secretly check to see if anyone was in contact with the Japanese pirates.
The emperor was silent for a while, then looked at Shen Yi and continued to ask: "Then tell me how to treat the symptoms."
The so-called treating the symptoms is to eliminate the Japanese pirates.
Shen Yi said without hesitation: "Build ships, build cannons!"
There are artillery in Dachen. Shen Yi has read about artillery in more than one book. There are many artillery in Liquan Tower.
Not only the Chen State had artillery, but also the Northern Qi Dynasty.
When Chen Guo founded the country more than a hundred years ago, artillery was used in large-scale military applications. However, this application is currently only suitable for land warfare. There is no artillery that can be well adapted to warships.
Even if there is one, it is the kind of land gun that is towed to a large ship, and its adaptability is extremely poor.
However, I heard that several warships of the Huaihe Navy had cannons, but I didn't know what they looked like. There was no record of it in the books Shen Yi had read.
The emperor frowned, looked at Shen Yi, and said in a deep voice: "Shen Qing's previous method of treating the root cause was very insightful, but this method of treating the symptoms is a bit empty."
"Whether it's shipbuilding or cannon building, it can take as short as a few years, as long as more than ten years or even decades. What I want is to eliminate the Japanese pirates in a short time, preferably within three to five years."
"Moreover, building ships and cannons requires a lot of money. It's not that the state treasury doesn't have this money, but the prime ministers in Zhongshu and the officials in the Ministry of Revenue may not be willing to spend money on ships and cannons."
Shen Yi whispered: "Your Majesty, what I am talking about is the method on the Jingping Coast. It is a long-term solution. If you want to solve the Japanese problem in a short time, you can only ambush the Japanese pirates on land. You only need to defeat them four or five times." , they won’t dare to come in a short time.”
The emperor had no expression on his face and said: "As soon as the officers and soldiers arrive, they will run away after hearing the news. How can I ambush them?"
"That's the intelligence gap."
Shen Yi lowered his eyebrows and said: "There are informants of the Japanese pirates in the imperial court, as well as among the wealthy merchants along the coast, so an ambush cannot be carried out. I am confident that I can use my residence to report to the department to get rid of these Japanese pirates, and then lay an ambush among the Japanese pirates." Informant, this way we can ambush the Japanese pirates, but His Majesty said that the Ministry of Revenue is unwilling to allocate money in this regard..."
Shen Yi said in a deep voice: "I heard that the merchants along the coast are extremely rich. If it can be confirmed that they are collaborating with Japanese pirates, their property can be seized immediately and used to strengthen coastal defense!"
The emperor's eyes flashed, and he was obviously moved.
He sat in his seat and was in a daze for a long time. Then he looked at Shen Yi and took a deep breath: "I am sure about the expansion of the Di News Agency to the coastal prefectures. You can go down and do it immediately. If you are short of money, I will help you from within." I’ll help you with the money, and as for the rest…”
He whispered: "I need to think about it, you can go down first."
Shen Yi stood up respectfully and exited the Manna Hall.
After Shen Yi left, the emperor turned to look at Gao Ming next to him and asked, "What do you think?"
Eunuch Gao thought for a while and said thoughtfully: "Your Majesty, what Shen Qi said seems to make sense, especially the word "coastal defense" he mentioned, which is exactly what your Majesty wants to form an army along the coast..."
"Then let him do it first..."
The emperor murmured: "It's just that many of the wealthy coastal merchants he mentioned are large local landowners. Not only do they have deep local roots, many of them have backers in the imperial court..."
"Some of them are even family members of high-ranking officials in the imperial court."
"If we want to get this thing done, there are many obstacles. He is an eighth-grade official and a newspaper secretary with no real power..."
Eunuch Gao smiled and said: "Then when the time is right, send someone with authority to patrol the coast, and let this person take Shen Qi with him, one in name and one in reality."
The emperor frowned: "Which important person in the court is willing to listen to his words, Shen Yi? Not only him, but me. Those people think that I am young and ignorant!"
In the imperial court, the power of civil servants was very strong, and most of these civil servants, after studying the books of sages and sages, were assigned to various yamen to take charge of various industries.
So these civil servants have a problem that almost everyone has.
That is, they like laymen to command experts.
It seems that as long as his level is high enough, he knows everything.
If a high-ranking civil servant is sent to work with Shen Yi, Shen Yi will not have any chance to speak.
Eunuch Gao stretched out his hand to pour a cup of tea for the emperor and said with a smile: "My slave, we do have a very suitable candidate here. He is both substantial and can get along well with Shen Qi."
"Stop being too pretentious."
The emperor frowned: "You have something to say."
Eunuch Gao bowed his head deeply and said four words.