After digesting the gossip he just heard, Mr. Shen tidied up his official uniform, then returned to Deqing Hall and informed the eunuch at the entrance of Deqing Hall that he wanted to see the emperor.
After the announcement, Mr. Shen waited obediently at the entrance of the hall.
Firstly, it’s because at this moment, there are probably some ministers inside... well, the kind of court bosses who are reporting to the emperor or asking for instructions. Secondly, with Shen Yi’s level, it’s not easy to meet the emperor.
, if he hadn’t told the eunuch, “I’m here to meet you as ordered,” the eunuch might not have informed him, a fifth-grade official.
Of course, Master Shen often came in and out of the palace, so he had some familiarity with him in the palace, and many eunuchs from the Ministry of Internal Affairs also recognized him.
After waiting at the entrance of the main hall for more than half an hour, the eunuch led him in. Just as Shen Yi walked to the back hall of Deqing Hall, an old man of medium build and about fifty years old walked over. Shen Yi recognized this person.
He lowered his head slightly, cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Chen."
Prime Minister Chen Jing.
The leader of Zhongshu.
Chen Jing has a good appearance, has a long beard, and is wearing a crimson official uniform. He looks very chic and has the style of an ancient man. Although he is a bit older and has some gray hair on his temples, he can still vaguely see that he is young.
Most of the time he is a handsome man.
Not only is he good-looking, but he also became the prime minister. It can be said that he is a winner in life among winners in life.
Originally, when a fifth-rank official said hello to him, it was enough for Mr. Chen to nod slightly. If he was more arrogant, he could ignore it and just pass by. But when Mr. Chen saw Shen Yi, he actually stopped.
He glanced at Shen Yi up and down, stroking his beard with one hand, and said with a smile: "Is Shen Shidu going to meet the saint?"
"yes."
Shen Yi lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty has given me a small errand. I will go and pay the order."
"You are young and have great potential."
Prime Minister Chen stretched out his hand, patted Shen Yi on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty has summoned you, so I won't delay you. If you have time these days, you can come to Zhongshu Province. Several of the husband-in-laws of Zhongshu want to
Let’s talk to you about Coastal Dusi.”
Shen Yi lowered his eyebrows and said, "Xiang Chen is joking. How can a low-level official of the fifth rank talk about such important national affairs?"
[To be honest, I have been using Yeguoyuedu recently to read and catch up on new books. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. www.yeguoyuedu.com is available for Android and Apple.]
"You are the person involved."
Chen Xiang said with a smile: "For many things, we old men in the court have dark eyes and can't see anything clearly. We need Shen Shidu to explain the situation to us in detail, so that we can share His Majesty's worries."
"yes."
Prime Minister Zhongshu invites you to drink tea with Zhongshu Province. Basically, it is not much different from the emperor inviting you to the palace for tea. After all, Mr. Shen is a civil servant, so he must give you this face. Otherwise, he will be somewhat "rebellious to Tiangang."
Already.
Prime Minister Chen nodded with satisfaction: "In that case, Shen Shidu will go and do his own business. I have to go down to do some errands."
"yes."
Shen Yi bowed his head and said yes, then passed by the Prime Minister Zhongshu and came to the inner hall of Deqing Hall.
At this moment, the emperor should have just received the ministers and was sitting in his seat, leaning back on the chair, closing his eyes and relaxing.
Shen Yi stepped forward and kowtowed: "Your Majesty, Shen Yi..."
He only said three words. Before he finished speaking, the emperor opened his eyes and interrupted him: "Okay, get up."
The emperor turned his head and looked at Eunuch Gao: "Gao Ming, please give me a seat."
Eunuch Gao nodded immediately, moved a chair and placed it behind Shen Yi.
Shen Yi thanked him, but did not sit down in a hurry. Instead, he took out a memorial from his sleeve, held it in both hands, and said: "Your Majesty, I have been thinking hard at home for several days, and finally figured out what to do.
I have drawn up a rough charter and asked Your Majesty to take a look at it."
The emperor seemed to be in a bad mood, and there was not much smile on his face. He was more tired. After hearing this, he just nodded silently and waved to Gao Ming to hand over the memorial.
Eunuch Gao came over and held up the thick memorial book in Shen Yi's hand. After the emperor unfolded it, he saw that the memorial book was densely packed with words, and there were about twenty or thirty pages.
The emperor clicked his tongue, looked up from the beginning, and said, "Are these ten thousand words?"
Shen Yi rubbed his forehead, lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty, there are so many things involved in this. I was afraid that I would not think carefully, so I wrote everything that came to my mind. As for the diction..."
"It has been cut down as much as possible."
Most of this memorial contains specific items about the Shibo Division.
These items were refined by Shen Yi over the past few days by studying the regulations of the former Municipal Shipping Department, and added some of his understanding of business, that is, some modern business concepts.
After the emperor read the beginning, he closed the memorial and rubbed his forehead: "It's too long, it's too long..."
"I haven't slept well these past few days, and now my head is still a little swollen and painful..."
The emperor let out a breath, looked at Shen Yi, and put on a smile that seemed to be embarrassing: "Shen Qing is considerate of me, just tell me about it."
"I will read this memorial in detail tomorrow after I have rested the day after tomorrow."
After all, the emperor was young and somewhat thin-skinned at the moment. He felt a little embarrassed not to read what his ministers had put so much effort into writing.
Shen Yi stood up and was about to speak when the emperor pressed his hand on him: "Sit down and talk. Just sit down and talk."
Shen Yi sat down again, collected his thoughts, and said: "Your Majesty, I have been thinking in detail about some... um... ways to make money in the past few days. What can be done as soon as possible is to allow Xu to return to the sea trade route.
He transports Dachen's goods to trade with various countries in Southeast Asia, but the specific profit amount from doing so will be difficult to estimate for a while. He needs to wait for him to make a trip and report the amount before he can estimate his income for a year."
"The second way is to re-establish the Shipping Department."
Shen Yi said in a deep voice: "My initial idea is to set up five shipping departments in Songjiang Prefecture, Wenzhou Prefecture, Fuzhou Prefecture, Quanzhou Prefecture and Guangzhou Prefecture to manage the incoming and outgoing goods and collect commercial taxes for the imperial court.
"
"Yueqing also has a smaller wharf. I once went to the wharf in Yueqing to inquire about the number of goods. The volume of goods entering and exiting these large ports should be more than ten times that of Yueqing. Based on this number..."
"As long as the sea route is smooth in the future, the five municipal shipping companies plus some government-operated cargo ships should be able to increase the income of the imperial court by 5 million to 10 million taels every year."
"many…"
The emperor swallowed and was stunned: "How much?"
Shen Yi blinked, thinking that the emperor didn't hear clearly, so he said it again: "Five million to ten million taels."
"but…"
Mr. Shen said slowly: "The premise of this number is that the sea route must be smooth, and the coastal state capitals, especially the state capitals where the five shipping companies are located, must not have any more Japanese pirates and other bandits causing trouble."
"My plan is that one day in the future, if a coastal capital division is established, the capital division will be divided into five guards, and five city shipping divisions will be stationed respectively..."
"I have written down the specific regulations in detail in the memorial."
When the emperor heard this, he was stunned for a while, and then he hurriedly opened Shen Yi's memorial. However, after reading it a few times, he did not turn to this part of the content, so he closed the memorial, rubbed his temples, and said helplessly
: "No matter how much money you have, it still has to go into the treasury. Those rotten guys..."
At this point, the emperor seemed to have stopped talking because Shen Yi, a "corrupt scholar", was also present.
Shen Yi smiled: "Your Majesty, the reason why the Ministry of Revenue is reluctant to spend money is because it doesn't have much money. When the Ministry of Revenue has more money, it will naturally be willing to spend money."
"Besides, if the Ministry of Revenue is still unwilling to spend money..."
Shen Yi lowered his eyebrows and said: "Your Majesty can send eunuchs to manage the Shipping Department, it's nothing more than..."
"It's just a matter of overpaying and underpaying..."