Most of the aristocratic families in Yangzhou are present at the banquet. Today, Fa Zheng invites all the aristocratic families in Yangzhou to come, saying that they have important matters to discuss. Fa Zheng is not a very famous person, and his official position is not high. He is not as good as
Zhuge Sima, however, after all, he was from the East Palace and was a confidant of the emperor. The emperor had just ascended the throne. These wealthy families did not dare to refuse the goodwill offered by Fa Zheng. If they offended this person, they would indirectly provoke the emperor.
, which will cause consequences they cannot bear.
In order to show respect for Fa Zheng, most of the aristocratic families came to the banquet in person as their heads. They were also a little uneasy. They didn't know the reason for Fa Zheng and Zhou Yu's sudden arrival, and they didn't know whether their coming was good or bad. They
He could only lower his attitude to avoid offending this close minister of the emperor. When everyone gathered, the master, Fa Zheng, had not arrived yet.
This made all the family masters feel a little unhappy, but they did not dare to show up. At the same time, they gradually became uneasy in their hearts. Could this be... They did not dare to continue thinking about it. Fortunately, the slaves still performed their duties.
Tea and other things were brought to them, and they endured the torture and waited uneasily for a long time. Fa Zheng arrived belatedly. Surrounded by several soldiers, he walked into the hall with a smile, and everyone got up one after another.
"You guys don't have to be like this!!" Fazheng said, but he sat on the upper seat arrogantly and looked at everyone. Seeing his attitude, everyone also bowed respectfully. Fazheng waved his hand and asked them to sit back on him.
After sitting in his seat, he said with a smile: "I'm late, I hope you don't blame me..." He looked at the ministers on the seats, stared at them, and continued: "Everyone has arrived.
Later, I learned that many family heads had not come, so I went to invite them in person... which delayed the business..."
As Fazheng said, everyone was startled and frightened. They heard a few violent shouts, and a group of soldiers entered the hall, escorting people. The people they escorted were those who had not come because of illness.
At this moment, they were all covered with bruises, their clothes were disheveled, and there were shocking bloodstains. Everyone present was frightened, their eyes widened, and they looked at Fazheng above. Fazheng was still smiling, but that smile was...
It makes them shudder.
"Fajun... As the saying goes, you can't punish a doctor. These are my famous families in Jiangdong. Even if they make mistakes, how can they be humiliated like this?" Someone asked, Fazheng just glanced at him and asked with a smile:
"Mr. Lu, do you want to plead for them?" The man shook his head quickly and said, "It's not that I'm begging for mercy, I just feel that I can't be so humiliated..."
"It's nothing, anyway... Their clan has been expelled from today... He can't be considered a scholar..." Fazheng said, and some of the others were so frightened that they trembled all over. Fazheng
Looking at those people, he waved his hands, and the soldiers escorted them down. Fa Zheng looked at everyone and asked: "Everyone, I came here because I was entrusted by the emperor to be responsible for going to sea. The emperor
Renyi, I want everyone to enjoy the benefits of going to sea, but I didn't expect that there are still so many people who don't want to give me face..."
Everyone no longer dared to speak. They just lowered their heads and listened to Fa Zheng's words. In terms of power, they were not afraid of Fa Zheng. Among the people present, there were the brothers of Sun Jian, the Taiwei, and Gu Yong, who served as the governor.
Everyone in the family has something to rely on, but in this situation, they all have to obey, because they are all here, and the knife is in Fa Zheng's hand. If Fa Zheng is angered, he will
If your home is confiscated now, even if there is a Taiwei behind you, what's the use?
"All of you here are older than me and are relatives of important ministers in the court. I think you will not disobey me if I come here with the emperor's edict. My main job here is to go to sea. , the DPRK asked me to build ships here, go overseas, obtain money, manpower, or conquer more areas... After my arrival, I have begun to organize manpower, build ships, and prepare ship ports... In addition, with me Mr. Zhou, who is also here, is also practicing as a sailor, getting ready to go to sea..."
Fazheng thought for a moment and then said: "However, after these days, I have discovered that building ships is really time-consuming, especially for sailors. If the development continues as it is now, I am afraid I will have to wait ten years. Only then can we do something great..." Fazheng said, looked at everyone again, and said with a smile: "Don't frown in a hurry, I'm not here to ask for help. No matter how much money you have in your house, , can it be compared to the national treasury??”
"I think that I will share the matter of going to sea with you. This huge overseas profit can be shared with you..." Fazheng took out a few letters from his arms and asked his servants to send them to them. He looked at them. They took the letter, and he said with a smile: "This letter was written by the former prince to Wen Renggong. After I found it, I copied several letters. Everyone can read it, but it cannot be passed on to others, nor can it be told to anyone. ..."
Listening to Fazheng's words, everyone opened the letter with some curiosity.
This was indeed a letter written by Wang Fu. The content of the letter surprised them. In this letter, Wang Fu explained the overseas situation to Wen Renxi. Wang Fu's overseas records were really shocking. They were shocked. The land was filled with gold, precious spices, and even the cheapest manpower. A piece of paper could be exchanged for at least thirty strong men. If they were not willing to exchange, they could all be taken back for enlightenment. The people here were extremely ignorant. As long as A single border garrison force could wipe out nearly 300 of them.
Most of them were stunned, looking at the letter in their hands over and over again, their eyes widened. Fazheng saw that they had almost read it, and then he said: "You guys, don't doubt the authenticity of this letter. You must know that in the past, the prince In Yangzhou, six ships were sent to the treasury, and the ships were all piled with gold..." Fazheng smiled and said, "Now, do you know my sincerity?"
"Fajun, I wonder what you mean?" Sun Jing raised her head and asked.
He was Sun Jian's younger brother. Standing behind him was Sangong. He was not that afraid of Fa Zheng. Fa Zheng smiled and said: "Sun Jun, I want to abolish the ban on people going to sea and allow people to go to sea." You also go to sea together. You can build ships privately or own sailors. After you go to sea, I will not care about what you do overseas. If you get the wealth overseas, I will never snatch it away..."
Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard Fazheng's words. Sun Jing thought for a moment and then asked: "Then what do we need to pay?" Fazheng said: "Of course it's taxes, normal business taxes, but also Yes, ships and sailors must leave detailed records with me, including overseas situations, and they must be handed over to the temple. If you explore new islands, you must let me know..."
"Don't worry, gentlemen, your harvest will definitely be huge... If I didn't know much about overseas and didn't have the ability to build a large number of ships in a short period of time, you might not have such an opportunity... Time waits for no one.
You guys have a choice...either listen to me and join the sea-going company I established, or join those people just now...Okay, I want to hear your opinions?"
Fazheng looked at everyone and asked with a smile.
For a moment, the atmosphere was somewhat silent, with many family heads frowning and saying nothing.
...
Two days later, Zhou Yu just came. When he entered the study, he saw Fazheng who was checking various documents. Zhou Yu sat directly next to him. Fazheng raised his head and asked: "Gongjin? It seems that he is recruiting.
It's not difficult to be a sailor..." Zhou Yu shook his head and said: "It's easy to recruit sailors, but it's a pity that talents are hard to find. There are many fishermen in Yangzhou, but if they are allowed to lead the fleet and go out to explore, I'm afraid it will be difficult.
no..."
"If I want to train him, it's too late. I'm thinking, why don't I just report it to His Majesty and borrow some elites from General Taishi? Anyway, he doesn't have anything important to do... I have some friendship with General Taishi, so I'm not afraid that he won't.
Borrow..." Zhou Yu said, Fazheng nodded and said: "I don't know these things, so I just listen to you..."
"What about your trip to sea? How's it going?"
Fazheng laughed and said: "Of course it was done. These guys just wanted to scare them before they obeyed. Now, these people have started building ships and are preparing to go to sea. In addition, they also sent this,
Look..." Fazheng handed the document to Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu took it, looked at it carefully, and then asked suspiciously: "Where did these ships come from??"
"Haha, of course it's theirs...most of them are not clean. In private, they have also gone to sea. However, they all go to Funan and Yizhou for trade by sea. In this way, they can avoid
The heavy commercial taxation they did was not clean. I quickly found out. Haha, they had the handle in my hands and did not dare to oppose me... I took the opportunity to take all the ships under their command.
Already..."
Fazheng squinted his eyes and said gloomily: "They recruit sailors, and we have to put some of our own people in. I'm really worried about what else these people can do... We must strictly supervise them."
, Otherwise, it will definitely cause a lot of trouble..." After hearing Fazheng's words, Zhou Yu thought for a moment and then said: "That's okay, but I'm afraid they won't do their best... just pretending.
..."
"Hahaha, Gongjin, after they saw the letter from the prince, their eyes were almost on fire. They had made a lot of profits from trading around Funan before. I asked them to go to sea, and now they are all
Are you overjoyed and don't contribute any effort? Gongjin, just wait and see, I bet you that within two months, they will build more ships than us... Don't think we are a group of government officials.
Build with all your strength... They have other methods..."
Zhou Yu nodded and asked, "They couldn't tell that the letter was written by you?"
"What was written by me?" Fazheng was a little confused. He looked at Zhou Yu and asked, "Didn't we get that from Shangshu Ling Guo Jia?"