Money can move people's hearts. This law left by our ancestors is always effective no matter when. King Min was completely conquered by these huge profits.
So much silver! As long as they can bring the cloth, tea and porcelain of the Great Zhou overseas, they will bring back thousands of gems, gold, silver and even spices. These things are huge wealth for the people of the Great Zhou.
Let’s not talk about anything else, just the gems that Princess Min got were more and bigger than those of all the concubines in the palace combined.
If King Min had known that there would be such benefits after becoming a vassal, he would have come long ago and would not have hesitated.
Not to mention him, even Zhao Qingye, after coming to Zhangzhou, felt that everything went smoothly. She was the most honorable in Zhangzhou. In the capital, she had to look at the faces of the empress dowager and the imperial concubine, pay attention to the relationship between the sisters-in-law, and be humble to the crown prince's concubine Su Yao. But in Zhangzhou, she was the most important. What was the wife of the prefect? She had to fawn on her and beg her to condescend to meet her.
It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but it is difficult to go from extravagance to frug
People are easily blinded by wealth and power, and in Zhangzhou, both of these things greatly satisfied King Min.
Prince Min is no longer satisfied with just the few hundred thousand taels of silver, he wants to earn more!
But at this moment, Uncle Qiu found him worriedly and said with some embarrassment: "Your Highness, I'm afraid it's not good."
He said that his expression was very depressed, as if he had encountered some difficult situation.
A few months later, the current Prince Min's Palace has been almost completed, with painted pillars and beams, and it is magnificent and golden. If you didn't tell me, you would think it is a newly built imperial palace. It is extremely magnificent. The pillars inside are all painted with gold powder, which makes people feel brilliant and happy when they look at it.
All of these were built by Uncle Qiu. Although King Min did not look at the account book, he had a rough idea of how much silver was spent.
It was also because of this that he was very tolerant and forgiving towards Uncle Qiu. When he heard Uncle Qiu was in such a hurry, he said, "What's the matter? Chengqi can tell me slowly."
Uncle Qiu's fleet will be responsible for sailing for King Min in the future, so King Min naturally values him. If it is not something too difficult, King Min will help him with it.
Anyway, there will be many places where these people will be used in the future.
However, Uncle Qiu was sweating all over his forehead. He asked Prince Min with a sad face, "Your Highness left Beijing more than half a year ago. I wonder if anyone in the court mentioned the construction of the Maritime Customs Office at that time?"
Maritime Customs
Prince Min was stunned for a moment, but it was Hong Changshi who reminded him: "Your Highness, this is indeed the case. It was Pang Da who brought it up in the court. The purpose was to open up maritime trade. Have you forgotten?"
After being reminded by Hong Changshi, King Min also remembered.
This was indeed the case. At that time, the court seemed to have a fierce argument over this matter. In the end, it seemed that Pang Qingping won, and the court agreed to allow him to recruit soldiers and train the navy.
He frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"
Even if this happened, so what
Uncle Qiu suddenly became even more anxious. He frowned and said, "If the Maritime Customs Office is built, then every time we go out to sea, we will be under the jurisdiction of the court and have to pay taxes to the Maritime Customs Office. Your Highness, don't you understand?"
King Min indeed didn't quite understand.
He was just a prince, not a crown prince. He had never been taught how to do business, so he didn't understand the difference at all.
Hong Changshi hurriedly explained to him, "Your Highness, that is to say, if the Maritime Customs Office is established, the court will send officials to the Maritime Customs Office. The qualifications for going out to sea will be controlled by the Maritime Customs Office. Who can go out to sea, who can't go out to sea, and how much cargo is going out to sea will be checked by the Maritime Customs Office, and they will collect taxes. These taxes are all for the court, and have nothing to do with you."
To put it simply, from now on, all the benefits here will not belong to King Min, but to the imperial court.
When King Min thought of this, his face turned pale with anger and he remained silent for a long time.
This feeling is like you have just unearthed a treasure. You know that this treasure can make you rich and give you everything you dream of from then on. However, just when it is within your reach, a group of people suddenly run out and tell you that the treasure is theirs and they want to take it back.
King Min's eyes darkened and his expression became frighteningly ugly.
Uncle Qiu sighed, "We have been sending people to inquire about this matter, wanting to know whether it is feasible or not. That is why we have become very cautious. We are afraid that we will not be able to come back after going out to sea, and when we come back, the world will be completely different. Fortunately, in the past six months, there have been many thunders but little rain, so we did not take it too seriously. Who knows, we heard that this matter may really come true."
He looked at Prince Min's face and said, "Your Highness, if it is true, then I am afraid that we will not earn even 10% of what we did before. After all, with the opening of maritime trade, there are too many people who want to take a piece of the pie. Even with our relationship, we can't swallow it all. Not only will the profits be split again and again, but we also have to pay taxes to the court on the money we earn. Even for you, it is not a good thing. If you earn this money, I am afraid that the court will be wary of you. If you earn more and pay taxes, the court will also know your income."
This is the most critical point!
King Min's expression changed completely.
He couldn't tolerate his life being brought back to square one just when it had started to improve.
If the Maritime Customs Office was really built, it would be a benefit to the court.
Hong Changshi also sighed: "I originally thought I had found a good way to make money. If we had this money, we could also expand the guard team by claiming that the Japanese pirates had invaded the border. Who knew... who knew that such a change would happen now? I'm afraid we will have to endure it again."
Just endure it slowly, when will it end
If we continue like this, it will be too late.
King Min had tasted the benefits of money, and he had always wanted to go further, so when something he had already grasped in his hand was about to slip away, he had no hesitation at all.
He said viciously: "Who said it can be built?!"
He asked Hong Changshi: "Write a letter back to the capital and find out the whole story. This prince wants to know all the details!"
This Maritime Customs Office is to be built in Fujian
He prevented them from building it!
Uncle Qiu and Hong Changshi looked at each other, and then they looked away tacitly.
When Prince Min expressed his opinion, Uncle Qiu seemed to be relieved: "Thank you, Your Majesty! Thank you, Your Majesty! Your Majesty, you must be cautious about this matter!"