"What is he?" Zhao Jiu urged with a frown.
"He was fighting for supplies on behalf of the Imperial Camp Right Army against the Imperial Camp Navy. Who could have thought that he would take the initiative to cross the river to attack Dizhou?" Chao Gongwu bowed his head. "But now that I think about it carefully, I was also confused at the time... With the achievements of the Imperial Camp Front Army, Left Army, Rear Army, and Cavalry on the Western Front, it is normal for Zhang Zongyan to be unable to restrain himself. We should have taken precautions against such actions... This is my dereliction of duty."
Zhao Jiu didn't comment and looked directly at Cui Bangbi: "Commander Cui, what about you?"
"I, the Imperial Navy, think so," Cui Bangbi responded immediately. "After Li Bao learned that the military supply inventory in Laizhou had been emptied, he almost went to war with the Imperial Navy... Your Majesty should know about this."
Zhao Jiu shook his head again after hearing this: "In fact, this matter cannot be blamed on you. You are just good at guessing, but even if you guessed it, who would have thought that he would be so bold? So many soldiers of the imperial camp were killed for nothing, and the morale accumulated after Yaoshan was lost a lot in vain."
The few young men who were reporting on their work did not mention it, and most of the close ministers around them were also silent... It was obvious that Emperor Zhao intended to punish them severely.
"What about you, Huang Tongpan? You are an old acquaintance of Minister Hu and General Wu, and you have been a neighbor of Yang Zheng for several years. Do you know what the attitude of northern Shaanxi is towards Yang Zheng?"
"Of course..." Huang, the judge, stood up and wanted to speak, but when he saw the emperor's calm face, he was shocked and immediately changed his words. "Of course, most people want to plead for mercy. They all say that the emperor killed a meritorious official for a woman, which is too much, and Minister Hu is too harsh."
Zhao Jiu nodded, still without making any comment. In fact, he had made up his mind about these three cases from the very beginning, and Yang Zheng's case had been decided very early on. It all depended on whether the man surnamed Huang was honest.
Regardless of whether this person had reacted or was truly honest, there was no need for him to delve into it.
With this thought in mind, Emperor Zhao looked at the last person again: "Mei Tiju... I heard that you translated a book of foreigners? How is that? Can you learn a language in two years?"
When it was his turn, Mei Li was still extremely nervous even though he had rehearsed it thousands of times in his mind. Moreover, he had never expected that the emperor would ask about this matter. However, he still remembered his uncle's reminder and told the truth:
"So that the emperor knows, when I was young, my father worked in Quanzhou, and the house was next to the Arab merchant warehouse, so I learned some of the Arab language. Later, I was promoted to the Maritime Customs and came into contact with them again. Although I can recognize the characters, I can no longer understand them. So I use this incident as an exercise to restore my previous diary habits..."
Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly and asked again: "You are in Wenzhou, which is adjacent to Fujian. Is the custom of killing infants still common there?"
Mei Li became increasingly panicked, but he followed Minister Lin's instructions and continued to speak the truth: "Not much has changed."
"Why is infanticide so prominent in Fujian?" Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged.
"So that the government can know that there is little land and many people in Fujian, and the property of a family is limited. Once there are too many children, even the scholar family cannot support them, so they simply drown them at that time... For example, Minister Hu (Hu Yin) almost drowned, but was saved by Professor Hu (Hu Anguo)."
"Hu Yin?"
"yes."
"So all the way north... do you feel there are any differences in people's livelihood between the south and the north?"
“…”
"Why don't you speak?"
"Reporting to the government, there are differences between the north and the south... The people in the south are more concerned about the heavy taxes, while the people in the north are more concerned about the shortage of supplies."
"That's right." Zhao Jiu finally sighed. "The north experienced wars and had military settlements and land grants. The main problem was how to restore production when the population decreased. This was not something that could be changed by Tokyo, which had gathered the essence of the country. The south was the opposite. There were too many people and the taxes were so heavy. The main contradiction was how to maintain survival... But the most important point is that the people in the north and south still had a hard life, but some people only cared about military merits and thought that it was a big deal to destroy Xixia, which had a population of three million. There were also people who fell into their old habits as soon as they were born into peace and always demanded excessively... Little did they know that the reason why the people did not rebel again immediately was that the suppression in the south had only been suppressed for a few days and they were afraid. In the north, it was because nine out of ten houses were empty at one time and their tolerance was higher."
Be it Mei Li or Zhao Boyao, these five people either knew the connections or were related people. They all thought of something but did not dare to speak.
The close ministers around him were even more certain that Emperor Zhao was determined to severely deal with the three major cases.
After a pause, Emperor Zhao asked again, "Are there still wastelands in the south?"
"Yes, but compared with the previous two years, there are very few." Mei Li became more honest.
"Over at the Maritime Customs, Prime Minister Lu has come to the memorial, suggesting setting up a spice and medicine market to monopolize the business. Do you think there will be any benefit from it?" Emperor Zhao asked without delay.
"It should be possible... Most of the aromatics are sought after by wealthy families. If we increase the price a little, we should still be able to make some extra money."
"About how much?"
"I would venture to speculate that if all places were to set up such a system, the amount of money would increase by 200,000 to 300,000 strings of cash a year, and then it would increase year by year, and finally stop at the upper limit of 500,000 strings of cash."
"It's not a small amount. The revenue of the Maritime Customs Office before was only 1.2 to 300,000 strings of cash."
"Yes...but the court pacified Xixia, communicated with the Western Regions, and added the tea and horse trade on the grasslands, which can be beneficial to the country's overall trade. Who knows, in the next few years, the revenue of the Maritime Customs will increase, regardless of spices and medicines."
"The country's current priority is still finance..." Emperor Zhao nodded, obviously impressed by this man's honesty and extremely satisfied. "Minister Lin of the Ministry of Revenue recommended you, saying that you are a rare person who understands the basics of finance and commerce. I see that you are honest today... First, you will be appointed as a servant, and go back to write a proposal on how to connect the east, west, south, north and business, so that the country can benefit a little!"
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