The hall was silent.
During this period, Zhang Jun was overwhelmed with emotion several times. He wanted to muster up the courage to express his feelings to the emperor, imitate the storytelling of the emperor and his ministers in a heart-to-heart talk, the so-called self-sacrifice, and give up everything completely. However, every time he was reluctant to give up the power, wealth and conveniences brought by this position, and then he was discouraged again and again.
In the end, he was so discouraged that the most senior commander of the imperial camp didn't even know what to say and simply stood there in silence.
"But the emperor went back on his word for the sake of the general situation!" At this moment, Tian Shizhong, the deputy commander of the right army of the imperial camp, suddenly spoke from behind his father-in-law. "When the emperor talked to my father-in-law for the first two times, what a desperate situation it was. Who would have thought that it would take only three years to win in Yaoshan? When it was the last time, who would have thought that the northwest could be swept so quickly? The emperor was forced by the general situation and it was so difficult. If we, as ministers, rely on our merits and the emperor's reasonableness and trustworthiness, and do not know how to advance or retreat, it will be a real way to disaster!"
Zhang Jun was stunned for a moment, then he looked back at his son-in-law and his silent nephew, and was stunned again. Then he hurriedly turned back and knelt down again. Then, while kneeling, he poured a glass of wine for Emperor Zhao: "Emperor! You have the final say in everything! I know that you are so sincere to me today and you spared Zhang Zongyan's life. You must have a reason. No matter what, I will listen to what you say without any second thoughts."
Zhao Jiu looked at Tian Shizhong, then at Zhang Jun, nodded, picked up the wine glass in front of him and drank it all, then crossed his fingers in front of him and said something:
"I have two opinions... The first one is to keep you in public but get rid of you in secret... Meaning, I will not do anything to you, Zhang Qing, in public. You will still be the commander-in-chief of the Right Army of the Imperial Camp, but in reality, you will hand over the military power of the Right Army of the Imperial Camp to your son-in-law, Deputy Commander Tian, and let Deputy Commander Tian directly obey Yue Pengju, and let Yue Pengju take charge of the Right Army of the Imperial Camp. Only Yue Pengju and the five people in the hall today will know about this arrangement... In this way, both our monarch and minister will be respectable, and you can continue to do your business with your airs."
Zhang Jun knelt beside Zhao Jiu and thought for a while. He didn't know why, but he thought of the conversation between the emperor and his ministers at Yingkou on the Huai River, and the words of the loser on the roadside. Then he felt weak all over. Finally, he simply nodded and said, "I said, if the emperor has something to say, I will listen... But there is one thing. The front army of the imperial camp already has 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers. If I give him my 25,000 troops, he will directly control 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers... The emperor trusts this man, and I have nothing to say, but there must be institutional defenses, and we must leave a backup for Xiaotian."
When Zhao Jiu saw that the other party agreed, he naturally just nodded and fooled around with the rest of the conversation.
After the other party finished speaking, Emperor Zhao continued, "Besides that, I have another reason, which is that I cannot let you suffer any loss... As I said, Zhang Qing's merits and qualifications are here. Not only can I not let you down in public, I have to compensate you in private!"
Zhang Boying suddenly perked up.
"However, Zhang Qing must also know that I really don't have much money right now, so I have to make a long-term arrangement with you... How about this? From today on, I will do the business in Japan with you! You can do it freely under my name! If you make money, I will take out my share in the future and give it to you in installments?!"
Zhao Jiu leaned slightly to the side and finally grabbed the other person's hand. This action completely eliminated Zhang Jun's doubts and fears. It also made Zhang Taiwei forget to reply to Zhao Guanjia's question, and Zhao Guanjia was able to continue talking:
"And we need to do not only business with Japan, but also business with South Vietnam! South Vietnam's food and Japan's silver, like the war horses in the west, are things that the country needs in the long run! As long as we can do it, it will definitely be a long-term benefit like collecting rent from the land!"
Zhang Jun listened to these words and seemed to want to say something but stopped himself several times. It seemed that he was very excited and had countless words and ideas on this topic, and he was ready to communicate with the official.
But Emperor Zhao just held the other party's hands and continued to explain earnestly: "And if it can't be done, you don't have to worry. I actually asked about it a long time ago. Now, east of Malacca, the sea affairs are still decided by the Song Dynasty! There is no need to rush to destroy the country or go to war. Who dares not to buy our goods, not to sell our gold, silver and grain, let the Imperial Camp Navy burn their ports! There is no need to worry about opposition from the court. I will take the lead, and the two of us will get the various families in the Secret Pavilion and the Public Pavilion together. Those who have money will be forced to contribute, and those who have no money will also give some dry shares, and then we will set up a big company together to manage this maritime trade! How can they not agree? As for slightly larger countries such as Japan and South Vietnam, I don't believe it. It's just trade, why is it so? The future world must be an integrated East Asia... No... It must be a future where China and the four barbarians form a community of shared destiny... This is the general trend! There must be people among them who understand the times and are willing to cooperate with us!"
Zhang Jun certainly didn't understand what the terms community of shared future and East Asian integration meant. He didn't know where Malacca was, and he could only understand the meaning of shares literally. But he understood that the powerful people across the country would get together and do big business under the name of Emperor Zhao. He also understood that if the Japanese did not buy goods, the Imperial Navy would be sent to burn Japan's ports.
Thinking of this, Zhang Boying couldn't help but feel regretful. If he had known that his fortune would be tied to this matter, why did he exclude Li Bao in everything? !
PS: Thanks to Ms. Mei for the second cuteness!
Then he offered a new book as a routine sacrifice, "Da Yu Tian Xing"... It's so dangerous to exorcise demons, but Zhao Shanhe has a trick! His bookshelf can manifest poems, create talismans, launch delicacies, and summon powerful people! Similar to "Da Feng" and "Da Zhou Xian Li".
A few more words.
First, there is indeed an anecdote in history that Zhang Jun attempted large-scale maritime trade after his military power was taken away.
Second, the amount of silk used to pay taxes in Lianghuai at that time should be 700,000 or 800,000 strings of cash each year, but I’m not sure whether it was worth 700,000 or 800,000 pieces of cash, or 700,000 or 800,000 pieces of paper...but it’s definitely a very large number.
Third, I haven't found any specific data from the Southern Song Dynasty about the annual export of 20,000 pieces of silk from Lianghuai, especially since Lianghuai had become a wasteland at that time, so it has no reference value. However, I found some data from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At that time, Jiangsu Province alone exported more than 20,000 pieces of silk a year. Taking the population and market into consideration, I rounded this number by two and put it on the two routes of Huainan, which is equivalent to a trade volume that was reduced by four times compared to the Qing Dynasty... If anyone knows the relevant data, please point it out in this chapter. Thank you in advance.
Fifth, in any case, there is no doubt that the export volume at that time was far from enough to absorb the internal production capacity of the Song Dynasty.
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