The huge Xuande Hall was filled with silence.
Fu Xiaoguan swept his gaze over all the officials. "I often say that if an official doesn't serve the people, he might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes. I've realized that saying too much is useless, so I won't say any more nonsense. I want to tell you the second thing today."
"The Constitution has been preliminarily completed. It will be launched on the first day of the second month of the third year of Tiande. When the time comes, you will read the Constitution for yourselves and deeply understand its essence!"
"The revised Criminal and Civil Codes, based on the Constitution, will be promulgated around October of the third year of Tiande. From then on, the conduct of all people in the Wu Dynasty will be based on these two codes."
"Anyone who violates these laws will be punished according to the law, no matter how high your rank!"
"What I want to tell you is that the implementation of the Constitution will be led by the Ministry of Justice, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Revenue. It is imperative that within one year, all citizens of the Wu Dynasty know the Constitution and understand their rights and obligations."
"Why should I tell you in advance? Because I will go out to sea in February next year to occupy Xiaye and build a seaport so that my Wu Dynasty navy can be stationed at the seaport and can once again sail the ocean to bring back countless treasures!"
Your Majesty is going to go to sea in person?
Didn’t that eunuch Liu Jin say that there were huge risks at sea?
How can Your Majesty put yourself in danger?
The ministers looked at Fu Xiaoguan with extremely worried eyes - although His Majesty was angry today and wanted to kill dozens of corrupt officials, those guys deserved to die!
In the past two years, what His Majesty has done is obvious to all, and the development of the Wu Dynasty has been earth-shaking.
What if he dies at sea, what will Wu Chao do?
Therefore, Zhuo and his entourage were the first to voice their opposition: "I think this is inappropriate. Your Majesty is worth a fortune. If you are bored at court, you can travel around the Wu Dynasty like you did this year. You must not go out to sea!"
"I second the motion! I believe that General Bai Yulian is sufficient for the sea voyage. Your Majesty is the Emperor, and Bai Yulian is the General. They should each perform their duties. As the Emperor, you are taking on the General's duties. Isn't that overstepping your authority?"
"I believe that Your Majesty's visit to the sea is a gesture of publicizing the nation's prestige!"
The person who said this was Zhou Tongtong.
He bowed to Fu Xiaoguan and said loudly, "All under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people in the world are his subjects. The sea is also your majesty's sea. Besides, your majesty has long said that the sea has inexhaustible treasures!"
"You all saw the treasure that eunuch Liu Jin brought back. It's worth tens of millions of taels of silver! Your Majesty isn't going on an ocean adventure; He's merely looking for a harbor. What are you worried about?"
“Zhou Tongtong…!”
Nangong Yiyu glared at him, his eyes stern. "Shut up! Your Majesty is not going to the open ocean, right? But the sea is still the sea! If anything goes wrong, I tell you, no matter how many heads you have, they can't buy your Majesty's life!"
"Zhou Tongtong, what are you thinking? Even if we're looking for a harbor, does His Majesty need to go there in person?"
The three ministers all accused Zhou Tongtong, who glared at them fiercely: "You... are just a bunch of cowards! Your Majesty is young and has great ambitions to expand the territory, but you old bastards have confined him here. This is truly foolish!"
The ministers stared with wide eyes in surprise. This was the scene of Zhou Tongtong fighting against the three prime ministers alone!
Such a scene has never been seen before. After all, when Zhou Tongtong was in charge of Tianji Pavilion, he almost never attended court meetings, let alone expressed his opinions on political affairs.
What happened to Zhou Tongtong today?
It is impossible that he just defeated the three prime ministers! Because what the three prime ministers said was clearly right!
You say that as an emperor you should just be an emperor. You have built warships and you have a navy, so let the navy sail the warships out to sea. Why do you, the emperor, want to join in the fun?
But what they didn't expect was that Fu Xiaoguan roared at this moment: "Silence! How disgraceful! Shut up!"
"I have already thought about going to sea. There is no need to argue."
"According to the nautical chart, the place I'm heading to is called Xiaye, not far from the seaport. I'm not going there to interfere, but to personally see if that natural harbor is suitable for our warships."
"What I want to see is how many warships the port can accommodate? Where should the dock be built? And where should the firearms bureau be located?"
"The Jiangcheng Dockyard is not suitable for berthing warships. It's too small. My navy needs hundreds of warships. My navy will sail freely across the four oceans in the future. You may not know this now, but you will know it in the future."
"So this is not something I want to discuss with you. If you can just do your job well and leave me with no worries, I will be thankful!"
Zhuo and his group of three looked at Fu Xiaoguan, opened their mouths several times, but ultimately said nothing.
His Majesty is very opinionated. Since he is not discussing, there is no point in saying more - who would know if he withdraws at that time?
"Third, I hereby declare that private capital will be allowed to enter the ocean shipping industry. The proceeds will be subject to a 20% customs duty based on the assessed value."
…
…
As the news of this grand court meeting spread, the people of Guanyun City, who were the first to receive the news, were immediately excited.
"Those damn corrupt officials should be killed!"
"It's so satisfying! Your Majesty is so majestic! We have to go and see him execute those corrupt officials."
"Don't you care about the Constitution?"
"Constitution...it's a strange name. I don't know what kind of law it is."
"I heard that the Constitution is the highest law. After it is promulgated, all other laws must be amended based on it. This is something Your Majesty has created, and it will definitely benefit the people."
"Hey, hey, hey, His Majesty has allowed us to sail overseas. Did you see those treasures that Eunuch Liu brought back last time? Even if the court collects a 20% tax, the income is too scary!"
"It's not that easy to sail on the ocean. How much silver does it cost to build a ship? How much silver does it cost to recruit sailors? This kind of thing... probably only the extremely wealthy can participate."
"I don't think so. We can all pool our capital, find some people, and jointly invest in a shipping company. The capital can be divided into shares according to the amount of investment, and the profits will be distributed according to these shares. Isn't that feasible?"
“…”
This is exactly the effect Fu Xiaoguan wants. Only when the people care about and participate in state affairs can such a country have strong vitality.
He was in the imperial study at the moment, with three prime ministers sitting opposite him.
Zhuo Yihang said seriously, "Your Majesty, Zhou Tongtong has been acting very abnormally today. Also... Zhou Tongtong's family has already gone to the Yu Dynasty!"
Fu Xiaoguan frowned slightly and remained silent. Shangshu Ling Meng Changping spoke up, "Your Majesty, Zuo Zhongtan, the Minister of Personnel, has secretly discovered that Chen Yang, the governor of Wuyuan Prefecture, is very likely a corrupt official! His family has also gone to the Yu Dynasty."
"Your Majesty, you cannot leave this sea!"
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