"Who said I can't read? I'm an excellent student in the inner school!" Wang Quan felt insulted and was furious. Then he realized, "That's not the point! The point is, Ma Bei, how dare you... change your name? Who allowed you to do this?!"
"Your Majesty, what you said is totally unreasonable." Ma Bi said, "But your father issued an imperial decree the other day, saying that the word 'Royal' should be withdrawn, so we had no choice but to change the name."
"Yes, yes." Shen Teng also echoed:
"You have no idea how much trouble it is to change your name. We have been so busy this month."
"No, no." Wang Quan was confused and waved his hands, saying, "Let me sort it out first."
"Didn't you ask us to help you ask for more time? Didn't you ask for permission?" He sorted out his thoughts and pointed at the golden signboard and said, "Is this the result of your request?"
His voice gradually turned cold, and his heart was gradually filled with the pain of being fooled.
"Yes." Ma Bi Shen Teng nodded, and the former smiled and said, "The higher-ups gave us a good lesson. They said that thunder, lightning, rain and dew are all grace from the emperor and we have to accept them no matter what. You actually want to bargain? Do you think the emperor is a businessman like us?"
"Yes, yes, we are too narrow-minded." Shen Teng agreed, "Not everything can be solved with money. The emperor's words are the law, we can no longer dream of changing it, we can only thank him and change the name."
"You, you guys..." Wang Quan was almost suffocated by the two people. It took him a while to recover. He pointed at the two people and said in hatred: "Ma Bei, hello, you are very good."
After saying that, he turned around and got into the sedan chair without looking back.
"Eunuch, please come in and have a cup of tea before leaving!" Ma Bi said politely.
"Yeah, now that we're here..." Shen Teng also said in a mean way.
"Ma Bei!" Wang Quan's angry scream came from the sedan chair that was already moving away.
The two men smiled at each other, turned around and went inside, instructing their men to hurry up and settle the accounts, pack up, and prepare for closing.
Everyone knows that after being nakedly humiliated, Wanli will definitely let them taste the real thunder!
So scary...
~~
A roar no less loud than the one in December of last year once again resounded throughout the Yikun Palace.
"Great! You're going to pretend to be stupid in front of me!" After hearing Wang Quan's report, Wanli was really furious.
He just didn't believe that someone as smart as Zhao Hao wouldn't understand that he just wanted to make some money!
"Dare to challenge me? Who does he think he is?!" He didn't even give me a hundred dollars! Do I have no shame? !
"That's right. The son of a retired Prime Minister, does he think he's still a junior minister?!" Concubine Zheng was also very embarrassed. She was so angry that her bra cup size increased. She said, "He's too arrogant! If I don't teach him a lesson, he will think that the Ming Dynasty belongs to his Zhao family!"
"It's just that I've been too kind to him and his son!" Wanli cursed, "No wonder the saints said that only women and villains are difficult to raise. If you get close to them, they will be disrespectful. If you keep away from them, they will complain!"
Concubine Zheng was very upset. Why did she scold me too?
"It's because I'm too close to him and too polite to him that he dares to challenge me!" Wanli tore the latest issue of "One Piece" into pieces, threw it to the ground, stomped on it, and roared:
"Isn't it that he doesn't care about the word 'royal'? I want him to know that the weight of these two words is heavier than Mount Tai! Without the protection of these two words, he is nothing!"
As he spoke, he raised his voice, roaring loudly and shaking the roof of the palace:
"Zhang Cheng, draft an edict for me - I want to restore the ancestral system and re-ban the sea! Whatever Chinese shipping, whatever Jiangnan Group, as long as it is not a royal ship, all are not allowed to enter the sea for trade! Official and civilian shipyards are prohibited from building illegal large ships with more than three masts, and existing ones are required to be sold within three months! Any coastal counties and prefectures that dare to allow them to dock and sell will be treated as smuggling accomplices and must be severely punished!"
Zhang Cheng was stunned. As a eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, he had some knowledge and knew that this ban would lead to extremely serious consequences.
"Are you stupid? Or do you want to challenge me too?!" Wanli glared at him viciously with red eyes as if he wanted to eat someone.
The emperor was furious, so Zhang Cheng dared not say anything. He quickly said he dared not. Then he knelt down and quickly drafted the document according to the emperor's instructions.
As he wrote, he began to understand a little. It turned out that even in his rage, Wanli still did not completely block the road...
Firstly, the emperor only said that violators would be "punished severely", but he did not say how severe the "severe punishment" would be or how specific the punishment would be.
Secondly, they gave a three-month deadline. The meaning is very clear: don't be ungrateful.
Zhang Cheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Although the emperor's order was tough, it was good that there was room for maneuver. He hoped that Zhao Hao would not be so ungrateful this time.
After finishing drafting the edict, Zhang Cheng carefully blew the ink dry, knelt forward, and presented it to Wanli with both hands for his review.
Wanli read the decree coldly, then nodded to indicate that it could be used with the seal, and then issued it to the whole country.
"Huh..." After doing all this, Wanli let out a long breath.
In his opinion, Zhao Hao had no other way to go. After feeling his own wrath, he had no choice but to go to the capital and plead guilty!
Even if Mr. Zhao refuses to repent, those powerful families who have partnered with him will tie him up and bring him to apologize!
Because whether it is Jiangnan Group or Royal Shipping, they are all doing business after all.
The purpose of doing business is to make money, and harmony can make money. Not to mention angering the emperor!
In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor was the sky. The emperor could only rain on whichever cloud the sky wanted.
If you offend the emperor, you can't even save your life, and you still want to make money? Dream on!
Those wealthy people hang out with him because he can help them make money.
Now, not only can he not help them make money, but he also causes trouble for them. They still don't turn against him. I will give him the surname Zhao Hao!
So he was certain that this time the man named Zhao would not dare to challenge him again!
Of course, this time, Wanli will not be so polite, as long as it is just three or four points.
He wants to double it! At least 60% must be given to the palace! From now on, I have the final say!
You will have to pay a huge fine, at least seven figures!
Well, Zhao Hao has to kneel outside the Meridian Gate and beg for three days before he can vent his hatred!
~~
However, the reactions of Zhao Hao and Jiangnan Group once again surprised Wanli.
Shortly after the decree to review the maritime ban was announced, the guards who had been keeping an eye on them came to report that Royal Shipping... Oh, China Shipping Beijing Branch had actually closed down.
Moreover, the building was deserted. Not only had the office furniture been moved away, but even the valuable brass doors and large glass windows had been dismantled and transported away, making it clear that they would never return.
Soon, Tianjin also reported that the Dagukou wharf was empty. All ships of the Royal Shipping and Jiangnan Group had withdrawn...
"All their ships have disappeared on the sea." Zhang Hong read the notice and looked shocked. "What are they going to do?"
Wanli was too busy getting angry this time. He was stunned by the negative performance of Zhao Hao and Jiangnan Group. Why don't you follow my script again? !
He really couldn't understand why the Jiangnan Group was so quiet and submissive. Are businessmen so weak and submissive? Just like Shen Wansan back then?
You can't just beg for mercy, right? His mother-in-law is the Grand Princess. Others can't talk to me, so I still have to give face to my aunt.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Wanli felt like he was about to burst, and even had an ominous feeling in his heart. "Could it be that they have some hidden trump card?"
"Could it be that he wants to arrange for the six departments to seal and return the imperial edict?" He guessed randomly, "Say that my order is a mess and cannot be carried out?"
"It's possible." Zhang Hong nodded, then shook his head and said, "But it's unlikely. Censors have always regarded the ancestral system as a guiding principle. How dare they say that restoring the ancestral system is a violation of order?"
"Then what do you think is going on?" Wanli also felt that it was unlikely, because the emperor's attitude was there, what would be the use of returning an edict? It would only worsen the situation of Jiangnan Group.
Zhang Hong shook his head and said he couldn’t say.
"Where's Zhang Jing? What's he doing as a eunuch from the East Factory?!" Wanli thought of his punching bag again and shouted, "Investigate the details of the Jiangnan Group. It's been several years and you still haven't figured it out?!"
"Your Majesty, calm down. The East Factory has already investigated everything." Zhang Hong had to speak for his hard-working godson. "But because the intelligence they collected was too much and too shocking, Zhang Jing was afraid that there might be mistakes, so he didn't dare to submit it directly. He is secretly sorting and screening it out somewhere, eliminating the false and retaining the true, so that he can report it clearly to the emperor."
"Humph, let him hurry up." Wanli's expression eased a little, and he clenched his fist and said, "If he disappoints me again, I will show you how I will deal with him!"
~~
Here, Wanli was wondering why the Jiangnan Group was so quiet, but outside the palace, the whole world was in an uproar!
The southeastern area of Jiangnan, which is within the influence of the Jiangnan Group, was like cold water poured into boiling oil - it completely exploded!
In recent days, all newspapers have published this explosive news on the front page!
As the mouthpiece of the group, Jiangnan Daily, although it had to show its usual generosity and propriety, could not directly play the victim. But it also asked with grief and indignation:
We did not rebel or cause chaos. We just wanted the people to live a good life. Is there anything wrong with that?
Moreover, over the past twenty years, the group has paid a total of 300 million taels of silver in taxes to the imperial court and government offices at all levels, donated 100 million taels of silver, and paid tribute of more than 40 million taels of silver to the palace!
The total is more than 440 million taels of silver! Most of the money earned has gone to the emperor! Isn't this enough? !
In addition, the charter issued by Emperor Longqing that year and the inscription written by Emperor Longqing to the Royal Shipping Company were printed in full...
This naturally aroused public indignation, and all parties criticized and denounced Emperor Wanli, saying that he was unfaithful, cruel and inhumane, and did not care about the lives of the people!
Even Alliance Leader Wang, who was seriously ill and bedridden and about to die of depression, "sat up in shock from his dying illness" upon hearing the news and wrote furiously to curse the emperor!
Wang Shizhen was already a very talented writer, and he had been holding back his anger for decades, so he vented it all on Wanli. His scolding was so powerful that it shook the heavens and earth and made the gods and ghosts weep!
When his article "Ten Questions to Emperor Wanli" was published on the front page of Yingtian Daily, the sales of Yingtian Daily, which had been half-dead since its founding, increased by a hundred times! It became a first-class newspaper second only to Jiangnan Daily!
Good guy, Wang, the leader who finally grasped the traffic password, is now cured of all his illnesses and is not in a hurry to die. He is devoted to the great cause of criticizing the emperor in all directions and without any blind spots, all month long with a hundred times the enthusiasm!
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