Although his grandfather is extremely wise most of the time, Zhao Hao still has his own persistence.

If he was planning to engage in smuggling, why did he wait until now? After gaining a foothold in Jiangnan, he could show the Golden Seal of the King of the Sea and join the Nine Families without much trouble. They could happily act as middlemen and make a profit from the price difference. Wouldn't that be great?

Now he has suppressed the Wang family, the Hua family, the Lu family, the Gu family and the like for a whole year, preventing them from continuing to smuggle. Isn't it just to cleanse their original sin?

In another time and space, history has long eloquently proved that an empire built on smuggling, aggression, and slavery, no matter how bright its appearance is or how loud its universal slogans are, cannot change its inherently evil, anti-human slave-owning nature!

The reason why those Jiangnan nobles changed their ways and were willing to follow me, wasn't it because I promised that I could lead them to make money in an honest way without having to worry about bringing disgrace to their families or leaving a stain in history?

Of course, Zhao Hao would never dare to say this out loud, so he could only smile and say, "My grandson was too loud, I shouldn't be embarrassed."

After a pause, he sighed and said, "Besides, the tax burden on the people in Jiangnan is too heavy. They earn much more than other places, but they can only support their families. If the grain transport by sea can be successful, their burden will be reduced by at least half, and they will have extra money to spend and can afford the products of Jiangnan Group."

Although Mr. Zhao has always had his sights on overseas, he knows that the Jiangnan Group's foundation and most important market are still in China. At present, he is not able to take care of the entire Ming Dynasty, so at least he should boost the consumer market in Jiangnan first, right?

To boost the consumer market, what's the point of relying on the consumption of a very small number of rich people? Or we need to let the common people have extra money and dare to spend it, so that it can be effective!

"Well, you have your own way, that's a good thing, this is the seed of the old Zhao family!" Zhao Liben was not angry, but looked at Zhao Hao sympathetically and said: "But if you want to hit two targets at once, you have to pay the price of losing a layer of skin."

"Anyway, you'll have to work hard to do something, so why not do it all at once and make it big." Zhao Hao said, not afraid of being bitten by lice.

"You are just like me, kid. You are so ambitious." Zhao Liben scolded with a smile, "Okay, I will accompany you through this."

His expression turned stern as he spoke, "But you have to be careful. The people in the canal transport industry are not good people. They will not just fight you in an open manner. They will definitely use dirty tricks."

Zhao Hao nodded solemnly and said, "My grandson knows. I have made various plans with the Strategic Committee before coming here, and ordered all important departments to maintain a level one alert. If they are blind, just let them come!"

After saying this, he raised his eyebrows and said domineeringly: "If it weren't for the jobs of hundreds of thousands of canal workers, I wouldn't be able to arrange it for the time being. This time, it would be most reassuring if we completely abolished the canal transportation!

"Okay..." Zhao Liben was startled by Zhao Hao's sudden outburst of dominance, and the ball that was close to him slipped through the hole.

He twitched his lips and said gloomily, "But I still have to remind you that no matter what the result is this time, you will completely offend those people in the canal transport department, and you will suffer from the open and covert attacks in the future."

Young Master Zhao then acted like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water, opened his arms and said, "Let the storm come even harder!"

Before he could finish his words, Zhao Liben kicked him on the butt.

"I call you a crazy kid!"

"Then what else can I say?" Zhao Hao jumped away, covering his butt.

"I asked you to think of a way to find a target to help you block the arrows." Zhao Liben changed the golf club, hit the last ball into the last hole, and called it a day.

"It's hard to find such a fool." Mr. Zhao threw the leather bag to the ground, walked with his grandfather to the awning by the lake, and sat down on the rattan chair.

Qiaoqiao quickly brought iced drinks to the two of them.

The old man was drinking Schisandra chinensis water. It is said that this medicinal herb, which is a specialty of Liaodong, can cure insomnia and forgetfulness. In fact, it is very suitable for Mr. Zhao.

But Zhao Hao couldn't stand the mixed taste, so he still drank his favorite bayberry juice.

"You can still find it if you look carefully." Zhao Liben took a sip of the schisandra chinensis water which tasted spicy, sweet, sour, bitter and salty, and his old face wrinkled into a frown.

Zhao Hao used the straw straw made by Qiaoqiao to comfortably sip the bayberry juice made by Qiaoqiao. After feeling relaxed, he lazily said, "After thinking about it, there is only one person who can be a shield for us, but Grandpa has a grudge against him, so we can't use him."

Zhao Liben was so smart that he knew who he was talking about right away. He shook his glass and sighed, "Even if you don't mention it, I'll still talk to you about Gao Huzi. I talked to my old friends in Beijing this time and found that we can't stop him. In this case, we'd better make plans early."

"Yes." Zhao Hao nodded. He had met Long Qing several times, and Long Qing had mentioned Master Gao to him several times. In addition, Zhang Xiangyu was obsessed with Gao Suqing. If it weren't for his secret help, Li Chunfang would have been unable to hold down Gao Huzi's coffin.

But back in Beijing, under the watchful eyes of others, he couldn't do anything. Otherwise, even if the emperor saw it, Zhang Yu, with his sharp eyes, would definitely find out that he was the one who was secretly obstructing.

"I think if there's a chance, I might as well talk to him." Zhao Liben took a sip of the mixed juice, looked up at the sky and sighed, "Times are different now than they were in the past. I believe that after two years of calming down in the countryside, he should be much more sensible, right?"

Zhao Hao was in a trance after hearing this. Time passed so quickly...

He couldn't help but ask, "Grandpa, now we can finally talk about what the conflict is between you two, right?"

Zhao Liben's expression changed from dark to bright. After a while, he gritted his teeth and said, "Don't ask. If you ask, it's a deep hatred!"

"This sentence again..." Young Master Zhao rolled his eyes helplessly towards the sky, thinking that the old man was a professional at attracting hatred back then!

Actually, to be fair, Zhao Hao had a good impression of Gao Huzi. After all, he was the most capable of governing among the three prime ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

Although he is a little fanboy of Zhang, he still has to admit that Gao Huzi is a little taller than Zhang. Otherwise, Zhang wouldn't be so obsessed with wanting his brother Suqing to come back.

And there is another very important point. In one year, the tribute event of Altan Khan, which is related to the northwest border, will take place. Without Gao Suqing's strong opposition, Zhang Xiangyu, who is alone, may not be able to suppress those conservative officials. Mr. Zhao has neither the energy nor the ability to get involved in this matter.

But a peaceful Ming Dynasty is the foundation for the economic take-off of Jiangnan, so considering the overall situation, Master Zhao cannot keep Gao Xinzheng in Gaojiazhuang forever.

Well, it doesn't matter. Gao Huzi came and went in a hurry. Just bear with it and he will go away...

~~

Zhao Hao and his grandson lived in Qili Village for a few days. Not long after they returned to the capital, they heard that an urgent report from the Grain Transport Office had been delivered to the capital.

As expected, the "Jiaolai Sea Transport Plan" proposed by the Caoyun Office caused a strong response.

In addition to the officials of the Grand Canal Group, many people who were previously dissatisfied with sea transportation, those who received money from the Grand Canal Group, and officials from the Jiaodong Peninsula all came out to support the river-sea transport plan, and memorials in favor of the plan flew to the cabinet like snowflakes.

"Look, there are quite a few people who support Jiaolai shipping." In the cabinet, Li Chunfang looked through the seconding memorials with satisfaction. "It turns out that we still need to 'listen to both sides'."

Chen Yiqin, who was standing by, smiled and stroked his beard, saying, "The Prime Minister's advocacy of delaying urgent matters is indeed reasonable. Look, after a while, he has come up with a new idea."

"Yes." Li Chunfang said complacently, "We need to give everyone enough time to speak. Otherwise, how can we know what they are thinking?"

Zhang Juzheng, who was standing by, sneered secretly again, thinking, "Why do you care what they think? What's the point of just caring about the opinions of your subordinates?"

"Then may I ask, Prime Minister, how should the memorial from the Grain Transport Office be drafted?" Chen Yiqun asked Li Chunfang with a smile.

"This is a serious matter, and it is not for the cabinet to make a unilateral decision. Let's discuss it in court." Li Chunfang thought for a moment and said, "Let's also bring out the previous shipping plan of Jiangnan Group and let the gentlemen choose one. Your Majesty wants us to 'speed up the shipping process', so we should also choose the most suitable plan for Your Majesty."

"Yes." Chen Yiqin said, glancing at Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng stood up and said, "I will go back to my duty room first."

When he reached the door, he stopped as if remembering something, turned around and said to the two of them, "By the way, Yuanfu, the mausoleum guards reported that the Qian'en Hall in the Yongling Mausoleum of the late emperor was severely damaged by lightning. Please ask the court to send an official to investigate as soon as possible and allocate funds for repairs."

"Well, this is a big deal and we can't delay it." Li Chunfang nodded.

"Mr. Gao from the Ministry of Rites has difficulty walking, so let me go there," Zhang Juzheng volunteered.

Li Chunfang didn't want to be annoyed with him all day, so he nodded and said, "In that case, thank you Taiyue."

"What are you saying, Prime Minister? This is my humble duty." Now Zhang Juzheng no longer called himself a bad guy, and his attitude was still very upright.

~~

Court discussions are similar to court recommendations. Generally, cabinet ministers do not participate in order to avoid suspicion, unless the topic is particularly important or the emperor feels it is necessary for the minister to participate.

The topic this time was important enough that, after asking Longqing for permission, all the cabinet ministers in Beijing had to attend.

A few days before the court meeting, the cabinet distributed the agenda to the ministers, censors, and 45 other officials who would attend the meeting, so that they could think fully in advance about how to make the decision.

Zhao Hao naturally saw the copy of the court letter, and he was not surprised. For such a major event, court discussion was a must. After all, the biggest advantage of collective decision-making is that if there are problems in the future, no one will be held responsible.

Young Master Zhao had become accustomed to this hypocritical scholar-official democracy, so he counted on his fingers with his grandfather to see how many votes they could get.

Compared to the recommendation of the governor of Yingtian last year, this time the more troublesome thing was that the number of people participating in the court discussion was too large, a total of 45 people. In addition, there were more than a dozen censors who had a grudge against Mr. Zhao.

It really cost me my life.

This made Zhao Hao calculate again and again, but he was not sure of winning at all.

Just when he was feeling depressed, Li Maocai came and brought an invitation from Li Chunfang.

"Master, my father wants to invite you to dinner." Li Maocai's face lit up, feeling that he was finally of some use to his master.

ps. It ends up being two chapters. I'm sorry. I know you're anxious to read this part, so I won't take a break this weekend. I'll write it for you.