In Nanjing City, there is no one who is rightly the Duke of Wei, who defends Nanjing with military power... Although it is formal, it means shepherd the southeast for the royal family.

Those who can defeat Duke Wei in power... There is not a single one in Nanjing now. Yan Party drove away a group of people, and Li Mo drove away another group of people. If these people had not resigned, most of them would live in Nanjing, hoping that Yan Song would be finished or that Emperor Jiajing would be promoted to immortality every day.

The contemporary Duke of Wei, Xu Pengju, went out to greet him personally, which was an unexpectedly grand ceremony. After all, the opposite side was just the inspector who had just won the Jinshi this year.

But Xu Pengju didn't care. Whether the heroes' life was good or not was the holy family. The young man in front of him was in the heart of the emperor and had a good relationship with King Yu, how could he be disrespectful?

"I haven't seen each other for more than a year. I've been on the imperial list and defeated the Japanese pirates twice. I'm really a young hero, but I've surpassed everyone in the world." Xu Peng, who was like a rich family, kept entering with Qian Yuan's hand.

"The prince is praised." Qian Yuan looked faint, waved his hand and asked the servant to retreat, picked up the teacup and took a few sips before saying, "I have not arrived in Nanjing for a long time, and the garden has not been completed yet?"

Xu Pengju was stunned for a moment and smiled and said, "I'm really short of money."

"There is a shortage of money?" Qian Yuan glanced at Xu Bangning, the only one who was brought in by Xu Pengju, and raised his eyebrows and said, "In the first month of the 32nd year of Jiajing, the Duke of the State submitted a memorial, and the Japanese pirates were disturbed for years and the military ships were insufficient. Please change the sand ships and build 200 more."

After looking at Xu Pengju, whose face gradually faded, Qian Yuan chuckled, "Now, there are only dozens of military ships in the southeast coast, Taizhou and Songjiang each. What about the two hundred sand ships?"

The most famous one in Zheng He's fleet voyage to the West was the lucky ship, but in fact the number of sand ships was the largest. This kind of ship had many masts and sails, had shallow draft and small drag. It could sail quickly on the sea and its load was not too small. It was generally between 4,000 and 6,000 shi, and about 500 to 800 shi in later generations.

Because most of the ships Zheng He voyage to the West were made in Nanjing, this place has always been the main base for the imperial court to build military ships. Xu Pengju submitted a memorial to change sand ships and build 200 more... in name was to suppress the Japanese, but secretly had other purposes.

Xu Peng raised his eyes and asked in a low voice: "Zhancai, but Your Majesty..."

"It has nothing to do with Your Majesty." Qian Yuan said simply: "If you want to open a ban on sea ban, the Duke of the State will help me."

"Brother is joking." Xu Pengju leaned on the back of the chair with his god in his arms. "The forbidden sea is the ancestral system. Do you want me to use the Duke of Wei to charge you with the sign of Duke of Wei?"

Qian Yuan sneered and stood up and said, "There should be four hundred sand boats in Nanjing, but there are actually only more than one hundred. They are all under the command of Admiral Caojiang. They have been allocated to Songjiang, Jiaxing, and Hangzhou, and there are more than one hundred left... The Duke of the State must not be so stupid that he swallowed all the money into his stomach."

"There is something strange. Admiral Gao Jianqing of Caojiang once mentioned that the more than 100 sand ships under his command were allocated from the 32nd year of Jiajing to the 33rd year of Jiajing. But there were two hundred sand ships in Nanjing before, where did they go?"

"Dude, what a big deal is it to open a maritime ban on trade? Do you think I, Mr. Qian, will come to my house for help casually?"

Xu Pengju's face suddenly turned pale, and he swallowed his saliva and drove Xu Bangning out, got up and walked to Qian Yuan, "I don't understand what my brother said very much."

"In the 31st year of Jiajing, Ligang has not been destroyed yet, and the sea trade is booming." Qian Yuan was a little impatient and pointed out directly: "Suddenly, several maritime merchants in Ningbo, Taizhou, and Shaoxing suddenly got sand ships from somewhere to go out to sea, and made a lot of money. Of course, after the battle of Ligang, most of these sand ships were missing."

After looking at Xu Pengju who was relieved, Qian Yuan snorted, "But if the Duke of the State can trust him, someone Qian can be found back... Maybe those ship owners are still those maritime merchants in Ningbo and Taizhou."

Compared with others, Qian Yuan had too many channels to get information. He could read all the old official documents and inquire from Tan Wei and his father and brother. He was also a time traveler and his ability to summarize information beyond this era.

In fact, the matter was very simple. Xu Pengju wrote a memorial to the court to add 200 sand ships. At that time, it was still during the honeymoon period between Wang Zhi and Zhejiang coastal officials. He allocated a part of the original sand ships in Nanjing to do maritime trade, and then used the silver twelve dollars allocated by the court to make new sand ships to Admiral Caojiang.

But soon, with a thunderbolt, Wang Minying, who was then the governor of Zhejiang, set off a great war. Ligang was destroyed, a large number of maritime merchants became Japanese pirates, and most of the sand ships fell into the hands of Japanese pirates. If this matter was exposed... the title of Duke of Wei may not be what happened, but Xu Pengju himself would be in great trouble.

In a word, people die for money and birds die for food. Xu Pengju is both greedy and stupid... Qian Yuan had some doubts as early as July and August this year. After entering Beijing, he inquired in detail. Only when he was sure would he take a detour to Nanjing when the end of the year was approaching.

"Brother..." Xu Pengju sat down with his butt, saying with no eyes: "Brother, I have nothing to do with it..."

Xu Qi, the previous generation of Duke of Wei, was Xu Pengju's grandfather, and his eldest son was Xu Bikui, the father of Xu Pengju, but his youngest son Xu Tianci was the most favored by Xu Qi... Just look at this name and you will know.

Xu Tianci was in charge of the common affairs of the Duke of Wei for decades and robbed a large amount of property, houses and fields... The most famous of them is the Taifu Garden, which was passed down from his ancestor Xu Dashi.

This Taifu Garden covers an area of ​​about 270 mu, of which the water surface is about 70 mu, and is the largest private garden in Nanjing... Later generations were also one of the famous attractions in Nanjing, but it was changed to its name, Bailuzhou Park.

In fact, Xu Pengju had a difficult time just as he inherited his title. Until the fifteenth year of Jiajing, Xu Tianci brought his cousin Xu Pengju into the marine trade business in order to completely snatch the Taifu Garden.

Since then, Xu Pengju, who tasted the sweetness, began to rise rapidly. At the beginning, it was just a delivery. After all, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. The fields and manors of the Duke of Wei are not comparable to ordinary wealthy families, and they produce a lot.

Around the 30th year of Jiajing, Xu Pengju began to be dissatisfied with just doing the upstream of the smuggling line, but actually participated in the smuggling... Until the Japanese pirates began to cause disaster to most of the southeast, and the garden outside has not been completed yet, because the sea trade was cut off and there was not enough money.

"Two things." Qian Yuan raised his index finger, "First, the shipyard in Nanjing built a sand ship and immediately allocated it to Taizhou and Ningbo. The Duke of the State would not tell Qian that he had no money, right?"

Xu Pengju gritted his teeth and nodded fiercely. He did not want to agree, but last year the Japanese pirates almost invaded Nanjing, and Emperor Jiajing was very disliked him. Qian Yuan was a favorite minister of Emperor Jiajing and was also acquainted with King Yu.

"Second, we will help me with the ban on trade in the sea." Qian Yuan raised his middle finger.

"It's impossible." Xu Peng raised his face and shook his head immediately. Although he was stupid, he knew that as a minister, he would never be able to get involved in such a thing.

"The Duke of the State should also know that the government has a lot of money and money, and the rats in the warehouse of the Ministry of Revenue have to go out to beg for food. The southeast fight against the Japanese invaders requires a large amount of silver. Hu Ruzhen intercepted half of the Lianghuai salt tax to make up for military expenses, but it must not last long. Otherwise, if the whole court would say that they would kill, even His Majesty would not nod."

Qian Yuan said in detail: "So there are only two methods now. One is to continue to add additional institutions. Half of the Fuzhous in Nanzhili, half of the Fuzhous in Zhejiang, most of the Huguangs, and Jiangxi have already adopted the method of compilation. Some Fuzhous have been compilation for 40 years in Jiajing. This method has both advantages and disadvantages."

"Secondly, open a ban on trade in the sea to make up for the insufficient military expenditure with tariffs."

Qian Yuan glanced at Xu Pengju who was silent, "You can rest assured that Qian is definitely not here for threats."
Chapter completed!