Hearing Xu De's praise, Wang An smiled and quickly said, "I don't dare to disappoint you, godfather!" When Xu De nodded, Wang An continued.
"I went to Haojiang this time and found out a lot of information."
Then, Wang An told him about the information he had found out about Spain and Portugal, as well as the purpose of these people.
In the end, Wang An made a very incisive conclusion.
"These foreigners are unscrupulous. Many foreigners who come to our Great Ming Dynasty are either criminals or bandits. Many of them can't survive on their own side, so they travel thousands of miles to our Great Ming Dynasty."
They don't pay attention to our affairs here. All they care about is making money.
"I also heard about the Portuguese in Haojiang. When our Daming fought with the Japanese pirates, they were the ones who sold the firearms of the Japanese pirates.
"As long as they have money, they will sell anything."
Qi Jiguang didn't respond. In fact, Daming had bought a lot of firearms. Otherwise, where would the Franco cannons have come from?
It was true that these people didn't have a sense of right and wrong, but it was probably not a good thing to keep a group of people with bad intentions here.
Qi Jiguang had already made up his mind. When he went back, he would definitely suggest to His Majesty to drive the Portuguese away.
"I also heard about one more thing."
Wang An continued, "The Japanese Empire seems to be coming south. It seems that they have fought with the Portuguese a few times. I heard the Portuguese curse the people who sold firearms to the Japanese Empire."
Qi Jiguang snorted coldly. It was obvious that he was very disdainful of the Portuguese's actions.
However, Qi Jiguang didn't have a good impression of the Japanese Empire, so he definitely couldn't say that he was on the side of the Japanese Empire.
The summary of the information was completed very quickly. It matched the information that Xu De and Qi Jiguang had obtained in Fujian. Both Qi Jiguang and Xu De breathed a sigh of relief.
"Godfather, I brought back a Portuguese," Wang An added when he saw that his godfather and North Placating Marquis were very satisfied.
"Portuguese?"
Xu De and Qi Jiguang looked at each other. Both of them were interested and asked, "Tell me, what is a Portuguese?"
"Yes, godfather!"
Wang An quickly replied, "In fact, the Portuguese have been doing business in Daming for years. They have a religion, which is similar to our Buddhism and Taoism."
"Those who believe in this sect are called cultivators, just like our monks and Daoists."
"These people have always wanted to preach in our Daming, but the local officials don't like them and always chase them away. They can't enter our Daming at all. The person I brought back this time is a cultivator."
"His name is Matteo Ricci. He's very familiar with the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch."
Qi Jiguang and Xu De looked at each other. They didn't expect Wang An to do something like this.
However, it was good to have someone like this. They could ask some questions. Wang An was very thoughtful.
"Very good. The Marquis and I will meet him later," Xu De said with a smile.
As for introducing this cultivator to the Emperor, neither Xu De nor Qi Jiguang had the idea.
Not to mention a foreign cultivator like him, even the monks and Daoists in Daming couldn't do it.
The Emperor of the World Sect was a firm believer in necromancers. He made a lot of noise when he asked for medicine.
Who dares to make these messy things? Our Emperor is wise and powerful, he has great ambitions. Whoever dares to offer these things will be drowned by everyone's spittle.
Others didn't dare to say it, but Xu De and Qi Jiguang didn't want to touch these things.
Both of them didn't lack the Emperor's favor. There was no benefit in doing this. Who would be stupid enough to do such a thing?
They didn't take Matteo Ricci seriously here, but Matteo Ricci himself took himself seriously. In Matteo Ricci's eyes, this was a great opportunity for him. A chance for the glory of the Lord to shine on this vast land.
He had been preaching for so many years. He had been in Daming for so many years, but he hadn't made any progress.
In fact, he wasn't the only one. Before him, several bishops had come to this land to preach. In the end, they didn't have a good ending and were all driven away.
Matteo Ricci had tried his best in all directions, but the results were minimal.
However, it was different this time. After knowing that the young man was the chamberlain of the Daming Emperor, Matteo Ricci was instantly excited.
If he could meet the Daming Emperor and receive the support of the Daming Emperor, then preaching would definitely be no problem!
Ever since he left Portugal, he had been to India and the Japanese Empire. He stayed in each place for a long time. Everywhere he went, he heard rumors about how rich and powerful the Daming Empire was. This time, he would definitely have the chance to see it for himself.
"God bless me, Amen!"
In his courtyard, Matteo Ricci drew a cross in front of his chest and prayed to his Lord to bless him so that he could spread the glory of the Lord on this land.
The case of the Zhen family in Fujian soon came to an end. Xu De and Zhao Lian submitted memorials to Zhu Yijun. Qi Jiguang was going to inspect the military stations along the coast. This was also the task given to him by the Emperor.
He wanted to see if the military stations along the coast were still usable after a few years without war.
The memorials quickly entered the capital city. Zhao Lian and Xu De were quietly waiting for the imperial court's decree.
Forbidden City, Wenhua Palace.
After entering April, the most important thing in the imperial court was the spring plowing. Nothing was more important than the spring plowing.
Fortunately, the heavens had eyes. Recently, it had rained a few times, alleviating the drought.
As the saying goes, spring rain is as precious as oil. This was the right time.
The heavens had eyes and it rained. This made Zhu Yijun feel much better. He didn't feel so annoyed when reading the memorials.
He reached out and picked up a memorial. When he saw that it was from Fujian, Zhu Yijun narrowed his eyes.
This was a joint memorial from Imperial Envoy Zhao Lian, Xu De, and Fujian's Inspector-General Dong Chengwu. Obviously, the case in Fujian had come to an end.
He opened the memorial and glanced at it. As expected, there was a result.
The case itself was nothing. Zhu Yijun didn't care much about the fate of the Zhen family.
Instead, it reflected what was behind the case. The Portuguese and Spanish were declining, and the Dutch were about to rise. They would probably come to Asia in the next two years.
Following them would be the British and French. The whole of Asia would become their hunting ground.
Zhu Yijun really wanted to intervene, but Zhu Yijun knew that now wasn't the time.
Daming's foundation wasn't solid yet, but it wasn't too late.
When the Dutch came over, it would not be too late for him to intervene. Moreover, he still had to fight against Nihon.
Zhu Yijun took the document over and drew a circle on it. He just had to follow the rules and hand it over to the cabinet. Those who should be killed should be killed, those who should be banished should be banished. There was nothing more to say.
Zhao Lian and Xu De's matter wasn't over. Since he was in Fujian, he would sweep through the coastal area!
He would arrest all the aristocrats who had colluded with the Japanese and spread the news about the Longevity Ointment. When the time comes, he could make a law.
Of course, this was only treating the symptoms and not the root cause. The main thing was to control the source.
When he took over Southeast Asia and occupied the production area, he would be able to control the trade of the Longevity Ointment.
The matter in Southeast Asia had reached this stage. It was basically impossible to continue. It was time for him to shift his attention back to the things he should focus on.
Other things aside, it was time for Wang Yongji to return to the capital, and the restructuring of Shun Tian Prefecture should begin.
The training of civil servants was about to be completed. The effect of the trial in Daxing was also very good. This batch of civil servants should be on duty soon. What he needed to do was to arrange for them to be in Shun Tian Prefecture.
Another thing was to promote the first batch of civil servants. It was time for them to be promoted.
Although it wasn't three years yet, he couldn't wait for the third year. He needed to give them a way out and let them see hope.
Otherwise, the first batch of civil servants might not be good after three years.
After Wang Yongji returned to the capital, the Shun Tian Prefecture's commercial tax should be put on the agenda.
As for changing the commercial tax system, Zhu Yijun didn't want to do it for the time being. He just wanted to collect the 30% tax.
Firstly, the 30% tax had been in place for so many years, and it was deeply rooted in the people's hearts. It would be easy to cause problems if he changed it rashly.
Secondly, he had to consider the small businessmen when collecting the initial tax. If he increased the tax, it would make it difficult for them to do anything.
For the current Zhu Yijun, collecting the commercial tax was enough. As for the rest, it was a matter for the future.
The tax reform definitely had to be changed, but it was not suitable to combine the commercial tax with the tax reform.
If he wanted to achieve this, then he needed a yamen to maintain public order and patrol the streets.
This yamen was similar to the urban management and patrol police in the future. In fact, Daming already had one, and that was the patrolling imperial censor.
The Imperial Censorate belonged to the Imperial Censorate and was responsible for patrolling the East, West, South, North, and Central Five Cities of the capital. They were responsible for managing public security, handling lawsuits, arresting thieves, and so on. They also had their own Imperial Censorate Office, which was called the West City Censorate, the North City Censorate, the South City Censorate, and so on.
Each city had its own military office, and each office was divided into two workshops.
It was managed by the five city censors.
Although this yamen existed, their power was too small in the capital. If Zhu Yijun wanted to change this situation, he had to raise the status of the patrolling imperial censor.
When the time came, they would be responsible for cleaning the streets and monitoring the food and drink.
In fact, one of the problems Daming had to face when collecting the commercial tax was the donation money. Whether it was the Shun Tian Prefecture yamen or the Dongchang Imperial Bodyguard, collecting the donation money had become a regular practice.
On the other hand, there were not many people collecting money on the streets. Those who were doing business in the capital had more or less some connections.
If he did not solve the problem of the food and drink, the pressure on the merchants would be huge. Once he started collecting the commercial tax, then there would be complaints.
But if he solved the problem of the food and drink, then the pressure on the merchants would be much smaller.
Perhaps it was impossible to completely eliminate the problem, but at least it would not be as blatant as it was now. If he did not do some shady things, then he would not have to bribe them with money.
Picking up the pen, Zhu Yijun started to write down the next stage of his work plan.
The first was the civil service system of the Shun Tian Prefecture. The second was the problem of the commercial tax. The third was the establishment of public land in the Shun Tian Prefecture and cleaning up private land.
Zhu Yijun added a point to the last one. This point was very important.
Daming's current situation was that what he occupied was his. The imperial court could not interfere, not even collecting taxes. Even the mines were the same. This was something Zhu Yijun could not tolerate.
He had to confirm the rights. If you had the title deed, then it would be yours. If you didn't, then it would belong to the imperial court.
You took my mines to open up mines, and then when I collect the mineral tax, you still make all sorts of excuses. It was simply despicable.
When he took back all the mines, he would set up a mining company through the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The imperial family would allow merchants from all over the country to buy shares in the companies. It would be impossible to do the same as before.
Zhu Yijun planned to set up a model in the Shun Tian Prefecture and then spread it out.
The Imperial Plantation had been improved and cultivated over the years. The land, sweet potatoes, and corn could be planted on a large scale. He also had to vigorously promote new crops.
He wanted to use the Shun Tian Prefecture as a model. He wanted to make it a place where everyone wanted to move in and live. Since it was under the feet of the emperor, then it should be like the emperor's. The cement roads had to be built as soon as possible, and trees should be planted along the roads.
The more Zhu Yijun thought about it, the more excited he became. His hands did not stop until Zhang Jing came to call for him. Only then did Zhu Yijun stop.
He looked at the time and touched his stomach. Zhu Yijun found that he was really hungry.
He asked Zhang Jing to pass him lunch. Zhu Yijun ate with relish. When hungry, anything would taste good.
"Send someone to summon the magistrate of the Shun Tian Prefecture. Tell him to come and see me."
Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Jing and said.
"Old Slave will send someone right now!" Zhang Jing did not dare to delay. He quickly agreed and turned around to look for someone.
The current magistrate of the Shun Tian Prefecture was called Zhang Guoyan. He was from Northern Zhili. He was a Jinshi in the 41st year of Jiajing. He was first appointed as the magistrate of Xiangling County. He was later promoted to the Minister of Military Affairs.
He was then promoted to Shanxi to participate in politics, Shaanxi to be the Right Minister, and Jiangxi to be the Left Minister.
His achievements were outstanding. He was promoted to the Shun Tian Prefecture in the 9th year of Wanli.
Zhu Yijun had been paying attention to this person. When he was serving in Shaanxi, he had caught Zhu Yijun's eye. This person was not an amazing official, nor was he the kind of official who could do beautiful things.
Zhang Guoyan was an honest official. He did his work every day and did his best. His first priority was to do things well.
Because his family was poor when he was young, Zhang Guoyan knew the suffering of the common people. After becoming an official, he did not become rich because of his position. Instead, he was able to maintain his original heart and do things for the common people.
This was an official who was not famous, but was very down-to-earth.
You could not see what was good about him, but when you handed things to him, you could be at ease, knowing that he would do it well.
This kind of official was not easy to find. Zhu Yijun treasured it very much.
This time, it was time to use him. Zhu Yijun was prepared to have a talk with him.
In fact, Zhu Yijun had crossed paths with Zhang Guoyan twice in the past two years. Basically, it was Zhang Guoyan who complained about the suffering of the common people and asked the court to treat the common people well. However, he could not think of any measures to promote the good and eliminate the evil.