Under Zhu Yijun's encouragement and support, the merchant groups of the Great Ming Dynasty had developed very quickly in recent years. There were Zhejiang merchants, Huizhou merchants, Fujian merchants, Guangdong merchants, and so on. Although the Jin merchants didn't have the huge profits from salt, they still made a lot of money by relying on the grasslands. Clearly, this was a war that the Jin merchants wanted to expand their business.
Of course, Zhu Yijun also knew that this was a test to see Zhu Yijun's attitude.
Zhu Yijun's attitude would directly determine the merchants' behavior in the future. Zhu Yijun believed that this matter was started by Jin merchants, but it was definitely not just Jin merchants who were watching.
Now that Zhu Yijun had gone to get the memorials, it was clear that he was telling everyone that he knew what they wanted to do. Next, it was time for Zhu Yijun to express his stance.
What was Zhu Yijun's attitude?
Of course, he would support it. This was unquestionable. In this era, the mainstream was foreign wars.
No matter which country it was, it was foreign wars and foreign colonization in this era.
Whether it was foreign wars or foreign colonization, the driving force was profit. At this stage, the merchants were the supporters of foreign wars and foreign colonization.
Under such circumstances, Zhu Yijun certainly hoped that Daming merchants were also full of such thoughts. Zhu Yijun had been waiting for the merchants to awaken the vampiric attribute.
Although it would definitely be criticized in the future, the developed countries that relied on colonization were not high and mighty. They looked down on the colonized countries and never felt that they were wrong.
"Pass the order to the Grand Council!"
Zhu Yijun threw the memorials in his hand on the desk and said, "Naturalized Commander Ma is the commander. Mobilize 100,000 grassland cavalry and leave Ningxia."
"At the same time, send out an inspection team led by the Grand Council of the Cabinet and assisted by the Department of Law and Discipline, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Personnel. They are to thoroughly investigate Ningxia, Gansu, and other places."
Zhu Yijun had already planned to sweep the area. Currently, the north side of the Daming was fine, the east side was stable, and the south side was still fighting. Zhu Yijun would feel uncomfortable if he did not sweep the west side.
Daming would have to deal with a few border towns, and at the same time, take back the River Tao and other places. He would also try his best to expand westward. This was something that Daming would have to do for a long time.
After Zhu Yijun's imperial edict was passed down, it was quickly carried out. After that, Zhu Yijun didn't pay much attention to this matter.
For the current Great Ming Dynasty, this really couldn't be considered a big move. The Imperial Court didn't care too much about the movements of the 300,000 soldiers in the Southern Border. Unless news of a great defeat came one day, the Great Ming Dynasty wouldn't have much of a reaction to this kind of thing.
After the battle of the grasslands and the war against the pirates, Daming no longer cared about anyone, whether it was the west or the south.
Zhu Yijun couldn't do anything about this. Even if he found someone to talk about the threat of the Western Border or the Southern Border, people must believe it!
In the future, Merrica would always talk about the threat of China, but that was because there was a market for it. If you talk about the threat of Indonesia, there was no market at all. Even if you exaggerated it, it was useless.
Now, the situation in Daming was basically like this. There was no point in talking about anything else.
Zhu Yijun didn't think about doing anything in this area. It was better not to talk about these useless things. Steady development was the most important thing.
Wanli had been in power for 21 years. Daming had done a lot of things, but to the people in Daming, they didn't have a deep impression of it.
However, the workshops were producing endless orders, and they were hiring workers everywhere. The wages were also very good. This made the lives of the people in Daming better. When they had money, they would spend it on food, clothing, and housing.
Eggs and meat were more plentiful. Three meals a day, and a piece of meat every half a month had become the norm.
For the slightly better ones, it was possible to buy some wine. They couldn't afford silk or satin, but they could still afford woolen cloth. It was also within their means to make a new set of clothes during the Lunar New Year.
Zhu Yijun's expansion had generated a large number of orders, and it had completely boosted the economy of Daming.
At the same time, their products were exported to the Japanese Empire and Korea. Now, they were preparing to expand to the west, north, and south. Daming's economy was completely revved up.
On the Lunar New Year's Eve, Zhu Yijun stood on top of the Forbidden City's city wall and looked at the lights in Daming's capital.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Fireworks continued to rise into the sky. Zhu Yijun looked at the fireworks in the sky and felt like it was a lifetime ago.
Empress Wang stood beside Zhu Yijun and accompanied Zhu Yijun to watch the fireworks outside with a blissful smile on her face.
She had been in the palace for so many years, and the Emperor still doted on her. Empress Wang was happy and blissful.
"I reckon that a lot of money will be released tonight." Zhu Yijun reached out to hold Empress Wang's hand and said with a smile.
After hearing Zhu Yijun's words, Empress Wang smiled and said, "It's all because of the Emperor's wisdom. They are all rich and have a good life. Who would have the mood to release fireworks when they are hungry?
Mother came to the palace a few days ago and told me that the Wang Family spent more than a thousand taels of silver on fireworks. "
Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "The Wang Family is now a rich family. Didn't they build a garden in the west a few days ago?"
Although Zhu Yijun had no interest in building gardens, the Honours and gentry of the Daming were very enthusiastic about it.
Now, in addition to the Imperial City, all kinds of Honours and gentry liked to build gardens there. They were all spending a lot of money, causing the land prices there to soar. However, there were still countless people who flocked to it.
There was a garden in the west that had now become a symbol of status.
Zhu Yijun didn't comment on this. They earned money, so he couldn't just let them spend it, right?
Zhu Yijun didn't interfere. He only did one thing, and that was to continuously increase the land prices in the west.
Zhu Yijun, who had been baptized by the real estate industry in his previous life, was very familiar with this kind of thing. Cut the leeks. Anyway, they liked it. These people were also rich in the Daming. If he didn't cut them, who else would he cut?
Empress Wang didn't care. The Wang Family's business was given by the Emperor. The Emperor wouldn't want to attack the Wang Family just because the Wang Family was rich.
Although Empress Wang didn't know much, Empress Wang also knew who was the richest in the Daming now. It was the Emperor and her family.
It was not enough to describe the Ministry of Internal Affairs as making a lot of money every day. It was definitely a mountain of silver.
"Now the expenses in the palace are a little more relaxed. Why don't we renovate the palace next year?"
Empress Wang saw that Zhu Yijun was in a good mood, so she said. In the past few years, when there was no money, Zhu Yijun had to tighten his belt. Naturally, Empress Wang wouldn't mention such a thing. But now that there was money, and the palace was really too dilapidated, it really needed to be renovated. So, Empress Wang brought it up.
Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Okay, do it if you like. You've suffered all these years. It's not easy to be the Empress, right?"
Leaning on Zhu Yijun, Empress Wang said with a smile, "Is there any woman in the world who doesn't envy me?"