The difficult path of cultivation for a grassroots female practitioner

Chapter 1097: A Money-Making Idea

Xiao Han said calmly, "Tell me your reasons."

Pei Xueyan pondered for a moment before speaking: "Although a large part of the initial reason for the sea ban was to prevent pirates, stop the outflow of wealth from the Great Qian Dynasty, and prevent a few people from profiting."

However, as it turned out, without a strong navy to eliminate the banditry, the pirates continued to plunder and harass the coastal people.

Although a maritime ban has been implemented, smuggling by caravans remains rampant, and foreign goods command high prices and generate substantial profits in the market.

As long as there are huge profits to be made, merchant ship smuggling will not stop.

Rather than that, it would be better to open the seas. Firstly, the imperial court could collect commercial taxes openly, and secondly, the imperial court could control the types of goods that merchant ships could sell abroad.

Moreover, the imperial court could easily organize merchant ships to sail overseas under official pretexts, thereby enriching the national treasury.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "The imperial court sent people out for another important reason: to take the opportunity to assess the strength of those foreign states and, at the same time, to seek out any skills and species that would benefit our Great Qian."

If the benefits of prosperous trade outweigh the drawbacks, then it will be beneficial to the imperial court.

If Xiao Han hadn't instinctively recognized that this person was the reincarnation of Xue Yan, she would have thought he was from her hometown.

They might even have to use the secret code phrase "Heavenly King covers the Earth Tiger".

She controlled Emperor Zhengde as she continued, "But most people in the court oppose opening the seas, and what they say makes sense. What will you do then?"

Pei Xueyan suddenly looked up, her eyes burning with high spirits.

"Their excuses are nothing more than the same reasons they used to impose the maritime ban. If Your Majesty trusts me, just grant me a naval force of a thousand men, and I will lead merchant ships to sail overseas. Then, I can use the profits to train an even more elite navy."

This creates a virtuous cycle. With a strong navy, how could we not eradicate banditry and establish normal trade?

If the person before them were truly just an eighteen-year-old boy, neither Xiao Han nor Emperor Zhengde would believe in his abilities.

But Xiao Han knew that the person in front of her was the reincarnation of the Blood Banquet.

Even if such a powerful being from ancient times is reincarnated and has his memories erased, how could the soul of such a powerful being from ancient times be mediocre and incompetent?

If his memory hasn't been erased, then there's even less reason to doubt his intelligence.

Xiao Han decided that regardless of whether Pei Xueyan retained his memories, she would temporarily rely on him to break the deadlock and deal with Liu Hongchang's heavy suppression.

With the national treasury now empty, Xiao Han remembered the formulas for cement, glass, and other materials developed by the craftsmen in the later stages of his reign when he was supporting Zhao Qinghe to become empress.

She now needs to find a suitable excuse and opportunity to bring out these technologies, establish a large state-owned workshop, and make money to fill the national treasury.

However, Pei Xueyan's path of making money and enhancing national strength could not be delayed. Moreover, it would be extremely difficult to use this as a pretext to extract the money from the Minister of Revenue after the establishment of state-owned workshops and the funds that went into the national treasury.

Because the current Zhengde Emperor simply does not have the power to make decisions unilaterally.

Xiao Han came up with a shameless way to make money.

She said to Pei Xueyan, "In another month, the Emperor's birthday will arrive. This time, I will not only hold a grand banquet for my officials, but I will also give away three hundred slots to the people of the capital so that they can enter the palace and celebrate my birthday with the court officials."

"At that time, this matter will be entrusted to you. You will sell these quotas at a high price through a competitive auction. The proceeds, along with the gifts the ministers gave me this time, and the money from my private treasury, will all be your funds for your voyage."

The so-called 300 slots for ordinary citizens of the capital were actually slots sold to wealthy merchants.

Merchants had a low social status, so if they could spend money to attend a banquet in the imperial palace and celebrate the emperor's birthday, they would fight tooth and nail to get a spot.

By promoting it early on, we can attract wealthy merchants from other cities near the capital to bid, which will surely raise a large sum of money.

As for the rare treasures presented by those ministers, why let them remain hidden in the storeroom? They can be taken out and sold, either domestically or abroad.

Pei Xueyan's face showed shock.

"Your Majesty, this would damage your prestige, and the ministers in the court would certainly not agree."

Xiao Han waved her hand, "This won't harm their interests, and they won't strongly oppose it."

What does royal dignity mean? The current Zhengde Emperor is only slightly better than a puppet emperor; how much dignity does he have left?

However, Pei Xueyan, a compiler of the sixth rank, was not qualified to attend court.

Thus, a minister who had served Emperor Zhengde since he was still the crown prince, at Emperor Zhengde's behest, put forward Pei Xueyan's ideas and plans.

Unsurprisingly, this plan was opposed by the court officials.

In particular, the Minister of Revenue stubbornly insisted that the national treasury had no money.

Emperor Zhengde, who had generally followed the opinions of the cabinet in major decisions since ascending the throne, suddenly lost his temper, a rare occurrence.

"Does this mean that as long as there's money, Ding Aiqing's proposal can be implemented?"

When Emperor Zhengde questioned them in court for the first time with a stern tone, the ministers finally restrained themselves and remained silent.

Only the Minister of Revenue stepped forward reluctantly, saying, "Your Majesty, I am merely stating the facts; the national treasury truly has no money. If this money is not requested from the Ministry of Revenue, then the Ministry will have nothing to say."

Emperor Zhengde glanced at the assembled officials and suddenly said something completely unrelated, “For my first birthday celebration, I plan to invite three hundred ordinary people to the palace for a banquet. This matter will be handled by Pei Xiuzhuan of the Hanlin Academy. Make sure to find suitable people.”

He paused, then added, "This matter is to be decided entirely by Pei Xiuzhuan, and no one is allowed to interfere."

After he finished speaking, he announced the end of the court session.

Although the officials behind the smuggling rings were very unhappy that the trade activities were sponsored by the imperial court and escorted by the navy, they could not find a strong reason to object if the imperial court did not have to pay for it.

However, the task of finding three hundred ordinary people to attend the palace banquet, which was taken over by Pei Xueyan, the top scholar who achieved the highest rank in the imperial examinations, is more noteworthy.

Then, after Pei Xueyan and Emperor Zhengde finished their discussion, their servants blocked the palace gates, pleading for the number of commoners allowed to enter the palace on behalf of their master.

After all, these families were all wealthy and powerful, and some of their relatives and friends would like to visit the palace and, incidentally, sample the banquets bestowed by the emperor.

Pei Xueyan made up an excuse to send him away, and then began to announce to the public the method for obtaining the quota of commoners to enter the palace.

In order to attract wealthy businessmen from the surrounding areas of Beijing to bid for the slots, they even sent people to spread the word everywhere.

However, as soon as this method was announced, Pei Xueyan was impeached by the censor at the morning court session the following day.

Of course, this whole thing was Emperor Zhengde's idea, so how could those memorials impeaching Pei Xueyan have any effect?