The Villain's Counterattack

There are rumors that the Holy Lady of the Demon Cult, Ren Yingying, the daughter of the former leader, is having an affair with Lin Pingzhi of the Fuwei Escort Agency, and Dongfang Bubai has already issued an order to capture Lin Pingzhi.

Oh my god, I was hiding so deeply, but I was discovered? Lin Pingzhi made a quick decision and led twenty flying cavalrymen to leave Wudang Mountain overnight. He left Lin Bufan and Lin Feifei to Taoist Chongxu, made an agreement, and then headed straight for overseas along the river.

It was an open secret that the Lin family had overseas assets. The pearls, corals, gemstones, tortoise shells, spices, premium timber, sea cucumbers, and abalone they imported annually were simply too numerous to count. While many envied them, their overseas presence was beyond their reach. Individual military power was insignificant at sea, and the navy was deliberately neglected in the Ming Dynasty, allowing the Lin family's Ryukyu Islands to become the king of the offshore waters.

Lin Pingzhi was a very good person. Every year, he secretly sent a lot of tributes to the palace through the Jinyiwei. When the Emperor received Lin Pingzhi's secret letter, he knew that the Confucian gentry had become too powerful to be eliminated, there were huge loopholes in the Ming Dynasty's taxation, and honest officials could not even get enough food to eat, to the point where they could not survive without being greedy.

After he personally found a student proficient in mathematics to carefully calculate, he discovered that a third-rank official could not even afford to support servants and maids. He was shocked and approved Lin Pingzhi's secret memorial. He secretly granted Lin Zhennan the identity documents and seal of the King of Ryukyu in the East China Sea, on the condition that he support the court with wealth and materials worth millions every year.

Lin Zhennan did not expect that his son could accomplish such a great thing. In the first year, he offered a large amount of spices, wood, pearls (artificially cultivated fine products), corals, gems, and silver (Iwami Silver Mine had been secretly conquered) with a total value of no less than three million taels. He also secretly provided 200,000 stones of rice and 500 war horses.

According to his son's wishes, Lin Zhennan said that he could sacrifice his life for the Ming Dynasty and the Han people's country, and would spend all his family wealth to help the emperor solve his problems. If he ran out of money, he could rob. All the sins were on me, Lin Zhennan, and His Majesty was always merciful.

The letter also recommended several seafood dishes and their benefits, and promised to secretly provide a batch of sea salt (Lin Pingzhi also contributed the salt drying method) as your majesty's private goods.

In order to verify Lin Zhennan's property, the emperor invited many people who were proficient in mathematics. Then, because of some details mentioned by Lin Zhennan, he discovered huge loopholes in taxation and the shady dealings in salt tax. So the Jinyiwei took action again, caught the rats one by one, and killed a group of people.

The ministers wrote to the emperor to plead for mercy, and the emperor directly took out the accounts calculated by his own people, and made a simple comparison with the accounts when the Fuwei Escort Agency was in place, so that they could see that asking the escort agency to transport the goods could save as much as 30% compared to the government's own transportation. Where did this 30% go?

The emperor wept bitterly, exclaiming, "How I trusted you, my ministers, yet you lack even the credibility of a small merchant. I live in the inner palace, never leaving my house, and I don't see the suffering of the people or the hardship of my ministers." But numbers don't lie. So he issued a self-criticism edict, raising all officials' salaries and benefits. He then calculated the accounts and, after deducting the unjustifiable embezzlement and so-called losses, left a lot of money on the table.

Numbers don't lie, and many ministers naturally don't want to see their interests violated. They mentioned that some fire consumption is indispensable. Then His Majesty the Emperor directly proposed the mechanism of merchants transporting and officials supervising the accounting, and established a national coordination mechanism and budget mechanism. Once the macro-control came out, the whole court was in an uproar.

They found that they had some difficulty in using this thing, but after His Majesty the Emperor demonstrated it in class, they found that they had saved a lot of expenses, but it also cut off the livelihoods of many people. Faced with this problem, His Majesty the Emperor said that he had an idea in mind and half of the saved travel expenses would be invested in local infrastructure.

Build bridges and roads, cultivate fertile farmland, establish education, and eliminate bandits. The last one is particularly important because it involves the internal security of the Ming Dynasty.

Not all people are fools. The Ming Dynasty was founded on military power but suppressed military men. Most of the so-called people in the martial world are lawless criminals. This order should be a follow-up to the Fuwei Escort Agency massacre case and the Liu Zhengfeng massacre case, right?

The civil officials naturally spared no effort in suppressing the military, all praising the emperor's wisdom. However, after the court session, the emperor secretly summoned the sons of military families and dispatched trusted personnel north to the grasslands to assist the Lin family in managing the ranches, and south to Fujian and Guangdong to develop the navy. While they could not actively loot, they could help transport supplies to the capital and provide necessary security, ensuring that the Ryukyu Islands would not be conquered by outsiders while also preventing them from escaping from control.

This is a really lucrative job. Although there are some risks, if it is managed well, you can make a fortune. Especially when I heard that the Lin family has become the king of the opposite sex overseas, I was extremely excited. Can my family do the same?

His Majesty the Emperor stated that it was impossible for the Ming Dynasty to have new kings of different surnames. However, if you conquered a piece of territory outside the Ming Dynasty and were able to defend it, changing your name and paying tribute every year, he would turn a blind eye. This tactic of getting something for nothing did not arouse the resentment of the military men. Instead, they were all grateful and expressed that their master would always be in the Ming Dynasty and that their descendants would always be Han subjects.

But when it comes to scrambling for missions, they are all unwilling to lag behind and run faster than anyone else after getting the mission. It is true that the grassland is cold and bitter, but countless people live there. If those barbarians can survive, why can't we?

Such a good thing as dividing the land and becoming a king must not be missed. Although the conditions are a bit harsh, the Lin family has to pay tribute of millions of wealth every year because of their humble origin. They have corresponding discounts because they are a noble family, but it is still a considerable burden.

Seize the Ryukyu Islands? Everyone gave up on this idea after a moment's thought. It was impossible to set a precedent, otherwise everyone would follow suit and chaos would result. Furthermore, His Majesty was committed to reform, and the Lin family was responsible for solving the financial and food problems. A million pieces of silver, a million pieces of wealth, two hundred thousand dan of grain, and five hundred war horses a year would require three consecutive years. During these three years, the amount would only increase, not decrease, and only after three years would things return to normal.

Even if they join forces, they can't come up with it.

Therefore, the Lin family cannot move, but they can use their connections to get a share of the pie. According to Lin Zhennan's own words, if they work hard to make the pie bigger, everyone will naturally get more.

Lin Zhennan and his wife live overseas. Due to their status, they are destined to not return to Ming Dynasty before abdicating the throne. However, the first heir, the Ryukyu Prince Lin Pingzhi, is still wandering around Ming Dynasty. Although he is suspected of being a hostage, he has a lot of freedom and seems to be secretly working for His Majesty to clean up the illegal forces in the world.

The Lin family is full of loyal people.

Lin Pingzhi had too many spies, including the Five Mountains Sword Sect, the Fuwei Escort Agency, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The Demon Cult chased him for three days and caught up with him on a mountain top. However, he was captured alive by the officers and soldiers who had been ambushing him for a long time. Several generals personally received Lin Pingzhi and finally divided these people up.

In some cases, people from the underworld are more useful than soldiers. There is a great demand for them in the frontier, Japan, and even Korea. But forget about the sea, as most of them are landlubbers.