Ch96 - Maritime Commerce

Gu Huaiqing stood on the city gate tower and looked at the fourth prince, who was carrying himself arrogantly and in high spirits, and his lips slowly curved up.

“Wang Ye, permit this general to go. I will definitely beat that kid until he pisses himself!” The generals around him all rolled up their sleeves one by one, ready to charge into battle as they looked at the fourth prince and stirred restlessly, as if they were a pack of wolves who had seen a fat piece of meat.

“Shh.” Gu Huaiqing raised his slender index finger to his pale lips. “This is a prince. You can’t say such vulgar words.”

“Wang Ye, then what should we say?” The general blinked. 

Gu Huaiqing glanced at him and slapped him on the head. “Say nothing; if you don’t win, you won’t get dinner tonight.”

“Yes!” The general happily received the slap and immediately ran out.

Before a report on the war in Jiangnan was sent to the imperial court, the imperial court was busy discussing the matter of maritime commerce.

“We have a long history with overseas merchants. In the last dynasty, there was a ban on overseas trade; it was only because of the massive profits that merchants were willing to risk their lives.” Mu Hanzhang stood in the center of the hall. His voice wasn’t loud, but his words were clear, and neither too fast nor too slow. In the quiet court hall where one could hear a needle drop, every word clearly reached everyone’s ears. “This subject feels that rather than ban it, we should allow it to proceed to our benefit.”

The articles of regulation which Marquis Wenyuan had written had already been copied several times, and the important court officials had all read them. Included in the regulations were thorough and detailed logs of the price exchange for foreign gold coins and Dachen products. The most important was the establishment of a maritime tax. With such huge profits, the imperial court only needed to set up ports and maintain order, and could then collect large taxes. In this way, the annual revenue of the state treasury would increase by at least 10%.

“This official thinks this method is feasible.” The Minister of Revenue was the first to come forward and respond. As the person who managed the state treasury, he naturally knew how much benefit this would be to the Chen Dynasty. “After the past ten years, the Treasury is in urgent need of being replenished; the maritime tax would perfectly solve this urgent problem.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

The Minister of War disagreed. “The establishment of a port is bound to attract the prying eyes of some people; it will also be time-consuming and laborious to increase the military force to protect the maritime merchants along the coast. This official thinks this matter needs to be further discussed.” 

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Only the Minister of Rites who was the least relevant to the conversation didn’t interrupt as he remained silent.

Mu Hanzhang listened to everyone’s comments with a light expression; none of the numerous obstacles presented seemed to engender any hint of retreat.

After listening quietly, Emperor Hong Zheng turned to the two remaining princes. “Jing Rong, what do you think?” 

The eldest prince was already fully recovered. His eyes burned; he was just waiting for a chance to speak. Hearing this, he immediately stepped forward and said, “Erchen has also carefully studied the regulations of Marquis Wenyuan. Erchen feels that such a scholar like Marquis Wenyuan talking about this business, it’s all just theoretical and will not work in practice. There must be a reason why there was a ban on overseas trade in the previous dynasties. If a port is opened rashly, I’m afraid it may bring disaster.”

Mu Hanzhang heard these words and frowned. The eldest prince saying this showed that he was obviously against it, and many old officials in court certainly had this kind of thought as well. It could even be said that he had won quite a few old officials’ hearts with these words.

Sure enough, after the eldest prince’s speech, many conservative senior officials stepped forward to speak.

Emperor Hong Zheng still didn’t say a word, and asked for Rui Wang’s opinion. 

Jing Chen stepped forth and said after a pause, “Erchen thinks that if this method is feasible, it will be a good thing for Dachen. However, the regulations aren’t detailed enough. It’s better to draft up an interim statute addressing everyone’s concerns, and try to open one port first. If it doesn’t go well, maritime trade can be banned again.”

This matter had already been debated in court for several days. Jing Chen’s words appealed to both sides. Those who thought that it would work could wait and see. Those who felt it wouldn’t work would wait to laugh and say, “I told you so.”

“What second imperial younger brother said is very true, but the person in charge of the port must write down everything in detail. Erchen feels someone who knows the most about this should be appointed.” The eldest prince lowered his head, but glanced at Mu Hanzhang out of the corner of his eye.

Mu Hanzhang didn’t speak, and just stood quietly. He naturally understood what the eldest prince meant. He had brought this matter to fruition, but it wasn’t the right time to give him such a responsibility. 

Sure enough, Emperor Hong Zheng didn’t heed the words of the eldest prince. “What Jing Chen said is reasonable. Each ministry will draw up a constitution based on what they believe is necessary, and show Zhen in seven days.”

After court, Mu Hanzhang didn’t talk much with everyone else, but directly took a carriage back to Cheng Wang’s residence.

“Wang Ye.” The Marquis of Dingnan quickly strode forward a few steps to catch up with Jing Chen, who was dressed in the moon-white court uniform for princes.

“Marquis,” Jing Chen answered politely. 

The Marquis of Dingnan, saw that Jing Chen still looked as reserved and steady as ever. The expression on his face was also light and didn’t carry any hint of warmth, so the marquis couldn’t help but attempt to be more cordial. “I heard that the Wang Fei endured some discomfort recently; her mother is very worried and wants to go to the palace to have a look, so urged me to ask Wang Ye when the Wang Fei will be free.”

Usually, there was no need to report the communication between female family members. The Marquis of Dingnan knew that Rui Wang had forbidden his daughter to go out, so naturally, such a statement was a tactful and polite pretext.

Thinking of Consort Xiao, Jing Chen resisted the impulse to frown and said, “Today is fine. The Wang Fei has been thinking too much recently. Please have your wife come and console her.”

The Marquis of Dingnan heard this and immediately smiled. “Of course.” 

Mu Hanzhang’s complexion wasn’t good. Jing Shao tossed him around in bed last night for a little too long. Today’s morning court also dragged on for a long time. After standing for nearly two hours, he felt sore everywhere. As soon as he got into the carriage, he was held tightly in a pair of powerful arms.

Mu Hanzhang had been startled when he pulled the curtain aside at the entrance of the carriage. Then, he was pulled into a familiar warm embrace before he relaxed slowly. “How come you’re here?”

Jing Shao hugged the man tightly, told the coachman to set off, and gave Mu Hanzhang a kiss on his exhausted face. “I saw you didn’t come back after a long time, so I assumed court dragged on this morning. I was afraid you’d be tired, so I came to pick you up.”

Mu Hanzhang moved, found a comfortable place in his arms, and yawned. “You know I would be tired, so you should have restrained yourself last night.” 

Jing Shao stretched out his hand to rub Mu Hanzhang’s aching waist and hummed. “It’s not my fault. Who told you to look at me with those eyes? They were obviously begging your husband to do it again.” Thinking of how he had bullied Jun Qing until his eyes were teary last night, he suddenly felt his mouth turn dry.

“You…” Mu Hanzhang wanted to look up and glare at him, but to no avail and with little result as the interior of the carriage was dark. He turned his body away and buried his face in Jing Shao’s chest; what the eyes didn’t see, the heart wouldn’t grieve over. He planned to sleep for a while.

Jing Shao continued to knead and rub every place he could reach, eating tofu during the massage. “A letter came from Lu Niao today, saying that the residence in Pingjiang has been purchased.”

“En,” Mu Hanzhang answered vaguely. 

“As soon as Jing Yu arrived, Gu Huaiqing gave him a fierce beating. I wonder how he plans to write his war report.” Thinking about Lu Zhanpeng’s schadenfreude tone in his letter, Jing Shao couldn’t help laughing. “How is the matter of maritime trade coming along?”

“Brother has already brought it up. Imperial father had all the ministries write some regulations. It’s unclear how much is set in stone yet.” Mu Hanzhang was so sleepy that he couldn’t keep his eyes open. He responded in a clear and orderly way, then rubbed against Jing Shao’s chest unconsciously.

Jing Shao’s heart was tickled by the rubbing, but he restrained himself and didn’t move. Knowing that Jun Qing was really too sleepy, he stopped talking and let the person in his arms sleep peacefully for a while.

“Cheng Wang already can’t succeed the throne anymore. It is to Wang Ye’s benefit to draw him over to this side. Why bother to make trouble with him?” The Marchioness of Dingnan sighed as she looked at Rui Wang Fei, who was lying on the bed with a pale face. These were the words that the marquis had asked her to pass on. She wasn’t Rui Wang Fei’s biological mother, but the second official wife the marquis married after Rui Wang Fei was born. It wasn’t convenient to say many words, but the marquis’s words had to be relayed. 

“The bastard is still living in the other palace, but my Xiao Si is gone.” When Rui Wang Fei said this, tears began to appear in her eyes again. “The great sage calculated that, besides that lowly… bastard, the only other person who could have restrained Xiao Si’s spirit is Cheng Wang!” Saying this, her eyes filled with some hate; she heard that Cheng Wang had held the child before he was a full month old. Because he killed on the battlefield all year round, his body was full of the resentful energy of vengeful ghosts. If such a weak child was infected, wouldn’t he have a short life?

“Aiyo!” the Marchioness of Dingnan exclaimed. She looked left and right, then got up to drive away the maid outside the door, before she came back again and sad down. “You can’t say such nonsense. Listen carefully to Rui Wang.”