Zhu Jun narrowed his eyes and slapped his fingers rhythmically on the armrest of the chair. The three great scholars standing beside him looked at each other. I wonder what the emperor was thinking about. Among these three, Yang Side was the most ordinary. He never participated in the open and secret struggle between Mu Tianbo and Zhou Mubai. He did his duty as if he had entered a meditation.

In fact, this is not because Yang Side didn't want to form a gang. He was originally the head of the Ministry of Revenue, and was promoted to such a high position by the emperor. Naturally, he was jealous of some senior ministers. Mu Tianbo was the backbone of the old ministers. Even if he didn't have much disgust with him, the two of them could not get together. Zhou Mubai was just a young scholar and had devoted himself to the Burmese King in the past. Yang Side, a man from such a background, disdained to mingle with him and lost his status. Therefore, Yang Side, who was neither high nor low, became a neutral faction in the small court.

Mu Tianbo is different. He is a hereditary Duke, and he is calm and has become more prestige since he entered Myanmar. Almost all ministers have united around him. He has no choice but to do so. He has become the spokesperson for mainstream court officials. The mainstream rejects dissidents and even rejects dark horses. Yang Side is a dark horse that jumps out quickly, but he is not an alien. Zhou Mubai's appearance is almost the same level as injustice. Many people have white hair and are not qualified to enter the cabinet. How many Shujishi are waiting for this position. This is better. A scholar who has licked the butt of the Burmese king suddenly came out and snatched the job that many people have been coveted for a long time. If the officials do not resent, that would be strange.

Zhou Mubai is different. He is more cunning and understands people's hearts better. It is useless for anyone to oppose him, because here, only one person can decide his official title, and only one person can give him rights. No matter how many people oppose him, as long as he hugs the person's thighs tightly.

From then on, a small-scale split occurred in the entire court, forming two political forces that competed against each other. One was the veteran faction with Mu Tianbo as the core, and the other was Zhou Mubai led by him. He cooperated with more than a dozen shameless officials who could never make a fortune. Although the number was small, Zhou Mubai's Shengjun Zhenglong was still in a turmoil with the veteran faction.

As long as there is power, there will be struggles. When the struggle enters a white-hot stage, personal struggles have become insignificant, so party struggles appear. Zhu Jun is powerless to stop this trend and does not want to stop them. As long as these people are not his stumbling block, he does not need to kick them away. On the contrary, party struggles within the controllable range can also make his imperial power more stable.

"I have an idea." After a while of silence, Zhu Jun suddenly spoke. He said, "Yang Qing family, go and tell all the merchants in Nanyang that as long as they move their business here, theirs will be completely under my protection. No matter which corner they want to transport the goods to Nanyang, my escort fleet will escort them for free."

"Emperor, if this is the case, wouldn't our escort fleet be wasted?" Yang Sideton felt pain. Although he was the Minister of War, he had always been in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. Many of the money was passed by him. He roughly estimated that if the escort fleet could be fully deployed in Southeast Asia, the monthly surplus would be at least tens of thousands of taels of silver. This was a huge fortune. For the first time, he knew that merchants were so rich. If Emperor Chongzhen had been able to collect taxes from merchants, the national treasury would not have been in a short position.

Zhu Jun smiled and looked at Zhou Mubai. Yang Side and Mu Tianbo were more honest, and he accepted it much more than Zhou Mubaimu. If anyone could understand what he meant, it would probably be Zhou Mubai who was present.

After a while, Zhou Mubai suddenly became enlightened and couldn't help but sigh: "It's amazing! If a businessman moves his industry here, we can naturally collect taxes, and it's more stable than protecting the fleet. Even if we don't become pirates in the future, we can still continue to collect taxes. In the long run, it will definitely be beneficial or harmless."

Zhu Jun couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. No matter how smart the people of this era are, they probably have their limitations. He stood up in awe: "Think about it, will merchants just make money after they move their industries here? What about their families? Even if they dare not move their families, they will always bring a few servants to serve? Should they have people to manage their business? Do their shops need a client? Since their shops are open here, where will the goods come from? Will they build processing workshops here? Do the workshops need craftsmen? Do so many people come here, do they need to eat? Do they need clothes? Do they need to live in a house?"

Zhu Jun asked several questions in a row, but everyone was still confused, but they felt that they had some clues, but they had not yet discovered what was clues.

Zhu Jun did not play the mystery anymore. He continued: "I have calculated it roughly. If a hundred merchants enter here, they will have at least nearly ten thousand craftsmen, courtiers, and family servants. The increased population of tens of thousands also requires food, clothing, housing and transportation. In addition to maritime merchants, some rice shops, restaurants, inns, gambling stalls, clothing shops, and carriage shops will also enter with them. These inland merchants also have families and also need friends. In a few years or decades, there will be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people here. What I lack now is not money, but people are really lacking. If people are prosperous, everything will be prosperous. I have been upset and night, thinking about it, and then I understand the key. Otherwise, what is the use of being rich even if it is a country?"

Zhu Jun was able to think of this because he drew on the experience of reform and opening up and used his advantages to attract foreign capital. After foreign capital built a factory, the city needed a large number of workers, which could attract more people to work in the city. The scale of the city began to grow, the population began to increase, and then tax funds were used to build infrastructure. The industrial chain began to improve, with more and more factories. In the end, these foreign capitals that were originally invited to seek sue for their grandparents could not be driven away.

Zhu Jun’s plan is to use coercion and inducement to attract some merchants to come in the early stage, and then invest some gold and silver to build wharfs, warehouses, roads and other infrastructure, so that the first batch of merchants who settled in can make a fortune. In this way, more merchants will pour in and make the snowballs of the industrial chain bigger and bigger.

Some businesses don’t have to worry about no one coming to work. After all, most of them are struggling on the poverty line in this era. If there is a place where you can have a full meal, I’m afraid no one will refuse.

"My emperor is wise, but I am sorry for me." Zhou Mubai first reacted. Although he still hadn't figured out many details, he must not let Mu Tianbo take the lead. Before the rest of the people came back, he bowed and praised.

"Although this strategy is feasible, the industry of merchants is often deeply rooted in the local area. If they want to move their nests, they must have some extraordinary means. This is better, the security deposit for the fleet protection should be set to half of the goods of the sea ship. Any cargo ship that is protected by the fleet must hand over half of the goods to accept our protection. Otherwise, the navy will chase them on the sea surface. This will not take long. Many sea merchants will choose to move the industry here after weighing the pros and cons, and each time they have to take out half of the goods, which is very heartbreaking."

"Otherwise." Mu Tianbo pondered for a few words. He was different from Zhou Mubai. He had to weigh everything in his stomach before he could stand up and speak: "The navy's sea ships are only seven or eight, and the sea is vast and praising. If these warships alone want to threaten the maritime merchants, they may have the will but lack the ability. Emperor, according to Weichen's opinion, the security deposit for the ship's fleet should not be too high now, otherwise the maritime merchants would rather take the risk than pay such a high security deposit. After we have enough money to buy the maritime ships, we can divide the maritime army into ten teams and cruise in various parts of the Southeast Asian region. At that time, it is a complete solution to increase the security deposit."

"Although Master Mu is a country-making statement, he is inevitably somewhat successful." Zhou Mubai sneered and said, "The navy intercepted a large merchant ship and transformed them into warships. Although it was not very powerful and had few artillery, it was always more than enough to deal with maritime merchants. The emperor only needed to recruit more naval troops. After March, as long as the navy from various countries in the South China Sea did not dispatch, our fleet could block the major routes in the South China Sea and let the maritime merchants be obedient."
Chapter completed!