Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 628: Trade issues between vassal states (Subscribe please!!)

Ouyang Lun is bragging to Zhou Bao!
Then a servant came running to report.

"Sir, His Majesty the Emperor is here to visit with the Prince of Yan/Prince of Jin!"

Hearing this, Ouyang Lun was completely numb, and the first thought in his mind was how to make others disappear.

Zhou Bao kicked the servant who reported the incident and angrily scolded him, "You idiot, don't you know that the master doesn't like to see people when he's resting? Didn't you tell His Majesty that the master wasn't here?"

"Master/Butler Zhou, I told them! I told them as soon as they came that the master had gone on a long journey and would not be in the clan residence these days, but they didn't believe me!" The servant said aggrievedly, "His Majesty said that if I lied to him, it would be deceiving the emperor, and the whole clan would be executed!"

thump--

The servant knelt on the ground and said, "Master, I don't want to deceive the king, and I don't want my whole family to be executed!"

"You don't want to deceive the emperor, you don't want your entire family to be executed, so you betray the master? Who put you in here? You're such a bastard, I'll go down and investigate later!" Zhou Bao said.

"Zhou Bao, he will definitely not be able to hide the truth from the emperor. He comes here to earn some money, why do you want him to sacrifice the lives of his entire family?" Ouyang Lun said unhappily.

"Master, this is my fault. I didn't do my job well!" Zhou Bao quickly admitted his mistake.

"This has nothing to do with you. The emperor is coming. Not only you, but even I can't stop him from coming in. If you are really charged with deceiving the emperor, everyone will come out and kick you!" Ouyang Lun shook his head and looked at the servant who reported the news. "Then what did you say to the emperor? Or what did they say to you?"

"Master, I couldn't fool people by saying you were not here, so I said you were not feeling well today and didn't want to see anyone. However, it seems that His Majesty and the others had already predicted this excuse. They were accompanied by imperial doctors, not only imperial doctors but also Taoist priests/monks!" the servant said hurriedly.

"Taoist priest? Monk?!"

Even Ouyang Lun was stunned. "No, why did they bring Taoist priests/monks here?"

"Ahem, His Majesty said that if you have other discomforts and the imperial doctors can't find out what's wrong, they will just let the Taoist priests and monks perform a ritual!" the servant said truthfully.

puff--

Hearing this, Ouyang Lun spat out the tea he had just drunk.

"Damn it! These guys have really learned bad things!"

Ouyang Lun was speechless: "I just want to rest quietly for a while, why is it so difficult!"

Zhou Bao muttered, "Master, you have too much time to rest and slack off. You have already used up all the excuses for slacking off. His Majesty the Emperor and his men have already figured out our clan affairs bureau's tactics and have ways to deal with them."

"Forehead"

Ouyang Lun's face was full of black lines.

"Forget it, let them in. They look like they won't give up if they don't see me today."

"Yes, sir!"

The servant's face lit up with joy and he felt relieved. His master agreed to see the emperor, which meant that he would definitely be cleared of the charge of deceiving the emperor.

It didn't take long.

Emperor Zhu Biao/Prince of Jin/Prince of Yan Zhu Di walked in led by his servants.

Seeing the three brothers in front of him, Ouyang Lun frowned and said unhappily, "No, why are you here with me instead of the Queen Mother/Emperor?"

"Brother-in-law Ouyang, the three of us just came out from our mother's place and came to see you on the way!" Zhu Biao said with a smile.

“On the way?” Ouyang Lun rolled his eyes again, “Do you think I’m a three-year-old kid? The Queen Mother’s Kunning Palace is far away from here? And it’s not on the way at all!!”

Hearing this, Zhu Biao was a little surprised and said, "Brother-in-law, don't you know? The Queen Mother has now moved to the Taile Palace and lives with my father. She no longer lives in the Kunning Palace!"

"So that's how it is! I overlooked it." Ouyang Lun felt a little guilty. He was too busy before and wanted to take a good rest recently, but he forgot to visit Queen Ma. "I have to find some time to pay my respects to the Queen Mother!"

"Brother-in-law, go and pay your respects to Mother. She will definitely be very happy. She even mentioned you when she met the three of us brothers today!" Zhu Biao said with a smile.

"We'll talk about paying respects later." Ouyang Lun looked at the three Zhu Biao brothers and asked, "Tell me something? You three definitely didn't come to me just to chat, did you?"

Upon hearing Ouyang Lun's words, Zhu Biao, Prince of Jin, and Prince of Yan Zhu Di all smiled awkwardly.

"Brother-in-law, you are right. The three of us brothers came to you to discuss an important matter with you!" Zhu Biao said.

"Okay! Go ahead!" Ouyang Lun nodded decisively.

"Brother-in-law, you are willing to discuss with us!" Zhu Biao said with surprise.

"You've all blocked the door. If I don't agree, will you leave?" Ouyang Lun asked speechlessly.

"No!" Prince Yan Zhu Di shook his head.

"That's it. If I don't agree, you won't leave, and you will find all kinds of ways to make me agree to discuss it with you. Although your methods may not convince me, I really don't want to waste a lot of time on this, so it's better to discuss it with you. The sooner we finish discussing it, the sooner you can leave. It's good for both you and me!"

"Okay, before I regret it, tell me now, let's not waste each other's time!"

Hearing Ouyang Lun's urging, the three Zhu Biao brothers became nervous.

Just as Zhu Biao took a deep breath and was about to tell his three brothers about the problems they encountered, Ouyang Lun interrupted him with his hand, "Wait!"

"What's wrong? Brother-in-law?"

Zhu Biao asked with some confusion. He was really worried that Ouyang Lun would go back on his word.

"It's nothing important. I just want to ask, does the problem brought up by you, the emperor's brother-in-law, include them? In other words, does it involve their affairs?" Ouyang Lun was referring to Prince of Jin and Prince of Yan Zhu Di!
"include!"

"It is precisely because this involves my two younger brothers that I specially brought them together to meet you, my brother-in-law!"

Although Zhu Biao was somewhat confused as to why Ouyang Lun asked this question, he still answered truthfully.

"Since it's involved, then the two of you should stop standing there and take it."

Ouyang Lun nodded and stretched out his hand.

"what?"

Prince of Jin and Prince of Yan Zhu Di were both completely stunned. They never expected Ouyang Lun to do this, nor did they understand what Ouyang Lun's gesture of extending his hand meant!
Without Ouyang Lun's explanation, Zhu Biao was the first to react. He immediately said to Prince of Jin and Yan Zhu Di: "Didn't I ask you to bring some more silver before you come? Did you bring it?" "Yes, I brought one million taels in total!" Prince of Jin nodded, then took out a thick stack of silver bills from his pocket. The face value of these silver bills was one hundred taels each. With such a thick stack, one million taels of silver would only be more, not less!
"I brought four million!" Prince of Yan Zhu Di was even more straightforward and took out four stacks of silver bills in one breath!
Zhu Biao didn't care about that and took all the money from the Prince of Jin and Prince of Yan Zhu Di, then folded it together and handed it to Ouyang Lun, "Brother-in-law, this is the meeting gift from my two younger brothers!"

"In addition, my meeting gift is still being prepared and will be delivered to you soon!"

"It's five million in total, which is just barely enough!" Ouyang Lun turned his head and gave Zhou Bao a look, and the latter immediately stepped forward and took the thick stack of banknotes.

"Master, I've looked at all the banknotes. They're all the latest ones! A full five million!" Zhou Bao counted them skillfully.

Hearing Zhou Bao's words, Ouyang Lun's smile grew even wider.

"Brother Emperor, what are you doing? You are putting me in a completely unfair position!"

"I'm not interested in money at all. Why do you have to give me so much money?" Ouyang Lun looked "unwilling", but his eyes kept staring at Zhou Bao's hand.

Upon hearing this, the three brothers Zhu Biao, Prince of Jin, and Prince of Yan Zhu Di all had strange expressions on their faces. They naturally realized that although Ouyang Lun said no, he was very happy in his heart. If they really didn't give it to him, they would not have this smile.

"Ahem, brother-in-law, you are joking. The reason why my brothers can make money is inseparable from your help. This money is all your individual dividends." Zhu Biao said, and then he spoke again: "You must accept it, otherwise the King of Jin and the King of Yan will feel uncomfortable."

"Yep!"

"Yes, yes, we gave this money willingly!"

Prince of Jin and Prince of Yan Zhu Di spoke quickly.

"If that's the case! Fine then, I'll accept it reluctantly!"

Ouyang Lun nodded and continued, "Zhou Bao, quickly prepare benches for His Majesty and the two princes! You really have no foresight at all!"

"Yes, I'll arrange it right away!"

Zhou Bao nodded repeatedly, then went downstairs to prepare.

Soon, Zhou Bao came with his servants, and the servants came with tables, tea, and cakes.

"Let's sit down and talk!"

Ouyang Lun said.

"it is good!"

"Thank you brother-in-law!"

"Thank you brother-in-law!"

After the four of them sat down, Zhu Biao spoke first, "Brother-in-law, at the celebration banquet a few days ago, the matter of my brothers' meritorious service and rewards has come to an end. However, after discussing it with my brothers, I still have some misunderstandings in my mind, so I wanted to ask you, brother-in-law!"

Um! ?

Ouyang Lun frowned again!
"The vassal kings should be rewarded for their meritorious service. This was recognized by all officials in the court at that time. Is there anything you don't understand?" Ouyang Lun asked.

"Yes, yes!" Zhu Biao nodded.

"Then tell me." Ouyang Lun nodded without further investigation.

"Brother-in-law, although the new regulations for vassal kings have been revised, since it is a fiefdom, many things can be operated independently, such as diplomacy and economic development cooperation. So what should we do if the King of Jin wants to cooperate with the King of Yan?"

Zhu Biao asked.

When Ouyang Lun heard Zhu Biao ask this question, he did not answer immediately, but asked back: "Have you asked the emperor this question?"

"I've asked! But father thinks this matter is not difficult and let us decide for ourselves. Of course, if there are any problems, let me solve them myself!" Prince Jin said helplessly.

When Ouyang Lun heard this, he knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was just too lazy to do this and also didn't want the court to bear too much burden of fiefdoms.

From Zhu Yuanzhang's perspective, there is no problem with this.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty implemented the feudal system was, on the one hand, to realize the idea of ​​the men of the Zhu family guarding the country's borders, and on the other hand, by enfeoffing land, it could greatly reduce the burden on the court. If everything about the fiefdom had to be brought to the court, then what was the point of enfeoffment!

If we think more deeply, Zhu Yuanzhang was also considering Zhu Biao. Now Zhu Biao is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the princes from all over the country are his brothers. If this one helps, then which one will not?

The imperial court itself has a lot of things to deal with. If Zhu Biao was asked to deal with even the issue of the fiefdoms of the vassal kings, wouldn't he be exhausted to death?

It was precisely because of these reasons that Zhu Yuanzhang was not concerned about the issues concerning Prince of Jin and Prince of Yan Zhu Di.

But Zhu Biao really cared about his brothers. He knew that he could not find a solution from Zhu Yuanzhang, so he brought his two brothers to Ouyang Lun, wanting to seek Ouyang Lun's help!
"Have you figured out how to run your fiefdom?"

Ouyang Lun asked with a smile.

"I've thought it through! I have four steel mills in my fiefdom, and there are also rich iron ore resources. I plan to build Jin into a steel country. Just relying on the steel industry, Jin will definitely be ranked among the top three of all vassal states in the future!"

King Jin said with great interest.

At this time, Prince of Yan Zhu Di also spoke up, "Brother-in-law, my Yan State and Northern Zhili have a high degree of overlap. You left me a rich family fortune. Currently, the strongest industries of Yan State are military industry and finance, followed by fisheries and construction. Oh, and agriculture. From an economic perspective alone, it is definitely the number one vassal state!"

"But next I plan to focus on developing the military industry! Because it's very close to my third brother's fiefdom, his steel can be used as my raw material. It will be no problem to build weapons, cannons, and giant ships!"

Hearing the words of Prince of Jin and Prince of Yan, Ouyang Lun nodded slowly. After all, these two guys had studied under him and did have some ability in governance.

"It looks like you've already started thinking about cooperation."

"Are you worried that the court will not agree to your cooperation? Or that if the court does not provide support for your cooperation, it will make it difficult to advance your cooperation project!?" Ouyang Lun asked.

"Uh-huh!"

Zhu Di nodded repeatedly, "Let's take the steel business for example. Previously, the steel produced by the steel mills in my third brother's fiefdom was distributed through the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Revenue. If we want steel, we have to wait for the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Industry to distribute it. Now that our fiefdom has been clarified, and I want to vigorously develop steel, the originally distributed steel is definitely not enough!"

"We are wondering if we can let Yan buy directly from Jin. As long as I can afford the price, and Third Brother is willing to sell, and has enough steel, this deal can be done! We can also produce quickly! Make more weapons and equipment!"

“This is all money!”

(End of this chapter)