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Chapter 1041 The Prince’s Worries

Last autumn, Queen Zhu Xuan'an gave birth to the third prince Su Heng.

Before the Queen came out of confinement, Su Mingzhe often stayed in Kunning Palace.

Since it was inconvenient for the queen to sleep with the emperor, she had to have the royal attendants or female officials in the palace to sleep with her on her behalf.

It was at that time that the sisters Zhou Miaotong and Zhou Miaoxuan were deflowered by Su Mingzhe.

After Su Mingzhe turned the two sisters from girls into women, he only promoted their female official rank and did not canonize them as concubines in the harem. He still let them stay in Kunning Palace.

Different from her sister Zhou Miaoxuan's elegant temperament, Zhou Miaotong appears to be cool on the surface but actually has a fiery heart.

After Su Mingzhe took possession of the two Zhou sisters, Zhou Miaoxuan was content with just asking for the title of a court painter.

However, Zhou Miaotong was determined to live a life of love with a man. She secretly told the man several times at night that she wanted to be a female official in the Qianqing Palace, or a royal attendant.

Naturally, Su Mingzhe couldn't refuse Zhou Miaotong's request, so he waited until after the ceremony and then transferred her to the Qianqing Palace, where they spent their days together, chatting and singing.

the other side.

Ding Yi did not stop at all and immediately returned to Guangdong Province.

With the construction of the Maritime Customs by the Zheng Dynasty, pirates in nearby waters began to become rampant again.

To this end, Su Mingzhe built five naval divisions at once, namely to guard the Bohai Sea area of ​​Liaodong Province, the Yellow Sea area of ​​Shandong Province, the East China Sea area of ​​Jiangnan Province, the Japanese waters of Ryukyu Province, and the South China Sea area of ​​Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

Ding Yi was the Duke of Yue who guarded Guangdong Province.

There was also Duke Lu and Qi Jin who was guarding Fujian Province. The two of them teamed up many times to try to wipe out these pirates, but they were never successful.

Now that we have the emperor's approval, we must not relax in forming the South China Sea Navy.

"Father, there's no money in the treasury again!"

The sea master is a money-eating beast.

Su Xi, who had already begun to learn about state affairs, came to the Qianqing Palace with a bitter face after receiving a memorial from the Ministry of Revenue.

"If you have no money, then go find a way! What's the point of you coming to me?"

Su Mingzhe was a little annoyed by his son's interruption. He took the memorial and glanced at it casually, then said unhappily:

"You are already thirteen or fourteen years old. In two years at most, you should get married. After you get married, you should learn how to govern the country. So, don't come to your father every time you have a problem. Your father can't make money!"

As soon as Su Xi entered the room, she noticed that the atmosphere was wrong, so she kept her head down and didn't dare to look up.

Hearing her father scolding her, Su Xi could only continue to plead:
"Father, before I came here, I asked the Grand Tutor and several elders. They all said that it is only summer now and we have to wait at least two or three months for the summer taxes to be deposited into the treasury."

"But now that the summer flood is approaching, we cannot afford to be without money! So, what do you think, elders? Can we slow down the preparations for the Marine Division? After all, things have to be prioritized, right?"

"The preparations for the naval division cannot be stopped, otherwise the pirates will be rampant and it will affect the revenue of the Maritime Customs."

Su Mingzhe flatly rejected his son's request.

However, after a moment of silence, he spoke again:

"How about this? I will send a message to the marines at Iwami Silver Mine, asking them to bring back the silver for the first half of the year in advance."

Iwami Silver Mine now earns more than 20 million taels of silver every year. In order to guard against pirates, all the silver is transported once every six months.

When Su Xi heard that his father was going to transport the silver from Iwami Silver Mine back, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

This was the result of his discussion with Grand Tutor Sun Chengzong and several other cabinet ministers.

After all, since the farmers were exempted from the poll tax and land tax, the Zheng Dynasty now only has a few sources of income.

Among them, the silver from Iwami Silver Mine was one of the important sources, with 20 million taels of silver a year, accounting for one-fifth of the total income.

In addition to the Iwami Silver Mine, the twenty-four offices of the Imperial Household, the Salt and Iron Bureau, the Maritime Customs, and commercial taxes in various places basically had an income of around 20 million taels.

Among these five sources of income, the income from salt and iron mines was mainly used to supply the northern frontier and could not be diverted. The income from the twenty-four prisons was mainly used to provide salaries for court officials and nobles.

The income of the Maritime Customs Administration continued to be invested in infrastructure in various places, including the expenditure of the naval navy.

Commercial tax revenues from various regions are mainly used to provide emergency relief in various regions.

The final income from the Iwami Silver Mine belonged to the royal treasury and was under the control of the emperor alone.

When Su Xi heard that her father agreed to transfer the silver from Iwami Silver Mine, she immediately raised her hands:

"In that case, I will go and inform the Ministry of Revenue and ask them to hold on a little longer!"

"Wait!"

Su Mingzhe stopped the prince who was trying to escape and said unhappily:

"Xi'er, you are not young anymore, and it is time for you to get married. Later, go to Kunning Palace and discuss with your mother the choice of your Crown Princess."

"My son obeys the order!"

When Su Xi heard that her father actually asked her to discuss the marriage with her mother, she was surprised and happy for a moment. She thanked him hurriedly and was about to leave.

Su Mingzhe then spoke:

"Xi'er, there is something I want to tell you. I don't care who your Crown Princess is, but after she is chosen, your first son must be born to her."

Without waiting for Su Xi to ask the reason in surprise, Su Mingzhe explained directly:
"My great Zheng did not gain the throne legitimately. The throne must be passed to the eldest son in the future to avoid internal strife and internal strife!"

"My son understands!"

Su Xi bowed again and confirmed that Su Mingzhe had no new instructions before slowly backing away from the imperial study.

After leaving the Qianqing Palace, Su Xi first sent his personal eunuch to notify the Minister of Revenue. Then, instead of going to the Kunning Palace to see his mother, he went to the cabinet to see his teacher Sun Chengzong.

Although Sun Chengzong is over seventy years old, he looks quite energetic with a childlike face and white hair because he has taken the elixir given by Su Mingzhe.

If he put on a Taoist robe and said he was an old immortal, people would believe him.

Su Xi came to the cabinet and dismissed his attendants. Then he told Sun Chengzong everything that his father had just told him.

After hearing this, Sun Chengzong stroked his long beard with his hand and said with a genial smile:

"Your Highness, His Majesty is right. Only if the eldest son succeeds to the throne can the Zheng Dynasty be protected from disasters and misfortunes."

Seeing that Sun Chengzong also agreed with this, Su Xi felt relieved after several years of worrying about it:
"In that case, then how do you think I should choose the Crown Princess?"

"Your Highness, didn't His Majesty say that this matter should be discussed between you and the Queen?"

Seeing that Crown Prince Su Xi was so submissive, Sun Chengzong sighed inwardly and then said,

"Your Highness, please do not underestimate the Queen. In fact, the Queen has been of great help to Your Highness over the years, but Your Highness does not know it."

"is it?"

Su Xi didn't believe that her always docile mother could do anything to help her.

However, since Grand Tutor Sun Chengzong said so, Su Xi could only believe it with doubts.

After leaving the cabinet, Su Xi came to the gate of the harem and after reporting, she entered the Kunning Palace.

As the weather was getting hotter, Zhu Xuan'an was sitting in the pavilion of Kunning Palace with the third prince Su Heng in her arms to enjoy the cool air.

When the mother and son met, Su Xi greeted them and then explained the purpose of her visit to Kunning Palace.

Zhu Xuanyan smiled gently after hearing this:
"Regarding the selection of the Crown Princess, my mother has indeed picked a few candidates for you, but who will be the winner depends on your opinion."

(End of this chapter)