"The Skynet is vast and there are no omissions! Anyone who is a treacherous person will definitely be found out!"

Zhu Cixiang's face was gloomy and he looked very scary, as if he was really angry!

He looked at Zheng Zhilong intently and said word by word: "The old emperor and his senior brother came to the East Lake Palace. Zhang Shize, Zhu Chunjie, and Su Guansheng handed over the invitation papers. It seems that they have found something. The old emperor Dear, why don’t we listen to what the three of them have to say!"

"Okay, let's listen together."

Zheng Zhilong was so stared at by Zhu Cixiang that he felt very scared. He thought to himself: This matter has nothing to do with my family, right? No way! I have never participated in the sale of feudal debts. That kid Zheng Sen is wandering around in Annan and Shui Zhenla. I know this. Zheng Jiangong, that silly boy, wanted to make meritorious deeds, and he devoted all his attention to the naval academy. How could he have the time to interfere with the feudal debt? Could it be that girl Cha Gu did it? Improbable, right? She had to spend money to write Just ask for the letter. Also, how were the feudal debts bought and sold? Was it sold at a stall or in a store?

The mastermind behind the speculating on feudal bonds is of course not Zheng Zhilong. How could he have that level? He has never seen what feudal bonds look like, and he doesn’t know how they are traded.

Although he is the major shareholder of Maritime Bank and is involved in some bank affairs on weekdays, he really doesn’t know anything about bonds, stocks and futures and has never heard of them. His involvement in banking affairs is limited to attracting customers and introducing loans. These things and the loans he introduced (all to other maritime merchants), unless the ship is destroyed and everyone is killed, the principal will definitely be recovered with interest.

Even if the ship sinks, the owner's property on shore can be seized and sold to recover the capital. Therefore, the bad debt rate is extremely low compared to the interest rate income.

As for matters such as misappropriating funds from Maritime Bank and using related transactions to harm the bank, Zheng Zhilong never thought that this major shareholder would be left in the 21st century. He is also a model major shareholder!

When shareholder Zheng was feeling furious, Zhang Shize, Zhu Chunjie, and Su Guansheng had already arrived. They had been waiting at the East Lake Palace for some time, so they came immediately after being summoned.

After performing the courtesy of the emperor and his ministers, the three Qingtian lords who were ordered to investigate the feudal debt speculation incident began to report the investigation results one by one.

"Your Majesty, according to the investigation by Jin Yiwei, those who speculated on vassal debts and set traps to deceive people are not rogue bandits, nor are they Tartars."

Nonsense. Zheng Zhilong’s teacher, the Dutch, only speculated on tulips. How could Li Guo and Dorgon use things like bond futures to deceive people? How could Li Guo be a bandit if he had this level?

"Your Majesty, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has not found any civil and military officials in Wuhan involved in speculating on vassal debts."

There are not many officials in Wuhan who can tell the difference between speculation and bond speculation. These feudal bureaucrats either wrote articles about eight-part stock trading or cut people off from professional accounts. Who knows about stock and bond futures?

If you really want them to stir-fry, they might take out the pot and spoon!

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Accounts discovered that the abnormal transactions of feudal debts were all conducted through Maritime Bank!" Su Guansheng spoke in a gloomy tone, looking at Zheng Zhilong with righteous eyes as he spoke.

Zheng Zhilong looked innocent and looked at Emperor Zhu for help: Your Majesty, you must trust me! I am a loyal businessman and will not do anything harmful to nature and justice.

"Old Taishan," Zhu Cixiang asked with a smile, "you are the boss of Maritime Bank, you must know something, right?"

"Chen, Chen, I don't know anything!" Zheng Zhilong shook his head repeatedly, "And the big boss of Haishang Bank is not only Chen, but also"

There is also a major shareholder named Zhu Cihong!

At the beginning, Maritime Bank was a joint venture between three major owners, Zheng Zhilong, Zhu Cihong, and Shen Tingyang. But later Shen Tingyang fell into the trap of running an industry and opened shipyards, gun factories, and cannon castings in Dengzhou and Shanghai. Factory, gunpowder factory, armor factory. Oh, recently I also became obsessed with making cars. I invited craftsmen from Macau who could build four-wheeled carriages and opened a carriage factory in Pudong, Shanghai.

His factories were quite large and he hired many Western craftsmen, so the investment was not small. Most of the factories had not yet turned a profit. In order to raise funds, he had to sell his shares in the Maritime Bank to Including Zhu Cihong, Zheng Zhilong, Huang Jiang and some senior executives of maritime trading companies.

So now Zhu Cihong, Zheng Zhilong and a group of shopkeepers, accountants, and stewards hold a small portion of the shares of Maritime Commercial Bank.

But Zheng Zhilong doesn't care about the bank's operations, so the actual major shareholder at the helm is Zhu Cihong himself.

Now Zheng Zhilong didn't know what to say. He couldn't expose Zhu Cixiang to Zhang Shize, Zhu Chunjie, and Su Guansheng, right?

Seeing that Zheng Zhilong had nothing to say, Zhu Cixiang turned to look at Su Guansheng again, "Su Qing, what else did you find out?"

"Your Majesty, I apologize for my incompetence," Su Guansheng said. "I am a scholar, I don't understand business, and I don't know how to manage money. I can't even understand the bank's account book (all in Arabic numerals), so I can't check it anymore. I'd better ask the emperor for another Please be wise!"

Zhu Cixiang asked: "You don't understand business, you don't know how to manage money, and you don't even understand bank account books. How can you be the Minister of Accounts?"

Su Guansheng sighed and said: "It is indeed difficult for me to hold the important position of the Ministry of Household Affairs."

Zhu Cixiang nodded, "It is indeed necessary to find an official who is good at financial management to be the Minister of Household Affairs, so that we can thoroughly investigate the shady story of the feudal debt! Tell me, who is the best at managing money in the court today?"

Su Guansheng said: "Of course he is Duke Quan!"

Zhu Chunjie also said: "According to Jinyiwei's investigation, the best-run official in our dynasty is undoubtedly Duke Quan!"

Zhang Shize stroked his beard and looked upright: "I recommend Duke Quan to be appointed as the Ministry of Household Affairs and investigate the case thoroughly!"

"Prince Zheng," Zhu Cixiang looked at Zheng Zhilong with a half-smile, "Everyone recommends you to be the Minister of Household Affairs, and I also think it is most appropriate for you to investigate this shady case of feudal debts! What do you think?"

Emperor Zhu’s meaning is very clear. Do you want to investigate the case, or do you want to be investigated?

You need to think this issue through carefully!

Because being investigated was nothing more than losing money and avoiding disaster, Zhu Cihong would not investigate Zheng Zhilong and send him to prison.

But if you want to be the Minister of Household Affairs, the pitfall will be huge!

Because Ming Dynasty's fiscal reform will soon enter the "deep water zone", starting from next year, the land tax in the "Four River Provinces" of Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang will be levied!

In addition, Zhu Cixiang is very dissatisfied with the current situation of commercial tax collection! The commercial tax of more than 13 million taels (not including the customary grain rice of about 3 million shi) seems a lot, but after deducting the salt tax, the North and South Ocean tax is included , apart from seigniorage and interest, there are only more than two million taels.

This number does not match the current rapid development of the new situation of Ming capitalism!

If you want to receive more money without suffocating the Ming Dynasty's economy, you need an official who truly understands the actual situation of industry and commerce and is good at financial management to be the Minister of Household Affairs.

Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty officialdom, who else besides Zheng Zhilong can fill the hole in the Household Department?

But Zheng Zhilong is not a fool. He knew how deep the pit was and jumped into it with his head covered. Wouldn’t he be a fool?

So Zhu Cixi was very unkind and tied up the vassal debt. If Zheng Zhilong didn't obediently become the Minister of Household Affairs, then he would be the number one profiteer who destroyed the financial security of the Ming Dynasty!

I'm not afraid of being fined several million taels of silver, but after the fine, Zheng Zhilong's reputation will be ruined.

Zheng Zhilong had no idea for a moment and could only look at his son Zheng Sen and wanted to ask for an idea.

Zheng Sen asked Zhu Cihong: "Your Majesty, after my father takes office as the Ministry of Household Affairs, who will be in charge of Quanzhou Prefecture and Nanyang affairs?"

"Here you go!" Zhu Cixiang said, "Quanzhou Prefecture and Taiwan Island will be merged and a vassal town will be established. It will be called the Dongning Army. You will be the Nanyang Trade Ambassador and the Dongning Army's Military Envoy!

The amount of tax that the Dongning Army and the Nanyang Trade Department need to pay, as well as various restrictions, remain the same as in the past."
Chapter completed!