Zeng Cheng and a host of other bigwigs like Liu Hemíng watched Zhu Jinsong quietly, waiting to see what new tricks Emperor Zhu would pull out of his hat. It was true that Emperor Zhu had promised they could establish a kingdom overseas, and New South Wales was easily obtainable. The problem was, where were the people?
Whether it was Great Ming directly inhabiting New South Wales, or allowing ministers to purchase fiefs and declare themselves rulers, or if Emperor Zhu later enfeliefed several princes, ultimately, they would have to migrate people to New South Wales to secure the territory.
Of course, if they really wanted to solve Great Ming's population shortage, it wouldn't be difficult. For instance, they could directly migrate a batch of single men. They could be assigned young women from New South Wales or young women sold into servitude from Europe, India, or the Ottoman Empire. These single men would quickly populate New South Wales.
The problem was, no one dared to do such a thing.
Despite the common people of Great Ming usually being as timid as quails, so meek that they couldn't utter a word even if beaten with three sticks, it was because in Great Ming itself, the welfare provided to the people was already high. Moreover, they were managed by officials above, watched by elders at home, and observed by their fellow villagers in between. There was no necessity to cause trouble, and they lived for a good reputation, which was why the people of Great Ming were so well-behaved.
If tens of thousands of single men were directly migrated and assigned local young women from New South Wales or young women from Europe, India, and other places as wives, these single men would easily erupt. Being a concubine was acceptable, but marrying them as the principal wife would be too humiliating!
Precisely because of this reason, Great Ming often migrated people household by household, at least tethering the young men with a rope.
And to migrate household by household, Great Ming currently had no surplus population to migrate. Even if they did, priority would be given to the Old Port, the newly renamed Yanran Administrative Circuit in Central Siberia, and India. New South Wales would not be considered.
Therefore, the problem returned to the original point: no matter how Emperor Zhu played, there weren't enough people to migrate!
However, to the surprise of Zeng Cheng and the other bigwigs, Zhu Jinsong smiled and said, "The population of Great Ming has been steadily increasing, from 300 million to the current 500 million in just over a decade. What about another decade or so?"
"Your establishment of a kingdom overseas is not something that can be completed in a day or two. After all, you still need to select fiefs, build your palaces, and then establish government offices and recruit armies. By the time these matters are settled, it will be about a year or two later."
"A year or two later, even if the population of Great Ming doesn't increase by another 100 million or 200 million, but only by 50 million, wouldn't that still mean 10 million people could be migrated to New South Wales?"
Hearing Zhu Jinsong say this, Zeng Cheng and the other bigwigs suddenly came to their senses.
If they started migrating people now, Great Ming indeed had no surplus population to migrate. But if they waited another year or two, Great Ming might indeed have tens of millions more people, and New South Wales could still be allocated some of them.
Alternatively, New South Wales might not receive many people, as such feudal states were different from the vassal states like the King of Qin or the King of Jin. The number of people who could be migrated would ultimately depend on the price the bigwigs in the Great Ming court were willing to pay.
For example, if the court provided ten taels of silver as resettlement allowance for those conscripted to India, Zeng Cheng and the other bigwigs could offer twenty taels. As long as these feudal states belonged to Great Ming, the people would not find the money too much.
However, after figuring out the key point, Zeng Cheng and Liu Hemíng, along with other bigwigs, couldn't help but feel sorry for their purses. After all, no matter how worthless a fief was, it still had to be purchased with real silver. Even if an acre of land was sold for only one tael of silver, the total price would still be an astronomical figure.
To put it this way, starting from several million taels, with no upper limit.
Even if Zeng Cheng and the other bigwigs intentionally controlled the area of their fiefs to the size of a small administrative circuit to reassure Emperor Zhu, it would still cost a million taels of silver, which, converted to Great Ming Dragon Dollars, would be ten million Dragon Dollars.
Calculated based on Zeng Cheng, the Grand Secretary of Great Ming's Grand Secretariat, who received a salary of two thousand Dragon Dollars per month, ten million Dragon Dollars...
Of course, at the level of Zeng Cheng, Liu Hemíng, and Liu Huaiwen, salary had become something dispensable. The truly substantial income came from the dividends of the dry shares they received from the Imperial Treasury.
It was precisely because the Imperial Treasury provided unequal dry share dividends to officials above the fifth rank that these bigwigs in the Great Ming court were desperately investing in the Royal Academy and desperately wanting to expand their territories overseas. This was because the more achievements the Royal Academy made, the richer the variety of businesses managed by the Imperial Treasury would become. The further the territories were opened up, the larger the market for the Imperial Treasury would be, and the more dividends they would receive.
Taking Zeng Cheng as an example: Zeng Cheng's monthly salary was two thousand Dragon Dollars, but the dividends from the Imperial Treasury ranged from five thousand to ten thousand Dragon Dollars. If the year-end dividends were added, Zeng Cheng would receive at least two hundred thousand Dragon Dollars a year, equivalent to twenty thousand taels of silver.
Although it couldn't be compared to the saying "three years as a prefect, and you can afford to be corrupt" from the Qing Dynasty, the money felt right in hand. They didn't have to worry about the tax department under the Ministry of Revenue knocking on their door, nor the锦衣卫 (Imperial Guard) looking for them, nor the Censorate and the Censorate-General causing trouble.
It was precisely because of this that corruption in Great Ming was more prevalent among officials below the fifth rank. High-ranking officials above the fifth rank rarely engaged in corruption.
And as Zeng Cheng, Liu Hemíng, and other bigwigs were secretly lamenting their purses, Zhu Jinsong once again turned his gaze to Ke Zhiming: "Are there any other matters in Europe?"
Ke Zhiming shook his head and replied with a bow, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the news from Europe is currently limited to this. There is nothing else, but..."
Changing his tone, Ke Zhiming lowered his head, glanced at Zeng Cheng and Meng Fanzhi, the Minister of Rites, and then continued, "Recently, many people from Great Ming have been traveling to Europe, especially wealthy merchants and powerful families.
"These people often shop extravagantly when they arrive in Europe, buying anything that looks novel and fun, regardless of whether it is useful or not. Many have even purchased properties in Europe, leading Europeans to view our Great Ming people as foolish and wealthy, or rather, foolish and wealthy sheep."
Minister of Rites Meng Fanzhi was instantly dumbfounded.
Did this matter have anything to do with the Ministry of Rites? It actually didn't, as the Ministry of Rites had many subordinate departments, yet none of them could manage the affairs of Great Ming citizens traveling and shopping overseas.
But if you said it had nothing to do with the Ministry of Rites, then the Ministry of Rites also had the responsibility of educating the realm. Now that the people of Great Ming were being seen as foolish and wealthy sheep by barbarians overseas, the Ministry of Rites was surely not without blame.
Thinking of this, Meng Fanzhi put on a bitter expression and pleaded, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I am guilty!"
However, Zhu Jinsong smiled and said, "What crime has Minister Meng committed? It is a good thing that the people can go out to travel and have money to buy some rare items they have never seen before. It indicates that the lives of our Great Ming people have improved, and it also shows that our efforts over the years have not been in vain.
"If our Great Ming people were too poor to dare to go out and travel, and dared not buy anything even when they finally went out, it would instead indicate that we, ruler and ministers, have not done enough and have failed to make the people prosperous."
"As for those barbarians viewing our Great Ming people as foolish and wealthy sheep..."
At this point, Zhu Jinsong couldn't help but chuckle and said, "For example: Zhang San went to France with one thousand Great Ming Dragon Dollars, spent one hundred Dragon Dollars to buy a courtyard, and another hundred Dragon Dollars to take a concubine. While working in France, after a few years, as France slowly develops, the courtyard that Zhang San bought might be sold for one thousand Dragon Dollars. What do you think, who is foolish?"
Zeng Cheng and the other bigwigs were stunned. Liu Huaiwen even foolishly asked, "So, Your Majesty is having King George III and King Louis XVI engage in the 'real estate revitalizes the nation' strategy?"
Zhu Jinsong smiled and nodded: "Indeed, there are thousands of ways to cheat them. This kind of 'real estate revitalizes the nation' strategy, after cheating them, they will still thank you. So there's no need to make it bloody."
However, after chuckling, Zhu Jinsong's expression darkened visibly, and his tone was filled with chill: "We have finished discussing European affairs. Now it is time to discuss our Great Ming's affairs. According to my knowledge, our Great Ming merchants are extremely arrogant. Regarding flintlock guns, percussion cap guns, and the like, is there anything they dare not privately manufacture or sell?"
The expressions of Zeng Cheng and the other bigwigs also darkened. Ke Zhiming, as the Commander of the Imperial Guard, bowed nervously and said, "I am guilty!"
Regarding the boldness of Great Ming merchants in daring to privately manufacture flintlock guns and percussion cap guns, Zeng Cheng and the others were not surprised at all.
In fact, Great Ming merchants, except for daring to engage in the opium business within Great Ming, basically had nothing they dared not do. From privately manufacturing weapons such as swords, spears, staffs, flintlock guns, percussion cap guns, and even artillery shells, to participating in the slave trade business in Europe, these scoundrels perfectly exemplified what it meant to be incredibly brazen.
As for swords, spears, staffs, flintlock guns, percussion cap guns, or artillery shells, there was even less to say. Although these scoundrels dared not privately manufacture them within Great Ming, they were doing so rampantly in Europe.
To put it this way, the businesses of these scoundrels have severely impacted the profits of the South Weaponry and North Industry's foreign arms trade.
This meant that the profits of the Imperial Treasury would decrease, and the dividends that Zeng Cheng and the other bigwigs could receive would also decrease correspondingly.
Zeng Cheng said with a grim expression, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I believe those who disregard national laws and discipline should be killed!"
Liu Hemíng also coldly snorted, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I concur. We must not allow these scoundrels to act wildly in Europe, lest it affect the balance of the European situation."
However, as Zhu Jinsong nodded, Liu Huaiwen stepped forward with a dark face, glaring fiercely at Zeng Cheng and asking, "Elder Zeng says they disregard national laws and discipline, but do they know in which province or county of our Great Ming they broke the law?"
After confronting Zeng Cheng, Liu Huaiwen then turned his spearhead towards Liu Hemíng: "You also stop talking to me about the balance of the European situation. If we are to talk about the European situation, have the Five Military Commissions and your Imperial Guard done anything more excessive?"
Being questioned by Liu Huaiwen like this, Zeng Cheng and Liu Hemíng were instantly dumbfounded. After exchanging a tacit glance, Liu Hemíng couldn't help but tentatively ask, "Uncle Huaiwen, this is..."
Liu Huaiwen let out a cold laugh. He ignored Ke Zhiming and instead bowed directly to Zhu Jinsong and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I believe that although these merchants have gone too far, their actions have all taken place overseas and have not violated Great Ming's laws. A slight reprimand and a fine should suffice?"
Zhu Jinsong looked at Zeng Cheng and Liu Hemíng, who were dumbfounded, and then at Liu Huaiwen, who was indignant. He suddenly chuckled and said, "Uncle Huaiwen, tell me honestly, how much tax did these scoundrels pay to the national treasury last year?"
Liu Huaiwen's expression changed, and he sheepishly said, "Regarding taxation, well, it was only about ten million Dragon Dollars, um, slightly more."
Zhu Jinsong simply ignored Liu Huaiwen. An extra twenty thousand Dragon Dollars in tax, and he called that "slightly more"? What was the difference between this and something that was over eighty thousand tons and over tens of thousands of taels!
Zhu Jinsong coldly snorted, "The reason I mentioned these scoundrels today is because a few of them have overstepped their bounds and are secretly producing percussion cap guns."
"Although percussion cap guns are not considered top secret now, these scoundrels are using Great Ming's technology to do this overseas, and there is a risk of leaking classified information."
Hearing Zhu Jinsong say this, Liu Huaiwen also became silent.
To be fair, the technological content of percussion cap guns itself was not very high. Not only Great Ming could produce them, but many countries in Europe could also produce them.
However, the percussion cap guns produced by those European countries were far inferior to those produced by Great Ming in terms of accuracy, range, or reliability. The reasons were the differences in design philosophy, materials used, and bullet manufacturing technology.
And the differences in these aspects were not uncatchable.
It couldn't be said that they could learn it with a glance, but at least they could get it done with drawings and documents.