Chapter 96: These Chickens Are Mine! They’re All Mine! (2 / 2)
The old emperor made a quick connection and immediately came up with an idea. “Moreover, if these islands are in the hands of Great Xia, other ships trying to land for resupply will have to pay a fee, right?”
Xie Luoshui widened her eyes slightly.
She didn’t quite understand why a monarch would always think of ways to make money—wasn’t the emperor supposed to be decisive in battle, cold-faced every day, manipulating court politics, and having ministers guess his thoughts?
“That seems about right!” The old emperor subconsciously reached out to pat Xie Luoshui on the shoulder but then stopped midway, recalling her gender. He only said verbally, “That’s all I need to instruct you. You may leave now.”
After Xie Luoshui left, the old emperor immediately summoned the Minister of Revenue and repeated what he had just discussed with Xie Luoshui. “What do you think?”
“Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!”
The Minister of Revenue repeated the word “excellent” several times. His eyes gleamed as though they were shining with the light of money. “By occupying the islands, we might not even need to use the navy. We could pull non-death-sentence criminals out of prison and tell them that after exploring each island, they can have their sentence reduced.”
That way, if there are casualties, there would be no need to worry about providing for widows and orphans.
And those prisoners who might rebel would have to consider whether the Great Xia navy would allow it.