Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1013 Fine Breed
Just as this pleasant transaction was going on, suddenly a group of people gathered around.

The two sides were shocked.

Yan Xiao rose up to resist.

No matter in that dynasty, salt owls were a capital offense, so they were naturally desperadoes.

"Shoot the arrow—"

Hurala!
Hundreds of arrows were thrown, and more than a dozen people were injured at once.

The Yan Xiao team was in chaos in an instant.

Immediately, the officers and soldiers rushed to kill, and the salt owls were defeated and all were captured.

It was over in a moment.

Only then did Xia Wanchun Shi Shiran come over. To those dead and injured Yan Xiao, he couldn't live together at all, condescending: "A group of rentiers deserve their death."

"Take them all."

Xia Wanchun was a bit more magnanimous to those salty people, after all, they all ate the imperial food.

Pan Zhuo, on the other hand, said in admiration, "It's really a good idea to dispatch the patrol battalion from other counties."

Xia Wanchun nodded slightly: "Tianjin Mansion is relatively close to Cangzhou, and I let them go by land, so it only took a few days, otherwise this group of birdmen would have been captured long ago."

After a busy night, King Xia Wanchun returned and directly controlled the entire Changlu Salt Field.

At this time, with thousands of salt workers in the salt field, he didn't have to fear the Cangzhou government office at all.

And it was right to start with the salt field.

Xia Wanchun instantly understood everything.

Sure enough, it was a murder case for profit.

The Changlu Salt Field has hundreds of miles of salt fields in Cangzhou, and the coastline is full of salt fields.

In this case, local hookups have become commonplace.

The ticket and salt law is to auction salt. As long as they have money, everyone can become a salt merchant. This cuts off the monopoly of those big salt merchants, expands the market, and the court obtains great benefits.

But everything is profitable.

The official salt is still high, so buying private salt has become normal.

Because official salt has a fixed price, while private salt is hidden salt and cannot be seen, so the price is only [-]-[-]% of official salt.

As a result, the Changlu Salt Farm has been recruiting salt households to expand production over the past few years, and then, in addition to the specified salt imports, the remaining salt is sold to salt merchants for personal gain.

So on the canal where people come and go, apart from the official salt boats, at least two to three percent are private salt traders.

In this way, arresting salt lords and prohibiting smuggling of salt since ancient times can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. The key lies in the salt farms.

As long as those officials continue to be corrupt and corrupt, the salt lords will not be cut off, and the private salt trading will never be prohibited.

Of course, for ordinary people, official salt is not only unpalatable, but also expensive, and private salt is the best choice.

As a judge, the pedantic Gao De is not only responsible for adjudicating cases, but also has supervisory duties for the localities.

Therefore, when he found out that the salt farm was tricky, he wanted to investigate it thoroughly, and then reported it to the court. Naturally, people who eat salt found out and poisoned it.

"Judge Gao is a good judge!"

After Xia Wanchun knew about it, he couldn't help being filled with emotion.

If it is an ordinary official, they will generally ignore it, and those with a sense of responsibility will report it to the court and wait for someone to accept it.

It is too late to investigate by yourself like Gao De, and prepare to report it after getting tangible evidence.

In this way, he could only write something and put it in a secret box for the emperor to read.

A few days later, the imperial court arrived.

A large number of officials involved in the salt field smuggling case or unfavorable supervision, such as the prefect of Hejian and the county magistrate of Cangzhou, were all dismissed from office and exiled to Luzon.

And the patrolling salt censor who directly planned to kill Gao De was transferred to the salt transportation envoy and other officials, all ransacked their homes, resigned from their posts, received the death penalty, and executed.

His family members were exiled to Luzon.

Up to the magistrate, down to the local elders, Yan Ding, hundreds of people were investigated and punished, thousands of people were exiled, and Cangzhou was emptied.

It can be described as Shaowu's first major case.

This caused huge waves throughout Hebei.

The governor of Hebei also committed the responsibility of unfavorable supervision and was forced to resign from office, ending his official career.

The Metropolitan Procuratorate was also not spared. Several censors were demoted and went to other places to do their daily work.

If the public is concerned about this corruption case, then in the officialdom, people are concerned about the lack of officials.

The chief official and the secondary official are all sweets and potatoes to many people.

Especially the salt farm, even without salt smuggling, can make a lot of profits every year, which is a good choice for those who are planning to retire.

Xia Wanchun left Cangzhou after leaving Cangzhou.

As for Pan Zhuo who cooperates, he can only be recommended as the general judge of Cangzhou County due to his status as a scholar.

Before leaving, Pan Zhuoyi said goodbye: "Duke Xia left, I don't know when we will see you again."

"Like your brother-in-law and be an official."

Xia Wanchun smiled lightly and said, "I'd rather be pedantic than opportunistic."

Pan Zhuo nodded fiercely.

In fact, in Yuquan Mountain, Zhu Yixi saw the hidden details:

The smuggled salt has exceeded one million stones, reaching 120 million.

One stone salt needs one silver dollar, in other words, its scale exceeds about 200 million pieces.

What an exaggeration.

The tax in Guizhou province is only 300 million.

Such a huge profit was swallowed up by the whole Cangzhou, and then caused the court to suffer losses.

But Zhu Yixi saw the follow-up from it:

"When you find a cockroach in your home, those hidden corners are already full of cockroaches."

Behind Shaowu's prosperity, how much darkness is buried?
Corruption is a chronic disease that cannot be cured.

"Since there are cockroaches, they must be killed."

Zhu Yixi became ruthless. For those corrupt officials, he likes to ransack their homes and exile them the most.

Domestic money can not only benefit from it, but also have a group of high-quality immigrants.

Qin, Qi, Liao, etc., have been coveting for a long time.

All of a sudden, patrols from all walks of life were sent out, and the inspectorate had been reformed, and the censor team set up was also complete, which was just right for showing off its prestige.

However, for the court, a happy event is enough to dilute those messy things.

The princess gave birth to a son, who weighed six catties and three liang.

For a time, the government and the public were jubilant.

Even the emperor, who had been solemn for many days, smiled.

According to the convention, princes and grandsons cannot be named if they have not been enlightened to study, so they are nicknamed Brother Yue.

Needless to say, a corresponding reward.

There is a festive atmosphere everywhere in Beijing.

Amnesty to the world is naturally impossible, and because of this, the emperor rarely issued several imperial edicts, intending to extend grace to the world and bless his eldest grandson.

The first way is to generally exempt money and food owed by the people before Shaowu 18 years ago, so that the whole world can benefit from it.

The second way is to exempt all parts of Hebei, where the people owe the government rent,
The third way is to extend grace to close relatives, great scholars, school masters, Hanlin, and ministers of feudal borders who can "promote the country's power", or increase officials and ranks, or award treasures, or give awards for merit.

The fourth way is for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to build 99 social schools across the country to benefit private school children.

Although this is not as good as the amnesty of the world, it is a real benefit, which makes people inexplicably excited.

For a time, countless people prayed for the eldest grandson of the emperor.

……

At this time, far away in Europe.

The mission has been in the Netherlands for many months, and it is already clear.

Today, the embassy has been completed.

The embassy adopted a combination of Chinese and Western models, with a Ming style that is very different from Europe, and it has attracted the attention of many passers-by.

It covers an area of ​​more than ten acres and can accommodate two to three hundred people, which can be described as a huge scale.

"Ambassador, the Archbishop of Rome has arrived."

At this time, Minister Dong Ren walked quickly and came to the courtyard in a calm and unhurried manner.

Sure enough, a black-haired Roman in a robe came into view.

In his 50s, he has thinning hair, a long nose and black eyes, and a kind face.

The look was indeed missionary.

"The archbishop is a Jesuit."

Han Mi on the side said softly.

As a member of Jin Yiwei, relying on a lot of money in the past few months, he has initially established a spy system in various European countries.

To put it bluntly, there is no national consciousness in the whole of Europe. As long as you pay a lot of money, you can buy any news.

More importantly, European courts are basically hornet's nests. Without eunuchs, the secrecy system is close to zero.

So in Europe, especially in the Netherlands, everything can be lacking, but money is absolutely indispensable.

"His Excellency the Archbishop."

Dong Ren said with a smile: "I have already presented to Your Majesty, you can start immediately."

"This is what it should be." The archbishop said softly, speaking a slightly awkward Chinese, it seemed that he had done his homework.

In this regard, Dong Ren's smile became more sincere.

The Archbishop smiled and said, "Rome is the center of the whole of Europe, why should the mission be stationed in the heathen?"

"There are a lot of ships in the Netherlands, so it's convenient." Dong Ren said casually, "What's more, this is the seaside, so it's very convenient for doing business."

Although the Papal State has lost its previous prestige, some of the battles against Rome are still exaggerated. Who made so many bishops everywhere?

In the German region, known as the Roman cow, nearly [-]% of the land is occupied by the church. Among the hundreds of princes, the bishops occupy a large part.

In the voting of the Holy Roman Empire, the Pope held three votes: the Archbishop of Mainz, the Archbishop of Cologne, and the Archbishop of Trier.

The prestige of Rome is entirely supported by France and Spain.

He would be a fool indeed if he left Holland and went to Rome instead.

"Although there are many heresies here, the archbishop can leave at any time."

Seeing his ugly face, Dong Ren hurriedly said.

"That's good." The archbishop said softly: "This is a country where everyone regards money as life, and even puts money above God."

"Don't get lost here, my envoy."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Dong Ren didn't care about this.

Having been in Europe for such a long time, he already knows a lot about the situation here.

In the eyes of many people, heretics are worse than heretics.

Northern Europe, including the Netherlands, is home to heresy Protestantism, so it is naturally disgusted by Catholicism.

In essence, as a Confucianist, Dong Ren empathizes with this.

After Wang Yangming's Theory of Mind was born, the Confucians of the Ming Dynasty regarded the School of Mind as a scourge, loathing it even more than Taoism and Buddhism, and wished to wipe out its human flesh.

Because heretics cannot replace themselves, but will arouse their own unity, and heretics will replace themselves and seek their own interests.

Back then, the three martial arts and one sect exterminated Buddhism, and with the help of civil officials, Buddhism was completely peaceful.

Among the three religions, Confucianism dominates.

"Quick, where's the stuff?"

Afterwards, Dong Ren couldn't wait to come to the stable and saw the tall horse brought from France.

Sure enough, he saw several behemoths.

Han Mi explained softly: "This horse is called a Sharma. It is six feet tall and weighs six to seven hundred catties, which is twice that of a Mongolian horse."

As he said that, he became a little excited: "If you train this kind of horse and put on armor when the time comes, it will turn out to be a heavy armored cavalry sweeping the world."

"Your Majesty asked us to send some fine breeds back to China. This kind of war horse is the most suitable."

Dong Ren listened to his words and walked quickly.

As a minister, his most important achievement is to complete the tasks sent by the emperor, and then transferred back to Daming to get promoted and make a fortune.

Obtaining good seeds is one of the important tasks of his trip to Europe.

Sure enough, when he came to the stable, he saw a huge Sharma.

It is nearly six feet tall, and it is difficult to step on it without a saddle.

Its size is equal to two Mongolian horses.

Dong Ren was overjoyed. He walked over cautiously, for fear of disturbing the behemoth: "Sure enough, there are alien species in foreign lands. This reminds me of those strange beasts in the Book of Mountains and Seas."

"Seeing this horse, I can't help but wonder if there really are those beasts in the world."

It's just that he approached two steps cautiously, but the huge monster didn't even take two or three steps back.

He looked extremely timid and frightened.

"This horse?"

Dong Ren wondered.

The groom who was feeding at the side said a lot, and the interpreter said: "This horse is called a Shire horse. It is timid and gentle in nature. Everyone uses it as a draft horse."

"You can touch it now."

The groom calmed down for a while, then said.

Dong Ren and Han Mi looked at each other.

Such a huge monster turned out to be an airy, gentle and timid creature.

How can such a horse fight?
Even the most ignorant people know that all kinds of noises on the battlefield are definitely not something a gentle horse can get along with.

And as a heavy cavalry, the horse must be courageous.

This Sharma can only be a draft horse.

Dong Ren greatly regretted: "It's a pity for such a horse."

Han Mi took a deep breath: "It is also possible to pull a horse. A giant horse of this size may pull a lot of things."

Immediately asked about pulling weight.

The interpreter translated: "It can probably pull about three thousand catties of goods."

"Many Shar horses are used as cattle in the folk, whether it is plowing or transporting goods, it is extremely easy."

"Three thousand catties—"

Dong Ren's face was startled, and then his eyes were full of enthusiasm.

Good guy, livestock usually weigh three to five hundred catties, and a thousand catties is the peak, and three thousand catties is simply unimaginable.

"On the battlefield, the horse is sometimes more important than the horse." Han Mi said seriously.

Later, the two learned that Sharma was basically in England, and the number of Sharma in France was less than one-tenth of that in England.

If you want to introduce horse breeds, going to England is the best choice.

"England."

Dong Ren suddenly remembered the city of the Black Death and the restored King Charles.

"The war is not over yet."

Han Mi said in a deep voice: "Now the sea is full of dangers, but let's talk about it after a while."

"En!" Dong Ren sighed, "However, just Sharma is not enough."

(End of this chapter)