Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 95

The old man said the Yellow Crane Tower and fireworks went to Yangzhou in March.

Lonely sails far and wide, and only the Yangtze River flows.

……

Wuchang City, the provincial capital of Huguang, is home to cultural relics such as the Yellow Crane Tower written by Shixian. It is a national water and land transportation hub and enjoys the reputation of "the thoroughfare of nine provinces".

In the fourth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Dexing, the Marquis of Jiangxia, added Wuchang Fucheng because of the old city. The surrounding area of ​​the city was 98 feet. Wait, the wall is made of clay bricks, there are 93 city shops, [-] city towers, and a moat is dug around the city, with a water depth of more than one foot.

There are nine gates in the new city: Dadongmen in the east, Xinnanmen in the southeast, Baoanmen and Wangzemen in the south, Zhuyimen in the southwest, Pinghumen in the west, Hanyangmen in the northwest, Caobumen in the north, and Caobumen in the northeast. There is a small east gate.

It is precisely because of the developed water transport in Wuchang that it can directly connect to prosperous places such as Yangzhou, Songjiang and Suzhou from the Han River into the Yangtze River, so it has always been the most prosperous place in Central Chu.

In late October, Wuchang is full of autumn.

The road is paved with blue stones for ten miles, and there are many shops on both sides. The five-storey Shixian Restaurant is located in the golden area. It is said that Li Bai, the poetry fairy, drank here.

Shixian Restaurant, in terms of current economics, is a big IP.

After the restaurant changed hands several times, the new owner spent huge sums of money to rebuild the building, making this restaurant the well-deserved No. [-] building in Wuchang City today.

"300 taels!"

"500 taels!"

"600 taels!"

……

In the hall on the first floor, a group of people in silk and satin faced the high platform and kept bidding, and two of them kept raising their bids as if they were cross-eyed.

If there are good people here, they must be curious about what they are fighting for?

At this moment, Zhu Youtang, who was dealing with the memorials in the Qianqing Palace, would never have imagined that a large group of officials or gentry were bidding for population in the land he ruled.

That's right, it's not an item that's being pushed up now, but a delicate dancer.

The woman in the center of the stage is slender, dancing there like a butterfly.

Although the Ming Dynasty prohibited human trafficking, the law has always prohibited the people from being able to control the power, and it was not ordinary people who dared to buy people, but those powerful and wealthy officials and gentry.

Especially women in this era have no human rights at all.

Where there are interests, there are naturally rivers and lakes. When the interests of this rivers and lakes reach a certain level, there will naturally be a group of people flocking to them, and it is not a problem to take risks.

With the prosperity of brothels in Yangzhou and other places, some famous prostitutes and oirans often paid more than ten thousand taels for redemption, and the salt merchants in Yangzhou even spent a lot of money for their beauty.

With such a huge demand market, the prices of beautiful and flowery young women will naturally rise.

Some human traffickers saw the business opportunity, and they only needed to spend a few taels of silver to select young girls with exquisite features from poor families to buy and train them. After serving them as adults, they could sell these girls to wealthy businessmen and brothels for huge returns.

Although money and energy are required in the process of cultivation, and it may not be able to sell for a good price when they reach adulthood, it is undoubtedly a very cost-effective investment.

In fact, the most successful one was a guarding eunuch who bought a young girl from a family surnamed Shao, and after training, she is now a concubine of the current dynasty, and later she will be the Empress Dowager Shao.

Huguang can be said to be a place where the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, so this illegal gray industry happened to take shape, and Shixianlou became a big platform for selling beautiful girls.

thump...

A piano sound sounded from the second floor, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.

But behind the bead curtain, a slim woman in white clothes was sitting there quietly, with those suet-like jade hands lightly plucking the strings, and beautiful notes came down from above.

The guests who were still noisy just now cast their attention one after another. At first, they were just curious, but they slowly opened their mouths, and the hall of Nuoda was stunned.

At this moment, time seemed to stand still.

After a song was played, the bead curtain on it was lifted rustlingly, only to see a slim girl walking out with the piano in her arms.

"The little girl Qilan has made a fool of herself!"

With a gentle and pleasant voice, the girl held the piano and bowed to all the guests.

The girl's face was blocked by a veil, but she couldn't see the girl's face clearly, but such a figure and piano skills were enough to make people want to move.

"I... I am eight hundred, no, I would like to give 1000 taels!"

"2000 tael, the old man actually offered 2000 tael to buy it!"

"Although this official is as clean as water, I am willing to offer 3000 taels for Qilan!"

……

After seeing the performance of this girl named Qilan, even though she couldn't see her beauty clearly, the old perverts below immediately bid authentically.

Seeing the reaction of those people, a local employee sneered and said: "You guys from other places, don't make fun of yourself here! Qilan is our number one beauty in Jingchu, let alone 3000 taels, even 3 taels You may not even be able to buy it, it is said that the King of Chu will soon welcome Miss Qilan into the Palace of the King of Chu!"

The number one beauty in Jingchu?

The rich merchants who had just bid on the price heard that Qilan had such a famous name, they couldn't help but gasped, and they looked at each other in blank dismay.

This Jingchu has always produced peerless beauties, and now she dares to be named such a name, the other party's appearance must be good.Today, with this master-level piano skills, if someone is sent to Yangzhou, he must be an oiran-level figure.

The shopkeeper here is naturally not stupid, no matter whether it has been reserved by the king of Chu, he must find a high price before selling it, and naturally it is impossible to take someone away with a few thousand taels.

While talking here, the number one beauty in Jingchu, Qilan, had disappeared on the second floor, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Don't be stupid, it's important!" Wang Yu saw that his companion Hu Jun was still staring at the direction where Qilan disappeared, so he slapped Hu Jun on the back of the head.

Hu Jun was in pain, so he hurriedly turned his head to look at the table not far away, only to realize that the person who had been staring at it had got up and left.

"This sound should only exist in the sky, it's rare to hear it in the world!" A middle-aged man in a sixth-rank official uniform left Shixian Restaurant, as if he was reminiscing endlessly, and he was shaking his head and chanting .

Wang Yu and Hu Jun followed the middle-aged man in the sixth-rank official uniform. This middle-aged man was resolutely an idle official, and he was walking slowly towards the pier.

Wang Yu has been following the other party for a few days, so he has already figured out the other party's habit of following him from a distance.

The pier outside the city is very lively, a large group of dock workers are loading and unloading goods.

When Wang Yu watched the middle-aged official turn around and walk back, he thought it was a waste of work this time, only to find that there was an obese official beside him.

The fat guy who just got off the boat just followed the middle-aged official to talk about things, and finally handed over a ledger to the middle-aged official.

"Let's split up!" Wang Yu saw that the big fish he was waiting for had finally arrived, and Dang even parted from Hu Jun.

Knowing success or failure, Hu Jun made one move, nodded heavily, and led a person to quietly follow the middle-aged man in a sixth-rank official uniform.

At this time, it was approaching dusk, and the whole city of Wuchang was bathed in golden sunshine.

Chirp!

Ye Fugui sneezed loudly suddenly, and looked behind vigilantly, but he had already arrived at the Huguang Xunya Yamen, and immediately walked in with two subordinates.

"Besides Ye Yuan, we are not outsiders, why should we be so polite!" Jiang Hong said with a smile on his face when he saw Ye Fugui coming.

Ye Fugui naturally knew that this was actually a polite remark, so he immediately smiled and said: "These are some cheap souvenirs, please accept the inspection sir! I sell salt in Huguang, and I have to rely on the inspection supervisor to take care of it. If your lord refuses to accept such a small gift, then I have no choice but to write a letter and let my uncle help me to intercede!"

"How can you bother Ye Shilang with such trivial matters, so it's better to obey than to be respectful!" Jiang Hong naturally didn't intend to refuse, and he accepted it with a smile.

Ye Fugui's present gift was naturally planned, so he smiled and said: "Tomorrow around noon, the salt boat will arrive at the pier, please take good care of yourself, sir!"

"Definitely!" Jiang Hong already knew the truth about it, and now he would get some silver in his account if he did something convenient, so he naturally knew how to do it, so he agreed immediately.

Although he has been promoted to Huguang inspector, he is far from as good as he appears on the surface.

Not to mention that his future promotion will cost money, but he has to send ice and charcoal to his teacher every year. If he relies on this little salary from the court, he can't even support his family.

That's the case, even if he wants to be as honest as water, he has to climb to the top to be qualified.

When Ye Fugui saw that the matter had been taken care of, he got up and left.

Because Huguang Governor Wu Ju met Ding You and went home to observe his filial piety, and the new Huguang Governor Liang Jing did not take office, so basically everything is fine with Jiang Hong.

As for Li Qing, Huguang Left Chief Envoy, he was already an old acquaintance, and this Chief Envoy didn't have much power left at all, so giving him some favors was actually rewarding him with money.

Ye Fugui was too lazy to go through the yamen after he came out of the patrolling yamen, so he just asked his subordinates to deliver the gifts.

Ye Fugui has a house in Wuchang City, and he also bought a beauty from Shixian Tower to keep in the house, and walked in the alley humming a little tune.

Although the October wind was cold, his heart was warm at the moment.

As long as he thinks that the salt boat will arrive tomorrow, he will be able to earn a large amount of money steadily from it, and he immediately feels that he is simply a business genius.

Although life is going smoothly now, he still feels that he is earning a small amount of money.

Originally, with his background, it was not a problem to get through all the official joints, but there were still too few salts that he could control, and the ones he hated the most were those frontier merchants.

Even though his uncle is the dignified householder Zuo Shilang, the current salt law of the imperial court is to open the Chinese law, and grain needs to be transported from the southeast to the side warehouse in exchange for salt.

Not to mention that he is not familiar with the transportation route and the transportation cost is too high, even if the grain is actually transported to the side warehouse, the salt in exchange is not very cost-effective.

After all, if you want to mention salt in the saltworks now, you have to spend an extra sum of money.

On the other hand, those frontier merchants who are familiar with the road have already established rules for transporting grain, and they have even opened up commercial villages in the borderlands. They can directly send the grain produced in the commercial villages to the border warehouses to get salt, which makes them pay more for the salt. On the contrary, it is getting lower and lower.

That's why, under this damned open-China-French system, I can only find other ways to make a little money, and the real big money is still in the hands of those side businessmen.

From the current point of view, the best way to do it now is to abolish this cheating method of opening China. Only in this way can I have a chance to become a real big salt merchant.

Just as Ye Fugui was hating those side businessmen who stood in his way, he bumped into someone suddenly.

Standing in the middle of the alleyway was a burly young man, facing Ye Fugui who fell to the ground, but he looked indifferent.

"Who are you, how dare you block my way?" Ye Fugui asked angrily when he saw the person blocking the way in front of him.

Lu Song looked down at this middle-aged fat man of two hundred catties from a high position, and reported to himself: "Lu Song, a hundred-pound family in brocade clothes!"

"Jin Yiwei? What are you doing outside of me? Get out of my way!" After all, Ye Fugui was someone with a background, so he slapped his ass and stood up and said sharply.

Lu Song didn't step aside, but said indifferently: "Your Imperial Envoy, please!"

"Master imperial envoy? Which imperial envoy?" Ye Fugui frowned, and suddenly became confused.

The corners of Lu Song's mouth rose slightly, and he said slyly: "Of course it's Wang Yue, the new left deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Don't tell me you haven't heard about the massacre in Anlu Prefecture?"

"He... Hasn't he already bypassed Wuchang and went to Yangzhou?" Ye Fugui asked in horror as if he had been poured cold water.

The smile on Lu Song's face was even stronger, and he simply announced the answer: "If it weren't for this, how could you show your flaws? This is called soldiers never tire of deceit!"

In fact, a few days ago, Wang Yue did deliberately release smoke bombs and chose to enter the Yangtze River through other waterways.

Just when everyone in Wuchang City thought that Wang Yue took a detour to Yangzhou to rectify the salt administration, but Wang Yue came to Wuchang City from the Yangtze River and saw the most authentic side of Wuchang City.

Although the salt price here is far from as outrageous as that in Anlu Prefecture, the water system here is well developed, and the cost of coming from Yangzhou is not too high, so the salt profit here is also very considerable.

As for the reason why he was waiting for Ye Fugui here, he was actually waiting for a big case.

Ye Fugui was taken to a private house, and he really saw Wang Yue in civilian clothes. When he saw the rumored big devil, he was so frightened that he wet his pants immediately.

"Ye Fugui, the old man has been waiting for you for a few days, are you recruiting or not?" Wang Yue knew that the person in front of him was the key breakthrough, so he asked calmly.

After all, Ye Fugui was someone who had seen big scenes, but he warned with a bit of confidence: "Master Imperial Envoy, this matter has a lot to do with it, do you think that I, a merchant, can do this matter?"

"Isn't the matter already clear? The one who is really in charge of all this is naturally the King of Chu!" Wang Yue seemed to have known all this already, and his words were surprisingly authentic.

　It's a bit nerve-wracking to open this map, the update is late, sorry!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)