I'm really not doing business

Chapter 179
"The enemy broke through the Qinglong Fort, but the Qinglong Fort has not yet been completed. It is a war that has lasted for several years. It is unwise to care about the gains and losses of a city and a place." Disposal, this is not an opinion, but the emperor's decision.

Did Ming have any generals who were dismissed from office because of a small bridgehead?Not to mention, in the first year of Wanli, the northern captives broke through the Huyukou Pass of the Xuanda Great Wall, plundered Gaoshan and Tiancheng Guards, and since then triggered the Great Wall Dingjian to patrol the border. Ma Fang was impeached because of this, and Wang Chonggu returned from the capital. Xuan Da blocked the hole.

Specific analysis of specific matters, this time the Qinglong Fort has not even built a foundation, which is completely different from the situation in Xuanda's year. For the loss of land this time, accusations were made, and even the emperor was said to be partial.

What Zhu Yijun meant was not to ask, even if Qi Jiguang was defeated and came back from Daningwei, it was just a failure of the strategic attack.

"What does Da Sikou think?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu.

When Wang Chonggu heard His Majesty asking for his opinion, he said worriedly: "Is the official factory of peach spit white clay lost? Your Majesty, white clay can be reused, but it will also be worn out. Therefore, I am worried that the supply of white clay will not be enough. , I Dahan has just been honest for a few days and restored the original price, if Taotu Mountain is lost, it will be bad."

"That's not true." Zhu Yijun shook his head and said.

"That's not considered a defeat." Wang Chonggu said quite confidently that Taotu Mountain is the key to the outer defense area of ​​the entire Daningwei. If Taotu Mountain is not lost, the Daningwei will not be considered a defeat. , Whoever stops him from making money, he will be in a hurry with whoever.

The woolen business is in full swing, and the white soil of Taotu Mountain cannot be lost!
Zhang Juzheng put Tang Bao on the other side and continued the court discussion.

Xu Congcheng, captain of the son-in-law, played begging shoulders. Jianyu is a sedan chair carried on the shoulders. The following civil servants are not allowed to enter or leave the sedan chair if they are under the third division of the foreign caretaker.

Military officers, governors, princes and earls can take sedan chairs, and those who are above the fourth rank of the capital, governors abroad, patrol officials, political envoys, inspectors, and command envoys, and the rest cannot go out in sedan chairs.

Wan Shihe added that this ancestral law has been established. There are also times when sedan chairs are forbidden for those above the fourth grade of the Jingtang. It was stipulated by Emperor Sejong at that time.

Wan Shihe had a deep understanding of this regulation after reading the national history of Emperor Sejong's memoirs.

In the sixth year of Jiajing, Emperor Sejong was still a king who worked hard to govern, and he was not obsessed with gods. During the parade of military horses, Emperor Sejong was furious. In the autumn military parade, those generals struggled to mount their horses, and some of them even had horses. None of them know how to ride, and all the officials travel with a lot of sedan chairs. Since then, this ancestor has become a law.

Twenty-one years after Jiajing, this decree was no longer generally followed. In the Wanli period, this ancestral law was dug out and strictly enforced again.So Xu Congcheng, the captain-in-law, begged for a sedan chair to travel.

In the end, the result of the court discussion was to follow the law of the ancestors.

The test method of filling in the name in the draft list and filling in the name in the bottom book has achieved results, so Wang Xiyuan was promoted to Yunnan's procuratorate during the official affairs, and Zhang Juzheng sent his confidant Wang Xiyuan to Yunnan. Naturally, it was for the Yunnan Copper of mining.

Zhang Juzheng did not conceal his purpose, which was to let Wang Xiyuan supervise the mining of copper in Yunnan.

According to the meteorological phenomenon reported in Sichuan, on the third day of February, there were two meteors, one red and one green, each more than ten feet long, starting at the due east of the celestial sphere and flowing to the southwest. Hissing like a drum.

Some officials said that this was a warning from the anger of heaven and man, and that there was a big treacherous sycophant in the court, and the emperor should repair it!

Isn't this a coincidence?
Sichuan General Liu Xian just found these two meteorites and sent them to the capital. Zhu Yijun kept absorbing the two meteorites with a magnet, and asked the courtiers, is this a meteor?

The celestial man was angry and warned, and it seemed that he broke through without attacking. Did the celestial man hit people with iron blocks?Astronomical phenomena are just astronomical phenomena.

Bi Qiang, the left servant of the Governor's Cangchang Account Department, said: "Taicang silver.

The Taicang of Ming Dynasty is the national treasury, which is divided into the old treasury and the foreign treasury. The old treasury is the strategic reserve fund, and the foreign treasury is responsible for the unified disbursement.

In the 23rd year of Jiajing, Lao Ku withdrew 88 taels of domestic funds to serve the gods. Lao Ku deposited 9000 taels of silver in that year. In the third year of Longqing, it was only 1136480 taels after further investigation. Emperor Jiajing and Emperor Longqing Everyone likes to withdraw money from the state treasury. In the first year of Longqing, it cost 36 yuan. Zhang Juzheng repeatedly played and bargained, but Emperor Longqing only took 30 yuan.

Bi Qiang said: "The state's wealth comes and goes every year. It's not a fixed amount. In the event of a famine or war disaster, it will always be withdrawn. Therefore, in the future, the emperor must be frugal. The government will store it in advance and then give it to the bandit without any shortage. The savings are good. When there is banditry in the military, there will be no money to use.

This is Bi Qiang's face for Emperor Jiajing and Emperor Longqing. In fact, most of Lao Ku's money was taken by the emperor.

It's all a thing of the past. Now Your Majesty spends money from inside to outside all day long, rewarding soldiers today, and giving New Year's money to officials tomorrow. Don't say anything that undermines the unity of the monarch and his ministers.

Then Bi Qiang changed the subject and said: In the three years of Wanli, the old storage was newly collected, and the old storage and the external storage, the total silver was 280. The numbered seals of millions of taels of silver are stored in the old warehouse, and the deposits are silver coins, not silver ingots.

Zhu Yijun repeatedly confirmed that he did not count wrong before asking: "Big Situ, our national treasury now has 700 million taels of silver?"

"Ah, for Your Majesty, [-] million, so much left over from last year." Wang Guoguang nodded and said.

In June of the sixth year of Longqing, there were only more than 30 taels for repairing the tomb of the first emperor. In April of the fourth year of Wanli, the Ministry of Households told the emperor that our Daming now has more than 700 million silver deposits.

"For so many years, the foreign treasury has gradually won and the old treasury has become more solid. This is a benefit that is boundless for hundreds of millions of years." After Zhu Yijun finished reading Bi Qiang's memorial, he still felt a little unreal. The treasury of Ming Dynasty was gradually filling up. I know that the account made by the Ministry of Households is six books per account, and the tax collection and debt collection by the Taxation Bureau have not been included. If it is shipped to Beijing and the national funds are saved, an additional 117 million taels of silver will be added.

"Is Daming rich now?" Zhu Yijun asked again.

Wang Guoguang said in a low voice: "If the taxes that should be collected come up, you can be considered rich, but you can't be considered rich now."

"Big Situ, in the second year of Wanli we were still arguing about the Aoshan Lantern Festival. The Ministry of Rituals came up with so many ways to organize the Aoshan Lantern Festival. I can't watch it yet, and I have to reward you for seeing it, alas." Zhu Yijun directly played Yikusitian. It was really bitter at the time, and he is not considered rich now.

Zhu Yijun finally understood why Zhang Juzheng wanted to mint money. When he had silver, he had to use it to produce silver. Rolling silver coins was mixed with lead and tin. The seigniorage was also collected by the imperial court.

However, the result of the court discussion was that they did not agree, so for the time being, they would not seal it. First, all the silver would be rolled into silver coins, released, and the main task would be to recover the savings of Ming Dynasty.

According to Wang Guoguang's preliminary estimate, the Ming Dynasty had at least hundreds of millions of taels of silver in storage, and if the silver was circulated, it could effectively alleviate the money shortage in the Ming Dynasty for 200 years. How to mobilize the silver would naturally turn all the silver into exquisite Only silver coins will do.

No amount of seigniorage is too much.

"Your Majesty, can I borrow the side hall of His Majesty's Wenhua Palace?" Zhang Juzheng stood up and bowed his head.

"Borrow the side hall?" Zhu Yijun thought for a while and said, "It's all right."

Zhang Juzheng quickly prepared the props, and all the courtiers wanted to know what kind of work Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, was going to do.

You Qi brought a lot of things and handed them over to Ti Shuai Zhao Mengyou. Although Zhao Mengyou didn't know what these things were for, he still presented them to the imperial court.

Zhang Juzheng stood still and said: "Years ago, Liang Menglong, the left servant of the Ministry of War, discussed the matter of shipping again. In fact, grain is not suitable for shipping."

"Ah?" All the ministers were confused. It was you, Zhang Juzheng, who suggested sea transportation, and now it is you, Zhang Juzheng, who is denying grain transportation by sea. What kind of tricks are you playing over and over again?

Zhang Juzheng took out a model of a boat. This boat was very simple but had a transparent glass cover. Zhang Juzheng took out a handful of rice, filled the entire granary, put it into the water and said, "I have checked everything. In the old shipping cases in the Yuan Dynasty, Yongle, Xuande, and Chenghua years, it was found that grain grain ships capsized more often than the shipwrecks in the canal.”

Shipwrecks in canals are man-made, but most of the ships transporting food by sea are natural disasters.

"The tank boat parked in the harbor, the other boats are fine, but the tank boat will sink. I thought about it and figured out why." Zhang Juzheng fiddled with the boat a little, and the rice in the boat began to roll and crowded to a point. On the side, when Zhang Ju let go of his forehand, the boat was still tilted and did not turn back!

Everyone looked at the tilted ship in amazement. The rolling accumulation of rice caused a change in the center of gravity of the ship. If there is another gust of wind and waves, the ship will inevitably capsize.

"Most of the canal grain transportation is manpower, trackers and paddlers. The canal grain transportation is a flat-bottomed boat. Although there will be deflection caused by rice grains rolling and piling up on one side, it is still very stable. But sea boats cannot be flat-bottomed, otherwise they cannot resist the wind. "Zhang Juzheng explained why river transport is safer than sea transport. River ships use flat bottoms, while sea transport has sharp bottoms.

Zhang Juzheng continued: "I just thought, is it possible to change this phenomenon by putting it in a bag?"

Zhang Juzheng picked up another boat, put a small bag of rice into it, and put the boat into the water. Zhang Juzheng fiddled with the lower mast with his hands, and the boat tilted.

"That's why I said that grain grains are not suitable for shipping by sea. The grain grains packed in bags are difficult to return to the right position after the ship's hull tilts. If it encounters wind and waves, it will surely capsize." Zhang Juzheng explained his discovery with his hands.

Zhu Yijun stretched out his hand to fiddle with it, and found that the rice bag would be obviously deformed, and the boat still couldn't return to normal. He said quite convincingly, "Mr.

Zhang Juzheng shook his head helplessly and said: "I'm starting to think, is it enough to make it dense and prevent the rice from rolling?"

Zhang Juzheng took out a glass box, put the rice in it, pressed it firmly, then closed the lid, shook it vigorously for a few times, put it on the boat, and started to shake it. Only a dozen times, the boat started again. tilt.

There is no way to press the rice firmly. As long as there is a bump or two, there will be a gap, and the rice will still roll and accumulate on one side, which will eventually cause the center of gravity of the ship to change and deflect.

Zhang Juzheng bowed his head and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I can't do anything about it, but there are people in Ming Dynasty who can do it."

"I wrote to Songjiang Governor Wang Daokun, Songjiang Shipyard General Manager Guo Rulin, and Zhao Shizhen to ask how to solve it. My own opinion is limited, but everyone's wisdom is infinite. Wooden box."

"This is the wooden box supervised by the Jiangnan Shipyard. The inside and outside are painted with tung oil. There are twenty partitions inside, each of which can hold five grains. One box is one stone. Please look at it, Your Majesty."

Ti Shuai Zhao Mengyou brought up several sets of boxes with the Ti riders. The width of the boxes was no more than one foot, and there was a partition every two minutes. The length of the boxes was one foot and five inches, and the height was three feet.

If he didn’t understand, he asked Ge Shouli, who was a little confused and said, “If you add partitions like this, the rice beams will still roll inside, and then pile up when the boat tilts, and the boat still can’t turn back. It will roll and pile up, and it will accumulate in the end."

Zhang Juzheng smiled and said: "Yes, but the rolling of rice will be between two points, so that the rolling range of rice in each small partition will be reduced, and the impact caused can also be reduced. If we can If each layer of partitions is as small as only one grain of rice, then there will be no such trouble, but two points is enough.”

"It makes sense." Ge Shouli nodded, and he understood the rationale.

What Ge Shouli is talking about is integral, which is continuous accumulation and summation. What Zhang Juzheng is talking about is differentiation, which is to continuously reduce the gap between the partitions. If a grain of rice happens to be stuck, it will not roll. If it cannot be done, the rolling range of the rice will be reduced. , so that the change of the center of gravity is not so drastic, the ability of the ship to return to the center will be enhanced.

"There is still a mystery about this grain storage box. Mr. Ge, please take a look. The cover is not buttoned up, but pushed in. Each of its buckets has two three-inch inverted triangles." Zhang Juzheng demonstrated the grain storage box with his hands. The lid and the two inverted triangles of the Caoliang lid can turn the rice into a triangular prism with a triangular cross-section. In this way, the problem of the center of gravity shift caused by the rolling of rice grains will be further reduced.

Zhang Juzheng actually did an experiment on the Tonghui River with a sharp-bottomed tank boat of 500 materials, [-] grain tanks, and more than [-] trackers. question.

Zhang Ju and Wang Guoguang, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, did this grain box experiment together.

Zhang Juzheng continued: "There must be ballast stones at the bottom of the cabin to further increase the ship's ability to return to the right, so that the tank boat will not capsize so easily."

In order to prevent the tank boat from overturning so easily, the craftsmen of Daming showed their strength, just like making the ship have a watertight cabin design, it seems that the craftsmen of Daming only need one chance to show their ingenious craftsmanship.

Zhu Yijun looked at the box full of tung oil and said: "This box is good, but it is expensive. How much does this layer of tung oil cost? How much does this wood cost? Although it can be used repeatedly, the 20 shi It takes 20 boxes to transport grain to the capital, which is expensive."

"What is the cost?"

Zhang Juzheng bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, the wood is actually the leftovers of shipbuilding. The tung oil is actually only stored for one year. If you can't use it up, the accumulated tung oil will deteriorate. The cost of a box is about one penny, and 20 pieces. It's only 2 taels of silver."

The preservation plan of tung oil is still being researched, such as a closed tung oil tank, such as putting ginger slices in the tung oil to prevent freezing, etc.

Wang Chonggu, the only businessman in the Wenhua Palace, looked around the obviously spliced ​​box, and looked at it again and again. The most expensive thing about this thing is the craftsman's wages. It's not a good wood, and it doesn't need to be very flat, as long as the size is right. It doesn't even need to be planed into a smooth surface, apprentices can make it, and the cost can be controlled to a penny, Wang Chonggu believes it.

Wang Chonggu pondered over the box and said: "Your Majesty, if the quantity is large, the cost will be cheaper. In the future, if a million boxes are broken, it will not cost much to repair them, but 400 million shi of grain is the capital's life-saving food. "

"Grain is expensive in the north and cheap in the south. As time goes on, rich and powerful households will buy grain boxes and sell grain to Beijing. After all, sea transportation is cheap, fast, and the turnover is also fast. In the past, ships were easy to capsize. There were Japanese pirates. Sea transportation Naturally, it cannot be unobstructed."

"But in order to make money, there are still many people who are willing to invest. In the past, shipping rice by sea was risky. Isn't there still so many people who transport rice from Cochin and Champa to Susong area every year?"

"At that time, this grain box may also be able to become a business."

There is a way to make money, Wang Guoguang heard it, will it be worth it if this continues?This household minister did it for Wang Chonggu!

But Wang Guoguang is really not very good at business, he is good at finance and taxation.

Nearly [-]% of Songjiang prefecture is cotton fields. If you grow cotton, you cannot grow grain. It is cheaper to transport grain from Jiaozhi to Songjiang than from Suzhou. The risk of transporting rice by sea is so high, and there are still people who want to transport it. For the sake of profit, some investment is just.

And the investment is not too expensive. Specializing in making this kind of boxes requires large quantities and large scales, and the upper and lower industrial chains must be opened up. Otherwise, buying tung oil and wood scatteredly and making them yourself is not as cheap as selling them in official factories.

The advantage of the industrial chain is not so easy to get through. The official factory of this thing can make tens of thousands of them a day. This is the advantage of the official factory, but it is also a disadvantage. It is difficult to turn around when the craft is outdated and the product loses its advantages. , Every piece produced is a loss, but the official factory is limited by the direction of the wind, and it can't always turn around so simply. The loss caused by this rigidity is a problem that the Daming official factory must face.

And exploring how to reduce the loss caused by the rigidity of the official factory under the tyrannical court power is also an important topic of Wang Chonggu's research. Serious and lively, it seems to be opposite, but it can also be unified.

"Well, let's make it and see, if it works, it can be regarded as a business." After listening to Wang Chonggu's discussion, Zhu Yijun finally affirmed Zhang Juzheng's exploration, and 20 summer grains will be shipped. As long as the imperial court can transport grains, it will save freight , then Quanhao will definitely follow suit.

The hydrofoil sailing boat can shorten the information distance from the capital of the Ming Dynasty to Nanya, and the research on the problem of easily overturning when transporting rice by sea can shorten the distance of rice grain from the capital of the Ming Dynasty to Nanya. Once it succeeds, it will be a great blessing.

Significant.

When Zhu Yijun led the officials back to the main hall of the Wenhua Palace, the commander-in-chief Zhao Mengyou took a Tang newspaper from the rushing Tiqi and handed it to Zhang Hong.

Zhang Hong presented it to the imperial court.

All eyes turned to the Emperor Ming, and most of the reports directly sent to the imperial court were battle reports from the front line, obviously, they were from the Great Ningwei.

After Zhu Yijun opened it and looked at it, smiles appeared on the corners of his mouth. The smiles quickly spread and became brighter. He smiled and said, "It's good news."

Great news!That's all right!

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

This is no wonder that the courtiers were nervous. Since Jiajing, the battle reports in the north have been either the gathering of the northern captives, or the news that the generals, deputy commanders, generals were killed, camps were breached, the Great Wall was blazing, and the people were looted. When the Tang newspaper spread to the Wenhua Palace, the courtiers were naturally very nervous.

Zhu Yijun said cheerfully, "Qi Shuai deserves to be Qi Shuai."

"Thousands of households under Tuman Khan's tent, Su Bahai, Dong Huli, etc., crossed Qinglong Fort to attack Xinglin Fort. Qi Shuai set up an ambush and killed more than [-] people. The enemy retreated when they saw an ambush. Qi Shuai personally led the battalion to Qinglong Fort. Stop the enemy's retreat from outside, kill more than three hundred, and quickly flee Hai in embarrassment."

"The battle line has advanced for more than five miles. The Qinglong Fort was completed in July, and Tuman Khan has no possibility of going south to show off."

"Sir, is Qi Shuai deliberately luring the enemy to go deep?"

This time it was a big victory in a field battle, Zhu Yijun even wondered whether Qi Jiguang deliberately lured the enemy to go deep.

This was obviously an ambush, and it was two ambushes, the purpose of which was to advance the front line and protect the construction of Qinglong Fort.

Once the Qinglong Fort is completed, Da Ming can really advance, attack, retreat, or defend. Tu Manhan probably sleeps every day, and his nightmares are all caused by Qi Jiguang.

"I don't know soldiers." Zhang Juzheng finished reading the pond newspaper, shook his head and handed the pond newspaper to Tan Lun, Shangshu of the Ministry of War. Zhang Juzheng really didn't know soldiers. Most of the letters he sent to the frontier generals were political considerations. In terms of military affairs, Zhang Juzheng chose to believe in the wisdom of the generals.

Zhang Juzheng was in charge of drawing up strategies, that is, to ensure the power of the court and public opinion, so that the frontline generals would not be so restrained in combat.

After Tan Lun read it, he handed it to Wang Chonggu, and Wang Chonggu passed it on to others after reading it.

Tan Lun looked at Wang Chonggu and asked, "What do you think, Chief Sikou?"

"My opinion is the same as that of Da Sima. This is Qi Shuai's trick. Tuman Khan has been fooled again. Maybe this is Qi Shuai. He can always choose the time and place of the battle in the battle situation, and use The right time, the right place, and the right people can completely defeat the opponent." Wang Chonggu deeply knew Qi Jiguang's fear.

As long as Qi Jiguang is still in the court, Wang Chonggu will not dare to do anything. He can't control what others do. He himself is not willing to be an enemy of Qi Jiguang.

I'm afraid that if he ran to England, he would be caught by Qi Shuai and sent to the imperial court.

The world is determined to have no generals who are invincible in all battles, because people will have arrogance and indulgence, but the face of the Ming court officials made Qi Jiguang dare not be arrogance and slack.

Qi Jiguang won again, and he won cleanly.

Tan Lun shook his head and said, "Tu Man Khan, why don't you go west and fight with me Da Khan, why do you want to get into trouble with Qi Shuai? In the first year of Wanli, Qi Shuai used this trick to retreat and caught Dong Huli. My nephew, Buhachu, really doesn’t have a long memory.”

Hearing Tan Lun's assertion, Zhu Yijun was silent for a moment and said, "Will the Tuman Khan really win in future battles, and he doesn't think he has won, and dare not pursue, let alone further expand the results of the battle? When will Qi Shuai put a qin on the city wall, and the city gate is opened, so the Tuman Khan dare not attack?"

"That's not true, Qi Shuai can't play the piano." Tan Lun said with a smile.

Tan Lun's words made the atmosphere of the court a bit lighter. He continued: "But Tuman Khan really won, and he will doubt whether he won. It is very likely that he will stop. If he is afraid of being beaten, he will With cups, bows, snakes, and trees as soldiers, even if the gates of the city are opened, Tuman Khan may have to think carefully about whether it is a fraud."

All the ministers fell silent. Qi Jiguang proved himself time and time again in military affairs, and he could be relied on. Given a chance, he could defeat the Japanese pirates in the south and destroy the strong captives in the north, but he didn't even have this chance in the past.

Qi Jiguang's wife, Wang Shi, once set up an empty city plan. In the battle of Xinhe, there was no main force in Xinhe City, only a group of women and children, and Wang Shi let the women and children wave their banners in Xinhe, scaring the Japanese pirates from attacking. At that time, Qi Jiguang Leading the main force to stop the Japanese pirates in Ninghai, the Wang family returned to aid Taizhou and the Xinhe area as the main force, and won a day's time.

On this day, Qi Jiguang won nine battles in a month.

"The gentry of Guangdong and Guangxi impeached Ling Yunyi for being too murderous, and asked Bo Yinbutang of Sishui to return to the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi." Zhang Juzheng took out a memorial, with a rare and strange tone.

Ling Yunyi is not greedy, but Ling Yunyi likes to kill people!Whenever the powerful people do not follow the orders of the imperial court, Ling Yunyi will bring people to the door. If they refuse to obey, the door will not be demolished, and the bed will not be moved. If you disagree, you will kill someone!

When Yin Zhengmao left Guangdong and Guangxi for Luzon, the Japanese pirates were completely pacified, but there was a tail left, that is, the Yao people in Luopang Mountain. Ling Yunyi still presided over the suppression of the rebellion, so the traditional drama of letting Quan Hao accept donations is still being staged in Guangdong and Guangxi.

Ling Yunyi is completely different from Yin Zhengmao, Ling Yunyi doesn't take any money, he kills people.

Hai Rui also said dumbfoundingly: "In fact, I have also received a lot of letters. I can only say that all the gentry in Guangdong and Guangxi miss Yin Butang."

"Yin Butang is in Guangdong and Guangxi. They used the congratulatory form to say that Yin Butang was corrupt. After Yin Butang left, a god-killing star Ling Yunyi came to tear down the door and move the bed. On the contrary, he seemed to be gentle."

Hai Rui won't show his eyes for the rich and powerful, he just wants to have fun.

Yin Zhengmao was negotiable, but Ling Yunyi was not at all.

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(End of this chapter)