Ming Dynasty: Evolution from snake to national guardian beast

Chapter 38 Ten thousand horses? !

Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Yuanzhang had dinner together, then left the palace and returned to the East Palace.

After Zhu Yunwen left, Zhu Yuanzhang took out Zhu Di's memorial, read it once, and then wrote on the memorial:

Royal Charcoal.

This sentence means that the name of coal has been determined from now on, and the ownership of coal has also been determined.

Since it is the royal family, it means that these coals do not belong to Zhu Di or the court, but to Zhu Yuanzhang, and even to his grandson Zhu Yunwen in the future.

Although Zhu Yunwen said that he would leave half of it to Zhu Di, how could Zhu Yuanzhang really leave so much money to Zhu Di?

Although Zhu Yuanzhang loves his descendants, he also has to look at who he is right with.

Zhu Yuanzhang regarded Zhu Biao as his own son and tried his best to cultivate him, just because he wanted his eldest son to carry forward the Ming Dynasty after his death.

Then, it was Zhu Yunwen's turn.

As the saying goes, "Love a house and a bird." Zhu Yunwen is Zhu Biao's eldest son and Zhu Yuanzhang's designated successor. Zhu Yunwen's status in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind is unmatched by anyone.

Next, it was the turn of the other sons.

Although Zhu Di was deeply favored by Zhu Yuanzhang, the vassal king was, after all, a collateral line of the old Zhu family, and the main lineage would always be Zhu Biao's lineage.

The priorities must be clearly distinguished, otherwise they will overwhelm the guest and take the lead. Zhu Yuanzhang is also a talented and strategic person, and he knows this very well.

Therefore, timely suppression was also to let King Yan know his position so as to prevent him from having any evil thoughts. In this way, infighting among the royal family could be prevented.

Zhu Yuanzhang kept 70% of the coal profits, and then arranged for someone to go to Peiping to manage the coal mine's accounts and prevent Zhu Di from corruption.

Of course, this time Zhu Yuanzhang asked Zhu Gaoxi to return to Peking together.

Zhu Di took the initiative to hand over 70% of the coal revenue, which moved Zhu Yuanzhang very much. It also made Zhu Yuanzhang look at Zhu Di with admiration and thought he was a good boy.

The twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month is the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month.

On this day, both civilians and civil and military officials are looking forward to the arrival of the New Year.

Every Spring Festival is the happiest day for Chinese people, because they can be with their families, buy groceries, eat, and prepare to welcome the new year.

The streets and alleys of Peiping are bustling with people, old and young, and children. They all go to the streets on this day and use their saved money to buy new year's goods.

Those who are a little richer will buy some new clothes, chickens, ducks, fish and other things as New Year gifts.

This year, the lives of poor people have become much better. Just the cost of burning charcoal has saved a lot of money.

What's more, Prince Yan's Mansion also promised that the price of coal in the future would be no more than five cents per catty, which made the people of Beiping Mansion extremely grateful to Prince Yan.

Almost every household has a tablet of King Yan and a statue of the Dragon God.

The people are looking forward to the arrival of the New Year and have put down their work, but Bai Chu and others are not so relaxed.

Peking Mansion.

On New Year's Eve, Zhu Di called everyone over to prepare for a year-end meeting.

Naturally, there are very few people who are qualified to participate in the year-end summary.

Zhu Di's three sons, one is Bai Chu, one is the old monk, and the other is Princess Shang Yan.

However, the third son Zhu Gaosui was young after all, so Zhu Di did not let him participate.

In a secret room specially prepared for them by Zhu Di, everyone was conducting their first year-end summary after the rebellion.

"The new year is approaching. It's been a hard year. Thank you for your hard work."

"The biggest change in this term is that Mr. Bai joined us, which greatly improved our strength. "After Mr. Bai came, our life became much better, especially the sales of coal. This year, our It can be said to be the richest year in history. "

"Princess, tell us, how much money have we made this year? Let us celebrate."

Princess Yan glared at Zhu Di fiercely, then took out a book and began to count the accounts.

"In the past six months, the biggest harvest is the tax on the land, which totals 80,000 shi, which is 40,000 taels of silver."

"Including the vassal king's salary, there are a total of fifty thousand taels of silver."

"But he spent all the money on disaster relief and royal palace expenses, and not a penny was left."

"There are also some money from selling coal. I started selling it in October, and now, I have made 400,000 taels."

"However, we have already spent one hundred thousand taels of silver to pay the wages of the hired workers and guys."

"In addition, including buying horses, mules and horses, recruiting soldiers and horses, and doing business, the total cost is 250,000 taels."

"I only have less than 50,000 taels of silver, and I have to buy more ironware to make a stove."

"After the New Year, if you want to hand over 70% of the tax revenue to the court, I'm afraid it will be a bit stretched. Your Majesty, you should save some money, otherwise, our family will starve again."

After Xu Miaoyun finished counting, everyone looked confused.

This year's coal market was obviously booming, but in the end there was less than 50,000 taels of silver, which was a bit incredible.

Zhu Di stared at Xu Miaoyun in disbelief and asked in disbelief:
  "Princess, are you sure? How come this money is spent so fast?"

Xu Miaoyun rolled her eyes at Zhu Di, then glared at the old monk and said with an unhappy face:

"You have to ask this old monk to know about this matter."

"He said that all the money was spent by him, and that it was all for the prince's great cause!"

Zhu Di's eyes widened immediately, wanting to hear his explanation.

However, when the old monk told him his plan, Zhu Di was shocked.

In the palace, everyone's eyes fell on the old monk.

As for the old monk, his face was calm, as if he was sleeping, with his eyes closed, unmoved by external objects.

People who don't know, think he is some kind of eminent monk.

Zhu Di yelled:
  "Old monk, stop pretending, I know you heard it too."

"Tell me quickly, what did you spend so much money on?"

The old monk stopped holding the rosary beads in his hand and slowly opened his eyes, with an imperceptible flash of surprise in his eyes.

"Your Majesty, I just want to complete your plan, so I spent so much money."

"Lao Na just bought thousands of horses and mules for the prince and placed them in the Western Mountains. He also recruited 10,000 soldiers and horses to transport coal for the prince all the way north."

As he spoke, he clasped his hands together and recited a Buddha's name.

"Amitabha, if I don't go to hell, who will? I'll leave this matter to the poor monk."

When Zhu Di heard this, the hairs all over his body stood up and his eyes straightened.

Thousands of horses? Ten thousand people?

These people are Zhu Di's personal soldiers, but on the surface, Zhu Di already has his own personal guards, numbering tens of thousands.

(End of this chapter)