Reborn Ming Dynasty as Emperor

Chapter 528 The Absurd Life of the Emperor Who Completely Sinks

Shu Danian's [-] jin of tobacco soil was successfully confiscated by the inner factory, and it was transported to Gu Hengbo that night.

According to the plan, the confiscated proceeds and the tobacco soil purchased by the imperial court will reach Gu Hengbo in various ways, and then be transported to Fusang by the China Merchants Shipping Bureau, where they will be processed into Meisheng cigarettes and then returned to China, from Ningbo, Guangzhou, Macao and other places sold abroad.

Here, the Meisheng Company run by Gu Hengbo is like the Dutch East India Company, which is responsible for the sales of Daming state-owned tobacco, and because the Meisheng Company's market is abroad, Zhu Youxiao specially allowed it to have armed forces , and the armed forces are in charge of Heiwa, the titan of the South China Sea Fleet.

Wang Duo, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites of Nanjing, did not know that the [-] jin of smoke and soil hidden by his son-in-law Shu Danian would also flow to Meisheng Company, but the arrest of his son-in-law also made him feel a strong sense of crisis.

As an old bureaucrat with decades of ups and downs in the officialdom, it's not that he doesn't know how powerful Wei Zhongxian is, so he can guess that after the people in the inner factory catch his son-in-law, he may follow the clues and catch him soon.

Although he managed to escape the temporary crisis through his deliberate performance of righteousness, it does not mean that he will always be safe.

Therefore, as soon as Wang Duo returned to the mansion, before he had time to rest for a while, he called out his most trusted steward Zhou: "Take out the five thousand catties of smoke and soil at home, and immediately transport them to Miss Gu. Hurry up! It won't be too late." , the old man will be killed by the five thousand catties of smoke!"

Steward Zhou saw that his master said he was in a hurry, so he hurriedly agreed to come down. Just when Wang Duo took the right cards and keys and rushed to call for someone to move the cigarettes and soil to load the car, there was a clanging sound outside.

"What's the matter?" Wang Duo came out in a hurry, and suddenly, he saw a young man running over: "Reporting to the master, the people from the inner factory are coming, and the little ones can't stop them. As soon as they come, they shoot directly. He said he wanted to arrest you, Master."

Wang Duo couldn't help being stunned for a moment, thinking to himself how could these people in the inner factory move so quickly, just after arresting his son-in-law, they would attack him, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, so quickly?

Could it be that my son-in-law has already confessed that he and he are in the business of opium?
Wang Duo quickly denied this conjecture, because the cooperation between him and his son-in-law had never left any contract, and he had always ordered him verbally. My son-in-law didn't even know that he was still secretly running Yantu alone.

Thinking of this, Wang Duo couldn't help regaining some courage, and he calmed down a lot. He hurriedly said: "Don't panic!" and walked out directly. At this time, Li Dingguo also brought people to him .

With a wave of Li Dingguo's hand, several internal factory officers surrounded Wang Duo with muskets.

"Master Li, what are you doing? Why did I offend you? In broad daylight, how dare you trespass on my mansion? You know there is no law in the world. If you don't say it today, don't blame the old man for not knowing it." Read your copy in front of His Majesty!"

Wang Duo was sure that the people in the inner factory didn't know that he still had the smoke and soil in his possession, so he spoke with confidence.

But Li Dingguo replied indifferently: "My lord Wang is a majestic minister. It stands to reason that the lower officials shouldn't barge in so recklessly, but because of the report, your lord Wang not only condoned his family's sale of cigarettes, but also hid them privately. And the evidence is conclusive, so I have no choice but to arrest you under the strict order of Eunuch Wei."

"Is there any smoke and soil?" Wang Duo couldn't help but chuckled, and asked Li Dingguo in a very annoyed manner: "Master Li, if the people in your inner factory want to make a big deal and win His Majesty's favor, there is no need to bite people like this Well, this trumped-up charge cannot be imposed, since there is evidence, it is better to show the evidence before doing things."

"This is the evidence!"

After Li Dingguo took out a deed, he said: "You traded a batch of tobacco and soil with the Meisheng Company, a total of [-] jin. Although your actions were quite secretive, we were still detected. This is also thanks to your steward Zhou." Ci, you are not careful enough."

As he said that, Li Dingguo directly ordered his subordinates to conduct a strict search.

Because Steward Zhou had already been secretly controlled by the inner factory, it was easy to dig out the five thousand catties of tobacco and soil, and put boxes in front of Wang Duo.

Wang Duo couldn't help but turned pale with fright, and was about to kick Steward Zhou angrily: "How dare you harm me, see if I don't kill you!"

Li Dingguo saw this busy man holding back Wang Duo, and smiled at Wang Duo, "I can't blame him for this person, but you can blame yourself for being too greedy. It would be great to hand it over to Meisheng Company, but there is still five thousand catties left, so maybe you still want to wait for the wind to pass before selling it for a better price?"

After saying that, Li Dingguo ordered someone to take away Wang Duo and the five thousand catties of smoke and soil he had privately hidden.

Wang Duo also seemed to understand the key point, and realized that this might be a bureau set up by Neichang and Gu Meisheng from the beginning to the end. Yes, even if you hand it over to Meisheng Company to get some money back, your home will be ransacked for hiding the smoke and soil, and you will lose more money.

However, despite such examples as Wang Duo, there are still many gentry, bureaucrats or wealthy businessmen who have private possessions of cigarettes, because they are greedy for profit and unwilling to give it to the court for nothing, and they rush to Meisheng Company for the purpose of making money. Get back some money, but in fact it was still cheated by the court.

But if you want the country to control huge profits, you must be so cruel, and you must let many businessmen understand that playing with the court is unbearable.

In this way, almost the entire existing tobacco soil of Daming has entered the Meisheng Company, which also laid the foundation for Meisheng Company to rapidly expand the overseas tobacco soil market.

And here, there is another problem that must be solved, that is, not only the upper-level rulers but also the lower-level people in the mainland of Ming Dynasty who participated in the entire tobacco industry, because of the higher purchase price and lower cost of planting, especially in some Where barren land is more conducive to planting poppies and other crops, many farmers have become full-time tobacco farmers.

Therefore, once the imperial court prohibits private sales of tobacco, a large number of tobacco farmers will go bankrupt, which will also affect the rule of Ming Dynasty.

For this reason, Zhu Youxiao specially ordered Huangzhuang to be responsible for purchasing the raw materials for making tobacco soil from tobacco farmers around the country, and then handing it over to Meisheng Company for processing and sales.

In short, from the collection of raw materials to processing to sales, the entire industrial chain of the opium trade is controlled by the imperial court, and no private person is allowed to get involved, and the most critical of which is the Meisheng Company, which must only sell these opium to areas outside the Ming Dynasty.

In order to better sell opium in Europa, Ottoman and Raksha countries, which are relatively developed regions in the world other than Ming Dynasty, and thus use non-war high-cost means to earn more wealth, Emperor Zhu Youxiao of Ming Dynasty specially ordered the Ministry of War The military strategic development plan has been delayed, and the entire world must temporarily enter a period of peace in order to achieve a more stable international environment for the opium trade before countries in these regions realize the dangers of drugs.

Therefore, with the acquiescence of Zhu Youxiao, the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi and the governors of Nanyang and other local officials successively negotiated with the colonists such as the Netherlands and Franji who had retreated to India, and signed a series of peace agreements aimed at resuming bilateral trade. One very important thing is that Ming still allows Western Fans to come to Da Ming for trade activities, but they are not allowed to sell goods prohibited by Ming Dynasty, but Western Fans also unconditionally allow Daming to enter Europa and other parts of the world to conduct trade activities according to the prescribed routes.

In this way, Daming Meisheng Company was able to carry Meisheng tobacco into the Indian Ocean and even to the Mediterranean Sea.

Countless residents in the current control area of ​​Xiyangfan or the Europa area have come into contact with the Meishan tobacco produced in Daming. This kind of drug extracted and processed by the Royal Academy of Engineering of the Ming Dynasty with a special solvent has a higher addiction rate and a stronger nerve stimulation. Therefore, many Europa Once the western fans get infected with this kind of smoke, they can't get rid of it for a lifetime, until they go bankrupt.

Unfortunately, the countries of Europa, especially France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are busy vying for the supremacy of Europa, and after their combined fleet was defeated by Ming, their internal conflicts intensified, and their arms race became more intense , and the demand for intercommunication trade with Ming Dynasty is also greater, so their rulers have to temporarily keep silent about the sale of Ming opium.

However, because of this, the citizens of many Western countries began to become addicts on a large scale, so that later there was a situation where the country had no soldiers to fight and no people to support them.

Of course, the Western countries, which are busy competing for interests and Ming Dynasty is in the honeymoon period, are not aware of this.

Even the Ottoman Empire at this time did not realize this. As a similar great empire that was hostile by Western countries, Ottoman was very happy to maintain a good relationship with a super empire like Ming, and was willing to join hands with Ming to resist Western powers. Fan.

Of course, Ming is more interested in the wealth of the Ottoman Empire, the huge wealth that can be earned from the opium trade.

Even in order to earn more wealth, the Daming Meisheng Company bought the right to operate the area where the Suez Canal is located, and immediately dug the canal.

Because Daming promised to dig the canal and return it to Ottoman free of charge after 15 years of operation, the Ottoman Empire also agreed to Daming's move to dig the canal. Excavated with their own technology for more than 15 years.

Of course, these are all things to say later. When the Ming Dynasty was vigorously engaged in the anti-smoking campaign and at the same time prepared to sell opium to China like the British Empire and other countries in the history of later generations, and dumped countless opium into their land, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty His Majesty Zhu Youxiao also left Shenyang City and entered Shanhaiguan, and his second inspection tour was officially over.

Theoretically speaking, he is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty who has traveled the longest route. During the two tours, he has basically been to Jiangnan, Huguang, Southwest, Nanyang, Fusang, and Liaodong, except Mobei, Siberia and Northwest. Daming was almost finished by him.

He admired his thousands of miles of mountains and rivers like a painter. When he arrived in Gyeonggi and looked at the red leaves all over the mountains in late autumn, he felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

……

When Zhu Youxiao arrived in Gyeonggi and was about to return to the capital, Bumbutai had already shaved his hair and practiced in Longquan Temple for almost two years.

For Bumbutai, the days of keeping rules and discipline were extremely torturous. She worried more than once that her beautiful face would wither in the deep old forest like this.

When sweeping the courtyard every day, she would check to see if any acquaintances came here among the pilgrims at the foot of the mountain. She looked forward to returning to the secular world again one day. Master, she just wants to escape from this uninhabited world.

Although he hates loneliness in his heart and feels more and more empty every day, Bumbutai still insists on kneeling down in front of the Buddha, chanting sutras and meditating every day.

As a person with desires, she cannot settle her heart in front of the Buddha. The only thing she can do is to silently make a wish, imploring the many bodhisattvas of great mercy and great compassion to allow her to be born again.

Bumbutai didn't know when he raised his eyebrows, but there was already a trace of melancholy, less cunning and more melancholy than before.

In the blink of an eye, it is autumn, the cold air has silenced the sound of cicadas in the mountains and forests, but the leaves under his broom are sweeping more and more. Bumubutai doesn't know how many autumns he has left to live, but I don't know how much time I have to spend beside this ancient Buddha with blue lanterns.

The north wind blew suddenly and creaked the door of the temple, and the candlelight in front of the Buddha kept shaking. Although the light and shadow gradually dimmed like Bumbutai's mood at the moment, it was never extinguished.

And when Bumbutai was silently chanting scriptures in this dim light and shadow, he had already returned to Beijing and stopped by Longquan Temple to see that Zhu Youxiao, who once allowed himself to enjoy the bliss in the world, quietly appeared in After getting behind her, he suddenly hugged Bumbutai.

Bumbutai only felt a pair of strong hands holding her tightly, but when she saw the bright yellow sleeves and hem, she immediately guessed that it was His Majesty, and she hurriedly shouted in surprise: "Your Majesty! "

"Hush!" Zhu Youxiao made a silent movement. He entered Longquan Temple secretly this time. Only the abbot of the temple knew about it. He didn't want to disturb the whole temple.

Bumbutai also nodded in satisfaction, closed his eyes naturally, and leaned into Zhu Youxiao's arms.

(End of this chapter)