Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 359 Green Tea
After staying in the barracks for three days, Yang Chao returned home.

Auntie Zhu looked disappointed.

"Is the son-in-law very fond of those two, the two—"

"The brothel girl!"

Yang Chao said those few words that she couldn't say for Auntie Zhu.

Then he said: "Actually, it's not a favorite. It's just that Dong Xiaowan has already welcomed into the house before. And I also agreed to take a concubine."

Aunt Zhu said, "Doesn't the son-in-law want to be a dishonest person?"

Yang Chao nodded: "I have always kept my word."

Aunt Zhu asked again: "Can the son-in-law live up to me?"

Yang Chao didn't hesitate: "I will never let the princess down in this life!"

Auntie Zhu then said: "The so-called husband sings and the wife follows. Since she is married and a woman, how dare the concubine let her husband be an unfaithful and unrighteous person. The concubine will go to the palace tomorrow to meet the emperor's younger brother and tell him the whole story. The emperor will definitely not let him go." The son-in-law is in trouble."

Yang Chao nodded slightly: "I have wronged you!"

This matter can only be asked by Auntie Zhu to come forward and ask her to discuss with the emperor's brother as the emperor's sister. This is a family matter, and it's just that the brother-in-law wants to take a concubine, not some concubine who wants to destroy the Ming Dynasty's etiquette system.

Of course, it will definitely cause criticism from the government and the public. Compared with his reputation, Yang Chao thinks that he can only accept gossip.

As for the princess, Yang Chao was indeed very sorry.

Aimee Zhu entered the palace with a sense of grievance. It would not be comfortable for a newly married husband to take a concubine. What's more, she is a princess, and her husband is not qualified to take a concubine. She came forward to persuade the emperor to allow her husband Taking a concubine is simply a grievance.

But she felt that she should do it this way. It was one aspect of her husband's way of doing things, and it was one aspect of not wanting to embarrass Yang Chao. What she hoped more was that by letting Yang Chao take a concubine, Yang Chao could live up to her.

After seeing the emperor, the younger brother was very polite to her.

For this big wedding, the emperor's reward is actually very meager. It is common for the princes and princesses of the Ming Dynasty to spend millions of taels on their big weddings. It was only given to dozens of maids, and there was not much money at all, which made the emperor feel very sorry for his sister.

"Sister Huang, I have discussed with the Grand Tutor. There will be a bumper harvest in the south of the Yangtze River in the golden autumn. After receiving the autumn gift, I may be able to bestow a son-in-law's mansion. I wonder what kind of house the Royal Sister wants?"

Although the Yang family's house has many rooms, but the space is too small, the emperor always feels wronged by his sister.

Aimee Zhu is somewhat lacking in interest, the princes and princesses, after escaping from Beijing and experiencing the first predicament in their lives, they don't care so much about material things.

Seeing that her sister didn't answer, Zhu Cihong couldn't help but be surprised: "Does the emperor have something on her mind?"

Aimee Zhu pondered for a long time before finally speaking: "Your Majesty, the son-in-law wants to take a concubine!"

"what?"

It's only been a few days since I married the princess, and I have to take a concubine, and he is a concubine, so how can I have any qualifications to take a concubine.

The emperor was immediately displeased, and even said to be a little annoyed.

"It's really unreasonable! Sister Huang, don't be afraid, with younger brother here, Yang Chao won't be allowed to bully him. I will reprimand him right now."

"Wait a moment, the emperor. In fact, the son-in-law takes concubines first, and His Majesty bestows marriage last, so—"

Auntie Zhu patiently said aside Yang Chao's remarks, but the more Zhu Cihong listened to it, the more chilling she felt.

To be honest, he has a good sense of Yang Chao.

Ever since he came out of Beijing, he was terrified. Yang Chao was very polite to him along the way, but at that time he was a little afraid of Yang Chao. He didn't tell anyone about it and kept it in his heart.

A crown prince who destroyed the country was rescued by a military general and escorted to the south. He had already made the worst plan in his heart.

Especially when Yang Chao threatened Jiangnan with soldiers and demanded that King Fu supervised the country to please him, Zhu Cihong was already ready to be Yang Chao's puppet. He was not an idiot. The allusions of the princes.

He didn't intend to fight against Yang Chao. At that time, King Fu was in charge of the country. If he failed in the battle, he would bear the brunt of it. As the person with the most right to inherit the throne, if King Fu ascended the throne, he might have to die.

However, after Yang Chao enthroned him as the throne, he did not show the appearance of a powerful minister, did not interfere with him in any way, and did not send troops to occupy the palace to monitor him, which made Zhu Cihuang believe that Yang Chao was an important minister.

But after assuming the throne, he couldn't help but someone always said some precautionary words in front of him, asking him to limit Yang Chao's military power, etc. After all, letting a general with [-] troops guard the important area of ​​Jiangkou outside the city was too much of a threat to the court .

It's just that he has always believed that Yang Chao is a loyal minister, or that Zhu Cihong has never dared to imagine Yang Chao as a treacherous minister, so he often reprimands those cronies who speak up.

But when Yang Chao married the princess, he didn't know how to be grateful, instead he wanted to take a concubine, and he wanted to take a concubine in a few days.

Immediately aroused the anger in Zhu Cihong's heart, the fear of Yang Chao all the way down the road made him feel ashamed all the time, coupled with the advice of his confidants, Zhu Cihong finally broke out at this time, he felt that Yang Chao was going to Taking a concubine is not only humiliating the royal family, but also intimidating the imperial power, or despising the imperial power. Relying on one's own merits, the royal family is simply ignored.

"Sister Huang, you don't need to say anything, I will never agree to this matter! You go back, if Yang Chao dares to betray you, don't blame me for not taking credit for him!"

Auntie Zhu returned home with another kind of pain.

She felt that it was difficult for her to face Yang Chao.

But Yang Chao came to ask immediately.

Aunt Zhu cautiously replied that the emperor disagreed.

Yang Chao sighed: "That's all. The emperor is also out of face. Don't be in a hurry, and it's not too late to wait for a few years."

Li Xiangjun is only 20 years old this year, and Dong Xiaowan is the same age as her, so in future generations she will not be married yet.

Yang Chao didn't blame her, which made Auntie Zhu feel a little lucky. In fact, like the emperor, she was also full of fear of Yang Chao along the way, but at that time, she hoped that Yang Chao could send them to Nanjing safely. , I had to believe that Yang Chao was an important minister early in my heart. In fact, the fear in my heart could not be relieved until now.

At night, hugging his newlywed wife, needless to say, but he could feel the chills on Aimi Zhu's body.

When I lit the lamp, my face turned pale, so I immediately asked the imperial doctor to see it, saying that I had suffered from a cold.

It's only October, and the weather is not cold. Yang Chao couldn't help being surprised at how he could suffer from the wind and cold.

The wind and cold came strangely and went away quickly. Yang Chao stayed at home with his wife for ten days, asking about the cold and warm every day, and he got better soon.

What Yang Chao didn't know was that Auntie Zhu was actually cold-hearted. During these ten days of contact, she felt the real Yang Chao, a very sincere person who knew how to care for his wife.

Ten days later, his wife recovered from her illness, and Yang Chao returned to the barracks.

Lao Zhang's people came back and said that the Dutchman's ship had arrived, along with Zheng's ship.

The last time Zheng Hongkui traded with Yang Chao, he agreed to sell Yang Chao [-] seagoing ships, which were the smallest boats for the Zheng family, but big ships for Yang Chao.

Compared with Zheng's small boats, Yang Chao cared more about the Dutch warships. They were all large ships with more than [-] materials, and they were still Western-style warships with artillery. The navy of the Manchu and Qing dynasties was turned into rubbish, and now placed in the eastern region, it should be the sharpest armed force.

The agreement reached with the Dutch is that ten large ships with [-] materials, at least one of which is [-] materials.

Material is a traditional Chinese ship tonnage unit. One material represents ten cubic feet of cabin space. Western tonnage, according to the British calculation method, one ton is one hundred cubic feet, and a foot is equivalent to a length of thirty centimeters , The length of the Ming ruler is about 32 to 34, and the tailor ruler, the measuring ruler and the craftsman's building ruler are all inconsistent.

But the difference between Mingchi and feet is not too big, that is to say, one ton in the West is basically equivalent to ten materials in the Ming Dynasty.

Based on this calculation, the sea-going ships that Yang Chao wanted from the Dutch had a tonnage of [-] to more than [-] tons.

This is nothing to the Dutch, because the King of the Seas launched by the British ten years ago weighed more than 600 tons.

The Dutch's shipbuilding ability is not inferior to that of the British, so the warships that Yang Chao wants are just small boats for the Dutch, but it is impossible for the Dutch to put the best warships in the east. It is also the main battleship of the East India Company in the East.

Yang Chao's request was not aimless, and he had already inquired about the details of the Dutch with the Zheng family.

The Dutchman was very happy, he didn't play any tricks, and he was more urgent than Yang Chao to send the boat as soon as possible.

It is only mid-October now, and it has only been more than a month since Yang Chao negotiated with the Dutch.

From the Straits of Malacca to Guangdong, it will take seventeen or eight days with the wind, and it will take at least more than a month to go back and forth.

The Dutch came to the mouth of the Yangtze River from Jakarta (called Batavia by the Dutch) in just over a month.

Of course, there is a reason for the Dutch to risk their lives. The person Zhang Dawei sent back also brought back an order, which listed numerous product names, and Yang Chaozai read it carefully.

The Dutch want porcelain, silk, raw silk, cloth, silk thread, mercury, even needles and iron pots, but they don’t have the tea that Yang Chao imagined. I guess the tea trade will have to wait for the British to come. Only then will it expand. You must know that the British in later generations are the world's largest tea-drinking country. The per capita tea consumption is several times that of the Chinese. It is said that an average British person drinks two large bathtubs of tea a year.

Yang Chao couldn't help but feel a little pity. You must know that this is a lucrative commodity, and it would be too wasteful not to develop it.

After reading the manifest, Yang Chao immediately asked the accountant to check it.

This batch of goods was all bought by the Dutch with ten warships. The price agreed between the ten warships of the Dutch and Yang Chao was 100 million taels of silver. The cost of the Sea King with one cannon is only 100 pounds, which is equivalent to 40 taels of silver. The ten warships given to Yang Chao by the Dutch have a total of more than 200 cannons, not to mention that they are not as big as the British cannons. The quantity is also double, and the total tonnage of the ten ships is only 100 tons, which simply cannot be converted to [-] million taels.

But considering that the Dutch brought the ship from the west, there must be a profit, so Yang Chao acquiesced. Anyway, Yang Chao would not pay a penny for the money.

As for the reason, high taxes do not need a reason.

Supplying Yang Chao to Zheng's would cost five times the price difference. If he didn't ask the Dutch for a higher price, he would already be sympathizing with the Dutch and paying a lot of taxes and protection fees to Zheng's.

In other words, for the 100 million taels of silver, in fact, Yang Chao only needed to give the Dutch 20 taels of goods.

The Dutch seemed to be worried that they would not be able to get the goods for a long time, and worried that Ming's policy would change. Not only did they take the ship for 100 million, but they also brought over 50 taels of cash to purchase the goods.

Therefore, the goods that Yang Chao wanted to purchase were actually 30 taels of silver, and Bai got ten ships from the Dutch plus 20 taels of silver.

Hand over the bill of goods to the accountant in the army, and let them quietly go to the Jinchai Building. It is more convenient to go to the exchange for large purchases.

Yang Chao also asked to keep it secret. Yang Chaohe was sure that if the news leaked out, the group of speculative brokers would definitely be able to raise prices by more than [-]% in the short term. The extra part has to be posted by yourself, so confidentiality is very important.

After waiting in the army for 20 days, he finally returned to Zhang Big Mast. He was driving the largest Dutch ship, and there were a dozen Dutchmen on board. Without these Dutch sailors, Zhang Big Mast really couldn't play Such a big ship.

Naturally, Jones took the lead. He urgently found Yang Chao, hoping that Yang Chao could help him find a doctor, because the clerk they were wearing fell ill on the long journey. It was terrible sepsis.

Yang Chao warmly received Jones and a group of crew members. Their journey this time only ended in Xinjiangkou, and it was too risky to let them enter.

"Mr. Jones, don't worry. It's just sepsis. Have you ever seen someone on Zheng's ship suffer from this kind of minor disease?"

Jones shook his head strangely, he had never heard of Zheng Zhilong's sailors suffering from sepsis, but their Dutch crew sailed for more than a month, there is such a risk, the Dutch have been wondering about this for a long time, and finally they decided It is because the physique of Chinese people is different from that of Westerners, so they will not suffer from this disease.

In fact, this is a beautiful misunderstanding. Sepsis is considered to be a devil's disease, and it is one of the diseases that sailors in the Western nautical age feared most. Often, more than half of a ship will be killed by this disease after a long voyage.

But when they went to the East, they rarely found Chinese people suffering from this disease, which made them puzzled. However, there were fewer doctors on board the Zheng family than on the Dutch. The Dutch even asked Zheng for advice, and even asked other people secretly. , but without any results.

In fact, the problem lies in eating habits. Septicemia is caused by lack of vitamins. Chinese people, especially southerners, cannot live without vegetables, so they are used to bringing a lot of beans before sailing. It is rich in vitamins, so Chinese sailors did not suffer from sepsis.

"Could it be that adults know medical skills?"

Seeing Yang Chao's relaxed expression, Jones couldn't help asking.

Yang Chao smiled and said, "This is just a common problem. In fact, nothing is needed, a little, um, green tea is enough."

After finishing speaking, he called Zhao Kang: "Go and buy [-] catties of green tea, I want this year's new tea."

Green tea happens to contain vitamins, so it can treat this disease theoretically, but the best way is to eat vegetarian dishes, but thinking that the Dutch didn't buy tea, Yang Chao had an idea and wanted to take this opportunity to sell tea.

(End of this chapter)