Dominate the Country

In the first year of Chengtian, on the eleventh day of the sixth month, the morning court was held.

"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you. Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor."

The ministers bowed and saluted, Chen Ming sat upright, watching the old-fashioned opening ceremony and the old-fashioned questioning mode. Everything was a routine.

Every morning court was the same. Listening to the ministers below talking about trivial matters really made people sleepy. The really important and major matters had long been communicated between the various ministries, the cabinet, and the emperor, and most of them would not be discussed in the morning court. Even if they were discussed, it was Chen Ming who ordered the direct issuance of the decree.

Just when Chen Ming once again expressed his infinite sympathy for the many "lazy" emperors in history, and when he thought it was time to leave the court again, someone suddenly stood up and said loudly: "Your Highness has a memorial."

Chen Ming, who was a little dazed, was immediately startled. He took a quick look and saw an acquaintance. This was Liu Wenwei!

"Mr. Liu." Chen Ming's voice was a little pulsating, and he was in high spirits: "What do you want to report, my dear minister?"

At present, the censor system is still very powerful. In the first half of this year, there were at least fifty officials of the fifth rank and above who were overthrown and bitten by them in Nanjing City alone. Among them, two were beheaded, five lost their posts, and more than thirty were punished or recorded. Although there are times when they fail, generally speaking, the combat effectiveness is very high. As for the officials overthrown by the entire Supervisory Yuan system, the number is many times greater.

"I report that Yue Wenhai, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, used public power for personal gain. He took advantage of his power to hand over the order for fuel oil needed by Shuntian Prefecture in the second half of the year [mainly lamp oil needed for street lamps] to Beihai Company. I have verified that Yue Wenhai owns 7% of the shares in Beihai Company."

The whole hall fell silent after these words, and many people looked at each other, and then stared at Yue Wenhai, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, who had a stern face. Others cast their eyes on Chen Cong, the cabinet's chief minister standing in the front, but this uncle Wang had a nonchalant look, calm and composed. This made everyone a little confused!

Because many people present knew that the legal representative of the Beihai Company was Chen Cong's second son, Yue Wenhai's son-in-law, Chen Jigong. He was the one who started this company, and it is said that there is also the support of the emperor's treasury behind it. This is more "imperial" than the Jiuzhou Chamber of Commerce. ''

Is Liu Wenwei really just going to impeach Yue Wenhai? He should not be drunkards. After all, no one would really think that King Song has nothing to do with the Beihai Company, right?

But there are always cautious people in the world, such as Peng Zhongrui. At this time, this Lord Peng stared at Chen Cong, who was at the top, and looked at Chen Cong's calm face. There was always a feeling in his heart telling him to be cautious. Maybe there are other reasons for this matter. Peng Zhongrui naturally touched his belt with his hand, and Chen Gang, who had already stepped out half a foot on the other side, took it back again.

"Liu Qing, please continue." Although the official system of Chen Han is very different from that of previous dynasties, some things still have a strong legacy. For example, the censor system of the Supervisory Council and the impeachment of important officials in the court are full of "ancient style".

Chen Ming did not think of establishing a "mature" public security, procuratorial and judicial system all at once - just like the rabbits in his previous life.

"I have verified that in the first half of this year, Shuntianfu's lamp oil was purchased from the Sunan Military and Civilian Joint-Stock Company, and the price per catty was four copper coins." This price is already very cheap. In the past, it was only forty copper coins per catty, while the ones on the streets were all around six copper coins.

China had ever-burning lamps more than two thousand years ago, during the Spring and Autumn Period. The wicks were asbestos, and the lamp oil was seal oil or whale oil. But these are too expensive, mainly used by the nobles in the palace, and the oil used by ordinary people is the oil for cooking, such as castor oil and rapeseed oil. There is very little animal oil, and it has a lot of smoke and smell. Lard and sheep fat are mostly made into wax!

Candles in this era are not as expensive as Chen Ming's previous life. [relatively] When Ji Xiaolan was an official in Beijing, he was fooled by a small vendor because of his greed for cheapness. The candles he bought from the small vendor could not be lit. When he broke it open, he found that there was mud inside, but it was just wrapped with a layer of sheep fat.

"In the second half of the season, the cottonseed oil of Sunan Company will be sold at a price of 50 cents per pound because there is no worry about sales." Liu Wenwei is not a real fool and knows how to speak. In May, the bank's gold and silver banknote exchange rate was lowered to 1:10, which caused a lot of sway among the people. There has been no substantial decline in prices of various commodities. It can be said that compared with last year, prices of various commodities have risen.

The price of a pound of oil increased from four copper coins to five cents, and their cottonseed oil was not worried about sales, which was completely reasonable.

Because of economic fluctuations, the emperor did not have time to go out until June. Chen Ming wanted to take a stroll in Lushan Mountain, and he ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to prepare in early June.

"Shuntianfu Material Office quickly reached a preliminary agreement with Sunan Company, but after the agreement was submitted to Yue Wenhai, it was not approved for a full half month. Then Beihai Company intervened and traded with Shuntianfu Material Office at the same price of five cents per pound. Sunan Company lowered its price after hearing the news, and Beihai Company also lowered its price. Later, Beihai Company's oil price dropped to four cents per pound, and Sunan Company's oil price dropped to 3.9 cents per pound. Shuntianfu Material Office immediately signed a two-and-a-half-year supply and marketing contract with Beihai Company on the grounds that the quality of fuel provided by Beihai Company was better."

If the term is three years, Yue Wenhai's behavior is not good. Although the amount of this transaction is not huge, the impact is very bad.

Almost at the same time when Liu Wenwei finished speaking, many officials in the palace had already convicted Yue Wenhai in their hearts. Only a few people were calm, and Yue Wenhai himself had a sarcastic smile on his lips.

Chen Ming also had a faint smile on his lips. He didn't even let Yue Wenhai come out to refute, but asked Liu Wenwei directly: "Mr. Liu is indeed troubled." With this mouth, he could almost convict Yue Wenhai, "But I don't know if Mr. Liu has seen the fuel provided by Beihai Company with his own eyes?"

Liu Wenwei heard a hint of Chen Ming's words, but he felt that Chen Ming was protecting Yue Wenhai and Chen Jigong behind Yue Wenhai. He straightened his neck and was about to have a hard time with Chen Ming. Chen Ming's next words rang in his ears, and Liu Wenwei froze.

"Liu Qing may not know that the fuel provided by the North Sea Company is whale oil."

The so-called North Sea Company is a comprehensive company with the whaling industry at sea as its source. It not only has multiple oil refineries, but also a medium-sized canning factory. The whale cans produced in the first half of this year and the air-dried whale meat have entered the logistics supply system of the Fu Han Army.

There are many fishing grounds for hunting whales in the world. Take the one next to China as an example. The North Pacific Ocean is south of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands and the Aleutian Islands, west to the waters off Japan, and east to the waters off North America. Those are vast fishing grounds for hunting whales. Fin whales, humpback whales and sperm whales are the main whale species here.

In the past life, the Japanese whaling ships made the sky angry and the people resentful, but they were not ashamed, but proud. In the current time and space, the Western whaling industry has been carried out for three or four hundred years. In the 17th century, the Dutch and the English formed a large whaling fleet per capita. By the 18th century, the installation of refining furnaces on whaling ships enabled whalers to refine the most valuable whale blubber from whales into oil at sea and store the whale oil in barrels, without having to drag the captured whales back to shore for processing. With such processing capabilities, whaling ships can usually stay at sea for four years before returning with a full ship of cargo.

But European whaling ships are still wandering in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean is still a virgin land, if you don’t count the small fights of the Japanese. So if China develops the whaling industry at this time, it will be a glorious road with a bright future.

Chen Ming also saw that the navy repeatedly mentioned the discovery of whale groups in the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island, and then he remembered this matter. However, this kind of thing obviously does not require him to do it personally, so he handed it over to Chen Jigong to deal with, and invested 50,000 silver dollars as an investment, accounting for 30% of the shares.

Because the voyage distance is short, the newly-established Beihai Company placed an order for a whaling ship at the shipyard, and at the same time set up oil refineries in the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island, as well as a canning factory in Beihai.

They would not simply pursue whale oil and abandon countless tons of whale meat.

China in this era was seriously short of meat. Even if the stuff was dried and taken to the inland to sell for two or three yuan per pound, as long as the labor and transportation costs could be recovered, Chen Ming would insist on doing it. In the future, this canning factory will also be opened in Sakhalin Island!

"Whale oil?"

The whole hall was filled with exclamations, and Liu Wenwei looked like he had seen a ghost.

The four-cent banknotes provided by Beihai Company are whale oil? Nonsense, right?

If it is taken to the market, one yuan banknote per pound, whale oil will also be in short supply. "Minister, I apologize." Liu Wenwei's face flushed, and he put away his face full of disbelief.

"As an imperial censor, Liu Aiqing has the responsibility to supervise all officials. It's okay to fail to supervise for a while. Let's just leave it at that."

Although the imperial censors nowadays no longer have the talent of "talking nonsense without responsibility", it is still forgivable to make mistakes occasionally, especially when no serious losses are caused. Cases like Liu Wenwei's must be recorded in the work file. When it comes to the year-end evaluation, if you make mistakes, you will have to pay for it yourself.

Minor losses include financial losses, and major delays in promotion.

"Resign..."

"Long live the emperor."

It was another routine, but after this routine, Yue Wenhai, who was standing in front of Liu Wenwei, walked past Liu Wenwei arrogantly without even looking at Liu Wenwei. Liu Wenwei was like an impotent man seeing Lao Ai. After Yue Wenhai passed by, he half raised his head and left the palace in a red face. He didn't feel ashamed to see people. It's common for an imperial censor to make mistakes. But Liu Wenwei lost face after all. He has only been an official for a few years. His skin is thicker, but he has not yet lit up the talent points of "spitting in the face" and "sweet words but sharp heart", so he still has a sense of shame.

There have been censors who failed to bite people and were beaten to death in the new dynasty. There are countless examples in history books. To be a censor, you must have this kind of "not arrogant when winning and not discouraged when losing".

I believe that Liu Wenwei will be full of fighting spirit again after blushing for two or three days.

...

This scene in the court, which can be regarded as Liu Wenwei's shame point, is the best advertisement for Beihai Company in disguise.

At noon that day, Beihai Company's headquarters in Nanjing, a very simple and tricky marketing company, had not yet finished decorating, but it had already welcomed the first wave of customers. Then, from the first wave of customers to the door, there was no shortage of people until dark.

Everyone knows that whale oil is good, bright, odorless, and smokeless. This stuff has always been in high demand in China. Even the emperor doesn't have a lot of whale oil to burn every day and night. Chinese people have not hunted whales since ancient times. The whale oil on the market is either transferred from abroad or just by chance, catching a dead whale.

The palace is even more tribute from outside!

So after the whale oil of Beihai Company came out, not only Shuntian Mansion, headed by Yue Wenhai, placed an order, but the palace also placed an order early, and the first batch of whale oil had been sent to Beijing.

Therefore, various government offices in Nanjing, including the cabinet, various colleges in Nanjing, including Chengjun Public School, came one after another.

But the sudden hot sales of Beihai Company's whale oil cannot cover up certain things, the fact that Chen Cong's family is being stared at and subtly hostile by too many eyes. Many of them are loyal to Chen Han, but they just "look at" Chen Cong subtly. Because there is always a feeling in this world: I think XX has a bad influence on imperial power.

It's not that many people think Chen Cong is going to "rebel", but they think Chen Cong has too much power and the vassal kings are too powerful, which is not good for the stability of the imperial power.

"I am a big tree that attracts the wind." Since taking the position of the Prime Minister, Chen Cong has not felt relaxed at all. But if you ask him to resign from the position of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, he is absolutely unwilling. Who would throw away the power in his hands? This is the throne of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet.

If Chen Cong doesn't have the position of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, even though he is the uncle of the king, he is the prince, and his influence is far less than that of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet.

"Prince, this matter can't be so passive all the time." Yue Wenhai doesn't know when he will fall into the ditch if he always waits for others to shoot from behind.

Chen Cong didn't say anything. Yue Wenhai was anxious, "Prince, you can't be soft-hearted. We have to kill the chicken to scare the monkey!" This trend must be counterattacked, and it will hurt them so that people can remember it.

"What the in-laws said makes sense. But we can't move at this time." Chen Cong waved his hand to stop Yue Wenhai from opening his mouth, and continued: "The emperor sees our grievances and will remember them in his heart. This is the greatest benefit to us. But if we fight back, then this little benefit will be gone. The people of the whole world have also seen this. When you go back, immediately arrange for someone to expose this matter!"

"Now those street tabloids dare to write anything, use their pens to inform the world of this matter."

"But in the officialdom, in the court, we continue to endure. It's not like we haven't endured before, so we continue to endure now. Endure him four, five, six times, and then it won't be too late to fight back." There is no need to endure it anymore. Chen Cong remembered it very clearly. This was Chen Ming's original words. Of course, when Chen Ming said this, he definitely didn't use it in this occasion.

When Chen Ding returned to the palace after school two days later, he already knew about the scene in the court.

"Father, Second Grandfather and his men are being watched by many eyes. Is this because they are envied?"

"Why do you say that?" Chen Ming asked, looking at his son's blinking eyes.

"Second Grandfather has too much power. Not only is he a prince, but he is also the chief minister of the cabinet. He has been in charge of the Ministry of Finance before. He is more eye-catching than Fu Heng of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty."

"Some people say that Second Grandfather's cabinet chief minister should be removed. Otherwise, he will become too powerful and difficult to control." Chen Ding said this with full of sarcasm.

Chen Ming also asked with a smile: "Then do you think this is right?"

"Father has soldiers in his hands, and the power comes from the barrel of the gun!"

"Haha, good son. You must remember this sentence forever!"