Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

"Killed Emperor Jianwen?"

In the Ningbo Shipping Department, Yao Guangxiao, the usually calm and unusually calm "prime minister in black", was completely taken aback.

"Why do you want to dirty your hands? You know, if this spreads out, it will be regicide in the eyes of many old officials."

In fact, there is no need for the old monk to explain this truth, Jiang Xinghuo also knows it.

In China, regicide is a very, very serious crime.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the historian of Qi State sacrificed three lives in succession in order to record the words "Cui Zhu killed his king". Cui Zhu finally had no choice but to let it go. Moreover, Cui Zhu's regicide was not unreasonable. Duke Zhuang had an affair with his wife, Dongguo Jiang, and gave Cui Zhu's hat to others. It can be said that the insult to Cui Zhu had reached the extreme, so Cui Zhu was angry and committed regicide. But even so, this crime will always be with Cui Zhu.杼.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Wei Emperor Cao Mao led his army out of the palace to resist Sima's control. The two sides fought. Cao Mao shouted angrily and swung his sword to kill. However, Sima Zhao's confidant Jia Chong's soldiers cowered and did not dare to move forward when they saw the emperor coming. Jia Chong Chong said sternly to Cheng Ji, "What does Sima Pingping do to support you all day long? Do you need to ask more?" Cheng Ji heard this and assassinated Cao Mao with a gun. Finally, he was executed by the three tribes in the name of regicide.

There will be countless examples in the future. Although as time goes by, the sanctity of the emperor becomes weaker and weaker. In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, there is even a social consensus that "the emperor will do it only if he has strong soldiers and horses". However, for the ministers, no matter it is For whatever reason, regicide is still a stain that cannot be washed away.

And Jiang Xinghuo obviously didn't need to do it himself, so there was no need to do it himself.

"Boom!"

Jiang Xinghuo's teacup touched the teacup in front of the old monk.

"What do you think it means when the two dragons don't meet? Why didn't I tell you?"

"What do you mean?"

Yao Guangxiao's white eyebrows frowned slightly.

"You are the planner of the rebellion, and he is the executor of the rebellion. From now on, you are all rebellious officials and traitors, but I am not. What does it matter whether I do it myself? In fact, I have to do it whether I do it or not. hand."

Jiang Xinghuo poured the tea in the cup into his mouth, along with the water and tea leaves, chewed the tea leaves vigorously, and said in a somewhat confused voice.

"He wanted me to get my hands dirty."

"In this way, I am also a traitor and a traitor, and I am a member of the same boat. This is a declaration of surrender, but what do I care about being a traitor?"

Jiang Xinghuo swallowed the tea leaves into his stomach. It was as difficult as swallowing broken glass. His Adam's apple moved up and down twice before it settled down. The expression on his face showed no difficulty at all, just a sneer.

Yao Guangxiao was thoughtful and suddenly asked.

"Did you verify your identity? Did you say anything you shouldn't have said before the verification?"

"Tested, nothing important happened."

Jiang Xinghuo was a little unmotivated. Ever since he uttered the truth before killing Master Bai last time and was repeatedly warned by the old monk, he no longer had the habit of speaking his true feelings to the dying BOSS.

The old monk's worry was not unreasonable. Jin Yiwei informed him of this matter, and Jiang Xinghuo had never met Emperor Jianwen. To speculate on the worst, who knew if this was a trap set by Emperor Yongle? Of course, this kind of historical unsolved case may be true, but it is also possible that it is disguised as true. Jiang Xinghuo is not sure, so naturally he will treat it as false. It doesn't matter if the result is true.

After all, although Zhu Di is not as suspicious as Cao Cao, he is still a bit suspicious. Making such an unexpected situation is zero cost to Zhu Di. If he can really see Jiang Xinghuo's attitude, or what he shouldn't say, it will be terrible. It's complicated.

That's why Jiang Xinghuo didn't push him hard, but after breaking his psychological defense, he killed him neatly.

If you have anything to say, wouldn't it be safer to complain to the old monk?

Yao Guangxiao stood up and turned to go out. At this time, someone Jiang Xinghuo didn't know came over and said a few words.

Only when he sat back down did Jiang Xinghuo react.

"Old monk, are you arranging for someone to silence Niu Zhen and the others?"

Yao Guangxiao was stunned for a moment, then nodded honestly: "Yes."

"Why kill them? These people are of great use."

Yao Guangxiao twisted a corner of his white beard, wondering what use these people had besides being witnesses to Jiang Xinghuo's regicide and a handle for the enemy to seize.

"They're going to Japan."

"Japan? Why go to Japan?"

"Master Bai went to Japan for many years during the Hongwu Dynasty, and followed him to fight in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Now they can contact people there."

Jiang Xinghuo woke up the dreamer with one word.

"Is there still this level?"

"Yes, shout back quickly, people must be honest."

Jiang Xinghuo was very honest, so Niu Zhen and his gang were not silenced.

People other than Niu Zhen actually didn't know what they did. They only knew that they followed the soldiers loaded on the ship of the Municipal Shipping Department to land on the island. Even Niu Zhen only had a vague guess in his mind. , and cannot be confirmed.

So it doesn't matter whether these "people who didn't exist in this world" want to be silenced. These people don't even have household registration. They were raised by the White Lotus Sect since they were young. They don't have any close relatives or social connections. Even if they run away on the street Say, who believes it?

In short, maybe Jiang Xinghuo is soft-hearted, or maybe he is in a good mood after killing Emperor Jianwen. He personally feels that not everyone needs to be "killed and killed" to solve these people. After these people went to Japan, can they return to the Ming Dynasty to pay back their debts? Not necessarily.

Killing them is neither honest nor of any use. Instead, keeping them will allow them to contact some "unconventional" forces in Japan and plan for Japan to have a separate line in the future without risking their betrayal. Why not do it?

Yao Guangxiao came back soon and asked with a smile.

"How does it feel to kill the emperor?"

"How can you feel? Not to mention it is no different from killing other people. Just the belly of meat is similar to the feeling of killing a pig during the New Year and stabbing it with a knife."

Jiang Xinghuo rubbed his waist and leaned back on the chair.

I didn’t feel anything about killing the emperor, but I first rode a horse, then a car, and finally a boat. If I really felt it, it would be a sore back and legs.

In fact, although Yao Guangxiao was worried, he was not that worried.

Because in fact, Emperor Jianwen had actually died socially long ago. From the day he escaped from the palace, "Zhu Yunwen" had been buried in a sea of ​​fire. Everyone agreed that he was dead. As for whether he was really dead or not, The fake death is not important to most people. It is not important to Honorable Jingnan. It is not important to ordinary officials. There are only two types of people who care about whether Zhu Yunwen is really dead. There are rebellious ministers and traitors like Zhu Di who have a thorn in their hearts, and the other is the "loyal minister Jianwen" who surrendered to Zhu Di. In the final analysis, Zhu Yunwen's personal death was of no importance at all. Yao Guangxiao was just afraid that Jiang Xinghuo would dirty his feathers.

After resting for a while, Jiang Xinghuo cheered up.

"Is business going well?"

"It went pretty well."

Yao Guangxiao ordered someone to bring a map and told Jiang Xinghuo the current plan and progress.

"The starting point of Ningbo Prefecture is from Shibosi Wharf, and then it is built along the right bank of Yao River and enters Shaoxing Prefecture. The route is Cixi-Yuyao-Shangyu-Kuiji-Xiaoshan. After entering Hangzhou Prefecture, it is built along the right bank of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Qiantang-Chongde -Jiaxing, and finally entering Huating County in Songjiang Prefecture, South Zhili Province. This is the point-to-point trade road construction plan in Zhejiang."

It should be said that this plan is very reliable from a construction perspective.

There are two reasons for this.

The first point is that the goal is clear, which is to transport the goods from Ningbo Shipping Company to South Zhili, so the entire journey is along Hangzhou Bay.

The second point is that the route is clear, relying on natural rivers, first building it along the Yao River, and then turning to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The conditions along the coast are very familiar, and there are already relatively primitive dirt trade routes.

As for why there are so many waterways and a land trade road needs to be built, this is not a matter of taking off your pants and farting, but Jiangnan does have this demand, because water transportation cannot completely replace land transportation. Water transportation has great limitations, not only Due to the influence of seasonal precipitation, it cannot be rolled out, and some goods are inconvenient to be transported by ship. On the contrary, although the land transportation network currently only has one main road, its future potential is far from being comparable to that of waterways. When conditions permit, it can be Countless branches extend from each node city, forming a complete land trade network.

As for the progress, it is not very fast. It has only been built from Ningbo to Shangyu. On the one hand, the quality of the project is high, and on the other hand, it rains from time to time here in Zhejiang, making it difficult to dry the cement.

"correct."

Jiang Xinghuo put down the map and took out several pairs of stacked insoles from the bag beside his hand.

Looking at Yao Guangxiao's confused eyes, Jiang Xinghuo explained: "Your sister brought it."

Yao Guangxiao's expression was very complicated, unexpectedly a little excited, and even his white beard trembled unconsciously with the slight movement of his mandible.

There has been a saying in China since ancient times: when a son travels thousands of miles, his mother is worried.

Yao Guangxiao's childhood was brought up by his sister. To him, his sister was more like his mother than his parents who had no memory.

When Jingnan was just successful two years ago, his sister thought he was a traitor and refused to let him into the house. This undoubtedly caused pain in Yao Guangxiao's heart.

But now, my sister has finally forgiven him.

Yao Guangxiao stretched out his hand to get the insoles, but Jiang Xinghuo pulled two pairs from underneath, and his hand stopped.

"These two are for me."

Jiang Xinghuo felt confident.

Yao Guangxiao didn't say anything and took the top few pairs. He squinted and looked at the stitches on the insoles carefully.

After a long time, he sighed in disgust: "It's not as detailed as before."

Mother hands line, wandering clothing. Before leaving, I am afraid that I will be delayed in following.

Thinking of this ancient poem that he had memorized in his childhood, traveling through time, it hit the center of his eyebrows like a bullet, and Yao Guangxiao was stunned for a moment before bursting into tears.

"Hey, you are so old, why are you still crying?"

Jiang Xinghuo took out a clean piece of silk cloth from his sleeve and handed it to the old monk to wipe his nose.

When Yao Guangxiao blew his nose, Jiang Xinghuo gave a fake cough, and the sadness that was not much at all was suddenly mixed up by Jiang Xinghuo.

"I've also seen your nephew. An honest farmer in his fifties, do you want to adopt him as soon as possible? Someone has to inherit the dukedom in the future. Now you can take care of it. Although it can't be plasticized, it can still be corrected to avoid future problems. Without you, he will take detours and be deceived into committing crimes, which can really lead to a situation of no return."

Jiang Xinghuo said it rather implicitly, but in fact, for a farmer who has lived in the fields all his life, if he is not given any guidance and is suddenly promoted to the position of succeeding the Duke of the country in the future, then what can this person do? , I really can’t imagine it.

Not everyone can receive the overwhelming wealth.

If it's just about eating and drinking, that's fine. No Duke's government is poor.

If you have some bad hobbies, you will be ruined at most and you will get more money by the way.

These are all easy to say, but what I fear most is that I have no brains and will be led into a ditch. It involves some sensitive matters. In many cases, even if I am given an iron ticket, it is not that easy to use.

But as the saying goes, "Adults don't need education." It's impossible for a fifty-year-old who hasn't read much to change his lifelong habits, and it's also difficult to make him smarter. The only thing that should be done is to stop him from going astray, live a prosperous life, and pass on the lineage of Rong Guogong, which can be regarded as worthy of Yao Guangxiao's ancestors.

"Lets see."

In this regard, Yao Guangxiao is not worried.

He has been living in Buddhism for many years, and has done the deeds of a treacherous minister and traitor. Compared with the world, things like his legacy and even his fame and title are looked down upon very lightly. For people like Yao Guangxiao and Jiang Xinghuo, changing the world is the only way to change the world. Things that can make them feel the realization of their life value. As for daily food, clothing, housing, transportation and even fun, it is okay to give them the lowest standard. If you give them a higher standard, it will be more comfortable. It doesn't matter.

Therefore, if rashly adopting this nephew would hinder the great cause, then Yao Guangxiao would be unwilling to do so.

"Open the door and get some air."

This is an ancient three-story stone building in Shibosi. When you open the door, you can see the rippling blue sea.

This three-story building has a very long history. It was built during the Song Dynasty. It has been hundreds of years ago. Although it is not as famous as other famous buildings, it has witnessed the rise and fall of Shibosi in the past dynasties. It seems to be a timeless building. The witness stands silently in the corner of Shibosi.

Jiang Xinghuo observed the building carefully. The ancient wooden structure became more stable under the baptism of time, as if every wood grain told a story of the past, and the moss on the roof tiles and the sides extended like a green screen. The vines add a bit of vitality and interest to this ancient building.

The most interesting thing is that each door has different door paintings embossed on wood, including some religious images, local folk customs, and even records of Western customs.

Yao Guangxiao also followed him and watched quietly.

The Zhoushan Islands in the distance are looming on the skyline, as if they are the mysterious force guarding this sea area. Whenever the sun peeks out from the clouds, its light shines on the sea, and the sparkling waves complement each other with the distant islands, forming a beautiful scenery. A magnificent picture.

In this quiet and solemn place, the officials of the Shipping Department and the merchants who came to complete the formalities were walking in and out of the several courtyards in front of the building, each with their own concerns, some for family interests, and some for their beliefs. , and some people just want to survive.

For the first time, Jiang Xinghuo had a sense of history.

This sense of history does not refer to the past here, but to the fact that this place is becoming a part of history.

Whether these people are smart or stupid, cunning or vicious, no matter what kind of people they are, they have been integrated into the whirlpool of history along with the ships sailing out to sea. In this whirlpool, they are intertwined with each other, either overtly or covertly. , jointly weave a magnificent epic.

"I actually read all the documents from the Shipping Department on the way here."

Jiang Xinghuo's thoughts wandered into the distance, thinking: "The wealth of the Ming Dynasty, reflected in taxes, is just the tip of the iceberg, and the larger part is still hidden among the people."

Obviously, these businessmen were able to do so much in just a few years after the maritime ban policy was lifted. The fact that so many people are engaged in maritime trade speaks volumes.

This is true along the coast, but what about inland?

In this era, Jiang Xinghuo had just established a bank, and in more remote places, pawnshops usually took on the responsibility of financial exchange. It was not only unsafe to store wealth there, but they would also charge you money in return.

Therefore, the most effective financial management method, besides buying land, is to dig a hole and bury it.

What many gentlemen like to do most is this kind of thing.

These are hidden treasures that are not commonly seen. Even if they are buried in the soil for hundreds of years and passed down for several generations, it is not surprising at all.

On the contrary, it is normal to bury more and more.

Since Jiang Xinghuo traveled to the Ming Dynasty, he naturally did not need to use violent means to search for wealth like Li Zicheng did.

The Shibo Division is a good investment project for the gentry, landowners and merchants along the coast.

Gold, silver and copper coins are buried in the ground. It is better to dig them out to buy ships and goods for overseas trade. After all, this kind of thing has been done by ancestors for generations. The Ming Dynasty banned the sea for more than 30 years, which is not a normal situation.

Moreover, overseas trade was not allowed in the past, and only people with good hands and eyes could engage in smuggling.

Now that the maritime ban has been lifted, except for very special controlled goods such as gunpowder and iron ore, other trade goods can come and go freely as long as they pay taxes. The threshold for participating in maritime trade has been greatly lowered, so a large number of private forces have also participated. Come in, this directly creates the prosperity of Zhejiang trade.

At the same time, the armed forces of merchant ships also developed, and groups similar to maritime escorts began to appear, that is, paid escort services, except that escorts rode horses on the shore and drove ships at sea.

Under such prosperity, Jiang Xinghuo felt that he could learn from the overseas trade model of the Age of Discovery and cultivate private maritime merchants into real transnational trade giants.

Of course, although the idea is good, it must have sufficient financial support.

The money must not come from Jiang Xinghuo, and Jiang Xinghuo still hopes to get money from them, so it is also necessary for the bank's business to develop in Zhejiang.

Now, Daming Bank only has a few branches in Nanzhili, but none in Zhejiang.

For merchants, they can store treasures at any place with bills and withdraw them when they go to another place. They don’t need to carry boxes of money on the road, they only need to bring bills. This kind of convenience in doing business can be described as It has been greatly improved.

Of course, some people will also joke that it is much more convenient to kidnap someone than to rob a car of money.

But in fact, wealthy businessmen all understand the principle of "don't reveal their wealth", and the innovation in business models caused by this portability was already very obvious in the late Qing Dynasty in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life.

It was based on this consideration that Jiang Xinghuo felt that he should make progress while maintaining stability and open branches of Daming Bank to these cities along the Hangzhou Bay in northern Zhejiang.

On the one hand, it absorbs the money used by businessmen and gentry for business through savings; on the other hand, it provides financing to businessmen in need through mortgage loans.

In this way, as long as supervision, accounting, and inspection are strict enough, it will be very difficult to bankrupt the bank. There is a high probability that it will be able to continue to monopolize and make money.

The reason why Jiang Xinghuo had this idea was because he was inspired by the report of the Shipping Department.

Although many families in Zhejiang have been known as wealthy families since the Southern Song Dynasty, they have little savings over the years - because these families relied on the sea for their livelihood in the early years, but after the Ming Dynasty implemented the sea ban, their income was not as good as before. The wealth they accumulated Most of it was used to buy farmland, and the remaining small part was left for the education of our children and grandchildren.

But no matter how you buy farmland, the fertility of the land in Zhejiang is indeed not comparable to that of the prefectures in southern Zhili. Northern Zhejiang is okay, it is somewhat plain, but southern Zhejiang is basically hilly.

Therefore, the initial scale of these Zhejiang maritime merchants was actually not large. Perhaps this was very rare for the Ming Dynasty, but compared with those maritime trade families in other countries, it was simply far behind.

Maritime transportation contains huge profit margins. It travels to the east, west, north, and south every year. If it goes well, just a few months of income can support a large family.

Of course, there is no absolutely safe transaction in this world.

Overseas, in addition to the deterrence of the Ming Dynasty, it is also very important whether the locals abide by the rules, because many people do not understand the rules and are easily incited, and will cause trouble if they have the opportunity——

Probably only the Ming Dynasty's warships and cannons could stabilize them.

Speaking back to China, of course, the assets of Daming Bank are actually limited now. Jiang Xinghuo now wants to build a huge overseas trade network. The first thing he must overcome is the financing problem of maritime merchants, and this difficulty is definitely quite difficult. High.

However, this did not prevent Jiang Xinghuo from giving it a try.

After all, if it is really done well, it will be "billions of dollars and millions of profits".

The banks that are just emerging in this world do not have deposit and savings functions, but Daming Bank can carry out this kind of exclusive business. Once it is opened, as people become familiar with it, it will definitely be very popular, and then the wool will be shed on the sheep. Use part of your savings to lend money to maritime merchants.

In other words, if Jiang Xinghuo wants to obtain 100 million Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes in the future, he does not need to print it himself, he can directly use the power of finance to obtain it.

Of course, there is no such thing as pie-in-the-sky good things in this world. If things like financial leverage go wrong, you will get yourself out of business, and the result will be the collapse of the credibility of the entire Daming Bank.

At that time, the actual currency value of the treasure notes may also be affected.

At this time, Jiang Xinghuo finally understood why many people in history would rather take risks to do this. If this can be done, then this feeling of controlling money will be really cool.

Jiang Xinghuo told Yao Guangxiao his thoughts.

After hearing this, Yao Guangxiao had no special reaction. He just felt that since Jiang Xinghuo was confident in controlling risks, this was a good thing.

In this regard, Yao Guangxiao has a blind trust in Jiang Xinghuo.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll mess it up?"

"The worst outcome is just a meta-story and ruined credibility. What's so scary?"

Jiang Xinghuo smiled.

This is the perspective of standing at the pinnacle of power. Even if it may be a catastrophe for many people, it is not so unacceptable to those at the highest level of the empire, such as the emperors and prime ministers of the previous Yuan Dynasty.

However, Jiang Xinghuo's character is not the same as Wang Anshi and Zhang Juzheng.

There are some common characteristics of persistence and courage to serve, as well as some personal preferences.

Jiang Xinghuo does not reject bold attempts, and Jiang Xinghuo is a bold person at heart, and will not be afraid at all because of one or several failures.

Before that, the reason why Jiang Xinghuo didn't show off was because he lacked motivation, so he just ate and waited to die while enjoying himself.

But now with continuous experience, Jiang Xinghuo has a clear understanding of Daming's current situation. Even though he has accomplished many things, he has not blindly expanded. He is very clear about his responsibilities and does not dare to act recklessly. At the same time, he also clearly understands My own weaknesses and shortcomings have given rise to fear. This fear is not a fear of trying, but a fear of myself.

Deep in Jiang Xinghuo's heart, he has always felt that he does not have Zhang Juzheng's ability to shoulder all the affairs of the world. His insight and knowledge that transcends the times cannot allow him to directly bear this kind of " Prime Minister" role.

For a long time, it was the old monk who helped him share a lot of pressure and work.

The same is true for Zhu Gaochi.

Therefore, the current Ming Dynasty temple is actually more like the "three provinces" of the past, with different positions and factions, each taking charge of its own affairs, and there is no "independent prime minister" with enough power to threaten the imperial power.

This power structure is balanced and fragile. It may be broken soon, but before it is broken, everyone benefits from it.

This trip is more like a staged summary of the reform.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the old monk next to him and said to him: "I used to fantasize about how to change the social atmosphere of the entire Ming Dynasty and make the world look brand new. I want everyone to live a good life and make the poor people live a better life." , I can get the life I deserve. Unfortunately, during this trip to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, although I saw many farmers and workers whose lives have improved, there was still poverty and hunger along the way. Maybe sometimes I didn’t do well, even myself If you can’t break away from the shackles, how can you help the people of the world?”

"This is the side of you that is both courageous and fearful."

Yao Guangxiao just pointed in the distance, and Jiang Xinghuo turned around, only to see an extremely beautiful scenery.

At this time, the sun has completely emerged from the clouds and fog, the harbor is shining brightly, and even the sea is golden, which seems to mean something.

"Everyone works hard on the road. Why bother with these things when we are thousands of miles apart? Just do your work seriously."