My life skills in Daming Liver

Next, Su Ze was making sugar and salt again. He was sweating profusely. Lin Deqing had to send these to the ghost market to sell. It should be exchanged for two hundred taels of silver, then the fifty shotguns in Zhang Haihu's hand and the remaining cotton can be bought.

Think of the records in the family tree:

"On May 17th, the imperial censor Yan patrolled the guards, and the county clerk Xu Shisheng criticized the Seventh Patriarch, and the censor temporarily dismissed the Seventh Patriarch's military posts from a hundred households. The Weisuo gave five hundred taels of filial silver, and the Seventh Patriarch was restored to his original post. Getting tired."

Buying dozens of blunderbusses and arming a team of blunderbusses only cost one hundred taels of silver.

Yan Maoqing, a corrupt official, was able to extort five hundred taels of silver from Changningwei.

When reading this record before, Su Ze had no intuitive feeling.

After reading this record now, Su Ze realized how hateful a corrupt official like Yan Maoqing is!

But now there are Ida criminals in the north and Japanese pirates in the southeast. Last year, when even the capital was famine, the emperor Jiajing was still building palaces and spending 150,000 taels of pearls and jewelry.

Jiajing was like this, and officials at all levels followed suit, flattering their superiors and oppressing their subordinates. The entire Ming Dynasty was rushing into the abyss.

Even generals like Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang, who are good at fighting, need to find a backer to bribe and share the spoils before they can go to the battlefield.

Thinking of the hundreds of households who died in the battle, there are so many military and guard yamen in Fuzhou Prefecture that they dare not even fight a thousand Japanese pirates, which shows how rotten the entire Ming Dynasty has become.

Traveling to this era, Su Ze felt that it would be a miracle that the Ming Dynasty would be subjugated after ninety years!

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of the month, and Lin Deqing, escorted by a group of Changning guards Yu, went to the ghost market to sell the salt and sugar, and got back two hundred taels of silver.

Both Lin Mojun and her old grandfather gave up asking Su Ze for a share, and Su Ze ordered Lin Deqing to buy a batch of food back as rations for the soldiers who participated in the regiment training of the guard.

In addition, each military surplus who participated in the training, in addition to being able to guarantee three meals during the training, can also receive a portion of food back, which can be regarded as compensation for their off-duty training.

However, Lin Deqing also brought back a bad news. Another salt vendor appeared in the ghost market. Although the refined salt of that vendor was not as good as Su Ze's refined salt, the price was cheaper, and it also took away Changningwei's salt. A lot of business.

If it weren't for Lin Deqing's accumulation of some regular customers, he followed Su Ze's instructions and sold it together with refined salt and coarse salt, and this time he sold all the salt.

This was as expected by Su Ze. Before Zhu Qigui sold salt in the ghost market, there were only a few other stalls selling salt in the ghost market. Zhu Qi used tricks to force these people away.

There are several salt farms in Fujian, and there are also several salt lords who manufacture private salt. The market is so big in total, and it is normal that the competition is fierce.

Although Bai Tang was out of his hands, the manager of the ghost market that Lin Deqing bribed last time had hinted to Lin Deqing that someone had already set his sights on his stall.

Su Ze couldn't help feeling that he was still too weak.

If it weren't for Chang Ningwei being a military guard anyway, and the fist in his hand was still hard, he would have been robbed a long time ago.

But if the business gets bigger, I'm afraid it will be targeted by other forces in the county.

It is true that Changningwei has bird guns, but Changningwei is only a hundred households.

The Ming Dynasty is a typical civil war expert and foreign war layman. Unless all members of the Changning Guard fall into bandits, they must abide by these orders.

Su Ze is a little helpless, but at present, he can only go on and deal with the crisis in front of him.

Tomorrow is the day to study in the county at the beginning of the month, and I don't know if Yu Zongyuan has returned from Fuzhou.

Su Ze went to the county this time and had a new task.

Last time, Su Ze learned from Lin Xianzong, the master craftsman of Changning Guard, that there is a special cannon foundry and gunpowder workshop in Yanping Guard!

Thinking about it, the Ming Dynasty actually paid a lot of attention to firearms.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming army began to equip all kinds of firearms, and all kinds of rockets and firecrackers began to appear, but the performance of these firearms can only be said to be difficult to describe.

For example, gunpowder is tied to the bow and arrow, and the rocket fired after being ignited, not to mention whether the arrow can be shot into the enemy's formation, the immature lead wire technology of the Ming army may even cause the rocket to explode in advance, which in turn kills friendly troops.

There is also the "swarm of bees" that is often touted as a Ming machine gun. This thing is a large firework with multiple barrels filled with gunpowder inside. Once ignited, it will shoot lead bullets.

It sounds very effective, but in fact, this thing is often easy to explode and jam, and it is very unstable to use. The effect of killing one's own people is better than that of killing the enemy. Soldiers are afraid to use it.

Daming is also rich in all kinds of "invention masters". These guys are keen to innovate for the sake of innovation, especially to give some awesome names to weapons, and then write a description in the book that "the sound of the guns is rumbling, and the corruption is thousands of miles" , I thought it was a missile explosion when I heard it.

In fact, the effects of these weapons are hard to describe. Soldiers are unwilling to use them. Qi Jiguang once said: "Only the bird gun is different from all kinds of firearms. It can kill the enemy in battle."

The reason why the Ming Dynasty was keen on producing and inventing these fancy but useless firearms, and the literati were also keen to tout these firearms, the main desire is naturally very simple, that is to spend on military expenses.

After all, the emperor likes to watch this thing, and it is not the emperor who uses it anyway, so what does it have to do with those who advocate the power of new firearms.

Every time a new firearm appeared, the Arms Bureau, Needlework Bureau, Saddle and Bridle Bureau, Armor Factory, Wang Gong Factory, Bingzheng Bureau, Imperial Prison and other messy weapon manufacturing departments would scramble to manufacture it, and then sent a set of firearms to the household department. A big bill.

In addition to these departments in the north and south of Zhili, there are yamen in all places, and each military guard also has its own foundry and gunpowder workshop. Once new weapons appear, all places will follow up and manufacture them, giving full play to the "Ming Dynasty" Technological advantages”, at most there are hundreds of types of firearms in the army, even the officials of the Ministry of Industry and Military Affairs who are most familiar with firearms cannot call out the names of all firearms.

What? You said why not build cold weapons and armor?

This is layman's terms. How many armor weapons have been manufactured must be registered. The imperial court also has various inventory inventory regulations. The imperial court will also regularly send officials from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War to check the inventory of weapons to see if they are correct. The bottom book that is reported every year.

Moreover, armor weapons have a long scrapping cycle, and the whereabouts after scrapping must be registered and explained.

Firearms are different!

Gunpowder is easy to get wet, this is something that all the big soldiers know, and the grand masters of the court don't know it?

It will naturally be scrapped if it gets wet. As for the scrapped firearms, isn't it over there?

There are so many types of firearms in the imperial court, who knows what this scrapped piece of rotten iron is.

Yanpingwei was founded by David with 5,000 soldiers. Naturally, it also had its own powder workshop and cannon factory.

On the city wall of Nanping County, Su Ze saw a big general cannon, which was said to have been cast by Yanpingwei himself.

I don't know if Second Young Master Yu is back, but Su Ze expects him to take him to Yaohuofang and Cannon Factory, so he can quickly learn the skill of "firearms manufacturing"!

Even if they can't make artillery and bird guns, at least they can make gunpowder and lead bullets by themselves, which can solve the problem of insufficient ammunition for Changning Guard today.

Su Ze set off early on the first day of May and arrived in Nanping County before noon.

Holding the greeting card Yu Zongyuan gave him last time, Su Ze came to the Yanping Guard Commander's Mansion.

Handed the greeting card to Menzi, although Menzi saw that Su Ze was wearing a coarse cloth Confucian shirt, but he had an extraordinary bearing and was holding the greeting card of the Second Young Master, so he didn't dare to neglect, and hurriedly informed the servants in the Second Young Master's room.

A servant in charge of Yu Zongyuan hurried out and told Su Ze that the second son of their family had gone to Fuzhou Mansion and would be back in two days.

I was a little regretful that I didn't see Yu Zongyuan right away, but two days later, it happened to be the day when I finished the county school. In order to learn this "firearms manufacturing" skill, it didn't hurt to stay in the county for an extra day.

In addition, when Su Ze came to the county this time, he also wanted to inquire about the situation of the county clerk Xu Shisheng who reported to Changningwei.

Xu Shisheng had a feud with Changning Wei. He deceived ordinary households to cooperate in smuggling, secretly sold bows and arrows to Japanese pirates, and was reported to the county government by ordinary households.

Later, the old hundred households were killed by the real Japanese deer king. I don't know if there is any connection between them.

The key point is that Xu Shisheng is just a small county clerk, and Yan Maoqing is a dignified Jinshi and a supervisory censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. How did he falsely accuse Changning Wei on Yan Maoqing's side?

This time Su Ze didn't come to the county seat empty-handed either. In addition to ten taels of silver, he also had a few bamboo tubes of low-quality yellow rock sugar.

Su Ze made rock sugar on purpose to turn yellow. Anyway, the price of rock sugar is about the same, and it is too pure to be eye-catching. This kind of rock sugar is about the same color as Fuqing rock sugar on the market. Fujian itself produces rock sugar, so it won't arouse suspicion.

Looking at his "bribery" skills, it would definitely cost him some blood if he wanted to inquire about news in the county seat, but if he could grasp Xu Shisheng's movements in advance, maybe the disaster could be eliminated invisibly.

After entering the county school, Su Ze met three of his classmates.

All three of them arrived earlier than Su Ze. After exchanging pleasantries, Su Ze found out that Xiong Yue had arrived at the county seat the day before yesterday. With the guidance of the county school, he successfully escaped the tax collector's spot check and sold a batch of tea leaves from his family. At that time, his face was full of smiles, thinking that he made a lot of money this time.

Lin Qingcai arrived yesterday. One of his clan elders was recommended by the county yamen as a scribe, and Lin Qingcai accompanied that clan elder to take up the post.

When Chen Chaoyuan heard that a clan brother of Lin Qingcai was recommended as a scribe, the expression on his face was both envious and hesitant.

Seeing the three of them, Su Ze took out the rock sugar bamboo tube he was carrying and handed it to the three of them.

After opening the bamboo tube, seeing the yellowed rock sugar, the three of them quickly declined.

"It's too expensive, don't let it!"

Chen Chaoyuan lived in Nanping County, so he naturally knew the price of rock candy. Even if he was helping his clan brother to deal with lawsuits, his income in Nanping County was considered moderate, and he couldn't afford rock candy on weekdays.

Only during the Chinese New Year will I buy a little brown sugar to satisfy the children at home.

And Xiong Yue is a small businessman himself, and he knows the price of rock candy even more.

However, Su Ze said with a smile: "This is not much rock candy, but it's just a small thought, everyone should accept it."

Only then did everyone reluctantly accept it. Seeing that Su Ze was dressed in coarse cloth, but he was willing to take out rock candy to make friends, they felt that he was a heroic man, and he was more interested in making friends.

Indistinctly, the four of them have formed a small group headed by Su Ze, and the so-called circle of scholars is a circle gradually formed by the continuous expansion of these small groups and making new friends.

At present, the four of them have no interest relationship, but the relationship is more pure.

Hearing that a brother of Lin Qingcai's clan was recommended as a scribe, Su Ze pretended to ask him about the situation casually.

"My elder brother and I were enlightened together, and then he couldn't read the books, so he worked as an accountant for two years. When there was a vacancy for the household clerk, he was recommended by Sun Dianshi to the county magistrate Bai, and was ordered by the county magistrate. That’s how I entered the house.”

Chen Chaoyuan was more familiar with the situation of the county government. He asked, "Is your Lin family still related to Sun Dianshi?"

"Some old friends."

"Sun Dianshi is in charge of the punishment room, why did you recommend your elder brother to be the scribe of the household room?"

Lin Qingcai sighed and said, "My clan brother didn't want to go at this time, but the county government officials can't help but pick and choose. I'm afraid they will waste a few years if they miss it, so they can only bite the bullet and go. .”

Su Ze asked: "Is there anything special about the scribe who fills in which room?"

Chen Chaoyuan said: "Of course there are particulars. This Sun Dianshi is the Dianshi in charge of the punishment room. He has been in office for two years and ten years. Most of the scribes and acting scribes in the punishment room are recommended by him, and they are deeply rooted in the punishment room."

"But Hufang has always been the territory of the Xu family. The Xu Shuli of that household has long heard that he is going to be promoted to the history of the classics, but he always has a bad intention. Most likely it was recommended by him, and the brother of the Yi family has entered the household, so I am afraid it will be difficult."

Su Ze asked: "The Xu scribe in this house is Xu Shisheng who is known as Xu Hu?"

Lin Qingyuan sighed and said, "It's this person."

Lin Qingcai also heaved a heavy sigh. His family naturally knew about the problem, and it probably involved a fight between the various houses of the county government, but his clan brother had to go.

Su Ze now understood that this was a fight between Sun Dianshi, who was in charge of the punishment room, and Xu Shisheng, the scribe who actually controlled the household room.

Among the county yamen, apart from the county magistrate, county magistrate, and master book, Dian Shi has the highest status among the subordinate officials.

Most county yamen have a few or even a dozen censors. Nanping County is Yiguo County, which has a large population, so the county government has ten censors.

Although Dian Shi is an official, but after being hired, it must be submitted to the Ministry of Officials for the record. The employment period is five years, that is, "one service for five years", which can be regarded as an ancient career compilation.

Going down the history of the classics, it is the scribes. The scribes do not need to be filed by the official department, but only need to be registered and compiled by the yamen themselves, and they are managed by the official office.

And under the clerk there is also a proxy, also called a helper, who is a temporary worker who signs a contract with a labor dispatch company.

According to his qualifications and ability, Xu Shisheng should be able to be promoted to the history of the classics, but he has not been promoted for a long time.

Sun Dianshi, whose sphere of influence is mainly in the punishment room, put his own people in the household room, obviously with the idea of ​​fighting for power and profit with Xu Shisheng.

Su Ze rested his chin, it seems that the county office is not monolithic.

Maybe this is an opportunity to bring down Xu Shisheng?

Recently, I have something to go out, and I always stay up late to code.

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