The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Gao Gong was talking there, but Wei Guangde was silently reciting, "Pulidu's house, Portugal."

"Looking through the classics, it turns out that there is no such so-called Pulidu family. The ministry plans to directly ask the Guangdong Town Inspector to investigate the matter strictly. If it is a trick of the Folangji people, it will be declined; if there is a Han Chinese to induce it, it will be The rule of law.”

After Gao Gong said the final decision of their etiquette department, everyone in the room couldn't help but nodded, thinking that this was the safest way to deal with it.

Of course, Gao Gong's lateness has been exposed.

It is related to the national system, so of course we can't delay the official business because of the banquet.

"Shandai, what were you reading just now?"

Wei Guangde heard what Gao Gong said before. When he first heard about the "Pulidu family", he didn't feel much at all. But then he mentioned Hao Jing and suspected that these so-called Pulidu family were the spies of the Folangji people. Trust me, it is natural to have some doubts.

There are many differences in Chinese transliteration.

For example, Anda Khan is often mentioned in the official circles of the capital. In the mouths of the nine border generals, especially those who escaped from the grasslands, they more often use the name "Altan".

This Pulidu family may have been later translated into Portuguese.

At least when Wei Guangde reads it, it feels a bit similar.

Moreover, Wei Guangde also discovered a problem with the Ming Dynasty. Although they did not talk about the higher country all day long like the Manchu Qing Dynasty, everyone from the king to the ministers to the people below actually thought so from the bottom of their hearts.

Naturally, because of this arrogance, they have no interest in the surrounding countries at all.

Although they can appreciate the skills of the Yi people, they don't pay much attention to them. It should be because they feel that they are too far away from the Ming Dynasty and are somehow barren.

To this day, the Ming Dynasty officials still refer to Westerners as Yi people or Folangji people.

From this, Wei Guangde thought about whether he should teach King Yu another lesson about the importance of intelligence collection in relations with foreign countries, not only for several familiar countries around him, but also for the Yi people. He categorizes.

It just seemed that he himself didn't know much about Europe during this period. Spain and Portugal were the first countries to start large-scale navigation, but he did know that it seemed that it was the Netherlands later, and finally the United Kingdom.

As for other European countries, it seems that they are just soy sauce.

As for Tsarist Russia in the north, it seems that they will come over more than a hundred years later.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty was gone, and it was Kang Mazi of the Qing Dynasty who attacked it.

Regardless of winning or losing, it recognized Tsarist Russia’s control of the northern lands and completely locked the northern border of China’s territory, preventing it from expanding northward.

At this moment, Zhang Juzheng's soft call brought Wei Guangde back to his senses.

After thinking for a while, Wei Guangde replied in a low voice: "I just think that this country called Pulidu Family may be the citizens of the Folangji people. You know what Mr. Gao also said before, some of them are suspected of appearing in the trenches." mirror."

At this point, Wei Guangde paused briefly and then said: "I remember when I was talking to Yu Dayou, he once mentioned that the Folangji people we call do not seem to belong to the same country, because someone has seen two Folangji people. Armed ships piloted by men are fighting at sea, and the flags on the ships of both sides are different.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that they are similar to those bandits in our country.

However, I always feel that we still know too little about the Francois, and our understanding of their so-called country is too poor. "

"That's it."

Zhang Juzheng did not express his opinion, but nodded slightly.

"Brother Uncle knows the firearms used by the Folangji people. Now my Ming Dynasty has also begun to build such weapons. It can be seen that their domestic strength cannot be underestimated.

It’s never wrong to know more. "

Wei Guangde felt that it was still necessary to attract the attention of the future imperial prime minister and let him pay more attention to foreign affairs.

"What you said is true. Although Folangji is poor, they can sail to our Ming Dynasty, which shows that their national power is not weak."

Although Zhang Juzheng didn't care much about Fo Langjiren, Wei Guangde's words still attracted his attention.

There are documents available for the Zheng He fleet that was originally formed by the Ming Dynasty, and the expenditure incurred by the imperial court for this purpose.

Because of excessive consumption, after the Ming Dynasty's national power weakened, the Ming Dynasty's power began to shrink, not only giving up Annan, but also the old port.

You know, even Wei Guangde, who has poor historical knowledge, knows that the location of the old port was what would become Sumatra in Southeast Asia, right next to the golden waterway, the Strait of Malacca.

It can be seen that Zheng He still has a good vision. By deploying this chess piece early, he can block the Strait of Malacca and cut off the east-west ocean channel.

It's a pity that the enemy attacked Old Port when the Ming Dynasty was at its weakest, and the Ming Dynasty at that time was unable to regain this area.

Of course, if the Ming Dynasty has enough maritime power in the hands of Wei Guangde in the future, it will be easy to find a reason to start a war under the pretext of regaining the Xuanwei Division of the old port.

However, given the current financial predicament of the Ming Dynasty, Wei Guangde did not believe that the Ming Dynasty had the ability to send troops there.

"Businessmen are looking for profit. These Folangji people came to our Ming Dynasty for nothing more than wealth and to do business with our Ming Dynasty. They brought silver to buy our silk, ceramics, and tea.

This shows that this business is very profitable, and they will make huge profits by trafficking these things back.

But our Ming Dynasty restricted our merchants from going overseas, handing over such huge profits to others.

If our company, Daming Shibo, can make good use of its exclusive rights and take away half of this profit, it will be a very huge number, enough to solve our current predicament. "

Wei Guangde whispered again.

"It's difficult. If the profits are not huge, the Folangji people will not come again. Businessmen are chasing profits, not to mention the opposition will be loud."

Zhang Juzheng found it very fanciful that Wei Guangde wanted to participate in this kind of business through Shibo.

Although Zhang Juzheng did not speak very straightforwardly, he believed that Wei Guangde understood.

If you want to share this part of the profits, all you have to do is increase the price significantly based on the price of domestic goods and then sell them to the Folangji people.

Of course Zhang Juzheng understands the businessman's skill of buying low and selling high, but it is too simple.

But there are actually many problems here. First, the Ming Dynasty did not allow maritime trade. In principle, maritime trade was between countries and would not trade with merchants from foreign vassals.

Second, according to what Wei Guangde said, participating in dividing profits is competing with the people for profit.

Why can't this part of the price increase money be given to the people so that they can live a more prosperous life?

Taking away this money in order to solve financial difficulties is definitely not the teaching of a saint.

Wei Guangde raised his eyes and looked around. He knew that the occasion was not right today and it was not convenient for him to discuss the matter in depth with Zhang Juzheng, so he whispered: "Uncle, let's find time to talk about it after this matter. I will go and propose a toast to Mr. Gao."

"Go together."

Who knows, after hearing what Wei Guangde said, Zhang Juzheng immediately said.

Gao Gong was promoted to Minister of Rites, which finally fulfilled his dream. In the next two months, the court in the capital of the Ming Dynasty was relatively stable. However, as news continued to come back from the Yan family in Jiangnan, the attention of all the court officials was attracted at this time.

In fact, everyone knew that the Yan family was very rich, but the wealth after inventory still greatly shocked the nerves of all the officials.

But by this time, people who were belatedly found it difficult to intervene, and the cake seemed to have been divided.

On August 13, the forty-fourth year of the Jiajing reign, the memorial noting Yan Shifan's family property in Jiangxi was finally delivered to the capital.

The figures circulated by the government and the public were finally confirmed by Cheng Shoujie's memorial.

According to Cheng Shou's rhythm, the Yan family's wealth has been counted, including 32,960 taels of gold and 2,027,090 taels of silver.

There are more than 6,600 houses and 57 houses in the mansion, and a total of more than 27,300 acres of fields, mountains and ponds.

There are 857 jade cups and plates, more than 200 jade belts, more than 120 gold necklaces and tortoiseshell belts, 33 gold chambers, pearls and jade belts, ribbon rings, etc., and gold chambers, pots, plates, cups and chopsticks, etc. There are more than 2,800 pieces, including five dragon egg pots, sixty-three pearl crowns and other items, as well as other pearls, gems and other foreign objects, which are incalculable.

In addition, more than 188,000 taels of silver were sent to others and lent to others.

Naturally, the first person to react to such a huge fortune was the Ministry of Household Affairs. Gao Yao and other officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs wrote a memorial and sent it to the palace overnight, naturally in order to get a piece of the pie.

Over the years, the Ministry of Household Affairs has accumulated a huge deficit. Although the 2 million taels of income cannot solve all the holes, it finally gives people a little hope.

For example, in the forty-three years of Jiajing, after a year of careful calculation, the accounts of the Household Department finally had a balance of 50,000 taels of silver, which finally changed from the deficit of hundreds of thousands to hundreds of thousands taels of silver every year in previous years.

If this continues, there is still a chance that the arrears accumulated by the court in the past few years can be paid off.

Of course, the Ministry of Finance was not the only one who was interested in this money. Almost all the yamen of the imperial court had holes in it. That is, the money approved by the imperial court could not be obtained by the Ministry of household affairs.

Now that the imperial court is rich, all ministries naturally want to take their share first.

For a time, the cabinet and Yongshou Palace were flooded with memorials from various ministries asking for money.

In Prince Yu's Mansion, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng had just entered when they were stopped by Li Fang in front of the door.

He pulled the two of them aside and said in a low voice: "Master Zhang, Master Wei, His Highness has been in a bad temper today. I asked you to come back because I want to ask the two adults to go in and persuade him."

"Why is Your Highness so angry?"

Wei Guangde asked in confusion.

"It's not like you're just a stickler for discipline."

Li Fang whispered.

"Why?"

Zhang Juzheng also didn't understand. Shouldn't Prince Yu be happy if the Yan family's property was copied? Why are you still angry?

"The number is too huge, beyond His Highness's imagination. He has been saying that Yan Shifan just beheaded him because it was too easy for him."

Li Fang explained in a low voice, "Anger hurts the liver. If His Highness continues to do this, it will not be good for his health."

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other, but neither of them expected that King Yu would be angry about this matter.

"We understand. Brother Uncle and I will discuss how to persuade His Highness first."

After knowing the details, Wei Guangde did not immediately enter the palace with Zhang Juzheng to persuade him. He heard Prince Yu's angry curses from time to time and temporarily turned a deaf ear.

"Uncle, what's going on over there with Cheng Shouzhi?"

The numbers that appeared in the memorial were so huge that even if Zhang Juzheng had vaccinated him, if they were actually written down in the memorial, their nature would have changed.

"Too many people want to reach out, especially those from Jiangnan, which makes Cheng Shoujie anxious."

Zhang Juzheng said in a low voice, and his face looked very bad at this time.

"Mr. Xu Ge didn't make peace with it, you see what happened."

He didn't say this because King Yu was angry. If they act like this, the consequences will be serious.

Xiyuan, Yongshou Palace.

The memorials brought by Chen Hong and the memorials asking for money from various yamen were placed on the imperial desk. Emperor Jiajing pushed them all down with his hand without even turning over them, and they fell to the ground.

In an instant, Huang Jin, Chen Hong and the little chamberlain who delivered the memorial were frightened to the point of fear. They knelt on the ground and did not dare to express their anger.

"When the court had no money, it was like this. Now that there is money, everyone is crying about poverty and clamoring for money.

You are truly a good minister of mine. "

Emperor Jiajing didn't even look at the memorial that fell on the ground. Instead, he turned to Huang Jin who was kneeling on the ground and asked, "Huang Jin, tell me, are they afraid that I will use the money to practice and build Taoist temples?"

At this time, Emperor Jiajing's nerves were sensitive and he was more suspicious than before.

In the opinion of Emperor Jiajing, the conflict between him and the courtiers was because he took money from the treasury through his cultivation, leaving many of them without income.

You must know that Zhu Houcong was born as a vassal king, and he was more or less familiar with the tricks of Ming Dynasty officials.

He took away the imperial court's money, which was tantamount to robbing them of their money. When the money went to various ministries, although there were regular uses in the account books, only how much of it was used in the end was anyone's guess.

"They are forcing me to have a baby."

Emperor Jiajing suddenly roared angrily.

"Your Majesty, they may have suffered losses in previous years, so..."

"So what?"

As soon as Huang Jin answered, he was interrupted by Emperor Jiajing's roar.

"The deficit, the imperial court's deficit is not just in the past few years. It was like this more than ten or twenty years ago. It was possible before, but it can't be done now?"

Emperor Jiajing had already stood up while he was speaking, walked back and forth in the hall several times, and finally shouted angrily: "These memorials, no matter which ministry they came from, will be rejected and not a single one will be approved. Those debts continue to be owed. Let’s wait and see when the court’s finances improve.

Didn’t the Ministry of Household Affairs have a surplus last year?

If Gao Yao can do it, let him continue to do it, and sooner or later those holes will be plugged up. "

"Your Majesty, this."

At this time, Huang Jin instinctively felt that something was wrong. Those civil servants had no ethics to speak of.

Even though they used to speak like saints, their actions were completely different.

But Huang Jin wanted to speak, but he didn't know what to say for a moment. He got stuck after saying three words.

"You don't have to say anything. I'm sending an order to send the Yan family's wealth and silver to Taicang. Half of it will go to the border areas, and the other half will be used in the inner treasury."

When Emperor Jiajing said this, Huang Jin's heart trembled, while Chen Hong below looked happy.

Half of it is charged to the internal treasury, which is an income of more than one million taels of silver, tsk tsk

Immediately afterwards, Emperor Jiajing walked slowly and said again, but at this time his voice gradually calmed down, "Search the rare jade articles and bring them to the inner court.

His land and real estate were sold for silver, and he was left to the discretion of the local magistrate. "

Finally, Emperor Jiajing said as if he had made up his mind.

Huang Jin raised his head and glanced at the emperor, knowing that his majesty was not completely mad, and at least he knew how to give the local officials a little sweetness so that they could handle their affairs more carefully.

It's just a matter of taking the bulk of it. Can those fields and properties satisfy their appetite?