Road (8)

In the summer of July of the 16th year of Hongwu, the emperor ordered the wealthy businessman Xu Zhichen, Gao Deyong and Zhan Zhen to enter the capital. On the 14th, a comet hit the moon, Huashan collapsed, and the earth broke into pieces. In the middle of the month, the emperor offered five strategies for selling titles, building roads, raising troops, managing rivers, and building ships. He ordered the government officials in various places to plan for widows, widows, orphans, and abandoned people to issue silver to the public treasury. The people applauded.

Not everyone only sees superficial interests. The market is still noisy, but there is a potential sense of crisis that is heavily pressed by some "knowledgeable people".

"Who is the fault of a tiger sperm comes from a trowel and a turtle and jade is destroyed in a trowel!" Bai Dexin, a famous scholar who taught in Yixue in Peking, wrote in a letter to the Grand Secretary Shao Zhi. He bluntly stated that the latter, as a Grand Secretary and a close minister around the emperor, could not stop a businessman from interfering in the government affairs such as those who only care about immediate interests.

"Don't you know that this move was the beginning of the chaos. Now that he was born in the market and did not follow the etiquette and righteousness..." Shao Zhi painted the rice paper that had just written a few lines of words into black, kneaded it into a ball and threw it into a wastebasket, and stood in the court with the peddlers and pawns. It was a shame for the scholars. Several ministers had already handed over the notes of begging for this, and Zhu Yuanzhang approved it one by one, without leaving any mercy for everyone. In private, he had discussed it with several grand scholars several times, but they all knew that he could not persuade the emperor at this moment. Zhu Yuanzhang was originally a beggar, and when he was young, he was a monk, sold fruits, and poured salt. He never felt humble as his peddlers. If he was to persuade him as a peddler and pawns, wouldn't he be itchy?

'Actually, we famous scholars always suffer from false reputations, and it is not as pleasant as those businessmen', facing the jumping candlelight, Grand Secretary Shao Zhi thought quietly. During the day, Gao Deyong, who spent money to donate third-class Huaiyuanbo, in the imperial study, was deeply imprinted in his mind. Subconsciously, he hoped that one day he could speak without hesitation.

After dealing with the court affairs that needed court discussions during the day, several ministers left behind to ask questions in the imperial study. Zhu Yuanzhang specially called Gao Deyong to ask about the matter in the Western Regions. This fat man's personal maid, Xiao Qing'er, was summoned by Empress Ma because of her strange appearance. She cheated the imperial decree in her hands. As Qing'er was favored in the eyes of the queen, Gao Deyong also gained a lot. Zhu Yuanzhang had the title of aristocratic in the Hezhong area because of the fat man's title. Since he was originally a native of the Ming Dynasty, he could not let Timur be looked down upon. He casually accepted a little road construction donation and gave Gao Deyong a Xu Jue who was abolished by Yuanyuan. He was so happy that the fat man smiled these days and spoke in an official voice.

After asking about the customs and customs of the Western Regions, the size of the countries, the military strength, and the mutual grudges, the monarch and ministers slowly raised the topic to Timur. Seeing the fat man kneeling below, he saw sweat on his back, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered someone to move a seat for him and listen carefully to him telling the details of the newly rising dynasty in the Hezhong area.

Gao Deyong was also good at understanding the will of the holy. He not only introduced the history and origins of Timur's rise, but also made a preliminary assessment of the characteristics of his troops, the habits, hobbies and combat capabilities of several powerful generals. He also made several basic explanations for the purpose of entrusting Timur himself to purchase artillery and the fact that he had failed to buy artillery at that time, and he was recruiting workers to go to the Western Regions to build artillery.

"I recruited a group of craftsmen last year, but did not take them away from Middle Earth. Now they are all working in my factory. I thought it was too simple back then, thinking that with steel, I could make cannons. But I still have many tricks to make cannons, which are not something that I can understand with my foolishness and rudeness." Gao Deyong took a peek at Zhu Yuanzhang's face, and saw that the latter had no sign of anger, and carefully added half of the sentence "I didn't recruit any of the subordinates of Lord Li from Peking back then"!

Zhu Yuanzhang did not intend to pursue Gao Deyong's private purchase of military weapons. The big open fire weapons were sharp. No country around him had the idea of ​​sending spies to fire artillery. Among the secret complaints from the Jinyiwei in a month, at least half of the reports were around several military factories, and hundreds of spies were captured every year. Like Gao Deyong, who wanted to buy first and then build himself, was really a kind person among them. Moreover, he knew that he could correct his mistakes, and he helped the Timur Empire to come to court and inserted a knife into the Mongols from behind.

After a smile, Zhu Yuanzhang told Gao Deyong not to be so nervous. "You can persuade Timur to send envoys to the court, which is a great achievement. Wu Qing also told me that he can stabilize the grain prices and stock market in Peking so quickly, and you will not pursue your behavior in the first place. Besides, you were the Yan of Timur at that time, so you should work hard for him. Now, Gao Qing's identity is Huaiyuanbo of the Ming Dynasty. Next time, Timur asks you, you have to consider it."

"I vow to heaven that I will live up to the Ming Dynasty forever." Gao Deyong rolled from the chair and kowtowed and cursed: "Temur is not the enemy of the Ming Dynasty, so I am greedy for money to help him. If there is a dispute between the two countries in the future, even if I am torn to pieces, I will not dare to bear the Ming Dynasty. If I violate this oath, the sky will be destroyed by the earth."

"Get up and sit down. I didn't say that the Ming Dynasty will have a dispute with Timur. If you really want to compete for the world, it may not be his turn." Seeing that you took Gao Fatty in a few words, Zhu Yuanzhang was happy and asked gently: "I want to send envoys to the Hezhong area to see the customs and customs of various countries. You have many capable people under your command, and I hope to send someone to my envoys to lead the way, so that they will not be lost or be robbed by the White Horde halfway"!

"That's easy to deal with. Every spring and autumn, the caravans have to travel across the vast sea together. The envoys are wronged and just change their clothes and mix in the caravan. The Mongolians are greedy and give them some benefits. Even the hidden elephants can pass the pass smoothly, let alone a few businessmen who are covered with faces." Gao Deyong fell into the ground with a stone in his heart, and crawled back to his seat slightly. Seeing Wu Anguo's suspicious gaze swept towards his face, he knew that his pretentious behavior of showing weakness had not hidden from the eyes of this Master Wu, and he replied carefully.

"I brought the cannons I sold to Timur in this way. It's really hard to use your people for these Persian Hu merchants. If you go back and choose smart people, I will reward them with ten taels of gold each. After they return to the Ming Dynasty, they will be given an additional title."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Even if I have done a little loyalty to Your Majesty, the bounty will not be needed. They were hired by me. How much money should I get every year? How many trips to the Western Regions are written in the contract." The fat man answered happily.

This fat man Gao is very good at managing people. Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, thinking in his heart. After a while, several ministers of the cabinet had a basic understanding of the actual situation of the countries in the Western Regions. Seeing that it was getting late, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Gao Deyong tentatively: "Gaoqing, last year, there were many people selling their bodies as slaves. I want to order the wealthy families to return all their bodies to sell contracts. You bought a lot of your business, do you think this matter is feasible?"

According to Shao Zhi and others' thoughts, when it was changed to ordinary people, they didn't agree immediately, and they would use a few servants to please the emperor, so why not do it? Unexpectedly, what surprised him was that Gao Fatty, who had been timid all day, actually solemnly replied: "Your Majesty has a fate, so I should naturally obey it. But in this way, if there is famine in the future, no one in the world dares to take in those who have no rice to make a pot."

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang and the shock on everyone's faces, Shao Zhi still clearly remembered that even the Marquis of Pingliao Wu'anguo, who had always protected Gao Deyong, kept looking at Gao Deyong. But Fatty Gao said something as if he had not seen it: "In the past, the people of Lu had redeemed their ministers and concubines to the princes, and they all received gold in the palace. Zigong redeemed people but did not receive gold. Confucius hated him and said, "The gift was lost. The sages can change customs and customs, and the teachings can be given to the people, not just for their own actions. Now the rich people in Lu and the poor people are numerous, and receiving gold is not honest. How can they redeem each other? From now on, they will not redeem people with princes. "Long live, what they do today is probably more powerful than what Zigong did."

In addition to Wu Anguo and Zhu Yuanzhang, the few here are all well-educated things and know that the allusions quoted by Gao Deyong are indeed true. Last year, the famine was famine, and many wealthy families took the opportunity to buy slaves. Wu Anguo and several cabinet ministers have been discussing asking the emperor to issue an order to release these forced people. Unexpectedly, there is such a simple truth involved. If you don’t know if you refute it, Zhu Yuanzhang asked in confusion: “Don’t the Gao Qing family think that people should do good deeds?”

Gao Deyong looked at Wu Anguo, nodded, straightened his body and replied stubbornly: "For Your Majesty, of course, he did good deeds, but for the ministers, what he lost was his own private property. If there was another famine in the future, who would help those who were unable to eat enough?"

In the world, is it the king's land, the guest of the earth, or the ministers. Shao Zhi has been an official for half his life, and it is the first time that he has heard people separate his things from the royal family so clearly. He vaguely feels that this statement makes sense. You emperor can please the people of the world, but you can't please my property. The shocks caused by the words of several ministers are no less than Shao Zhi. In addition to his feelings, the fat man's body is much more adorable in their eyes.

"Their money and goods do not depend on the land and the government, so they do not look at the government's face. They spared no effort to protect their property." What did I write? Shao Zhi looked at the ink traces he accidentally left on the paper, and threw the letter half of the letter to Bai Zheng into the trash can. The trash can was almost full, and the reply to Bai Zheng was still not well written.

During the day, Gao Deyong made a decision to redeem slaves from the rich people in the world with the savings of the treasury. The Grand Secretary Shao Zhi was responsible for the specific purpose of handling the matter. When it comes to personal property, the courage shown by Gao Fatty was admirable. Little, Shao Zhi felt that Gao Deyong represented a new force, and this new force might not be able to control it even Wu Anguo, the initiator of the new policy of Peking back then.

After giving the emperor some ideas in recent days, Xu Zhichen, Zhan Zhen and Fatty Gao all expressed their intention to resign. After they left, the reign of Rulin's grievances towards him, Shao Zhi would slowly calm down. But what to do in the future, whether it is welcomed by himself or not, this kind of force must come to the court. Gao Deyong and others made suggestions this time were just a drill for new forces to come to the front stage. If he really came in the future, he would stand on which side he stood on, and with his keen political sense, Shao Zhi knew that as a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, he would be at the forefront, and would be crushed if he was accidentally crushed.

"It's better to go back." Shao Zhi's writings have a few more words. He is too unwilling to resign. The old teacher Li Shanchang said a few words that he said at the end of his life and death have always been lingering in his heart. "Every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the country, but should the country bear some responsibility for the safety of the people?" So he strongly supported road construction and other suggestions. For wealthy families, the decline in silver prices is just a loss of small money on the books. For ordinary people, the risk of cutting off rice and firewood may be directly faced.

Although family members contribute money and people contribute their efforts, although it may not be able to really calm prices as Zhu Yuanzhang wished, at least it can give poor people and unemployed refugees a hope of making a living, and they are the direct bearers of pain. However, the roads in various places can be built with the financial resources of the Ming Dynasty, and the paths on the sea can be connected by the exploration of explorers, which makes the old teacher Li Shanchang restless until his death. Where is the way out for the Ming Dynasty? No matter what, he can't get out of the cycle of reincarnation that is once every four hundred years?

"My brother is not as talented as a middle-aged man, and he secretly holds a high position. He has been ashamed of not seeking assistance to the government..." Thinking of this, Shao Zhi wrote in a stroke like a child in the school, "The support of Confucians is the country. What they plan is the blessing of the people. If he has a strategy to benefit the country, he must give it his strength to help him. If he has a word to harm the country, he must resist the death. Why bother to demand his origin and mislead the country's major affairs......" These words seem to have been hidden deep in his memory, and the ups and downs of the officialdom have gradually faded away. At this moment, as he thinks about the fate of the country, he has gradually become clear. He reflects on his narrow mind just now, but does not know that in this era of change, in the face of unexpected changes, everyone has the same confusion and confusion as him. Even a futurer like Wu'anguo may not be able to tell people how to adapt to this change.

The lights in the Prince Consort's Mansion and Wu'anguo study were as bright as the study. During the day, Gao Deyong's actions were obviously colluding with Xu Zhichen, Zhan Zhen and others. The Ming merchants entered the political stage for the first time as independent. The first thing they did was to strive to protect their private property from infringement. In addition to selling titles, building roads, raising troops, governing rivers, and building ships, there was also a strategy that Wu'anguo was also undecided in taking action. Zhu Yuanzhang had already

After ordering Wu Anguo and Fei Zhen and the doctors of the Academy of Sciences to consider the feasibility of this strategy, that is, minting coins. Xu Zhichen proposed the suggestion of unified minting of gold and silver coins by the court based on the principle that silver depreciation was depreciated, and the copper with a fixed face value was not affected by the inflow of silver. The specific implementation details are that, referring to the original issuance method of Baochao, the court presided over the minting of gold, silver and other precious metals, and a gold coins of the same weight were exchanged for silver coins.

The exchange ratio of copper and silver coins can be referred to as the issuance of Baochao. Based on the Baochao issued in the eighth year of Hongwu, the Baochao is from 100 to 10000 yuan, with a total of six types, which is equal to 1,000 yuan copper coins or 1 tael of silver. A newly issued silver coin is recommended to exchange for 200 copper coins, so that the size and weight are more convenient. After the new money is issued, the gold and silver in the hands of the people will not be circulated as cash, but must be exchanged for gold and silver at the government or bill number.

After a certain period of time, the bill number or the government will return the silver from various places to the court to exchange for money. In order to prove the feasibility of this suggestion, Gao Deyong also specially took out several gold coins issued by the Chagatai Khanate as evidence. "I traveled to various countries in the Western Regions and brought this kind of money. Although it looks a bit rough, it is very practical. It only costs a thousand gold dollars to buy all the things from the caravan, and just hide it in the peak of a camel."

With the metal technology currently mastered by the Manufacturing Bureau of the Ministry of Industry, the metal currency that is of uniform casting quality and difficult to imitate among the people should not be difficult. At least they do not have to rely on the reputation of the court to exist independently. Wu'anguo carefully considered under the lamp that if a gold coin is fixed at ten grams and a silver coin is fixed at five grams, and a gold coin is exchanged for ten silver coins, is it more labor-saving? In the future, people are afraid that the merchants will not be able to put a few coins on it, can they be used as standard weights? However, why are these guys so keen on the court to mint coins, and they are prepared with great knowledge and answer questions? Thinking of what they did when they came to the capital this time, Wu'anguo suddenly found that things were not as simple as they seemed.

Come back to the excitement of the reform of precious metal currency and the appearance of asking for the people, Wu Anguo found that the kind suggestions put forward by Xu Zhichen and others actually contained the dream of merchants hoping that the court would bear the losses of currency depreciation for them. A gold coin of the same quality was actually fixed to the exchange point of the people's hands at the exchange point in the summer of the 16th year of Hongwu, and the ratio of five taels of silver to one tael of gold. In the future, silver fell again, and the decline was the national treasury silver, which had nothing to do with the silver in the banknotes of each bank. No matter how much money Xu and Gao guys still had in their hands that they had not recovered after lending, after the funds flowed back at the end of the year, they could justify the exchange of silver and the government into currency, and would not lose money because they underestimated the depreciation speed of silver depreciation.

"I can't underestimate the wisdom of these guys." Wu Anguo smiled and said, "Everyone is not traitorous." I wonder if the rise of Western precious metal currencies is due to the same reason. In any case, the changes in this era are becoming increasingly difficult to understand, and are becoming more and more unexpected.

"An Guo, it's so late, why are you secretly having fun alone?" Liu Ling tiptoed into the study and gently massaged Wu Anguo's shoulders. In recent days, her husband's white hair has had a few more white hair on his temples. As a wife, if he can't share his worries, at least he should make his life more comfortable.

"I remembered a famous saying by a wise man." Wu Anguo leaned his head on Liu Ling's slightly raised belly. Feeling the restlessness of life inside, "He said that there was no road in this world, and if there were too many people, he could step on a road."

"It makes some sense, but what does this have to do with your decision to mint coins for the emperor?" Liu Ling asked in confusion. After three years of marriage, her husband is still in his eyes. His every move shows calmness and wisdom.

"Think about it casually, just give it a message." Wu Anguo did not explain to Liu Ling, and just put his ears on his wife's belly and listened to the heartbeat coming from inside.

This is the crystallization of his and his wife's love, and a new life is about to be born. (End of Chapter 13)
Chapter completed!