That night, Huang Qirui, accompanied by Wei Zhongxian, led a group of Heluo officials into the orchestra of Prince Fu's Mansion with ease, and showed the dragon robe that was actually brought into the mansion under a Kunqu opera costume, and
A crown with twelve crowns.
The governor of Henan and the magistrate of Luoyang looked solemn on their faces, but they were actually very happy in their hearts.
Thank God, Grandpa Taizu, the court finally came to deal with this faint king.
After Zheng Haizhu brought the brainwashed Huang Bingshi to meet him and made some thoughtful remarks, the two houses no longer had any worries. They wrote a report overnight and sent it to the capital, waiting for good news.
Although Zhu Changxun, the King of Fu, was chosen as the King of Xiang by his subordinate Huang Bingshi, who was somewhat loyal but not very loyal, in fact, he did not have the bloodiness of the King of Xiang back then, who would put on armor in order to prove his innocence.
He rode his horse into the fire and burned himself.
During the month of house arrest, he was reluctant to skip a meal, so much so that when he saw the officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Zongren Mansion who came with the imperial edict, he cried vigorously for his father Wanli and his mother Zheng Guifei.
, scolding an adulterous sycophant to alienate the brotherhood between himself and Jin Shang, and was finally put into an official ship on the Yellow River and transported to Fengyang.
The Ministry of Rites and the Zongren Mansion had finished the important matter of Prince Zhu Yousong of Dechang ascending the throne as the second Prince of Fu, and Tai returned to Beijing peacefully.
The head of the Henan Qing Li Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs appeared on the stage with great joy.
"Have you made it clear what Bi Shangshu meant in the official documents from Beijing?" Zheng Haizhu asked the chief.
The manager knew that his immediate boss Bi Ziyan had a good relationship with Zheng Siqing, so he said respectfully: "I have read it carefully, and the ministry has explained that the salt from Jianghuai and Sichuan should be returned to their respective places. Fortunately, this year's salt
Before the announcement was made, the two places just released announcements to attract merchants."
Zheng Haizhu nodded: "The salt shops run by the deposed king's minions can no longer cause trouble, and the salt stores in Hedong can also return to the right path. However, I wrote to you Bi Shangshu half a month ago, begging him to take this opportunity to
The rules of the Transshipment Department have been changed."
"Uh, how to change it? I want to know the details."
Zheng Haizhu said bluntly: "During the reign of Master Hongzhi, Ye Qi, the Minister of Household Affairs, was from the Huaihe River. For the convenience of his fellow merchants, he stipulated that salt merchants could exchange silver for salt, instead of having to exchange the southern merchants with silver as in the past.
After the grain is transported to the north, it can be exchanged for salt. I just told Bi Shangshu that this rule is not working and must be changed back."
The head of the Ministry of Household Affairs was a little confused: "Why does it do more harm than good to exchange grain for money by exchanging money for money? If the imperial court takes money, it can also buy grain and transport it to the north?"
"No, it's very different. The original intention of opening the central system of salt import was to mobilize the power of private merchants to transport grain from the south to the military towns in the north. Because the weight of the grain transported to the border is directly linked to the amount of salt import that can be exchanged,
Therefore, merchants not only shipped goods quickly, but also tried their best to reduce the loss during transportation. This idea was taken to the extreme, and it became that the merchants recruited farmers themselves and farmed near the border. This kind of merchant camp was better than that of the Ming Dynasty.
The grain yield per mu in Tun is much higher. Think about it, what would happen if you could get salt by paying money in this town?"
"Ah, I understand."
The head of the household department just didn't have enough experience, but he had a bright mind. Hearing what Zheng Haizhu said, he immediately woke up.
Merchants pursue both profits and labor-saving. They can use silver in the south to directly exchange for salt, so why bother to run merchant villages near the border?
Shangtun was abandoned, and the job of transporting grain fell back to the transshipment department who took the money from the salt merchants. No wonder the price of grain in Xuanda, Jizhen, Liaodong and other places has become high again. During the lean season in spring, even At four or five taels of silver per stone, even if the monthly salary of the frontier army was paid in full and on time, it would be difficult to have enough to eat.
"Madam, don't worry. When I serve in the Henan Qingli Division, I will definitely pay attention to the new rules of the ministry. If Hedong Yanyin can be exchanged for transporting grain to Jiubian this time, I will inform Heluo immediately."
A few days later, under the auspices of his father-in-law Huang Qirui, the second-generation Fu Wang Zhu Yousong, who had ascended the throne, honestly handed over 600,000 taels of silver to the Henan Qingli Division of the Ministry of Household Affairs for signature.
What's interesting is that Wei Zhongxian asked his close confidants to escort the beautiful ladies from Henan to Beijing. He used this period for more than a month to visit several mansions around Henan Mansion as a half-imperial eunuch. .
The king of Zhou, whose fiefdom is in Kaifeng, the king of Zhao, whose fiefdom is in Zhangde, and the king of Lu, whose fiefdom is in Weihui, have already heard the news about Zhu Changxun's capsized boat in Luoyang, and saw the imperial court's Da Ju personally coming to the door. After hearing it again, they didn't have much appetite. , it’s just one hundred thousand taels of silver per family.
Obviously, it is completely different from the emperor's attitude of punishing King Fu to avenge the feud over the country's foundation, so why should he hesitate?
Wei Zhongxian then came back with 300,000 taels of silver and handed it over to the Henan Qingli Division of the Ministry of Household Affairs with 200,000 taels.
The head of the Qingli Department was already beaming with joy. In this year's examination, he must be ranked number one in the Qingli Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
"Mrs. Zheng, fly legs are also meat, don't you think so?"
Zheng Haizhu said with a smile: "It's not a fly's leg, it's a camel's leg. Two hundred thousand taels can buy 150,000 shi of grain from Sichuan."
After I finished laughing, I asked the household department for money.
The head of the household department has received an order from the capital to leave 200,000 taels, which will be organized by the minister of state affairs, and the rest will be sent to the capital.
This was originally agreed upon by Zheng Haizhu with the emperor Zhu Changluo and the chief minister of rites Cao Huachun before his trip to Henan.
Because he estimated that it would be July to finish singing this big play, and the autumn harvest would be coming soon. Zhu Changluo fully trusted Zheng Haizhu, a close minister who was born as a merchant, and had enough ability to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, so he orally gave instructions to let the opera go. Give her some money.
Zheng Haizhu then allocated one hundred thousand taels and found Huang Qirui, who had excellent acting skills this time, and asked him to take advantage of July and August, when food prices were at their lowest, to collect tens of thousands of taels of grain, transport it all the way to Xuanda, and deliver it to Governor Sun Chengzong , save it for the court first, and in return for him, in addition to eating a little bit of the price difference, and promising some salt from Sichuan, it is equivalent to broadening his business in his hometown.
Huang Qirui happily accepted the job.
To the north of Henan is Shanxi. The road to transport grain to Xuanda is not difficult. He can make a profit, and he can also tacitly share the profits with Zheng Siqing. The friendship between the famous people around the emperor has become stable.
For the remaining 100,000 taels, Zheng Haizhu asked the Henan Prefecture for an escort from the Biao Camp sergeants and walked to Shanxi to Jizhen. Witnessed by Du Song, the commander-in-chief of Jizhen, Zheng Haizhu spent 50,000 taels to exchange for winter clothes for the frontier army.
Of course, these winter clothes were shipped directly from Chongming to the private port of Shanhaiguan Juniper.
Jun Song calculated the accounts and said cheerfully to Zheng Haizhu: "Okay, this cotton lining is bulging. At first glance, it looks like it is not the tattered thing that Uncle Li Guo filled with straw and brought to the border town to freeze to death.
.”
The implication is that even if this is the case, I can still earn ten thousand taels of silver. The coats produced by Siqing's family are really good. I think Siqing will also give a big share of the profit to me, Lao Du. He is really beautiful in doing things.
.
Zheng Haizhu sent the last fifty thousand taels to Daning Town and handed them over to Huang Zunsu and Ma Xianglin.
"You continue to recruit troops, buy horses, and I will report the clear accounts to the capital. I have not been greedy for a penny," Zheng Haizhu said to the two of them, "This is only a small part, and the big battles to be fought next year will only waste money.