Zhong Jinwei then introduced the eight traitors and the border situation to Emperor Chongzhen, and then said: "Such a large-scale act of collaborating with the enemy and treason. If you say that the general of Xuanfu has nothing to do with it, even if you kill the minister, you won't believe it."
Emperor Chongzhen was already furious. After listening to Zhong Jinwei's explanation, he said to Sun Chengzong: "Master Sun, the general of Xuanfu is in King Qin's army, right? Get him for me!"
"Your Majesty, I think it is best not to touch him for the time being." Sun Chengzong advised.
"Why, even if he has nothing to do with it, if such an appalling thing happens in his jurisdiction, he must be captured." Emperor Chongzhen said angrily.
"Your Majesty, after all, the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu has King Lai Qin, and he is also a hero in the recovery of Zunhua and other places. If he is arrested like this, it will have a bad impact on other commanders-in-chief. Therefore, what I and Mr. Sun mean is to send the troops as soon as possible.
We need to find out the extent of the border army's involvement before punishing the general of Xuanfu." Zhong Jinwei also tried to persuade him.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw that the two ministers had said this, he had to think deeply for a moment, and then said: "That's fine, let him go first. However, to severely punish the traitors and thoroughly investigate the border army, two masters are needed, and I will
Don't worry. However, Master Sun will be in charge of the capital, so I have to trouble Master Zhong with this matter."
According to what Master Zhong said, the wealth of those traitors must be huge. If others went there, there would be no certainty that they would enrich their own pockets. When selecting the candidate for Emperor Chongzhen, Zhong Jinwei was chosen from the very beginning.
"It's okay for me to go. I've already sent my bodyguard to check out the situation before. But when I go to the border, I need to have discretionary power to punish the traitors and the number of border soldiers involved." Zhong Jinwei made a request.
"I give Master Zhong a sword called Shang Fang, and another copy of the imperial edict. He has the power to make arbitrary decisions when the opportunity arises, to kill first and report later." Emperor Chongzhen said directly without thinking.[
After he said the words, he immediately thought that the border army was involved and Zhong Jinwei's safety could not be ignored, so he added: "Master Zhong will have to lead an army before he goes."
Therefore, after discussions between Emperor Chongzhen and his two ministers, it was decided that Zhong Jinwei would lead a thousand white-gun troops to Zhangjiakou to deal with traitors and investigate the border troops under the pretext of escorting the border army's salary promised before.
Sun Chengzong was stationed in the capital, assisted by Qin Liangyu, in reorganizing the infantry in the capital camp.
In fact, it is not an excuse. Hong Chengchou has sent people back to Beijing many times to ask for pay and food. He even revealed that if there is no food or pay, he will have to focus on suppression.
Later, Emperor Chongzhen sent messengers to explain to the border troops that they had prepared military pay, and that they would deliver the military pay as soon as the Battle of Gyeonggi was over. This had to be done as promised, otherwise the border army would rebel even more violently.
After discussing this matter, it was finally Emperor Chongzhen's turn to talk about his affairs: "Master Zhong, there is a shortage of money everywhere right now, and the state-owned enterprises must be implemented as soon as possible. These are the various reports you have made while you are away from the capital.
You take a look first."
After hearing what Emperor Chongzhen said, the chamberlain who was standing by the side hurried over and handed over the information on the imperial case to Zhong Jinwei.
Sun Chengzong looked at the eunuch and handed the information to Zhong Jinwei, then smiled and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, a lot of money has been seized from Jianlu this time, which may alleviate the court's shortage of money."
Emperor Chongzhen was actually just talking. There was still a lot of atonement silver from last time, and the tax money from various places would be escorted to the capital soon. But there were too many places to spend money, and there must be more ways to make money.
Now when Sun Chengzong heard that he had money again, he was really overjoyed. For the current Ming Empire, money is never too much.
The money Sun Chengzong mentioned was only a small part of the money lost in the whole city of Yongping, but even so, it was already a lot.
Zhong Jinwei quickly read through several reports in his hand. He thought for a while and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, some cement production can be sold for the time being. I will go back and write down an operation strategy and let others operate it."
"How much money can I get?" Emperor Chongzhen was more concerned about this.
"Your Majesty, the current cement still needs to meet the needs of road construction. As long as this road is repaired, firstly, it will serve as a demonstration, and secondly, the road from the cement factory to the capital will not be afraid of rain. It is a matter of killing two birds with one stone."
Emperor Chongzhen heard that Zhong Jinwei's words meant that there would not be a lot of cement to sell at the moment, and was slightly disappointed. However, because Sun Chengzong suddenly made a fortune here, although he was disappointed with Zhong Jinwei's words that road construction should be given priority, he was still disappointed.
Not opposed to it.[
"As for glass, most of the production capacity can be allocated for sale. The sales method is different from cement. I will write it out in advance." Zhong Jinwei is not very satisfied with the production capacity of glass, but because most of the cement production needs to be used by himself, so
We can only use this glass production capacity.
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he quickly said: "Master Zhong, what is the strategy for selling cement and glass?"
When Sun Chengzong encountered financial problems, especially such new things, he couldn't speak, so he listened to what Zhong Jinwei said with appreciation.
In the past, Sun Chengzong believed that Zhongxing Hou should focus on this content and make more money for the Ming Dynasty. But after the Gyeonggi Battle, he felt that it would not be too bad if Zhongxing Hou was thrown into the battlefield. Because he is good at listening to others.
He can even come up with some strange ideas, but it will not limit the general's talents.
Sun Chengzong didn't know who Zhong Jinwei's teacher was, who could teach such a comprehensive talent. He had taught students for so many years, but he had never had a student with the talent of Zhongxing Hou.
Thinking of this, Sun Chengzong sighed secretly in his heart, there is another mountain higher than the other!
Of course Zhong Jinwei didn't know that Sun Chengzong, who was sitting next to him, was thinking a lot about himself. He replied to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I think so. Cement and glass are not as indispensable to the people as salt. Therefore, selling
The target is the wealthy people in Ming Dynasty, and they are asked to pay for it."
"Oh, okay, I'll read it after I finish writing it." Emperor Chongzhen heard Zhong Jinwei's idea and thought it was very good, so he stopped asking further questions.
Zhong Jinwei took out a report from his hand and said: "Your Majesty, judging from the bank report, I am not very satisfied with the exchange of banknotes for silver. Therefore, I thought of a way to speed up the issuance of banknotes."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen stretched his neck slightly towards Zhong Jinwei and asked quickly: "Master Zhong, what can you do?"
"It's the sale of cement and glass. If you use Da Ming Jiusi Bao banknotes to buy it, you can get a discount on the price." Zhong Jinwei introduced.
"Marquis Zhongxing, aren't you going to take back the banknotes?" Sun Chengzong couldn't help but ask after hearing this.
In their minds, the idea that banknotes are ultimately inferior to silver cannot be completely changed in a day or two, even for Sun Chengzong.
Zhong Jinwei looked at Sun Chengzong and said with a smile: "Yes, we just want to take back the banknotes. Let them know that there are more benefits to using banknotes than using silver coins."
"Master Zhong, isn't the imperial court going to issue banknotes? Is this going to backfire on you?" Emperor Chongzhen asked with a slight frown.
Zhong Jinwei looked back at Emperor Chongzhen, shook his head and said: "It's not counterproductive at all. The banknotes they used to buy can only come from two sources. One is the salary issued by the imperial court, and the other is going to the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty to exchange banknotes with silver taels. Among them,
The salary issued by the imperial court was extremely limited. If you wanted to buy cement and glass, you had to take out silver coins from home and exchange them for banknotes. In this way, the circulation of banknotes would increase. In contrast, the silver reserves in the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty
It will increase. In this way, we can reach the line where there are enough silver reserves faster so that the court can issue more appropriate banknotes."
When Zhong Jinwei first started to explain, Emperor Chongzhen already understood the meaning of this. He also subconsciously believed that the court was issuing banknotes and cashiers, so he just didn't think clearly about it.
Zhong Jinwei shook his head secretly. It seemed that the process of popularizing banknotes in the Ming Dynasty would take a long time. Then he put it down and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the bottleneck of steelmaking is now concentrated on refractory bricks.
On top of that, the current quality of the steel is still not ideal. In my opinion, it may be necessary to recruit more knowledgeable craftsmen to improve it together."
Emperor Chongzhen nodded and said: "That's no problem. I just decree to recruit famous craftsmen from all over the country. Oh, by the way, people before Master Zhong have already arrived in the capital."
Zhong Jinwei was stunned for a moment and couldn't remember who he was, so he asked: "Your Majesty, who has arrived in the capital?"
"Song Yingxing."
After hearing this, Sun Chengzong couldn't remember who Song Yingxing was, but from what Zhongxing Hou had always seen, Song Yingxing should be a talented person.
"Song Yingxing, oh, I remembered it. Song Yingxing, where are the others?" Zhong Jinwei thought for a while and immediately remembered that he was the author of "Tiangong Kaiwu". He mentioned it to Xu Guangqi, oh, by the way, it's a long paragraph.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Xu Guangqi. Why has this great man gone?
"Xu Qing just arranged for him to go to the cement factory." Emperor Chongzhen replied.
"By the way, Your Majesty, where did Master Xu Guangqi go before? I haven't seen him for a long time." Zhong Jinwei quickly asked his question.
"The compilation of the almanac encountered a problem, so Xu Qing spent some time."
Zhong Jinwei did not understand the importance of almanacs to ancient society, and secretly complained that there were so many things going on nowadays, and even threw Xu Guangqi into compiling almanacs.
He said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I believe that the focus of Mr. Xu's work should be shifted to related infrastructure and the preparation of various research institutes. In addition, if Mr. Xu feels that Song Yingxing is indeed knowledgeable, he might as well let him manage various factories.
, replace An Guiyi and take charge of state-owned enterprise sales."
"Master Zhong and Xu Qing will discuss this matter. I believe you." Emperor Chongzhen nodded in agreement.
There is one more thing that cannot be discussed now, so Zhong Jinwei said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I want to go to the bank and look at the banknotes."
Emperor Chongzhen knew what Zhong Jinwei was talking about as soon as he heard it. He looked at Sun Chengzong and said: "Master Zhong, you don't have any guards now. I will allocate another group of guards for you."
"Your Majesty, there's no need to go to such trouble. I'm going to lead the White Guard Army out to do something. I'll just ask them for some people. When we get to Zhangjiakou, the original guards will be able to return to me." Zhong Jinwei said.
Emperor Chongzhen thought about it and thought it was okay, so he agreed.
Just when Zhong Jinwei was about to turn around and leave the palace, he remembered the incident of Tian Guifei's father Zuo Dudu, so he stopped Zhong Jinwei again and said to him: "Master Zhong, no matter who is involved in the banknote matter, just deal with it how you should."
.”
Zhong Jinwei was stunned after hearing this, not knowing who Emperor Chongzhen was referring to. But no matter who he was, with Emperor Chongzhen, he would not show favoritism.
Then Zhong Jinwei left again, but was unexpectedly stopped by Emperor Chongzhen again.
But this time, Emperor Chongzhen was a little embarrassed. He said to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, I said before that after defeating the Jianlu in the capital, it's time for your wedding, but now you have to go to the border.