Chapter 457 His Royal Highness King Chu Jia Hai’s loyal Suzhou City
By the time everything got back on track, it was already the end of winter.
Zhongshu Sheng seized the time and held a grand ceremony to confer the title of King of Wu, Zhu Ji, as King of Zhou, and to confer the title of King of Chu, Zhu Zhenhai.
After the ceremony, it was the twelfth lunar month. In this month when tired birds return to their nests and travelers return to their hometowns, the only prince of the Ming Dynasty, His Royal Highness, left Nanjing by boat. There were still many things in Suzhou that were not finished, and Lao Liu was still preparing to welcome the third day in person.
Two commercial fleets from Southeast Asia returned.
The journey is always quick, and three days later, His Highness and his entourage arrived in Suzhou.
This time, Lao Liu received the most solemn welcome.
From the pier to the carriage house, the road was paved with loess and the streets were sprinkled with clean water. The prefect of Suzhou, Li Heng, and two county magistrates led all the gentry in the city to wait at the pier before dawn. The pier was draped in red and colorful, and there was a band playing to welcome the saint.
"Yinfeng Diao".
When the sixth son of Emperor Hongwu, the right-hand man of His Highness the Crown Prince, the guardian of the Ming Dynasty's maritime territory, the guardian of Su Songchang's town of Hangjiahu, the king of Chu and the king of the sea Zhu Zhen appeared on the deck, Li Heng led a group of citizens, officials and gentry to kneel down and bow.
, in unison welcomed His Highness back to his loyal city of Suzhou.
If they were previously submissive to Lao Liu, they were probably forced by lust. But after personally experiencing Suzhou's light-speed recovery and learning that His Highness had wiped out the Fang and Chen pirates and subdued the Beiwa navy, they had completely surrendered.
.
What's more, His Highness has been awarded the title of King of the Sea, taking charge of all affairs in the Ming Dynasty. What's more terrible is that his palace will be built in Suzhou to guard the south of the Yangtze River for generations. Hearing this news, the big officials and gentry in Suzhou were completely numb, knowing that they would never
There is no way to escape the clutches of Lao Liu.
Since I can't escape, of course I have to assume the most humble posture, so that His Highness can be a little more relaxed...
His Royal Highness the King of Chu slowly walked down the gangway and looked around. He saw that everyone was prostrate on the ground, and no one dared to raise his head.
"Let's all get back together." His voice was loud and full of energy. He stepped on his own territory and his whole body felt different.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Li Heng quickly led the crowd to thank him and then stood up.
"Your Highness's palace has been cleaned up. Please go back to the palace and take a rest." Li Heng personally raised the curtain for His Highness.
"Yeah." Zhu Zhen nodded, got in the car and sat down.
The ceremonial guard started slowly, and a long procession surrounded Wang Jia as he entered Suzhou City. The city was even more lively. Under the colorful buildings one after another, Suzhou citizens crowded shoulder to shoulder, and the incense tables were crowded together.
They loudly shouted "Your Highness is a thousand years old" and knelt down to worship His Highness the King of Chu devoutly in front of the incense table. The crowds of people in the alley were like welcoming immortals and Buddhas, which made Lao Liu's scalp numb for a while.
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"It's too much, it's too much..." As soon as he returned to Canglang Pavilion, he scolded Li Heng: "Is it necessary to be so exaggerated?"
"I'm sorry, Your Highness. The people under my command made good arrangements at the dock," Li Heng yelled at Hui. "But after entering the city, it was all done spontaneously by the people. It's not like Xie didn't know how diverse the people of Suzhou are.
Who can force them to grovel and greet the powerful?"
"Spontaneously?" Lao Liu didn't believe it.
"That's natural." Li Heng said with a smile: "When His Highness came to Suzhou at the beginning of the year, the people were unable to uncover the pot and were about to rebel. It was all thanks to His Highness's wonderful hand to bring youth back to life. Now the city of Suzhou is prosperous, and the people have jobs to do, and the wages are two or three times what they were before.
Times, life is much better than before."
"The common people understand in their hearts. They know who made them live a good life. It was not Xiaguan, the prefect of Suzhou, nor the big families, but His Highness the King of Chu!" He continued with admiration:
"Many people have memorial tablets of His Highness in their homes. It is no exaggeration to say that His Highness has given birth to Buddha in thousands of families in Suzhou City. This time I heard that His Highness has been enshrined in Suzhou, who knows how happy they will be?"
"Okay..." Zhu Zhen finally let him go and sighed: "It seems that when I return to Suzhou in the future, I have to enter the city quietly, and there is no need to beat the gong."
"Isn't this also the first time His Highness has returned home after changing his seal? People will just get used to it from now on." Li Heng said with an apologetic smile.
"Yes." Zhu Zhen nodded and said to Li Heng: "I have three things to do when I return to Suzhou this time. One is to choose a location for the palace. Please help me pay attention to it."
"According to the order." Li Heng responded hurriedly and respectfully, and then asked: "Does your Highness have any requests?"
"In the palace, the front and back palaces, the size and width are strictly in accordance with regulations, what kind of tricks can it have?" Zhu Zhen thought about it and said: "But you have to make the garden bigger for me, I have a lot of pets to keep.
.”
"Understood." Li Heng said with a smile: "Suzhou gardens are unique, and they are perfect for raising pets."
"You watch first, and then report back after you've made a good search." Zhu Zhen nodded, and then ordered: "The second thing is to see if the food stamps are still functioning normally."
"It's normal, of course it's normal." Li Heng couldn't help but smile bitterly: "I didn't expect that the food stamps launched by His Highness in an emergency would be so effective, even a little too good..."
"How do you say it?" Zhu Zhen frowned slightly.
"The people of Suzhou now not only recognize food stamps, but also give priority to copper coins and food stamps, let alone treasure notes." Li Heng hesitated and said:
"Because almost all merchants and stores give discounts to those who use food stamps... Of course this is a good thing for promoting food stamps, but the problem is that after they accept the food stamps, they never spend it again. So, a
It’s a strange situation where we keep printing and they keep collecting.”
"I understand what you mean. You are saying that food stamps are in high demand now because big households need to accumulate food stamps to increase their points." Zhu Zhen said with a smile:
"You're worried that once the one-year period is up and they don't need the points anymore, a massive amount of food stamps will come out and trigger a run, right?"
"Your Highness is wise." Li Heng nodded hurriedly and said with a grimace: "It will expire in three months. We have already released 30 million stone of food stamps. Even if we don't release any more, we
The less than one million stones of grain in the reserve warehouse is far from enough to pay for it."
He didn't even dare to mention it now. It was written in black and white, signed and stamped, that the grain for the Dyeing and Weaving Bureau was borrowed from the reserve warehouse, and Qiuli would have to pay it back.
Because at first we were talking about only giving out food stamps of 200,000 dan, but now they have been given out a full 150 times more! Once there is a thunderstorm, none of them will be able to run away, so let's worry about the 'mere' 200,000 dan.
Stone, what’s the point?
"Hahaha, just put your heart back in your stomach," Zhu Zhen laughed nonchalantly and said, "I have my own rules and regulations and will never cause a run!"
"Since His Highness has his own clever plan, I can rest assured." He had already said so, what else could Li Heng say? He had to force a smile and not mention it and said: "I dare to ask Your Highness, what is the third thing for?
Then there will be a big evaluation of merit at the expense of crime?”
"That's right." Zhu Zhen nodded and said: "In the past nine months, they have performed well. They have made great contributions to the king. I can't help but give them some rewards."
Lao Liu was telling the truth. After losing the first battle, he was able to quickly reorganize his fleet and defeat the pirates with a thunderous force. This was inseparable from the generosity of the big players... Of course, they were in exchange for points and improving their rankings.
No matter what, their contribution is real. Now that they have won, they have to give them some sweetness.
