After leaving Octopus, there were more pedestrians on the street, and they were clustered together chatting about gossip. Judging from their expressions, it was probably not a good thing. Chang Yu walked towards the crowd and asked, "Excuse me, how to get to the Yamen?"
"Hey, you go over there to watch the fun. Don't go there. There are soldiers and Dongchang fanatics everywhere. You might get into trouble." One person advised, thinking that Chang Yu and the others had just entered the city.
The caravan wanted to see the excitement.
"Ah, what happened?" Chang Yu was confused. The man looked at him and said, "You just entered the city?"
"Yes." Chang Yu nodded, and the man tutted: "You don't know yet, but the eunuch of Dongchang and the Minister of the Ministry of War entered the city last night, and captured the guerrilla Huang Liansheng that night!"
Ah, Chang Yu pretended to be surprised: "Why did you take Huang Guerrilla?"
"I heard that because of dereliction of duty, the court closed the market three months ago, but...hehe, you know it," someone else said in shock, shaking his head. Chang Yu frowned: "That's it, it's true now, then my
The goods can’t get out..."
"Hey, just wait..." The man advised him: "Let's talk about it after a few days."
"I have to go take a look." Chang Yu said and left in a hurry. Those people behind him kindly advised: "Don't go there, it's easy to get into trouble..."
Zhangjiakou is still essentially a frontier fortress. There is no local government office. Except for some officials sent by the Ministry of Household Affairs to be responsible for trade, everything else is under military control. The people stationed here are sometimes garrison and sometimes guerrilla. Huang Liansheng is one of the three guerrillas under Wang Chengyin.
One, based in Zhangjiakou.
But he didn't expect that the first thing Shi Kefa did when he entered the city was to capture him!
There were many people watching the excitement outside the Yamen. They said they were here to watch the excitement rather than to inquire about the news. The three floors inside and outside were blocked.
The soldiers of the Black Wolf Battalion were maintaining order, and when they gave orders not to get close, they saw a group of people running over with their heads covered. They subconsciously drew their swords and were about to kill them, but they saw the first person showed his face and blinked, and he couldn't help but scare himself.
After picking it up, he quickly let the group in.
Shi Kefa was having breakfast when he heard that Chang Yu had come to greet him and told him about taking Huang Liansheng. Chang Yu didn't care about this and asked Shi Kefa to sit here to handle official business. He wanted to make an unannounced visit to Laiyuan Fort and asked him to
He issued an announcement in the name of Minister of War, and then left through the back door.
In the middle of the afternoon, the whole Zhangjiakou was shaken. Notices stamped with the seal of the Minister of War were plastered all over the four city gates. Countless people turned pale with fright.
The content of the notice is very simple, that is, to strictly crack down on smuggling and strictly inspect prohibited items.
All merchants or individuals are ordered to transport any goods containing iron, iron products, especially iron pots, and salt immediately within three days. Otherwise, in addition to confiscating the goods, the owner of the goods will be investigated according to law.
Only three days? Within three days, the military will search the entire city and search the goods of each merchant door to door!
This is definitely thunder on dry land! Something that has never happened before.
The imperial court is about to show its sword and take action.
But you can't say that the imperial court did a great job. Because it didn't immediately seal off the city and search, otherwise how many people would be in trouble, but gave them three days to transport it away quickly? Let's forget about it as long as it's not exported? It gave enough face.
But even this caused countless people headaches and lamentations throughout the city.
The reason and simplicity? Three days are enough for them to evacuate, but they are destined to lose everything!
Because compared with the extreme shortage in Mongolia, the Ming Dynasty's iron production was extremely surplus. From the early Hongwu period, the annual output reached 18 million jins, of which Huguang accounted for 6 million jins. This output was the first in the world at that time, and it was excessive.
So much so that in the 18th year of Hongwu, the iron smelting industry had to be "stopped by all the chief ministers". Eight years later, the official smelting industry was reopened. In the 28th year of Hongwu, the inventory reached 37.43 million catties. Therefore, Taizu "ordered to stop the iron smelting industry everywhere and order the people to do so."
Obtained from mining"
By the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, there were too many private iron-making enterprises. In Beizhili, the famous "Zunhua Iron Smelting" appeared, that is, the iron-making plant in Zunhua, Hebei Province. At most, there were as many as two thousand people.
Five hundred workers, at least 1,500 per hour, became the largest iron smelting base in the north. In Yangcheng County, Shanxi Province alone, the output in Tianshun and Chenghua years was equivalent to seven percent of the annual iron output in Shanxi Province in the early Ming Dynasty.
Eight times, there are also Jinxian, Huangmei, Xingguo and other places in the south.
It can be said that at this time, the price of iron in the Ming Dynasty was similar to that of cabbage, but when it was shipped out, it could be purchased at a gold price!
Although the goods were brought in at a bargain price, it took so much manpower and material resources to transport them to Zhangjiakou. If they were brought back, not to mention that they might not be sold, it would be a loss no matter what, and many people could not afford the loss!
But if you don't pull him back, it won't be as simple as losing money if you catch him.
Many people's faces were filled with sadness, dark clouds were covering their heads, and some were even wiping tears secretly.
But at this time, there was a news secretly circulating among the merchants: someone was buying it at a fair price but not in the city, and it must be introduced by an acquaintance.
There was a bright future in the village, and suddenly there was a glimmer of light.
But it is not possible for everyone to get on board with this line of trading, which requires acquaintances, so middlemen have sprung up, and prices have been suppressed again and again. Many people are itching to be popular, but they have no choice but to do it. They don’t want to make money, just want to
You can just protect your capital, but in the end you find that you can't keep your capital and you just want to lose less. As long as it's within what you can bear, you can accept it, otherwise you can only pull it back.
"Brother, brother, hey, Shaodong's family, Shaodong's family, we have been waiting for you for a long time..." As soon as Chang Yu returned to the inn, he was blocked by the group of people who drank together last night, and then he was pulled into a private room:'
Young Master, do you still accept the goods?"
"At this critical moment..." Zhu Cihong was embarrassed and looked at Chang Yu.
"You have all read the notice, right..." Chang Yu smiled bitterly and shook his head. This business was done with his head in mind.
"Then...you won't accept it?" This group of people looked disappointed.
"Collect it, but you can't collect it here. It needs to be far away from Zhangjiakou to avoid trouble, and the price has to be negotiated," Chang Yu said in a deep voice. Those people were overjoyed: "The price is easy to negotiate, easy to negotiate," Chang Yu said.
It's a good place to talk to people who have their own shops over there and let them go directly to do business.
So the news spread quickly.
Since then, many people have begun to speculate on who is going to commit the crime. Some people have speculated that it is people from Inner Mongolia who are in the country, some people have speculated that they are from the military, and some people have speculated that it may be Octopus, but no matter who it is, it is definitely a person with a background and a way.
Otherwise, you won’t be able to get it out of customs after you collect it, and there’s no need to transport it back to the mainland to sell it. Who would be stupid if it’s an obvious loss-making business.
Some people thought about whether to report it, but then they thought about it. It is not illegal for people to purchase goods within the country, and it would be useless to report it, unless there is evidence that these people want to smuggle.
In the inn, Princess Kunxin had just gotten up. She had slept late last night due to the wind and snow and was afraid of the cold, so she woke up a little late. After she had washed up and was about to eat, Chang Yu came back and told her that she could go to Fan Mansion in the city to rest.
In the name of the young master of Octopus.
Fan Yongdou was a wealthy man, not to mention the luxury of his mansion. The high walls, wide courtyard and quietness made it suitable for them and their party to stay.
"What about you?" Princess Kunxing asked.
"I'll go to Laiyuan Fort first and come back before dark," Chang Yu said, looking at the little Taoist nun lying on the bed, and asked casually: "Are you awake?" This little Taoist nun has been unconscious all the way since yesterday.
"I'm awake, but I've been confused. I just asked the doctor to see me, and I drank medicine and fell asleep again." Lian Xin replied. Chang Yu walked to the bed and put his hand on the little Taoist nun's forehead. It was not as hot as yesterday, and he felt relieved.
After taking a breath, he found that the little Taoist nun had woken up and looked directly at him: "Who are you?"
"Isn't this what I should ask you?" Chang Yu pulled back his hand and chuckled.
"My name is Qing Yi, you are..." The little Taoist nun raised her head with difficulty and glanced at the people in the room: "Did you save me?"
"Qing Yi? Are you an opera singer?" Lian Xin asked casually, and Chang Yu gave her a straight answer: "Have you ever seen a Taoist nun sing opera?" Then he asked: "Where did you become a monk? How could you live on the street?"
"The Taoist nun sighed, tears falling like rain: "Yufeng Mountain and Yufeng Temple are all starving to death..."
Chang Yu doesn't know where Yufeng Mountain is, but he also knows that nowadays the Taoist sect is not as prosperous and has as many properties as the Buddhist sect. The Taoist sect is already poor, let alone the incense of the female Taoist nuns... People are starving to death everywhere these days, but there are no gods or Buddhas appearing.
To survive, even for their followers.
However, Chang Yu did not intend to take this Taoist nun in. When she recovered, he would send her some money or help her find another Taoist sect to stay in. There were a few Taoist temples in the capital that could accommodate her... thinking in his mind, he gave her a few words of comfort,
Then let the little Taoist nun take good care of herself.
"I want to go to Laiyuan Castle too," Princess Kunxing grabbed Chang Yu and whispered.
"I'm on official business!" Chang Yu didn't refuse directly, but his eyes said everything. Princess Kunxing shrugged upon seeing this: "Okay, then I'll rest at Fan's house first, and you can take me out to play tomorrow."
.
Near noon, Chang Yu took Zhu Cihong and more than ten personal guards to Laiyuan Fort, twenty miles away due north of Zhangjia.