Chapter 059: National Relatives Participate in Shares
In Yongning Palace, south of Zhongcui Palace, Concubine Li was sitting alone in the warm pavilion of the side hall, in a daze, not knowing what she was thinking.
A young man with a white face and no beard came out from behind the curtain, walked behind Concubine Li, and said softly: "Sister, what are you thinking about?"
Concubine Li moved a little, but did not look back. She just frowned slightly and asked: "The Royal Horse Supervisor has changed his palm prints. Why don't you stay in the Licaochang Yamen and take care of me? What are you doing here? Don't be afraid of three attacks." Fire came down and burned you?"
"Sister, you are joking." The young man said with a smile: "Who doesn't know that Chen Ju belongs to the prince? As a new official, if he burns anyone, he will not burn the prince's uncle, right? If he is that If I don't know what's going on, I won't be transferred from the Zhongfu pasture back to the inner pasture."
Concubine Li turned her head slightly, glanced at her younger brother, and said: "From your tone, I really like Zhongfu Caochang? Why, Zhongfu Caochang not only accepts tens of thousands of taels of silver from Taicang every year, but also manages Huangzhuang and Huangdian. The ranch, how come you get two to three hundred thousand taels of silver a year? With your methods, are you afraid of starving to death? The ranch here can't control the money. Chen Ju transferred you back from the money jar. Don't blame him. ?”
"Don't complain, it's all for the emperor. It's the same everywhere." The young man said with a cheerful smile.
"Huh?" Concubine Li narrowed her eyes slightly, looked him over, and said in a neutral tone: "I can't tell, but you've grown a lot, and you already know how to say such things."
"Haha, sister, look at what you said, I really mean what you said..."
"Okay, okay, let's get straight to the point, what benefits did Chen Ju promise you? Why don't I remember any hair growth errands in the pasture? Don't tell me that you suddenly no longer love money." Concubine Li looked away. , interrupted with a wave of his hand.
The young man put away his smile and said seriously: "Sister, I really guessed wrong. I am just a casual worker in the grassland." After saying that, he took a badge from his lower back and handed it to Concubine Li.
Concubine Li took it and took a look. It was originally made of silver, but it was gilded. It was bell-shaped and hollow. The edges on both sides of the waist badge were raised with double edges. The top was engraved with auspicious cloud patterns. There was a hole in the cloud pattern. The waist badge There are five characters written vertically on the central yang: Royal Horse Supervisor and Eunuch.
Concubine Li didn't look at it and turned it over directly. The shape of the negative side was roughly the same as before, but the characters engraved in the middle were different: Zhongzi No. 7.
"Are you in charge of the prison gun now?" Concubine Li frowned and looked at her younger brother with some doubts in her eyes: "This is not a fat job. You shouldn't think about it...don't make a mistake."
The young man rolled his eyes and said angrily: "Sister, what are you thinking about? Are you afraid that I will sell the firecrackers and cannons from Beijing Camp? Even if I am so brave, who dares to buy it without risking their lives? !”
"Then why are you happy?"
The young eunuch reached out and took the waist badge back from Concubine Li, tied it around her waist, patted it, and said: "It's not valuable now, but I guess it will be valuable soon."
"Why?" Concubine Li looked puzzled.
"Chen Ju asked Gao Jingshi for the inside information." The young man looked around and saw that no one was there, so he lowered his voice and said mysteriously: "The last time Gao Jingshi came back from Datong, he gave it to the emperor. I reported to the prince about the current firearms problem, sister, do you still remember?"
"I have an impression, what's wrong?"
"After hearing this, Sister, what do you think when you know that the firearms of the Guochao are so bad?"
Concubine Li looked puzzled: "I am a woman in a deep palace, what can I think? These matters must be considered by the emperor and his ministers."
"Sister, don't you think our firearms are so... dangerous?"
Concubine Li sighed: "What on earth do you want to say? Yes, after I heard it at that time, I also felt that it was not possible to continue like this, but I don't understand the affairs of the court, let alone ask. I don't think anything is important."
The young man smiled wryly, spread his hands, and said: "Sister, you are guarding me as much as you are guarding against thieves. Do you think I want to persuade you to get involved in politics? No, I just want to ask. I want to know what a person with your status, sister, is like.
What’s your state of mind after hearing such news?”
Concubine Li looked at him deeply and said in deep thought: "As I said just now, I don't think it's going to work like this." Then she added: "You don't need me to repeat what you said next, right?"
The young man nodded helplessly and said: "So, no matter who knows this situation, they will feel that it is not possible. Our current firearms are too unreliable. The border troops and Beijing troops have these fire sticks in their hands.
If something happens, the trouble will be big... Sister, think about it, although I have declared myself a vassal and paid tribute, the Yuan Ting (the Mongolian left wing) has not."
"What does that have to do with you, the eunuch who oversees the horse and the gun?"
The young man laughed: "My position itself is not important. What is important is that I am the eunuch in charge of the horses and guns, and as a rule, I am also in charge of the military affairs department."
Concubine Li frowned and said, "What do you want to do?"
She was afraid that her brother would say that the products produced by the Bing Zhan Bureau would be scumbag anyway, so why not make a fortune from it.
Who knew that it was not the case? The young man smiled and said: "Whether it is the war bureau of the inner court or the weapons bureau of the Ministry of War, there is probably nothing that can be saved, so... Mr. Gao is thinking about allowing private companies to open weapons factories to manufacture weapons.
The weapons will then be jointly inspected, accepted and purchased by the Military Warfare Bureau and the Ordnance Bureau."
Concubine Li really didn't know much about government affairs. She was stunned for a moment before reacting, and said in surprise: "Opening a private weapons factory? This seems... a little inappropriate, right?" When she heard that it was what Mr. Gao Ge was considering, she even subconsciously
I felt that this was not possible, and as soon as my words came out, I turned into an obviously unconfident "There seems to be something wrong."
Men are generally more confident in this kind of thing, even if they are disabled men, so the young man waved his hand and said: "I know what sister is worried about. It is just that if private individuals are allowed to make firearms, will firearms spread among the people and cause trouble?"
Concubine Li asked: "Isn't it like this?"
"Yes, and no." The young man smiled and said: "Sister, I'm not telling you that you can all think of things. How can Mr. Gao Ge, Mr. Guo Ge, Mr. Zhang Ge not think about it? These hidden dangers are naturally all
We will think of ways to prevent it in advance.”
"It's all handed over to private individuals, how can we stop it?" Concubine Li asked curiously.
"Well, the news I have here is all obtained by Chen Ju, and it may not be complete. Sister, can you just listen to it?"
"Okay, you go ahead."
"That's right. Although it is handed over to a private person, first of all, not just anyone can have such qualifications. There will be very strict identity restrictions: for example, there are several generations of loyal people in the family; the investment to build the factory must be at least one hundred thousand taels.
; The ordnance produced must be applied for. If you are allowed to make cannons, you can make cannons. If you are allowed to make cannons, you can make cannons. The factory itself must also be subject to the supervision of the Royal Horse Supervisor and the Ministry of War. No matter how much it is made, it must have its quantity, origin, and destination.
;Finally, the manufactured ordnance must also pass the supervision and inspection of the War and War Bureau and the Ordnance Bureau, etc., etc., there are many restrictions."
"Oh..." Concubine Li thought for a while and nodded: "In this case, it sounds feasible. It would be a good idea for the inner court and the outer court to supervise it together."
That was natural. After all, in Concubine Li's opinion, if both the inner and outer courts joined forces to deceive the emperor, it would no longer be a small problem such as the leakage of firearms to the people.
But she came back to her senses immediately: "No, in this case, wouldn't it be even more useless for you to be in charge of the military situation?"
"How could it be useless?" The young man laughed: "I am in charge of the war situation, which is equivalent to deciding whether these things can be used in the military..."
Concubine Li's eyebrows raised, and her tone suddenly became stern: "You want to accept bribes?"
"Sister, what you said is so unpleasant." The young man spread his hands and said, "Let's put it this way, if the item is not up to standard, it will definitely not be approved by my younger brother. But, even if the item is up to standard... Hey, someone can get one hundred thousand.
When two people go out to do business, they can't be ignorant of normal courtesy exchanges, right? What's more..."
Concubine Li was relieved when she heard this, but when she heard "What's more," she immediately asked, "What's more, what's more?"
"What's more, I see that Gao Pragmatic is quite interested in this business himself. He is quite a good man, and our family will be able to benefit from it when the time comes."
Concubine Li was slightly startled, but she immediately realized that this was not strange. Gao Pragmatic was really good at business. If there was such a business, it wouldn't be strange for him to get involved.
Unexpectedly, the young man seemed to remember something important. He patted his head and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Our father is also quite interested in this business."
Concubine Li was stunned for a moment and said in surprise: "What are you talking nonsense about? Where can we get that one hundred thousand taels? Not to mention one hundred thousand taels, can we get ten thousand taels?"
The young man smiled and said: "I can't take it out, but it doesn't matter, we can take shares. Sister, you know, my father and Zhang Siwei have always had a good relationship, and Zhang Siwei is a highly pragmatic uncle. With this kind of relationship,
Now, when the time comes, will he be so pragmatic and have the nerve not to let us take part? When he started the Jinghua soap factory and briquettes, our reaction was too slow and we didn't catch up with the good times. We must not miss it this time.
Well, let’s not talk about anything else, this little guy is truly a first-class national player when it comes to making money. This opportunity cannot be missed, and the time will never come again.”
"So, this is a serious business...but you must not use the name of the prince or me to get shares, do you understand?"
The young man had a smile on his face: "I know, I know, how can I do that?" But he thought to himself: If you don't take dry shares, you won't take dry shares. Let's just invest some money and see how many shares the boy named Gao can give! I still want to know.
I don’t believe that if I give him a thousand taels of silver, he will only give me a thousand taels of stocks!
Seeing that he had agreed, Concubine Li turned her eyes slightly, but said no more.
