In a private room on the second floor of an inconspicuous mid-range restaurant in Suzhou, the eldest master and Lin Ruhai were receiving guests from the capital, including Prince Zhongshun's confidants.
Naturally, he was talking about Prince Zhongshun's expansion of territory. The elder mentioned several large island countries that would be famous in later generations. Unexpectedly, when the prince came to envoy, he made even more excessive demands.
"Want me to help?"
The elder had a funny look on his face and said angrily, "I am an inspector of Jiangsu Province and an official in charge of prisons, helping me. Isn't this funny?"
The three people present here all knew the purpose of Prince Zhongshun's move. They just wanted to drag the eldest man into the water, or tie him to the warship.
It's not that Prince Zhongshun has any conspiracy, he just wants to drag the elder into the chariot of expanding the territory. After all, it was the elder who proposed this matter, so at least he can be trusted.
Although it is not difficult to go to sea and occupy the island, the trouble is that the immigrants behind them need a stable rear base. Many port cities in the entire south are suitable, but Prince Zhongshun can't worry about the local officials.
Who knows if there are any current confidants here? If he comes at a critical moment, there will be no room to cry.
Prince Zhongshun cannot come with great fanfare. Even if he wants to mobilize his confidants to serve as local chief officials, it will not be possible in a short time. Besides, not all his confidants are willing to serve in the local area, and the position of local chief officials here in Jiangnan is not good.
alley.
Besides, those so-called confidants are not scary. Even Prince Zhongshun himself is probably not sure.
It just so happened that the eldest man was serving as an inspector in Suzhou Province, and it was he who came up with the idea of going to the outer seas to establish a vassal state and build a country. The eldest man would never do anything secretly, so he might as well let him be in charge of the rear base.
"Master Jia, when you have your way, the prince has secretly helped you get the position of Chief Envoy of Jiangsu Province. Master Jia, please don't turn your back on me when the time comes!"
Prince Zhongshun's confidants laughed and said, but deep in their eyes was unspeakable envy.
Nima, Marquis Jia En's official career is also very good. How long has it been since he entered the officialdom that he will become a second-rank official?
Even Lin Ruhai, who had been silent next to him, was surprised and looked at his uncle's official career with suspicion.
The official hierarchy is also in the shape of a pyramid. The higher you go to the upper levels, the fewer positions there are. Every high-ranking official above the third rank cannot be underestimated.
Not only the power in their hands, but also the interest groups centered around them, the power of a few of them is quite amazing. This means that once an official reaches the third rank or above, he is basically firmly established, and even the emperor will not be able to take it easily without an excuse.
Down.
It is quite difficult to move up from the third level to the second level. Chance and luck are also essential. What is more important is that the force behind it is strong enough to push the leader up, and you have to be willing to speak up.
Based on the eldest master's situation, if he followed the normal procedures, he wouldn't expect to be promoted within ten years. But he didn't expect that Prince Zhongshun would be so willing to spend a lot of money to lure the eldest master into trouble.
If we take this opportunity to win over local officials, we might be able to recruit one or even several high-potential officials to join our ranks.
The transfer of senior officials is not just a matter of one position. No one can say how many positions may be vacant under the linkage.
But the old man was there and said leisurely: "Then let's do it!"
…
During the Mid-Autumn Festival of this year, Lin Ruhai was transferred to the position of Minister of Taichang Temple. After saying goodbye to the eldest master, he took his whole family to the capital to take up his post.
Among them, the elder helped to pull the strings, and Prince Zhongshun secretly gave him a push, so he took on such a casual position.
This was quite satisfying for Lin Ruhai.
At the end of the year, the elder also successfully took over the post of Chief Envoy of Jiangsu Province and became the Chief Civil Affairs Officer of Jiangsu Province. At the same time, he entered the ranks of second-rank officials and attracted the attention of both the government and the public.
In the next three years, the entire Jiangsu province underwent earth-shaking changes.
The economy is booming!
People's livelihood is prosperous!
If there are any modern people living in Jiangsu Province, they will definitely have such comments about the three years when the elder was in charge of Jiangsu Province.
Su Province, which was already wealthy, suddenly became the richest place in the south of the Yangtze River. It put aside the other regions in the south of the Yangtze River, such as Zhejiang Province and Gan Province. In terms of economic aggregate and activity, as well as the affluence of the people, the two
All provinces combined are not as good as Jiangsu Province.
All of this is due to the vigorous development of Songjiang Prefecture, as well as the sharp increase in overseas trade volume. A steady stream of overseas silver has poured into Su Province, and Su Province's specialty goods have been sold to the world through sea transportation. The benefits are
One can imagine how big it is.
With Juliang Baiyin from overseas as capital, the entire Jiangsu province's economy took off with ease.
The government now has money. Under the strong control of the big boss, it has launched large-scale infrastructure construction, built roads and bridges, and built complete farmland and water conservancy facilities. It has spread a lot of money and hired hundreds of thousands of people.
After the construction, the traffic situation in the entire Jiangsu Province has been greatly improved.
In some prosperous prefectures and counties, road construction and bridge construction have even benefited every village, which has greatly accelerated the logistics and transportation speeds throughout Jiangsu Province, adding more fuel for economic development.
The economic center of Jiangnan quickly moved from places such as Jinling and Yangzhou to Songjiang Prefecture. A large amount of money and manpower were invested. In just three years, Songjiang New City was established at the mouth of the Yangtze River.
The newly built wharves were filled with ships from Southeast Asia and even the West, and merchants of all colors came in an endless stream. The governor's office of Suzhou Province was merciless just by setting up a card to collect customs fees. The imperial court was jealous of the income and quickly established a municipal shipping department.
The biggest benefit is to share it.
Workshops are springing up like bamboo shoots after a rain. As long as the people who have lost their fields are willing to work hard, it will not be a problem to live a subsistence and even more comfortable life.
The prosperity of maritime trade also led to the prosperity of shipbuilding and overseas trade, giving a large number of people in Jiangsu Province other means of living.
In short, the three years that the Grand Master was in charge of Jiangsu Province were the best and most intense period of Jiangsu Province's development. The prosperity of the entire Jiangsu Province almost attracted court officials and various forces to get involved, hoping to get a piece of the pie.
The elder will not refuse at all, but there is only one requirement, and that is to abide by the rules he has set!
During this period, the Jinling Zhen family, relying on their status as the noble concubine and the prince's maternal wife, wanted to capture the biggest piece of cake in Jiangsu province's economic development. However, they were made miserable by the big boss.
Not to mention getting the biggest benefit, even the basic base of Jiangnan Weaving was lost. It can be said that the loss was heavy and the vitality was severely damaged.
So what if the imperial concubine in the capital and the underage prince support her? If the eldest master doesn’t give her any face, why can’t the Zhen family just watch helplessly?
With the Zhen family as a precedent, other forces naturally knew how to restrain themselves, which saved the eldest man a lot of energy.
Of course, the help of Prince Zhongshun and Prince Yi Zhong are indispensable.
In three years, Suzhou's economy has taken off and overseas trade has been booming. Prince Zhongshun's fleet was not conspicuous at all among them. A large number of capable manpower went to the South China Sea Islands. With the secret help of the great master, they have successfully established a stable fleet on Liuqiu Island.
At the transfer station, it also established a foothold in Luzon. With its strong force and financial resources, it sold a large area and established several large plantations and farms.
With obvious results, Prince Zhongshun became even more motivated. Currently, he has quietly deployed half of his strength to several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. He will only wait for the follow-up manpower to gather before sending manpower to Luzon to seize the territory.
At this time, a certain Western country was also plotting against the Luzon Islands. With its strong ships and sharp firearms, it suppressed the native kingdom on the islands and beat them hard. Prince Zhongshun's men and horses were all good soldiers, and they were also very familiar with military matters, so he just took action.
After helping several times, I have returned to the island and gained the trust of the indigenous kingdom.
The next thing is to increase the number of manpower and slowly increase the strength of the prince's subordinates. When the strength is accumulated to a certain level, he will take over the island's indigenous kingdom in one fell swoop.
Seeing that the hope of establishing a feudal country has greatly increased, as long as the entire Luzon region is captured, and enough people from the Central Plains immigrate there, Prince Zhongshun even revealed that he would directly go to sea to establish a country at that time, and he became less and less interested in the disputes within Daqi.
Not only did he have such an idea, but all his close friends were also very positive.
Especially in the Luzon region, a large number of open-pit copper mines have been discovered. In addition, the climate there is warm and has three crops a year. It is simply a natural treasure. As long as it is managed properly, it will not be compared to the prosperity of Jiangnan, at least it will not be compared to the poor provinces in the north.
Bad right?
Once the vassal state is successfully established, both Prince Zhongshun and his subordinates will gain huge power that is unimaginable in Daqi. Therefore, they are all very motivated and have little interest in the internal affairs of Daqi.
Prince Zhongshun's change of attitude naturally attracted the attention of today and other royal family bosses.
Although I am confused now, I am also very happy with this situation. Without Prince Zhongshun tampering secretly, how much less trouble will I have?
Therefore, for Prince Zhongshun who suddenly fell in love with business, he was very generous and provided great convenience, and even intentionally guided him to never look back on the road of business.
A prince who loves doing business, no matter how much money he has in his hands, what if he is so rich that he can rival his country?
The scholar group would never support such a person on the throne. Now they can rest assured that they no longer need to regard Prince Zhongshun as a competitor.
Nowadays, I don’t understand why Prince Zhongshun suddenly changed his temper, but Prince Yi Zhong knows it well.
At the beginning, the eldest master also mentioned to him the matter of establishing a vassal and a country in the outer sea, but at that time he was so ambitious that he didn't think much about it. Of course, in order to leave a way out, he still helped the eldest master several times intentionally or unintentionally.
Seeing that Prince Zhongshun suddenly changed his temper, Prince Yi Zhong immediately realized that Zhongshun had made progress in establishing a feudal vassal in the outer sea. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the prince to suddenly change his temper, or even to
He is no longer interested in participating in the internal affairs of the imperial court.
Therefore, Prince Yizhong also found the elder through secret channels and wanted to get involved.