Chapter 1492 The Sudden Change in Suzhou——Family Love and Raising Money
"Uncle Zhang, you don't have to do this. The horse he rides is just fine, and the horse pulling the cart is not a good horse. There are many horses like this at home. Even if the feeding is not good, just replace it with another one.
"Li Yonglin said again.
"This can't be done!" Uncle Zhang said: "The things my aunt brings back, no matter whether they are good or bad, must be offered. They must not be anything like ordinary things."
"Auntie," he started nagging again. "The eldest master and his wife are thinking about you day and night. They worry about whether you eat well and sleep well in the capital, but they are still used to it.
Sister, we have entered the house. I will call you Third Miss. Third Miss, every time I get a letter from you from the capital, the great master has ordered that it must be delivered to him immediately, open it and look at it.
Look at what you wrote. If you write about bad things, I will worry about you for several days. If you write about good things, I will worry about you hiding all the bad things.
Worry for a few days; Madam, it’s about the same.”
"The house you lived in before you got married is still intact. The original maids still clean the house every day, water the flowers and plants, quilts, gauze covers, and the furnishings in the house are regularly replaced with new ones, as if you are still living in the house.
Same. And..."
"Father, mother." Li Yonglin couldn't help but blush when she heard Uncle Zhang speak like this. Although she lives a happy life now, her husband also cares about her, and her parents-in-law are not unruly people, but they are nothing compared to her parents.
Good to yourself?
"Uncle Zhang, where is my father? Is he at home?" Li Yonglin quietly wiped the corners of her eyes and asked again.
"Well," Uncle Zhang said stiffly, "Originally, the eldest master wanted to stay at home and wait for you these days, but just an hour before you came back, His Highness Prince An entered the city. Originally, this had nothing to do with the eldest master.
The relationship is that the eldest master is not an official who has become an official. But His Highness Prince An didn't know what happened. At the beginning of the year, when he passed through Suzhou from the capital to Nanyang, he specially summoned the eldest master. He also summoned him this time when he returned. The eldest master did not dare to disobey the prince's order.
, I can only go and see you."
"His Royal Highness Prince An has returned?" Li Yonglin said something, and immediately added: "Let me tell you, why is the inspection by the sergeant guarding the gate so strict? I remember that it was very loose in the past. It turns out that there is a prince in the city."
"That's why. The prefect has ordered the sergeants to carefully guard the four gates since yesterday and not allow anyone with a sword to enter the city. Even a kitchen knife is not allowed to be taken on the street. If anyone is holding a kitchen knife on the street,
If the policemen on patrol see it as you walk up, it will definitely be confiscated," said Uncle Zhang.
"This is too harsh." Xiao Tong frowned. He had lived in the capital for a year and a half, and there were so many princes and emperors in the capital who were not as strict as this.
"Hey, the newly appointed prefect is timid. He is afraid that something will go wrong, even if the prince is alerted, so he is so strict. Fortunately, the prince will stay in Suzhou Mansion for one night and leave tomorrow, so there will be no delay."
As Uncle Zhang was talking, he had already reached the second door. Going further in is the inner courtyard. Male servants are not allowed to enter. Of course, Uncle Zhang cannot go in. Li Yonglin was about to say a few words to him when a voice suddenly came from inside the door:
"Yong Lin, my daughter, you are back!"
"Mother!" Li Yonglin recognized her mother's voice as soon as she heard it, and hurriedly walked into the second door to see her mother. Xiao Tong saluted Uncle Zhang and said, "Uncle Zhang, thank you for sending me here."
"Thank you for what. How can a master thank his servant?" Uncle Zhang said with a smile, and then said: "Hurry in and accompany the third lady. Madam also likes you very much."
Xiao Tong thanked him again. Uncle Zhang agreed with a smile and turned to leave. Xiao Tong also walked into the second door. When he walked in, Li Yonglin was nestling in her mother's arms. She was a little embarrassed when he came in and broke away from her mother's arms.
Standing aside with a hug.
"My son-in-law has met my mother-in-law, please greet me." Xiao Tong bowed and said.
"An, everything is safe." Li Yonglin's mother, Mrs. Zhao, looked at him and promised with a smile.
Since Li Taiyuan was not there, Xiao Tong could not stay in the inner courtyard for a long time. After saying a few words to his mother-in-law, he left the inner courtyard and went to the house arranged for him. Mrs. Zhao took her daughter's hand and walked to her daughter's past boudoir.
In the boudoir, mother and daughter exchanged a few more private words. Ms. Zhao asked, "Yong Lin, how many nights will you stay at home?"
"Two nights at most. Mom, today is already the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. If you stay for two nights, you will leave Suzhou on the 25th. We are going to Qingpu County, Songjiang Prefecture. We will have to walk for at least two days. This is the 27th of the twelfth lunar month.
Arrive, it’s already very late.” Li Yonglin replied.
"Let's stay one more day." Ms. Zhao said, "It's not too late to go to Qingpu County on the 28th."
Li Yonglin wanted to refuse. They set off from the capital so late and would not arrive in Qingpu County until the 27th of the twelfth lunar month. Xiao Tong's parents were already a little dissatisfied. It would be even worse if it was delayed by one day, not to mention that Xiao Tong might not agree. But.
She looked into her mother's eyes, her heart softened, and she said, "Okay. My daughter persuades her husband to stay one more night in Suzhou."
"That's right." Mrs. Zhao patted her hand and said with a smile, "That's right."
"Yong Lin, there is something. I hope you can tell the truth." After chatting for a few words, Zhao suddenly said this again.
"Mom, what's the matter?"
"It's about your husband. Is your husband good to you?"
"Mom, didn't you ask about this when you went home last time?"
"At that time, you had only been married for more than a year, and you were naturally in love. But after a year and a half, and you haven't given birth to a child, his attitude towards you may have changed."
"Mom, don't worry, Xiao Tong is very kind to his daughter. And her daughter is also pregnant." Li Yonglin whispered in her mother's ear.
"Already pregnant?" Mrs. Zhao looked at her daughter's belly with surprise and asked, "How many months have you been pregnant?"
"Three months." Li Yonglin also touched her belly and answered with a smile.
"I asked why you took a carriage instead of riding a horse. It turns out you are pregnant." Mrs. Zhao said in surprise, but then she remembered something and asked, "Why don't you go back by boat?"
"Mom, Qingpu County is not on the Yangtze River, and it is quite far away from the Huangpu River. When you get to Huating County by boat, you have to change to a carriage to go to Qingpu. It's a long detour. It's better to take a carriage from the capital." Li Yonglin said.
"I see, it is indeed better to go back in a carriage." Mrs. Zhao said this, and then said with a look of surprise: "It is a good thing that you are pregnant. You don't have to worry about the Xiao family disapproving of you. Xiao Tong is also young.
You are not young yet, and you still have no children, so your parents-in-law are inevitably worried. The reason why your previous husband's family divorced you may be because you have never given birth to children."
"Mom, why are you mentioning their family?" Li Yonglin was listening to her mother's words with a smile, but her mother suddenly mentioned the Dan family, with a look of disgust on her face and said: "Don't mention their family before the new year."
"Mom was wrong." Mrs. Zhao immediately said, "You shouldn't mention their family."
"By the way, Xiao Tong's hometown is not from Zhejiang, so why did you go back to Qingpu County, Songjiang Prefecture to celebrate the New Year?" The atmosphere was a little cold for a while, and Zhao couldn't find a topic to talk about when he brought this up.
"The Xiao family was originally from Zhejiang, but in order to give their children a greater chance of passing the examination, they took advantage of a loophole in the government household registration and moved his household registration to Qingpu County. Later, the government issued a document, and those who used the loophole in the past were not blamed.
But if you want to keep your household registration in Qingpu, you must move your family to Qingpu County. At that time, Xiao Tong had already obtained the title of scholar in Qingpu County and participated in a provincial examination in Zhili. He could not take the imperial examination again when he returned to Zhejiang, so he had no choice but to let him go.
The whole family moved to Qingpu County."
"I see. But it's also good. Qingpu County is much closer to Suzhou than Zhejiang. If Mom misses you, she can still go and see you."
"How can I let my mother go see her daughter? If she misses her daughter, she will send someone to send a message to her daughter and she will come to Suzhou." Li Yonglin said with a smile.
After saying these few words, the atmosphere between mother and daughter became harmonious again. They talked for a while, and Li Yonglin suddenly said: "It's already the beginning of Youshi, and it's already getting dark. Why hasn't dad come back yet?"
"At the beginning of the year, your father went to see Prince An and came back in an hour and a half; this time it has been more than two hours, why haven't you come back yet?" Zhao also said strangely: "How can Prince An have so many things to do with us?
What did the merchant say?"
…
…
At this moment, many people in expensive clothes came out of the courtyard where Prince An was staying temporarily and were noisily discussing. "Is there any influence on what the prince said? Can it be taken seriously?"
"How do I know this? You have to ask the prince."
"Are you kidding? How can I ask the prince? I don't think it's enough to offend the prince?"
"You two, stop arguing. Of course, the prince cannot ask. But if this matter is true, then there must be news in the capital. Send someone to the capital to ask and we will know."
"Capital? Brother Bofu, have you heard about this matter?" Someone suddenly asked Shang Ming.
"I didn't hear the news." Shang Ming shook his head and said.
"Well, Brother An Xuan, Brother An Xuan must have heard the news." The man suddenly said to Li Taiyuan again.
"I have heard about it, but I have not heard about what Prince An said."
Li Taiyuan said: "At the beginning of this year, news came from the capital that the imperial court was going to build a canal at the Kra Isthmus in Siam. I was a little surprised at the time, how could a canal be built there? It wasn't until the news came out in November
Only when the imperial court sent troops to attack Bangladesh in India did it realize that it was to facilitate future travel from Central Plains to India."
"Prince Ke'an said that the court has no money to build the canal for the time being because it is preparing to attack Bangladesh. However, the construction of the canal cannot be delayed, so I have never heard of borrowing money from merchants to build the canal."
Others started talking again: "Is it true that the imperial court wants to build the canal? Then why not borrow money from the bank to build it?"
"Didn't you hear Prince An say that all the money in the bank was lent to the imperial court and the country to fight the war, and now we can't borrow any money."
"Then the court can't just borrow money casually. If it's just a few dollars, that's fine. At worst, it can be treated as a donation. But with so much money, what if it goes down the drain?"
"Brother An Xuan," the person who just asked Li Taiyuan said to him again: "Can you send someone to the capital to find out whether what Prince An said is true or false?"
"Can't you send people to the capital to inquire by yourself?" Li Taiyuan said.
"Brother An Xuan, you also know that the officials we know are not high-ranking. Since this matter has not been reported to the official residence, we may not know about it. Only Brother An Xuan, you will definitely be able to find out." The man said again.
"Yes, Brother An Xuan, this matter is very important, so I will ask someone from your house to work hard. We will definitely not treat him badly." Others also said one after another. They still haven't found out who is behind the Li family, but
His status must be very high. If what Prince An said is true, he must have heard of it. Please ask the Li family to find out.
Li Taiyuan looked at the faces with flattering smiles and wanted to knock them all to the ground. But if he really did this, he would offend almost the entire Suzhou business community. He did not dare to do it and could only say: "Okay, then I will
Just send someone to the capital to inquire. But if the inquiry is wrong, you can't blame me."
"How can we blame Brother An Xuan? No matter what we find out, we all support Brother An Xuan." Everyone said in a noisy manner.
"There is one more thing you have to promise me." Li Taiyuan said again.
"What's the matter? We will definitely agree."
"I can't tell the Dan family what I found out."
"Dan family, which Dan family?" someone said.
Li Taiyuan glanced at the speaker and said, "If someone doesn't agree, I will never send someone to the capital."
Everyone was silent for a while. The Dan family was also a large merchant in Suzhou Prefecture, and had contacts with many families present, as well as in-laws. With the Dan family excluded, many people could not make this decision.
They didn't speak, and Li Taiyuan didn't speak either. He just looked at them. After a while, someone said, "I promise Brother An Xuan."
"I also promise Brother An Xuan." The others also said one after another when they saw someone speaking.
Li Taiyuan counted the number of people very carefully and made sure that everyone had agreed. Then he agreed to send an envoy to the capital to inquire about the matter. After saying this, he specifically took a look at the place where the Dan family and his son were standing just now.
They had already turned around and left, sneering and saying: 'I can't find any clue that your family is a White Lotus cultist, but it would be good to add some trouble to your family.'
…
…
"Your Majesty, is it inappropriate for you to make such a big decision without permission?" In Prince An Zhu Ying's bedroom in the courtyard, a eunuch who was serving him bravely said.
"How could this be a decision made by Gu without permission? It was clearly approved by the officials." Zhu Ying said.
"Your Majesty, the official letter clearly asked you to resolve the matter in Nanyang, but it did not say that you were allowed to raise money in the Central Plains." The eunuch said again.
Today, Zhu Ying summoned Li Taiyuan and other major merchants in Suzhou Prefecture to raise money to build the Kra Isthmus Canal.
At the beginning of this year, he sent people to explore the local conditions to see if a canal could be built. After more than half a year of exploration, a detailed topographic map of the Kra Isthmus area was drawn, and suitable routes for canal construction were planned, and construction could begin. But at this time
The parties involved discovered that there was no money to repair it.
Many countries have planned to build the Kra Isthmus Canal in later generations, with project budgets exceeding tens of billions of dollars. Although labor costs were very low in this era, and there were no valuable large-scale machinery to invest in, the construction period would also be prolonged, and the total budget was based on
In terms of purchasing power, it is not much less than tens of billions of dollars in later generations.
The Siamese people immediately shrank. If they could afford this money, why didn't the monarch use it for pleasure and to expand the army? Don't tell the whole story, even if it was one third, they couldn't afford it.
Of course, Pu Fan could not afford it. Pu Fan often attacked the surrounding indigenous tribes. Although he created the impression of a powerful military, his military expenditures were also very large. The indigenous tribes did not have anything valuable and did not have any wealth at all.
After Zhu Ying and Zhu Xian, representatives of Siam, discussed the matter, they reported the matter to the court. Yun was stunned for a moment when he saw the budget: This is more money than the war. Don't say that you will send troops to attack Bangladesh, even if you don't attack Bangladesh.
, the imperial court could not come up with so much money at once.
Yun thought for a while, and squeezed out hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash, grain, and cloth from the treasury, allocated them to them, and wrote to Zhu Ying. On the one hand, he asked him to continue to reduce costs, and on the other hand, he asked them to
Use the money to start construction first, and the subsequent expenses will be dealt with later. At the same time, Siam is ordered to contribute the money. The letter ends with a slight mention: If you can raise money by yourself, I will definitely issue a reward and have your name engraved on the monuments at both ends of the canal.
superior.
After obtaining these things and squeezing out tens of thousands of dollars worth of money from the Kingdom of Siam, he began to recruit or abduct workers to start construction. This matter was also taken over by a dedicated person, and Zhu Ying was no longer responsible.
But after Zhu Ying saw Yun's letter, he became more concerned about this matter than before and wanted to raise money for the construction of the canal. But he was not familiar with the place in Nanyang and could not raise money; the banks in Guangdong and Fujian felt that it was not worthwhile,
Unwilling to do so, Zhu Ying set his sights on businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Suzhou is the second most prosperous place in Jiangsu and Zhejiang after the capital. Zhu Ying summoned local businessmen here, concealing some of the facts and asking them to pay.
Build canals.
"Moreover, Your Majesty, the government is strictly prohibited from borrowing money from merchants other than banks," the eunuch said again.
"Just let these people open a bank. The government does not stipulate that temples and Taoism are required to open a bank." Zhu Ying said: "Don't worry, if they agree to borrow money, Gu will tell the matter after they open the bank."
The official family will also send people to sign the loan documents later, so I will not handle it."
"My lord, why are you so troubled? Since you are willing to go to such lengths for this matter, why don't you ask the official for an order to seal it?" the eunuch asked again.
"Haha," Zhu Ying seemed to be laughing, but there was no smile in his voice. "If I don't even have a son, why would I be granted a title upon request? Wouldn't the fief be taken back by the court after a few decades? Anyway, even if I don't grant it, it's okay.
If you can enjoy life in the capital, why bother to be sealed?"
"But I don't want to be forgotten quickly after my death. I am working hard to raise money to build the Kra Isthmus Canal. If I do it, my title and name will be engraved on both ends of the canal, and people who come and go on the canal can see it, it will be considered dead."
Leave your name behind so that no one except the person guarding Gu’s tomb will forget Gu.”
"Also, I have been enjoying myself for half my life, but I have not done anything for the court, and I feel uneasy. If I can facilitate this, it will be considered as having done something, and I can continue to enjoy myself with peace of mind."
"So I want to raise money for the construction of the Kra Isthmus Canal."
After hearing Zhu Ying's words, the eunuch breathed out a sigh of relief and had nothing more to say.
"Liu Banban, remember to remind the orphans before tomorrow and ask them to come over and ask them if they are willing to pay."
