However, Yang Ren's expectations were disappointed. When his memorial was delivered to the Qianqing Palace, Yunxi was not in a good mood.
On the 30th day of the first lunar month, Yunxi met with Xia Yuanji, who returned to the capital from Hangzhou. Xia Yuanji had been appointed as the prefect of Xi'an by Yunxi. Because Zhu Yuanzhang felt that the area of a province was too large and weakened the power of provincial-level administrative units, so the prefect was appointed Officials of this rank were very important in the early Ming Dynasty, and they had to go to Beijing to see the emperor before taking office.
Wang Xitong reported that when Xia Yuanji came to Qianqingmen, because it was already noon, Yunxi told Wang Xi: "Let Xia Yuanji wait in the dining hall. I will eat and chat with him during lunch." Then. He asked Guo Zhen to wait for the Fourth Auxiliary Officer and Zhongshu Sheren who were voting for the memorial and take a break at noon. In the afternoon, he continued to vote for the memorial and he got up and went to the dining hall.
When he rushed to the dining hall, Xia Yuanji had already arrived and had not sat down. When he saw Yun Xi coming in, he immediately saluted and said, "Xia Yuanji has met your Majesty."
Yunxi helped him up and said with a smile: "Xia Qing, please get up. You haven't had lunch yet. Come and have dinner with me."
Xia Yuanji said a few words of humility and sat down to eat with Yunxi.
Yunxi asked what had happened in Hangzhou in the past few months. Xia Yuanji first talked about the situation in the Hangzhou Industrial Park, and then said: "Your Majesty, the Zhou family, who runs embroidery at the beginning of the year, came to the capital to pay tribute to Your Majesty, and Your Majesty also accepted one of the paintings Screen, and now the Zhou family relies on His Majesty to accept a screen. Although they do not dare to bully others, it has already affected the order of the embroidery business. This has attracted merchants from various prefectures in Zhejiang and Changzhou to make moves, and many merchants have secretly contacted each other to come during the Chinese New Year next year. The capital will pay tribute to His Majesty."
"Brother Zining and Brother Guangda specifically asked your majesty before I left, not to accept tribute from merchants without authorization in the future. If your majesty likes it, you can recruit tribute households through the Zhejiang Chief Envoy or the Hangzhou Prefecture."
"I will never accept tribute from merchants without authorization in the future." Yunxi said. He was originally unwilling to accept tribute from merchants directly, but the screen was so suitable for the occasion that he really couldn't bear to accept it.
Xia Yuanji actually had some doubts about Yunxi's promise, but he didn't dare to question it face to face. He could only make a mental note to ask Lian Zining to write a letter to Yunxi, but now he talked about something else.
"Your Majesty, do you still remember Yan Zhenzhi and other criminals who were executed for the treason case in the twelfth month of the first year of Jianye?" Xia Yuanji suddenly asked.
"Of course I still remember. What's wrong?" Although Yunxi was a little puzzled, he felt that Xia Yuanji would not mention this group of people for no reason, so he said calmly.
"Your Majesty, Yan Zhenzhi's direct family members have all been exiled to the northwest and northeast, but there are still many clan members left in Huzhou. Among them, those who are close to Yan Zhenzhi will not be allowed to participate in the imperial examination for thirty years, resulting in the current The Yan clan has been divided, and the clan members who are still allowed to participate in the imperial examination will expel the clan members who are not allowed to participate in the imperial examination and let them establish their own clan."
"These people have also lost most of their fields and are living in dire straits. They have to do some small business, and some people venture out to sea to join in the sea business. This is not only the Yan family, but also many such families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang."
"Your Majesty, recently many such people want to change their household registration to merchants and go to Shanghai to do business. Brother Zining and Brother Guangda hope that your majesty can give instructions whether to agree. Brother Zining has also submitted a request to the Zhejiang Province Chief Envoy in the name of Zhejiang Province. Your Majesty will report this matter." Xia Yuanji said.
"The memorial is probably still on the way, I haven't seen it yet. But whether it is now or after receiving the memorial from Qing Lian, my attitude is the same. I allow them to change their household registration to merchants and go to Shanghai to do business." Yunxi.
said.
He understood what Xia Yuanji and Lian Zining meant. They wanted to ask Yunxi if they wanted to kill all these people. Although Yunxi did not kill all those people out of consideration for influence, they did not know Yunxi's actual thoughts.
How, so Xia Yuanji asked implicitly.
Of course Yunxi hated Yan Zhenzhi and others. These people were secretly making small moves behind the scenes. Although they did not cause any big losses, they still made Yunxi disgusted. How could he forget them so easily?
But this does not mean that Yunxi will force all their tribesmen to die. Their direct relatives have been exiled, and those who are still in the local area, even those who are prohibited from participating in the imperial examination, are not closely related to Yan Zhenzhi and others.
, Yan Zhenzhi did not receive many benefits when he was an official, and there was no need to force him to death.
Moreover, Yunxi also hoped that more people could participate in overseas trade and even take the initiative to move to the vassal state.
Xia Yuanji didn't know what Yunxi was thinking, but he was relieved that Yunxi allowed them to change their registration. Although he was no longer the deputy inspector patrolling the West Zhejiang Road, as a responsible official,
Still hope to see the unstable factors resolved.
After Xia Yuanji finished talking about things in Hangzhou, the meal was almost finished. Yunxi put down the bowl and chopsticks in his hands, and Xia Yuanji immediately lowered his hands and sat next to Yunxi. The eunuch standing beside him tidied up the table in a blink of an eye.
It's as clean as ever.
Yunxi said to Xia Yuanji at this time: "Have you known anything about Xi'an Mansion before?"
Xia Yuanji was shocked: Yunxi finally wanted to tell him the real reason why he summoned him this time.
Xia Yuanji was not stupid either. Yunxi suddenly transferred him from Hangzhou, the paradise on earth, to Xi'an as the prefect. There must be some purpose. Maybe there was a very important task entrusted to him. He straightened up in his chair immediately after the earthquake.
He stood up, pondered for a while and then said: "Your Majesty, I only know that Xi'an was the ancient capital of Qin, Han, Sui, Tang and other dynasties. Now it seems that there is not a large population and not much land. The local people's life is not as good as that of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
"
"It's true. Although Xi'an is considered a wealthy place in Sanqin, it is far behind Jiangnan. Even the poorest places in Jiangnan are richer than Xi'an." Yunxi said.
"Although I have never been to the northwest, I talked with the King of Qin and others about the people of the Three Qin Dynasty. The King of Qin repeatedly told me about the hardship of the people of the Three Qin Dynasty."
"No matter where the people are, they are all my people. I couldn't bear to hear that the local people's lives are difficult. I asked you to go to Xi'an just to change this situation."
"What are your orders, Your Majesty?" Xia Yuanji asked.
"The land in the northwest is barren, and the people are just digging for food in the fields. It's okay to say that the population of Sanqin is small now, but in the future when there are more and more people in Sanqin, they will be poor. If you want them to live a longer life, it will be better
, the Silk Road must be reopened.”
“The Silk Road?”
"Yes, this is the trade route. Chang'an was such a rich and prosperous place during the Sui and Tang Dynasties! In the Tang Dynasty, the Guanzhong Plain was already barren. Tang Taizong, Tang Gaozong and Empress Zetian used Luoyang as their eastern capital to eat in the Central Plains many times, but Chang'an
It is still rich and prosperous. I think this is the role of this trade road." Yunxi said.
"So I decided to reopen the Silk Road. Now that Timur is dissatisfied with the king's rule, he even detained the envoy sent by the late emperor to Samarkand. The road west of Yilibali is impassable, but only Yilibali can
There is a lot of business to be done, and the King of Qin now controls the Hami trade route, which is smoother,"
"After you take office, your first priority will be to promote good morals and education, but you will also want to promote merchants in Xi'an Prefecture and even other prefectures in Sanqin to do business along the Silk Road." Yunxi said.
Although the Age of Discovery is about to come, Yunxi does not think that the Silk Road is useless. The goods of the Great Eating Man now generally go to Daming by sea, and the goods of the Ming Dynasty also mostly go by sea to places like Dashi; but not
There are still many places close to the sea, such as Central Asia, Afghanistan, Western Xianbelia, Eastern Europe and other places in later generations. These places are not close to the sea. This is why Central Asia and other originally wealthy places gradually declined after the advent of the Age of Discovery.
The reason. But this also means that once the Ming Dynasty opens the Silk Road, merchants from these places will still come to the Ming Dynasty along the Silk Road in order to make money.
When there are merchants doing business, the people along the road can make money by providing accommodation, food and drink for the merchants, and even ordinary people can benefit. Sanqin was later the birthplace of most anti-thief gangs in the late Ming Dynasty. Isn’t that just because
Don't the people have a way to survive? If you give them a way to survive, they won't rebel.
As for the demand for food from the arrival of a large number of merchants, it can be easily solved. The reason why people in the Sanqin Dynasty were hungry in history in the late Ming Dynasty was because they had no money, not because of lack of food. At that time, there was food in Shanxi that could be exported to Houjin, so naturally
It can also be supplied to Sanqin. As long as the local people make money and selling grain is profitable, someone will naturally transport grain to Sanqin and sell it.
At the same time, this is also an opportunity for the big businessmen in Shanxi and Shaanxi to make money to appease them. Historically, the "Eight Imperial Merchants" appeared in the late Ming Dynasty. The most important reason is that businessmen from Shanxi and Shaanxi are not like the businessmen on the southeast coast.
For overseas business, unlike merchants in Beizhili who could do business in the capital, in order to make money they could only do business with Mongolia. After Mongolia was controlled by Hou Jin, they did business with Hou Jin.
Of course Yunxi didn't like "capital without a motherland", so even if he had to encourage business development, he didn't want business to develop like the West. He wanted to invent a capitalist road with Chinese characteristics. But this also meant that he
Opportunities to make money must be found for businessmen. Although businessmen in Shanxi and Shaanxi are not yet popular, they still need to prepare for a rainy day.
Xia Yuanji was from Xiangyin, Huguang, and the local business atmosphere was not strong. He did not fully understand Yunxi's actions to encourage business, even though Yunxi explained them personally when he was in Hangzhou. However, he would definitely implement them seriously.
After listening to Yunxi's words, he said: "Yes, Your Majesty."
Yunxi gave some more instructions on this matter and said, "There is one more thing you need to do in Sanqin."