Chapter 417 Wang Xuan: My biggest shortcoming is that I have money
Wang Xuan pondered for a moment, then looked up at Li Shantang with a smile and said, "Master Li, do you value the position of Secretary of the Ministry of War? This is a hot potato. If you don't do it well, you will be infamous."
"It's a hot potato. Because of this, no one will target me. As long as it's not a major problem, it's not difficult to gain a foothold. However, I know nothing about fighting, and I still need Zai Zhi's help." Li Shantang put it down.
Teacup, looking at Wang Xuan with bright eyes.
"The Minister of the Ministry of War is not bad. At least in my opinion, it is more useful than the Ministry of Personnel and Hubu. Those guys in Jiangnan think that the Ministry of War is a trap and no one is willing to jump into it, but I think it is a good job!"
Wang Xuan curled his lips and sneered twice, "A bunch of short-sighted guys only care about their own little piece of land."
"I'm the Minister of War. If you need anything from me, just ask. As for things like fighting, don't worry. I'll send two staff officers to your lord. They can give you some ideas. In addition, I'm here too.
We will come up with some policies. As soon as Li Chengliang dies, the Jurchens will jump up."
Li Shantang also nodded. He also had the surname Li, and he also admired Li Chengliang very much.
Apart from anything else, Li Chengliang was indeed very capable. He joined the army at the age of 40 and was promoted to deputy chief military officer in the first year of Longqing (1567) to assist in the defense of Liaoyang.
From then on, it can be said that all battles were invincible. The Mongolian Tatars, Jurchens, Tubarbarians, and the Duoyan Guards were defeated one after another in his hands. In the second year of Wanli (1574), Li Chengliang advanced to suppress Wang Gao. In this battle, Nurhaci and his
His younger brother Shuerhaqi was captured and taken in by Li Chengliang as a servant.
Until the seventh year of Wanli, various tribes in the grasslands invaded more than a dozen times and were defeated each time. By the eleventh year of Wanli, Li Chengliang killed Nurhachi's father "Takshi" and his grandfather "Juechangan".
By the 19th year of Wanli (1591), other ethnic groups in Liaodong were completely subdued by Li Chengliang. Because of their excessive power, the civil servant group was very frightened and Wanli was a little worried. Later, they were detained as "arrogant and luxurious"
dismissed on the charge of "undue excess".
It was just a bitter cold place in Liaodong, no matter how "arrogant and extravagant" it was, it was nothing compared to the civil servants from Jiangnan like Jiangnan.
As a result, since Li Chengliang left Liaodong, eight coaches have changed in the past ten years. The border defense of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty was gradually weakened, providing objective conditions for the rise of Nurhaci.
As a result, in the 29th year of Wanli (1601), the Jurchens in Liaodong became a serious problem. The civil servants had no choice but to use Li Chengliang again. At this time, Li Chengliang was already seventy-six years old.
Li Chengliang cleared the country and immigrated more than 60,000 people to the interior to hijack the development of the Jurchens. At this point, the Jurchens were contained again and were deposed again in the thirty-sixth year of Wanli. However, the Li family still controlled the military power in Liaodong until Li Chengliang
After his death, Nurhaci felt that the time had come for rebellion.
Nurhachi later recognized Li Chengliang as his godfather. When Li Chengliang was alive, he would kneel down and kowtow when he met him.
"However, it is unrealistic for me to fight Nurhachi now, but it is easy to cause them some trouble. It is nothing more than spending money. There is no problem in this world that cannot be solved by money. If there is, then you have not spent enough.
many."
"Oh, how to do it?" Li Shantang became interested as soon as he heard this. After all, his border problems with the Ming Dynasty were Shanxi, Shaanxi, Liaodong and the southern coast.
Now that there is Wang Xuan in the south, he is naturally not afraid. If Wang Xuan can threaten Nurhachi, then he, the Minister of War, can be as stable as Mount Tai.
"Xiao Gui and Cao Sui are still Li Chengliang's old method, which is to strengthen the wall and clear the country."
"Strengthening the wall and clearing the country? How to do this? If I dare to bring it up in the court, I will be attacked by a group of people. Those guys... are looking for trouble. They will definitely accuse me of losing the ancestral territory." Li Shantang frowned.
said.
"No need for you, isn't Yang Hao the current Liaodong Economic Strategy? Spend money and buy people. I happen to need a lot of labor here. How many people can there be in total at the junction with the Jurchens? Is it one hundred thousand?"
Wang Xuan curled his lips disdainfully, "Even if he has 200,000 people, no matter men, women, old or young, I will pay five taels of silver each."
"Buy as much as you can. It doesn't matter if the people in Liaodong have sold out. Let them go and rob the Jurchens. A living person only costs five taels of silver. You can see whether they are careful and whether they work hard."
"Without the people working the land in Liaodong, there is not enough food there. After marching for hundreds of miles, it is deserted. Just a logistics transport can kill them. If you don't want to starve to death, you will just go north to fight against the Duoyan Sanwei."
With the Tatars, naturally we don’t have the energy to invade the border.”
Wang Xuan waved his big hands and looked like a nouveau riche. The corners of Li Shantang's mouth twitched when he saw it, "Zai Zhi, they may not be willing to sell it."
"What?" Wang Xuan was stunned.
"Liaodong does not pay taxes to the court. The grain grown on more than one million acres of land, in addition to the people's own consumption, is collected by officers of various departments in Liaodong. These people can make a lot of money from this every year. They
But you may not be willing to give up.”
Wang Xuan frowned slightly, then smiled and said: "It's nothing. It doesn't mean that there are no other ways to make money besides farming. Let them breed cattle, horses and sheep. I want everything. A few herdsmen can raise a few cattle, horses and sheep."
Hundreds, this profit is much higher than farming, and it also saves manpower. If the Jurchens attack, they can run away without any delay."
"In fact, it's not that there is no profit on the grassland, it's just that it has not been developed by predecessors. Breeding cattle and horses may take too long and the results will be slow, but you can raise sheep. I harvest wool, and the profit is higher than farming."
"Don't worry, as long as you have money, whether it's the Liaodong Army or the Jurchens, I can always find a way to impress them. Money can make all the difference."
Li Shantang nodded, he was still convinced on this point. Wasn't he himself conquered by Wang Xuan with money?
"Okay, then I will compete for the position of Minister of the Ministry of War."
"Don't worry, come to me if you need any money." Wang Xuan waved his hand and said angrily: "We have the money!"
Four days later, the dock.
Li Shantang had to go to the capital in person. His subordinates couldn't handle this kind of thing, so he didn't feel at ease. Besides, it didn't matter whether he was in Fujian or not. Wang Xuan had the final say anyway, and he was just a puppet now.
This is the reason why he wants to leave Fujian.
He, Li Shantang, is not old enough yet and still has ambitions, so he doesn't want to be such a puppet.
A separate area on the pier has been cleared, and a large ship has been parked. It is faster to go to the capital by sea and land. If it is by land, Li Shantang will not be able to think of the capital in two months.
Wang Xuan and Li Shantang walked onto the ship together, "Come here, I will show you."
With that said, Wang Xuan pushed open the door of the cabin. There were boxes stacked inside. Wang Xuan opened one casually. Immediately, a piece of ingot appeared in front of the two of them. Look at the ingot in the box, and then look at it.
The pile of boxes made Li Shantang feel dizzy.
He knew that Wang Xuan would prepare money for him, but he didn't expect to prepare so much money. This, this is half a million taels!
This is five hundred thousand taels. Since Zhang Juzheng's Whip Law, all taxes have been converted into silver, but the national treasury can only collect more than three million taels of silver a year, but Wang Xuan only provided him with activity funds.
One-sixth of the national treasury revenue.
This... was one-sixth of the Ming Dynasty's treasury's annual revenue, which made his heart beat violently.
"Hahahaha, Mr. Li, what do you think? Is it enough? Five hundred thousand taels, is it enough to make those pavilion elders and ministers bow their heads?" Wang Xuan laughed extremely wildly.
"Enough, enough!" Li Shantang held on to the wall of the warehouse, his legs were a little weak.
"Don't worry, there are more!" Wang Xuan grabbed a small box from the side, opened it and put it in front of Li Shantang, and then continued: "There are twenty kilograms of pearls here, which are great gifts for both inside and outside the palace. Isn't Concubine Zheng the best?"
If she's favored, just give it to her, don't be reluctant, we have something to do!"
Li Shantang almost choked to death when he heard this. How many kilograms does this pearl cost?
Pearls, how many are there!
You only weigh twenty pounds, do you think this is white rice?
Can you maintain the most basic respect for pearls?
Wang Xuan laughed loudly and put down the box, and took Li Shantang to another cabin again. When he opened the door, he saw corals of different shapes piled here. Wang Xuan pointed with his big hand and said, "Did you see it?
Coral, a thousand pounds, see who likes it, give it away if you should, damn, aren't these courtiers greedy for money, then use money to kill them!"
Just have money and do whatever you want, hahahaha!
Seeing Wang Xuan's arrogant look, Li Shantang leaned against the wall of the warehouse, holding his chest with one hand and kept panting. He was in his fifties, and his heartbeat was about to jump out of his throat. He had to calm down...
But your mother can't calm down. Five hundred thousand silver, twenty kilograms of pearls, and thousands of kilograms of coral.
What a concept!
You know, the price of pearls in the Ming Dynasty is very high, especially the same size and round pearls brought out by Wang Xuan, not to mention coral.
Coral was a real luxury decoration in ancient times. Even in the Qing Dynasty, it was also used as an inlay on the feathers worn on the head.
Of course, white coral is more common, and Wang Xuan can't produce red coral, but Wang Xuan knows how to fake it. No, it can't be called fake. How can what a businessman does be called fake? This is called copycat...
.
Wang Xuan made a thousand kilograms of pink coral, which is the most precious coral after red coral. Even in modern society, it is sold in grams. These corals alone are worth a million taels of silver.
However, since he was a high-A product anyway, Wang Xuan didn't feel bad and left it to Li Shantang to show off.
It took quite a while before Li Shantang could catch his breath. He was really shocked. The total price of such a lot of property was no less than two million, and he definitely couldn't spend it. He was just a minister of the Ministry of War, with thirty
Even if it's 10,000, that's enough.
After all, a minister of the Ministry of War can't get much luck.
(I recommend a popular book, it is really popular, "I Am Really Immortal", first love is as bright as a summer flower, I can't stop reading this book, it is simply a disaster.
This article tells the story of how an immortal person should live a correct and active life in modern human society under the guidance of the core socialist values.
I hope it can inspire other immortals, people with special abilities, cultivators, aliens, and non-human creatures to share their experiences in building a stable and harmonious life in the country.)