It was already midnight when I checked into the hotel last night.
Zhu Houzhao slept until noon, stretched himself out and got up. The eunuch who accompanied him immediately came over to take care of him.
After the emperor finished washing and just walked out of the room, he saw Zhang Yong and Jiang Bin standing in the aisle: "Your Majesty, please have lunch."
The lunch was cooked by a famous chef from Hangzhou, Huang Chongde specially hired to entertain the distinguished guests. Zhu Houzhao enjoyed the meal very much. He had never seen some seafood before, so it was regarded as a meat dish in Hangzhou.
"Give that cook a tael of silver." Zhu Houzhao put down his chopsticks and said.
"Yes." Zhang Yong was quick-thinking and planned to take the cook with him when he returned to Beijing.
Zhu Houzhao got up and walked out, and saw a fat man standing at the door. He had a slight impression: "You are the one..."
The fat man quickly knelt down and bowed: "Huang Chongde, a grassroots Hui merchant, received His Majesty last night."
"Yes, yes, you built this guild hall." Zhu Houzhao recalled.
Huang Chongde said: "Back to your majesty, this guild hall was discovered by Jianghuai merchants who raised funds. It was originally built for Wang Shilang as the governor's palace. Wang Shilang was as honest as water and did not want to move in, so he simply changed it to the Jianghuai guild hall."
"You are interested," Zhu Houzhao asked casually, "What is the biggest difference between this city of Hangzhou and Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Suzhou?"
Huang Chongde smiled and said: "Your Majesty, there are no beggars in Hangzhou."
Zhu Houzhao was quite surprised: "There are no beggars?"
Huang Chongde replied: "This is the virtuous policy of Wang Shilang. Every day, soap officials patrol the streets and arrest beggars when they encounter them. Those with complete hands and feet are sent to docks, steel mills, and mines to work; those who are widowed, lonely or disabled are sent to nursing homes.
Live in Jiyuan (an official welfare institution in the Ming Dynasty)."
"It's interesting," Zhu Houzhao said to Zhang Yong and Jiang Bin with a smile, "Erlang only served in Zhejiang for one year and made the streets of Hangzhou free from starvation. How many officials in the world can do this?"
Zhang Yong said with a smile: "Thousand-mile horses often exist, but bole does not always exist. If His Majesty had not appointed Wang Shilang as the number one scholar, how could Wang Shilang be able to display his talents and knowledge? Therefore, there is no starvation on the streets of Hangzhou.
, the people should be more grateful to Your Majesty."
"This makes sense," Zhu Houzhao said with great joy, "call Wang Erlang quickly!"
In fact, Wang Yuan's original purpose of taking in the beggars in Hangzhou was just to improve public order. Gangsters and hooligans were a big nuisance, and those beggars were also a big nuisance. They often committed crimes such as abducting and maiming children.
It can be said that it was a gang of beggars, or it could be said that it was a gang of beggars. Anyway, it was wiped out by Wang Yuan with fire muskets.
Although the nursing home is an official welfare institution, it still has to work to earn money. The younger disabled people are taught life skills, and most of the wages they earn have to be handed over. The lonely elderly people are poorly fed, and they have to sweep floors and set fires.
How could ancient feudal society raise idle people?
Fortunately, after the opening of the sea, Hangzhou's business was extremely prosperous and attracted a large number of unemployed people. In addition, Liu Zhishu, Gui E, and Chang Lun Qing Zhang Mu, many landless farmers became official land tenants. After the tax reform, farmers were also willing to rent.
Guantian. Otherwise, how can we accommodate beggars in Hangzhou? Refugees from rural areas are enough to cause a headache.
After receiving the emperor's call, Wang Yuan took his wife and children and walked slowly from the Tutu Temple to the guild hall.
Jiang Bin originally arranged to take the emperor to visit the West Lake. But Zhu Houzhao did as he pleased and suddenly went to the shipyard to watch the excitement and wanted to see the big treasure ship that was about to be built.
Halfway through the walk, Zhu Houzhao suddenly asked: "Erlang, Xie Yuqiao's hometown seems not far from Hangzhou, right?"
Wang Yuan replied: "Xie Ge is from Yuyao County, Shaoxing Prefecture. It is indeed not far from Hangzhou."
"I suddenly thought of him and asked him to come to Hangzhou to meet you," Zhu Houzhao said.
Wang Yuan smiled and said, "I'm afraid I won't be able to please you."
Xie Yuqiao was Xie Qian, one of the three most important officials in the Hongzhi Dynasty, and Zhu Houzhao's teacher. When Liu Jin came to power, both Liu Jian and Xie Qian resigned, leaving only Li Dongyang to support him alone in the cabinet.
Later, Zhu Houzhao listened to the slander and pursued the rank of minister. Xie Qian was also among them, and all his imperial titles were taken away, so he completely gave up on the emperor.
When Wang Yuan was the governor of Zhejiang, he inquired about Xie Qian's situation, but immediately refused to have contact with him.
If you want to completely clear the land in Zhejiang, the Xie family will definitely be a huge obstacle!
The Guoqing Temple, the Xie family temple alone, has thousands of acres of temple land. How much land do you think the entire Xie family should have?
This is not the most frightening thing. What is even more frightening is that countless Xie family members have served as officials. After becoming officials, they often have to separate their families, and after they are separated, they will continue to occupy the land, and they will eventually become a behemoth.
For example, in history, Xie Qian's son Xie Pi said that his temple land was occupied by the surname Dong. So he united with the government to "take back" the temple land, causing the Xie family's temple land to skyrocket to thousands of acres. But the Xie family was full of officials.
, who doesn’t have the foresight to seize his family’s temple land? The Xie family colluded with the government to seize other people’s land, which is not bad! Xie Qian’s great-nephew, under the pretext of repairing his ancestral graves, directly took most of Yuyao Dongshan as his own.
This is Xie Qian, a generation of virtuous ministers. After his death, he received the highest honor among civil servants and was given the posthumous title "Wenzheng"!
Wang Yuan has not had any conflict with the Xie family for the time being, because the Xie family only studies, works as an official, and invades fields, and is not very interested in doing business. He also has little contact with maritime merchants and pirates. When Wang Yuan opened the sea, the Xie family did not support it.
If you object, just pretend that he, the governor, does not exist.
Zhu Houzhao asked casually. It was not because he missed his teacher Xie Qian that much that Zhang Yong was too lazy to send someone to Yuyao to convey the order.
When everyone arrived at the shipyard, there was naturally another sensation.
The owner of the shipyard is called Peng Yan, who used to work in Zhejiang Dusi. This person is able to manage the shipyard simply because the shipyard is affiliated with Zhejiang Dusi. At first, this guy had no real power. It was not until he completely surrendered to Wang Yuan that he was not completely ignored by his subordinates.
"Peng Yan, a common man, pays homage to Your Majesty!" Peng Yan came over with a group of officials.
Chen Baochang, a master craftsman who was good at building treasure ships, was getting older and older and needed help from his apprentices to kneel down.
Zhu Houzhao couldn't wait to say: "Get up quickly and take me into the dock to have a look."
Compared with when Wang Yuan left Hangzhou, the scale of the shipyard has more than tripled. The first batch of bird boats have already been launched. They were built by local boatmen before the old masters were hired.
At this moment, a small treasure ship with a weight of 4,000 materials was lying quietly in the dock. It was about 60 meters long, 18 meters wide, with five masts and a displacement of more than 2,000 tons.
Zhu Houzhao pointed at the workers and asked, "What are they doing?"
Chen Baochang replied: "Your Majesty, the boatmen are applying tung putty to the treasure ship. If you apply it, it will not leak."
In ancient Chinese wooden ship hulls, gaps were left between the boards, and tung putty was applied between the gaps. In this way, the wood is not afraid of thermal expansion and contraction, and has extremely high environmental adaptability.
This is not the case with Japanese ships of this era. The ships were built to perfection, but if there were huge changes in temperature, the hull would be damaged or the ship would shrink and leak.
Sea-going ships must also be brushed with tung oil to prevent corrosion by sea water. And every one or two years, they must be brushed with tung oil for maintenance. In older ships, even the core of the wood will be soaked in tung oil.
Zhu Houzhao asked again: "When can this boat be launched into the water?"
Chen Baochang replied: "At least March."
Zhu Houzhao just stood in the dock, silently watching the treasure ship. The magnificent hull gave him a huge shock, and he couldn't help but think about the great scene when Taizong Zhu Di ordered Zheng He to sail to the West on the treasure ship, and the great scene when all nations came to court.
Suddenly, Zhu Houzhao turned around and asked Zhang Yong: "Would you like to be the eunuch of the Three Treasures?"
Zhang Yong trembled all over: "Your Majesty, I am old and frail and cannot withstand the storms at sea. However, Zhu Ying, the manager of the East Factory, is young, strong, wise and courageous, and can be your Majesty's three treasure eunuchs."
Zhu Ying was originally very lucky and had the honor to supervise the East Factory last year. However, this position was snatched away by Zhang Yong, and Zhu Ying became in charge of the affairs of the East Factory.
Now, Zhang Yong wanted to recommend Zhu Ying to sailing, and he took complete control of Dongchang. Unfortunately, sailing was also a bad job. Zhu Ying was plotted by Zhang Yong, and he still had to think of Zhang Yong's benefits.
Wang Yuan suddenly said: "Your Majesty ordered the eunuch to sail, do you want fame or profit?"
Zhu Houzhao smiled and said: "Isn't it good to have both fame and fortune?"
Wang Yuan replied: "It is possible to gain both fame and fortune. But the name belongs to Your Majesty, and the profits must be divided among the six ministries and the local area. Only with the support of the six ministries can the voyage be long-term, otherwise it will be abandoned over time. In addition, the world has changed, and it cannot be done now.
We only seek foreign countries to come to North Korea, and we should colonize overseas."
"What is colonization?" Zhu Houzhao asked.
Wang Yuan said with a smile: "The Eastern Zhou Dynasty divided the world and enfeoffed it for a while, then threw away the barbarian lands. A hundred years later, the barbarians were Hanized and became Zhou people, and their lands were also Zhou lands. This so-called, the whole world is not the king's land, led by
The people on the shore of the soil must be the king's ministers. Now of course we can't make marquises at will, but we can send governors to sail overseas, occupy a stronghold for maritime trade, move criminals, and refugees to colonize. Isn't the Ming Dynasty short of copper? There is plenty overseas! There are also gold mines and silver.
There are countless mines, and they can all be put into my Ming Dynasty treasury!"
Zhu Houzhao smiled and said: "It's just about occupying land, cultivating it, doing business, and grabbing mines."
"It can be said this way," Wang Yuan said, "However, the population of the Ming Dynasty has been living for hundreds of years, and now the land is no longer enough. Sending refugees and criminals overseas to colonize is also to prevent domestic refugees from rebelling. They went overseas and did not abolish the imperial court.
Silver can bring profits, and in a hundred years the Ming Dynasty will have countless more overseas territories. Your Majesty knows that the world is a sphere, and the Ming Dynasty only occupies one side. Don't you want to expand your territory and become the righteous emperor admired by all generations?
Thousands of years later, Han people all over the world will remember His Majesty's holy virtues."
"The great Emperor Zhengde who is admired by all generations?"
Zhu Houzhao's blood suddenly surged, and his brain was a little hard to use. He clenched his fists and said, "Can Erlang come and take care of this?"
Wang Yuan said: "I am already doing it. Opening the sea is the first step, building ships is the second step, and training the navy is the third step. When I finish casting money, I can lead my troops and sail overseas to open up new territories for Your Majesty.
Huge overseas territory! But before that, the civil servants in the DPRK and China must not be informed, otherwise there will be fierce discussions."
"Okay, don't let the turbans know," Zhu Houzhao said to Zhang Yong and Jiang Bin behind him, "you should be stricter with your mouth."
What a shame, the whole court will probably know about it later. But Wang Yuan’s original intention was to inoculate the civil servants first, so as not to blow up the situation if he suddenly said it later.