The ticking sound of the self-ringing bell was particularly clear in the palace.
Wu Yi, the bachelor of Zhaowen Pavilion, was sitting in the hall, holding a cup of hot tea in his hand, looking at the chiming bell that made the sound. This thing is not uncommon. As early as seventy years ago, the missionary Luo Mingjian brought it to the Ming Dynasty.
Later, missionaries such as Matteo Ricci also brought self-ringing bells to China many times. They also brought with them various Western and obscene gadgets, including telescopes, glass mirrors, glasses and other gadgets.
In the past, the various self-ringing bells imported from the West by Guangzhou Port every year were said to cost tens of thousands of taels, ranging from ordinary chiming bells of fifty-two hundred and two hundred taels to hundreds of thousands of taels. In the south, Guangzhou, Yangzhou, Suhang, etc.
The homes of local wealthy businessmen have long had self-ringing bells, and many wealthy southerners also have pocket watches.
But the chiming clock in front of me is not an imported thing.
This is a red sandalwood and multi-border self-ringing clock with a gilt copper base. On the front of the base, you can clearly see the Ming Dynasty Shaotian year mark, with neat and elegant fonts.
The vault of this clock's treasure chest is in the form of a multi-leaf arch. The edge of the wooden board adopts the double-line extrusion process, and the outer edge of the board is inlaid with gilt copper curly grass lace, making the entire clock dazzling.
The gilt curly grass pattern lace is exquisitely carved, and the curly grass is carefully arranged with its yin and yang facing back. It is staggered front and back, with clear layers, and is very three-dimensional and lifelike, as if the curly grass is growing on a multi-treasure inlay.
There is also a glass door on the front of the box. The outside of the door is inlaid with filigree French blue, and the inside is inlaid with gilt copper curly grass pattern. The back of the glass is mounted with a silk painting, which depicts golden pheasant, rose, narcissus, Ganoderma lucidum and strange stones. The painting is exquisite, and the golden pheasant feathers are abundant and healthy, and the tail feathers are
Slender and lively.
Inside the box is a Bogut grid with grooves on the grid. There is a small door on the bottom floor, with a gilt copper scroll with a hollow grass pattern as the core. There are two drawers, inlaid with filigree blue flower panels, and gilt bronze scrolls with grass patterns on both sides of the middle layer.
Inlaid cloisonné enamel fence······
Wu Yi carefully admired this exquisite self-ringing clock. The craftsmanship and accuracy of this craftsmanship cannot be achieved by Xifan craftsmen. This is a fine product produced by the Ningbo Self-ringing Clock Factory of the Ming Dynasty and is under the supervision of the Royal Shaofu.
In fact, Ming Dynasty no longer imports clocks from the West. From chiming clocks to pocket watches, all are produced in-house. Not only are the craftsmanship more exquisite, but the cost is even lower.
Ordinary models can be more than twice as cheap as Western models, and their exquisite high-end products are completely luxury goods.
Nowadays, watches are exported overseas in large quantities. North Korea, Japan, Liuqiu, Annan and even Mongolia, as well as Luzon, Batavia, Malacca, etc. are all importing large quantities, especially those top-notch ones, which are sold at extremely high prices.
Merchants transported it back to Europe and sold it to kings and nobles.
The chiming clock in the Wuying Palace is a top-notch luxury item, but it does not mean that the emperor was very extravagant. In fact, the emperor was very frugal and lived in Beijing. He did not require much decoration for the Forbidden Palace, which had been looted.
This clock is actually a sample from the Ningbo Bell Factory. It is placed here as a display. The emperor often received ministers and envoys here. This is also a kind of propaganda, and this propaganda has a good effect. It is said that many foreign envoys and tribal leaders
After seeing this clock, everyone liked it very much, which resulted in many new orders.
And it is said that although this clock is not magnificent, it is very profitable.
In the past, some people were opposed to the Imperial House and the Imperial Shop, especially when the emperor established the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was later integrated into the Shaofu Supervisory Office. They felt that there were too many royal shops, from cannon-making to gun-making, to shipbuilding, coinage, iron smelting, and mining.
Then the business scope of silk weaving, trade, even tea, tobacco and alcohol became wider and wider.
Later, he made clocks, glass, porcelain, telescopes, glasses, and everything else.
Some people think that the emperor's shop competes with the people for profit, while others think that the emperor is too rich.
But the emperor never paid attention to these. Instead, he increased his investment every year, and even later established a partnership and shareholding business, and also paid dividends to the shopkeepers who ran the business. It has been prosperous in these years, and it has become bigger and bigger. It is almost profitable.
There is a royal presence in everyone's business.
However, Wu Yi doesn't think there is any problem with this, because he has paid attention to it before. Although Huangdian is involved in various aspects, they are basically leaders. They also redefine industry standards and play a good leading role, such as mining.
Smelting, shipbuilding, cannon casting, etc. are extremely important and beneficial to the country and the people.
Just like chiming clocks and pocket watches, even the cheapest chiming clock costs dozens of silver dollars. It is not available to ordinary people anyway, and it has little impact on ordinary people. The buyers are at least wealthy and wealthy. If they buy this thing, it is also a very special thing.
Necessities, similar to luxuries.
A few dozen or a few hundred yuan is not a big deal to them. They buy it to enhance their taste, style and status, while the imperial shop makes money selling clocks, and the court levies taxes on them.
Even the business of the imperial shop is good and it employs many craftsmen. The craftsmen have stable jobs and good pay, which is a good thing.
Regardless of whether it is Huangzhuang or Huangdian, they never evade taxes and are proactive in filing tax returns. In this regard, they take responsibility and perform extremely well.
The annual taxes paid by various industries in Huangdian are quite considerable.
After tax, dividends were distributed to shareholders and shopkeepers, and the remaining profits were put into the internal treasury. The emperor often used this internal money to reward soldiers, supplement military expenditures, relieve victims, appease orphans and widows, subsidize students, etc. Wu Yi served as the cabinet bachelor
, how can one object to this matter?
"clang!"
"Dang!~"
When the hour hand pointed to three o'clock, the bell began to ring loudly. The sound was extremely clear, and it also brought Wu Yi's mind back.
This clock is really good.
Even now, because of the increasing number of clocks, many people have started to switch from twelve o'clock to twenty-four hours. Although there were hours in the past, they were not popular. But with this clock, now everyone is saying that there are more hours.
It is said that the Ningbo Clock Factory even built a large clock tower in Ningbo city. A tall building was built in the central square of the city. There is a huge clock upstairs. Every time at half o'clock or on the hour, the bell will ring to tell the time, which can be heard by the whole city.
It has become a new symbol of Ningbo. I heard that they will also build a bell tower in Beijing. Compared with the traditional bell and drum tower, it is much more advanced.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Wu Yi even plans to buy a high-end pendulum clock like this for his family in the living room, and he can also buy a watch clock and an alarm clock.
The clock is manufactured in Ningbo Factory. It is manufactured according to the ancient Chinese tradition of striking the clock at night. It can ring the clock at night, eliminating the need for a watchman. The alarm clock can be set at a fixed time, making it easier to get up early.
The self-ringing clocks introduced by Luo Mingjian and others had a large error, and the error could be at least a quarter of an hour a day. However, the clocks produced by the Ningbo Watch Factory now have an error of no more than one minute 24 hours a day.
Of course, compared with three pennies for a plate of incense that can burn for a whole day, this clock cannot enter the homes of ordinary people. However, people from the middle class and above can buy a watch even if they cannot afford a clock. The market is still huge. Anyway, Ningbo Watches
The factory has opened several branches in Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Shanghai and other places. The wages of craftsmen are rising steadily, and newly recruited apprentices have a good basic salary and piece-rate commissions.
The self-ringing bell struck loudly three times before stopping.
When he came up, the emperor coughed several times.
"The prince will be fifteen years old in the next year. I plan to officially marry the prince's concubine after the year and marry Zhang Cangshui's daughter into the East Palace, along with the other six concubines."
"After the prince's wedding, he will supervise the country in Beijing, and I will personally conquer the northwest."
New Year's Day is approaching, and envoys from various countries have arrived early. The emperor has also summoned the three Mongolian tribes of Mobei Khalkha, as well as the Junggar Khanate, Khoshot Khanate, Jorut Khanate, and Durbot Khanate in Oirat.
Envoys from the country, the Torgut Khanate, and the Kazakh Khanate communicated with them respectively and discussed the matter of jointly sending troops to attack the Yarkand Khanate.
This matter has been united since last autumn, and messengers have been sent back and forth several times. Basically, a consensus has been reached. Next year, all ministries will agree to send troops to wipe out the ignorant Yarkand in one fell swoop and eradicate these heretics of the Crescent Sect.
.
Zhu Yihai even discussed with them the profit distribution plan after Yarkang was eliminated.
The Tashkent area, which was the Shi Kingdom of the Dawan Governorate in the Tang Dynasty, was assigned to Yangjier Khan of the Kazakh Khanate, while the Fergana Basin was assigned to the Chechen Khan of the Jorut Khanate in Ili.
Kashgar, Yarkand, Aksu, and Khotan in the Congling and Kunlun Mountains areas were given to Heshuote,
Kuqa, Korla to Junggar.
The original seven guards of Guanxi all returned to the Ming Dynasty.
From this preliminary demarcation, it seems that the Ming Dynasty seems to be suffering the most. After all, Yarkand was divided among several khanates, so the Ming Dynasty got the least of the Seven Guards of Kansai, and these seven guards now account for four.
But for Zhu Yihai, only by drawing a big enough cake can the Oirat and other khanates send troops to destroy Yarkand.
For the three Khalkha tribes, Durbot, Turgut, etc. who were not close to each other, Zhu Yihai proposed that some people and livestock should be distributed to them at that time.
Since the land allocated to the Ming Dynasty was small, some cattle and sheep would be allocated to compensate for the population.
From a performance point of view, this carve-up plan is quite good, especially for the three khanates of Dzunggar, Khoshot and Jorut. They can get a lot of territory, so they will naturally be more active.
For Zhu Yihai, the main purpose of forming an alliance this time is to first eliminate Yarkant who wants to fight against the Ming Dynasty. In this way, the Ming Dynasty can not only rectify the northwest Shaanxi and Gansu, but also eliminate the source of the Green Sect, and at the same time open a new path.
West entrance.
As long as this alliance is formed, Zhu Yihai can destroy an opponent in the Western Region with a small amount of soldiers, horses, money and food, securely seize the Seven Guards of Kansai, and carve up a large number of people, cattle and sheep. How can this deal be uneconomical?
of.
"Your Majesty, Lanzhou, Liangzhou and Xining have all been recovered. Now the rebel leader Milayin has been beheaded. Ding Guodong has led some remaining soldiers to escape back to Gansu and Suzhou. They can't last more than a few days. Why does your Majesty need to go on a personal expedition?" Wen Anzhi opposed the emperor's western expedition.
Wu Yi also nodded, "If Your Majesty is worried about the Yarkand War, you can send a cabinet co-organizer or even a bachelor to governor the war and communicate with the khanates."
"I have already decided that I will leave Beijing after the spring of next year and patrol westward. The route has been planned. I will leave Juyongguan to Xuanfu, then pass through Datong, then go to Suiyuan Guihua City, then Baotou, Jiuyuan, and then Ningxia
, Arrive at Lanzhou, pass Liangzhou, go to Ganzhou, Zhangye, Suzhou Jiuquan, Jiayu Pass, leave Guanxi to visit Yumen, Anxi, Dunhuang,
I will meet with the khans and heads of various ministries from various countries in the Western Regions in Dunhuang, and I also plan to hold a Ming Dynasty Commodity Expo in Dunhuang."
During Zhu Yihai's trip, the western expedition was not the focus, the focus was the western patrol.
The furthest point to the west that ancient Chinese emperors personally reached was Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty to Zhangye. During that trip to the west, Yang Guang destroyed Tuyuhun and was visited by twenty-seven kings of the Western Regions, re-opening the Silk Road of the Western Regions.
However, when Yang Guangxi was touring Zhangye, he encountered a blizzard on the road. It is said that tens of thousands of people froze to death and starved to death along the way.
The academicians did not want the emperor to go to the Western Regions in person.
"I am the emperor, and I can't go anywhere." The emperor waved his hand and laughed. As always, he only informed the ministers, rather than actually soliciting their opinions.