"drive!"
In the twelfth lunar month of winter, the snow in the north is thicker and rains heavier than in the south of the Yangtze River.
Braving the cold wind and snow, teams of Tangqi carried the latest news from Jiangnan to the north.
Facing the news of Fu Youde's death, everyone was in shock, but after the shock, they all turned their attention to the four vassals of Qin, Jin, Yanzhou.
"Fortunately, I didn't contact your grandpa..."
As the vassal king closest to Nanjing and the first to receive the news, Zhou Wang Zhu Ju sat on a chair in the Cunxin Hall of the palace and sighed.
Regarding the news of Fu Youde's death, he could only be glad that he listened to his son's advice and did not rush to contact his father-in-law.
Thinking of this, he looked beside him.
Beside him, a sixteen-year-old boy wearing the crown prince's uniform was writing and drawing on an album with a brush.
From the side, Zhu Rui could see what the proposition on the front page of the album was...
"Li Yaxian Flower Wine Qujiangchi"
"I've told you before that you don't want to get involved in the affairs of Nanjing City anymore. Look, you study crops, medicinal materials and fruit trees every day, and I write opera scripts every day. Isn't this good?"
Facing Zhu Rui's gaze, the young man responded to Zhu Rui without looking back while writing an opera script. He also asked by the way: "Do you want to go to Yunnan again?"
"Well..." Zhu Rui was speechless by his son.
In this week's palace, the only one who could make Zhu Zhu feel so depressed was his eldest son Zhu Youdou.
As early as his childhood, Zhu Youdun showed extraordinary talent. At that time, Zhu Yu was demoted to Yunnan by Zhu Yuanzhang for having a secret meeting with Feng Sheng.
During the days when Zhu Zhu left, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Zhu Youdun, who was only ten years old, to manage the Zhou Palace. As a result, he not only showed his precocious side, but also managed the Zhou Palace in an orderly manner within three years.
Because of his intelligence, Zhu Yuanzhang particularly liked this grandson.
In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu's reign, Zhu Yuanzhang established 13-year-old Zhu Youdun as the prince of Zhou in advance. This honor was beyond the reach of other princes. Zhu Youdun also took the opportunity to ask Zhu Yuanzhang to approve his father Zhu's return to the fiefdom. .
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Zhu Youdun had a filial piety and that Zhu Rui's performance in Yunnan was not bad, so he approved Zhu Rui's return to Henan.
In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu's reign, Zhu Youdun took advantage of the opportunity to go to Nanjing with Zhu Yu. He cultivated a relationship with Zhu Yuanzhang for a period of time in Nanjing and cleared his father's past crimes.
Not only was Zhu Yu not scolded by Zhu Yuanzhang, but he was also led to the pasture of Luchengzi in Hetao Town.
Of course, in the past two years, he had always followed his son's words and not exchanged too many letters with Feng Sheng. This was also the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang forgave him.
Compared with him, Zhu Fan in the north is not so patient.
It was precisely because of his impatience that Fu Youde was killed.
"Why don't you just take care of the crops and flowers in the palace? Why should you imitate the third uncle?" Zhu Youdun devoted himself to composing opera scripts and teaching his father.
Zhu Tong originally intended to refute, but Zhu Youdou stood up and prepared to leave.
But before leaving, he still glanced at his father: "I think Third Uncle, a disaster will soon come..."
"Asshole!!!"
Almost at the same moment that Zhu Youdou blurted out, Zhu Fan from Taiyuan City, Shanxi also received the news of Fu Youde's death. In anger, he picked up his sword and slashed all the objects around him.
After these two words, Zhu Fan dropped the sword in his hand and fell down to sit on the ground of Cunxin Hall.
"It's over..." After spitting out these two words, Zhu Fan felt a burning pain in his chest. He was holding on to his breath and couldn't spit it out or swallow it.
He forced himself to stand up, but the moment he stood up, his vision went dark and he fell to the ground.
"Your Highness!"
When the guards outside the palace saw this, they were frightened and ran into the palace to help Zhu Fan. However, no matter how they called for Zhu Fan, he showed no sign of waking up.
"died……"
Shortly after Zhu Fan fainted, King Qin Zhu Xi, who was thousands of miles away in a snow forest, also received the news of Fu Youde's death.
Holding the bow and arrow in his hand, he was stunned for a moment at first, but then he smiled: "Have a good death!"
He turned around and looked at the few cronies beside him: "With Fu Youde dead, I can plan for the northwest."
"You guys have kept an eye on the place. If it doesn't go as I predict, the Qiang people in the west will definitely rebel this year. Once they rebel, you will immediately use my words to tell my father, saying..."
Zhu Xi slowly raised his long bow and arrow, aiming at a spot of beauty in the snow forest.
The moment the arrow was shot, he also blurted out: "I want to personally conquer the rebellion!"
The arrow flew dozens of steps and hit the colorful pheasant. Although it flapped its wings and tried to fly away, it could only flapping a few times and died on the spot.
Seeing that the pheasant was hit by an arrow, Zhu Xi no longer wanted to hunt in the Qinling Mountains. He turned around and left with his guards, leaving only a few soldiers to pick up the prey.
Under the big news of Fu Youde's death, the news that the Crown Prince of Yan Mansion was enthroned, and that Zhu Gaoxu was canonized as Bohai County Prince, seemed particularly small.
Except for people related to them who will pay attention to this news, everyone else will focus on Fu Youde's news.
It's just that when people related to them saw this news, they couldn't help but sigh that Zhu Gaoxu could not inherit the throne.
"Dad made Gao Chi his heir apparent, and Gao Xu was sent to the Jilin Shipyard. That place was designated Jilin Guard by dad and was under Gao Xu's control."
"By the way, he has been appointed as the King of Bohai County..."
"Oh, I don't know if that's okay."
In Peiping, in front of the palace gate of Prince Yan's Mansion, the tall and dark Zhu Di was standing in front of the palace gate, turning his back and rehearsing how to explain to his sister Xu.
Behind him, Yao Guangxiao was wearing a black monk's robe as always, but with a cape on his shoulders.
He was holding a string of Buddhist beads and calculating. It was obvious that Zhu Di had been practicing here for a long time.
"Forget it, let's just say it like this. I don't know how to explain it anyway. If Sister Xu wants to blame her, she has to blame her father."
As if he couldn't think of a better way, Zhu Di simply gave up. After secretly cheering himself up, he turned around and took Yao Guangxiao into the front bedroom.
"Sister Xu..."
Zhu Di shouted softly, but it was called shouting, but in fact it was no different from talking.
"Has your Highness finished the compilation?"
Zhu Di put his head around and shouted, but Xu's voice came from behind him, startling him.
He turned around and looked around, but he didn't expect Mrs. Xu to be standing on one side of the palace door, with only a wall separating her from him just now.
Obviously, everything he had just practiced was of no use, because Xu already knew it.
"Sister Xu, I...hehe..."
Zhu Di concealed his embarrassment with a smile, but Xu's mind was not on him. Instead, she took a few steps forward, passed Zhu Di and sat on the chair used to entertain guests in the front palace.
She waved her hand to the palace maid to carry chairs for Zhu Di and the two of them. After the two sat down, she showed a worried look and said:
“Didn’t your Majesty’s move allow Gao Xu to start a new business?”
When Xu said this, Zhu Di looked at Yao Guangxiao awkwardly. Obviously they all knew what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking.
There is no problem in the etiquette and law of canonizing Zhu Gaochi as the crown prince, but canonizing Zhu Gaojiu to a place so far away from the Jilin Shipyard is obviously a deliberate attempt to separate Zhu Gaojiu from the Yan Mansion.
After all, he is his father. Zhu Di still has to make excuses for his father in front of his wife, so he said carefully:
"Perhaps Gao Xu has the ability and asked him to go to Jilin to guard the border. After all, the treatment given to Gao Xu by my father is almost better than that of Jingjiang."
"Your Majesty has indeed treated the Second Highness well." Yao Guangxiao also stopped his calculations, opened his eyes and agreed with Zhu Di.
"You don't need to talk about this." Mrs. Xu frowned slightly, put one hand on the chair and the other on her leg. Although her sitting posture was fine, her aura gave people the illusion of a female general.
"I asked Zhang Yu earlier, and he told me that the Jilin Shipyard only has a population of more than 6,000 people, and only one or two thousand men."
"Even if His Majesty adds another 500 guards to Gao Xu, judging from the three battles and seven villages of the guard, Gao Xu only has less than a thousand men."
"You all know the Jurchens in the north better than I do. From time to time, they can pull out thousands of people to rob the border people. Gao Xu has to defend the city and prepare the border. If something happens..."
Mrs. Xu's brows seemed to have never relaxed, and she was worried about her second son.
Seeing that his sister was unhappy, Zhu Di told the reason why Zhu Gaoxu was sealed in Jilin:
"The fifteenth younger brother (King of Liao) is only two years older than Gao Xu and has not experienced war. Although my father intended for him to join the vassal in Guangning, the military and civilian labor in Liaodong is heavy, and there are always voices from North Korea wanting to invade Liaodong."
"In addition to the Japanese invaders in Xiyang in the north this year, and the Japanese pirates in the south who set fire to Jinzhou Zhongzuo Station, Liaodong is actually the second place after Yunnan to have frequent border attacks."
"On the Yunnan side, my father sent Yungong, Song Sheng, and Qu Neng. Zhou Xing of Liaodong could not take care of the three sides by himself, so he could only let Zhou Xing focus on Liaodong and Liaonan, and his fifteenth brother focus on western Liaoning, and then move the north Northern Liao was handed over to Gao Xu."
"Actually, Sister Xu, you don't have to worry. Lao Shiqi is guarding Wu Liangha in Daning. Gao Xu only needs to take action."
"As for the north, although there is Xiyang Hana knocking on the side, it won't be a problem as long as Gao Xu sticks to it."
"If it doesn't work out, I'll send Zhu Neng to accompany him to search the mountain from time to time. It's always safer."
Mrs. Xu was worried about Zhu Gaoxu, and so was Zhu Di.
Liaodong was inherently dangerous, and Zhu Gaoxu was entrusted by Zhu Yuanzhang to defend the north. While guarding against the Jurchens, he also had to guard against Wu Liangha's surprise attack, which was very dangerous.
Of course, the more important thing is that it is some distance away from Liaodong.
It is more than 500 miles from the Jilin Shipyard to the nearest station in Liaodong, and there are only three stations in between. Once the stations are cut off and the Jilin Shipyard cannot be self-sufficient, Zhu Gaoxu will be in danger of running out of food.
From Zhu Di's perspective, he believed that by putting Gao Xu in such a position, his father naturally recognized Gao Xu's abilities.
But no matter how Zhu Di tried to convince himself, he couldn't calm down.
"Your Highness and Princess, it is best not to interfere in His Highness's affairs."
When Zhu Gaoxu and Xu were worried about each other, Yao Guangxiao spoke at an inappropriate time, and the content made them angry.
"Old monk, why do you say that?"
Zhu Di finally comforted his sister, but was defeated by the old monk Yao Guangxiao with just one sentence. He was really angry.
Yao Guangxiao also knew that Zhu Di was a generous person, and what he blurted out was not a scolding, but a rhetorical question, so he explained:
"His Majesty told Taisun earlier in Wuying Hall that perhaps His Majesty's kingdom could be placed in Kaiping Guard, but now it was suddenly changed to Jilin Guard."
"Although Your Highness, what you said is right, looking down from His Majesty's position, I am afraid that His Majesty is a little jealous of His Highness, and intends to seal him to Jilin in order to isolate our Yan Mansion from His Highness."
"Besides, the Second Highness has not asked you for help now, which means that everything is still under the control of His Highness. He is not at a point where he cannot control the situation and needs to ask you for help."
"In my humble opinion, if Your Highness really asks for help, he will definitely take the canal to the north and stop when passing by Peking to seek help from you two."
"If His Highness is confident and sees that Your Majesty does not want him to be too involved with the Yan Mansion, then I am afraid that he will go to Denglai, cross the sea by boat to Jinzhouwei, and go from Liaonan to Jilin."
After analyzing this point, Yao Guangxiao continued to calculate with the beads in his hand:
"You can know what kind of situation His Highness is facing by just looking at which path he takes."
Yao Guangxiao analyzed everything as an outsider. After hearing this, Mrs. Xu gradually felt relieved, but in the end she was still worried:
"This child has not written to me since the twelfth month of last year, and it has been a year now."
"Yungong also said that he has changed a lot this year, but he doesn't know what happened to him or what happened to him."
Xu instinctively felt that her son had changed a lot, but Zhu Di was not so subtle. He smiled and said:
"You can learn a lot from being with my father. Sister Xu, you don't have to worry too much."
"I think Gao Xu's change is quite good. When my father thinks about it in the future, he might be able to let me lead troops with him to attack Mobei and raid the lair of the Beilu."
Zhu Di smiled from ear to ear when he thought that he could take Zhu Gaoxu to sweep out the Mongolian lair.
But when he couldn't open his mouth from ear to ear, Zhu Gaoxu also couldn't open his mouth from ear to ear.
"Your Highness, this is Yang Bin from Huai'an Mansion."
In Nanjing, under Yi Shiha's reminder, Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting in front of the round table and feasting, raised his head.
At this moment, he was in a place similar to a restaurant. In this elegant room, almost every corner was filled with a prosperous atmosphere.
The spacious hall is filled with hanging ornaments, and rows of huanghuali tables and chairs are delicately spliced and beautifully carved.
There is a large round table made of huanghuali in the center of the private room, and artworks of various shapes and colors are hung on the surrounding walls, such as delicate painted pottery, various carved stones and corals, which are eye-catching.
In front of him, there was a round table with a total of eighteen dishes including nine meat dishes, six vegetarian dishes and three soups, all for entertaining him.
Across from the food, standing opposite Yi Shiha, who had not yet taken a seat, and a man in his thirties with a plump figure stood.
He was wearing ordinary silk cloth. If he hadn't been well-fed, he would have looked like a small rich peasant among the common people.
Behind the man, there was a wood-inlaid jade screen in the private room. Through the gap in the screen, Zhu Gaoxu could see five or six fair-skinned musicians with slender and plump figures and long eyebrows playing music.
Behind the group of musicians, there is a bed about ten feet long, which is enough for several people to rest.
"Take a seat."
Zhu Gaoxu greeted with a smile. After hearing this, Yang Bin, who was wearing silk cloth, also came to sit on the left side of Zhu Gaoxu when Yishiha took a seat next to Zhu Gaoxu.
"You want a thousand salts and a thousand catties of tea in my hand?"
Zhu Gaoxu did not hide it, but chose to get straight to the point.
His openness and frankness caught Yang Bin off guard, who was accustomed to the sophistication of officialdom. In the past, he would wait until he was almost drunk before starting to do things when asking for help. Those noble officials and clans looked aloof and condescending.
Now that a frank person suddenly comes, he won't be able to deal with it.
Yang Bin's embarrassment was seen by Yi Shiha, who smiled and comforted him:
"Yang Shanren, I told you earlier that my Highness is different from ordinary noble clans, but you didn't believe it. Now do you believe it?"
"Trust, trust, trust! Your Highness is indeed different."
In the presence of Yi Shiha, Yang Bin also poured wine for Zhu Gaoxu, while nodding continuously, and at the same time said to Zhu Gaoxu:
"Your Highness, when the common people heard that you wanted to join the vassal state, they were worried about the bitter cold in Jilin and the lack of abundant products, so they volunteered themselves to help you solve some problems."
Yang Bin did not blatantly say that he wanted to buy the salt from Zhu Gaoxu, but changed his words.
Zhu Gaoxu was also very familiar with the salt introduction system during the Hongwu period. After all, he had an excellent memory and wrote down many things during his confinement in reading books during the past few months.
The salt administration system implemented during most of the Ming Dynasty was the "Kaizhong system", and the Kaizhong method, commonly referred to as "nano-medium salt", was a major component of it.
In the early to mid-Ming Dynasty, salt laws and military supplies played an important role in transporting grain from the south to the north.
In the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu today, there were 219 counties in the Ming Dynasty that produced salt, and the salt-producing areas were divided by the imperial court to set up salt farms.
These salt fields are under the management of six salt transfer departments and eight salt collection departments respectively. The production of salt is handled by specialized kitchen households.
Because the main methods of making salt are boiling and drying, the quality of table salt also varies depending on the production method and place of production.
At present, the treatment of kitchen households is relatively good. For every 400 kilograms of salt produced, they will be given two guan of banknotes, and they will also be exempted from handyman labor.
Because of the good treatment, the kitchen households are not only responsible for making salt, but also responsible for preventing the sale of illegal salt.
This kind of treatment was improved after Zhu Gaoxu's "Money Banknote Law" was released. Due to the appreciation of treasure notes, the court changed the "two notes of giving" to one of giving money, so the treatment of kitchen households was generally improved.
As the remuneration keeps up, the sense of responsibility will be stronger, so it will be more difficult to sell private salt along the coast.
For salt merchants, it is difficult to buy private salt, so they can only continue to follow the path of official salt.
However, the road to official salt was not easy. According to the specific process, the imperial court would publish a list to attract investment in various places every year according to the needs of each place, clarify the needs of each place, and exchange the corresponding amount of salt for each district, which is called "Kaizhong".
After salt merchants in these places see the announcement, they will apply for winning salt according to the announcement, and transport the designated "salting goods" to designated locations as required, in exchange for warehouse cash, which is called "reporting success."
The salt merchant holds the banknotes to the transportation department and waits to exchange them for salt. The transportation department then checks the current year's amount based on the book and the warehouse banknotes sent from the warehouse and then makes a lottery.
After the opening, the Transportation Bureau sent the book and warehouse notes to the Nanjing Household Department for verification, and then the Nanjing Household Department printed the salt quotation and sent it back to the Transportation Department, which then handed the salt quotation to the salt merchants.
At this point, it can be considered that the "opening of the system" phase has ended, and salt merchants need to continue to hold the salt guide and wait for instructions from the court, and go to the designated salt field to support salt according to regulations, also known as "keeping the support".
After the salt dealer receives the salt, he needs to send the salt to the designated batching laboratory. The batching laboratory will verify the salt when it reaches an order.
Only after the verification is correct, the salt dealer can transport the salt to the designated salt sales area for sale, and the salt will be handed over after the sale is completed.
It can be said that the process of buying official salt is not only cumbersome, but also not necessarily queued up. The twists and turns give many salt merchants a headache, and they basically have to use money to clear the way.
In comparison, it is much easier to use the salt guide of the prince's palace and nobles. You only need to open the door to the prince's palace, and then you can quickly sell official salt with the royal palace's token and the verified salt guide. The efficiency is faster than that of the salt department. Several times.
Zhu Gaoxu had one thousand jin of salt in his hand, which converted into 400,000 jins of salt, enough to feed 200,000 people for a year.
You must know that this was in the early Ming Dynasty, and there were only a dozen cities with a population of more than 200,000 in the entire Ming Dynasty. Therefore, this thousand salt imports could actually meet the local expenses of a state, a county or even a government.
In Yang Bin's view, Jilin Wei was bitterly cold and produced little grain. If Zhu Gaoxu gave him these thousand salts, he would probably have to pay Naomi to transport grain to Jilin Wei.
The nanometer loss stipulated by the imperial court is usually two to five stone for four hundred kilograms. Based on the current price of rice, it is about six hundred wen to five yuan.
But in fact, based on the current market price, one thousand salt can be exchanged for at least eight thousand guan.
In other words, if he wants to lose money, Yang Bin only needs to transport 2,000 to 10,000 shi to Zhu Gaoxu, but afterwards he can use the salt to sell salt and buy at least 26,000 shi.
It is true that the journey to transport grain from Guan Nei to Jilin is long and the transportation consumption is huge, but it is not an exaggeration to exceed double, especially when going to Jilin, you can take 80% of the water route and only need to take 20% of the land route. This loss is in peacetime. In fact, No more than 30%.
After all, he is the "loser" of the palace, and no general dares to stop him from taking the card.
According to this calculation, Yang Bin can earn at least more than 10,000 dan per year using the salt from Bohai Palace, which is equivalent to more than 3,000 dan.
Because of this, he came so eagerly to find Zhu Gaoxu.
However, he may have found the wrong person.
If anyone else were facing Jilin Wei's situation, they would naturally choose to "lose in nanometers", but Zhu Gaoxu did not intend to do that.
'Your Highness, look...'
Yang Bin saw that Zhu Gaoxu didn't speak for a long time, so he carefully filled his glass of wine again.
Looking at Yang Bin's full serving of wine, Zhu Gaoxu raised the corners of his mouth slightly, stretched out his hand and drank the wine Yang Bin poured in one gulp.
Before Yang Bin could react and continue pouring the wine, he covered the wine glass with his hand, then turned to look at Yang Bin with a bright smile:
"Baqianguan, Yanyin betrayed you..."
(End of chapter)
