The noble circle's voice for succeeding Ning Yuanbo is just support for Wanli's decision!
The premise is to get Wanli's decree to seal him, otherwise it will be difficult for them to support him!
As for the dividends from heaven and earth, even if I don't ask for honors, I will share the profits with them.
It is simple that with Li Xianzhong's background in the capital, it is impossible for him to reap this bonus.
Most of the brothels in the capital are government-run. By doing this, you are blatantly robbing their income. If you don't have enough backstage, you won't be able to operate at all.
Li Xianzhong's own background is not enough. The little Ning Yuanbo does not have such a big influence in the capital, not to mention that he has not yet been elected.
And if I want to make money from the nobles, I naturally have to attract several influencers in the noble circle.
British Duke Zhang Weixian has a good reputation, and he should not be as greedy as his elder brother Zhu.
This time, I have another supporter to catch up with Zhang Zhiji.
I believe that with the help of Heaven and Earth, my intelligence system in the capital will be completely expanded. Of course, I need to be cautious in the harem.
If Wanli finds out that he has placed a special spy in the harem, he will probably lose more than he gains.
In the Qianqing Palace, the eunuch Chang Yun said: "To report to the emperor, Li Xianzhong, the general manager of Kaiyuan, is asking to see you outside the palace, saying that he wants to thank your majesty for the marriage."
The matter of Li Xianzhong's Tieling wedding also caused a stir in the capital.
Many Donglin Party members have already written to impeach him for his extravagant extravagance and corruption.
Li Xianzhong was granted marriage by Wanli. These idiots' impeachment of Li Xianzhong was clearly a slap in Wanli's face.
After so many years, these civil servants are still so unscrupulous and slap themselves in the face whenever they say.
Wanli asked: "Li Xianzhong came to see me now. I'm afraid he is not interested in drinking. Is he here for the position of Uncle Ning Yuan?"
Wanli was not surprised that Li Xianzhong was Li Rusong's illegitimate son.
Wanli had already guessed it when he saw him for the first time. After all, he was quite similar to his beloved general back then.
As the saying goes, the reason why Wanli favors Li Xianzhong so much is that he is really likable, and to a large extent it is to make up for his debt to Li Rusong.
Wanli was also shocked when he heard that Li Xianzhong was intercepted by 40,000 Mongolian cavalry in the Mongolian grassland to snatch his bride. This scene was too familiar.
It is almost the same as when Li Rusong was killed.
So he hesitated on whether to let Li Xianzhong succeed Ning Yuanbo.
From an etiquette perspective, this was completely against the rules, although he could have decreed that Li Xianzhong would succeed Ning Yuanbo of the Li family.
But this would probably put him on fire, and make him a thorn in the side of many people.
This is the real reason for his hesitation.
Otherwise, with his own temper, he would definitely go against those civil servants.
I have to do what they are not allowed to do.
Wanli asked: "How is the investigation going on what I asked you to investigate?"
Chang Yun said: "The attack on Li Xianzhong should have nothing to do with the ministers in the court. It was completely caused by Jianzhou behind the scenes."
"General Li Bing should have resolved this crisis. Now the three left-wing departments of Horqin have publicly drawn a clear line with Jianzhou and entered into a marriage alliance with General Li."
"General Li Bing's Tieling wedding was indeed very grand, but he publicly ordered not to accept congratulatory gifts from officials below the fifth rank in Liaodong, and gifts from officials above the fifth rank were limited to 100 taels of silver. Therefore, it did not burden the people of Liaodong. The impeachment against him is completely baseless."
Wan Li pondered for a moment and said, "Go and tell Li Xianzhong that I have received his note of gratitude and ask him to go back."
The time to meet Li Xianzhong was too sensitive at this time, so he decided not to meet him.
Chang Yun said: "Report to the emperor, Commander Li asked the slave to present this thing."
Soon a young eunuch opened a package and showed the ore in front of Wanli.
I saw a little golden light shining in a green stone!
Emperor Wanli, who had never seen ore before, felt it was strange and asked, "Is this a gold mine?"
Chang Yun said: "According to General Li, this is a copper mine he discovered. As for the details, I don't know much about it."
Hearing that it was not a gold mine, Wanli's face was slightly disappointed, but he still couldn't hide his excited eyes.
Because the Ming Dynasty was so short of copper, a large amount of copper ore was needed to cast cannons or copper coins.
But now the largest copper mines in the Ming Dynasty are far away in Yunnan in the southwest border. These places are far away and the cost of transportation is very high. Although there are copper mines near South Zhili (today's Tongling in Anhui), the scale of the copper mines is not large. The output is not high either.
If a copper mine is discovered in Liaodong, the transportation distance will be much closer than that in Yunnan, and its economic value will also be much greater.
Wan Li said to Chang Yun: "Bring Li Xianzhong in!"
When he saw Chang Yun delaying for some time before coming out, Li Xianzhong knew that Wanli could not resist the temptation of the copper mine after all.
Soon he put a brocade bag containing Dongzhu into Chang Yun's hand and said with a smile: "Thank you, Eunuch Chang!"
After Chang Yun accepted the things, he just said lightly: "We thank General Li!"
Soon Li Xianzhong was taken to Qianqing Palace.
It has been three or four months since I last saw Wanli. Although His Majesty's body is still a little bloated, his complexion seems to be better. It seems that the medicinal bath he gave has had some effect. of.
After Li Xianzhong kowtowed, he heard another rainbow fart, which made Wanli very excited.
Especially Li Xianzhong's words of "Father" really made me feel a little bit fond of the boy in front of me.
Now that Chang Xun is not by his side, and the prince is not to his liking, this boy can surprise him every time.
The ministers kept calling the emperor "the emperor's father", but how many ministers could respect themselves as their father?
I'm afraid that even a few slaps in the face would be a loss of face for myself.
Wanli said: "Did you really discover a large copper mine in Liaodong?"
Mr. Li Xian immediately said solemnly: "The general always thinks that he can take care of your father's worries, so he has led many mining expeditions deep into the mountains of Jianzhou."
"Finally, a copper mine was discovered in the mountainous area at the junction of Jianzhou and Yehe. The most experienced prospectors were specially hired by the general to confirm that this is a large-scale copper mine!"
Wanli was originally very excited, but when he heard that he was going deep into Jianzhou, his face sank.
He said angrily: "After working for a long time, this copper mine is on the ground of Jianzhou. Are you making me happy for nothing?"
Li Xianzhong said seriously: "The right way is to raise an army for a thousand days and use it for a moment. Since the general dares to bring the copper mine to Your Majesty, he is naturally sure to take it down. How dare you use this matter to deceive the emperor?"
Wanli thought for a while and said: "This year's Liao salary has not been collected yet, so it is impossible to support your large-scale attack on Jianzhou."
Li Xianzhong said: "Your Majesty, please relax. This area is a barren land. Jianzhou has not built a city here at all. There is no need for the imperial court to allocate huge sums of money to go to war. The general will use the soldiers and horses of the two railroads to take it." .”
"At that time, we only need to build a fort here and send garrison troops to guard it."
Wanli's eyes lit up. This was feasible. Building a fort would only cost tens of thousands of taels of silver, but it would only be a waste of time.
So he said: "I will ask the governor of Liaodong to allocate silver to you and the people. You must ensure that the copper is mined for me within half a year."
Li Xianzhong said: "This is what I think. If I build a city here in the name of the imperial court, the output of the copper mine may not be able to enter your majesty's internal funds."
"Even if Your Majesty can get a part of it, I'm afraid he will have to fight with the Ministry of Household Affairs to a bloody head."
Wan Li looked at Li Xianzhong in disbelief and asked, "Ai Qing, is there a way to let the copper mine go directly into my internal funds?"
At first, he sent the eunuch Gao Huai to Liaodong to collect mining taxes, which made the people of Liaodong miserable. Many people even defected to Jianzhou directly, and it almost led to a mutiny.
In this way, I didn't raise much money for him.
Of course, another purpose of sending Gao Huai was to cause chaos for Li Chengliang and break the situation where the Li family dominated Liaodong. From this perspective, Gao Huai did a good job.
He would like to hear what Li Xianzhong can do to make this copper mine go directly into his internal funds.
Li Xianzhong said: "This is located at the junction of Jianzhou and Yehe. In the end, the leader of the Yehe tribe can dedicate the output of this copper mine to His Majesty himself in the name of thanking His Majesty for the marriage."
"At that time, His Majesty can issue an order to send troops to build the city and protect the copper mines."
"In this way, the copper mine belongs to Ye He, and they will dedicate the copper produced to His Majesty. I believe the Ministry of Revenue will have nothing to say if the copper mine goes into internal funds!"
Wanli almost jumped up with excitement at this time. Li Xianzhong is really not a simple boy, he can actually think of this move.
This copper mine belonged to Ye He, who thanked him for the marriage and specially donated the copper.
In this way, what can they say if the income goes into their own funds?
He said: "Then please help me quickly send troops to build the city. If this copper mine is mined as soon as possible, it can also provide financial support for our Ming Dynasty!"
Although Li Xianzhong never mentioned Ning Yuanbo's title from beginning to end, Wanli knew very well what he had in mind.
Originally, he could not find a suitable reason for Li Xianzhong to succeed him.
But now Ye Hebu actually donated copper to him. He canonized Haqiya as a concubine, and by the way, let Li Xianzhong succeed Ning Yuanbo. There is no problem.
Li Xianzhong said at this time: "Your Majesty, don't worry, the general will return to Kaiyuan soon to prepare for war, and strive to seize the copper mine and complete the construction of the city within two months."
Wanli said: "I know that Li Aiqing wants to take care of your father's worries, but building a city in two months is too childish, right?"
Li Xianzhong said: "Your Majesty does not know something. Liaodong can purchase something called cement, which can build cities quickly. Xiong Jinglue also purchased cement before to quickly repair the border wall in Liaodong."
Wanli was in a good mood and said: "If we can really complete the city construction work in two months and be able to mine copper mines, I will decree that you will succeed Ning Yuanbo."
Li Xianzhong quickly expressed his gratitude to Wanli!
Li Xianzhong left Mao Yuanyi in the capital temporarily and continued to preside over the decoration of Heaven and Earth and the training of related personnel.
Due to the vigorous publicity of Zhu Chunchen, Zheng Yangxing, Zhang Zhiji and others, many powerful people had already begun to purchase membership cards before Heaven and Earth opened.
Silver membership is 100 taels of silver, while gold membership is 1,000 taels of silver.
Of course, these silvers are equivalent to pre-deposits and can be used on the membership card.
In just a few days, 11 gold membership cards and 34 silver membership cards were sold.
Mao Yuanyi even said that if things continue to develop like this, they will be able to complete the decoration of Heaven and Earth and the start-up capital for their business without the need for Li Xianzhong to allocate money.
Under Li Xianzhong's instruction, Yehebel Buyang wrote a letter of thanks and expressed his gratitude to Wanli for the marriage. He was willing to hand over a copper mine in Yehe to Li Xianzhong to operate it on his behalf, and dedicated all the copper mines produced to Wanli. myself.
This immediately caused an uproar in the court.
In the private world, this is when the father-in-law gives a copper mine to his son-in-law to take care of, and gives the output of the copper mine to the son-in-law's boss.
But this caused a problem for the court. The Ministry of Rites had never encountered anyone offering minerals, and the donation was so complicated.
Copper mines were a considerable source of income for the imperial court, but this income did not seem to have anything to do with the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Soon they realized something was wrong. Xiong Tingbi had done the Liaodong Economic Strategy, and he discovered that this place called Hongtou Mountain was actually in Jianzhou. Although it was not far from Ye He, it was not Ye He's turn to offer mines. This is a complete scam.
So Xiong Manzi immediately wrote a letter to impeach Li Xianzhong for colluding with Ye He and committing fraud.
However, Li Xianzhong did not give Xiong Tingbi a chance at all. Before Buyangu's thank you note arrived in the capital, he ordered Li Sanshun to lead out of Guangshun Pass and occupy some territories of the original Hada tribe.
Attacked two small iron mines there and rescued more than a thousand miners.
This news made Nurhachi nervous.
Huang Taiji said: "Reporting to the Great Khan, Li Xianzhong's Liaodong cavalry suddenly left Guangshun Pass yesterday and attacked our walled city and iron mine near Hongtou Mountain, the former hometown of Hada."
"Not only the Ming army, but also Ye He seems to have participated in this attack. Our army only has a small number of sentries there and is unable to stop the Ming army."
This news made everyone in Jianzhou very nervous, because He Shixian of Fushun Pass was ready to make a move, and from time to time he sent people out of the pass to the vicinity of Jiefan City, often having small-scale conflicts with the Eight Banners.
The tens of thousands of elite Ming troops near Kuandian Fort in the south restricted Hou Jin's energy.
Nurhaci said: "It seems that after a few months of silence, Li Xianzhong finally couldn't help it anymore!"
Dai Shan said: "It took us several months and lost a lot of troops to lure the main force of the Ming army to Kuandian Fort. There are just a few barren hills outside Guangshun Pass. Anyway, there is no shortage of iron in Jianzhou. Li Xianzhong is nothing more than sending troops to harass the mine, and it is impossible for him to occupy it for a long time. We cannot afford to lose a big thing for a small amount."
Huang Taiji said: "What Big Beile said is true, but Li Xianzhong still has to guard, and the defense of Jiefan City still needs to be strengthened to prevent him from going south to relieve the Ming army!"
Soon Jierhalang's Xianglan Banner was stationed in Jiefan City, not far from Fushun Pass. This place could simultaneously prevent He Shixian from going east and Li Xianzhong from going south. It can be said to be the gateway to the north of Hetuala.
In addition, Gule Village, which was destroyed by Li Xian Station a few months ago, has been rebuilt at this time, and Du Du's white flag has also been stationed here as the second line of defense.
Li Xianzhong took the initiative to invade Jianzhou for the first time. He was originally worried that he would encounter a strong counterattack by the Eight Banners. This time he gathered seven to eight thousand troops.
The main forces of the Liaodong Iron Cavalry, Assault Battalion and Pinglu Guards were all mobilized, and there were even two thousand Ye He cavalry to assist in the battle.
But I didn't expect to be lonely.
Kong Youde said: "According to the information from the Intelligence Department, Jianzhou's cavalry is currently gathering near Kuandian Fort on the southern line. I'm afraid a war is about to break out."
Jianzhou's tactic of using a small force to lure the Ming army to increase its troops would only be fooled by a half-hearted guy like Yuan Yingtai.
However, he currently has tens of thousands of troops on the southern front, including elite troops such as the Baigan soldiers and the Qi family army. It is still difficult for Jianzhou to devour him in one bite.
No matter if they confront each other like this, they can just build a defense system near Hongtou Mountain.
Originally, they just wanted to build a mountain city on Hongtou Mountain and use it as a stronghold to occupy this territory.
However, a small city cannot completely guarantee the safe transportation of copper mines.
Therefore, Li Xianzhong decided to build a Guancheng first, and then basically use the mountainous terrain to build a side wall to forcibly isolate the copper mine from the Jianzhou territory.
Although Pinglubao has mobilized all personnel to produce cement day and night, it will not be possible to complete the construction of the border wall in less than a few months.
However, all he promised Wanli was to complete the construction of Guancheng and start mining copper mines.
Two months is more than enough time.
At this time, the copper mine had been taken over, so Li Xianzhong naturally sent a letter to Wanli to allocate money to the people.
A report from the governor of Liaodong was also handed over. Copper mines had indeed been discovered in the Hongtoushan area and were under the control of the Ming army.
Xiong Tingbi was reprimanded by Wanli, and soon Yan Mingtai, the governor of Liaodong, allocated 40,000 taels of silver and recruited more than 10,000 civilians to start building the city.
Naturally, Li Xianzhong would not be stupid enough to wait for the court's money and civilian labor to arrive before starting construction. He had already laid a road with cement in advance, which greatly improved the efficiency of transporting supplies.
In addition, it is impossible to use all cement to build the city. Some stones mixed with cement have already been dug for the foundation of the city.
After only seven or eight days, the outline of a city was already revealed.
Nurhaci did not expect that the Ming army would build a city here. He was originally planning to send troops to stop it, but July is the rainy season, and it will rain heavily from time to time.
It was impossible to build a city in this kind of weather, and the Ming army had a lot of sentries, so they didn't care much about the situation in Hongtou Mountain.
At this time, the debate in the court did not stop. Although the copper was donated by Ye He to Wanli, the silver for building cities and roads came from the Liaodong governor's office, and the Ministry of Household Affairs strongly demanded a share of the pie.
However, at this time Li Xianzhong's memorial came up again. He proposed to transport the copper directly from the Liao River to the seaport of Yaozhou, and then transport it by sea from there to Tianjin Wei.
This is much more efficient than transporting copper by land and can also save a lot of transportation costs. Of course, the premise is that a new port must be built.
Then Yan Mingtai, the governor of Liaodong, also sent a report saying that Yingkou Town near Yaozhou was suitable for building a port.
But the problem came, the money to build the port had to come from the Liaodong Governor's Yamen.
This household department stopped working. In order to transport copper, Liaodong built cities, roads, and ports, but in the end no profit was shared.
Although Wanli is the type who never plucks out a cent, but this time he also understood that it would be impossible not to give him any benefits.
In the end, they reached a compromise. 10% of the copper revenue from the Hongtoushan Copper Mine was used for the operation of the mine and the construction of the copper smelting workshop, 10% belonged to the Liaodong Governor's Yamen, 20% belonged to the Household Department, and 60% was included in Wanli's personal property. treasury.
The governor's office of Liaodong allocated another 50,000 taels of silver for the expansion of Yingkou Wharf.
The imperial court sent ships and naval forces to take charge of transportation within the Liao River and sea transportation to Tianjin.
At this time, the originally inconspicuous Yaozhou became popular. Once the port was built, Liaodong would have an additional window for foreign trade.
Although the imperial court banned private merchants from entering the sea for trade since the fifteenth year of Wanli, the smuggling trade in the Ming Dynasty never stopped.
Li Xianzhong raised such a large circle by donating copper. The core purpose was actually to use a formal method to build Yingkou Port.
As a person of later generations, he naturally understands the significance of the Age of Discovery.
Although he controlled the three passes of Kaiyuan and the land trade channel to Mongolia, this was far from enough. Only by controlling maritime trade could the entire Liaodong be completely revitalized.
Of course, in terms of port conditions, Yingkou Port is far inferior to Lushun Port in Jinzhouwei, but having a commercial port will greatly increase the turnover of goods in Liaodong.
The originally inconspicuous Yaozhou Guard became a very critical place.
After all, Li Xianzhong's territory is in Kaiyuan. If he uses his current generals to transfer to Yaozhou, his purpose will be too obvious.
So he could only wait and continue to ask for help from his second uncle Li Rubai.
I hope that the Li family can select suitable candidates to serve as Yaozhou garrison, so that they can control Yingkou Port more conveniently.
Soon after, Li Rubai sent several candidates for Li Xianzhong to choose from.
His eyes soon stopped at the three words "Zu Dashou".
Li Xianzhong secretly regretted that he had forgotten this incident.
Zu Dashou’s father, Zu Chengxun, was appointed as the deputy general of the Liaodong Army and was a close general of the Li family. Although he was forced to lose military power due to the imperial court’s rejection of the Li family, Zu Dashou must be a member of the Li family!
He actually almost missed such a general.
At this time, Zu Dashou was guerrillaed by Ningyuan Zhongyou. Li Xianzhong quickly transferred Zu Dashou to Yaozhou through Yan Mingtai's relationship.
Due to the newly built Yingkou Port, it is normal to adjust the garrison in Yaozhou, so that Yingkou falls into its own hands.
Although it is not yet known who controls the navy stationed in Yingkou, but in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, as long as there is money, is there anything that cannot be accomplished?
Just when Li Xianzhong was feeling satisfied, Mao Yuanyi received news from Beijing that Wanli had sent a mine supervisor to the Hongtoushan Mine.
This father-in-law was none other than the Eunuch Liu, the Royal Horse Supervisor, who had walked away from him in Zuixian Tower.
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