Chapter 030 The Second Year of Apocalypse
After Chen Cao drank the wine, he pressed Li Xiang on the bed and rubbed it before going out. Only Zhang Fengnian from a hundred households followed him. Zhao Xin and others went home for the holidays to pick up their wives and children. Zhang Fengnian's house was just outside Chen Cao's Zhuangzi. Above, there is an old mother and a newly married refugee wife at home, and the elder brother-in-law works in the Youwei workshop.
"Feng Nian, are you willing to let me go to the barracks with you so late?" Chen Cao stood and asked before entering the barracks door.
Zhang Fengnian was wearing a military uniform, cupped his hands and said: "As you said, I will go wherever you go..."
"good..."
The reason why Chen Cao always came to the barracks of Yan Chun and his small banner group was mainly because they were closest to the barracks door and were naturally the first to enter.
"grown ups..."
Only Xin Laosan was in the room, and the rest of the bunks were empty.
"Why, you didn't go back to celebrate the New Year with your family?" Chen Cao sat on the bed, looked at Xin Laosan standing on the ground and said, "Sit down and talk."
"I don't know, sir, but the brothers in the Xiaoqi tribe are all refugees. Their families are all in the family camp newly built by the adults. My family is a pariah in Zhejiang. I want to take leave after the new year and go back to pick up my family members."
"How's it going? How much money have you saved?" Chen Cao asked with a smile.
Xin Laosan took out a homemade money bag from his arms, opened it and said with a smile: "Thank you for the reward, sir. In the past three months, I have saved three taels of silver. Including the New Year expenses paid by the adults, I have saved four taels. In my hometown village, you can have three wives..."
"Hahaha..." Chen Cao laughed, then patted Xin Laosan on the shoulder and said: "There is enough food in the military camp. For those of you who stayed in the camp and did not go home, I have asked the food team to add stewed mutton for you. Let’s go eat later...”
"Thank you, Sir..." Xin Laosan stood at attention and gave Chen Cao a standard military salute with raised hands.
Chen Cao nodded with satisfaction. The people left in the barracks were all untouchables from Zhejiang. A few brought their families, but most did not. There were at least about 2,000 people. Chen Cao sighed and gave instructions in front of Xin Laosan. Zhang Fengnian said: "Fengnian, after the new year starts, you go remind Zhao Xin and ask him to send someone by sea ship to Zhejiang in the name of Nanzhen Fusi to pick up all the family members of the brothers who stayed in the camp in the right guard and live in our right guard." In the barracks of Wei's family members, remember to register their family members carefully, and no one is left behind. If there is one missing, I only ask you."
"It's my lord..."
"Thank you, sir. I am willing to die for you..." Xin Laosan couldn't help but knelt down.
Although kneeling is not allowed in the army now, it has not been abolished. Chen Cao could not refuse, and he still enjoyed it in his heart, so he patted Xin Laosan on the shoulder again and left.
(Many years later, Xin Laosan always mentioned that Chen Cao patted him on the shoulder and was proud of it...)
...
The second year of the Apocalypse officially began. On the third day of the first lunar month, the army returned to camp. People from Nanzhen Fusi began to register Zhejiang soldiers in the camp, and then registered their family members, preparing to pick up their families according to Chen Cao's instructions. Everyone was very happy. .
Bi Maokang was not very happy to receive Chen Cao's thousand taels of silver for the New Year, at least he would not be poor. But what impressed him was that Chen Cao gave him a lot of new drawings and asked him to look at them first. Now the main focus is on the flintlock gun, and we will study it after the matter of the flintlock gun can be completely handed over to Song Yingxing.
Chen Cao felt that he had many things to do, so many that he didn't know which one to start with, but he still had a clear goal - sea trade...
As we all know, the Ming Dynasty sea trade is the most profitable. A trip to the sea that costs 10,000 taels can earn 40,000 to 50,000 taels. One million taels of silver can earn at least three to four million taels. Time is short. You can return to the sea in three months at most. Earning tens of millions of taels of silver a year is a trivial matter. This is also the reason why the imperial court at the end of Chongzhen had no money, but Zhejiang merchants were as rich as the country. The reason why the ministers of the DPRK and China were opposed to maritime trade was because once the imperial court started maritime trade, private individuals would make money. There was no money; this was why the imperial court did not dare to touch the Caobang even though it was dissatisfied with the Caobang.
"Sir," Zhao Xin said with a serious look on his face, "the matter has become clearer. According to reports, Lu Hua was not tried in the capital. The Fifth Army Governor's Office gave the official document, and then the Ministry of Punishment directly sentenced him to beheading after comparison. However, things As your Excellency expected, the princes in the court had some secret plans and sent him to Liaodong to serve as a soldier, and it was indeed because of maritime trade issues."
Chen Cao frowned and said to himself: "That old guy Zhang Wenda has been discussing with Zhejiang officials behind closed doors for a long time since the Japanese pirates retreated. After that, I was put off by him many times when I asked him. I guess it was because of sea trade that he was unwilling. You offend people, so you don’t want me to know," he said, looking at Xin Zhao: "After all, I am a Jin Yiwei."
"Sir, my subordinates have been asking about the underworld in Zhejiang for a long time before they found out that there are four large trading houses in Zhejiang that go overseas, and they all have backers behind them." He said and handed the compiled information to Chen Cao: "The people behind Huiyuan Trading Company It’s Li Weihan, who was the former governor of Liaodong. He was accused of embezzling military pay in Liaodong and was later dismissed from office. Because he is the younger brother of Wanli Lord Li Guifei, he still retains his position as the censor of Youdu.”
"Li Weihan?" Chen Cao looked at the record on the paper and sneered: "I'm afraid he won't survive this year..."
"What do you mean, sir?"
"Because Huiyuan Commercial Bank will soon have the surname Chen." Chen Cao was a little excited: "Go on."
"Yes..." Zhao Xin clasped his fists and continued: "Tongji Trading Company is owned by Li Yangchong, the imperial envoy of Zuo Qiandu, Hangzhou Trading Company is owned by Zhang Woxu, the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and Yunnan Trading Company is owned by Shen Qingming."
Chen Cao looked up at Xin Zhao, who hesitated and said: "Behind Shen Qingming are the Dukes of Guizhou and Wei..."
"What?" Chen Cao thought for a while and said: "The Yunnan Commercial Bank is not allowed to investigate. The other three companies will be investigated for me and they will be wiped out..."
"I understand..."
"Xin Zhao, what do you think about us forming a fleet to go out to sea for trade?"
Xin Zhao frowned and looked at Chen Cao: "My lord, I'm afraid not."
"Why?"
"Your Excellency, you don't know. The sea ports in Zhejiang are all privately traded, and the sea ports in South Zhili are all in the hands of the imperial court. If it goes out to sea from South Zhili, the Nanjing Ministry of War will definitely know it, and the Nanjing Patrol Censor will definitely know it. Report it to the police. If those people know that we went to sea and robbed their trade business, my lord,” Xin Zhao’s eyes were a little pessimistic: “My subordinate made a mistake, your lord will definitely die miserably.”
It's true that civil servants share the same hatred. As the saying goes, cutting off a person's wealth is like killing his parents. Chen Cao nodded and asked: "What are the seaports in our southern Zhili territory? I mean those in the hands of the imperial court."
Zhao Xin thought for a while, then walked to the edge of the map and pointed: "First is the Longjiang estuary, then Dagang, Angang, and Baogang in Zhenjiang Prefecture; Xiagang and Ligang in Changzhou Prefecture; Huangsipu in Suzhou Prefecture , Xu Pu; Oh, by the way, there is also the outlet of Caojiang River."
"Wait a minute?" Chen Cao interrupted Zhao Xin: "Cao Jiang?"
The corner of Chen Cao's mouth raised, and he thought of a good idea: "Let's go, follow me to the Duke of Wei's mansion."
Xu Hongji was carefully spelling out the book "Spring Dreams in Red Mansions" written by Chen Cao and Bai Mengsheng. He raised the corners of his mouth and showed a lewd smile. Then he drank tea and heard that Chen Cao was visiting. He was very interested and prepared to ask Chen Cao some interesting topics. .
"What? Sea trade?" Xu Hongji put down his tea cup and looked at Chen Cao, a little dazed. Then he asked the servants to leave and said: "My Xu family has been guarding Nanjing for generations. Now I am guarding Nanjing, not to mention guarding the river." Master Admiral, many people in the court have already been gossiping."
Chen Cao cupped his hands and said, "My lord, there are not many soldiers in Cao Jiang's navy."
"How many can there be?" Xu Hongji thought for a moment: "Longjiang Navy is in charge of the entire southern Zhili River, and Caojiang Navy is in charge of the coastal areas. Although they are sea-going ships, the number of ships was almost mobilized during Emperor Jiajing's time. Nowadays, The largest ship in the entire Caojiang Navy is only eight hundred materials, and the rest are all two to three hundred materials, and they are in disrepair, and there are only six or seven movable ships at most."
After Xu Hongji finished speaking, he was stunned for a moment, sighed and said: "I plan to resign as Admiral Cao Jiang next year."
"I can't say goodbye..." Chen Cao blurted out: "Master, our sea trade still needs the help of you, Admiral Cao Jiang."
"Me?" Xu Hongji frowned: "If I send troops to sea, I must report it to the Nanjing Ministry of War. Besides, under what name will I go to sea?"
Xu Hongji came up. Chen Cao was filled with joy and was about to start cheating: "My lord, my disciple was the commander of the Nanjing Right Guards. Only then did I realize that the imperial court's salary could not support a single guard soldier. For this reason, my disciples published so many books to make money. Up to now, nearly 200,000 taels of silver have been invested by private individuals. My disciple boasted in front of His Majesty that in three years he will form an army and go to the battlefield in Liaodong. If there is a problem with money, my disciple does not want to embarrass the father-in-law. "
"I have heard about this," Xu Hongji nodded: "But what does this have to do with the sea trade you are talking about? Yew Chung, as a Jinyiwei, you don't know how many interests are involved in sea trade. Is it complicated?”
"My disciples know." Chen Cao did not dare to say that he had checked the Yunnan Commercial Bank, so he said: "We will not go to Zhejiang, nor do we deal with Zhejiang people. Our disciples know that many people along the coast pretend to be pirates and rob passing merchant ships, so we will learn from these pirates." Take action."
"Pirates?" Xu Hongji's eyes lit up, and he understood immediately: "I understand, going to sea in the name of eliminating pirates along the coast, and then attacking the pirates, all the items obtained will be stolen goods and turned over to the national treasury?"
"Here..." Chen Cao said with a smile, thinking that Xu Hongji was also a young man in his twenties, so he was not that stupid: "With you sitting at the rear, the officials in the court who are involved in maritime trade can only eat Damn it, when the time comes, we will take the merchant ships with us to trade with Japan every time we go to sea, hehe..."
Money is always attractive to people. No matter who they are, including the emperor, everyone in the maritime trade industry knows that Xu Hongji and Duke Qian went overseas to do business. However, no one dared to do it because of the status of the Duke of Xu family for generations. The literati and officials are very clear about making money from sea trade. Everyone has money to take it, so why not do it?
"Your idea is good, but we can't do it alone," Xu Hongji shook his head: "The cost must be reasonable, and more people are better. If something goes wrong, we can work together to find a solution."
Chen Cao refused and said: "Master, we are doing a business without capital, and it is justifiable. If there are more people, it is difficult to divide the money, but we must win over one person."
"who?"
"Wei Zhongxian, eunuch Bingbi, the Superintendent of Ceremonies..."
...
In March of spring, everything revived. After Chen Cao welcomed his first son in his life, he couldn't sleep well for a few days in excitement. The eldest son was named Chen Boxuan. Although Li Xiang was a little disappointed, what Li Xiang didn't expect was that after Li Fengchun gave birth, One month later, Li Xiang was diagnosed with pregnancy. Chen Cao was even more excited about this, but the disadvantage was that he could not rub Li Xiang. Li Fengchun was recovering from the postpartum period, so he could only go to see Chen Ruier.
"Sir, here we come," Zhao Xin took an official document and handed it to Chen Cao: "It was clearly issued by the General Affairs Department."
Chen Cao took the official document and finally waited. The holy letter of amnesty for the world arrived in Nanjing more than a month later. Chen Cao was sore about waiting. Unable to bear the loneliness, he immediately went to the Nanjing Ministry of Rites. It took him a while to follow the normal procedures. It took ten thousand taels of silver to get the redemption documents for Zhang Shuhua and her son.
Zuo Sile's grandson friend was a sensible man. When he saw Chen Cao looking for him in official uniform, he very diligently stamped the official document of Zhang Shuhua's mother and son's redemption, and then said with a smile: "Master Chen, congratulations on bringing this beauty home."
"I'll reward you..." Chen Cao casually threw out five taels of silver, which made Sun You grin from ear to ear.
Because Zhang Shuhua and her son had someone behind them, no one in Qinhuai Tower dared to bully them. They had separate rooms to live together. Liu Miner's left eyelid kept twitching today, and she felt a little uneasy. Just then, she saw Chen Cao opened the door and entered the house, and was greeted by mother and daughter with smiling faces.
Chen Cao felt excited and asked Zhao Xin to wait outside. He also called Zhang Shuhua to wait in the back room. He stood comfortably in front of Liu Min'er for a while, waiting for her to play Guangling San for him...
Zhang Shuhua didn't know the rustling sound, so she sat on the big bed in the back room with a red face, feeling extremely embarrassed. This man always does this...
Chen Cao felt comfortable for a while, looked at Liu Min'er's bulging mouth and said, "Swallow it..."
Liu Min'er's meek performance has long lived up to her domineering mother-in-law. On the contrary, it would take a villain like Chen Cao to suppress such a person.
"Min'er, I have finalized the ransom deed between you and Shuhua. Your Majesty is granting amnesty to the world. The Jiaofang Division has stamped the seal. From today on, you and Shuhua are my Chen Cao's people. Pack your things and go. I’ll go back home.”
Li Xiang didn't dare to interfere with what Chen Cao wanted to do. In this era, it was normal for men to have three wives and four concubines. In addition, Chen Cao was a court official. All she had to do was follow the ethics and be a good wife, although she knew that Zhang Shuhua Mother and daughter had an entanglement with Chen Cao in the past, but after the marriage certificate was returned, there was no relationship between them. Even if Chen Cao married both mother and daughter, it would not be too much. After all, the place of origin of mother and daughter belonged to the Jiaofang Division. His happiness is incomparable to that of an innocent woman from an official family.
"Xiang'er," Chen Cao brought Zhang Shuhua's mother and son to Li Xiang: "Xiang'er, these are Shuhua and Min'er. From now on, they will be my Chen family. You should take good care of them both."
Zhang Shuhua, mother and daughter, both saluted Li Xiang. Li Xiang was not a jealous person. He helped the two of them up with a smile without losing his dignity, and then arranged a place for them to stay.
...
"Raise the gun..."
"put..."
Bang bang bang...
"Raise the gun..."
"put..."
Bang bang bang...
"Sir, every time you fire ten rounds of bullets, you must use a purge to clean the barrel. I followed the method taught by your Excellency and used a hydraulic machine to carve out negative patterns in the barrel. It is currently in the testing stage. It is expected that the range can reach more than 500 ." Bi Maokang was introducing the improved flintlock gun to Chen Cao: "However, the water power of the Jubao River outside Zhengyangmen is not enough, and the water hammer of one thousand kilograms cannot be lifted. Now it can only lift the water hammer of about five hundred kilograms. It will take a lot of time to forge the steel that my lord spoke of.”
"Master Bi, have you figured out the auger?" Chen Cao asked smoothly as he watched the soldiers practicing their guns in the training ground intently.
"My lord, that's amazing, the negative pattern was carved with a corkscrew," Bi Maokang couldn't help but look at him with admiration and was very excited when he said this: "In the past, those who could carve the negative pattern in the barrel were all seniors from the Capital Firearms Bureau. The master uses a single grinding drill, and it takes at least ten days to carve the negative pattern of a gun barrel. But now the auger designed by you is driven by a water bed, which saves time and effort. It only needs to be driven by water, and the negative pattern will be formed immediately. The carving was successful, my lord, I resigned from the position of Shuntian Prefecture and came to work here, it is really a life worth living."
Chen Cao smiled and turned to look at Bi Maokang. He patted him on the shoulder as usual and said, "Then what do you think of the brass bullets in the drawing I gave you last time?"
Bi Maokang frowned, and then said: "It is easy to pour out the template after the brass is melted, but it is a big problem to build a hydraulic machine tool based on the water bed drive, and then use the steel drill to quickly rotate and squeeze the warhead to connect it to the cartridge case. If the speed is too fast, the gunpowder in the cartridge case will explode. I have been doing this experiment for the past few months, but with little success; but sir, brass is used to make money in my Ming Dynasty, so it is very expensive."
"I know this," Chen Cao looked into the distance and said without thinking, "That's why we want to do business with Japan."
"There is also that spring," Bi Maokang said with a worried look: "The thing is good, but I made more than a dozen steel and iron ones, but they all broke, and they couldn't achieve the effect that the adults said. .”
"You can't let me personally guide you on everything," Chen Cao turned around and looked at Bi Maokang: "Master Bi, you can try adding different ores or plant ash or sulfuric acid, nitric acid and the like into the molten steel..."
"Your Majesty, please remember..."
"Also, the first step in making brass bullets is to improve the gunpowder. Our black gunpowder is too inferior, the smoke is too big after it explodes, and the damage to the barrel is not small. You can use the black gunpowder we made, Add sulfuric acid and nitric acid and try it step by step. You must remember to be careful when testing gunpowder. It will explode and I don’t want you to die."
"I will keep this in mind..."
Chen Cao walked to the training ground and found that his three hundred servants were being trained by Zhang Fengnian, so he nodded, and he would have to rely on these servants to survive in the future.
"Yao Zhong," Song Che was sweating profusely and his armor was soaked: "Now that the basic training of the brothers on the right guard has been completed, and the musketry training has been completed for three months, when will the actual combat you mentioned begin?"
"Hurry, let's wait until the boat is built. Then I will take my brothers to make a fortune."
...
"The Longjiang Shipyard stopped after the death of Eunuch Sanbao, and all the treasure ship craftsmen returned to their hometowns. During the Jiajing Emperor's reign, due to rampant piracy, the shipyard only had some craftsmen, but they only built a few high-rise ships worth two to three hundred materials a year. Emperor Cheng Hua temporarily ordered the construction of a treasure ship, but the structure of the treasure ship was too complex. It is said that the construction drawings were destroyed by Liu Daxia, the Minister of War at the time, and all the nautical charts of the eunuch Sanbao when they went to the West were destroyed, so the current dragon There is basically no one in Jiang Shipyard. If you hadn't asked me to find these people here last year, I might have been delayed for a long time." Zhao Xin and Chen Cao stood on the dock platform of Longjiang Shipyard, looking at the things going on below. Busy craftsman: "Sir, how many ships will we need to build?"
Chen Cao looked coldly at the busy craftsmen below, and then said: "Liu Daxia's fight has ruined my entire Ming Dynasty."
Xin Zhao: "..."
Chen Cao knew that Zhao Xin was confused, but he did not expose it. Later generations said that if the Ming Dynasty did not stop its voyages to the West, maybe some colonies could be established in the later period: "Xin Zhao, I guess Liu Daxia did not combine the treasure ship blueprints with navigation." Picture burned.”
"Ah? Why?"
Chen Cao said: "Do you think that the treasure ship drawings and navigation charts were left behind by Emperor Wen when he was reincarnated? How dare Liu Daxia, a minister of the Ministry of War, burn these things?" He said meaningfully: "Besides, he was not a The Minister of the Ministry of War is just the head of the Ministry of War’s official affairs department, and he is still serving in the capital. The treasure ship drawings and navigation charts are kept in the warehouse of the Ministry of War in Nanjing. Do you think he will teleport and burn these things in a short time?"
"Here..." Zhao Xin suddenly realized: "Your Majesty, my lord, hey...according to what your lord said, the navigation chart and the treasure ship drawings should still be in the warehouse of the Ministry of War?"
"It should be," Chen Cao took a deep breath: "But no one has mentioned it for so many years. It should still be related to imperial officials involved in maritime trade. If that thing is still in the Ministry of War, then all the Nanjing Ministers of the Ministry of War should know about it. , but no one took the initiative to mention it.”
"That's because I'm afraid that the imperial court will think of these things and compete with them for maritime trade business. The treasure ship is huge. I heard it is higher than the city wall of Fengtianmen..."
"Xin Zhao, do you have the guts to do something?" Chen Cao looked at him seriously.
Seeing Chen Cao's serious expression, Zhao Xin knew it was business, so he clasped his fists and said, "Please give me your instructions."
"Let's go to the Ministry of War warehouse and steal the treasure ship blueprints and navigation charts."
Xin Zhao was stunned for a moment, then held his head high and said: "Take orders..."
...
It's not necessarily true that Qi Boyu was an upright official. No one in the official position was innocent. In the entire Ming Dynasty, except for Hai Rui, all the imperial officials in the Hanlin Academy were richer than him.
Hearing that Chen Cao was inviting guests, Qi Boyu was dressed in casual clothes. The two of them came to Zhang Yanzong's property, namely Xinfang.
"I have long heard that Jixinfang only entertains family members of officials. When I came in, I saw many colleagues from the court and officials." As soon as he sat down, Qi Boyu joked: "You, Mr. Chen, are also rich..."
Zhao Xin poured wine for Qi Boyu, and Chen Caodui said with a smile: "Sir, there is no need to ridicule me. I have become a commander of a poor man, and now I have made a lot of money. If I don't write books to make money, I'm afraid that even my family will lose money." If you can’t afford it, how can you have any spare money to invite you, sir, to come here to drink and dine?”
"Hahaha..." Qi Boyu laughed a few times, drank the wine, and then said with a smile: "The rules of officialdom are there, and there is nothing I can do about it. They are all talking up and down, and I can't keep them away..."
The old guy also knows what I mean when I say these words...
Chen Cao was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Sir, please don't mind it, and don't take it personally. After all, everyone has to eat, and making money is not easy..."
