Chapter 279
Zhang Xianzhong did not get the result he wanted. He was very confused. He almost told Cheng Shijie clearly that he had a large sum of money in his hands, which amounted to tens of millions of taels.
But the problem is, Cheng Shijie didn't seem to care at all.
Doesn't Cheng Shijie need money?
Cheng Shijie actually needs money, but he doesn't need money either.
As a person of the 20th century, Cheng Shijie understands certain financial knowledge. For individuals, more money is naturally better, but for the country, this is not the case.
During the Ming Dynasty, Ming Dynasty was a country with a net inflow of silver. According to later statistics, a large number of silver mines were also discovered. According to relevant statistics, from around 1560 to 1600, Japanese and Portuguese merchants exported large amounts of silver to China through maritime trade channels. The weight of silver exported each year ranged from 33,750 kilograms to 48,750 kilograms. In the back and forth trade, the Ming Dynasty, as a producer, obtained a large amount of silver. The "Longqing Switch" in the late Ming Dynasty alone allowed about 353 million taels of silver to flow into the Ming Dynasty.
Spain mined a large amount of silver in the Americas. If converted into taels, approximately 75 million taels of silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty. A large amount of silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty, causing the devaluation of silver in the Ming Dynasty.
In fact, the value of silver in the Ming Dynasty was relatively high. For example, in Essex, England, a quarter (12.7 kilograms) of wheat was less than 10 shillings in 1543, but by 1557 it had risen to 32 shillings. If converted to the Chinese exchange rate, it is equivalent to 1 tael of silver buying more than ten kilograms of wheat in Britain in 1557, while the same silver can buy more than 100 kilograms of rice in China.
Even without relying on Zhang Xianzhong's money, Liaodong's money and economic protection were basically the same. Especially the silver extorted from Luzon and the Dutch, Cheng Shijie did not dare to put it completely on the market. Otherwise, Liaodong's economic market would be Causing volatility is not entirely a good thing.
Even if Cheng Shijie and Gao Qiqian sent more than 10 million taels of silver to Emperor Chongzhen one after another, it is said that with the money in the court, the people of the capital should be better off. However, in fact, the people of the capital are much better off than Chongzhen II at this time. The year is even sadder.
Nowadays, the income of a carriage driver in the capital is about twenty taels of silver, but the problem is that these more than twenty taels of silver are only enough for them to purchase one-third of the supplies in Liaodong.
If Zhang Xianzhong was willing to donate the money to Cheng Shijie, Cheng Shijie would naturally accept it, but Zhang Xianzhong obviously wanted to use the money to buy his life, which was a bit whimsical.
"Cheng Shuai, I will give you money, enough money for you to spend ten lifetimes!"
"hehe!"
Cheng Shijie smiled faintly: "You can take your money to the ground!"
"That's a lot of money!"
"I know it!"
"Someone just wants to live!"
"Enjoy the few days you have!"
Cheng Shijie said: "Come here, please ask Eunuch Gao to come over!"
Zhang Xianzhong said desperately: "Cheng Shuai, can we discuss this?"
"What do you think?"
Cheng Shijie said calmly: "You want to live, but what about the people who died in your hands? Don't they want to live?"
"I kill all the people who deserve to die!"
"More than hundreds of thousands of innocent people died because of you?"
"I'll give you half of my silver, which should be six million taels!"
Cheng Shijie turned around and left, not bothering to pay attention to Zhang Xianzhong.
Cheng Shijie told Meng En: "Give Zhang Xianzhong a good greeting!"
Meng En was slightly startled and said: "What the commander-in-chief means...extorting confessions by torture?"
"nonsense!"
Cheng Shijie said seriously: "This is a blessing from the people. If I don't take it, I will be punished by God!"
Meng En went to execute it immediately.
Soon, Zhang Xianzhong's screams were heard.
One day later, Cheng Shijie asked: "Has Zhang Xianzhong confessed?"
"Commander, Zhang Xianzhong's bones are so hard that even his mouth can't be pried open!"
Cheng Shijie said leisurely: "There is no mouth that cannot be pried open. The other party refuses to confess. I can only say that your skills are too poor. This guy's leather is thicker than cowhide. What's the use of you whipping it there with a whip? Even if it's His whole body is beaten to pieces, and you can’t even get a single word out of his mouth.”
It’s not that Sun Kewang didn’t know how to torture to extract a confession, but he just didn’t want to take responsibility. He humbly asked for advice: “Then what should I do to get him to talk?”
"Use your brain, use your brain! It's also whipped with a whip. If you whip like this until tomorrow, people won't take it seriously. But even though I can make him cry and urinate just by adding a little bit of spice... Is there any chili? Is there any salt? Get some and add water to dissolve it in a bucket. It's best to add some sesame oil or something. Soak the whip in it for a while before whipping it. Once the whip is applied, it will be flavorful."
Sun Kewang's eyes were bright, and he quickly got sesame oil, salt, and chili powder, added water to dissolve it while Zhang Xianzhong's eyelids were twitching, and started their experiment.
Cheng Shijie said: "It's not enough, add more chili powder!"
Sun Kewang poured a full kilogram of chili powder into the bucket, making the whole bucket red and thick, a bit like Chongqing boiled fish soup. He put the whip in it to soak it up, smiled evilly and whipped it!
"Ouch..."
Zhang Xianzhong cried when he was beaten: "Stop fighting, I will attack, I will attack!"
"You know what's going on!"
Liaodong is now experiencing severe overproduction. He has been staying in Chibi City for more than two months. At the beginning, there were not many refugees coming to Chibi City. However, as Meng En and others moved Monk Peng and other three thousand people to Susong After many people were brought to Chibi City, the refugees who followed them came like a flood.
These refugees who have gone through all kinds of hardships to arrive have one thing in common, that is, they are all skinny, with withered faces and sunken eye sockets. The hard life has almost squeezed out their vitality, leaving only a Just a thin body.
If it were elsewhere, Cheng Shijie actually had no choice. Fortunately, a wharf had been built in Chibi City, Huangzhou Prefecture. This wharf could dock twenty or thirty ships with less than four thousand materials at the same time, and massive supplies were transported from Liaodong. , as the number of refugees increases, the quality of life of the refugees inevitably declines.
Looking at so many refugees, Han felt the pressure: "Commander, how should we deal with these refugees?"
Cheng Shijie did not answer immediately. He looked at these refugees. Facing the surrounding Ning Haijun soldiers, the women, elderly and children among these refugees were even more trembling. Whenever Tianxiong Army soldiers walked by nearby, the crowd There was always a muffled scream.
In Han's view, having too many people is not a good thing. Even though Ning Haijun brought in food one by one, the problem was that even two meals a day could destroy a mountain. What's more, they have moved 50,000 to 60,000 bandits under Zhang Xianzhong to Luzon. Although they have transported 50,000 to 60,000 people, there are still hundreds of thousands of people around Chibi Mountain City. Instead of decreasing, the number has become more and more many.
"How about we give each of them two steamed buns or a bucket of grain and let them return home!"
Han had a very headache. Almost all of these refugees were old, weak, sick, and disabled, and their bodies were very weak. It seemed as if a gust of wind was enough to blow them down.
With such a weak body, there will be people who can't hold on every moment of every day. Died in the camp outside Chibi City.
"Let them go back? Where can they go back? Even if they are given dry food and transportation, how long can they hold on?"
Cheng Shijie sighed heavily and said: "Give them military status and let them go to Luzon and farm with the big officials!"
"But, Marshal, they are too weak. They don't have half a year or a few months to do much work. Can we survive to feed so many people?"
Although Han didn't know how much food Cheng Shijie had, the problem was that the current refugee camp consumed as much as two to three thousand shi of food every day, as well as salt and medicine. The most important thing is the clothes. These refugees are all naked, and many half-year-old children are even naked.
Most of the men were topless. Although the weather was no longer cold, they still couldn't bear it once it rained. They had to be given clothes, farming tools, cattle, and seeds, which required a huge investment.
"We still have a lot of food in stock. They are all the people of the Ming Dynasty. If we have the heart to let them die of cold and starvation in the wilderness? If we can, we should help as much as possible. Besides, we also need more people to help open up wasteland and plant crops. land."
"I'm afraid that if the news spreads, the refugees will come and eat us alive!"
"We can't worry about the long term. Let's take it one step at a time. Cook food for them immediately and dispose of the body...be sure to pay attention to hygiene!"
Han sighed and said: "The Marshal is really kind-hearted. I hope these refugees can understand the Lord's painstaking efforts and not let down the Marshal's good intentions."
Cheng Shijie still left Chibi City.
With Zhang Xianzhong captured, his mission was basically completed.
What's more, now that the place is on the right track, refugees from Hubei, Henan, and Anhui provinces can pass through Chibi City and rest in Chibi City for a period of time before moving to Luzon.
The real reason why Cheng Shijie was anxious to return to Liaodong was that his son Cheng Jialong was too troublesome.
The Ming Dynasty was an era when there was a real lack of entertainment activities. Ordinary people could at most listen to plays when wealthy families were having weddings, or go to teahouses to listen to storytellers, or listen to folk tunes.
Zhu Weiti responded to Cheng Jialong's requests. With the support of sufficient funds, the original textile town located in the north of Jinzhou City was now renamed Jingjing Town.
As a competitive town designed by Cheng Jialong, the eldest son of the Cheng family, it has a football field that is standard for later generations. It is a pity that Cheng Jialong cannot gather a sufficient team. He can only play in this football field with a group of teenagers, although it cannot be like that of later generations. The sports meeting will feature dozens of competitive events.
However, these problems cannot trouble Mr. Cheng. Mr. Cheng has built a circular horse racing track and a circular racing track. Of course, it can only be used for horse racing and chariots. There are also martial arts, Sanda, high jump, long jump, long-distance running, sprinting, archery, swordsmanship, etc. Spearmanship and more than a dozen competitive events.
In order to stimulate everyone's enthusiasm for participation, Mr. Cheng set up three gold, silver and bronze medals for the special championship prize, as well as the fourth and sixth place. The prize money ranged from 1,000 taels for the first place, 500 taels for the second place, and 500 taels for the second place. The third place received two hundred taels, the fourth place received one hundred taels, the fifth place received fifty taels, and the sixth place received twenty taels of silver.
At the same time, representative teams were also set up at the county level. Now Liaodong has set up seven states and thirty-six counties, with a total of forty-three representative teams. Sports results are used as the assessment results of the Liaodong Management Committee. Since then, no county or state has dared to Carelessly, the participating teams will be organized almost immediately after the spring plowing is over.
In addition to the local government athletic teams in Liaodong, representative teams from major businesses were also allowed. With the construction of the houses in the athletic town, in addition to the executive courtyard of the Liaoning Management Committee, 260 commercial residences were also built. , these houses have been designed with renderings starting from laying the foundations and then put them up for sale.
The wealthy households in Ming Dynasty also wanted to be neighbors with the executives of the Liaodong Management Committee. These more than 200 commercial housing units were almost sold out.
Cheng Jialong also built a large number of hotels, hotels, and shops in Jingjing Town. These shops are not sold to the outside world, but only rented out.
Starting on May 1, the eighth year of Chongzhen, the athletic competition officially began.
At this time, there was still half a month before the competition meeting, and the competition town began to become lively. As the saying goes, first come first come closer to the water, the first to enter was the Jinzhou representative team, followed by the Gaizhou representatives, and more and more competitive representatives The team began to move into the competitive town, and the originally deserted town became lively in an instant.
A large number of representative teams and nearby people who were not short of money came to Jingjing Town. Hotels, restaurants, and inns in Jingjing Town were suddenly overcrowded. Many people who owned buildings spared a few rooms and put out advertisements. The business was actually quite good, and they moved in immediately. full. The sales of vegetables, fruits, poultry, meat, etc. on the market have become extremely hot, and those shops are almost crowded.
Cheng Shijie took Shi Lang, Zheng Sen, and Gao Jie walking on the streets of Jingjing Town. Cheng Jialong was very happy to see the bustling crowd.
You must know that in the entire competitive town, he is the landlord, and everyone who spends money here is giving money to Cheng Jialong.
"Gao Jie!"
"Here we are!"
"You also need to find some talents who know how to gamble!"
"Talents who know how to gamble?"
"yes!"
Cheng Jialong said solemnly: "Whether it's horse racing, long-distance running, or Sanda, we all start with auditions. Every contestant has a number programmed for them. Who can win among them? I want to be the banker. Do you want to Think about it, if the handicap opens, how many people will bet?”
Zheng Sen was very transparent around Cheng Jialong. He seldom spoke. He looked at Cheng Jialong's back and let out a long sigh.
Cheng Jialong is indeed Cheng Shijie's son. At a young age, he has a lot of money-making skills.
Although a lot of money was invested in building this town, most of the investment was basically earned back when selling commercial housing.
Everything in this town now is earned.
Gao Jie said with a puzzled look on his face: "But there will always be winners and losers in gambling. How can we ensure that we will make a profit without losing money?"
"You're stupid!"
Cheng Jialong laughed and said: "As an athlete and a referee, how can I lose?"
When Cheng Jialong told Gao Jie his idea, Gao Jie was stunned: "Can you still play like this?"
"This is basic operation!"
Cheng Jialong said: "Also, our competitive conference has to undertake advertising. Anyone who wants to use our venue for advertising must pay high advertising fees!"
Sometimes Gao Jie really wants to open Cheng Jialong's head and see how his head grows. If Cheng Jialong doesn't get rich, it would be unreasonable.
(End of chapter)
