Li Shaoyou's wife's name is Elisabeth Eugenie. She is a female noble from the Kingdom of Bavaria. She is of Westerbach family descent. Her father was an officer in the Bavarian army and was killed in the late Thirty Years' War. Because when her father died in battle, he only had a knighthood and did not receive any territory or manor. Therefore, his death made Elizabeth, the only daughter, suddenly without support, and had to go to Vienna alone to seek refuge with a relative - an elderly bishop, who somehow got hooked up with Li Shaoyou, and soon fell in love. .....
However, although this transnational marriage received God's blessing (Li Shaoyou pretended to be a religious person), it was not recognized by the Li family elders (Li Ruolian), so Li Shaoyou took the initiative to ask Ji Kun for the job of escorting Prince Kong Dai to China. Take your wife back by the way.
He first accompanied Prince Condé to Alexandria, then took the overland route to the port city of Suez on the Red Sea, and boarded an Ottoman naval ship to Aden, where he was waiting for five large bird ships carrying 1,000 Arabian horses and a ship that circumnavigated Africa. The Flying and five other Western-style sailing ships (including a British naval battleship) arrived, and then returned eastward together.
Li Shaoyou looked down upon Condé, the chief prince of France, who didn't like bathing, smelled bad, and was short, stumpy and thin.
At first glance, this prince looks like a useless prince. He should be similar to those princes from the Ming Dynasty who were just waiting to die.
But Li Shaoyou's wife, Elizabeth Eugenie, treated Prince Kong Dai with the utmost respect, and even said that Prince Kong was the best warrior in France... Are you kidding me? Can you still be the number one warrior with such a setback? The French army must be useless, right?
Fortunately, this country is in Europe. If we go to the East and encounter all kinds of Tatars, will our country be destroyed?
"Ambassador Li," Prince Kongdai yawned, "I heard that your country has encountered a barbarian invasion and is fighting a Patriotic War?"
"Yes," Li Shaoyao, "under the leadership of my Emperor Ming, we will definitely regain the lost territory."
Prince Kongdai nodded: "I think I can do something for His Majesty the Ming Emperor...such as being a military advisor. If he trusts me enough, I can command a legion of twenty or thirty thousand people for him."
What a loud tone! Li Shaoyou said in his heart: The Tatars are so fierce! You can't beat it...
What you think in your heart cannot be said with your mouth.
"That's great," Li Shaoyou said with a respectful smile, "I will definitely report His Highness the Prince's wishes to the Ming Emperor."
Of course, the report also included Li Shaoyou's own opinion - this French prince has a wretched appearance, an arrogant personality, and insufficient talents, making it difficult for him to hold a big position!
"Okay, so be it." Prince Kong Dai didn't even know that he had been looked down upon. Although he looks rather setback, no one in Europe would look down on him because of his appearance - he is the chief prince of France! Moreover, some of the top nobles in Europe in this era were crooked and bad-looking, but few were good-looking.
However, there are many handsome men and beautiful women among the small and medium-sized nobles. For example, Elizabeth Eugenie has a good figure, good looks, and a unique temperament. You can tell at a glance that she is from a small noble family...
Li Shaoyou's memorial is not only a memorial that "recommends" Condai, the first warrior of France, but also a lot of memorials and tributes - Ji Kun and Li Shaoyou's mission has gained so much! There was so much I had seen and heard, I wrote a whole box of memorials. The memorials I brought from China were not enough, so I had to use notebooks produced in the Netherlands instead.
After arriving in Shanghai, Li Shaoyou arranged for Prince Kong Dai and the ambassador of the Ottoman Empire, a middle-aged man named Seimezi, and more than 200 attachés from the two missions to stay at the State Guesthouse in Shanghai, while asking Archduke Luo to arrange a quick stay. Ship and send yourself to Wuhan to report to Emperor Zhu.
...
"Old Taishan, please sit down, please sit down, hahaha..."
It was approaching the New Year's Eve again. Emperor Zhu was summoning Zheng Zhilong in the East Lake Palace in Wuhan at this time. He was very polite and went out of the hall to greet him personally. He also took Old Zheng's hand into the Qinzheng Hall. If not for anything else, it was because Zheng Chagu had just given birth to a son for Zhu Cihong.
Zhu Cixi now has four sons...Jiangshan Sheji has no worries about having no successor!
"Old Taishan, have you finished the final accounts of the Household Department?"
After Weng and his son-in-law sat down, Emperor Zhu asked about the final accounts of the Ministry of Household Affairs. The so-called final accounts of the Ministry of Revenue are annual accounting reports prepared based on the results of annual budget execution. They are almost the annual report of the national finance.
Beginning in the third year of Hongxing's reign, the final accounts of the Ministry of Household Affairs were published in the "Di Bao", which was euphemistically called the publicity of accounts.
"Okay, done." Zheng Zhilong smiled, "Last year was considered to be a good year, and all industries were prosperous... The surplus in the final accounts can reach 10 million taels of silver."
Because the "Huang, Huai, and Yun Great Projects" have been completed, the biggest financial black hole in the Ming Dynasty last year has been plugged! Huainan and Huaibei have a great harvest. At the same time, the taxes paid by the three major commercial cities of Shanghai, Ningbo and Guangzhou (Quanzhou City was contracted by the Dongning Army) and the two eastern and western capitals (Yingtianfu and Wuhanfu), as well as Suzhou, Hangzhou, Huaiyang and other southeastern state capitals also increased. many. Therefore, there was a budget surplus of as much as 10 million taels.
Of course, these 10 million taels are only money on the books. In fact, the surplus is mainly stored in the form of grain.
"Too many!" Zhu Cixi waved his hand, "Make a loss!"
"What? Losing money?" Zheng Zhilong was stunned.
Of course, the final accounts can be adjusted... Zhu Cixiang had already told Zheng Zhilong how to do this.
The accounts are not entirely true because there are too many things that can be adjusted and whitewashed. Accountants can make profits as well as losses.
Therefore, the "national budget disclosure" system promoted by Zhu Cihong is actually a trick that he can play.
"Yes!" Zhu Cixiang said, "Loss about 5 million taels...and then make a plan to issue 10 million taels of bonds. The Ministry of Accounts does not need to make this plan itself, just leave it to the two banks to handle it."
"Loss of 5 million?" Zheng Zhilong looked melancholy, "Your Majesty, we did make a lot of money last year, how can we lose money?"
"Food prices have dropped!" Zhu Cixiang said, "How much is the wholesale price of rice on the market now?"
"The situation varies from place to place. The price of white rice here in Wuhan is less than one or two dollars."
Zhu Cixiang said: "The inventory counts as old rice, so just pour it into hands according to 8 qian, with the left hand in and the right hand out? Even the gods can't see it... Don't pour out all the money, there are more than 5 million stuck." Two losses to do.”
"Your Majesty," Zheng Zhilong was still a little unwilling, "Everyone in the household department is working hard, but they lost money all at once, big guy..."
"It has nothing to do with the people in the Ministry of Revenue. They should be given the reward and the post," Zhu Cihong said, "I just want the losses on the books... This is to deceive Donglu, to let them know that we have no money to fight! "
The Ministry of Revenue suffered huge losses, and of course public debt could not be issued. The Ming Dynasty was in financial difficulties, and naturally did not have the financial resources to support the Northern Expedition, so Azige and Duduo could rest assured of internal strife.
This trick is just for the good brothers in the north!
Zheng Zhilong finally understood, "I accept the decree." He thought for a while and then said, "Your Majesty, you have to do a complete show... If the household department is short, you can use internal funds to make up for it."
He didn't know the amount of the internal funds, because the internal funds accounts were also used to demonstrate royal frugality and Zhu Cihong's filial piety - the income from the internal funds came from the "gold flowers and silver" issued by the Ministry of Household Affairs, which was the salary given to Zhu Cihong . In addition, the land rental income of Huangzhuang is called grain silver. The source of Huangzhuang's land is also allocated. The total of the two incomes is about 2.3 million taels of silver per year. This is the public annual income of Zhu Cihong and Chongzhen. Among them, Chongzhen spent nearly 1 million taels, while Zhu Cixiang spent less than 300,000 taels a year.
Of course, that is all for others to see, and Zhu Cixiang's real personal property is not entered into the internal funds accounts, but is placed in the undisclosed accounts of the Royal Chamber of Commerce.
