In the house that Zhu Cihong gave to Mary Mancini, it is bright tonight. In a small Western-style building, a casual banquet is the time for the guests and hosts to enjoy themselves.
Mancini's house was originally called Pang's Garden, which belonged to Pang Tianshou. The location was a bit secluded, and it was next to the Laoshan Palace. It was a good place to hide the beauty in a golden house, so it was purchased by Zhu Cixiang and given to Mancini. After Mancini moved in, Emperor Zhu continued to spend money on expansion, doubling the area of the house and building a small Western-style building. After this small Western-style building was built, Zhu Cixiang spent about a quarter of his nights here when he was in Laoshan.
Of course, the main reason why Zhu Cixiang stayed overnight at Mancini's place was because of work... Being an emperor is really hard, there is no concept of going to work and off work at all. After being busy during the day, sometimes he continues to serve the country at night. The people work really hard.
When Emperor Zhu spent the night in Mancini's mansion, he usually arranged some very private meetings with guests - unlike the former emperors who were stared at twelve hours a day, Zhu Cixiang always had his own "Private time" to engage in activities that are not convenient for the public. It was through Kou Baimen's "club" that he contacted some scum of Jiangnan Shilin at first, and carried out smear and rumor-mongering activities...such as touching the gold prince, fighting against the regent, and large-scale signature activities to appeal to Hulu. It was done through this channel.
Later, the palace moved to Laoshan, Kou Baimen's "club" was also closed, and she herself was called into the palace as a female official. Emperor Zhu temporarily lost his "private channel" and had to go through the treasurers of the Royal Chamber of Commerce to carry out executions. Some special tasks always feel inconvenient.
After Mancini arrived and asked to become the royal mistress, Zhu Cixiang regarded Mancini's mansion as a "grey space." It was not only used to meet with scholarly celebrities in the opposition, but also to conduct some business activities that were inconvenient to be conducted in the palace. Business activities inevitably required the signing of contracts, and contract disputes could not be completely avoided. Once disputes occurred, they would be resolved through legal channels. Sometimes it's the best way.
Therefore, Zhu Cixiang could not use his status as emperor to sign the contract. Otherwise, how would he litigate if there was a dispute? Emperor Ming sued someone? Or is someone suing the Ming Emperor? Wouldn't this embarrass Ji Kun, the minister of Dali Temple?
Therefore, Emperor Zhu needed a false identity and an agent who could go to court on his behalf, so he signed a contract with someone in the Mancini mansion in the name of "Royal Chamber of Commerce Assistant Manager Zhu Yaofei" and asked Mary Mancini to Act as the "guarantor" of the contract.
In the event that "Zhu Yaofei" cannot perform the contract, the other party to the contract can choose to sue Mary Mancini, and Mary Mancini will bear all legal consequences... If "Zhu Yaofei" needs to sue, he will also Let Mary Mancini come forward to file a complaint.
In this way, Dali Temple and local judges' offices can conduct judgments in accordance with the law.
Today, the people invited by "Zhu Yaofei" to the Mancini Mansion are not outsiders, but the acting king Zhu Cijiong, the Minister of Household Affairs Zheng Zhilong, the Minister of Industry Shen Tingyang, and the lucky prince Zhu Cibing who was just brought back from Shanghai.
Zhu Cihong, no, but "Zhu Yaofei" invited Zheng Zhilong, Shen Tingyang, and Zhu Cibing to Mancini's mansion for the purpose of replacing Wang Zhu Cijiong in raising venture capital.
Zhu Cixi is a good brother. Of course, a good brother would not dig a big hole and push his brother down and leave it alone. This would mean he is not a good brother. A good brother will definitely prepare a shovel for the brother in the pit and let him dig the ladder to climb up.
The purpose of inviting Zheng Zhilong, Shen Tingyang, and Zhu Cibing was of course to raise money to "buy shovels" for his good brother Zhu Cijiong.
The one that can dig Zhu Cijiong out of the big pit in the northwest is not an ordinary "iron shovel". It is a very expensive "iron shovel". It has to raise millions of taels no matter what. It is impossible to count on the Ming Dynasty court, and it is not possible. It's appropriate, because what can dig out Zhu Cijiong is a commercial project.
Although Zhu Cixiang promised his brother that only the imperial court could get it out, and he would definitely have no problem with it, the imperial court was in trouble!
If you don't believe me, let him ask Zheng Zhilong himself. He really doesn't have any money... Since the court has no money, it can only ask private individuals to pay, so there is tonight's party.
"Tonight, there are no kings or ministers, only business, only sales... I would like to invite the first official, Mr. Shen, the rudder, and the little Fu Wang. If you feel that there is no future for Dai Wang's business in the northwest, why don't you? You don’t have to give me Zhu Yaofei face, it doesn’t matter if you don’t invest a penny, do you understand?”
The person who is making ugly remarks is Zhu Cixiang, whose pseudonym is Zhu Yaofei. The ugly words will come first... Venture capital, of course, is risky. If you lose all your money, don't come to Emperor Zhu to tell you the truth!
"Yes, yes, sir, I know, I know, take the risk at your own risk!" Zhu Cibing, who looked tired, was the first to express his opinion - he, the "charter king", has been very tired these days! On the day Emperor Chongzhen came to see him, he learned about the Emperor's purpose from the eunuch who delivered the order (of course he paid for the information), and then he fled to Shanghai overnight to "collect rent."
Before he could even take a breath after arriving in Shanghai, Luo Zhichen, the prefect of Shanghai, knocked on his door and brought an invitation from "Zhu Yaofei" to have dinner at Mancini's mansion.
He didn't dare not go when the Supreme Emperor came to see him, but he didn't dare not go when Zhu Yaofei invited him, and he didn't dare to waste time, so he had no choice but to borrow some good horses from Luo Zhichen and rode them back to Yingtian Mansion. It was so bumpy all the way that his bones almost fell apart. .
Zheng Zhilong also smiled and said: "The King Dai can do business, and he also has capable people under his command. The business in the northwest can only be done by His Highness King Dai... I think it can be invested. Chief Rudder, what do you think? Woolen cloth?"
Shen Tingyang also smiled and nodded, "That's what I think too. King Dai, how much do you want to take? Do you have an estimate?"
Zhu Cijiong sighed softly, business in the northwest is not easy...
"Zhu Yaofei" saw Zhu Cijiong sighing and spoke for him. He smiled and said: "The imperial court will be responsible for the expenses of sending troops to the northwest, and will also send three regiments of young guards to help... The Beiting vassal army would also send out troops in large numbers and come under the command of King Dai, and the necessary expenses would be borne by the court.
What the king wants to raise now is money to rebuild the Overland Silk Road. "
The troops participating in the troop dispatch to the northwest will be divided into three parts. One part is to recruit brave men from the four towns, that is, to recruit brave men and women from the four towns of Anbei, Daning, Beiping, and Shuofang to join the army in the northwest and settle down. According to the results of Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong's discussion, a total of 20,000 households will be recruited! Each household has to spend at least 200-300 taels in moving and resettlement expenses (the cost will vary depending on the location of the move), and the recruits must also be given at least 200 taels in packing expenses.
A total of 9 million taels of silver are needed!
In addition, the imperial court will also dispatch 3 regiments of the Young Guards, with a total of 7,500 people. This special force created by Zhu Cixiang is now very large, and it has two different designations. One is the Young Guards Army, one is the Guards. These two numbers are based on the average age of the soldiers in the army. Those whose average age is less than 22 years old are called Young Guards, those whose average age is 22 to 32 years old are called Guards, and those who are older than 32 are called Old Guards. !
Now the Old Guard has not appeared, only the Young Guard and the Guard.
The salaries of the Young Guards and Guards are very generous, 50% more than the ordinary New Army. However, when performing combat missions, there is no additional salary. If you want to earn more, you have to take credit in exchange for it, or divide the spoils. .
And since the Young Guards and the Guards have the highest level of combat readiness and are armies that can be dispatched at any time, it does not cost much extra money to mobilize them for the western expedition. They only need to bear the food and grass along the way.
Because the number of troops sent is not large, the cost will not be too large. One hundred thousand taels is enough.
In other words, for this troop dispatch to the northwest, the court had to pay an additional 9.1 million taels. In addition, it had to pay for the military salaries of 20,000 vassal troops in the northwest and the cost of sending troops to Beiting.
It looks like an astronomical figure, but it is really not much at all, compared with the tens of millions spent by the Qing Dynasty on the Zhungeer War in history.
The reason why there is not much is because Sengge captured a large amount of grain in the previous war to destroy the Bukhara Khanate, and stored part of it in the granary in Chuhe City.
Therefore, the Western Expeditionary Army could use the grain reserves in Chuhe City, and the cost would be greatly reduced.
"Zhu Xiangli," Zheng Zhilong had long been accustomed to Zhu Cixiang's "doing business under a pseudonym", "How much money will it cost to rebuild the Overland Silk Road now? How much revenue can the Overland Silk Road earn in a year? How many years can it be profitable? There are already numbers. ?"
