In the spring of the 18th year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty, the drought that had lasted for many years had eased since last summer. In the spring of this year, the vast northern land of Ming Dynasty ushered in several precious spring rains. Not only did the thirsty land in the five direct provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, and North Zhili have been moisturized, but even the normally dry grasslands outside the mouth were watered by several spring rains. It is only February in spring, and the grassland is already green, with white sheep and fat cattle happily gnawing on the delicious young grass.
On the official road east of Daigentala Palace in Shinshu Prefecture, a rather large group of horses and chariots were walking. Hundreds of luxurious four-wheeled carriages with high-end bubble glass windows produced in Shanghai, and three to four hundred large carts loaded with cargo, marched one after another on the official road paved with stone slabs. On both sides of the convoy, there was a row of plate-armored cavalry with one person and two horses. They looked quite capable and guarded the convoy. In front and rear of the convoy, there were also cavalrymen leading the way and behind, each with one person and two horses, all forming a battalion column. At the end of the team, there was a mounted artillery company formed in a marching formation, pulling 6 3-pound cannons, closely following the convoy.
At the front of the cavalry team were dozens of knights wearing yellow armor, both men and women, all riding tall and handsome horses. This group of knights were all clustered around a tall and strong man. This man was none other than Zhu Youjian, the current emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the Great Khan of Mongolia, Emperor Chongzhen.
The supreme emperor seems to be in a very happy mood now, because he is now blessed with a double happiness!
The first joy is of course the success of the disaster! The five northern provinces, as well as the five large and small governor-general regions including Northeast China, Yanning, Xuanda, Sanbian, and Anxi, experienced widespread snowfall last winter, and the rainfall this spring is not too small. It seems that Chongzhen will have a good harvest in his eighteenth year!
The second joy is that Nizi has completed the fundraising task of 130 million taels ahead of schedule. In the memorial sent to Beijing half a month ago, Nizi not only reported the good news of the successful fundraising, but also proposed a package bidding A big purchase plan - the traitor is not only good at collecting money, but also has better ways of spending money!
According to Nizi's method, what he brought in was real money, and what he spent out was a string of numbers on the account! If you want to bid for a large order, you must open a deposit and checking account at the Salt Bank, and accept payment by transfer.
If anyone doesn't believe in the Salt Bank, then don't participate in the bidding... This will miss the opportunity to become bigger and stronger. And as long as you win the tender from the court, you can immediately obtain the corresponding loan line from the Salt Bank. The annual interest rate of this loan line is only 8 cents! Where can I find "cheap" money?
Of course, it was not only the profiteers below who wanted to accept this method of transfer, but also the Ming Dynasty. Nizi wants to start a pilot project and implement bill settlement on the ground in five provinces including Sanjiang and Lianghuai. Starting from the autumn tax of the 18th year, large taxpayers in the Three Rivers and Two Huaihe Rivers no longer need to pay any cash or in kind. They can directly issue a check to the designated payee...there is no discount. There is no fire cost, just a check from Salt Bank!
And there is no need to worry about the corruption of the tax collectors below (bribery is still possible), because the payee is designated on the check - the payee is the special household tax account of a certain government! The tax collector below wanted to collect more, but he couldn't put it into his own pocket. Even if he stole the check back, it would be useless, because the payment account has been marked on the check, which cannot be changed. So it doesn't matter if you lose the check, just cancel the lost check and write a new one.
The traitor's ability to manage finances is superb!
Therefore, Zhu Youjian happily approved Zhu Cixang's memorial, and also asked the cabinet to send a minister of the Ministry of Hubu, a minister of the Ministry of War, and a minister of the Ministry of Industry, along with some middle- and lower-level officials from the Third Ministry of Military Affairs and Industry, to Yangzhou to assist the traitor. Tendering and procurement - spending money on procurement is the easiest thing to go wrong, and it is most reassuring to have the villain keep an eye on it.
Because the whole world will be treacherous in the future, and treacherous sons will not mess around with bidding and procurement issues. Moreover, the traitor is the best in the world in making money, so why would he need to make money in this matter? That 55% stake in the Salt Industry Bank belongs to the traitor... Quan Daming is now the richest, so how can he still care about those small amounts of money?
With a traitor in the southeast helping to collect and spend money, Zhu Youjian can concentrate on fighting wars and enjoying the life of an emperor. Good times are coming...
Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian had a proud smile on his face. Then he glanced at the two people riding horses walking on his left and right.
The one on horseback escorting Zhu Youjian to the left is Zhu Cixuan, who is only 16 years old this year. He is already a tall and strong young man! Although his ability to attract money is definitely not as good as that of Nizi, but his ability to fight with soldiers is probably better than Nizi's, right?
The person riding on Zhu Youjian's right was the noble concubine Wu Liangha. Because he has been riding horses, archery, and practicing martial arts for a long time. This woman who is over 40 years old is still very tight. Her figure is almost the same as when she was in her twenties, but there are many traces of time left on her face. But this does not affect Zhu Youjian's love for her, nor will it affect the future of her sons, especially her eldest son Zhu Cixuan.
This time Zhu Youjian led half of the harem to Daigentala Palace in Xinzhou Prefecture, just to inspect the Xunzhuang of Xinwang Zhu Cixuan, and at the same time make arrangements for Zhu Cixuan's "kingdom".
Zhu Cixuan's "country" is a big deal, because he is not going to the vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, but to the Mongolian country that is on an equal footing with the Ming Dynasty.
He is said to be a "state", but he is actually serving as the supervisor of the state.
The reason for this arrangement is that the Khan succession system of the Great Mongolia is different from that of the Ming Dynasty. The Great Mongolia now implements the election of khan system - because Zhu Youjian does not have the blood of the Golden Family, he is the son-in-law of the Golden Family. , was elected as the Great Khan by convening the Kulitai Conference. Therefore, his legal authority comes from the election of khans, and the election of khans cannot be changed to hereditary.
However, he did not want to let the throne of Khan return to the hands of the Golden Family again after he conquered Bintian. Therefore, he had to arrange for Zhu Cixuan to go to Mongolia early to cultivate his power and establish his prestige.
Arranging Zhu Cixuan to serve as the supervisor of the Great Mongolia was the first step to support him.
After Zhu Cixuan successfully took over the supervision of the Great Mongolia, Zhu Youjian will also support him in building Helin Mansion as the most virtuous place in the Great Mongolia.
After the completion of Helin Mansion, Zhu Cixuan still needed to use a "eldest son's Western Expedition" to prove his military capabilities.
With the victory of the "Eldest Son's Western Expedition", Zhu Cixuan could establish his prestige and win the support of most Mongolian heads of thousands of households at the future Kuritai Conference.
At that time, Zhu Youjian will convene the Kulitai Conference in advance, first resign as the Mongolian Khan, and then push Zhu Cixuan to the throne of the Mongolian Khan, and then slowly straighten out the relationship between the Southern Emperor and the Northern Khan... ...In this way, Zhu Youjian does not have to worry about the situation between Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Cixuan after his death.
Thinking of this, he coughed, and then said: "The noble concubine, the second child, the boss has already raised money for you to build the country and the Helin Mansion... After that, you two will go to the west to spend money." He has to raise the money to sell it. So you two will write him a letter later to express your gratitude, and then choose a beautiful woman from the Golden Family to send it to him."
"You can save it," Zhu Cixuan replied, "I will write to my elder brother when I arrive at Daigentala. As for women..."
As he spoke, he glanced at Wu Liangha again. Wu Liangha said: "A woman should be chosen from the Chahar households...Long live Lord, Cixuan's wife, it is best to choose from the Chahar households and the Tumote households."
Zhu Cixiang waved his hand and said: "It is better to use the method of examination to select concubines. Let all the tens of thousands or thousands of households controlled by the Golden Family come to Daigentala Palace to take the examination together!" He paused, "Also give Wala and Shuote’s subordinates ordered them to send people to take the exam as well!”
