"Although Master Liu worked as an errand in Beijing, the current situation is different from the past. There have been rapid changes. After staying for a while, you can feel that not only is it not inferior to Jiangnan, but in many aspects, it is much better than Jiangnan!"
Xue Guoguan, as a prospective son-in-law, could not help but boast about his prospective son-in-law during the banquet, but he could not directly tell how the prospective son-in-law knew about it. He had to make insinuations.
As long as the guests can see the many advantages of the capital, it will be equivalent to confirming the achievements of the prospective son-in-law, not to mention that these are not boasts, but have real evidence.
"That's true. Since His Majesty took charge of the country, he has implemented many new policies and abandoned bad regulations, which is really a blessing to the people in the city. For example, in terms of hygiene, after some rectification, it is no longer possible to see filth on the streets. The government officials often manage it. Lime was splashed in time, and people with the disease were treated in time, and the spread of the disease was suddenly curbed. The same is true for transportation. There are comfortable and clean rickshaws on the streets today, and there are also cheap and convenient buses. It can be taken, and in the future there will be trains that can replace livestock pulling vehicles for long-distance transportation.”
As soon as Feng Quan heard Xue Guoguan's words, he realized that the chief minister wanted to praise the prince, but due to his special status, he was embarrassed to speak directly, so he spoke and did it for him.
The prince had just given himself a fat job, and he would give himself an even fatter job in the future. His hometown could also build a department store that made a lot of money every day, and he would also have the opportunity to compile a dictionary and leave his name in history.
After receiving so many benefits, Feng Quan had to shout hard. Of course, he couldn't do everything for him. He said too much, so he could at least leave some things for Cifu and Wang Wei to talk about at the dinner table.
"The aspect that I admire the most is that Your Highness has used the work-for-relief policy to replace the previous government relief method. In this way, the imperial court can not only provide relief to victims of disasters, but also build cities and other facilities, and the victims of disasters can also be fed. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone. Once the Jinshan project is developed, the annual revenue pressure of the Ministry of Household Affairs will be greatly relieved, and only then can we spend money to pacify various places, pacify the bandits, and pacify the north."
Since Xue Guoguan and Feng Quan both sang and talked in harmony, Wu Di couldn't show that he was just here to eat and drink. He had to say a few words anyway.
"What the first assistant, second assistant, and eldest uncle said is absolutely true. His highness is extremely talented and knowledgeable. He knows astronomy and geography. He can make airships and trains. He is a unique genius! His highness also advocates the expansion of the Hanlin Academy. scale, increase the enrollment amount, and have two palace examinations every year, one in spring and autumn, so that more students can benefit from it, and after graduation, they can find jobs in various places, so as to benefit people all over the world."
Wang Wei is not easy to make rash comments on other aspects, but the prince's own talents are known to everyone. He is quick in thinking and articulate, far beyond that of children of the same age, and many of them are beyond the reach of adults.
Otherwise, it will be difficult to pacify the government and the opposition in a short period of time and suppress the rebellion in the capital. The students of the Hanlin Academy were previously uneasy, but now they have calmed down. Expanding the scale of the Hanlin Academy and increasing the enrollment quota are the best ways to appease them.
"The imperial court is very lucky that your highness has such a talent. During the day, I also saw that the people everywhere in the city are living well and well-managed. It is rare to even see a beggar on the roadside. Before I came here, Jifu was attacked by soldiers and the capital was besieged. How were the people's lives? Is there anything about the skyrocketing price of rice?”
Although Zhang Pu made a preemptive strike before, he was domineering and careless, and was caught and punished by the prince. From this, it can be seen that the prince cannot be judged by the mind of an ordinary child.
Liu Zongzhou was noncommittal to the fact that everyone at the table was praising the prince. For this young prince, he needed to observe more before making a conclusion. He could not be influenced by other people's words.
"Before the capital was besieged, His Highness learned about the enemy situation of Donglu troops from detailed work, and then took control measures, that is, all materials related to Minsheng in the city were first purchased by the imperial court, and then purchased according to market prices for each household. Selling in a rationed amount. For example, the price of rice was purchased by the imperial court at three taels of silver per stone and sold at two taels of silver. In this way, the rice merchants would not suffer losses and the people would not suffer from the soaring price of rice. As for the beggars, His Highness has already sent people to take care of them. When you get up and be able to earn your own living, you can arrange a job that will satisfy your hunger, otherwise you will be well-supported and you will not suffer from hunger in the future."
For questions that are not so difficult to answer, Xue Guoguan is relatively confident in dealing with them. On the contrary, that is the matter of the other three people. If they come together, they can cooperate with each other and make up for the shortcomings.
"Let me ask, junior, will the rice merchant be dissatisfied with this? After all, it involves a large amount of silver!"
Huang Zongxi knew very well the faces of Jiangnan merchants. Not to mention the imperial court, even the emperor's face depended on his mood. Tax evasion and tax evasion were commonplace. Why were the merchants in the capital willing to obey the imperial court's arrangements?
"Taichong doesn't know something. As early as the beginning of His Highness's supervision of the country, businessmen from all walks of life were not without trouble. However, His Highness resorted to thunderous means to investigate tax evasion businessmen and ordered them to report the tax evasion difference in the past fifty years. If it is not enough, otherwise they will have their homes confiscated and distributed, the merchants will no longer dare to do whatever they want. After that, His Highness ordered each industry to set up a chamber of commerce. Each industry chamber of commerce has a president and two vice presidents. Many The Chamber of Commerce has also formed the General Chamber of Commerce. If anything happens to the court, it can directly notify the president of the General Chamber of Commerce. If you join the Chamber of Commerce, you can participate in allocating market share. Otherwise, you will be isolated from the huge capital! For example, in the tea industry, there are only ten left in the capital today. With just a few tea merchants, these tea merchants can carve up a market of millions of people, and each family can get huge benefits. Who wouldn’t be tempted?”
Feng Quan believes that what the prince is best at is dealing with merchants. Under the thunderous attack, those merchants who had high ambitions in the past were beaten into submission.
It’s not enough to have crackdowns, you also need to pay equal attention to kindness and power.
Listen to the prince, you can make a lot of money every year, otherwise get out of here as soon as possible to avoid hurting your family.
This is called "Those who follow me will prosper, and those who go against me will perish"!
If it weren't for the difficulty of mentioning dung merchants at the dinner table, Feng Quan would have wanted to use these most profitable merchants as examples.
The way dung merchants make money is not much different from that of merchants in other industries, but this industry is very special.
That is, there are at least a dozen merchants in chambers of commerce in other industries, but in this industry, there are only four!
With such a large capital city controlled by these four people, one can imagine the profits...
The reason for this is that the dung merchants were the first group of merchants to seek refuge with the prince.
This is a huge reward for them, and latecomers will not have this treatment.
"...His Highness is truly a god!"
Huang Zongxi did not expect that there would be such a way to deal with merchants. In contrast, the situation in Jiangnan was different.
"Taichong, how is the situation with the Nandu market and merchants? You might as well tell us!"
After Feng Quan finished speaking, he asked the same question to Huang Zongxi. This was also something that everyone was very curious about.
"Uncle Zong, let me tell you the truth. I believe all of you seniors also know that merchants in the south of the Yangtze River have always been unorganized and difficult to manage. After your majesty arrived in the southern capital, some merchants also expressed their interest in making contributions, but a large number of merchants are still waiting and watching. Your majesty also wants to promote the establishment of a chamber of commerce. policy, but the merchants wanted to join, but were unwilling to accept the control of the court. The Lianghuai salt merchants once wrote to the court, criticizing Haiyan for harming people and should be banned, so His Majesty had no choice but to stay in the country. As for the investigation of tax evasion, because the merchants expressed their innocence , and launched a collective strike, tens of thousands of people petitioned outside the palace, and many officials participated, causing the government and the public to be excited. His Majesty, forced by the situation, finally gave up."
Huang Zongxi has not yet seen the official situation in Beiting, but the situation in Nandu is simply a mess, as lively as gods and monsters fighting.
The imperial court is like this, let alone regulating the market and managing merchants.
In short, the officials did not listen to the emperor, and the merchants did not listen to the court!
Huang Zongxi originally thought that Emperor Chongzhen would implement the same thunderous tactics as when he first arrived in Nandu, but he did not copy it this time, perhaps to appease Min Xin.
As for how the emperor was thinking, no one knew, and Huang Zongxi did not dare to make any guesses. He just summarized what happened.
However, His Majesty was not at the mercy of others. At least when he came to the southern capital, he relieved the military authority of the garrison noble Xincheng Bo Zhao Zhilong and ransacked the Duke of the Xu family.
After the garrison eunuch Han Zanzhou surrendered, Emperor Chongzhen also took control of the military power. The Minister of War without soldiers was simply a decoration. What's more, Huang Degong's Yongwei camp was stationed in the city, and no one dared to make trouble.
Especially after the nobles of Nandu were looted by the emperor to varying degrees, the officials were naturally frightened, fearing that it would harm them.
In the end, nobles, officials, and merchants colluded together, instigating a large number of Nandu people who did not know the truth, and staged the scene mentioned before.
Huang Zongxi did not dare to say something about His Majesty's confiscation of nobles and officials in front of his first and second assistants. That would be tantamount to speaking ill of His Majesty. If this was spread to the Crown Prince Shengcong, it would be a different matter...
Although he is young and has little official career experience, Huang Zongxi still knows this most basic common sense, as long as everyone here can understand it.
"I wonder how the official situation is in Nandu?"
How to deal with the merchants is His Majesty's business. What Xue Guoguan is interested in is his colleagues in the south.
"Looking back to the First Assistant, after His Majesty's arrival, he appointed a group of people with outstanding talents and abilities. Naturally, the atmosphere of Nandu's officialdom is much better than before."
Huang Zongxi was from Donglin. Of course he would not say that the imperial court was dominated by talented people from Donglin, supplemented by small groups such as Fushe and Jishe. Doesn't that mean that Donglin controlled the government?
If the southern capital returns to Donglin, what about the northern capital?
If it is not Donglin, and if it is against Donglin, according to the past logic, it must be an eunuch!
But you dare to say so brazenly that a group of people under the Crown Prince are eunuchs?
What do you use that brain for?
Are you tired of living? ? ?
Even Qian Qianyi, the leader of Donglin, was cautious in evaluating the words and deeds of the prince, for fear of offending the person who might inherit the throne in the future, how could others speak freely?
The reason for this is that first of all, the prince is the foundation of the country, and slandering, slandering, or even deposing the prince is the foundation of the Yao country. This has been verified decades ago and there is no need to repeat it.
Secondly, although most of the eight regions under the jurisdiction of the Beiting were poor, before the territories were divided, most of the king's army was under the command of the prince, which amounted to about three to four hundred thousand troops.
Including many generals who are good at conquering and fighting, they all obey the prince's orders. Once changes occur in Nandu, more than 100,000 troops under the command of Hong Chengchou can flow down the river and reach Nandu within five days. Who is not afraid?
Finally, I heard that the prince traveled to the immortal world and created many novel objects, many of which were gradually shipped to Nandu and even Jiangnan. His Majesty rewarded these objects to many ministers to win people's hearts.
Since ancient times, after benefiting from short-handedness, which official would be stupid enough to deliberately speak ill of the prince who is thousands of miles away?
After some rectification by the emperor, the officialdom of Nandu was better than before. However, because the merchants refused to give in easily, they could barely maintain the current situation.
"That's good!"
Xue Guoguan smiled and stroked his beard. He knew that Huang Zongxi was really perfunctory with him, but so what?
As long as he can serve as the chief assistant in the Beiting and then become a national warrior, he will be a very popular minister.
As for the rest, that is what the talented prospective son-in-law has to worry about.
There are sofas to sit on, phones to use, and delicious food to enjoy in the capital. Wouldn’t it be a leisurely trip?
Today, the Donglu were repelled again, and the knockoff ended in a disastrous defeat. For the government, the public, and the people, everything was fine!
Eating steaming hot pot in early winter is really a rare enjoyment, not to mention the fact that the prince is treating him without having to pay for it...
Everyone ate and talked for a full hour and a half. When he was relieved in the middle, Liu Zongzhou discovered that the place for relieving himself in the restaurant was very different.
This is also the reason why Wang Wei chose this place, that is, this restaurant has installed an extremely high-end toilet.
The per capita consumption here is definitely not low, reaching more than three taels of silver per person, which is why it is rare.
Not to mention the beautiful decoration, new oil lamps are used for lighting, and every seat in the private room has been replaced by a leather sofa.
If you feel that there is nothing to cheer you up while drinking and talking, the store can also provide the service of playing music and singing.
Finally, the base and dipping sauce of the hot pot are made by Ouchi Imperial Chef. They taste excellent and are considered top-notch in the capital.
If it weren't for the money provided by the prince, a high-ranking official like Wang Wei would be reluctant to come here, but this time it was just a good way to satisfy his craving.
Originally, Feng Quan was not allowed to keep the appointment due to the Prince's instructions, but this time it was a special situation and he could make an exception.
Besides, four people were forced to drink two. In addition, Liu Zongzhou was still older and Huang Zongxi was younger. One person simply couldn't handle it.
When the two of them got up the next day, it was already noon.
But it's not going to court, so there's no need to worry.
Wang Wei had long known that the guest had drunk a lot last night and would get up late today, so he didn't come early.
Afterwards, they went to the Academy of Sciences. Dean Song Yingxing personally received the group and had dinner in his office.
It is not difficult to arrange a viewing of the airships that Liu Zongzhou and Huang Zongxi are particularly interested in.
The weather conditions are good today, just right for a test flight of the improved model.
It will be visible when the air bag is inflated. During this period, the group does not need to wait and can follow Song Yingxing to watch the project status everywhere.
Dean Song did not make any secrets about the train. It was impossible to copy this object just by looking at its appearance without understanding its internal structure.
Liu and Huang were extremely surprised when they saw a huge machine that could travel hundreds of miles a day just by eating coal.
When I looked up at the floating mountain-like airship taking off, I was already standing there...
