Zhu Yuanzhang's generosity alleviated the "hostility" of the civil servants towards Gu Zhengchen, and the officials who originally disliked Gu Zhengchen could not help but feel ashamed.
Of course, shame is just their true emotion at this moment. When needed another day, they will still spit on Gu Zhengchen. But at least some officials began to seriously reflect on whether they targeted Gu Zhengchen out of what they thought was justice or what their superiors upheld.
No matter what other officials thought, Zhu Yuanzhang helped Gu Zhengchen get through the impeachment storm, and the civil servants collectively "buy in" and no longer pursue the case.
Kunning Palace.
Empress Ma ordered her chamberlain to count the gold and silver, and then build a canonization box.
When Zhu Yuanzhang walked in, the chambermaids and maids were busy. Boxes of gold and silver were neatly placed in the courtyard. There were records by the female officials beside them, and they were checked against the account books they brought.
When Queen Ma heard the salute, she came out and saluted with a smile.
Zhu Yuanzhang took a step forward, helped Queen Ma up, and said with a smile: "Sister, have you calculated how much gold and silver there is here?"
Empress Ma ordered someone to fetch the account book and give it to Zhu Yuanzhang: "I have counted four thousand taels of gold and one hundred and twenty thousand taels of silver. I can't believe that Gu Zhengchen could get so much wealth in just one trip."
Zhu Yuanzhang walked to a box, looked at the golden gold inside, and said with a smile: "Sister, do you think all this gold and silver was earned by that boy?"
Queen Ma was stunned for a moment and asked, "Isn't it?"
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head: "Many of the gold and silver here were moved by the Champa Kingdom from Shenglong City in the Annan Kingdom. The king of the Champa Kingdom saw that it was the Ming Navy escorting the caravan, so he went to the port in person and brought a lot of it. Army, why do you think this is?"
Queen Ma understood.
When the Ming Dynasty navy fleet arrived in the Champa Kingdom, there were probably two situations for the king of the Champa Kingdom:
First, the Ming Dynasty believed that the Annan Kingdom was being bullied, so it prepared to join forces with the Annan Kingdom to bully the Champa Kingdom.
Secondly, the Ming Dynasty believed that the Champa State had repeatedly sent envoys to Jinling to express grievances, and wanted to help the Champa State, prop up the situation for the Champa State, and make Annan State restrain itself.
No matter what the king of Champa thought, he would give away money.
Empress Ma was smart. After she figured it out, she remained calm and asked, "How can I know something so far away? Your Majesty, please tell me the secret."
Zhu Yuanzhang had been with Empress Ma for more than 20 years. He laughed when he saw her frowning from a slight frown to relaxed: "My sister knew it clearly, but she just didn't say anything. These wealth are not so much the king of Champa's country. (Zhi Peng'e) Buying goods from Quanzhou Prefecture is better to buy peace of mind."
"The accompanying sergeant reported that Adaa is a promising lord who intends to make the Champa Kingdom prosperous. He did not dare to offend the Ming Dynasty at this critical moment, and even chose to hand over a large amount of gold and silver treasures to tell our Champa Kingdom An attitude of surrender to the Ming Dynasty. These gold and silver are originally mine."
Empress Ma smiled gently: "Gu Zhengchen can predict the mentality of Ah Da Ah. Bringing these gold and silver can be regarded as a great contribution to His Majesty."
Zhu Yuanzhang thought of something and snorted: "This boy is careless. My sister doesn't know something. He took in the famous master Li Chengyi in Quanzhou Prefecture. After this man went to sea with the caravan, he actually stayed in Champa City. Became Adaa's counselor! Nowadays, there is no doubt that there will be disputes between the Champa Kingdom and the Annan Kingdom. If it weren't for the fact that Li Chengyi and Gu Zhengchen had no bond, and he was depressed after losing his father, I would have doubted whether Gu Xiaozi was secretly instigating it. , wanting to bring trouble to Annan and Champa Kingdom."
Empress Ma followed Zhu Yuanzhang into the room and poured a cup of warm tea: "Gu Zhengchen is still a child, how can he have so many thoughts? Besides, having so much gold and silver will not relieve His Majesty's worries."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.
A few days ago, Gu Zhengchen entrusted the prince to send a secret document. It mentioned that once the Daming Bank issues treasure banknotes, there is an extreme possibility:
Running trend.
That is, people swarmed in with a large amount of treasure banknotes to exchange for gold, silver, and copper. Daming Bank was unable to exchange due to insufficient gold and silver reserves, thus damaging the credibility of the treasure banknotes.
In order to avoid such a trend, it is necessary to hold a large amount of gold and silver and maintain gold and silver reserves in place. Although the amount of gold and silver sent by Gu Zhengchen was not large, it was not a small amount. In addition, the Ministry of Finance's distribution of the money this time was actually converted into grain and then distributed. The Ministry of Finance needed silver to support the bank, and it was impossible to use the money to support the bank. send out.
The gold and silver reserves have been basically completed, and the mining of gold and silver mines controlled by the imperial court is accelerating. A large number of copper coins were minted last year, and the conditions for issuing treasure banknotes are almost mature.
Zhu Yuanzhang took the tea bowl and took a sip, and said: "This boy's work is indeed to my liking. The Ministry of Accounts is studying the four-legged account book he proposed. I paid a private visit incognito and asked the shopkeepers. They said that the four-legged account book is novel and easy to use. , very suitable for accounting. The inspector said that shopkeepers who have seen this account book have now switched to this type of account book."
"It won't take long before the Ministry of Revenue will write to request the implementation of this type of account book. He also believes that there are problems with the current accounting method of the imperial court, which is too tiring for subordinate officials and localities. I thought about it carefully and asked an official from the Ministry of Revenue to ask , This is indeed the case. In the future, the accounting of accounts can be completely managed by the county, and the government can be managed by the province. The Ministry of Accounts is responsible for the general audit of the provincial accounts, and sends officials to the county to check whether there are any errors in the accounts. "
"There is no need for every prefecture and county to send officials and people to pay taxes and check accounts every year. The imperial court controls the provinces, the provinces control the government, and the government controls the prefectures and counties. Supervision is carried out at all levels, supplemented by secret visits and inspections by the censor. The world's accounts can be clear..."
Empress Ma listened to Zhu Yuanzhang's words and just stayed by her side quietly without interrupting.
Zhu Yuanzhang does not need to express his own opinions. Here, he mainly talks, finds someone to listen, and then thinks about whether such a decision is correct.
Zhu Yuanzhang said a lot, most of which revolved around Gu Zhengchen.
Dinner is ready.
Queen Ma looked at Zhu Yuanzhang who was washing his hands and said with a smile: "The most rare thing is that this son is loyal and talented. Your Majesty can use him with confidence."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly: "There are many important officials in the imperial court, but there are not many people who are as courageous as him and dare to do things. I just killed some corrupt officials and let some erring officials reclaim wasteland. Many people in the court dare not Talk about political affairs. If it weren’t for the solid evidence that Gu Zhengchen went overseas to do business, perhaps the court would still be quiet."
Empress Ma thought of something, stood up and saluted and said: "Your Majesty, the "Book of the Later Han" says: The imperial court widens the way for speech, so all false loans are allowed. Bao Zheng, a famous official in the Northern Song Dynasty, said: "Broadly open the way for speech, treat with an open mind, and any offences will be tolerated." I think that your majesty should allow all officials to speak frankly, and you must not act too hastily and punish casually..."
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said: "Whenever I come to my sister's place, I always get advice."
Empress Ma said solemnly: "I am a queen and the mother of all people. Every time your majesty punishes an official, it is like punishing a child. No mother would feel sorry for the child suffering."
Zhu Yuanzhang looked a little ugly: "A filial son emerges from a stick!"
Empress Ma said bluntly: "A filial son will be born under a stick, but if you beat someone to death, you may not be able to show filial piety to the capital. Your Majesty should be merciful and govern the country with benevolence. Don't make officials panic all day long."
Zhu Yuanzhang rolled up his sleeves and walked towards the door: "I don't need this dinner, the queen can use it alone!"
Queen Ma looked sadly at Zhu Yuanzhang's leaving figure.
Even if you try to persuade him to enter when he is happy, it will be of no avail, he will just throw up your sleeves and leave.
Empress Ma thought for a moment and summoned her chamberlain Liu Chao: "Tell the prince that there will be a family banquet in the palace tomorrow and ask the prince, Mu Ying and Gu Zhengchen to come together."
Liu Chao was stunned for a moment. Why did he call Mr. Gu County at the family dinner? However, he didn't dare to talk too much and hurriedly ran to spread the message.
The inspector is indeed the predecessor of Jinyiwei, and the information was quickly obtained.
Gu Zhengchen looked at the list of merchants and the number of ships under his name, nodded, and ordered Chen Dahe, Wang Futu and others to visit one by one with gifts in order to buy these ships.
The process of buying a ship is very simple. You can trade gems, spices, money, whatever, as long as you give it to the ship.
By the end of February, when Gu Zhengchen returned from Jurong, Chen Dahe and others had successfully purchased twenty-three ships. These ships were slightly smaller than the Navy's Dafu Ship, but they were also seven feet long and three feet wide. In addition to the personnel configuration and voyage supplies, it can also accommodate more than 200,000 kilograms of cargo.
The industry in Jurong has been initially established, the three courtyards are booming, the breeding industry and medicinal material planting industry have also begun. Jurong Guards has not slacked off in training, and the craftsmen of the Yuanhuo Bureau are even more invested. A pattern of experimentation, deficiencies, improvement, and experimentation has been formed. In closed-loop mode, every detail is included in the optimization.
In order to reduce the net weight of firearms, Tao Chengdao even began to consider combining fire guns with wooden supports, and was thinking about how to make fire guns seamlessly convert between firearms and cold weapons. Although it is fun to hit people with iron lumps, this thing is too It's heavy, not easy to carry, and tiring to use.
In Gu Zhengchen's view, the current Far Fire Bureau no longer needs to worry too much. As long as they solve problems such as food and clothing, the goal is to kill further, kill more, and kill better.
Researching towards this goal and relying on continuous experimental testing, Yuanhuo Bureau cannot go astray.
I went to the Yuanhuo Bureau and naturally took away a batch of mountain and sea cannons and gunpowder shells, which were also specially approved by Zhu Yuanzhang for escorting caravans and fighting pirates and Japanese pirates. Naturally, Zhang He brought the Shanhai cannon and gunpowder shells to the Dafu ship. This guy no longer lives in Jinling recently and spends all day on the ship.
On March 1, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict:
The Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes are popular all over the world and are the legal currency of the Ming Dynasty. They are used in the world together with gold, silver and copper.
Chen Ning took some censors and ran to the door of the Ming Dynasty Bank, waiting to see the joke between the Ministry of Revenue and the Department of Baochao Promotion. Once no one cares about the Ming Dynasty Baochao, it will not only be embarrassing for the Department of Revenue and the Department of Baochao Promotion, but also There is the Ming Emperor.
The opening time of Daming Bank is set at noon, which means the sun is at its peak.
Chen Ning was sitting in the teahouse opposite, looking at the plaque of the bank. It was covered with yellow cloth, and even the hijab was not taken off. No one was paying attention to the pedestrians passing by, and no one stopped.
"If you can't help but gold and silver, who will use the treasure banknotes?"
Chen Ning sneered, picked up the tea bowl, heard some movement on the side, turned around and saw Pingliang Hou Fei Ju coming, cursing, looking like I was very unhappy.
