"It's human nature to say thank you!" Gao Kan said with a smile: "But marriage is a major matter of human relations. Sanlang is in his prime and his knees are still weak. It's really a little late, but it's not too late now. Give birth to him as soon as possible." Children, there is hope for everyone in the family!"
"Yes, yes!" Wang Wenzuo smiled a little awkwardly. According to the law of the Tang Dynasty, men can get married if they are over fifteen and women above thirteen. Wang Wenzuo is still unmarried in his early thirties. He is definitely a super older single young man. But he Now that he is in a high position and has a lot of money, no one will think that he is a "leftover man" that no one wants. But even so, getting married and having children is extremely important.
To put it bluntly, swords and guns have no eyesight, and medical conditions were poor in ancient times. Even if he had great power and wealth like the sea, it would not be surprising to suddenly "die of a sudden illness". By that time, he had no wife and no heirs. No matter how loyal his subordinates were, they didn't know who to be loyal to, which meant that all their hard work was made into a wedding dress for someone else. Gao Kan's words were really out of good intentions, but he didn't know that although Wang Wenzuo had never married a wife, he already had children, and there were more than one.
Gao Kan saw Wang Wenzuo's embarrassment, so he didn't say much, just chatted for a few words and let him leave. Looking at Wang Wenzuo's leaving figure, Gao Kan smiled and said: "Wang Changshi, Wang Changshi, I am definitely not as good as you in terms of official career, military skills, or holy family, but there is one thing that you are not as good as me - I am old Gao already has six boys and eight daughters, and the oldest already has his own son."
After returning to his residence, Wang Wenzuo washed his face and prepared to deal with the letter on the desk as usual. However, he found that the top letter envelope had two red horizontal lines drawn on it. He couldn't help but be surprised - according to the original agreement, In Japanese letters, only those who are extremely urgent can use three red horizontal bars, those who are less serious can use two red bars, and those who are more urgent can use one horizontal bar. As the chaos in Japan gradually subsided, Wang Wenzuo had not seen emergency news with two red horizontal bars for a long time.
"Could there be another remnant of the Japanese imperial family revolting?" Wang Wenzuo said to himself as he opened the letter. As he gained a deeper understanding of the Japanese country at that time, he gradually understood why Fujiwara Fubi would pursue the descendants of the Emperor so cruelly. At first, he only asked to kill the members of the royal family going back five generations, but Fujiwara Fubi expanded it to seven generations, and even Even the babies who are still nursing are not spared.
Fujiwara's actions were not unreasonable. The ancient Japanese people had a hopeless belief in "noble species", that is, only when a ruler has a bloodline that can be traced back to the gods can his rule be legitimate. In addition to blood, the Japanese also believe that children are closer to gods than adults, so even a baby that can only suck milk can immediately make dozens or even hundreds of rebels who are not convinced by anyone to quickly form an organized group. Rebel group. Only by making Yanliang the only person to inherit the emperor's bloodline can the seeds of rebellion be fundamentally eliminated. From another perspective, due to the publicity of Izumo Okuninushi Shrine, the legend that Wang Wenzuo is a descendant of Okuninushi has spread like wildfire in the Japanese country. As a result, Yoshihiko, who holds the position of emperor, has become the only one who is also the emperor. People with the blood of Amaterasu and Okuninushi, even rebels, cannot legally attack him.
"Oh?" Wang Wenzuo opened the letter and couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when he found that it wasn't the news about the rebels: "It turned out to be about the children. Isn't Fujiwara confused? How about sending me an urgent note about the children?" Wang Wenzuo frowned when he saw this.
It turns out that when Wang Wenzuo was in Japan, Princess Saitama was not the only one who slept with him. There were also Saitama's maids, and later maids presented by local rich men when he was leading troops in battles outside. Some of these women also gave birth to children. Yes, after Fujiwara Fubi confirmed that Wang Wenzuo's bloodline was indeed correct, he took his mother and son to live near Kyoto. Except for Yoshihiko who inherited the throne, there were six boys and three girls. In his letter, Fujiwara Fubi suggested that Wang Wenzuo should not follow the custom of the Tang Dynasty and give these children the surname Wang. Instead, he should demote these children to the status of ministers and give them another surname.
The reason for Fujiwara's disapproval is very simple. After Saitama's death, Wang Wenzuo and many samurai swore to kill the white horse. Anyone who is not a Wang family but a king will be punished by the whole world. If Wang Wenzuo lets these two children get their own surnames, he will also make them kings according to the custom of the Japanese country when they reach adulthood. This will disperse the territory and power in Yanliang's hands, and will also make the samurai unable to have more royal family members. Know whose allegiance you owe. And if he is demoted to the status of a minister, he will naturally not need to be crowned a king, nor will he need to divide too many territories. After being demoted to the status of a minister, he can be given the title of a famous surname that was suppressed due to rebellion, which can not only show the emperor's Benevolence can actually strengthen the power of Wang Wenzuo's descendants, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
"To come up with such an idea, the Japanese know the Japanese better!" Wang Wenzuo couldn't help but sigh after seeing the end. If Fujiwara and other people in the Tang Dynasty read these edicts, they would probably think that they were taking off their pants and farting, which is unnecessary, but they come from modern times. Wang Wenzuo from the society immediately understood the beauty of it. When the Three Kings of the Japanese Kingdom fought for the throne, many ancient clans suffered a heavy blow because they were on the wrong side. Some of their descendants even died. In the words of later generations, they were family members. The name is cut off.
But the centipede insects are not dead. These large clans in the Japanese country can live for only two or three hundred years, or for seven or eight hundred or even thousands of years. There are many potential supporters. If they are left alone, it will take at least several generations before they can Gradually dissipate. Fujiwara Fubi's idea was to demote the children of Wang Wenzuo and maids to the status of ministers, and then change their surnames to those of these wealthy families, so that they could become the leaders of these families and inherit the strength and reputation of these families. In this way, the past sins of these families were naturally cleared away, and they were also related by blood to the reigning emperor. They were transformed from hopeless losers into nobles of the new dynasty; naturally they were very happy.
For Wang Wenzuo, not only did he not have to use the financial resources and land in the central government's hands to entrust his own cheap sons, he also did not have to worry about civil strife in the next generation, and he could also turn a large number of potential enemies into friends at once. It’s really a coup that kills two birds with one stone. This is also the reason why later Oda Nobunaga changed the surnames of his concubines Oda Nobutaka and Oda Nobuo respectively and threw them into the Kobe family and the Kitahata family as heads of the family, leaving only Oda Nobutada to inherit the family business; Toyotomi Hideyoshi threw his adopted son into Kobayakawa The family became the head of the family; Tokugawa Ieyasu threw the eldest son of the concubine into the Yuuki family to become the head of the family. This is the same operation.
"I guess Fujiwara Bubi, Yuan Aoli and He Boyong have already said it! But the two of them probably disagreed, so they wrote to me directly!" Wang Wenzuo smiled, and it was not difficult for him to understand Fujiwara Bubi's mentality. As the saying goes, there is no close relationship if you are not close. Although his strategy was a good one, it was not to the liking of the people of the Tang Dynasty at that time. He dared to write such an urgent letter to himself without the consent of Yuan Aolie and He Bayong, behind their backs. I guess I've already given up on it. He really should come forward to support him.
"The rest of you should know that my bastard is at the mercy of the Fujiwara courtiers, so you should not say anything more!"
Wang Wenzuo put down his brush, took a few breaths, and waited for the ink to dry. There was a sound of crickets outside, stirring the melancholy and lonely air at dusk. He stood up and walked to the window. Through the windows on the courtyard wall, he could see the desolation in the yard next door. He couldn't help but sigh, stripping away the original surnames of his own flesh and blood who were still nursing, then changing them to new surnames, and then throwing them into new families. How cold-blooded was this?
"If you want to blame, blame it on you being my, Wang Wenzuo's children!" Wang Wenzuo sighed: "Since they are my children, they are destined not to live the life of wealthy idlers. You will either become strong or you will not live to adulthood. There is no third option!”
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Yangzhou.
Anzhai.
"Dr. Cao, yesterday someone put down a deposit for furs and sugar, pine nuts were sold at about the same price, and the sulfur situation is not bad, but -" An Taishun carefully peeked at Cao Sengnu's side face, who was lying on the armchair. , asking the maid to trim his beard with gold scissors, looking nonchalant.
"Just what?" Cao Sennu asked.
"Those copper bars-" An Taishun replied carefully
"What's wrong with the copper bars? The quality of that batch of goods is good, right? Doesn't anyone want it?" Cao Sengnu waved her hand, and the maid carefully stepped away, took the bronze mirror and stood aside.
"Of course Dongzhu Cao's goods are good, but this copper goods are not ordinary goods. They are very eye-catching, and the quantity is too large. If so much copper goods are sold, there will be a lot of noise. The people who escorted the Tibetan shipping envoys You’re not blind, so someone will definitely be sent to investigate, and that’ll be troublesome!”
Cao Sennu nodded. An Taishun's difficulty was also due to a reason. Unlike modern society, copper in ancient society was not just a metal, but a raw material for currency, or simply currency. After all, casting fake money is not a big deal. Difficult technical work. Putting so much copper material into the market, and still in a commercial city like Yangzhou, is equivalent to someone injecting a large amount of liquidity into the financial market without telling the central bank. If the government cannot even discover this, it is no different from being blind.
Seeing that Cao Sengnu didn't speak, An Taishun continued cautiously: "Master Cao, I dare to say, if there is no rush, can these copper bars be pressed for a while? There are not many coppers of such good quality. Besides, What’s the big deal if a hard product like copper is just on your hands? If that doesn’t work, you can just use it as money!”
Cao Sengnu was not a newbie, so he couldn't understand the implication of An Taishun's words. There were only two ways to use copper bars as money, either to mint the money himself in private, or to sell it directly to someone who minted copper coins privately. Otherwise, who would have the ability to swallow such a large batch of copper at once? A copper kettle only weighs six or seven taels, and those who can afford it can be said to be from relatively well-off families. How much copper can those copperware workshops use in a year?
"Brother An has a lot of contacts!" Cao Sennu said with a smile: "Even those who minted copper coins privately were involved in this business. Cao really underestimated you back then!"
"Why did Cao Dongzhu say this!" An Taishun was about to tell the difference when he saw Cao Sengnu wave his hand: "You don't know the person who minted copper coins privately, so you must have done it yourself? Otherwise, how could there be so many copper coins?" Use it directly as money?”
"This -" An Taishun was speechless for a moment, beads of sweat the size of soybeans had appeared on his forehead and flowed down his plump cheeks.
"Looking at you like this, you should have a money-making furnace in your hand!" Cao Sengnu smiled: "Let me think about it, how is the punishment for making private money in the Tang Dynasty? It seems that the person who makes money is punished by death, and the family members are not slaves. .Brother An, you deserve it for what you did, but your family will also suffer the same misfortune as you, how pitiful it is!"
An Taishun's knees softened and he knelt on the ground and kowtowed. Cao Sengnu looked at An Taishun kowtowing on the ground. After a while, he said: "That's it, get up and talk!"
An Taishun raised his head, his forehead was already covered with blood, and said: "Xiao Ke didn't make money himself, he just knew a local householder who had a money-making furnace privately and bought tin ingots from me twice. That’s why I knew it. How could I dare to do such a thing myself?”
"Okay, even if you don't report the knowledge, you will be exiled for three thousand miles. Congratulations to Brother An, your life has been saved!"
"What did Dongzhu Cao say?" An Taishun said with a bitter smile: "There is someone above me. I will report it to the government. I am afraid that if he is not injured, I will kill everyone."
"Oh? There are people like this!" Cao Sengnu was surprised: "You can even hide the matter of casting money?"
"Hey, most of the money they cast is sold to barbarian merchants. Even if the money is different, as long as you are careful, how can it be leaked?"
It turns out that in ancient China's overseas trade, in addition to porcelain, silk, cloth, ironware, etc., copper coins were also a very large export "commodity". The reason is that in ancient society, both copper mining and money casting were very high-tech industries. Ancient China's neighboring countries either had poor mining technology or had not yet mastered the technology of coining money, so most countries did not have their own To make money, they simply imported large quantities of copper coins from ancient China for use in their own business.
For example, this is the case in Japan. Although the country has very rich copper, gold, and silver mineral deposits, it was not until the Tokugawa Shogunate that it began to mint its own coins on a large scale. Before that, large quantities of copper coins were imported from China every year, so much so that the Song Dynasty issued a special edict. The outflow of copper coins was prohibited. A large number of ancient Chinese coins can be found in Vietnam, Myanmar, and even further countries. Although the owner who minted copper coins privately minted many copper coins privately, most of them were sold to foreign businessmen, so it was naturally not easy for the government to detect them.
"Since it is sold to barbarian merchants, that is another matter!" Cao Sennu patted An Taishun on the shoulder: "I wrongly blamed Brother An, please don't take offense!"
"I won't be surprised!" An Taishun breathed a sigh of relief and said with a wry smile: "Xiao Ke has a few lives, how dare you blame Dongzhu Cao!"
(End of chapter)
