Chen Kan believed that he was telling the truth. Even if Zhu Di was just preparing for rebellion, rewards and punishments must be clear in the military and promotion channels must be transparent.
This can also explain why Zhou Shi, the deputy general of the first army who commanded 5,000 men, could not even give gifts.
Of course, in Chen Kan's view, it is better to be simple in the army. As a soldier, as long as you can fight and are loyal to the country, you are a good soldier.
Chen Kan had no intention of bringing the same tricks from the capital to Beijing.
Once soldiers begin to delve into politics, it means that the country begins to decline.
After pondering for a moment, Chen Kan let go and held Zhou Shi's shoulders: "Take your things back. From now on, you can do whatever you want in the army. I don't have time to run to the military camp often. Go back and tell the soldiers not to worry, I. I will only lead everyone to make meritorious deeds, and will not do things where laymen guide experts."
Chen Kan's words were equivalent to telling Zhou Shi that he came to Beijing for refuge and gold plating.
However, the naive Zhou Shi did not hear the underlying meaning of Chen Kan's words, and only thought that Chen Kan was giving a sweet date a stick.
After all, he had already deeply understood Chen Kan's scheming.
How could a person who could make him lose his mind with just a few words and reveal all his plans in one sentence could be an amateur?
In addition, almost everyone in the entire Ming army now knows that the imperial court's plan to conquer Annan was the work of the young marquis in front of him.
Therefore, Zhou Shi made up his mind that he must not play tricks in front of the young prince in front of him in the future to avoid being mercilessly ridiculed by him again.
After thinking again and again, Zhou Shi said goodbye to Chen Kan: "Master Hou, your wishes will definitely be conveyed in place. The five thousand tigers guarding Beijing are at your disposal at any time."
This is a bit righteous. As expected, Zhou Shi is just innocent, not stupid.
As long as he is not stupid, Chen Kan has never thought of arbitrarily intervening in the personnel transfer of the Imperial Guards in Beijing.
"I will say goodbye."
Chen Kan waved to him and watched Zhou Shi drive away the carriage in front of the mansion with two retinues, a satisfied expression on his face.
Chen Kan has already felt the benefits of coming to Beijing. If nothing else, the people in Beijing are much easier to deal with than those old foxes in Nanjing.
While Chen Kan was talking to Zhou Shi, Yuncheng was watching not far away. Seeing that the gifts Zhou Shi had brought were taken away again, a look of regret suddenly appeared on his face.
Chen Kan rolled his eyes at him angrily: "Comfortable, Lao Yun, your vision still needs to be improved."
Yun Cheng asked humbly: "What does the Marquis mean by this?"
Chen Kan looked at the carriage that had gone away with a smile, and said calmly: "What good things can a group of Qiu Ba have? They can only get some specialties from Beijing. The good things that can really make our family rich are behind."
Soon, Yuncheng understood the meaning of Chen Kan's words.
Within a few days after Chen Kan moved into Jinshuihe, a group of subordinate officials from the Shuntian Mansion Office jointly sent greeting cards.
Then came the four prefects under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture, headed by An Yun, the prefect of Tongzhou, and together with Lu Yuan, the prefect of Bazhou, Su Songwen, the prefect of Jizhou, and Wang Cheng, the prefect of Zhuozhou.
As for the officials in the lower counties, only Wanping and Daxing counties in the capital sent greeting cards.
Officials from other counties were more self-aware and knew that they were not qualified to meet Chen Kan, so they simply sent people to send gifts to congratulate Marquis Jinghai on his move.
And these officials who came to the door all had the same pretense, some were carrying a bag of snacks, some were carrying a gift box, and none of them seemed to be expensive things.
If Yuncheng hadn't received a whole fleet of gold, silver, calligraphy, paintings, antiques and other gifts at the back door of the Hou Mansion, he would have thought that all the officials in Beijing were cool-headed Qingtian lords.
Of course, Chen Kan had not seen any of these people.
I sent him away with the excuse of being unaccustomed to Beijing for the first time and feeling unwell.
As a direct result, the Hou Mansion received a bunch of precious medicines, including but not limited to century-old ginseng from Liaodong, twenty-head Panax notoginseng from Yunnan, Ganoderma lucidum from the mountains of Huguang that is said to have grown for thousands of years... .
After registering these things, Yuncheng was surprised to find that the warehouse of the Hou Mansion could not contain the gifts sent by these officials.
In desperation, he had to hurriedly convert a wing in the backyard into a warehouse.
After handling everything, Yuncheng found Chen Kan with a look of surprise on his face, extended his thumb and complimented: "Master Hou is really planning everything. The gifts our family has received in the past few days can almost buy another house."
Chen Kan was lying in the backyard, a huge parasol blocking the direct sunlight.
Facing Yuncheng's compliment, Chen Kan just turned over and said calmly: "You are used to being in the capital and don't understand the place. You will get used to it slowly."
Chen Kan's words made Yuncheng think deeply, and then nodded as if he had some understanding.
Chen Kan lazily took a sip of herbal tea and told Yuncheng: "I remember that there are several good restaurants in the lower reaches of the Jinshui River. You can book a private room in one of them and send the greeting cards to my house in the past few days. I have made an appointment with the officials, and I will take some time to meet them, so that they will not be worried when the gifts are delivered."
As soon as Chen Kan finished speaking, Yuncheng immediately understood Chen Kan's intention.
Why did Chen Kan, as the popular fried chicken prince who had been favored by the emperor in the past two years during the Ming Dynasty, suddenly come to the big construction site of Shuntian Mansion from Yingtian Mansion, the most beautiful place in the world?
There must be a reason.
The official reason was that Chen Kan volunteered to supervise the construction process in Beijing and set up the Army Academy in Beijing.
But people in the officialdom are all human beings, so how could they believe such a lame reason?
Whether it's building Beijing or the Army Academy, it's all a matter for the Ministry of Industry. What does it have to do with Chen Kan, a young marquis?
So in the past few days, everyone has been rushing to give gifts, congratulating on the new house, and worrying about the health of the Marquis.
Isn't the purpose just to find out what the purpose of Chen Kan's coming to Beijing is.
Chen Kan went to see them just to make an attitude. He had no purpose in coming to Beijing, and he was not here to target anyone. I accepted your gift, and I will also give you face, so that we can all live in harmony from now on.
Of course, once his attitude is revealed, whether the officials of Shuntian Prefecture believe him or not is not something Chen Kan should worry about.
"Yes, I'll do it now, old slave."
After sorting out the cause and effect, Yun Chengshun felt clear-minded.
Putting the account book in his hand on the stone table under the sun umbrella, he began to prepare for the banquet.
Chen Kan took the account book and glanced at it, and had to sigh in his heart that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were really rich.
A small Shuntian Mansion gave a gift to a marquis of its own, equivalent to about 180,000 taels of silver.
"Yes, the money from the house is back."
Muttering to himself, Chen Kan stood up from the recliner.
He waved to Fang Xu, who was standing beside him, and told him to hitch the carriage.
Then he walked out of the house with his hands behind his back.
It had been several days since he arrived in the capital, and Chen Kan planned to visit the construction site of the Army Academy first.
The carriage creaked across a stone bridge over the Jinshui River and headed towards the open space in the northeast corner of Beijing.
The teaching ground in the north of Beijing was originally the place where the former Yuan Dynasty troops were stationed, and later it was the camp where Zhu Di stationed the three guards of the feudal lord.
After the three guards of the feudal lord followed Zhu Di into Nanjing, this land became empty and became the garrison of the five thousand imperial troops who stayed in Beijing.
However, five thousand forbidden troops were naturally unable to occupy this training ground, which was large enough to station a hundred thousand troops. Therefore, it was logical that this became the only location for the Army Academy.
Chen Kan came here today, of course, not just for rest and relaxation, but for making money.
The Army Academy is different from the Naval Academy. Most of the equipment of the Naval Academy is on the water, so the school is naturally much simpler.
The Army Academy requires a complete set of military equipment.
Among other things, there must be a playground for training cavalry, and an artificial mountain for training in mountain warfare. In addition, there must be shooting ranges, dormitories, teaching buildings, and various supporting facilities for test bases for soldiers.
There is so much room for manipulation with these things.
Chen Kan would not covet the funds allocated by Zhu Di to build the academy, but this did not affect him from making a small fortune.
You only need to build a few kilns, go to the nearby mountains and old forests to find some limestone, and then go to the beach to collect some shells and other things, and a cement factory can be successfully established.
The burned cement can not only be used in the construction of military academies, but the city of Beijing is also undergoing major renovations.
Chen Kan would not let go of such a good money-making opportunity easily.
What?
Planting watermelons?
How can you make money by growing watermelons and selling cement? You can still make money by building an entire city.
In one trip, you can not only come and see the construction progress of the Army Academy, but also review the progress of being stationed here. You can also make money along the way. Why not?
soon--
A large construction site that could not be seen appeared in Chen Kan's eyes.
The progress of the Army Academy is much slower than that of the Naval Academy. After all, the nearby city of Beijing has huge expenses, so in terms of funding, the city can only come first after Beijing.
However, no matter how slow the progress is, the Ministry of Works dare not stop construction.
Therefore, the large construction site that Chen Kan saw was just an open space where the foundation was still being dug.
Scattered civilians were digging dirt and stones, and from time to time they could hear the sound of cannons blasting stones.
Piles after piles of soil formed hills, and officials from the Ministry of Works from Nanjing lazily wandered around the construction site.
When the wind blows the mud and dust all over the sky, it will easily get all over your face.
Chen Kan had to take out a silk scarf from his arms and cover his mouth and nose.
Officials in the distance noticed Chen Kan and thought he was a businessman who came to the construction site to look for opportunities. They came to drive him away with a cold face: "The raw material supplier of the Army Academy has been decided. Don't look at it and leave quickly. "
The official's waving sleeves were so skillful that it made people feel distressed. It was obviously not the first time he had driven away people wandering around the construction site.
Chen Kan's face was covered tightly with silk, so the official naturally didn't recognize Chen Kan as the person who had stirred up the recent undercurrent in the capital's official circles.
Chen Kan didn't make any fuss, nodded to the official and sat back in the carriage.
