It doesn't matter to Chen Kan whether others die or not. He can be considered a person who has experienced life and death now. He is no longer the innocent Chen Kan when he first came to the Ming Dynasty.
Now he has learned to weigh, learn the pros and cons, and learn to fight.
But he always adheres to one principle of life: a drop of kindness should be repaid by a spring.
When he was in the Wucheng Army and Horses Division, he often accepted favors from Chen Qia. During several struggles, Chen Qia chose to stand behind him without hesitation, so that he could save the day from danger.
Take the time when Jin Yiwei rescued the ministers, for example. If Chen Qia hadn't testified for him at the critical moment, it would have been Chen Kan, not Li Yan, who died.
Later, when he was caught in the crisis of imperial strife and was fighting to the death with Zhu Jixi, it was Chen Qia who spoke out and bought him time to overthrow Zhu Jixi.
It was all due to Chen Kan's kindness when he was still young. Chen Kan was able to gain a firm foothold in the Ming Dynasty now, and Chen Qia's protection when he was still weak was definitely indispensable.
There may have been Fang Xiaoru's instruction, but Chen Qia was the one who did it.
Therefore, he must keep Chen Qia.
While Chen Qia is still alive, Chen Kan must return to Beijing as soon as possible.
It would not be good to drag the family with the family at this time, so Chen Kan quickly came to the backyard and explained the cause and effect to Chang Ning.
When Chang Ning heard this, the corners of his mouth tightened unconsciously.
After a moment, he said weakly: "But you have only been home for a few days."
Chen Kan rubbed his little head: "My husband's trip to the capital will not last long. It can be three months or two months. I will try my best to come back before Yuan Zheng to celebrate the festival with you. How about it?"
Of course Chang Ning refused, so Chen Kan had no choice but to close the door in broad daylight.
Then he used the strength of nine cows and two tigers to finally manage Chang Ning obediently.
When Chen Kan rubbed his waist and stepped out of the room, he felt that maybe he should prepare a thermos cup.
He asked Yuncheng to call his personal guard Li Si. Soon, Li Si summoned his brothers and prepared to accompany his Marquis to Nanjing.
As soon as he returned home, he had to leave home again. Of course, Chen Kan was very reluctant to leave.
He originally thought that if he had enough time, he would take his family back to Nanjing to celebrate the New Year. However, when he thought of Fang Xiaoru who was tortured in prison and Chen Qia who was about to be executed, Chen Kan could only take his family back to Nanjing to celebrate the New Year. Dismiss the idea.
Chen Kan's treasure ship sailing from Nanjing to Beijing has been parked in Zhuozhou for a long time to eat ashes. Fortunately, the Marquis family has a large business and many craftsmen are waiting on it, so the treasure ship will not be decommissioned early.
However, it was time to find a place for this treasure ship after returning from Nanjing this time. Chen Kan felt that North Korea and Japan would be good choices.
"Dudu~"
The sound of the horn made of conch shells means that the ship begins to leave the dock.
After the three little guys learned that Chen Kan was going south, they hurriedly rode to deliver it. However, when they arrived at the shore, Chen Kan's ship had already left the dock and was slowly heading towards Nanjing along the canal.
Seeing the three little guys waving to him, Chen Kan raised his hand impatiently in response, and then headed towards his room.
The speed of going south is naturally much faster than going north. After all, when going north, the treasure ship contained everyone and belongings of the entire Hou Mansion.
Now there are only Chen Kan and more than a hundred guards, and more than a hundred war horses, and the weight is more than a bit lighter.
So on the fifth day, the treasure ship Chen Kan was riding on had already sailed across the Huaihe River.
At the intersection of the canal and the Huaihe River, Chen Kan personally cast a large net.
None of the merchant ships and passenger ships plying on the river dared to compete with this giant ship, so Chen Kan's net harvest was quite rich.
Chen Kan took out a large carp and a sturgeon, which were as short as a forearm. He also caught a handful of shrimps, and rewarded the remaining small fish and shrimps to the guards.
This time Chen Kan didn't bring a cook, so he had to do it himself if he wanted to eat delicious fish.
Anyway, given how picky he is, it is definitely difficult to eat the food that comes from the hands of his personal guards.
Empty the belly of the carp and stuff it with some dried mushrooms, sea cucumbers and scallops to steam. The sturgeon is used to make soup. As for the shrimps, of course they are fried and stewed in shrimp oil.
Li Rang prepared food and wine, then sat on the deck and started drinking.
During this period, the personal guards under his command naturally pretended to pass by Chen Kan's table, but in fact walked away with a piece of fish or a spoonful of rice.
Chen Kan endured all this. After all, he made too much and couldn't finish it all.
But when Li Si passed by for the third time and the steamed fish plate disappeared from the table, Chen Kan finally couldn't bear it anymore.
"Are you a fucking pig?"
"Can you eat even the plate?"
"How is it appropriate to be sneaky?"
Li Si, who was caught at the scene, didn't have the slightest expression of embarrassment. He just silently put the plate hidden in his arms back on the table. However, the fish on the plate, not to mention the fish, didn't even have the green onions left for Chen Kan. root.
Chen Kan twitched his lips, silently finished the last bite of rice in the bowl, and then returned to the room in low spirits.
As soon as Chen Kan left, a group of older men quickly came forward and ate up all the fish soup and shrimp oil braised rice in Chen Kan's pot.
There is nothing they can do. It's not that they don't understand the principle of superiority and inferiority. It's just that the food cooked by the Marquis is so delicious.
This time there was no cook on the ship, so they had to make their own meals.
But with their ability, it is not easy to cook rice, let alone make delicious fish soup.
Anyway, they have been following Chen Kan for many years. We all get along with each other as brothers, and no one can eat or drink!
Back in the room, Chen Kan still felt that he had to bring a cook with him when he went out in the future, and at the very least prepare some dry food, otherwise they would starve to death sooner or later with these personal guards.
Half a month later, the treasure ship finally sailed into the Yangtze River waterway.
As soon as he entered the Yangtze River waterway, Chen Kan found that the number of ships plying the river was at least twice as high as when he left the capital.
Of course, these ships will undoubtedly have to make way for the giant treasure ship Chen Kan is riding.
Fortunately, the river is wide enough to accommodate more ships, so a treasure ship is naturally not a big problem.
Chen Kan stood on the deck. Although there was no snow in Jiangnan in November, it was still very cold, so Chen Kan had already put on a white fox fur.
Looking at the ships coming and going in front of me, it was really a lively scene with thousands of sails competing against each other.
There are sharp-bottomed sea boats and flat-bottomed river boats on the river, but without exception, all boats are filled with various goods.
This scene was definitely very rare in the Ming Dynasty, which emphasized agriculture and suppressed business.
But Chen Kan soon figured out the reason for all this, Zheng He.
After Zheng He went to Japan, there was an endless stream of ships between the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese country, and the amount of silver transported back by the Ming Dynasty from the Japanese country was increasing every time.
Although every time it is in the name of doing business, in fact it is a disguised form of plunder.
Japan has a lot of silver, so Japan's silver is not valuable.
The goods of the Ming Dynasty were in short supply in the Japanese country. The Ming Dynasty proposed to use the Japanese silver price to settle the goods, and the Japanese country had no room to refuse.
Because except for the Ming Dynasty, no country around Japan could provide such a large amount of supplies.
The Japanese silver that was brought into the mainland of the Ming Dynasty only needed to be turned into silver ingots by the Daohu Department, and it turned into the bank's reserves.
As banks have more reserves, they can naturally print more banknotes.
These treasure banknotes were brought to every corner of Ming Dynasty through the hands of Ming merchants. Some merchants even took the treasure banknotes out of the country, and the farthest reached Southeast Asia.
But if you go out with a piece of paper, what you bring back is real money or goods that are in short supply in the Ming Dynasty.
The reason why Chen Kan said that all this was caused by Zheng He is also very simple.
Business.
Zheng He opened up business channels.
Trade routes are indispensable for the circulation of money and goods around the world.
Once trade routes are opened, materials and money can flow.
With the royal jewels in front of them, the merchants naturally became bolder.
Moreover, Zhu Di could not earn all the money from sea trade alone. Instead of taking advantage of the gentry and wealthy families in Jiangnan, it would be better to bring in all the merchants to get a share of the pie.
In this way, in addition to Zhu Di's internal treasury, the Ming Dynasty could become richer, and the national treasury could also receive more commercial taxes.
As for Zhu Di, the pressure from the gentry and wealthy families is nothing to worry about. No matter how powerful your gentry and wealthy families are, they can't restrain businessmen.
Not to mention that these businessmen still paid protection fees. Even if you, the gentry and the powerful, want to attack these businessmen, you have to pass the hurdle of Jian Yi, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
Jian Yi is not Wang Dun and can be manipulated by them.
That was a guy who went crazy and even cut himself. The money went into his pocket, and the gentry and wealthy people wanted him to spit it out, unless they were prepared to lose both sides.
Do the gentry and wealthy families have the courage?
I don't think so.
After all, there is still Zhu Di who is watching covetously from the side. If both sides suffer losses, it will only take advantage of Zhu Di, the usurper in their eyes.
The merchant ships in front of Chen Kan, which were twice as many as last year, were proof.
Now the Ministry of Revenue, the gentry, the wealthy family, and the royal family formed a triangle. After they stabilized, the maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty also prospered with some abnormality.
But in Chen Kan's eyes, this deformity is just a scar that will be corrected by time sooner or later.
After all, the nature of businessmen is to pursue profits. Once they are allowed to taste the sweetness of sea trade, Taizu's ban on going to the sea will become an empty order and will be abolished sooner or later.
After standing on the bow of the ship for half an hour, Chen Kan looked away.
He just counted that in the past half hour, there were more than sixty merchant ships heading towards the treasure ship alone, and this did not include the merchant ships that were also heading upstream like the treasure ship.
Chen Kan didn't know the speed of cargo circulation when sea trade was prosperous in the former Song Dynasty, but he was basically certain that it was so busy, far exceeding all previous dynasties except the Song Dynasty, including the former Yuan Dynasty.
"Master Marquis, the front is Guazhou Pier. Do we need to rest in Guazhou for a night?"
Li Si's voice woke up Chen Kan who was deep in thought. Chen Kan looked up and saw a small town standing on the edge of the river.
When they arrived in Guazhou, even if they went upstream, it would only take half a day to reach the capital, so Chen Kan waved down Li Si's proposal.
"Keep walking and get back to the capital before dawn!"
