Xie Qian suppressed the cabinet and refused to allocate money to Chen Xi. Zhu Houzhao, who was determined to go south to inspect the new city, was actually not very clear. If he knew about it, he would definitely call Yang Yiqing to his side and point and curse him.

While Xie Qian was suppressing the Ministry of Revenue and not allocating money and grain, Zhang Yuan also deliberately avoided mentioning this matter to the emperor. Chen Xi's memorial to the court also mentioned this matter in his comments. As the emperor, Zhu Houzhao would not pay attention to such "small matters".

The person who was most anxious was Yang Yiqing. In addition, Wang Shouren, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War, was also very concerned about this issue. However, the two of them had no say in the court as much as Xie Qian and Zhang Yuan. In some matters, they could not act completely according to their own wishes, so they could only turn a blind eye.

Zhang Yuan had a plan in his mind. He had sent someone to mention this matter to Yang Yiqing before. The pressure Yang Yiqing was under basically came from Zhang Yuan.

However, because Yang Yiqing was controlled by Xie Qian, Zhang Yuan had no good idea. He didn't want to break up with Xie Qian directly. Besides, Chen Xi built a city, and Zhang Yuan had a ulterior motive and didn't want Chen Xi to complete his job and return to Beijing as soon as possible.

If Chenxi is allowed to build a city, but not to complete it early, it can only cause trouble intentionally or unintentionally and make a fuss about the construction funds of Chenxi.

On the surface, Zhang Yuan had to spare no effort to get busy with Chen Xi's affairs, and was engaged in activities in various relevant yamen in the court, but in fact he was just perfunctory. Although he repeatedly sent people to say hello to the Ministry of Revenue, there was no movement on the Ministry of Revenue and he did not follow up.

However, when Li Rong informed Zhang Yuan of the amount owed by Chen Xi by the Ministry of Revenue, Zhang Yuan was still shocked.

"There are about one million and eight million taels of silver..." Li Rong said confidently.

Zhang Yuan asked in surprise: "Didn't it mean that he only owed 500,000 taels? Why did he make such a big digit?"

Li Rong said: "In addition to the one million taels of silver promised to build a ship, the one million taels of silver that His Majesty promised to allocate to build a new city and support military expenses, they were all deducted. The Ministry of Revenue did not transfer the silver and materials to the relevant accounts on the grounds that local allocations were mainly used... After Lord Shen arrived in Jiangnan, teak and fir were basically transported by Jiangnan, Jiangbei and Huguang. The Ministry of Revenue did not even pay the silver for transport..."

Li Rong investigated very carefully, and Zhang Yuan was shocked when he saw it.

Originally, Zhang Yuan didn't want to help Chen Xi too much, so it would be better for Chen Xi to have problems building a city in the south of the Yangtze River, and then write a letter begging him, so that he would do things with the flow. For him, it would be better for Chen Xi to stay in the south forever, so that no one would compete with him for the favor of Emperor Zhengde.

Finally, Li Rong summarized: "The Ministry of Revenue is mostly controlled by the cabinet. I heard that Yang Shangshu was walking around recently and intends to make a comeback for this matter. However, some people seem to be determined not to let go. Until now, there is no sign of funding. However, Your Majesty is about to go south. If Your Majesty knows about this, the consequences will be unimaginable... You must know that you only need a secret letter from Shangshu Chen to break the matter... The paper on this window is too thin, even if no one exposes it, Your Majesty will find out the secret after going to Jiangnan..."

Zhang Yuan looked at Li Rong: "What do you mean?"

Li Rong said: "Eunuch Zhang, we'd better stand on the side of Lord Shen... Lord Shen and Master Xie had a dispute. The one who won the final victory would definitely be Lord Shen... If we don't know how to stand in the team now, Lord Shen will react in the future... Maybe he will kill him!"

Although Li Rong's proposal was sincere, it could not be recognized by Zhang Yuan, because Zhang Yuan was very proud of himself and was sure that Chen Xi would not treat him as a blood-related uncle. Moreover, Zhang Yuan never regarded Li Rong as his own person, so Li Rong's words would not be trusted and adopted by him.

Zhang Yuan still did not plan to raise money for Chen Xi, but he still kept his mind and got the news. At least when the emperor asked it in time, he could answer it smoothly, showing that he was very concerned about the construction of the city in Jiangnan. Unfortunately, the cabinet was disobedient and he had no choice but to leave himself clean at that time.

Chenxi, who is located in the south of the Yangtze River, is solving the financial problems step by step.

As Xie Qian guessed, Chen Xi knew from the beginning that the court could not allocate enough money, grain and materials to help him build a new city, so he had long planned a step-by-step plan for the city construction.

"First determine the general outline of the city, then build a factory and start production as soon as possible. At this time, the construction cost is deficient. You can try to attract people and merchants to the new city, supplement it by pre-sale of real estate, selling goods and levying commercial taxes, and gradually form a balance of income and expenditure, and then build the sea ship..."

It seemed that Chen Xi was taking a big step, but in fact he was moving forward steadily step by step. Not to mention anything else, just the two-story building he designed and built attracted the interest of the vast number of gentry in Jiangnan.

According to the calculation of one thousand taels of a house, one thousand houses are worth one million taels of silver. How many houses can be built with more than 500 square kilometers of land?

Although the five-story tube building that workers live in is only 50 taels of silver, which is equivalent to the salary of a worker who does not eat or drink for two years, it can be repaid slowly through long-term work, and the economic benefits created in the short term are quite amazing.

Hui Niang, Li Jin, Tang Yin and others were obviously worried. Chen Xi did not passively accept this matter, but actively created demand and developed various industries from scratch.

Today, a batch of goods leading the era have begun to appear in the new city.

It is naturally impossible to sell electric lamps, but they can sell mercury mirrors, perfumes, soaps, toothpastes, toothbrushes, cosmetics, lipsticks, bone porcelain, matches, horse lanterns, baking soda, etc. These products are treasure pots for Chenxi to quickly accumulate wealth.

Ma Jiu brought a batch of samples to Nanjing, Suzhou, Yangzhou and other places. They were all made in a short time after the completion of major factories. The deposit received now is as high as 100,000 taels of silver. Ma Jiu did not bring the silver back directly, but purchased the goods from the local area and transported them back.

"Sir, everything is based on what you said, with the main channels of carriages and gangs and brother chambers of commerce stores, and supplemented by merchants who had transaction records with Tingzhou Chamber of Commerce before, that is, those who sold comic strips and talk books, and gave them to them at the wholesale price, they would come to Xincheng to get goods. At the same time, they also used their own channels to buy grain, wood and ore for us at low prices. The purchase channels include Nanzhili, Shaanxi, Shandong, Henan and other places, and even Liaodong...

Rather than saying that Ma Jiu went out to sell goods, it is better to open up sales.

Chen Xi's biggest advantage is not his ability to lead troops to fight, but because he was the young owner of the Tingzhou Chamber of Commerce before becoming an official. He not only held two major trade channels: Carriages and Horse Gangs and Brothers Chamber of Commerce, but also many former commercial partners, with tentacles all over the Ming Dynasty's various leaderships.

Nowadays, merchants who had done business with the Tingzhou Guild can be found in various parts of the Ming Dynasty. Influenced by the original successful model of the Tingzhou Chamber of Commerce, they now have their own chambers of commerce. In addition, these merchants know what Chen Xi's position is now in the court. The goods Chen Xi brought out are the most rare things in this era, so they naturally flock to them.

Even if the court does not allocate silver, Chen Xi can still achieve a profitable effect by producing and selling these novel commodities.

Last but not least, the brother Chamber of Commerce controlled by Hui Niang owns ownership of Pingxiang, Yuanzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province and Dexing Mining Areas. This was specially approved by Chen Xi when he was appointed as the governor of Huguang and Jiangxi. In recent years, the copper output of the Wuchang Industrial Park has remained at about 5,000 tons, and all of them have been stored.

If necessary, Chenxi can cast tens of millions of coins into the market at any time. The only concern is that this move will cause prices to soar. Chenxi will not use this move until the critical moment.

Chen Xi was very satisfied with the results of Ma Jiu's trip.

Others are definitely not as good as Ma Jiu when they do this work, because Ma Jiu was once a member of the Tingzhou Chamber of Commerce and was the absolute direct descendant of Chen Xi. Many of Ma Jiu's subordinates are carriages and old brothers from the Tingzhou Chamber of Commerce. Shopkeepers from all over the country can now dispatch Ma Jiu.

Ma Jiu doesn't necessarily need to know what the accounts are or how to do business. He just needs to obey Chen Xi's instructions and take a group of people who know the business out for a trip, and things will be done naturally.

Ma Jiu said a lot, and finally made a list of things to tell Chenxi what goods they could buy, what the prices were everywhere, whether they needed to be allocated from Jiangbei and other places, etc.

Although Ma Jiu's ability may not be very high, he is the kind of person who is serious and down-to-earth in his work. In addition, his personality has become restrained and firm after a long period of hardship, which makes Ma Jiu have patience far beyond ordinary people.

Chen Xi nodded at last: "Wood is mainly transported from Huguang and Jiangxi. The one that is most scarce now is coal. After all, the large blast furnaces in Wuchang Industrial Park are giant beasts that devour coal. They were all supplied by Pingxiang Mining Area before, but now they suddenly have to support the new city. The production capacity is indeed a problem... Did the people sent to be responsible for exploration have any results?"

"I have already explored new coal mines have been found in Fengcheng, Ganzhou, Huangshi, Huguang and other places, but it will take a certain period of time to start production. In a short period of time, we can only increase exploration efforts in Pingxiang and strive to discover more mining points to meet the needs of the new city." Ma Jiudao.

Chen Xi's face was deep: "There are still too little coal and iron ore transported here now, and other metal ores are far from meeting expectations. To build a new city, it is necessary to meet the needs of shipbuilding and weapons. There must be sufficient raw materials... Is there any news from Wang He?"

In order to transport metal ore from Jiangxi and Huguang, Chen Xi not only used the power of the chariot and horse gangs and brother chambers of commerce, but also used old relationships, such as Wang He.

Ma Jiu said: "Commander Wang has sent 5,000 troops and hundreds of ships to help transport ore. In addition, in terms of wood, he has greeted the Jiangxi Provincial Government Office. They will increase the cutting and transportation of wood, and the teak and fir sent by each month will be kept above 10,000..."

In order to build ships and build a new city, Chenxi currently needs a large amount of wood and metal. Chenxi has opened several wood processing plants and steel plants in the city, as well as special metal processing plants. Unfortunately, there are problems with raw material replenishment.

Chen Xi shook his head: "Maybe I have to trouble Brother Jiu to go to Jiangxi and Huguang to make the matter come true. Jiangxi transports 10,000 logs to come. It is almost enough to build a ship, but how is it enough to build a new city? Decoration and building furniture consume much more wood than imagined... Furthermore, we are not only building ten and twenty large sea boats, but we have to build a hundred and a thousand, and we have to build a fleet of even several large enough ships, and the medium and small ships that are equipped must be enough."

Ma Jiu said: "Will that villain set off immediately?"

"Brother Jiu just came back, don't hurry to leave. Have a good rest for a night. I will explain the details to you before leaving. Only when you go will you know who to meet and how to make the conditions."

Chen Xi seemed very confident, "In a few days, Brother Song will also arrive in Xincheng. He will take over the transactions around Nanzhili and Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Brother Jiu, you may have to be fully responsible for the business in Jiangxi, Henan, Shanxi and Huguang. You will not be able to come back in the next few months."

If it were someone else, he would have been dissatisfied with such hard work, but Ma Jiu directly accepted the order: "The villain can definitely help the adults do it well."

Chen Xi smiled and patted Ma Jiu on the shoulder: "I have already said hello to the capital. I guess my family will be able to move here at the end of the year. At that time, Sister Xiaoyu will come with you, so your return date will be basically set at the end of the year. During the Chinese New Year, we will reunite in the new city!"

...

...

Ma Jiu rested in the new city for two days, got Chen Xi's orders and embarked on his journey again.

This time he went to Jiangxi. His responsibility was to contact the new city to supplement resources and form long-term supplies, including not only wood, but also the mining and transportation of goods such as coal, copper, iron ore, saltpeter, etc.

According to Chenxi's concept, it is enough to maintain about 200,000 workers, farmers and soldiers in the new city, and there is no need to increase it. However, the inland area needs to add about 100,000 to 200,000 workers to build the new city. Their task is to help mine ore, log and transport goods, etc.

These people do not need to be completely employed by carriages or fraternal chambers of commerce. They can be local governments, landlords, or even merchants. As long as they can mine them, Chenxi can assign people to buy them.

It would be difficult to complete these simply by relying on the commercial system in Chen Xi's hands. Fortunately, Shen Xi had served as officials in Fujian, Guangdong, Huguang and Jiangxi, where there were abundant resources, and now he served as two ministers. His reputation in the court is unmatched. There are many officials and generals who want to curry favor with Chen Xi. It is actually not difficult for Chen Xi to rely on these people to help accumulate original materials.

With these people helping to take the lead, the local official and business system will be mobilized and joined the ranks of mining resources.

Chen Xi secretly thanked: "The territory of the Ming Dynasty is a great treasure that has not been developed by a civilized society. It looks primitive, but there are treasures everywhere. There are no need to consider issues such as depletion of resources and environmental pollution. In this way, I can do things with my arms. This city will also become the most advanced city in the future with technological advancement, economic development, and the most comfortable life. Even the capital will pale in comparison!"

When Chen Xi returned to the county government office and told Hui Niang about his ideas, Hui Niang was shocked in her heart.

Even Li Jin felt it was incredible. Chen Xi had no money in his hands, but by pre-sale of houses and goods, he spent millions of taels of silver in his hands in a blink of an eye. The various officials announced that the Political and Envoys were still transporting various goods in a steady stream, never interrupting.

"Is this trick of the master called "out of nothing?" Hui Niang thought about Chenxi selling unbuilt houses and goods being produced for a long time, and finally found a relatively appropriate statement.

Chen Xi smiled and shook his head: "This is called pre-sale, nothing is strange. Anyway, we will hand over the house and goods to them in the end, but there is just a waiting time in between."

"Sometimes I get tired of living in garden-style buildings, and I will feel a new feeling in living in buildings... Do you know the houses near the palace? At the beginning, it only costs 1,000 taels of silver, but as His Majesty is about to live in the palace, the price has doubled. Now you may not be able to buy it even if you take 4,000 taels of silver."

"There are also those goods, looking at the Ming Dynasty, only we can make them. If those merchants can obtain the right to sell, they will be equivalent to monopolizing the market and constantly gaining wealth. It would be strange if they don't rob them crazy."

Hui Niang seemed unbelievable, but she still raised her concern: "I'm afraid that those merchants will rebel in the end and are suspected of monopolizing goods...it may make the local people suffer."

"You're wrong."

Chen Xi shook his head, "The goods I give them have nothing to do with the people's daily food, clothing, housing and transportation. They can be said to be luxury goods belonging to the wealthy class. Even if the prices rise, they will not have any impact on people's livelihood. Perhaps it will stimulate the local economy and cause a chain reaction, which will bring much greater benefits than harm."

Hui Niang smiled bitterly and said, "The master is really planning. I have nothing to say. I hope the master can solve the deficit problem as soon as possible. Otherwise...ah!"
Chapter completed!