Chapter 520 Unloading cargo at the port, stunned monarchs and ministers
Chapter 520: Unloading cargo at the port, shocked monarchs and ministers
Author: seven fleas
Sitting in the carriage were naturally Li Huan's mother, Feng Shi, and his two wives, Zhu Lin and Zhang Jin. Following the carriage were the personal guards of the Li Mansion. Following the emperor Luan Jia, it could be said that they were accompanied by a group of honorable nobles.
Among them, the only ones who have this honor are the family members of the Duke of Qin.
Tianjin Wei
After several years of vigorous development, Tianjin Wei, which was originally the gateway to the capital, became more and more prosperous after the opening of the sea and the development of maritime trade.
Especially in the past few years, a large number of merchant ships have transported a large amount of overseas goods to the capital through Tianjin Wei, which has made Tianjin Wei's status even more important.
Nowadays, the level of Tianjin Guard has been raised to the state capital level. Although it is said to be a county, the people who are in charge of Tianjin Guard are prefect level officials.
The news that the emperor's imperial commander came to Tianjin Guard in person had naturally come two days earlier. As the officials of Tianjin Guard, they were naturally well prepared to welcome him.
It was a sunny and windy day, and there was already a loess road outside Tianjin City. People entering the city knew that important people were coming when they saw the heavily guarded group of soldiers outside the city gate.
Time passed quickly, and smoke and dust could be seen in the distance. Soon, a group of elite cavalry was seen galloping towards them. It was the soldiers of the 3,000 battalion who were clearing the way in front of them.
As the three thousand soldiers of the battalion took over the defense, Emperor Luan Jia and his entourage also appeared in the sight of many officials.
Under the leadership of the Tianjin magistrate, a group of officials kowtowed to the Emperor Luan Jia who stopped to welcome the Emperor in person.
During the drive, Zhu Houzhao slowly walked down, stepped forward and helped the Tianjin magistrate who had prostrated himself on the ground, and said with a chuckle: "You don't have to be polite when you are in charge, just get up and answer."
This man was about thirty years old, dressed in official uniform, and had a rather good temperament, but he was the son of current Pavilion elder Yang Tinghe, Yang Shen and Yang Yongxiu.
Although it is said that one should not avoid relatives when promoting talents, Yang Tinghe, as a cabinet minister, has never recommended his talented son to the emperor.
It turns out that Yang Shen was recommended to Zhu Houzhao by Li Huan. Zhu Houzhao thought that his ability was not bad, and the position of Tianjin Guard happened to be more and more important, so he sent Yang Shen to be the chief of Tianjin Guard. After several years of experience, he showed great performance in his tenure.
Showed great ability.
After thanking the emperor, Yang Shen and other officials stood up.
Looking at Yang Shen, Zhu Houzhao chuckled and said, "Is there any news about Duke Qin?"
Yang Shen naturally knew why the emperor came to Tianjin Wei in person, so he was not surprised when he saw the emperor asking for news about Li Huan. He said immediately: "Your Majesty, yesterday the Duke of Qin sent someone to send a message by speedboat. If nothing else happens,
, today evening or tomorrow morning, Qin Guogong and his party will be able to enter Tianjin Port."
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but his eyes lit up when he heard this and said: "Okay."
Because the emperor visited Tianjin Guards several times, the emperor ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to build a royal courtyard outside Tianjin Guards the year before last as a place to stay.
This time, the emperor naturally stayed at the Royal Courtyard as usual.
After entering the Royal Courtyard, the dusty group naturally freshened up. After the emperor rested for a long time, he formally summoned Yang Shen and other important officials of the Tianjin Guard.
In the hall, the emperor was listening to Yang Shen's report on the specific matters regarding the Tianjin Wei Port.
"...As of this month, the City Shipping Department has collected a total of more than 693,000 taels of tax and silver. Hundreds of ships enter and exit the port daily. There are thousands of shipwrights and workers at the port alone. Compared to
Last year, Tianjin’s population increased by tens of thousands..."
Sitting there and listening to Yang Shen's report, Zhu Houzhao obviously had a general understanding of Tianjin Wei's situation.
Although Yang Shen's report is only a generalization, many problems can be seen from these reports. Especially when compared with the situation of Tianjin Wei last year, we can clearly feel the rapid development of Tianjin Wei.
When Yang Shen stopped, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but sigh: "It's only mid-September, and the Tianjin Shipping Department has already collected nearly 700,000 taels of tax silver. According to this, by the time
By the end of the year, the tax bill will almost reach one million taels?"
Yang Shen nodded slightly and said: "Thanks to His Majesty's great blessing, the imperial court vigorously develops and supports sea trade. Tianjin Wei has prospered because of this. I don't know how many people can live a life of food and clothing because of sea trade..."
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but smile a little, asked some questions, and then encouraged the officials before letting Yang Shen and other officials leave.
In the living room, several distinguished nobles spoke to the emperor at this moment: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, I never thought that the annual tax revenue of a small Tianjin shipping company would reach as much as one million taels. Now,
The imperial court has a total of nine major shipping departments. Even if the other shipping departments are worse, they are probably not much different. According to this calculation, in one year, that is nearly ten million taels of watermarks."
As a veteran minister, Chengguo Gong Zhu Fu couldn't help but sigh for it.
Listening to Duke Cheng's emotion, Duke Ding Xu Guangzha, British Duke Zhang Lun and other distinguished nobles beside them couldn't help but marvel.
Zhang Lun stroked his beard and said slowly: "If I remember correctly, last year the shipping companies in the nine major cities collected a total of 8.15 million taels of tax and silver. If this was placed before the sea was opened and sea trade was vigorously promoted, it would really be
But I can’t imagine that the benefits of sea trade can be so great.”
Cheng Guogong Zhu Fu sneered and said: "No wonder those officials in the southeast area tried their best to resist the imperial court's opening up the sea. It turns out that they know the benefits contained in sea trade better than anyone else. As a result, they all
They rely on sea trade to make a living, but they have never considered the series of impacts caused by the country's tax shortage and fiscal depletion."
"Thanks to the Duke of Qin who forcibly implemented the policy of opening up the sea, otherwise our Ming Dynasty would not be as prosperous as it is today."
Just as a group of nobles were praising Li Huan's achievements in front of the emperor, on the sea outside Tianjin, a huge fleet was slowly coming towards the port.
Needless to say, the huge fleet flying the Ming Dynasty Dragon Flag was Li Huan and his party who had returned from Nanyang Province.
There are hundreds of ships in such a large fleet. Each large ship is filled with cargo and has an extremely deep draft. In other words, Tianjin Wei Port has undergone repeated dredging and excavation in the past few years and can accommodate a large number of ships.
, otherwise, it would be really difficult for so many ships to suddenly enter the port.
But even so, this time there were hundreds of large ships alone, which really exceeded the carrying capacity of Tianjin Wei Port, not to mention there were so many large and small ships.
Not long after leaving the Royal Courtyard and returning to the Yamen, the officials of Tianjin Guard, big and small, soon received the news from the port.
When Yang Shen received the news, he immediately sent people to the Royal Courtyard to inform the emperor about the return of Qin Duke Li Huan, and he quickly took the officials from the Yamen and rushed to the port.
After all, when Li Huan returns, so many ships need to enter the port. If there is no capable person to dispatch them, if something goes wrong then, he, the prefect of Tianjin, will really be embarrassed in front of the emperor.
At this time, the officials in the port had already begun to be busy. Thanks to the many ships coming and going in the past few years, the officials in the port had already been trained. Although they were faced with this time,
Li Huan brought a large number of ships, but as long as they were dispatched properly, there was nothing to worry about.
When Li Huan's car slowly entered the port and docked stably, Yang Shen already led people to greet him on the shore.
Seeing Li Huan and others walking off the boat, Yang Shen hurriedly came up to greet Li Huan, bowed to Li Huan and said: "Yang Shen, the governor of Tianjin, sincerely welcomes the return of the Duke of Qin."
Li Huan looked at Yang Shen and couldn't help but smile: "After all these years, Mr. Yang's style remains the same!"
Yang Shen laughed and said: "The Duke of the State is ridiculous. The Duke of the State sits in Nanyang, opens up territory for our Ming Dynasty, and stabilizes one side. This is the most great meritorious service and the highest admiration for practitioners."
Li Huan waved his hand and said: "Okay, you immediately send someone to arrange for port officials to let the ships anchored at sea enter the port one by one. Don't make any trouble."
Yang Shen heard this and said: "Don't worry, Duke, I will definitely make arrangements to return everything."
While he was talking, there was a lot of noise in the distance. He heard a large group of people approaching quickly. Li Huan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and subconsciously looked at Yang Shen.
Yang Shen was stunned for a moment and then reacted and said to Li Huan: "So that the Duke of the State will know that His Majesty is visiting Tianjin Guard in person. If nothing else happens, His Majesty is here in person to welcome the Duke of the State."
Upon hearing this, Li Huan hurriedly looked in the direction from which the movement came, took a deep breath and said to Yang Shen: "Come with me to greet His Majesty."
When the emperor saw Li Huan's figure, Li Huan had already led Jiang Bin, Chen Ang and others to bow to the emperor.
Zhu Houzhao strode forward, supported Li Huan, and stopped Li Huan from bowing down. At the same time, he kept saying: "It will be good if I love you, it will be good if you come back."
After helping Li Huan up, Zhu Houzhao looked at Li Huan carefully. Perhaps because of his good practice, Li Huan had not changed much compared to a few years ago, but his power was getting stronger.
Looking at Li Huan, Zhu Houzhao sighed softly: "In the past few years, my dear wife has opened up territory for the Ming Dynasty and has not been able to return. I miss you every day in the palace. It is really hard for your family to make Nanyang what it is today."
Li Huan said humbly: "Your Majesty is being ridiculous. The reason why Nanyang is what it is today is first of all because of your Majesty's strong support, and secondly because of the dedication of the officers and soldiers and the efficiency of the officials. How can I dare to be praised like this by your Majesty for my humble contributions?"
Zhu Houzhao patted Li Huan's shoulder with his big hand and said with a smile: "The huge Nanyang Province has entered our territory of the Ming Dynasty. There are contacts between the two sides and commerce is booming. If you have no merit, who in the civil and military dynasties will dare to claim this credit."
Such a harmonious situation between the monarch and his ministers was seen in the eyes of the accompanying nobles and officials, such as the British Duke Zhang Lun, Cheng Guo Duke Zhu Fu and others all smiled.
Large ships in the distance slowly entered the port and berthed. There were many flags and flags on the sea outside the port. At a glance, they were all densely packed with flags. This was the first time that the emperor and others saw this.
, with a look of amazement on his face.
Zhu Fu, Duke of Chengguo, had a smile on his face at this time, stroking his gray beard and exclaimed: "Wonderful son-in-law, you have come back this time and brought so many big ships. I guess you have gained a lot."
Even a fool can see that the big ships must not be returning empty. If they are only returning with people, it is impossible to use so many ships. Needless to say, the ships must be full of people from Southeast Asia.
All kinds of rare treasures or goods brought back.
After all, in the past few years, just the fleet formed by the Royal Merchant House of the Ming Dynasty to transport grains between Nanyang and the Ming Dynasty has made a lot of profits, not to mention the fleet that followed Li Huan back.
At this moment, even the emperor couldn't help but show curiosity when he saw so many fleets, and subconsciously asked: "Could it be that Li Qing brought back all the Portuguese property that was captured earlier?"
The news that the Ming Dynasty navy fleet defeated the Portuguese naturally came back early, and the emperor also knew the news about the large amount of wealth captured by Li Huan.
Of course, there is no specific figure as to how much wealth there is because it is difficult to calculate at the moment. Therefore, even the emperor and the court only knew that they had gained a lot.
Eyes couldn't help but fall on Li Huan. Everyone knew that if Li Huan didn't take action, it would be astonishing. In the past, he ransacked homes in China, and every time he got something, people were amazed. This time he went to sea, think about it.
The harvest will not be bad either.
It happened that at this time, the treasure ship that docked first had begun to unload its cargo. Because the ship was filled with all kinds of rare treasures and a large amount of gold and silver, a large number of Jin Yiwei were personally supervising and supervising the unloading process.
As the coolies moved the big boxes off the ship one by one.
At this time, under the leadership of Li Huan, the group came closer and saw teams of coolies carefully lifting huge wooden boxes from the ship.
There were seals on these boxes to prevent anyone from opening them secretly.
When everyone looked at these huge boxes and secretly guessed what kind of treasures were contained in these boxes, they suddenly heard a crash, followed by several exclamations, and saw a small box with eight figures in it.
The strong man suddenly fell to the ground in front of him.
Because the hemp rope was broken, the box smashed into pieces, and the big men also stumbled and fell to the ground.
A dazzling golden light suddenly burst out before his eyes, and as the box shattered, the gold ingots filled with gold in the box rolled to the ground.
This box contained a full 10,000 taels of gold. It was quite difficult for eight strong men to carry it. Now, with the dense and dazzling gold ingots rolling down, the dazzling golden color directly stunned countless people present.
.
"Hiss, that's a lot of gold!"
Some people looked at the gold ingots all over the ground and couldn't help but exclaimed.
However, the Jin Yiwei who reacted the next moment immediately drew his sword out of its sheath and shouted: "Anyone who dares to act without mercy will be killed without mercy!"
It is said that wealth and silk are attractive to people, not to mention these attractive gold ingots. If they are not deterred, no one can guarantee that the hundreds of coolies in the port who saw this scene will lose their minds and swarm them.
Start looting.
It has to be said that these Jin Yiwei are accustomed to seeing various scenes around Li Huan. Even so many gold ingots are commonplace to them. They have lost their appeal. At this time, they just drew their swords and shouted to calm him down.
scene.
Those whose minds were swayed by the gold ingot came back to their senses when the Jin Yiwei shouted. They looked at the Jin Yiwei with a sinister look on their faces and then at the Emperor's Imperial Guards around them. The greed in their hearts naturally disappeared.
At this moment, the emperor and others also came back to their senses. Although the emperor was used to seeing rare treasures, he was a little distracted when he saw so many gold ingots falling in front of him in an instant.
Taking a deep breath, Zhu Houzhao and others looked at the broken boxes on the ground, and then at the densely packed boxes of the same size on the ship not far away. There were dozens or hundreds of boxes. Just thinking about the contents of these boxes
Maybe they all had the same amount of gold, but they couldn't help but look horrified.
The Duke of Cheng, Zhu Fu, looked at the scene in front of him. He couldn't help blinking his eyes and said subconsciously: "My virtuous son-in-law, don't all the boxes on the ship contain the same gold?"