"Oh, it's so boring to meet guests and laugh with them every day." Zhao Xueer, who works as a bodyguard, complained impatiently. These days, Wan Lei and her go out early and come back late, either from the Zhang family or the Li family, spending all day with a group of people.
She was dealing with businessmen who had a bad reputation. She couldn't look too much at the excitement when passing by on the street. Naturally, she felt unhappy.
"You are my assistant. You live and eat for free and receive wages. Of course you have to work. If you don't protect me well, if I am assassinated, where will you find a good employer like me?
." Wan Lei rolled his eyes at this little girl.
But it’s no wonder that Zhao Xueer doesn’t have the qualities that an employee should have. After all, this little girl is only in her teens. According to the labor laws of later generations, Wan Lei is suspected of illegally employing child labor. But now is the evil old society, and the use of maids and servants is common
Phenomenon, many children from poor families even work as apprentices for nothing, just to make a living.
"How can there be a boss like you? You give people gifts everywhere. You are like a prodigal. Sooner or later, all the money you brought will be lost to you. If you waste all the money, what will you use to repay the principal and interest?"
"You, a little girl, don't understand things in the market. This is called early investment. As long as we open up business channels, we can do monopoly trade. As long as we increase the price of goods appropriately, we can earn back this small amount of money. I'm afraid
What?"
"After all, isn't it just about making dirty money?" Zhao Xueer rolled her eyes at Wan Lei again.
"How can it be called black money? It's called "liberating the people". We are just raising food prices appropriately, not taking advantage of the opportunity. Besides, high food prices also have the benefits of high food prices. People will be more active in farming in the future.
Let’s use the money we earn to hoard a lot of food, so we won’t be afraid of going hungry in the future.” Wan Lei still understands the so-called value leverage.
As the "economic godfather" of Shuntian Prefecture, Wan Lei is not only concerned about how to make money himself, but also to lead the people of the whole government to carry out continuous and orderly production, because only production can increase output value, and the total social output value has increased.
, people’s lives will be better.
Of course, growing grain is only the first industry that is prioritized for development at the moment. In the future, when there is more grain, we can lower the price of grain appropriately and let people switch to other industries, such as industry and commerce. This is the cornerstone of prosperity. Otherwise, we will plant a bunch of sweet potatoes to reproduce.
There are millions of people, but there is no decent industrial foundation and no progress in productivity. It is a pseudo-prosperity like the "Kangxi and Qianlong Dynasties", and sooner or later it will be miserable.
"Oh, sir, you are finally back. Let me have a good meal." Wan Lei and his party had just returned to the inn where they were staying, when they saw Grandma Liu guarding the door. It looked like they had been waiting for a long time.
"What's the matter?" Wan Lei asked. Although he and Grandma Liu came south together, they each did their own business. Since he gave her the sales agency rights of the facial cream, he kept his promise and never asked her about it again.
How to sell it, how much it will cost, all you need is quick delivery and easy payment.
"It's not convenient to talk here. Let's find a quiet place?" Grandma Liu looked around at the people around her with some embarrassment. It seemed that she had something to hide.
"Then let's go to my room and talk."
Grandma Liu sent away the few "daughters" who were following her, and then went upstairs with Wan Lei. In fact, the Fulai Inn had been booked by Wan Lei, and it was still too crowded for dozens of people from the business group to live there. But as a
As a "leader", Wan Lei also has the "privilege" of living alone in a room.
"Master Wan, can you come up with another set of the special facial cream you made for the palace last time?" Aunt Liu asked directly without being polite.
"It's possible, but I'm too busy right now and can't spare the time to do it, and I'm still short of some raw materials."
"As long as I can, as long as I can." Grandma Liu took a long breath and said: "This morning, I went to Zhao's house for sales. Guess what? I met Empress Shu Fei who went back to her parents' home to visit her relatives. She
Seeing that Concubine Zhuang has a set of exquisite cosmetics, I was very envious. When I heard that it was a gift from me, I asked me to give her a better set."
"Concubine Shu, her status is above that of Concubine Zhuang, so naturally she has to give a better one." Wan Lei has not been the Yi Cheng for a long time, but he has also heard people say that in the hierarchy of the Queen's Palace, Concubine Shu's status is only higher than that of Concubine Zhuang.
Concubine Zhuang is the first level, ranking third in the ranking of concubines. She should be very favored by the emperor's son, otherwise she would not have the opportunity to return to her natal family to visit relatives.
You must know that the Ming Dynasty had very strict management of the palace. From the Empress Dowager to the palace maids and concubines, they were not allowed to leave the palace without an imperial decree. But this concubine went north to return to the province in a majestic manner, and Wan Lei did not have to
You can guess that she accompanied the emperor on his "personal expedition". From this point of view, it can be seen that she was very favored, otherwise Emperor Jianwen would not have taken her with him when he went out to "fight".
Emperor Jianwen's personal expedition was a huge defeat, and many ministers and soldiers died. Of course, his face was disgraceful, and he returned to Jinling in despair. As for why the concubine Shu did not go with him, it was probably because Emperor Jianwen was angry.
In ancient society, it was not uncommon for kings to be incompetent and misbehave, and would often throw dirty water on women.
Alas, this can only be said, why bother to be a daughter. And this concubine may not know the reason. She must have thought that she was out of favor, so she would seek medical treatment randomly when she saw Aunt Liu selling "high-end" cosmetics.
, I just want a set, otherwise it would be impossible for a madam like Madam Liu to meet her concubine.
Wan Lei clarified this inside story just by thinking about it, so while responding to Aunt Liu's requests, he also said: "Aunt Liu, I'd like to trouble you to speak kindly for our Shuntian Mansion in front of Concubine Shu in the future in order to win her favor.
Good impression."
"That's right, that's why I agreed. In the future, if Concubine Shu blows the pillow wind for us, the imperial court will not use troops against Shuntian Mansion." Aunt Liu is not a fool, so she asked her to give gifts to her.
I have long been familiar with this kind of thing, and it doesn't matter if I can do some personal gain while also helping some public good.
"What I mean is not to ask her to help us blow pillows, but to ask her to speak kindly in the palace so that everyone in the palace can speak well of our Shuntian Mansion. This will slowly change the emperor's prejudice against our Shuntian Mansion.
"Wan Lei said with a smile.
"Yes, that's right, Master Wan's words make sense. From now on, we will not only give gifts to the concubines, but also to the father-in-laws. We will take care of everything inside and out. Even if there is a huge gap, we can make up for it."
Grandma Liu also laughed.
"That is, from now on, whenever the palace asks for anything from you, as long as it is available, I will give it to them. I will reimburse you when I come back, and I will never let you suffer any loss." When Wan Lei said this, the corners of his mouth raised.
Not to mention, selling people in the palace is a clever trick, which can often have unexpected effects. Although the current emperor trusts the civil servants on the surface, he actually trusts the eunuchs around him more. Why? Because he was born in a deep palace and grew up in
Shen Gong was brought up by the eunuchs around him.
After hanging out together for a long time, the emperor's master's temperament has been clearly understood by those personal eunuchs, so they are particularly good at flattering them. One or two seemingly casual words from the eunuchs may be able to secretly influence the emperor's thinking, and then
It affects the government. In short, these seemingly humble people, if they get close to the rising sun and borrow a little energy, it will be infinite.
Although eunuchs have endless energy, the restrictions on eunuchs in the early Ming Dynasty were very strict. As early as the second year of Hongwu when the eunuch system was established, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty issued an edict stipulating that eunuchs should not exceed a hundred people, and they should serve exclusively as sweepers and give orders to envoys. They should not be used as ears and eyes. Hongwu
In the 6th year, the court officials were also specially ordered to study the laws of previous generations to punish internal officials. The Ministry of Rites proposed to set up an internal chief department, with one chief and one deputy each to specifically detect the misconduct and illegal behavior of internal officials. The management was not lax.
In the 10th year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu enacted legislation to prohibit eunuchs from intervening in government affairs, and then directly stipulated that internal ministers were not allowed to read or read. In the 17th year of Hongwu, a special iron plate was engraved with the words "Eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in political affairs, and offenders will be executed" and placed in the palace.
In the middle of the gate, he also ordered the officials not to interact with the internal officials and prison officials.
At the end of Hongwu, Ming Taizu reorganized the eunuch organization, designated 12 eunuchs and various departments, and formulated the eunuchs' rank and treatment. He established 12 eunuchs and each department, and stipulated in the "Ancestor Instructions of the Emperor Ming" that eunuchs are not allowed to serve as foreign ministers.
He has a civil and military title, he is not allowed to wear official crowns or official titles, he has no official rank higher than the fourth rank, he has one meter per month and one stone, and he has food and clothing in the inner court.
As soon as Emperor Jianwen came to the throne, he followed the instructions of his ancestors and placed stricter restrictions on his internal ministers. If any eunuch violated any law when he went out, he was allowed to have a supervisor.
In short, the eunuchs have been in a state of suppression. These people have been suppressed for a long time, and of course they are unwilling to do so, so they are trying to improve their situation. When King Yan raised his army, many eunuchs secretly defected to King Yan's camp and served as
Eyes, ears and insiders. Now Wan Lei also wants to take advantage of these poor people and let them become trumpets for Shuntian Mansion.
Of course, this can be regarded as a kind of "long-term investment", the kind that does not ask for returns. In fact, whether it is a eunuch, a monk, or a noble military general, anyone who is suppressed by the court will have nothing to lose.
Lei would try his best to win over people in order to expand the "mass" base and secretly confront the imperial court. The ultimate goal was to empty out the imperial power and slowly turn the emperor into a "virtual emperor".
And when the emperor becomes a virtual king, the real monarch of the empire is no longer one person, but a group of people, a huge organization that hides behind the imperial power and controls the lifeline of the country. Wan Lei named this organization "Dragon Club".