"If I get back to Your Majesty, I will check the goods at Shanhaiguan for ten buckets of gold sand. Please make your decision!"
When Zhu Di heard this, his head was pounding.
Ten fights!
Jinsha talks about fighting clothes!
This thing was originally used to decorate royal palaces or royal gardens.
The gold paint painted on the pillars comes from this.
Zhu Di still clearly remembers that when he first built the Yingtian Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang spent a lot of money to build three main halls. The scale of Fengtian Palace is unprecedented.
It's not that the emperors who followed didn't want to build bigger ones, but they really couldn't find materials that big.
Among them, I don’t know how much gold paint was used.
When it was time to repair the palace at the back, Lao Zhu felt distressed again and could only use cheap brass to make up for it... Now Zhu Di's palace was left by his father, and he was not willing to replace it with gold paint.
One is that he is really short of money, and the other is that it is a sacred relic left by his father and he does not dare to destroy it casually.
But no matter what, it was still quite shocking to uncover a major smuggling case in Shanhaiguan and produce ten buckets of gold sand at once.
"Go and call Jian Ying, I want to ask questions."
After receiving the order, Jian Ying hurried to Peiping and met Zhu Di.
"I pay my respects to Your Majesty. Long live my Emperor."
Zhu Di looked at him and saw that Jian Ying was sixteen or seventeen years old, with delicate features and delicate eyes, giving him a hint of Jian Yi.
"Are you the son of Jian Tianguan?"
"yes!"
Zhu Di nodded, "I heard that you are not very good at studying?"
Jian Ying's face was full of bitterness, and he could only say honestly: "When I was young, my father was an official in the court and worked very hard and could not take care of the family. I was stubborn and was favored by my grandmother and mother, so I was reluctant to study hard. Later, with grace, I
Entered the Imperial College."
Zhu Di nodded, not surprised.
Ten years ago, it was still the Hongwu Dynasty. At that time, the courtiers were trembling with fear every day, fearing that they would lose their heads at any time and could not even take care of themselves. How could they bother to teach their children!
Jian Ying said that he neglected education, which was reasonable.
"In that case, how can you tell that someone is smuggling?"
Jian Ying paused and whispered: "This is not difficult. I sneak out to play. There is a wine cellar next to the Imperial College. When an empty cart comes over, the ruts are very shallow. If it is full of wine, the ruts will be very deep. This
The batches of lumber were packed in about the same size. Logically speaking, they should be about the same depth, but one of them had special ruts, so it must be pulling heavy objects, so we investigated it."
Jian Ying said it very easily, and it seems that it is not difficult.
But the problem is that the smuggling trade has started, and there is obviously a formal way, but who is smuggling it? Is it just this one, or is there someone else?
There is so much gold sand, where does it come from and where is it going?
Zhu Di was full of questions. He could only look at Xu Jingchang next to him, and Xu Jingchang turned his head to Xia Yuanji.
That's right, Lao Xia has arrived in Peiping.
Before I could rest, such a big case came out.
"Your Majesty, look at this, Jinsha must come from Liaodong."
Zhu Di rolled his eyes at him, "Of course it wasn't transported out of the pass."
Xia Yuanji was startled and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, I mean, maybe there are gold mines in Liaodong, and the amount of gold produced is large."
There is a gold mine!
Still a big gold mine!
Zhu Di's whole body was in bad condition.
Since he ascended the throne, he has faced a deficit in the treasury, and the court's financial resources cannot support his ambitions. In order to raise money, Zhu Di thought of all his ideas.
It can be said that he spared no effort in going to the West and making money from overseas.
If there were gold mines in Liaodong, wouldn't this be a windfall?
Zhu Di glanced at Xu Jingchang again, "Dong Guo, have you heard that there is gold in Liaodong?"
"I heard that the Jurchen Wanyan tribe takes gold as its national title, which means that there are many gold mines between the white mountains and black waters."
Zhu Di asked: "How many are there?"
Xu Jingchang said: "It's hard to tell this minister. We need to send someone to investigate."
Zhu Di hummed: "What are you still investigating? There is so much gold sand here, it cannot appear out of thin air. The gold mines in Liaodong must be huge. If they can be smuggled into the pass, they must have hands and eyes. Who is this person? He still needs it.
Say more?"
Who else could it be?
Xia Yuanji looked at Xu Jingchang, who was also staring at him. Both foxes knew very well that the person Zhu Di suspected must be King Zhu Zhi of Liao.
But both of them were smarter than ghosts. They lowered their heads and didn't speak.
Zhu Di stared for a long time and could only hum: "Xu Jingchang, do you know who it is?"
"Your Majesty, Jinyiwei always has as much evidence as he can say."
Zhu Di was so angry that he went to see Xia Yuanji. Lao Xia was also very straightforward and said, "Your Majesty, I just came here and I don't know the situation at the moment. I will allow you to investigate this matter carefully."
Zhu Di just rolled his eyes, you two bastards.
By the time you find out the results, it will be too late!
The most important thing is, there is so much gold, my mouth is watering. If I delay it for one day, I will lose a fortune. I can't live with money!
"You two go down first, I will personally investigate the case."
Xu Jingchang came out quickly, followed by Xia Yuanji.
"I told you, Mr. Ding, what is going on? I just came here and encountered such a big case. I was confused and my eyesight went dark."
Xu Jingchang couldn't help but sneer, "I mean, Xia Shangshu, we haven't seen each other for a while, right?"
Xia Yuanji was startled, "What does Duke Dingguo mean?"
"I mean, do you think I've become stupid? Isn't this obvious?"
Xia Yuanji said sarcastically: "Dong Guogong, I heard that all the vassal kings are studying in the school, and you are teaching them their skills. I am afraid that I will hurt my own people by saying something wrong. You should know that I have always regarded your people as my own.
My people treat.”
Xu Jingchang gave this guy a big roll of his eyes and couldn't bear it anymore.
"I say Xia Shangshu, let's not waste any more time... Tell me, at this moment, what is the most beneficial thing to do?"
Xia Yuanji said: "Then of course we should capture the King of Liao immediately and search the palace... But he is a vassal of the imperial court, so he has discovered a major smuggling case and it is difficult to deal with it. I am still hesitant."
Xu Jingchang snorted, "Xia Shangshu, I'm not stupid, but your brain is not enough... How much gold can you get if you take down the King of Liao?"
Xia Yuanji was surprised, "What does Duke Ding mean?"
Xu Jingchang directly took Xia Yuanji to his residence, made some side dishes for Lao Xia, put a pot of wine on the table, and the two of them sat across from each other.
After three glasses of wine, both of them relaxed and couldn't help but chat.
"Lao Xia, you have also arrived in Peiping. What do you think the north lacks most?"
Xia Yuanji smiled and said: "Of course there is a lack of popularity... At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the north was repeatedly devastated and many people died. They have not recovered over the years, and they encountered disasters again. The people fled to death, and they could not recover for a while.
Come."
Xu Jingchang smiled and said: "That's it. What Peiping lacks most is not gold, but popularity! We need someone to come over."
Xia Yuanji rolled his eyes and said immediately: "What do you mean? You want to use the gold mine to attract people?"
"clever!"
Xu Jingchang gave Xia Yuanji a thumbs up, "We heroes think alike!"
Xia Yuanji rolled his eyelids and suddenly said: "I'm afraid your Majesty will not agree."
Xu Jingchang nodded, "Our Majesty, when he heard that there is a gold mine, he must plan to occupy it by himself, and then dig for gold bit by bit, and every penny will go into internal funds."
Xia Yuanji thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I'm afraid the gains outweigh the losses!"
Xu Jingchang hummed: "In order to dig for gold, a lot of labor must be sent, and in order to protect the gold mines, many soldiers and horses must be arranged... After all the hard work, the gold produced may not be able to cover military expenses."
Xia Yuanji frowned. It's true. Don't think that you can get rich if you have a gold mine.
An ordinary gold mine, relying on gold panning, can produce more than 10,000 taels of gold in a year, which is considered highly productive.
But how many people need to be sent to protect this gold mine?
One hundred, two hundred, or one thousand two thousand?
"I told you, Duke Ding, what do you think you should do about this?"
Xu Jingchang said: "This is not difficult... let's just distribute the signs."
"Issuing signs? What do you mean?"
"It's very simple. It's just fifty taels of silver per brand. As long as you get the brand and go to Liaodong to pan for gold, whatever you earn is yours. Even if you can't get fifty taels, you can still get it on credit. After a year, you can return ten taels.
Just gold."
Xia Yuanji was startled and said casually: "What if they can't come back?"
"If I don't come back, I'll die in a foreign land! People die for money and birds die for food. What can I do?"
Xia Yuanji's eyes rolled around. Gold mining is a business with slow returns and high investment... The most terrible thing is that when you go deep into Liaodong, you will find Jurchen tribes all over the place. There are also many quite barbaric guys among them. They eat people without spitting out their bones. The imperial court sent soldiers there.
, that is not worth the loss.
If we follow what Xu Jingchang said, we can issue signs and let people go to Liaodong to pan for gold.
This is a matter of profit and no loss, absolutely no loss.
And it can quickly amass a sum of money.
"I told you, Duke Ding, you are such a genius, I am so humbled. Come on, let's show off!"
…
The two of them drank happily, while Zhu Di on the other side blew his beard and glared at Zhu Zhi, the king of Liao.
"You bastard, you smuggled gold sand without telling me, you want to go to heaven!"
Zhu Zhi was so aggrieved, "Your Majesty, I really don't know, my subordinates did it. I have been studying in the school."
"Have you been studying? So you knew everything about smuggling before you entered school?"
"Unjustly accused!" Zhu Zhi cried, "Your Majesty, I have never smuggled anything from beginning to end!"
Zhu Di sneered, "Well, in that case, I can't accuse you wrongly. There's no need to wait until it's turned into a school. I'll send people to raid the Liao Prince's Mansion in advance...and your subordinates, your relatives, who
Don’t even think about running away.”
Facing Zhu Di's thunderous wrath, Liao King Zhu Zhi was terrified. He pondered for a moment and had to say: "Your Majesty, I have truly never smuggled gold."
Zhu Di is about to have another attack... Zhu Zhi added: "My brother used to smuggle Dongzhu of this size."
As he spoke, he raised his hand, and his thumb and index finger formed a circle as big as a longan... Zhu Di felt a shock all over his body, it was actually so big?
"The palace doesn't even have this damn thing, so you should enjoy it first! You should immediately offer ten...twenty buckets of Dongzhu. I won't let you go if you miss one!"
After sending Zhu Zhi away, Zhu Di suddenly beamed and couldn't help being happy.
"Sister, I'm going to make you a set of pearl shirts to make you shine."
