In the Changfeng Tea House, Zheng Tongquan sighed and told the story of how he was forced to donate 500 thousand-stone cargo ships and 500,000 guan to the imperial court.
Hu Yun smiled slightly and said: "This kind of flat-bottomed cargo ship is easy to build and can be seen everywhere. There are at least tens of thousands of ships owned by the court and civilians, and there are thousands of ships in Sichuan and Shaanxi. They are like a flock of sheep. They can be seen when encountering warships.
The fate of being slaughtered, His Highness King Yong values the ten thousand stone ships. He said that the ten thousand stone ships are important strategic weapons and are hard-won. Hundreds of thousand stone cargo ships are nothing. Don't take it seriously, Mr. Zheng."
Zheng Tongquan sighed and said: "You're right. Ten thousand stone sea ships are indeed hard to come by. The selection of materials for the keel alone is very particular. It takes hundreds of years of dense trees and takes five years to make. One keel alone is worth something."
Two to three thousand strings, His Highness King Yong is absolutely right, it is an important strategic weapon."
"We have sent people to various ports to promote it. I wonder if it will be effective?"
Zheng Tongquan shook his head, "It will have a little effect, but the effect will not be too big. As far as I know, almost all maritime merchants have old ships. They may avoid this disaster by dumping the old ships and hiding the new ones.
It’s not what the special envoy said about moving the family to Quanzhou.”
"Why don't you want to move to Quanzhou?"
Zheng Tongquan explained: "I can move to Quanzhou because my son is the governor of the capital on Sichuan Road. I know that the Western Army will not make things difficult for me, but others will not think so. They will definitely worry about whether it is a sheep to sail the ship to Quanzhou."
Entering the tiger's mouth?
Moreover, a large amount of their wealth has been exchanged for real estate and land. If they run away, the real estate and land will definitely be confiscated by the government. If their boats and money are taken away by the Western Army, they will have nothing."
"So they will actively cooperate with the government?"
"It must be like this, hand over some of the old ships and keep the new ships for yourself. Some maritime merchants have made enough and hand over the ships in exchange for honorary officers and the like. Then they will enjoy the rest of their lives comfortably. Like I know
The Yu family has fifty ships. Ever since Yu Wanfeng’s second son died at the hands of the pirate Zheng Guang, Yu Wanfeng wanted to give up maritime business and turn to an official career. At this time, if the imperial court is willing to give him an official position
If he wants to fulfill his duties, he will definitely dedicate his ship."
Only then did Hu Yun realize that he had thought things over simply before, but Dong An's words, "A monk can run away, but he can't run away from a temple" were right to the point. Each of these maritime merchants has a net worth of millions. Will they abandon their family property for a few ships?
?
Of course it is impossible. If the imperial court trades official positions with them for ships, it is very likely to succeed. They want fame and status, and the imperial court wants ships. This is indeed an exchange that satisfies both parties.
I think of maritime merchants too simply. I always feel that they regard ships as their lives. In fact, this may not be the case!
Zheng Tongquan left. Seeing that Hu Yun was deep in thought, Dong An advised: "We not only have the front hand, but also the back hand. If the front hand fails, then use the back hand. In fact, it is the same."
Hu Yun sighed and said: "The front hand has a very wide coverage. If successful, it can defend more than 80% of the ships. Although the back hand is effective, the coverage is not wide enough. It will be good to capture three. I can't explain it to His Highness King Yong.
ah!"
Dong An also advised: "Let's try our best! King Yong will understand us. After all, these maritime merchants are not under our control."
At this time, Lord Bo Yang Jingzhi came from outside and said: "Special envoy, I know that Xu Xiantu, the minister of the Privy Council, just sent someone to deliver a document!"
Yang Jingzhi handed the document to Hu Yun. Hu Yun took the letter and looked at it carefully. It was an official document issued by the Zhengshitang. It had the seal of the Zhongshu family on it, requiring both parties to continue negotiations on the status of Bianliang. The negotiations ended from the second round.
as a starting point to restart the third round of negotiations.
Their first two rounds of negotiations were good, but from the third round, Qin Hui began to take the lead and forcibly added the clause of returning Jiangling Prefecture and Ezhou, making it impossible for the negotiations to continue.
Now this official document vetoes Qin Hui's third round of conditions, starting from the end of the second round, making a big circle and going back to the starting point.
Of course Hu Yun could not make the decision, so he immediately sent the news of the imperial court's request to continue negotiations to Jingzhao via pigeon letter.
.........
It has been ten days since Chen Qing returned to Jingzhao. During this period, he transformed into a farmer for an hour every day, carefully tending his corn and pumpkins. The corns grew rapidly, reaching five feet high, and the pumpkin seedlings also climbed up.
The wall was covered with plump melon leaves, and just this morning, the first golden pumpkin flower bloomed quietly, which really surprised Chen Qing.
"You two little guys, remember, you must not pick this yellow flower. If you pick it, you won't be able to grow melons. Do you understand?"
Chen Qingsheng was afraid that his two naughty daughters would pick his pumpkin flowers, so he specially brought the two little guys to teach him a lesson.
The two little guys nodded together, and Chen Qing sighed inwardly. Knowing that they didn't listen, he simply opened the leaf, revealing the golden flowers under the leaf.
"Ah! So beautiful!" The two little guys exclaimed at the same time.
"Listen up, you two. After this flower withers, a finger-sized melon will grow on the flower stem, and then it will grow slowly. It will grow into a big pumpkin in autumn, and you can eat it when it falls.
It’s time to steam the pumpkin. Didn’t you like it very much last time? If you want to eat sweet pumpkin, you can’t pick the flowers.”
The two young ladies clapped their hands with joy, and now they really listened.
Aunt Wen smiled at the side and said: "Master, there is actually more than one flower. When it was dark, I saw seven or eight flowers. This one should be a female flower, just like the winter melon."
"How do you know it's a female flower?" Chen Qing asked in confusion.
"There is a button under the female flower. This flower has a button under it. That is the female flower. It is easy to identify."
Chen Qing nodded and asked, "Can the aunt know how to pollinate?"
"When it's dark, pick off the male flowers and pour the pollen into the female flowers. The master said last time that I can do it. I originally wanted to find a box of bees, but I don't need it at all."
Chen Qing saw that the two young ladies listened seriously, so he patted their little faces and said with a smile: "Let's go! Daddy will take you to catch grasshoppers."
When the two little ladies heard about catching grasshoppers, they jumped up and down with joy and ran to the grassland by the lake.
.......
After playing with the children for half an hour and catching five or six grasshoppers, Chen Qing set off for the official office. It was noon time and the officials could rest for most of an hour and have lunch at a nearby restaurant or teahouse.
After chatting for a while, it was time to go back and continue working.
Chen Qing had just sat down when he returned to the official room. The afternoon bell rang, and the clerks and clerks began to get nervous and busy again.
At this time, Wei Ji brought in a document and presented it to Chen Qing, "Your Highness, this is an urgent pigeon message from Lin'an that was just received at noon."
Chen Qing took the copy and read it briefly. There were two contents in the letter. One was that the court requested renegotiation, gave up the unreasonable demands of Jiangling Prefecture and Ezhou, continued the original negotiation, and exchanged Bianliang's conditions for Jinghunan.
The recognition of the road.
The second content is that the emperor appointed Han Shizhong as the commander-in-chief of the navy, began to prepare for the establishment of the navy, and began to comprehensively recruit ships. It was difficult for them to stop it, and they could only partially stop it.
Chen Qing nodded and said, "Reply the letter!"
Wei Ji immediately took out a pen and paper and stood in front of the recording table. Chen Qing said slowly: "We will add one more item to the negotiation, requiring recognition of our ownership of Xiangzhou at the same time. Bianliang's concessions remain unchanged. Secondly, the matter of sea ships."
, try your best.”
Chen Qing also knew how difficult it was to stop a sea-going ship, and he did not force his men to do things they were unable to do.
