As Lao Zhu narrated, Zhu Biao's mouth opened wider and wider.
Although I have never seen the sea, I have never seen the spectacular scene of thirty-four nets more than fifteen feet wide being dragged together by thirty-five huge warships to catch the sea.
However, Zhu Biao can imagine!
A city wall with a length of more than 500 feet was quickly moved forward from the sea under the drag of the warship.
Along the way, no big fish can escape the shackles of the net.
After going forward for dozens of miles, the huge fishing net was put away, and it was filled with plump sea fish.
At the end of the day, the fish under the net were as big as a small mountain...
The more he thought about it, the more excited Zhu Biao became.
"Father, I didn't expect that our Ming navy would have such a big harvest when fishing in the sea. The fish caught in one day can supply the rations of an army of 150,000 people for one day.
If we fish like this for a year, wouldn't it be able to supply 150,000 troops with food for a year?"
Lao Zhu laughed and said, "Biao'er, compared to chicken, duck, fish and pig meat, sea fish has more bones and spines, so it is not favored by the soldiers. However, the fourth child sells a pound of sea fish in Beiping Mansion for only fifteen cents.
We can also sell it at this price.
But even so, after putting this pound of sea fish on the market, it will cost more than six thousand taels of silver."
"If it's more than six thousand taels of silver a day, then it's more than two million taels of silver a year?"
Zhu Biao calculated and was shocked. He quickly looked at Zhu Di and said, "Father, I didn't expect fishing in the sea to be so profitable. The southeastern border of Ming Dynasty is all covered by the sea. If we send a few navy to fish in the sea again,
Then just by fishing in the sea, you can bring tens of millions of taels of silver to the Ming Dynasty's treasury?"
"Ten million taels of silver?"
Lao Zhu's eyes also turned red when Zhu Biao said, "How much is the annual tax in Ming Dynasty?"
Just fishing in the sea for one year is enough to cover half of the court's tax revenue?
"Your Majesty, your Majesty, His Highness Prince Yan of Peiping has a memorial that has been sent urgently!"
Suddenly, a chamberlain came in from the door, holding a memorial in his hand and reporting it carefully.
"King Yan?"
Lao Zhu's expression condensed, "Send it up!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The chamberlain quickly bowed and handed over the memorial in his hand.
Lao Zhu glanced at it and his expression became solemn.
"Father, what happened?" Zhu Biao asked quickly.
"See for yourself!"
Lao Zhu directly handed the memorial to Zhu Biao, and Zhu Biao was not polite and started reading it directly.
After a while, Zhu Biao couldn't help but sigh slightly, "Father, what the fourth child said makes sense. There are not endless fish in the sea. If we follow Ying Guogong's catching method, I'm afraid we can cover all the fish in the Bohai Sea in a month."
All the fish in that sea area have been caught and extinct!”
"Hmph, I think the Fourth Man wants to drive Fu Youde away as soon as possible so that Prince Yan's Mansion can send a boat to the Bohai Sea for fishing!" Lao Zhu said angrily.
"My father is wise, and I also think that the fourth child has such little thoughts."
Zhu Biao chuckled, "But it is true that Duke Ying cannot be allowed to fish in the Bohai Sea all the time. There are times when the soil in the fields is poor, and the sea is probably the same."
"Um!"
Zhu Di nodded slightly and said: "One month is enough for Fu Youde to capture almost all of the Bohai Sea.
In this way, a month later, Lieutenant General Geng Bingwen was asked to lead the navy to move south along the Bohai Sea and continue to catch marine fish!
As for Yingguo Gong Fu Youde, he went to Beiping Mansion to train various soldiers with Feng Sheng, Lan Yu and others."
"Father is wise!" Zhu Biao responded.
Except for punishing soldiers and killing Ming officials, Zhu Biao always agreed with Lao Zhu's words and rarely opposed them.
Of course, many times, except when punishing soldiers and killing Ming officials, Lao Zhu would not listen to Zhu Biao's advice, but he generally listened to Zhu Biao's suggestions.
"Then how should Shi Guo'an, the right-hand minister of Prince Yan's palace, reward him?"
Lao Zhu asked Zhu Biao again.
"Shi Guo An, the right-hand minister of Prince Yan's palace?"
Zhu Biao frowned slightly and looked at Lao Zhu doubtfully.
"Fu Youde's method of plowing nets for fishing in the Bohai Sea was proposed by Guo An!" Lao Zhu explained.
Zhu Biao suddenly realized, "So, Guo An's contribution to this fishing should be recorded!"
Lao Zhu continued to ask: "Guo An is the right-hand official of Prince Yan's palace. He is still in his weak years. We can't reward him with an official position. Biao'er, tell me, what should we reward him?"
Zhu Biao said: "Father, please remember that Guo An is very rich!"
Speaking of this, Lao Zhu's face darkened, "We don't know why Guo An is so rich? But it's fine, let's reward him with a hundred taels of silver ingots!"
Zhu Biao hesitated for a moment and then answered.
He felt that a hundred taels of silver was a bit small, but at this moment, Guo An was already a subordinate of Lao Si, and the court could not afford to reward him too much.
…
A few days later.
One hundred taels of silver appeared in front of Guo An.
"Your Majesty Guo An thanks the Emperor for his kindness!"
After getting up and looking at the fifteen white silver ingots placed on the tray in front of him, Guo An couldn't help but grin.
"Go out!"
Zhu Di curled his lips in disgust, "Just for that barbecue shop, we can give you one hundred taels of silver every month, and I've never seen you smile.
Why are you so happy now that your father only rewards you with one hundred taels of silver?"
Guo An chuckled and explained: "Your Majesty, this is the silver that your Majesty has given to the ministers. It is regarded as the royal gift of silver, and it is where our wealth lies."
"Thief official!" Zhu Di yelled angrily.
Guo An ignored it at all and said to himself: "After Wei Chen returns, he must put these fifteen pieces of silver away and keep them as enshrinements."
"..."
Zhu Di's face darkened, and he realized that he had underestimated the extent of Guo An's greed for money.
However, the silver gifted by the emperor should be well preserved.
Thinking about this, Zhu Di couldn't help but think of the rumors he had heard in the past few days, and asked directly: "Guo Qing, we heard in the past few days that you actually asked several cobblers from the Gongzheng Institute to use salt, pig pancreas soap, and...
Wash the wool with onions, ginger and garlic to wash away the smell of mutton?"
"Your Highness, but someone made a complaint in front of Your Highness?"
Guo An asked subconsciously.
Zhu Di's eyelids twitched, "You actually let the cobbler wash the wool with salt, pig pancreatic soap, and onion, ginger, and garlic to wash away the sheep's smell. Such a waste of food, it's good if no one hits you behind the back with a black stick.
Now, no one is allowed to file a complaint against me?"
Guo An was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that Zhu Di was coming to investigate, and he suddenly looked aggrieved.
"Your Highness, I used my own money to conduct this experiment, but it was all out of public interest!"
"oh?"
Zhu Di asked curiously, "Tell us, we want to hear it. How can you make sense of your waste of food?"
"Your Highness, if the sheep's smell on the wool was washed away, how much convenience would the wool bring to Beiping Prefecture, and even the entire Ming Dynasty?"
Guo An asked.
"The wool doesn't have the slightest bit of mutton smell on it?" Zhu Di said in surprise.
"Yes!" Guo An nodded affirmatively.
"Is this really possible?" Zhu Di looked unbelieving.
Wool is white, soft, and very warm. Like cotton, it is used to keep out the cold.
However, wool has a strong sheep smell, which is extremely unpleasant.
Since ancient times, countless craftsmen have tried to remove the sheep's smell from wool. Until now, no matter how many times the wool is washed and dried, there will still be an unpleasant sheep's smell on the wool that cannot be removed.
Although now, there are also some craftsmen who make wool into clothing, blankets, etc.
However, over time, the sheep's smell on the wool will taint some of the sheep's smell on people.
Therefore, only some poor households or people in the mountains can use wool.
Guo An explained unhurriedly: "Your Highness, you didn't believe that you could fish in the sea and the speed of iron smelting couldn't be increased before. So what happens now?"
Zhu Di's eyes lit up, "Is this really possible?"
Guo An said helplessly: "The courtyard where wool is tested is not too far away. Why don't Your Highness go and have a look?"
"Walk!"
Zhu Di turned around and walked out.
"Your Highness..."
Guo An didn't expect Zhu Di to be so impatient. He looked up and looked around, then directly put the one hundred taels of silver in his hand into the hands of a pleasant little chamberlain standing aside, and said viciously.
"This is the silver given by His Majesty. You have to take good care of it and wait until I come back to get it before the value is gone. If you lose it, you will have committed a serious crime!"
The chamberlain was stunned, and quickly assured him with a solemn expression: "Please rest assured, Guo Changshi, I will definitely take good care of this silver!"
"Very good!"
Guo An nodded with satisfaction and prepared to chase Zhu Di.
However, he soon remembered something, turned around again, stared at the chamberlain and asked: "What is your name, and why do I think you are so unfamiliar to me?"
The young chamberlain quickly replied: "For the record, Guo Changshi, the villain's name is Ma He, and he has just entered Prince Yan's Mansion not long ago!"
"Ma He?"
Guo An was stunned for a moment, feeling that the name was somewhat familiar, but now Zhu Di was nowhere to be seen, so Guo An didn't think much about it.
"I remember you, be sure to take good care of my money!"
After saying that, he ran straight out, leaving Ma and the little eunuch confused.
After Guo An caught up with Zhu Di, he said: "Your Highness, I will give the one hundred taels of silver rewarded by Your Majesty to a young eunuch named Ma He in Your Majesty's palace for safekeeping!"
"Your Highness, there is a young chamberlain named Ma He in your palace, right?"
"How can we remember their names for a mere servant?" Zhu Di said nonchalantly.
"No, your highness will wait for Wei Chen for a moment. Maybe that little chamberlain wants to defraud Wei Chen of the royal gift of silver. Wei Chen has to go back and confirm again!"
Guo An shouted and turned around to run back.
"stop!"
Zhu Di's face turned dark.
"Your Highness? Weichen is a royal gift of one hundred taels of silver. It is Weichen's wealth and cannot be lost!" Guo An said anxiously.
Zhu Di said slowly: "We remember the horse and this person!"
"ah?"
Guo An was stunned and laughed dryly: "So His Highness knows this person!"
Zhu Di explained casually: "This man is from Yunnan. It turns out that he is the son of a Maharani from the Yuan Dynasty. A few years ago, his father sent Fu Youde, Lan Yu and others to lead an army of 300,000 to pacify Yunnan.
Ma He was captured by Lan Yu and castrated. He worked as a show boy in the army and followed the army back to Yingtian Mansion before he was able to enter the palace.
This time, Lan Yu brought him to Beiping Mansion again and sent him to the mansion. Seeing that he was smart and knew some words, we accepted him and served him in the front hall!"
"Xiu Tong?"
Hearing this, Guo An's face changed slightly.
Although few people use Xiu Tong in the military, it is not unheard of.
That Lan Yu is indeed cruel and uses all possible means!
"Then Ma He is also a pathetic person!"
Zhu Di shook his head slightly and said quietly: "It is his luck to survive!"
"Too……"
Guo An replied casually and didn't reply again.
He still couldn't accept what happened to Ma and the little eunuch, but he still looked at the little eunuch...
However, just as the two of them were talking, the two of them had already arrived outside the house where the cobbler of Gongzhengsuo lived.
Before they entered, Guo An and Zhu Di heard a burst of excited cheers.
“There really isn’t any sheep smell anymore!”
"Everyone, take a whiff. There is no smell of mutton at all!"
"Hahaha, I'm waiting for success!"
"Quickly, go and tell Guo Changshi and His Highness the King of Yan. Guo Changshi said that as long as we can completely eliminate the sheep smell from the wool, it will be a great achievement, and His Highness the King of Yan will definitely reward us!
"
"It's true, it's true, the rewards of the blacksmiths in Shangzhuang Village have already made us envious..."
"Go together, go together..."
Outside the courtyard, listening to the words of these cobblers, Zhu Di slowly looked at Guo An, his face turned dark. When did he agree to reward these cobblers heavily?
However, Guo An looked indifferent.
"Your Highness, please!"
"snort!"
Zhu Di glared at Guo An and prepared to go in.
"Your Highness?"
"Guo Changshi?"
"I have met His Highness King Yan and Guo Changshi!"
"I have met His Highness King Yan and Guo Changshi..."
By chance, cobblers Yin Jian, Shang Feng and others ran out from inside with excited faces.
Seeing Zhu Di with a strange look on his face, and Guo An beside him, their expressions froze in place.
"Everyone get up!"
Zhu Di said quietly and walked in by himself.
Yin Jian, Shang Feng and others quickly got up to follow.
In the courtyard, there were still those dustpans of wool, but the wool now looked whiter and softer than what Guo An had seen before.
"As you just said, this wool has completely lost the smell of sheep?"
Zhu Di asked casually, and before Yin Jian and Shang Feng could reply, he was already walking towards the dustpans of wool.
Then, he picked up a bunch, put it under his nose, and smelled it.
"Your Highness?"
Seeing this, the expressions of Yin Jian, Shang Feng and other cobblers changed greatly.
Sure enough, Zhu Di frowned and quickly threw down the ball of wool.
"Your Highness, only the two groups of wool on the rightmost side have no sheep smell, and the rest of the wool still has some sheep smell!"
Yin Jian said quickly.
Zhu Di didn't reply, but walked to the wool on the far right, picked it up and smelled it with his hand, and was stunned.
Then, he sniffed hard again, his eyes full of surprise.
"Your Highness, you really don't smell like sheep anymore?"
Guo An sniffed tentatively, then quickly picked up the wool and smelled it hard. There was no sheep smell at all!
His face suddenly became overjoyed, "It really doesn't smell like sheep anymore!"
Immediately, he picked up the wool on the dustpan next to him again and smelled it. There was no sheep smell, and then he looked at Yin Jian, Shang Feng and others.