Now that Zhu Yuanzhang decided to go out on inspection, he began to take action.
He followed the canal from Yingtian to the north, from the land to Yanjing Mansion, and then walked all the way west.
Zhu Yuanzhang has never been to the north since he conquered the huge territory in the north. He has always hoped to achieve a balance between the north and the south. However, due to the high altitude of Dingying, the north is slightly weaker than the south in terms of economy and politics.
It's not that Zhu Yuanzhang devoted less effort to the north, but because most of the officials in the court today are from the south, and the country's rural atmosphere is very heavy, everyone will be more helpful to the fellow villagers, which also leads to the north It has always been suppressed by the south.
Zhu Yuanzhang went north first on this trip to give the north a shot in the arm and let them know that the north was equally important in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.
Li Wenzhong, who returned from the Qar Khanate in the west, was in Yanjing at this time. He originally wanted to return directly from Qar Khan to Yingtian, but now he had to stop in Yanjing because Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying were coming.
This...is not bad.
Li Wenzhong is Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew. His father Li Zhen is now farming in Yingtian Emperor City. He lived a very comfortable life as a child. Li Wenzhong knew that his father was healthy and safe, so he didn't miss him too much. On the contrary, Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying let Li Wenzhong It adds a lot of concern, not that Li Wenzhong is unfilial, or that he is snobbish and flatters Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying just because of their special status, but that Li Wenzhong is able to achieve what he is today, in large part because of Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying.
Before meeting Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying, Li Wenzhong had been fleeing from famine with Li Zhen. If they had not known about Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying's fortune, they would not have had a way to survive. After defecting to Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Zhen was sent to the logistics by Zhu Yuanzhang to be responsible for military supplies. , and Li Wenzhong was personally trained by Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying. His achievements today are all due to the contributions of Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying.
Since Li Wenzhong came to the Ming Dynasty's Western Front battlefield and stayed there for two and a half years, he has long been eager to return. Now that he can see Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying in Yanjing, Li Wenzhong is very excited. After learning that Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying When Ma Xiuying's car was about to arrive, he took ten of his soldiers and ran for seventy miles to meet them.
As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying arrived at Tong County, they heard the news that Li Wenzhong was coming to greet them. They were happy and distressed at the same time. Looking at Li Wenzhong's tired appearance, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but said: "You boy, you will be waiting for me honestly." Can't we just do it? Why are we traveling so far?"
"Hey, foster father."
Li Wenzhong chuckled, touched his head and said, "I missed my mother, so I ran over here."
The mother Li Wenzhong mentioned was Ma Xiuying.
How could Zhu Yuanzhang not know that the relationship between his adopted sons and Ma Xiuying was very deep, which made Zhu Yuanzhang envious and jealous.
Seeing Li Wenzhong's silly smile, Zhu Yuanzhang knocked Li Wenzhong on the head: "You bastard, you only miss your mother but don't think about us? Go, go... don't bother us in front of you."
Zhu Yuanzhang was disgusted and drove Li Wenzhong to see Ma Xiuying. Li Wenzhong laughed and said goodbye to Zhu Yuanzhang, and then ran to the carriage behind to see Ma Xiuying.
Ma Xiuying was also very happy to see Li Wenzhong. While asking the maid to make tea for Li Wenzhong, she looked at Li Wenzhong up and down and kept saying: "I have lost weight and become darker... The past two years on the Western Front have been hard on us."
You have to protect your child."
"Mom, it's not hard, I'm in high spirits now."
Li Wenzhong said with a smile, clenching his fists: "I can kill a cow now! If anyone dares to bully my mother in the future, we will lead our brothers and beat their house to pieces!"
Ma Xiuying was not angry after listening to Li Wenzhong's words. She smiled and asked Li Wenzhong how he had been on the Western Front for more than two years, how his life was, and whether there were women around him to take care of him. When she heard that Li Wenzhong had found several foreign women, and
After giving birth to the child, she couldn't help but sigh: "You have all been corrupted by the Qiwu Cult. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing."
Because of Zhu Han, it seems to have become a trend to find foreign women as concubines, and she is proud of finding foreign beauties. Ma Xiuying can't say whether it is good or bad, but according to Zhu Yuanzhang, it seems that looking for foreign women... is very important to the Ming Dynasty.
What are the benefits, and what can be said to help foreigners better integrate into the Ming Dynasty.
When she heard Zhu Yuanzhang's explanation before, Ma Xiuying didn't think anything was wrong, but seeing Li Wenzhong's appearance and thinking about what she had seen and heard along the way, Ma Xiuying also knew that what Zhu Yuanzhang said was just for her own benefit.
The properties of cesium skin are just an excuse.
It seems that all men in the world have the same virtue!
Ma Xiuying was too lazy to argue with Li Wenzhong about how many women he had found. She just told him not to forget to visit Li Zhen when he got home. Although he was living a good life, his only relative Li Wenzhong had been fighting outside for many years. Li Zhen's
I still feel very lonely inside.
Li Wenzhong nodded to express that he knew, and Ma Xiuying did not keep him much longer. After a few instructions, he asked Li Wenzhong to go to Zhu Yuanzhang. The elders must have a lot to say, such as family and country affairs, such as finding foreign women... Although Ma Xiuying knew that,
Those foreign women won't threaten my status, but they still feel a bit strange.
In front of Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Wenzhong was still a junior, so he naturally did not talk too much about men and women. He talked more about national affairs, such as the management strategies for the grasslands, Liaodong, and the Western Region.
Zhu Yuanzhang told Li Wenzhong the concept of 'building a corps' proposed by Zhu Han. After hearing this, Li Wenzhong's eyes lit up: "Father, this idea proposed by Uncle Qiwu is really wonderful! Liaodong and the grassland, the western border,
Different from the situation in each province, the biggest difference is that this place is relatively large. If Liaodong, Grassland and Western Front are divided into three provinces, we can establish a construction corps and incorporate local people into the construction corps.
, jointly develop these three places.”
When doing things, Zhu Han basically just proposed a concept, and how to implement it was a matter for Zhu Yuanzhang and his ministers. Zhu Yuanzhang sat in the court and had an overview of the overall situation. The specific implementation steps were still up to court officials and local officials, while Li Wenzhong just
He is a typical local official who is familiar with the local situation and knows the crux of the problem in each place.
Li Wenzhong said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Father, the people north of the Great Wall, most of the tribes, even if there are Han people, have basically been assimilated by the local tribes. Now they are under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty. Because there are many incomprehensible places in the culture
, coupled with the language barrier, their integration into the Ming Dynasty has become very slow. If they can be incorporated into the construction corps and let them work together with the Han people and get paid, they will surely be able to integrate into the Ming Dynasty faster."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard Li Wenzhong's words, he couldn't help but frowned: "What's going on? We have been allocating money to the north these years, and we have also made a lot of supplements to our policies. Why are they still separated from our Ming Dynasty? Could it be that they are still missing us?
The former Dayuan?"
Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Li Wenzhong couldn't help laughing: "Father, what's so good about Dayuan? These people are willing to integrate into the Ming Dynasty, but the speed is very slow. Foster, the business in the north is not as profitable as overseas trade, nor is it
The Silk Road makes money, and more of the money you invest in the north is spent on the Silk Road. Now the Qar Khanate where I am is more prosperous than the grasslands and Liaodong."
"..."
When Li Wenzhong explained this, Zhu Yuanzhang was immediately speechless. What Zhu Han had told him came to mind: commerce was only a driving force for the development of the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty was to advance as a whole, it had to rely on the leadership of the court and the investment of the treasury.
.
Overseas and the Western Region of the Ming Dynasty are two hot spots, where the most money can be made. All money will naturally gather in these two places. As for other places that are a little slower, they will be turned a blind eye by many people.
Stimulate domestic demand and inward investment.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought about Zhu Han's reminder to him, and then thought about the actual situation that Li Wenzhong told him, and couldn't help but nodded: "Well, Baoer, you are right, the construction corps must be deployed in Liaodong and the grassland... We are here
Just write to Qiwu and ask him to organize and implement this matter."
…
When Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Wenzhong were talking about Liaodong and the development of the grasslands, there were three people in Yingtian who were also talking about the same thing.
Zhu Han, Zhu Biao, and Shen Wansan, who has been living in Suzhou and is now invited by Zhu Han to Yingtian.
Zhu Han heard Zhu Yuanzhang say that although Shen Wansan also invested in overseas businesses, he focused more on the local rural areas. He spent a lot of money on this and engaged in breeding in various provinces.
Flying in the sky, swimming in the water, running on the ground, anything that had anything to do with poultry, Shen Wansan was doing it.
Zhu Han can see Shen Wansan's profit points from Shen Wansan's investment.
This guy is really very stable in his business.
Unlike the Zhou family in Hangzhou, Shen Wansan made his fortune earlier. He had already accumulated a lot of wealth, so he didn't need to take any more risky investments. As long as he started investing in the four aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation, Shen Wansan's wealth would snowball.
Roll higher and higher.
After Zhu Han learned about Shen Wansan's layout, he couldn't help but sigh that he was really a born businessman. His shrewdness lay in grasping the future situation, rather than worrying about the gains and losses of one moment and one place. It was for this reason that Zhu Han called Shen Wansan over.
.
Because Zhu Han had a good relationship with the Zhou family in Hangzhou, Shen Wansan didn't have much contact with Zhu Han. He was more with Zhu Yuanzhang. For example, he invested in the breeding industry in various provinces. On the one hand, he was interested in this industry.
Shen Wansan knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was very concerned about the people's clothing, food, housing and transportation, so Shen Wansan first worked hard on "eating", and he really won Zhu Yuanzhang's favor.
As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang left Yingtian Mansion, Zhu Han and Zhu Biao called Shen Wansan to the palace. This really made Shen Wansan a little uneasy, but after hearing Zhu Han's request to him, Shen Wansan couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief: "The King of England
Your Highness, are you saying...leave Liaodong and the grasslands to me for development and investment?"
"Not just you, but also the court."
Zhu Han told Shen Wansan about the establishment of the Construction Corps, and then said: "You can develop together. I only want the brand-new grassland and Liaodong. If Boss Shen, you are willing to invest in the grassland and Liaodong, His Highness the Prince will, based on your investment amount, It is not impossible to provide you with relevant policy support, such as tax rebates or tax exemptions."
As long as Shen Wansan is willing to invest, Zhu Han will provide him with some policy support based on his investment amount. Of course, this policy is not just for Shen Wansan. If other people want to invest, it is not impossible. But it still depends on the amount of investment.
When Shen Wansan heard Zhu Han's words, he was also thinking about the pros and cons. After thinking for a long time, Shen Wansan asked Zhu Han: "Your Majesty, how about this tax? Shen is willing to pay it. After all, the treasury has collected the tax." , In the end, we still have to support the people. I heard that His Royal Highness has a building material called 'cement' in his hands, right?"
When Zhu Han heard Shen Wansan's question, he was startled for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, Boss Shen wants cement?"
"Yes, I want it."
Shen Wansan looked at Zhu Han, and then said: "I only want the agency rights of Liaodong and Grassland, and in these two places, I can only sell cement. If His Royal Highness is willing, Shen is willing to spend all his wealth , the annual investment in these two places is no less than 100 million silver coins."
"..."
One hundred million silver coins per year is just an investment in the grassland and Liaodong.
You know, Shen Wansan also has businesses all over the country, and these businesses also require investment.
How much money did Shen Wansan earn during the warlord war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty?
Even Zhu Biao couldn't help but feel dumbfounded when he heard the figures proposed by Shen Wansan.
One hundred million silver coins is equivalent to the net income of the treasury for three years... What we are talking about here is net income. Although the treasury can collect a lot of money every year, the Ming Dynasty is engaged in construction everywhere and needs money everywhere. The net income of RMB 10,000 is already very high.
Zhu Han listened to the conditions proposed by Shen Wansan, thought about it and agreed: "I can agree to you, but... how many years are you prepared to invest in these two places?"
"ten years!"
Shen Wansan gritted his teeth and expressed the greatest value in his heart: "Your Royal Highness, wealth and silk are very attractive. In one year, I can change Liaodong and the grassland."
Zhu Han did not listen to Shen Wansan's promise and just asked him: "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to invest in the grasslands and south of Liaodong, where I can generate the fastest profits."
After Shen Wansan finished speaking, he smiled bitterly and said: "Your Royal Highness, Your Highness the Crown Prince, I promise to invest 100 million silver coins... This is already my limit. If I cannot get my money back in time, my promise can only be maintained for three years. time...Of course, if His Highness can allow me to raise funds from the private sector, and I promise to borrow money from the private sector at high interest rates, maybe my investment in the grassland and Liaodong will be even greater."
Private lending?
When Zhu Han heard Shen Wansan's words, he couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.
He was certain that Shen Wansan did not travel from a later life, but he was able to talk about private loans, which was enough to prove that he was a business wizard.
However, private lending is not a trivial matter, and it can easily cause trouble if not handled properly.
Zhu Biao on the side heard Shen Wansan's words and couldn't help but think: If the money from the treasury is lent to Shen Wansan, will the high interest rate alone be able to bring a large amount of money to the treasury?