The auction downstairs was in full swing, Eunuch Luo's loud voice kept rising, and the fifty-four first-level agent qualifications were turning into white silver coins one by one, flowing into the warehouses of the Ming Dynasty Treasury and the Royal East China Sea Company.
"Take three from the imperial court and seven from the East China Sea." This is the tone set by Zhu Shou.
If this money is not given to the court, I am afraid it will not pass the test of Li Dongyang. For Zhu Shou, Li Shoufu's role is no less than that of Liu Jin.
"Liu Jin is a good helper, but he is just a slave." This was the comment given by the Empress Dowager Zhang to Liu Jin. The implication was that the court's political situation still needed civil servants like Li Dongyang to play a good role.
After Empress Dowager Zhang reminded her from time to time, Zhu Shou had gradually figured out the ways of the emperor's profession.
"Bizhen, I will appoint you as the supervisor eunuch of the Longjiang Treasure Shipyard," Zhu Shou stared at a middle-aged eunuch in front of him and said slowly, "Build me more ships, the better. If you can build the treasure ship of the Three Treasures Eunuch, I will
Don’t hesitate to reward me.”
The middle-aged eunuch was none other than the eunuch Bizhen, one of Liu Jin's right-hand men.
"You are also an old man from the East Palace," Zhu Shou continued, "I have made it clear that you can make money, but I will always keep an eye on the ships of the East China Sea Company, especially those with more than 2,000 yuan, if one of them fails to meet the deadline.
If you do it, I will cut off one of your hands; if you destroy a ship at sea for no reason, I will cut off one of your legs, and you can calculate for yourself how many hands and feet you can use to atone for your sin."
The shipbuilding plan of Longjiang Bao Shipyard was strictly stipulated in the "Articles of Association of the Royal East China Sea Company". According to Zhu Shou's urgent needs, he originally wanted to build two merchant ships and two warships of the 2,000-grade material in one month.
But according to several old craftsmen, today's treasure shipyard has long been filled with silt and the craftsmen have been scattered. Starting from the Hongzhi period, it took only half a year to build a ship worth two thousand materials, which is not even as good as some private companies in Tongzhou and Hangzhou.
dock.
"I have money!" Zhu Shou, who had earned a large sum of money from the auction, decreed with great wealth, "Make Wang Wei the eunuch of Longjiang Bao Shipyard, and build me a ship in a month."
"Your Majesty, does the treasure shipyard listen to the old slave or the admiral Wang?" Bizhen looked sad. He just spent money last month to get a good job as a guard eunuch in Shandong from Liu Jin. He didn't think about it yet.
As soon as he set off, he was kicked by the emperor and sent to Nanjing.
Who is Wang Wei? After the Eight Tigers, he is the emperor's most trusted Wang Banban.
Yes, who did you listen to? After Zhu Shou issued the imperial edict, he found that he had settled two hills in Longjiang Bao Shipyard. After all, he really had his own group of forces, and Wang Wei was not bad either.
"You can discuss it later." The emperor could not change his will at will, so Zhu Shou irresponsibly threw the problem to his subordinates, allowing the two men to supervise each other.
One mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, except one male and one female.
Forget it, life is more important. The cunning and cunning Bizhen has made up his mind to do nothing and leave everything to Wang Wei. If he wants to turn around, just let him go. There is no way that the emperor can kill Wang Banban?
Zhang Yong looked on with resentment, but did not dare to express his anger. On the contrary, Admiral Gu Da of the West Factory, who had just arrived, smiled at the corner of his mouth and seemed not to care at all about Liu Jin's expansion of power.
"Lao Gu, why didn't you say a word?" Zhang Yong caught Gu Dayong and asked when he was going to the toilet.
Gu Dayong spat: "What can you say?"
Zhang Yong said angrily: "Then let Liu Jin sit on our heads and shit."
Gu Dayong laughed softly and said: "Back then, I filled the urinal for Liu Jin, and Luo Xiang also wiped Boss Liu's boots. When you broke your leg, Boss Liu took care of you for several days."
"That's the same truth," Zhang Yong thought for a while and smiled relievedly, "How about lifting Gao Feng again?"
Both of these two people are among the Eight Tigers, elites among the tens of thousands of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, and top eunuchs. Gu Dayong’s words are very clear: For power, let alone personal relationships, it is just a favor, which is also a matter of abandonment.
Just throw it away…
He, Gu Dayong, had been Liu Jin's staunch brother back then, but since he was promoted to the governor of Xichang, Liu Jin's words were equivalent to farts for Governor Gu.
The same goes for Luo Xiang. After he was promoted to the chairman of the board of directors of Donghai Company, when he saw Boss Liu, he no longer looked like a little daughter-in-law. Sometimes he even tried to make Boss Liu look bad. Among the eunuchs, he even gathered a group of himself.
His brothers, such as Shang Zhong and others, were all brought to Donghai Company, and as for his subordinate eunuchs, there were countless others.
And Zhang Yong himself is undoubtedly the best example of a benefactor turning into an enemy.
"Little ancestor, you have really grown up." Gu Dayong sighed softly and ended the conversation between the two.
Since more than a month ago, the emperor has launched many measures to make the Eight Tigers exhausted. As the eight most trusted people of Emperor Zhengde, they have not had a peaceful sleep these days.
The place where Zhu Shou is located is on the third floor of Fengwu Building. There is a very large hall here, which is extremely elegantly decorated. The ancient painting vases used for decoration are extraordinary at first sight.
There were fine Longjing teas on the tables in the hall, but no one went to drink them because everyone, except the emperor, was either standing or kneeling.
Standing are the eunuch bosses, factory guards, and eunuch palace maids.
Kneeling, in addition to the two new leaders of Longjiang Bao Shipyard, there were more than thirty fat-bellied businessmen, the most conspicuous of whom were the Han brothers.
Han Bangjing knelt on the ground, not daring to express his anger. He was only an eighteen-year-old young man, and now he was summoned to be honored. Apart from the glory, he was even more frightened.
Similar to him, there were also those businessmen. One big fat man even put his belly on the ground, almost lying on his stomach instead of kneeling. There was a pool of sweat under his body and he didn't dare to wipe it off.
In front of the emperor, these local tyrants and bullies, who each had great power, were as obedient as harmless little rabbits.
"I have always loved my people as my children," Zhu Shou said slowly according to the script Li Dongyang's chief assistant prepared for him, "You are all my people, and those with colored diamond qualifications can join the board of directors of Donghai Company.
That's the officials of the court, the state owns the law, you can negotiate an entry price."
According to the "Articles of Association of the Royal East China Sea Company", colored diamonds are divided into seven types, corresponding to the seven regions of the Ming Dynasty:
Huang Diamond: It is affiliated to the Donghai Corporation, with two branches under its jurisdiction, stationed in Jingshi and Yizhou respectively, and its ports are Weihaiwei and Penghuwei (later known as Penghu Island).
Yellow is a royal color, so it cannot be used for civilian use and can only be installed on Donghai Company's own fleet.
At the same time, the two ports of Weihai and Penghu cannot dock civilian ships. In Zhu Shou's plan, they will be the birthplaces of the southern and northern navies of the Ming Dynasty.
But these are all things for later. Now there are no warships, no navy, and no military academy. These two ports are used as the exclusive ports of the East China Sea Company, and they can also control other civilian ports.
According to the geographical location, the next one is Zizuan, who is in charge of Northern Zhili and Liaodong Dusi, and the ports opened are Dagu and Jinzhou Zhongzuo Suo (that is, Lushun in later generations).
Both ports have branches of the Donghai Company, as well as the imperial shipping department. One is responsible for collecting internal profits, and the other is responsible for collecting the pitiful commercial taxes.
Merchants who have obtained Purple Diamond qualifications can transport their goods to these two regions for sale, but cross-selling between regions is prohibited.
This article has been enthusiastically supported by the majority of smuggling groups. After all, both sides suffer in a price war.
The qualifications for purple diamonds are reviewed once a year. The municipal shipping companies in various places will determine the membership dues for the next year based on the tax payment situation. If anyone does not meet the tax payment conditions, the qualifications for colored diamonds will be revoked. For example, in Dagukou, the tax is one per year.
Only a total trade volume of 10,000 taels, equivalent to 300,000 taels, can qualify for colored diamonds in the next year...
Zhu Shou thought about this for two days before he came up with a good way to deal with tax evasion.
For Zhu Shou, obtaining bleaching rewards from merchants was one aspect, but more importantly, it was to use merchants to support war and build a strong fleet for the Ming Dynasty.
Green Diamond was targeting Shandong, and the ports it opened were Dengzhou and Lingshanwei (later Qingdao).
Black Diamond is in southern Zhili and has four ports: Haizhou, Tongzhou (i.e. Nantong), Taicang and Jinshan.
White Diamond is in Zhejiang, with three ports: Hangzhou, Haimen (ie Taizhou) and Wenzhou.
Red Diamond is in Fujian, with four ports: Funing, Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Yuegang (i.e. Zhangzhou).
The blue diamond is Guangdong, with three ports: Chenghai (i.e. Chaozhou), Guangzhou and Qiongzhou.
The six types of civilian colored diamonds add up to exactly eighteen ports. According to Zhu Shou's original intention, he wanted to open up the inland provinces, but he was blocked by Li Dongyang.
"The benefits of maritime trade lie mainly in interoperability. Huizhou has little land, so many Huizhou merchants go to sea," Li Dongyang sighed. "If the emperor opens the door to the inland, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places, I am afraid that refugees will spread all over the country, and the country will be destroyed."
It will be of no benefit to the people."
Zhu Shou thought for a while and realized that Li Dongyang's words were indeed very reasonable, so he had to give up.
Regarding the emperor's open and shameless behavior of selling his official position, the civil servant group headed by Li Dongyang collectively chose to ignore it.
Because the people who bought the official positions were all major political forces, civil servants dared to offend the emperor, but they did not dare to offend the big bosses.
If you offend the emperor, you may still be remembered in history. If you offend those big bosses, you will have to bear the charge of being a treacherous minister who has brought harm to the country.
Li Dongyang just acted on his own conscience and suggested that maritime merchants' caravans be strictly prohibited from entering inland provinces and that they were only allowed to make money in coastal provinces.
So the coastal group and the inland group began a decades-long verbal struggle. One wanted to have unlimited trade routes, and the other wanted to make a profit from it, and neither gave in.
But these are all things for later. Zhu Shou just wants to know how much silver his Longjiang Bao Shipyard can get from this auction, which is related to his next plan.
Colored diamonds and agents at all levels are independent of each other. Ships that have obtained agency rights can conduct overseas trade individually (first level) or in clusters (other levels), but only at sea.
Firms that have obtained the qualification for colored diamonds can receive the goods shipped by these ships and sell them anywhere in the province to which they belong, or transfer them to inland firms.
Sometimes those with strong financial resources not only have first-class agents, but also have colored diamond qualifications, and can complete all processes from import to sales. There are even those with strong political power that open other businesses in the inland and establish marine, coastal, and inland
One-stop service. You only need to pay an annual fee and a negligible business tax every year, and you can earn gold and silver, and it is all wealth recognized by the court.
This is much more enjoyable than laundering money.
"The common people are willing to pay thirty thousand taels!" A fat man with a big belly knelt on the ground, lowered his head, and whispered the first entry price.