prosperous age

Li Chengliang and Mu Changzuo finally sat together and began to discuss the distribution of the mines in Myanmar.

In fact, both of them knew very well that this situation could not last long.

Not to mention anything else, even if Luo Rufang had not arrived in Ava City, if he had seen the mess the two people were making in the city, he would definitely report it to the court at the first opportunity and severely impeach the two people.

This is also why after the first fight, both of them tacitly suppressed the matter.

Of course, this would only prevent these matters from being brought to the court and letting the court officials know that there were Jinyiwei spies in the army. They also knew about it, and it would be impossible for the capital to be completely unaware of these matters.

Therefore, during this discussion, they not only had to finalize the allocation of the mines, but also had to clarify any possible interference from the capital.

"Lord Mu, I'm afraid the news here cannot be concealed from the capital. I wonder how Lord Mu plans to calm down the attention there?"

Li Chengliang did not want to decide on all the mines in Myanmar right now, because although he had been inquiring about the news in this regard recently, and his son in the south also passed on the news he heard through letters, after all, he was not as familiar with the situation as Mu Changzuo, a local resident.

It is clear now that it is easy to fall for that old guy and be cheated out of the truly valuable mines in Myanmar.

"As for the capital, all we have to do is send some money over there.

It would be best if you and I paid this money in proportion to the benefits we received."

Mu Changzuo thought for a moment and suggested.

"If we directly distribute the mines in Myanmar, the output is hard to determine. How should we determine the appropriate ratio?"

Li Chengliang continued to ask.

"What do you think, Governor Li? Just tell me. It's just you and me here. We can decide the matter after we have considered it."

Mu Changzuo lowered his head and thought for a while before speaking.

"Mr. Mu's mines should be restored by merchants who pay for them, and then they can take a stake, right?"

Li Chengliang was not stupid. He had noticed some businessmen appearing in those mines. After all, he had dealt with these people before and asked them for some guards to act as guides.

To put it bluntly, the Duke of Qian's Mansion is not willing to use you to open a mine. They prefer to use their power to occupy the mines, and then cooperate with businessmen to let them provide manpower and money to manage these mines, and finally take the lion's share of the profits.

Merchants invest more, and although they can only get a small portion of the profits, it is still very profitable.

Of course, in order to gain greater profits, these businessmen will naturally find ways to exploit the miners, almost to the point of forcing them to death.

In fact, most mines in the Ming Dynasty, whether private or government-run, were operated in this way.

The difference is that one has a "mining license" issued by the government and the other does not.

The so-called government-run mining is actually contracted out to private operators, and they only need the mine to deliver a specified output every year.

And what about Li Chengliang?
He is actually the same.

He is very skilled at using a knife to chop people, but it is a bit difficult for him to send his smart and clever family members to do business.

None of my subordinates knows how to do business, so I have to rely on those businessmen.

Therefore, the Li family, like the Duke of Qian's Mansion, hopes to contract out the mine and take a stake in it and get the money directly.

Moreover, by acting in this way, they will be able to clear themselves from the blame even if something major happens in the mine in the future.

Nominally, these mines were obtained by merchants from local governments, and of course taxes had to be paid.

In order to mine smoothly, they naturally have to agree, that is, there must be enough benefits and shares that satisfy them, so that the mine can produce smoothly.

Otherwise, even if the businessmen obtained the mining rights, he would find a way to prevent them from continuing their operations.

The mine is a powder keg. If the miners make trouble in the future, it will be a grudge between the miners and the businessmen, and has nothing to do with them.

Their profits are delivered directly to them by the merchants, and they will never interfere in the operation of the mine openly.

This way, any accidents will have nothing to do with them.

When Mu Changzuo heard what Li Chengliang said, he more or less understood what Li Chengliang meant.

Previously, they had planned to assign the big mines to their side, which would allow them to make a lot of money. However, from what the other party said, it seemed that they were planning to distribute all the mines in Myanmar to businessmen to operate, and then share the profits among them.

This means that the original idea of ​​dividing the mines has become dividing the shares, and it is naturally impossible to take advantage of the other party.

"Haha, there aren't many talents in this field in my house. Merchants are more familiar with business operations."

Mu Changzuo laughed dryly twice.

"In that case, let's hand over the mines to the merchants and divide the shares directly.

When there are expenses in the capital, we can send money over there in proportion, right?"

Li Chengliang said happily.

Myanmar is his biggest concern, but don't underestimate the relationship between the Duke of Qian's Mansion and the palace.

Although many years have passed, Mu Changzuo has the Duke's Mansion behind him after all, and their relationship with the royal family and nobles is much stronger than Li Chengliang's.

Therefore, if Li Chengliang didn't want to make things too big, he could just share some of the profits.

However, the Li family’s income must not be less than that of the Duke of Qian’s Mansion.

While the two were playing charades and testing each other, Wei Guangde and Feng Bao had already received an express message from the southwest, which was about this matter.

The news, of course, was not released by the official, but rather intelligence from the Jinyiwei.

Wei Guangde was still frowning when he saw the copy, while Feng Bao was so anxious that he jumped up and down when he saw the document.

He had long regarded Myanmar's mineral resources as his own.

Now Li Chengliang and Mu Changzuo are fighting over these things, how can he bear it.

Feng Bao directly suppressed the secret report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

He didn't want the palace to know about this, after all, it was not a good thing.

The fight between the Li family and the Duke of Qian's Mansion had nothing to do with him. He didn't care at all that it was an internal conflict within the Ming army. He was only worried about his own gains.

Feng Bao hurriedly came out of the Imperial Household Department with the secret report and went directly to the cabinet to find Wei Guangde.

"Is Shandai in there?"

When they got outside, Feng Bao asked Lu Bu directly.

"Yes, the master is working inside."

Lu Bu knew Feng Bao, so how could he dare to stop him? He was an important companion in the palace, the most trusted eunuch of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, and the most powerful person in the inner court.

Although she was a little confused about his sudden arrival, she did not dare to delay him for even a moment.

"You guys watch outside and don't let anyone get close to the duty room."

Feng Bao directly instructed Lu Bu and the eunuchs who followed him, and went straight into the duty room.

Wei Guangde had already heard the voices outside in the house, and he put away the message sent by the Jinyiwei directly.

Strictly speaking, this thing can fall into Feng Bao's hands, but it cannot appear in his hands.

Feng Bao was receiving secret reports sent to the palace by the Embroidered Uniform Guards, but he was not qualified to have the Embroidered Uniform Guards pass on information to him.

If the incident is exposed, he will not only be expelled for overstepping the line, but he may even be dismissed from office and thrown into prison.

Moreover, anyone in the Jinyiwei who passed on information to him would be punished according to the Jinyiwei family rules.

Those people were all arranged by the Lu Mansion.

The current Lu family is nominally only affiliated with the Jinyiwei, but in fact has moved away from the Jinyiwei command center and become a guard commander in the Beijing Camp.

However, even after the tiger's death, its power still remains, and many people in the Jinyiwei still obey the Lu family's orders.

Wei Guangde had just packed up his things and stood up when Feng Bao had already entered the room.

"Brother Shuanglin, what brings you here?"

Wei Guangde guessed Feng Bao's intention and greeted him with a fist.

"Shandai, something big happened in the southwest."

Feng Bao didn't know that Wei Guangde could get the news about Jinyiwei. In fact, the court officials were afraid of Jinyiwei like a tiger, and no one wanted to provoke them.

If there is a chance, no matter if there is any grudge or not, they would be willing to step on them a few times, because the Jinyiwei has a very bad reputation outside.

That thing is the royal family's weapon to deal with officials like them. Who would like to be watched by such people all the time?

Even in later generations, officials would tremble at the sight of discipline inspection commission cadres.

"Look at this, what's going on?"

Feng Bao handed the secret report from the Jinyiwei to Wei Guangde and asked him to read it himself.

"I am also responsible for this matter. Such a big incident not only involves those two good-for-nothings, but also the Ministry of War and you.

You can see for yourself how to deal with this matter. "

Feng Bao added another sentence.

Wei Guangde took the secret report and took a look at it, then looked at Feng Bao in surprise.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

"Don't look at it. How dare I report this to you, my Lord? Wouldn't that make you angry?

We should handle this matter privately and not let others laugh at us."

Feng Bao said this with great righteousness, as if he was completely considering the interests of the emperor and the empress dowager.

This is also where Feng Bao is smart. Even if this matter is exposed by someone, he has this excuse in advance. It is all for the Empress and His Majesty in the palace, not for himself.

Wei Guangde pretended to wipe the sweat off his forehead and read the secret report completely. Then he said angrily, "I never thought that Li Chengliang and Mu Changzuo, two useless people, would do such a thing."

"That's right. If the news were to get to the court, who knows how big of a disturbance it would cause.

Even if it spreads to Southeast Asia, I'm afraid it will be laughed at by those vassal states."

Feng Bao said angrily, "Shandai, what do you think we should do about this?
We can't continue like this. If things get out of hand, the two main generals of the Ming Dynasty will start fighting before Burma is pacified."

Wei Guangde understood Feng Bao's request, nodded and said, "We have to write to them and ask them to calm down and focus on state affairs."

"That's how it should be."

Feng Bao nodded and said, "It seems that we need to arrange the things we discussed earlier as soon as possible."

Wei Guangde said before that there was no rush and he would wait until Myanmar was pacified before starting mining.

Damn, the war is still going on, and they have already started robbing the mines over there.

Of course, this also made Feng Bao more convinced that there were indeed huge profits involved in those mines in Myanmar.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for Mu Changzuo to force his way in even though he knew he could not defeat Li Chengliang.

"I'm afraid we can't get around them on this matter."

Wei Guangde just lowered his head and thought for a moment before speaking, "One is a dragon from across the river, and the other is a local snake."

"Can't you and I defeat them?"

Feng Baoyi frowned and said unhappily.

"What's the use of suppressing them? If they make ten mistakes, it will be difficult to open the mine."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said.

"Brother Shuanglin, please sit down first and think about it for a moment."

Wei Guangde calmed Feng Bao down, thought for a moment, and then said, "Brother Shuanglin, do you know what the situation is with our mines in Daming?"

"Ok?"

Feng Bao was a little surprised. He had never paid attention to this matter.

If Wei Guangde hadn't mentioned the gem mines in Myanmar before, he wouldn't have paid attention to them.

"All mines in our Ming Dynasty are government-run, but in fact they are contracted out to private individuals for mining. The government receives the output and tax silver regularly."

Wei Guangde suggested that he believed Feng Bao would definitely be able to figure out the trick.

Sure enough, Feng Bao understood the whole story in just a moment.

Those businessmen who contracted the mines merely held positions in the government and managed the mines in the capacity of officials, and the officials would also gain huge benefits from it.

After paying enough to the court, the rest is yours.

"You mean, they do the same thing in Myanmar?"

Feng Bao asked in a low voice.

"That should be the case. Is there anyone around us who knows how to mine?"

Wei Guangde asked back.

Feng Bao nodded slightly. He was not a novice. Although he was a little greedy, he did know everything.

Not to mention other things, just Xu Jue who was beside him, no one knew how much money he had made outside using his name.

However, he needed Xu Jue to help him with things, and he also understood that if the water was too clear, there would be no fish.

As long as the job can be done well, Feng Bao will not be stingy with this little thing.

"So, we can only share a portion of the profits from them."

"It should be so."

Wei Guangde responded in a low voice, and then continued: "To put it bluntly, the only ones who can get a share of it are the mining taxes from the court, the merchants who contributed, Li Mu and us.

It may be difficult to eliminate them. After all, if the news gets to the court, how will you and I deal with it?"

"Okay, I'll take 20%."

Feng Bao said in a low voice.

He calculated that after deducting the costs, the profit would still have to be shared among five groups. He didn't have to do anything, but his harvest must not be lower than that of others.

"Yes, that's what I want too. The rest depends on how they negotiate."

Wei Guangde whispered.

"Also, Shandai, write a letter to Southwest as soon as possible and ask them to control the situation. Once the court finds out, the two people must be punished and no one can save them."

Feng Bao said.

He believed that Wei Guangde could suppress Li Chengliang and Mu Changzuo, even if he was the Duke of Qian.

"I'll write to you in a minute."

Wei Guangde nodded and said.

Feng Bao left Wei Guangde's duty room with the secret report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and returned to the Imperial Household Department.

After seeing Feng Bao off, Wei Guang thought for a moment, then spread out the rice paper, picked up his pen and began to write the letter.

It was easy to contact Li Chengliang, and he and Li Chengliang still maintained correspondence. However, Wei Guangde had never contacted Mu Changzuo, the Duke of Qian, although his family received filial tributes from Yunnan every year.

In fact, although the Mu family is not in the capital, they have still arranged people. They will know about any movement in the capital, but with a delay.

Gifts were also sent to the palace on the three festivals and two birthdays to maintain the relationship with the royal family.

Naturally, there are also many in the residences of nobles in the capital, as well as in the homes of the powerful and influential people of the time.

Three festivals and two birthdays refers to the old custom for private school teachers. On the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, New Year's Day, Confucius' birthday and the private school teacher's birthday, an additional one-month stipend would be given to the private school teacher, which was called "three festivals and two birthdays".

Until now, it refers to various festivals and birthdays.

Wei Guangde only mentioned the request from the capital in his letter to Li Chengliang and did not say much to Mu Changzuo.

He believed that Li Chengliang and Mu Changzuo would understand the meaning of the letter after reading it. (End of this chapter)