prosperous age

"Mr. Li, what do you plan to do with Lord Mu? As far as I know, he has already started to invest money."

Li Chengliang smiled jokingly.

Li Chengliang had already accepted being blackmailed, but he also wanted to know what Li Jin planned to do regarding Mu Changzuo.

He can't be the only one to suffer.

Now, he wanted to know how Li Jin planned to talk to Mu Changzuo.

If Li Jin only intended to get benefits from him and did not dare to look for Mu Changzuo, the matter would not be revealed so easily.

This is what it means that people are not worried about scarcity but inequality.

He and Mu Changzuo initially divided the mines almost equally, but he suffered a loss due to unfamiliarity. Li Chengliang knew that Mu Changzuo would continue to cooperate with him in the future, which was to develop the mines in his hands.

This is also the reason why Li Chengliang is not in a hurry. According to Li Chengliang's idea, if those businessmen participate in his mine, he will give half of the profits, but these businessmen will have to pay for the rest.

By giving up these benefits, he can at least get half of the profits for free.

But now it is obviously not possible. He can only get 20%, which is more than half less than expected.

If Mu Changzuo could get half of the profits from the mine he was originally allocated, and could also get a share of the mine on his side, then he would lose too much compared to the two of them.

Before, they had considered sending money to the capital to ensure safety, but the capital's hand reached out too quickly, so quickly that they were caught off guard.

When Li Chengliang asked about Mu Changzuo's situation, Li Jin smiled and said, "If Lord Mu has already found a business partner, our Fujin Chamber of Commerce will naturally not force him, but I will still pass on the message to the members in the capital."

Li Jin's words revealed the bottom line. They would only ask for 30% of the money from those mines as protection money. If there was anything unusual in the capital, they would naturally take action to suppress it.

In front of Li Chengliang, Li Jin had no intention of playing any tricks.

Because once the cooperation is reached, I will have to work under Governor Li. If this is some conspiracy and it is exposed, I don’t know how he will be targeted.

To be honest, whether it was Li Jin or Chen Zhenlong, they felt a little scared when facing these soldiers, even though they were scholars.

As the old saying goes, when a scholar meets a soldier, he cannot explain his reason clearly.

"I came here only on behalf of Lord Wei to act as a mouthpiece.

The reason why I am willing to come here from afar is to find new profitable business for my Chamber of Commerce.

In our place, mining is a very good business and many chambers of commerce are involved.

Before that, my family was just maritime merchants, engaged in maritime trade business.

A few years ago, the imperial government banned maritime operations, so my family’s business became very difficult, so I also wanted to get involved in the mining business.

But to be honest, although my family has some connections in the government, we already know that the mines are owned by others, so it is difficult for my family to get involved.

And Mr. Wei said there were many mines in Myanmar, so I took the initiative to get one.”

Li Jin smiled slightly bitterly.

These words are half true and half false.

His family used to be maritime merchants, or even smugglers.

During the Japanese Rebellion, maritime trade was greatly affected. Except for those merchants who personally participated in the Japanese Pirates, the business of most merchants was actually affected.

At that time, he really wanted to give up his business at sea and turn to inland.

But there aren't many good businesses to choose from in Fujian.

After leaving Fujian, the influence of the Li Jin family was almost negligible, and naturally they could not find good projects.

There are many mines in Fujian, but most of them are occupied by local tyrants, so it is impossible for the Li family to intercept them halfway.

However, he did make a lot of preparations for this.

This was also the reason why he was able to get the letter from the capital so quickly and form a team, many of whom were familiar with mining business.

Of course, the profits at sea are still very lucrative. Although the risks are great, as long as we continue the Yuegang to Daimao route, and the number of pirates has been greatly reduced, the risks are actually very low.

Now that he has accumulated capital, he needs to invest in other businesses, otherwise he can only maintain his current status quo.

Therefore, he is really willing to invest the profits earned from the sea over the years into the Myanmar mines.

However, it seems that Mu Changzuo does not need him to invest money.

Even if they give, it will only be symbolic. With Li Chengliang, the possibility of successful cooperation is greater.

"I'll let you mine the mine, and you don't have to do anything else. Can you just sit back and wait for the money?"

Li Chengliang asked again.

"Yes, as long as Lord Li sends a team of officers and soldiers to ensure the safety of the Crazy Mine, just give me the rest."

Li Jin took the responsibility and said, "I will also seek the most profit for you, sir."

“Okay, I’ll have someone contact you and hand over my mine to you.

I will send a team of soldiers to each mine to protect you and ensure that you can mine safely."

Li Chengliang didn't want to fight for anything. If he got more, he would be competing with the big shots in the capital for money. He didn't have the mind to do that for the time being.

After all, Myanmar is not Liaodong. Now there is Mu Changzuo here to restrain him. He has considerable influence and a high status.

"Li has another unwelcome request."

After roughly discussing the framework of cooperation with Li Chengliang, Li Jin bowed to Li Chengliang and said.

"But it doesn't matter."

Now Li Chengliang still doesn't know how much money these mines can bring him, but he also wants to recover as soon as possible and see the profits. At this time, he can only ask Li Jin for help, so as long as the other party's request is not excessive, he will try his best to satisfy it.

"As for Duke Mu, please help me, Lord Li, to introduce him. It is difficult for me to contact Duke Mu right now."

Mu Changzuo is here in Myanmar, and ordinary people can't see him.

Although Li Jin was considered to be Wei Ge Lao's man, Wei Guangde and Mu Changzuo did not have much private contact. Zhang Ji told him this at the beginning.

Let him go to Myanmar and find Li Chengliang directly.

Of course, people in the capital didn't know that Li Chengliang and Mu Changzuo had already set their sights on the mines here.

It can only be said that Wei Guangde sometimes underestimates the people of this era, thinking that they don’t understand business at all.

The businessmen he came into contact with all had their own businesses, but they clearly lacked long-term vision.

Just like sea transportation, Liaodong merchants know the benefits of sea transportation, but they don’t know how to operate to gain these benefits.

Most of them still follow the management methods of the older generation. They will do it if the court allows it. If the court does not allow it, they will not try their best to fight for it, but will do as the court wants.

As for dealing with officials, they have to use money to pave the way. In the end, all these expenses will be included in the cost anyway, so as long as the selling price is higher than the cost, they will make a profit.

It was the later merchants from Jiangnan and Shanxi who chose to support the Donglin Party and the Jin Party, becoming their amulets and fighting for their interests in the court.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that there are not many talented people in Liaodong.

The imperial examination was too unfriendly to border towns like Liaodong.

The scholars from Liaodong are indeed no match for the scholars from the south.

Li Chengliang passed the examination for a scholar, but was not as good as the scholars from Shandong and northern Zhili in the provincial examination.

As for the Jiangxi merchants, it seemed that apart from porcelain, they had no other goods to show for themselves, so naturally they did not have much desire for the court.

Wei Guangde thought that Li Chengliang was a pure military commander, and so was Mu Changzuo, so he didn't consider anything else. If things here get better, he will have to send a message to the capital, but he will have to meet with Mu Changzuo first before sending it back.

While Li Jin was running around for Wei Guangde and Feng Bao's "business" in Myanmar, Wei Guangde was also waiting for Zhang Juzheng's return in the capital.

Because of concerns about the resurgence of Mongolia, his previous plan was temporarily shelved by the inner court, waiting for Zhang Juzheng to return to listen to his opinions.

However, Wei Guangde did not go to greet Zhang Juzheng immediately after he returned to Beijing. After all, Zhang Juzheng was still in mourning period.

Welcome banquets held in official circles were not suitable for Zhang Juzheng to attend at this time.

However, Zhang Juzheng only rested for one day after arriving in Beijing and appeared in the cabinet on the third day.

When Wei Guangde walked into the cabinet door, Lu Bu had already whispered something in his ear.

"coming?"

Wei Guangde just asked lightly, and when he saw Lu Bu nodded, he felt relieved.

Zhang Juzheng is still Zhang Juzheng, and he regards his work as more important than anything else.

"Then let's go over there and take a look."

Wei Guangde muttered softly, then walked in, but he did not go to his own duty room, but went straight to the Prime Minister's duty room.

When he reached the door, he heard the conversation between Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Siwei in the room.

"Inform me."

Wei Guangde said something to the clerk outside the duty room.

"Wait a moment, Lord Wei."

The clerk bowed and then turned and went into the house.

After a while, the clerk came out and respectfully invited Wei Guangde in.

"Uncle brother."

When Wei Guangde entered the room, he saw Zhang Juzheng in plain clothes and bowed hurriedly.

"Shandai, I've been through a lot these days."

Zhang Juzheng came over, returned the greeting to Wei Guangde and said, "Please come in, Ziwei just arrived as well."

"Wei Ci Fu is polite."

Zhang Siwei behind him also saluted him at this time, and Wei Guangde returned the salute, and then the three of them sat down.

"When I left, I submitted a petition to the court, requesting that Ma Ziqiang be allowed to join the cabinet, but I didn't expect that the palace would actually keep him."

Originally, because Zhang Juzheng returned to his hometown to bury his father, only Zhang Siwei was left in the cabinet, so the Minister of Rites Ma Ziqiang easily took advantage of this opportunity to be promoted to a cabinet minister.

But in this time and space, with the addition of Wei Guangde, the cabinet naturally has no shortage of ministers for official duties.

The conflict between Ma Ziqiang and Feng Bao ultimately ruined his best chance of entering the cabinet.

For Wei Guangde and Zhang Siwei, the loss of a cabinet minister meant just reading a few more memorials every day. Since both of them were in their prime, it was naturally a big deal to them.

Compared with many previous cabinets, the average age of the Wanli cabinet was young.

The cabinet of the Jiajing Dynasty was presided over by two ministers in their seventies and eighties, which was really unsustainable.

If there were a few more memorials, Yan Song and Xu Jie would not be able to handle them, and they would have to ask Yan Shifan for help.

After the 40th year of Jiajing's reign, Prime Minister Qingci entered the cabinet one after another, because they saw that the two of them were unable to handle the situation.

After Wei Guangde expressed his concern, Zhang Juzheng briefly talked about his trip back home, and soon turned the topic back to cabinet business.

Apparently, Feng Bao had previously passed on his and Wei Guangde's analysis results on Mongolia and Tibet to Zhang Juzheng, and on the way back, Zhang Juzheng already had his own ideas.

"I have read the memorial submitted by Altan Khan regarding the enthronement of Sonam Gyatso. I do not oppose Altan Khan, or the introduction of the Yellow Sect into Mongolia.

Just as you said, getting the Mongols to lay down their butcher knives seems to be a good thing for our Ming Dynasty.

However, the Ministry of War’s concerns cannot be ignored.

If all the Mongols believed in the Yellow Sect, it would be inevitable that they would help the Yellow Sect return to Tibet.

With the help of the Mongolian cavalry, the Yellow Sect will regain religious power there and will rely more on the Mongols.

By then, the grassland and Tibet will be united, and the threat to our Ming Dynasty will increase exponentially, which is really not a good thing. "

When Zhang Juzheng talked about Wei Guangde's previous idea, he was obviously not very supportive.

“We couldn’t even conquer the Tang Dynasty with our martial arts, let alone with the support of the Mongols from the direction of the grasslands.

Whether I expand to the north or to the west, I will inevitably be restrained in the other direction.

Think twice before lending money. "

Zhang Juzheng not only took into account the military strength of the Ming Dynasty at that time, but also considered the previous military operations of the Han people against Tibet, all of which had ended in failure. Naturally, he was not optimistic about Wei Guangde's gamble this time.

Wei Guangde's plan was based on the premise that the Ming Dynasty could control the Mongols.

Now that Altan Khan has accepted the Ming Dynasty's enthronement and paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty, who knows what he is really thinking? Is it just a delaying tactic?

In the name of pampering Buddha, he extended his hand into Tibet with the help of the Yellow Sect and completed the encirclement of the Ming Dynasty in the west and north.

"How long would it take for the Yellow Sect to spread across the grasslands, even with the support of Altan Khan and the imperial court?

Uncle, have you ever thought about it? "

Wei Guangde also became serious at this time and said seriously: "Even if all parties fully support it, it will take a long time for the grassland to fully accept the Yellow Sect.

During this period, the situation along the border wall was stable.

I remember that the original intention of the Datong Peace Agreement was to buy some time.

Although the imperial court and Mongolia seemed to have suffered some losses in tribute in recent years, the people inside and outside the border wall could live in peace without worrying about another round of war.

All in all, although part of the money was given to Altan Khan, the court also saved some money.

The Ministry of War has never relaxed the training of border troops. Now, not only Liaodong and Jizhen, but also Xuanfu has formed three new military camps for training.

We need more time to complete the formation and training of the new military camps in Jiubian.

Once completed, even if there is another incident on the grassland, the government troops will be able to advance from Liaodong and Xuanda and defeat them.

We need time, and preaching also takes time, so during this period of time, both sides can live in peace.'

Zhang Juzheng understood that Wei Guangde was setting up a large number of new barracks in the border towns based on the Ming army's military reform.

"So, if we support the missionary work in the grasslands, we can at least guarantee peace on the border for ten years?"

Zhang Juzheng frowned and said.

“I think it will take more than ten years, maybe twenty to thirty years.

During this time, the monks who came from Tibet and the monks sent over by our Ming Dynasty were a force to stabilize the Mongols.

I think Sonam Gyatso would not want his army of religious defenders to fight to the death with the Ming Dynasty first, rather than returning to Tibet with his followers. "

Wei Guangde thought he had reason to believe that if he conferred the title on Sonam Gyatso, he would definitely try his best to reconcile the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia so that Mongolia could devote all its efforts to seize Tibet for him.

Even if Mongolia took advantage of this opportunity to grow stronger, it would be decades later. (End of this chapter)