I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 192 A Weasel Greeting a Chicken for the New Year Brings Good Things

Chapter 191

Zhang Yan, the queen, has a good reputation in history, and was even described as a white lotus by some people.Of course, this is impossible. If it was really a white lotus, she would not be able to live till now.

Even Emperor Tianqi could die suddenly, let alone her.This place in the palace is the place with the most people in the world, and those who can persevere have their own merits.

Following Zhang Jin, he explained the whole story.

Zhang Yan was dumbfounded.

How stupid would a person be to fall for this?

Zhang Jin said with an aggrieved face: "Sister, I really don't want to harm anyone... I just want to throw your carriage in Cheng Shijie's courtyard, let Jin Yiwei come and search his mansion, and embarrass him!"

Queen Zhang is very speechless now.

Did Cheng Shijie lose face?
This is Zhang Yan, the empress's face, right?
This matter is too low-level, what trouble can it cause Cheng Shijie?
Even if you want to deal with Cheng Shijie, it's as simple as letting the coachman drive the carriage and directly hit Cheng Shijie's carriage, or an out-of-control carriage hits the gate of Cheng's mansion. As Queen Zhang Yan, what else can Cheng Shijie do?

Can Cheng Shijie make Zhang Yan come to apologize?

Don't say whether Cheng Shijie dares or not, even if he dares, it is Emperor Chongzhen who will apologize, not Zhang Yan.

It's good now, because her stupid brother made things worse.

With her disappearance, Emperor Chongzhen wanted to dig three feet into the ground. Now all civil and military officials knew what they should know, and what they shouldn't know should also know.

I am afraid that many people also know the inside story. Zhang Yan, the queen's younger brother, is jealous of Cheng Shijie's outstanding achievements and retaliates against him.

Let's not talk about how much this incident will affect Zhang Yan, the queen. The key is how Zhang Yan will gain a foothold in the palace in the future. Lost.

What to do now, Zhang Yan is also in chaos. Of course, if he directly reports to Emperor Chongzhen, even if this bastard Zhang Jin does not die, then his life will be over.

But let Zhang Guoji...

For a while, Zhang Yan could only think about how to deal with the difficulties in front of her.

……

Cheng Shijie didn't pay too much attention to the disappearance of Empress Zhang Yan, because he knew very well that this problem is actually very simple, it can be big or small, and it can also make a big fuss.

The key depends on the attitude of Emperor Chongzhen, and soon, Emperor Chongzhen's attitude was revealed. First of all, Emperor Chongzhen never agreed to Cheng Shijie's request to restore the memorial of 25 guards in Liaodong, and Emperor Chongzhen agreed until now.

Since the 25 guards in Liaodong had long since been abolished, the Ministry of War transferred five guards from Henan, five guards from Shandong, and five guards from North Zhili from the governor's office of the five armies. The assignment was transferred to southern Liaoning.

Reconstruction of Jinzhou Guard, Jinzhou Zuowei, Jinzhou Qianwei, Jinzhou Right Guard, Gaizhou Guard, Lushun Guard, Haizhou Guard, Fuzhou Guard, Guangning Guard, Liao Zhong Guard, Liaoyang Left Guard, Liaoyang Right Guard, Liaoyang Guard Zuo Tunwei, Liaoyang Zuo Tunwei, Anshan Wei.

Emperor Chongzhen used this decree to prove that he still trusted Cheng Shijie. If he didn't trust him, how could he add more than [-] troops to Cheng Shijie at once?
Although it was said that the soldiers in the guards were too useless, Emperor Chongzhen had no intention of letting go of his burden, but the problem was that this signal represented trust.

Following the promulgation of this imperial decree, Emperor Chongzhen sent officials from the Ministry of Rites to explain Cheng Shijie's royal etiquette, in case there were mistakes during the wedding.

Regarding the wedding in the Ming Dynasty, Cheng Shijie was actually quite guilty, saying that women are very sensitive, and he was also worried that Xiang Hui would find out the problem.

However, during this time in the capital, Cheng Shijie was not idle.

Because Cheng Shijie knew that a modern army is not just good at shooting guns. Artillery is a technical arm. There are actually many scholars in Ming Dynasty. The Ning Navy still has a huge gap in training qualified artillery.

In the past, there were many people and few guns. Now, with the increase of the production capacity of the Gun Bureau, the production of three-inch guns has reached 36 a month, and an average of one cannon can be produced a day.

This speed is obviously sufficient for the artillery development of the Ning Navy, but the problem is that there are too few qualified artillery. In order to solve this problem, Cheng Shijie had to retire the original Frang machine gun. Machine artillery, in this era, is still very advanced, it is a pity to retreat.

In the future, the Ning Navy will need to deal with the rogues. The rogues are not like the Jiannu. They do not have a strong will to fight. They only need a cannonball to kill and injure tens of hundreds of people. Tens of thousands of horses will collapse.In this case, the Francophone artillery must be kept, and the explosive bombs that killed dozens or hundreds of people in one shot must not be used to fight bandits.

In any case, the rogues are ordinary people who cannot survive, and Cheng Shijie is not willing to massacre the rogues. Therefore, even if Ning Haijun has produced enough artillery, he still wants to keep the Frang machine artillery and a large number of crossbows .

Unlike firecrackers, lead is highly toxic. Once shot, in the era of lack of antibiotics, once shot, it is basically hopeless, but the crossbow is different. Even if there is no armor target, as long as it does not hit the vital part If the arrow goes through the thigh or arm, as long as it does not damage the bone, there is still a chance of survival without disability.

But the problem is that even if a musket shot hits the limbs and other non-vital parts, it is not easy to survive. When dealing with Jiannu, Cheng Shijie was afraid that the weapon would not be poisonous enough. When facing the bandits in the future, he was afraid that the weapon would be too poisonous.

This is Cheng Shijie's typical double standard.

For this reason, recruiting manpower and recruiting manpower with a certain level of education has become an urgent problem for Cheng Shijie. Cheng Shijie does not consider recruitment among traditional scholars. There is only one group of people who can meet the demand, and that is the guys trained by merchants. These guys can read and write. Can read and count.

Of course, they also have problems, such as being tricky and cunning, which is actually not a big problem. If you throw them in Ning Haijun for training, they will get rid of their bad habits and cultivate them slowly. They have a certain cultural foundation. It's easier than starting from scratch.

Even if the training starts from scratch, Ning Haijun is also facing a serious shortage of teachers.

Sun Zhichen was doing this. For Sun Chengzong's grandson, Cheng Shijie was quite satisfied. He knew how to advance and retreat, had a wink, and was very capable.

"Meet the Duke!"

"Yongyan, you're out of touch!"

"The gift can't be ignored!"

Sun Zhichen also knew that Cheng Shijie liked to see the mountains first, and if he had something to say, he said directly: "I have done what the Duke asked me to do. After this period of recruitment, a total of 850 seven people were recruited. If you can read more than 2000 characters and understand certain calculations, if you relax some conditions, you can recruit more than [-] people, this is the roster!"

Holding a thick roster, Cheng Shijie couldn't help but sigh that Daming's demographic dividend is indeed unrivaled. If the prosperous Tang Dynasty had the population of Daming, it is estimated that Europa is still speaking Tang Yan.

The lack of literacy in the Ming Dynasty is not high. Compared with later generations, it is definitely the highest in the world. According to the special research conducted by Evelyn Sakakida Rawski, she concluded that in the middle of the nineteenth century By late stage, about 30% to 45% of men and 2% to 10% of women can read and write.As such, the low limit averages 16.6% to 20.5%, and the high limit ranges from 24% to 28%.

Luo Youzhi’s main reasons are as follows: First, the lower-level clerks can read and write, and there are at least a hundred of such clerks in small cities, and at most three thousand in big cities, so there are about 300 million grass-roots civil servants in the whole country (basic-level civil servants) The term of office of civil servants is five years, and the number of conservative candidates is about twice the number of positions), which does not include officials working in counties, provinces, and the central government, as well as officials employed by the government to assist in handling government affairs.

Secondly, most businessmen can also read and write, because keeping accounts in business activities, keeping transaction history records, and reporting to the government all require basic reading and writing skills.Thirdly, workers at ports and wharves and ship owners who travel to and from various places need to sign contracts in trade, so they can also read and write.Finally, ordinary people need a contract, or at least a ghostwriter, to buy, mortgage land, lease land, hire labor, borrow money, and even buy and sell children.

As the center of written communication in the city, the literacy rate is very high, but the literacy rate in the countryside is also higher than we imagined. The main driving force for the popularization of literacy rate is the development of printing after the thirteenth century.This point of view is almost the common conclusion of most cultural historians. The reasoning process is as follows: in the Ming Dynasty, not only book printing continued to develop, but also publishing was highly commercialized, and a large number of popular books were published.

Southern Liaoning is a special phenomenon. There are two main sources of this group. First, the soldiers and civilians of the Dongjiang Army who survived the people in Eastern Liaodong are the main sources. The refugees who cannot survive are mainly from Henan and Shandong.The third part comes from Dengzhou Wei.

The Dengzhou Weizuo Thousand Households Office, where Cheng Shijie started his family, has more than 1 people, but now it has become a minority group in southern Liaoning.

Cheng Shijie put down the roster, and said calmly: "Yongyan, I want all these people. The selection in the army adopts an elimination system, and those who are unqualified can be selected. Now not only the artillery is short of people, but also the logistics team. Talents who can calculate, read and write, so let’s relax the conditions, people who can read and write [-] characters, and can add and subtract within [-] will be recruited.”

"These 2000 people who ate, drank and lazed are not a small number!"

"If you don't have enough money, ask Zheng Qi for it!"

At this time, Zheng Qi followed Cheng Shijie to the capital and was mainly in charge of Cheng Shijie's accounts. However, what made Cheng Shijie very angry was that Zheng Qi looked sloppy.

Except for the first time under Yang Yunniang's recommendation, Zheng Jian and Zheng Qi's father and daughter came to see Cheng Shijie, but Zheng Qi was already married and recruited a son-in-law.

Working with Yang Yunniang had no effect, but when he came to the capital, Zheng Qi suddenly became sloppy.

Of course Cheng Shijie understood what she meant, pointed at Zheng Qi and said angrily: "I said you can't comb your hair? Can't you change into clean clothes? Your hair is disheveled all day long, you wear men's clothes, and you don't wash your face. Was it soy sauce? Did you put it on purpose? Who are you defending against? If I wanted to bully you, how could you hide until today?"

In troubled times, being beautiful is a sin for a woman.

Zheng Qi must understand this, so when he was with Cheng Shijie, he was sloppy and unkempt all day long, his clothes hadn't been washed for a long time, and his body still smelled mildewy.

It's a good thing for a woman to have the awareness of protecting herself, but it's a bit too much to do this.

Among other things, Zheng Qi is Cheng Shijie's accountant at any rate now. Not only does he have to deal with Cheng Shijie, the boss, but he also has to deal with various gods and Buddhas in the future. Don't say it, maybe why do you complain about Cheng Shijie's other hobbies in your heart.

What's more, an originally beautiful woman tosses herself into this ghostly appearance all day long. Does this reflect from the side that Cheng Shijie is a pervert?
Probably!

Zheng Qi was dumbfounded.

"Zheng Qi, listen to me, the commander-in-chief pays you 600 taels of silver every year, just for your professional knowledge, not because you are beautiful, here, no one can bully you, you'd better put your Be neat and tidy, or you will resign!"

Cheng Shijie said angrily: "Do you know how many women you can buy with 600 taels of silver? Besides, you are still married? I am not Cao Cao!"

Sure enough, although Cheng Shijie's words were a bit serious, Zheng Qi quickly changed into a men's suit, a blue Confucian shirt, and his hair was freshly washed, which looked much more pleasing to the eye.

Although Cheng Shijie was very rich, he brought 10 taels of silver when he came to the capital, but the problem was that when he was recruiting artillery, he had to pay for the settlement. They arranged to go to southern Liaoning, and he was going to get married, so he needed to renovate the house, and also needed to purchase fireworks, colored silk and various supplies necessary for the wedding.

Cheng Shijie must have made a good decision. He didn't want to hurt Xiang Hui, but he didn't want to hurt Princess Le'an, a princess he had never seen before. This marriage was actually a political marriage, and he and Princess Le'an couldn't talk about any harm.

However, as Cheng Shijie, there must be procedures and etiquette for a wedding, so spending money is like running water.

"If the water table is not open, then the money is still enough!"

"No, the running water mat will do it!"

Cheng Shijie thought for a while and said, "I'll figure out a way about the money!"

……

"Borrowing money? Hai Guogong, don't joke with our family!"

When Cheng Shijie asked Gao Qiqian to borrow money, Gao Qiqian seemed to have heard the best joke in the world. Will Cheng Shijie be short of money?
The answer is no. In later generations, if someone describes someone as rich, they will say that your family has mines?

Cheng Shijie now has mines, including four copper mines, and dozens of gold mines, silver mines, iron mines, and coal mines. Otherwise, the expenses of the Ningning Navy alone would be enough to crush Cheng Shijie to death.

Of course, Cheng Shijie is still building roads, digging ditches, and building city walls on a large scale in southern Liaoning. As for the tax revenue in southern Liaoning, despite the commercial tax, it is actually far from enough to cover Cheng Shijie's expenses.

Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Brother, I will settle the accounts. I am short of money now. You lend me 10 taels of silver. After half a year, I will pay you back 11 taels of silver with interest!"

Gao Qiqian shook his head and said, "The money bank has more than this little interest!"

One-tenth of the interest for half a year will be placed on future generations, and it will be usury properly. In the Ming Dynasty, this was already considered a debt of favor, and the interest was too low.

"How much interest does Eunuch Gao want?"

Gao Qiqian shook his head and said, "It's not about the interest rate, it's because our family has no money!"

"How could there be no money, don't tell me, you copied it..."

Before Cheng Shijie finished speaking, Gao Qiqian said with a resentful expression: "General Cheng, don't even think about how much money His Majesty's internal treasury has. During this time, it's a reward for the army and a reward..."

Cheng Shijie understood that Gao Qiqian's money was confiscated, but it was not confiscated, but he was forced to donate it.Gao Qiqian guarded Cheng Shijie and made a lot of money. Many people in the palace were jealous of Gao Qiqian.

For example, Wang Zhixin, the admiral of the East Factory, focused on Gao Qiqian's position. When Emperor Chongzhen had no money to reward Ning Haijun, he used the money he had spent over the years to donate 30 taels of silver to Emperor Chongzhen.

Emperor Chongzhen was also curious about where Wang Zhixin got the money. He thought he was corrupt and was very displeased. Wang Zhixin told Emperor Chongzhen that he was learning from southern Liaoning and started collecting health fees in the capital. In the past six months, he collected more than 30 yuan. two silver.

As a matter of fact, this half of the house received more than 30 taels of silver. At first, it was okay, and it could still collect 8 to [-] taels of silver every month. The people were afraid of being fined. Hygienic people, even if they have backers, they can't afford to mess with Dongchang.

In more than half a year, a total of less than 20 taels of silver was collected, from which Wang Zhixin lost tens of thousands of taels of silver, and part of the money was obtained from his corruption and bribery.

Because he gave the money to Emperor Chongzhen, Wang Zhixin was appointed from the Supervising Army Zhongxie. Outside of the factory, he serves as the prime minister of the Guanning Army, which means that he has the power to replace generals of all ranks in the Guanning Army.

This time, the high dive is on the wax.

He used the pretext of ransacking his home to donate most of it. He and Wang Zhixin pooled nearly half of the military expenses. The wine and meat eaten by Ning Haijun's soldiers, including the rewards they received, were mostly Gao Qiqian's hard work.

Cheng Shijie let alone the interest of 1 taels of silver, even if he gave 10 taels of interest, he would have no money.

Seeing that Gao Qiqian had no money, Cheng Shijie didn't care too much.

He suddenly remembered a classic scam in later generations, the Ponzi scheme, which is the name for investment fraud in the financial field, and is the ancestor of the pyramid scheme.

In China, the Ponzi scheme is also known as "tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall" or "empty glove white wolf".In short, it is to use the money of new investors to pay interest and short-term returns to old investors, so as to create the illusion of making money, and then defraud more investment.Many illegal pyramid schemes use this trick to amass money.

Cheng Shijie's development in southern Liaoning requires a huge hole in funds. He needs money to reclaim wasteland, and also needs money to open factories. Money is needed everywhere.

However, these people in the capital made Cheng Shijie unhappy, and if they couldn't rob them openly, they would do it secretly.

Cheng Shijie hurriedly asked someone to send a letter to Yang Yunniang, asking her master Feng Sanniang to come forward. This genius who dared to pretend to be Mrs. Cheng Shijie was the best candidate to execute the Ponzi scheme.

The reason is, to develop in southern Liaoning, it is a huge profit.

Borrowing money now and repaying the debt later in the fall, if the interest rate is high, there will definitely be people tempted. In order to prevent ordinary people from being implicated, then set a threshold.

Most ordinary people don’t even have silver, so set it to 1000 taels. In this way, 90.00% of ordinary people can be intercepted, such as rich and unkind landlords, gentry, officials, honorable people, the richest people in Ming Dynasty, then let They are set.

Cheng Shijie didn't even set up a good game here, so he dived high and returned.

"Eunuch Gao, what's the matter with you?"

"Hai Guogong, our family is also entrusted by others!"

"Let someone guess, this person should be Tai Kangbo!"

"Duke Hai, you really guessed wrong this time!"

"Oh!"

"This time our family is entrusted by Queen Zhang!"

Gao Qiqian smiled wryly: "Our family has to obey Queen Zhang's order!"

Gao Qiqian knew very well that Emperor Tianqi always cherished Empress Zhang.When he was dying, he entrusted Empress Zhang to his younger brother, Xin Wang Zhu Youjian. .”

After Zhu Youjian ascended the throne, he also respected the emperor's wife very much, and gave Zhang Yan the title of "Empress Yi'an".During the Chongzhen Dynasty, she was respected and treated courteously by Ming Sizong.

Once, Empress Zhou told Chongzhen how bad Zhou Yanru's character was. Emperor Chongzhen was dissatisfied with the harem discussing government affairs, and asked Empress Zhou how she knew. out of the cabinet.

Although Wen Tiren contributed to the matter of the fall of the Zhou Dynasty, it was Empress Zhang who finally made Emperor Chongzhen make up his mind. She could influence Emperor Chongzhen's decision on national policy, which even Empress Zhou could not do.

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "This is not in harmony with etiquette, men and women are different!"

When Empress Zhang disappeared, she put Cheng Shijie on fire.

Although Cheng Shijie has no idea about Queen Zhang, it is not ruled out that Queen Zhang set up a trick. Cheng Shijie has encountered such a situation in the workplace. In the original Hangang Group, a certain colleague was tricked, and a female employee asked him Flattery, after giving the other party a little sweetness, accuse the other party of sexual harassment.

If Cheng Shijie met with Empress Zhang in private, all he needed was for Empress Zhang to put down her face and refuse, and Cheng Shijie would have yellow mud rubbed into his crotch, either shit or shit.

People in the rivers and lakes have to be careful.

Especially the officialdom, this is a more dangerous place than the rivers and lakes, the rivers and lakes, at least talk about the last morality, even if it is hypocritical, it is righteousness.

But in the officialdom, that's not even the last face.Just like the great writer Ouyang Xiu, he was calculated, and he was called an old ashes picker, and the person who picks up ashes is absolutely impossible to be Ouyang Xiu.

"Really?"

"Absolutely not!"

Cheng Shijie smiled resolutely: "If you have something to say, your father-in-law can convey it on your behalf!"

In Cheng Shijie's view, Empress Zhang is like that, a weasel, and a weasel can do good things for a chicken.
(End of this chapter)