I'm really not doing business

Chapter 705: Chongdefang Mass Wedding
The deterioration of the maritime trade environment has resulted in merchant ships having to pay a high price, whether it is armaments or security. The English royal family rarely or even does not need to start a war or invest manpower, material resources and energy to strike against national shipping, and can often make a lot of money, passing the cost of war on to private ship owners and all maritime merchants.

Those who participated in maritime privateering and merchant sailors paid the price of their lives, and the English royal family made huge profits from it.

The most important thing is that if troublemakers can corrupt the maritime trade environment, they can gain a competitive advantage. After all, before the privateering licenses were issued, Spanish and Portuguese merchant ships could do business well, while English merchant ships could not pass because of Spain's maritime hegemony. Now, everyone cannot trade freely because of the bad maritime trade environment.

The privateering letter was an invention that the English royal family was proud of. Even if London was captured, the English royal family, parliament and gentlemen had no intention of giving up this policy, because only London was captured, and the royal family, parliamentarians and gentlemen could escape at a faster speed. They could even carry out the enclosure movement with low moral advantages, let alone the civilians in London.

"The Ming Dynasty's attempt to use huge amounts of textiles, such as cotton, wool, and silk, to overwhelm England's handicraft industry failed." Zhu Yijun looked at Wan Shihe and said with great emotion: "They used the poor maritime trade environment to block the entry of Ming Dynasty goods."

Zhu Yijun thought that through the three-pronged approach of high pressure from the Ming Dynasty, physical attack from Felipe, and dumping of Ming Dynasty goods, he could force the English royal family to revoke the privateering license. However, the Ming Dynasty was too far away, and Felipe's exploratory attack failed. Ming Dynasty goods could not reach England smoothly due to the poor maritime trade environment.

The three-pronged strategy was blocked by the advantages of low morality and low human rights.

I have to say, it is worthy of being called a gang and a stubborn disease of the earth. It has something special.

"There's nothing we can do about it. Ming merchant ships will only stay in Lisbon when they arrive in the West and won't go to London. Western merchants have to pass through the Netherlands to enter England. The routes are controlled by the English. Ming has tried its best and done everything it can to prevent the maritime trade environment from being destroyed." Wan Shihe sighed. Ming had no other choice but to hope that Felipe would try harder and physically eliminate this gang.

The Queen of England dared to go against Felipe only after she had thoroughly instigated the Netherlands to revolt, and had achieved considerable success. Because of ocean currents, straits, monsoons, etc., the fastest and safest place to enter England by sea these days was only the Netherlands.

A new era of maritime trade has arrived, an era called: the Golden Age of Piracy.

In this era, every ship on the sea is a pirate ship, and every person is a pirate.

Zhu Yijun still has a lot of Tangbao in his hands.

For example, in April of the 13th year of the Wanli reign, a large-scale rebellion of kiln workers broke out in the rich silver mines of Peru. It was not a strike but a rebellion. The remaining resistance forces of the ancient Inca Empire organized this rebellion. Nearly 10,000 kiln workers responded to the rebellion, which was then easily resolved and ruthlessly eliminated by the colonists.

The rich silver mine has an additional mass grave.

Firearms against obsidian weapons were a ruthless crushing and massacre. The resistance did not cause any harm to the Viceroyalty of Peru at all. The Viceroyalty of Peru carried out a punitive encirclement and suppression of several tribes and filled mass graves together.

For example, in the port of Acapulco, the Mexican Viceroyalty, a total of 140 slaves, unable to endure the long and heavy labor, jumped into the sea and disappeared without a trace. In this port, there were more than 30,000 slaves who lived an inhuman life, but there were less than 500 colonists in the port.

It was precisely these five hundred people who controlled the slaves so well that they would rather commit suicide than resist.

It is difficult to kill a hundred people with ten bullets, but it is easy to kill ninety-nine people with nine bullets. Kill the leader and the remaining ninety-nine people will not dare to resist.

For example, after the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty issued a reward for sea charts, needle maps, and star maps, there seemed to be new discoveries south of the Yuanxu Islands. A legend began to spread among maritime merchants that south of the equatorial doldrums there was a continent covered with gold and silver, and whoever got there first would be able to occupy the land and become the king.

This kind of legend is very common, seeming to be true but not quite, just like the legends of martial arts secrets in the world, which occasionally stir up some trouble.

And now this legend seems to point to Oceania, but this is not the news released by Zhu Yijun. Instead, with the development of the Thousand Islands and the Yuanxu Islands, some people got lost and seemed to have discovered a vast continent with no end in sight. Then this secret, which was not passed on to others, was soon known to everyone.

For example, a Ming merchant ship was attacked by indigenous people in Manbasa (today's Mombasa in East Africa). After sailing for a period of time, it sank in the ocean and no one survived. Merchant ships being attacked by indigenous people is a very common thing at sea. Going to sea is tantamount to risking one's life. Cruel weather and huge waves, elusive plagues, ferocious indigenous people, betrayal by one's own people for profit, etc. are all dangerous factors.

The sea, a place not bound by laws.

Zhu Yijun asked Wan Shihe to summarize and record all these events in the overseas chronicles.

The ancient Inca Empire has disappeared, but the news of their resistance spread to the East, and the East recorded it to let future generations know that they did not surrender when faced with cruel colonial rule, and that they once really existed.

"Hey, there seems to be a group wedding tomorrow. Feng Daban, please make arrangements. I want to attend the banquet tomorrow." When Zhu Yijun handed the sorted newspaper to Wan Shihe, he suddenly saw the contents of the miscellaneous newspapers on the table.

When it comes to the emergence of collective weddings, we have to mention Xu Bangrui, Duke of Wei.

Xu Bangrui proposed to give monthly rations to the wives of soldiers. The monthly rations were divided into four levels: one level for wives, one level each for those with one, two, and three children. As soon as the policy of giving monthly rations to the wives of soldiers was announced, a wave of marriages was immediately triggered among the navy soldiers.

Those who are already married are trying their best to have children, and life is full of vitality and everything is flourishing.

But the army is a sophisticated killing machine and is often in a state of readiness for war. The navy has to go to sea and conduct armed patrols. For this reason, the marriages of the Ming navy soldiers can only be held in a centralized manner. All of them are recruited soldiers from all over the place and do not have many relatives or friends. It would be more lively if the wedding was held in a centralized manner.

Zhu Yijun was going to attend such a collective wedding, and it was the first collective wedding of military soldiers.

A collective wedding of the third team of the second flag of the first bureau of Pingbo Camp stationed in Chongdefang, Shanghai County.

The third team had a total of twelve people, six of whom were unmarried. This time the six got married together. According to the Ming Dynasty Navy Regulations, those who were not married could not go to sea, and those who did not have children were not allowed to be stationed overseas. Only those who were married and had children, and they were sons, could be stationed overseas.

The imperial court also introduced favorable policies, which suddenly triggered a marriage boom.

Zhu Yijun wanted to join in the fun because he wanted to see the real scene. In Zhejiang, Zhu Yijun could only act as the emperor because the assassination had actually happened and it was not safe. Only by displaying the emperor's ceremonial guard could he ensure safety.

In Songjiang Prefecture, the emperor could look around the real Songjiang Prefecture in the identity of Huang from Penglai.

Zhu Yijun's inspection and investigation as the emperor delayed Yao's production for three days. All the workshops under the name of the Zhejiang East Merchants Group were cleaned up and work was stopped for fear that the emperor would see the dirt. Work was just a pretense. Zhu Yijun did not see the real workshop, nor did he see the real world.

The next morning, Zhu Yijun got up very early. Wang Yaozhuo was pregnant, so she did not join the emperor in the banquet. Instead, the little boy Zhu Changzhi was very excited. He got up even earlier than Zhu Yijun. He ran around early in the morning and kept asking when they would have the banquet.

Children all like to watch lively scenes, but there is not so much excitement to see in the deep palace. Fortunately, Zhu Changzhi has a father who likes to watch lively scenes, so going out has become Zhu Changzhi’s favorite thing.

This seems a bit unstable for the eldest prince, but considering the child's age, it would be a joke to talk about stability at the age of five.

"Dad, isn't it said that starting a family and building a career are the most important things in life? Why do they have to do it together?" Zhu Changzhi was in the car, looking out the window, asking all sorts of questions like he had a hundred thousand whys.

"Because soldiers have to protect the security of Ming's sea borders, they don't have much free time to deal with their own personal affairs, so they are handled collectively and there is no time to do them one by one." Zhu Yijun answered this question. For the sake of public affairs, personal interests were sacrificed. This is also the reason for giving monthly food to the wives of soldiers.

Zhu Changzhi blinked his big eyes and said, "Then they can choose not to be soldiers. Being a soldier is so tiring. Dad is going to be a soldier too. Uncle said Dad is... Dad is..."

"What did uncle mean by father?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously. The uncle that Zhu Changzhi mentioned was Zhu Yiliu, Prince of Lu. This guy was very careless with his mouth and could say anything.

Zhu Changzhi whispered, "He said that Dad was a big black donkey, who worked on the millstone in the palace and had to go to the North Camp to work on the millstone. He was so tired that he was sweating all over. I had a quarrel with him!"

"Who won?" Zhu Yijun's face was full of smiles. This was not the first or second time that Zhu Yiliu had called him a donkey. He had been calling him that since he was eight years old and was forced by his elder brother to practice martial arts. Of course, every time they had a fight, Xiong Tingbi didn't dare to hit Zhu Yiliu, but Zhu Yijun really dared.

Even brothers fight each other since they were young.

"I won! I told my uncle that if he says anything bad about my father again, I will tell my father and he won't dare to say anything." Zhu Changzhi clenched his fists, waved them vigorously, and said excitedly.

Learned to use the power of others to bully Zhu Changzhi.

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "Dad didn't go to the army, he went to review the troops. It was hard, but compared to the soldiers, that little bit of hardship is just a drop in the bucket."

"A hair from nine cows?" Zhu Changzhi widened his eyes. He learned a new idiom today!

The child's attention span changes as quickly as the weather in Songjiang Prefecture. After Zhu Changzhi asked a few questions, he pointed to the clouds in the sky and said they looked like a dog and a dragon at the same time. God was kind to him today and it was a sunny day with the sun shining brightly. The ground was filled with mist and it was a bit stuffy. The cicadas were screaming at the top of their lungs, making people a little irritated. There was also a fishy smell in the sea breeze.

"Your Majesty, we're here." Feng Bao whispered to His Majesty that they had arrived at Chongdefang.

Next to Chongdefang is Chongyifang, where dyers from Hongyuan Dyeing Workshop went on strike and killed each other. People at that time would never have imagined how far-reaching the impact of the strikes to demand wages at Hongyuan Dyeing Workshop would be. This opened the curtain on labor-capital conflicts. Although the strikes to demand wages have not happened again since then, the workshop owners dared not do whatever they wanted anymore.

Chongdefang is very lively today, with lights and decorations everywhere, firecracker debris all over the ground, and children asking adults for fireworks and firecrackers, but being refused.

"Huang Zhongxing, the eldest son of the Huang family of Penglai and a disciple of the general, has come to congratulate you on your wedding. I wish you a happy marriage, a son soon, happiness and peace, and long life of blessings and safety." Feng Bao sang a number and went to pay his respects with a few eunuchs. The Huang family of Penglai was real, and the real son had been captured by the fake son Zhu Yijun.

"The gift money from the Penglai Huang family is one hundred taels, six pairs of gold articles, six pieces of Shu brocade, six pieces of national cellar, six volumes of the 'Abridged Edition of the Yongle Encyclopedia', six pieces of embroidery, and six auspicious boxes. It is an honor for us to have you here. Please come in quickly!" The chief director was shocked by the generous gift money. None of these things were cheap.

The wedding director is the person in charge of the wedding. All matters, big or small, must be reported to him and passed through his hands. He is usually a respected person. And every time the gift money is too much, he will shout it out to let everyone present know how much has been given. In this way, whether it is too much or too little, everyone can tell clearly. The director has organized countless weddings on these two streets, and this is the first time he has met someone who is so generous.

After hearing this shout, all the people gathered in front of the square looked at the Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun with surprised expressions.

"I'm from the capital, temporarily staying at the general's mansion. I'm here on behalf of General Qi. General Qi is busy with official duties, so only a junior like me is here. I'm here with a small gift, and I'm just here to join in the fun today. You don't need to pay too much attention to me." Zhu Yijun bowed to everyone in all directions and reported his origins.

Such a generous gift almost scared the parents of the newlyweds. They were whispering to each other, asking whose relative this was. But when they heard that it was someone from the General's Mansion, they felt relieved.

There are many legends about Qi Jiguang among the people. Most of them are false, such as the legend that he has three heads and six arms, that he can ride on the wind at night and that he can turn into mist. But some are true, such as Qi Jiguang cooking from the same stove with soldiers and attending soldiers' weddings. According to Qi Jiguang's idea of ​​commanding the army, soldiers and generals have to eat from the same pot to be a family. The generals shouting "Follow me charge" and "charge for me" are completely different ways of fighting.

General Qi accompanied the emperor on his southern tour and arrived at Shanghai County. Everyone in Shanghai County knew that since it was the first collective wedding, it was not strange for General Qi to ask his family's sons to come and see.

"I haven't heard that General Qi is so generous! I heard that General Qi only brought some mooncakes when he went to a soldier's wedding. It's a bit shabby."

"You can't blame General Qi. General Qi was on the march and the court didn't give him food and wages, so he had to find a way to make money on his own. He also had to give gifts to that guy, which cost him two thousand taels of silver a year! He's really a cannibal!"

"Who said it wasn't true? Every time General Qi raised funds, none of the wealthy families were willing to donate. The Qi family army fought on an empty stomach and still drove away the Japanese pirates. It's really amazing!"

"General Qi is now the Duke of Fengguo, a true nobleman, so he is naturally no longer the same as before. Have you heard about what happened in Zhejiang? General Qi issued a death order, and all those wealthy families who secretly recruited some desperate criminals to fight against the court were wiped out by General Qi!"

"Relieve anger!"

"Good kill!"

……

Zhu Yijun heard the discussions. What exactly happened in Zhejiang? The people of Songjiang Prefecture were not quite sure, but they did guess it pretty close. A government office was burned down in Renhe County, so why did the emperor go crazy like this?

Zhu Yijun has been on the throne for thirteen years. The emperor's policies cannot be described as benevolent, but they are definitely not brutal. The people feel that, after all, the problems have accumulated over a long period of time and the illness is too serious, so he has to take decisive action.

But when Zhu Yijun heard the three words "Zhang Bapi", he felt helpless and sighed. It was public knowledge that Zhang Juzheng accepted bribes of two thousand taels a year from Qi Jiguang. Zhang Juzheng accepted this money just to tell everyone that Qi Jiguang was his man and he would protect him!

But now it has been 13 years since the Ming Dynasty Zhenwu, and the situation is different from the past. The Qingliu scolded Zhang Juzheng for being a corrupt official, and the people scolded Zhang Juzheng for accepting so much money from Qi Jiguang, and calling him a dog official. At that time, Qi Jiguang recruited miners in Yiwu to join the army, and they did not have to fight on an empty stomach, but they did have to find ways to get some supplies themselves.

Zhang Juzheng was never a role model or a saint. Zhu Yijun knew very well that before the full payment in the third year of Wanli, Li Chengliang had to give money to Zhang Juzheng. It was hard to say whether it was right or wrong, right? Of course it was not right, but it was true. Zhu Yijun always believed that Mr. Zhang did nothing wrong.

"If you knew that people call you Zhang Paopi, you would probably be so angry that you can't sleep at night." Zhu Yijun found a table on the street and sat down, and said to Feng Bao with a little emotion.

"Sir, you know that. Someone scolded him during the Longqing period." Feng Bao explained with a smile. Zhang Juzheng had been scolded a long time ago, and the scholars scolded him even more foully.

Zhu Yijun was stunned for a moment, then he smiled and nodded, saying, "Yes, sir, you have also been through many storms and have seen all kinds of situations."

Chongdefang is where the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty navy gathered. The whole block is filled with the soldiers' relatives. Relatives from all over the world are busy preparing for the wedding. There are five streets in total, and there are big stoves everywhere. Women, young and old, all join in the cooking, stir-frying and frying. It is so lively and the air is filled with the aroma of food.

"Water for the noble." The chief director brought people to boil two pots of plain water without adding tea leaves. This was because the poor laborers' family did not have any high-quality tea that would catch the eyes of the relatives of the Duke's Mansion.

Feng Bao asked the eunuch to stop the water and food and then said, "Great Councilor, the noble man does not need water and food from outside. I believe that the great councilor also knows that the wind force of the revival of civil and military power in our dynasty is fierce. For the safety of the noble man, the Duke of Fengguo has issued a death order."

"That's right, that's right." The chief director then realized that he had offended him. No wonder the nobles brought their own chefs with them when they came to the banquet.

In the eyes of ordinary people, an upright figure like Qi Jiguang was isolated and helpless in the court. The court was dark and the struggle was cruel. The young man of the Duke's Mansion was not allowed to use water and food outside when he went out. Such a strict rule was not pretentious but for safety.

"Director, please sit down and talk. We have a few questions to ask." Zhu Yijun gestured to the director to sit opposite him. Since he had paid a gift to come and see us, he naturally had to ask a few questions.

Although the chief councilor was a little reserved, he still sat down and started chatting with the emperor.

Under the chief director there are two chiefs, under the second chief there are three managers, who are responsible for water, fire, stove materials, tea, wine, firecrackers, etc. The chief director has time to chat, and there are not many things that need him to handle personally.

Zhu Yijun was very good at chatting, and after a while the conversation became lively. Everyone started cursing the corrupt officials together, and they had a common topic.

The chief director's surname was Qin and his given name was Qin Zhao, a name he gained after joining the army. He was 45 years old and from Jingzhou Prefecture, Huguang. He was a fellow townsman of Zhang Juzheng and a retired soldier from the navy. He went to Shanghai County and became the Songjiang Ancha Si Zhaomo, an official of the ninth rank. Because the chief director was injured in a battle at sea, he could only walk with a limp and could not have children either, as the injury was to his thigh.

"Mr. Qin, has the navy soldiers' salaries been paid in full? To be honest with you, Mr. Qin, the Beijing camp has arrested three lieutenant generals in the fight against corruption." Seeing that the atmosphere had become more lively, Zhu Yijun asked a fatal question. Qin Zhao had no idea that a wrong answer from him might cause a big storm.

Qin Zhao shook his head and said, "Yes, I can, but it's not as good as before. It used to be half grain and half silver, but now it's all silver. Half grain is good. The price of rice in Songjiang Prefecture changes three times a day, so half grain and half silver is better. You don't have to worry about it."

"Ah? Half grain and half silver? We heard from Marshal Qi that the emperor spent a lot of effort to pay the full amount of silver, and it took five or six years to pay the full amount of silver to the Beijing camp and the navy. What Mr. Qin means is that we did something wrong?" Zhu Yijun's eyes widened. He had spent a lot of effort to get this done. This was an achievement he was quite proud of. He used the acceptance bills of Huitongguanyi to simplify the process of paying military salaries.

Each soldier had his own banknote number at Huitongguan Posthouse, and the administrative cost alone would cost an additional 100,000 silver coins each year. However, Zhu Yijun really put in a lot of effort to ensure that the soldiers' salaries were paid in full and not deducted.

As a result, in the eyes of retired veterans, this was a waste of effort, and the ministers in the court refused to say that the emperor was wrong.

"Half-grain is good. In the past, half-grain did not mean all grain. In addition to grain, we also gave out cotton clothes and beddings. These things are of high quality and the discount is not high. The money alone is enough for the whole family. It's okay to deduct a little, but after getting full silver, if you go to the market to buy these things, these black-hearted merchants will sell poor quality goods that are not durable." Qin Zhao leaned back in his chair, looking quite relaxed, and said with a knowledgeable look.

The nobles have food and clothes provided for them, and naturally they don’t care about these trivial matters of family life, but the soldiers do.

Zhu Yijun frowned and whispered, "This is all silver. Wouldn't it help curb corruption?"

"My dear, just because you are paid in full doesn't mean you are corrupt? You used to deduct money, but now you have to give money. It's really hard to put into words." Qin Zhaoye said that Noble Huang was here to go through the motions on behalf of General Qi. If he knew that the person in front of him was the emperor, he would never dare to say these words.

"Is it serious?" Zhu Yijun clenched his fists under the table. A large amount of silver was pouring in. The alienation of money on people was also corroding the Ming army. Zhu Yijun did not want to see this kind of scene.

Qin Zhao shook his head and said, "To say it's serious, it's not serious at all. Compared with the past when people were beaten, scolded, tortured, and even killed and enslaved, it's really not serious at all. The Ming navy is really the king's army. To say it's not serious, it's a little worse than in the past. It was much better before, at least we didn't have to pay monthly wages."

"Monthly allowance?" Zhu Yijun asked in a low voice with the corner of his mouth twitching.

Qin Zhao leaned closer and whispered, "It's just a show of respect. Every soldier has to pay one cent of silver to the captain every month. One cent of silver is exactly one cent for each team. If you don't pay, the team will be in trouble. Your Excellency is from the Fengguo Mansion. Go back to the mansion and talk to General Qi about this situation. This amount of money collected in the navy is still small, but there is a trend."

"Besides, one cent of silver now is not much, but what about in the future? I am worried. One cent is not enough to fill my stomach. If it becomes three cents, five cents, or one penny of silver, won't it be the same as in the past?"

"Okay, let's go back and have a good talk with General Qi about this!" Zhu Yijun said very calmly. This matter must be resolved. Once the army is corrupt, the ballast of the new policy will no longer be able to provide any support.

Qin Zhao said cheerfully, "I don't know what kindness God has shown to give us full pay all of a sudden. The soldiers' lives have visibly improved. Really, when I was a soldier in Huguang, it was a good year if we could eat white rice once a year. Now we can eat meat several times a month. Life has improved, and even our children can get married."

"As the saying goes, a big house is bound to have a few bad apples. This is not surprising. I have no worries, but I only hope that our Ming Dynasty can be better. That's why I tell you all this. While there are some signs now, quickly nip them in the bud. Otherwise, it will be difficult to reverse the situation when the situation becomes serious."

"Mr. Qin is absolutely right. The world is in a mess because of this. It is difficult to reverse the situation." Zhu Yijun agreed with Qin Zhao's statement.

"That family is the younger brother's marriage. In the past, the family was poor, with two brothers and three sisters, and they only had one pair of pants. The family was in a difficult situation, but they joined the army and became soldiers. Now they have their own family. The two sisters went to the weaving bureau to work as weavers, and they don't have to worry about food and drink. The wife that the younger brother of this family is also a weaver, so they are considered a good match."

"The wife that family wanted was a Japanese girl." Qin Zhao looked at the other family and said in a complicated tone.

"Japanese woman?" Zhu Yijun was full of doubts.

Qin Zhao smiled and said, "Last year, a Japanese ship came to Daming to plant seeds. In order to avoid the inspection of the coastal defense patrol, it lost its way and sank. At that time, the sailors sent three ships to suppress the pirates. In the end, they fished out several Japanese women from the sea. They were about to die, and Sanlang of this family rescued one of them. After a few visits, she became pregnant, so they had no choice but to get married with the baby."

"Now that she's here, she's the daughter-in-law of our Daming Dynasty. Can she still run away?"

People are happy to see this happen because they don't have to pay a bride price.

(End of this chapter)