Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 115 Getting to know the nobles of the Ming Dynasty for the first time
Emperor Jiajing thought for a long time, and then said leisurely: "Let's postpone this matter, let's continue with the government affairs below."

Emperor Jiajing had difficulties, and Wang Daoqiu couldn't say anything. After all, he never appeared in politics as a single person, but as a gang committing crimes.If he wants to maintain his rule in Jiajing, he must speak for the interests of his gang and win the support of the gang. This is necessary.

Seeing the helplessness of the supreme emperor, Wang Daoqiu shook his head and returned to the court with a wry smile on his face.

Emperor Jiajing and his ministers discussed a few more step-by-step so-called court affairs, and the ministers withdrew.After all the important ministers left, Emperor Jiajing had a gloomy face and waved Wang Daoqiu to come forward.

When Wang Daoqiu came to Emperor Jiajing with the support of the young eunuch, Emperor Jiajing asked the young eunuch to place Wang Daoqiu on the lotus seat where he was practicing meditation, and also said a list of names of nobles from the court, asking him to The young eunuch summoned these people to the palace to see him.

After the young eunuch left, Emperor Jiajing sighed and said leisurely: "Wang Qing, although I am the emperor, I still have to consider other people's opinions on some things. Aiqing is the one who recruited southern businessmen to invest in the capital and set up factories. It's a good idea, but after hundreds of years, who should earn the money for the capital's cotton cloth? Hey, I have no choice! Let's discuss it carefully when those people come. By the way, Wang Qing, since they haven't arrived yet, Please tell me what your plan is for this matter."

"It's Your Majesty! To be honest with Your Majesty, this is what I plan to do with attracting southern businessmen to invest and set up factories in the capital. Now Tongzhou has set up a trade center and has a large commodity trading market, which is conducive to the sale of goods. And Li About three miles from the business center is the Tongzhou section of the Tonghui River connected to the canal from Beijing, and a little further up is the Tongzhou section of the Wenyu River connected to the canal. In the triangle area where the Tonghui River meets the Wenyu River and the Grand Canal, there are tens of thousands of acres of land. If If Your Majesty is willing to make a big decision, then I have the confidence to turn those tens of thousands of acres into workshops and goods yards within three to five years, and earn tens of millions of taels of silver for the court and Your Majesty every year."

"Is it possible to build all the tens of thousands of acres of land into workshops and goods yards? Aiqing, aren't you lying to me?"

"Your Majesty, how dare I lie to Your Majesty! Your Majesty, think about it, let's not talk about the cotton spinning industry. The current annual cotton output in our northern Zhili province alone is at least tens of millions of kilograms. Just to spin all the cotton into yarn and weave cotton cloth, how many spinning machines and how much space does it need? And how much warehouse is needed to collect the cotton and weave it with cotton cloth? Not to mention that I still want to rely on Remove the cotton spinning industry, and then set up garment factories and quilt factories there. When these are developed, there will probably be hundreds of thousands of people living in this area. When there are more people, there will be business opportunities, and then there will be business opportunities for other people. The industry will definitely be born naturally. Think about it, Your Majesty, tens of thousands of acres of land is not much."

Relying on the large textile industry and then driving related supporting industries, this is promising.Thinking of the small amount of money in it, Emperor Jiajing's heart ignited with burning desire.Then he began to ask Wang Daoqiu how to run this large industrial zone and how to make more money from it.

The two monarchs and ministers discussed like this, and soon Xiaohuangmen came to report that all the nobles that Emperor Jiajing wanted to summon had arrived.When he heard that all the nobles had arrived, Emperor Jiajing issued an order to ask Xiao Huangmen to take all the nobles to Taiye Pond, and then hold a banquet beside Taiye Pond.

After giving orders to Xiao Huangmen, Emperor Jiajing began to discuss with Wang Daoqiu again, how to negotiate with those nobles later.After half a stick of incense, the monarch and his ministers discussed and set the tone of the negotiation, and then went out to meet the nobles.

He and Emperor Jiajing came to the Taiye Pond, where Wu Yangyang already had a group of dressed beasts standing there. As soon as Emperor Jiajing arrived, they hurriedly knelt down and paid homage to Emperor Jiajing.

And Emperor Jiajing was also very polite to this group of people, and let them get away without courtesy, as if he was like a spring breeze.Amidst the thanksgivings of the nobles, Emperor Jiajing took his seat and said to Wang Daoqiu in a low voice: "Except for my imperial village, more than [-]% of the land on the plains of the capital of the Ming Dynasty belongs to these people. "

After saying these words, Emperor Jiajing still asked the young eunuch to support Wang Daoqiu and let Wang Daoqiu stand next to him.The reason why Wang Daoqiu was not given the right to eat was because there was nothing he could do about it.After all, Wang Daoqiu was just a newcomer to the officialdom who had just been rewarded with the title of Second-Rank Attendant. He was simply not worthy of recognition in front of these nobles.Therefore, if Wang Daoqiu is given the right to eat at the banquet, then Wang Daoqiu will definitely have to be the last person at the banquet, which would be too disrespectful.So Emperor Jiajing did not give Wang Daoqiu the right to eat, but asked him to stand beside him.

After Emperor Jiajing sat down, he made a Chinese-style social opening speech with the nobles. Everyone was hypocritical, not interesting but lively.After all the pretense, Emperor Jiajing ordered the banquet to begin.

After receiving the order, the eunuchs and maids served dishes of wine and meat, and then Emperor Jiajing drank and chatted with the nobles.The banquet scene was much more casual than when entertaining civil servants. Emperor Jiajing even stepped down from his throne and went to toast the nobles himself.

After three rounds of wine and five tastes of food, the conversation naturally got down to business.Emperor Jiajing first solemnly introduced Wang Daoqiu to the nobles, and then asked Wang Daoqiu to inform the nobles about the plan of the industrial zone.

After listening to Wang Daoqiu's industrial zone planning, all the nobles were excited.The prowess of their ancestors has long been lost in their blood, and they cannot run an army or fight a war, but they still have a strong business vision.So as soon as they heard Wang Daoqiu's introduction, they started whispering to each other excitedly, and even left their seats to start a series of conversations with each other in front of Emperor Jiajing.

After a while, the current head of the nobles, the current Chengguo Duke Zhu Xizhong, came out to negotiate with Emperor Jiajing politely.

Zhu Xizhong is in his 30s this year and is very handsome. He is the great-great-grandson of Duke Zhu Neng. He became Duke in the 15th year of Jiajing. He is smart and good at making friends, and is famous among the nobles.Moreover, he is not only Duke Chengguo now, he is also the crown prince, Taifu, Ronglu doctor, Taibao, in charge of the affairs of the right army governor's office, and the governor of the capital camp.

To put it bluntly, in addition to the title passed down by his ancestor Zhu Neng, Zhu Xizhong now holds the same position as the vice chairman of the Ming Dynasty National Defense Commission and concurrently serves as the capital garrison commander.With this status, even though he is young, only in his 30s this year, he is now the number one among the nobles of the Ming Dynasty.Therefore, when negotiating with the emperor, the nobles let him represent them.

On behalf of all the nobles, Zhu Xizhong walked up to Emperor Jiajing, bowed his hands to Emperor Jiajing first, and then said very kindly: "I and other distinguished ministers have received the emperor's favor in this life, and they are your majesty's dogs and horses. They should serve your majesty. And establish The workshop is beneficial to the country and the people, and I have always supported it. For example, two days ago, Master Tao Xian of Baiyun Temple wanted to build a sulfur glass factory by the Yongding River. I and others learned that Master Tao had already completed 50% of the sulfur glass factory. I gave my shares to the palace as a filial piety, and promised the Ministry of Household Affairs to pay 500 taels of annual taxes. So I, together with the Marquis of Linhuai and Yin Fuma, donated more than [-] acres of land by the Yongding River to the three of them for free. Baiyunguan has also taken over the future supply of coal, river sand, limestone, and feldspar to the Sulfur Glass Factory, as well as conducting river inspections. The Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division will provide convenience to Baiyunguan in the future..."

Zhu Xizhong showed off his merits and acted as if he was generous, which made Wang Daoqiu despise him.Mudd!Obviously on the pretext of donating land and not being harassed by soldiers, Baiyunguan was allowed to give them the right to supply raw materials to the Sulfur Glass Factory in order to profit from it.Now, Zhu Xizhong said that he was helping others with Baiyun Temple with good intentions. This is really shameless.

Despising Zhu Xizhong, Wang Daoqiu unintentionally glanced at Emperor Jiajing, who was also looking at Zhu Xizhong with disgust.

Zhu Xizhong did not have the bravery and bravery of his ancestor Zhu Neng to capture the head of a general among millions of troops, but his face was much thicker than that of his ancestor Zhu Neng.I believe he knew it himself. With Emperor Jiajing's shrewdness, he certainly knew how ridiculous his words were.But he still looked upright and boasted about himself.

Zhu Xizhong was thick-skinned. He didn't know what it meant to be embarrassed, so he kept talking.But his shameless words almost made Emperor Jiajing vomit.

So Emperor Jiajing, who was really nauseated and couldn't bear it, had to interrupt him and said: "Zhu Aiqing and all the honorable ministers are loyal to me and the Ming Dynasty. I deeply appreciate it. I also thank Zhu Aiqing, Li Aiqing and Yin Fu on behalf of Tao Xianshi." Ma, support the construction of the sulfur glass factory. You are loyal to me and the country, and I should also sympathize with you. Let’s do this. The industrial zone I want to build will occupy your land, and I will pay three times the price. Buy it, what do you think?"

Purchasing it at three times the price of the land was a safety fee paid by Emperor Jiajing to the nobles. After receiving the money, he could not use secret tricks.The nobles understood what Emperor Jiajing meant, so as soon as Emperor Jiajing finished speaking, Zhu Xizhong turned around and turned to the nobles behind him.At this time, facing Zhu Xizhong's eyes, all the nobles had grim faces and shook their heads gently in a serious manner.

The meaning of the honorable nobles is very clear, they think there are too few.So after understanding what his friends meant, Zhu Xizhong reported to Emperor Jiajing, a roundabout hint, about the impact on their original iron-making business since Emperor Jiajing built the Nanjianhe Steel Plant.As well as Emperor Jiajing's briquette business, sulfur glass business and Tongzhou Trade Center project, he didn't take them to play.

After listening to Zhu Xizhong's hint, Emperor Jiajing also felt that he was at a loss if he did not bring these nobles to all the big businesses in front of him.So he called Wang Daoqiu to come over, and the two began to discuss in a low voice how to give some benefits to the nobles in this matter.

After Wang Daoqiu entered the capital, he first pulled Xia Yan from the position of chief minister, and then passed the sixth grade. He built a steel plant, helped Daomen make sulfur glass, and built a business center. Two days ago, he was still at the gate of the palace. More than 100 ministers surrounded and beat him.Each of these incidents can be called the headlines in Beijing circles.

Therefore, all the honorable nobles naturally know that Wang Daoqiu is currently favored by the emperor.But now that they saw Emperor Jiajing "biting his ears" with Wang Daoqiu, the nobles also understood.Wang Daoqiu was not just favored by Emperor Jiajing. At least in terms of the emperor's economic development work, Wang Daoqiu should be the actual person in charge.

Understanding this, the nobles all watched the discussion between Wang Daoqiu and Emperor Jiajing, and secretly made up their minds to win over Wang Daoqiu and let Wang Daoqiu bring him with him when the emperor has any big projects in the future. Make money together by yourself.

(End of this chapter)