I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 457 Astronomical Telescope

Forbidden City, Gonghou Garden.

"Your Majesty, please show me quickly."

Wang Liangfei looked at the telescope in front of her with curiosity.

Especially when Queen Zhang said that she could see the Moon Palace from it, she was even more excited and begged Zhu Youxiao to let her play with it too.

"Okay, okay, okay, let me show you."

When Zhu Youxiao saw Wang Liangfei begging to see it, he immediately gave up his position with a smile and let her come to the lens.

Wang Liangfei immediately beamed with joy, walked forward, squatted down like Zhu Youxiao and Zhang Yan, and curiously looked at the situation in the telescope.

After a while, Wang Liangfei just like Zhang Yan before, let out bursts of exclamations.

"The ancients honestly did not deceive me. The moon is really so deserted and desolate. It's just that I can't see Guanghan Palace, nor the Moon Palace nor the laurel tree."

Zhu Youxiao was immediately amused by her and laughed.

"It would be strange if we could meet Chang'e. But from the perspective of a Western telescope, the moon is so desolate, and Chang'e would probably have a hard time staying on it."

Zhang Yan stood aside and when she saw the emperor's teasing, she also pursed her lips and smiled in response.

"What your Majesty said is really in line with Li Shangyin's poem: Chang'e should regret stealing the elixir, and the blue sea and blue sky are in her heart every night. Anyone who goes up there will definitely regret it."

"That's right, I don't want to go to the moon palace. I originally wanted to go to the moon. It is a heavenly being. But now it seems that it is worse than the human world. I am not worthy of being a heavenly being."

Concubine Duan Chun also nodded in agreement upon hearing this, feeling that what the emperor and empress said was very reasonable.

Zhu Youxiao laughed when he heard this, and then looked at the moon.

He had nothing to do these days, thinking that it happened to be November [-]th, as the saying goes, the moon on the [-]th day is [-] full.

So he asked someone to take out the astronomical telescope that Tang Ruowang gave last time and send it to the palace houyuan, and invited Zhang Yan and the others to come here to see the moon.

He remembered very clearly that in his previous life, Galileo invented the astronomical telescope and saw the surface of the moon and the four satellites of Jupiter. The telescope sent by Tang Ruowang was forty times more powerful than Galileo's original design. Looking at the moon Not a problem.

So I waited until night and fiddled with the moon a little, and then I saw the moon.

Zhang Yan and others were overjoyed, as if they had discovered a new continent, they looked at the moon through the telescope repeatedly.

But Zhu Youxiao didn't have such a big thought. After looking at it, he felt it was boring. After all, humans had landed on the moon in previous lives, and Zhu Youxiao had seen the moon image countless times.

So he took them to play with the astronomical telescope slowly, and adjusted the direction of the telescope for them from time to time, allowing them to see planets such as Mars and Jupiter, which surprised them again and again.

But when he looked at the astronomical telescope, he suddenly sighed secretly in his heart, thinking that he had forgotten the telescope, a powerful tool.

This telescope can not only see the moon, but can also be used in warfare, especially if you have a cannon, which will greatly help the accuracy of the cannon.

Thinking of this, he immediately gave Zhang Chang instructions:
"Tell Xu Guangqi to go to the palace tomorrow to meet the saint."

"The slaves obey the orders!"

Seeing that it was getting late, and it was already November, and the wind was biting, Zhu Youxiao was afraid that they would freeze, so he let Zhang Yan and the others play for a while before returning to the palace separately, as they might catch a cold.

"Your Majesty, it's getting late. Let's go to bed early."

In Kunning Palace, Zhang Yan looked at Zhu Youxiao who was studying attentively with a volume of Zizhi Tongjian, and couldn't help but stepped forward to give advice.

"What time is it now?"

When Zhu Youxiao heard this, he put down his book and stretched his shoulders.

"It's already three o'clock in the morning."

It was almost ten o'clock, Zhu Youxiao murmured to himself.At this time, nightlife may have just begun, but in ancient times it was already late.

Then he nodded, put the book down, and stood up to rest.Upon seeing this, Zhang Yan came over and helped Zhu Youxiao change clothes.

"I have been busy with matters outside the court during this period, and I know very little about the palace. Is there anything important happening recently?"

Zhang Yan, who was serving, paused when she heard this, and then said slowly:

"It's nothing. Zhu Youjian and others are good at studying. I heard Mr. praise him several times. I just heard that Wei Zhongxian said that he wanted to thoroughly investigate the palace accounts, which made some people in the palace panic." Zhu Youxiao laughed when he heard this. After making a sound, he immediately looked at Zhang Yan and said:
"Haha, this is what I asked him to do. But you are the Lord of the Sixth Palace. From time to time, people come to you to beg for mercy."

Seeing that the emperor guessed his thoughts so easily, Zhang Yan nodded helplessly.

"That's true, but they are all concubines in the palace. Maybe their subordinates are all old people in the palace. It is inevitable that their hands and feet will be unclean, and they are afraid of being implicated in this matter. They couldn't bear it anymore, so they begged to come to the concubine.

This concubine is also new to the palace. She has never encountered such a situation before, and she doesn't know how to deal with it.Moreover, this matter was ordered by His Majesty, so I was even more afraid to make a decision. "

Seeing the embarrassment on Zhang Yan's face, Zhu Youxiao didn't care.

The targets of Wei Zhongxian's thorough investigation of the corruption in the palace were originally the elderly in the palace during the Wanli period. These people took advantage of Wanli's collection of mining taxes to engage in corruption, and the amount was immeasurable.

Although we still don’t know how much they have left, this account still needs to be settled, otherwise it will not be enough to warn future generations. I wonder how these people can not panic under such circumstances.

"You are the Lord of the Sixth Palace. I have said before that you have the final say on the affairs of the harem. So this time it is you who make the decision. In my opinion, I can help one or two as appropriate. This will not only show the majesty of the queen, but also The kind heart that can be shown will not fall on the tongue.

Hearing that the emperor supported him so much, Zhang Yan felt relieved.

"I understand, I'm just afraid that doing this will ruin His Majesty's important affairs. Then I really can't escape responsibility."

"Haha, what's the big deal? You can take good care of the harem and make it harmonious. It will be the greatest help to me to feel comfortable when I am resting."

Seeing that Zhang Yan was somewhat remorseful, Zhu Youxiao smiled and felt relieved.

Ever since his wedding, Zhu Youxiao has been deliberately raising Zhang Yan's status for this purpose. On the one hand, he doesn't want any bloody drama like Zhen Huan to happen. On the other hand, after Zhang Yan's status is raised, as the master of the harem, Naturally, Wei Zhongxian's power can be curbed.

After all, Wei Zhongxian, who is familiar with history, knows very well that in history it was precisely because of Zhu Youxiao's favor with Wei Zhongxian and the Hakka family.As a result, Wei Zhongxian and the Hakka family were so unscrupulous that they dared to frame the queen, which ultimately caused Zhang Yan's miscarriage.

Therefore, in Zhu Youxiao's view, although Wei Zhongxian's sword is loyal, it cannot be too indulgent, otherwise problems will easily occur.

He must be afraid, not only of himself, but also of Zhang Yan in the future.
-
Early the next morning, Zhu Youxiao got up early, and after having breakfast under Zhang Yan's service, he left Kunning Palace early.

When they arrived at Qianqing Palace, they saw Luo Sigong, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, waiting outside the palace gate early.

Zhu Youxiao was not surprised by this. He had already known the purpose of Luo Sigong's visit and immediately asked him to come into the palace to speak.

"I read your previous report. Is there really someone in Shanxi who is collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country?"

As soon as Zhu Youxiao sat down, he couldn't wait to ask about Luo Sigong.

"Please rest assured, your majesty, since April, I have secretly sent people to Zhangjiakou and other places where trade and exchanges occur, and even Chahar, Inner Khalkha and other places. It is found that there are indeed merchants leaving the customs from Datong, Zhangjiakou, Liaoxi and other places .

Although most of them went to Chahar for trade, a few traveled thousands of miles carrying grain, grass, and ironware, passing through Chahar to Nekarkha, and then secretly headed to Kaiyuan through Nekarkha.

At the same time, there are also many Jianlu who pretend to be Mongolian merchants and come to our border with the Ming Dynasty to do business. Some people see through it after discovering it and keep in touch with them secretly. "

Zhu Youxiao nodded silently. He was not surprised by this result.

Isn’t there a saying in the past life?If there is a profit of 20.00%, the businessman will be ready to take action; if there is a profit of 50.00%, the businessman will take risks; if there is a profit of [-]%, the businessman will dare to risk hanging; if there is a profit of [-]%, the businessman will dare to risk his life. If profits are high, merchants dare to trample all laws in the world.

The profit from transporting goods from Daming to Jianlu was several times higher. There would definitely be merchants who would take risks, otherwise it would be unjustifiable.

But what surprised him was that there were actually Jianlu merchants who secretly came to the border of Ming Dynasty to do business. Some talented people were really bold.

When Zhu Youxiao saw this, he sneered. The profit of trading with Jianlu was indeed high, but he just didn't know whether these people were destined to make money or spend money.

"Where are the merchants? The merchants behind these are probably protected by officials, otherwise they would not dare to do this."

"The minister immediately ordered people to search according to the map and found that the merchants who secretly went to Inner Khalkha came from two places, one was Shanxi and the other was Liaozuo."

After Luo Sigong finished speaking, he paused and then introduced in detail.

"Among the Shanxi merchants, the main ones are the Jiexiu Fan family. The current head of the family is named Fan Yongdou. Although this person is from Shanxi, he opened a shop in Zhangjiakou. He was apparently responsible for the trade to Mongolia, but in fact he carried grain with him every time he left the country. Ironware, bribed tribes along the way to go to Inner Khalkha to do business with Jianlu.

And as far as I know, Fan Yongdou is not the only one.He is now secretly contacting other merchants to participate, including Shanxi merchants Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, etc. There are at least eight merchants in total. They trade a lot of money, grain, and ironware with Jianlu every year and make huge profits. "

As soon as he heard the three words "Fan Yongdou", Zhu Youxiao understood the reason and thought to himself that it was indeed this person.

The legendary leader of the eight imperial merchants. In history, during the late Ming Dynasty, he secretly transported military supplies to the rebels, provided various intelligence within the customs, and conducted political transactions.

After the Manchus entered the customs, Shunzhi did not forget Fan Yongdou and others who had made great achievements in the Central Plains. He held a banquet in the Forbidden City, personally summoned them, gave them clothes, and granted them official titles and honors.They were named "Imperial Merchants" and their prominence lasted until the Qianlong period.

(End of this chapter)