Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 124 Trading
Zhang Yunxiu sat in the hall and waited for a while.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard outside, and Xu Yuanchun's voice came in with a smile: "Young Master, your master came all the way from Nanjing to pay tribute to our ancestors. I am really honored."

"Brother Xu, you are too polite. Grand Tutor Xu was magnanimous and loyal to his country. Now that he has passed away suddenly, how can we, the younger generation, not come to visit him?" A young voice sounded.

Zhang Yunxiu saw a young man followed by Xu Yuanchun walked in.

The man was about twenty years old, seven feet tall, with a face as beautiful as jade, lips as white as rouge, and a pair of black eyes under a pair of delicate eyebrows, without a trace of impurities in them.

He wore a dragon robe and a jade belt, and on his feet were long leather boots with gold thread.

As I walked, there was a "dengdengdeng" sound.

It was Xu Weizi, the son of Xu Pengju, the contemporary Duke of Wei.

As soon as he walked in, he found Zhang Yunxiu.

Without waiting for Xu Yuanchun to introduce him, he smiled and bowed, saying, "This must be the groom of the Xu family. He is really a handsome man. Brother Xu, your young lady has finally found someone to take care of her."

"Thank you for your kind words, young master." Zhang Yunxiu nodded slightly, neither enthusiastic nor cold.

"Hey, why call me Young Master? You and I are of similar age. I am a few years older than you. You can just call me Brother Xu." Xu Weizhi waved his hand and pretended to be angry. "Maybe not. Brother Zhang looks down on me, an old-fashioned guy, and refuses to call me brother?"

"What are you talking about, Brother Xu?"

Zhang Yunxiu took the opportunity to close the distance between them, and Xu Weizi was not polite and sat directly next to Zhang Yunxiu.

The three of them sat down as host and guest. Xu Yuanchun, the matchmaker, tilted his head and looked at Xu Weizhi and complained, "Brother, you are in big trouble this time. We have worked very hard to get some results."

"Don't worry, Brother Xu. Regardless of success or failure, we will be grateful to you and Brother Zhang." Xu Weizi laughed and gave the two of them a reassurance.

Xu Yuanchun and Zhang Yunxiu looked at each other and nodded. Then Zhang Yunxiu said, "Brother Xu, this is just a try. Don't be mentally prepared for failure."

"Let's save that." Xu Weizi waved his hand and didn't care.

Xu Weizi's nonchalant attitude made Zhang Yunxiu somewhat puzzled. Logically speaking, he should be in a very urgent situation.

While he was pondering, Xu Weizhi raised his eyebrows, looked at Zhang Yunxiu with a smile, and asked, "I heard that Brother Zhang has received an imperial commission and is planning to form another fleet to follow the example of Eunuch Zheng and sail to the West?"

"It's not even a start yet." Zhang Yunxiu glanced at Xu Weizi, picked up the teacup on his right hand, took a sip, and then asked, "Why, is the young master also interested in this?"

"Yes, we heard that there are mountains of gold and silver overseas, and we want to get a piece of the pie." Xu Weizi said with his eyes shining.

It turns out that his impeachment was just a pretext.

Last winter, he came to pay tribute to Xu Jie on his father's orders.

It was Xu Yuanchun who was responsible for receiving him at that time. The two had known each other since they were in Nanjing City, and it was inevitable for them to keep in touch when they met again.

After three rounds of drinking, Xu Yuanchun smiled and said, a little drunkenly, "Young Master, do you know what our brother-in-law does?"

"Isn't he just the son of the Prime Minister?" Xu Weizi thought Xu Yuanchun was showing off, so he replied indifferently.

"He is not only the son of the Prime Minister, but he also makes money for the Emperor." Xu Yuanchun said, with a hint of intoxication on his face, "In July this year, he made 300,000 taels of silver for the Emperor in just three months."

"so much?"

Xu Weizi was surprised and excited, and urged Xu Yuanchun to continue.

"On the sea." Xu Yuanchun raised the chopsticks in his hand and uttered two words.

"maritime?"

"Yes, it's on the sea." Xu Yuanchun thought of Zhang Yunxiu's confidence, straightened his back, stood up and pointed at the mountains and rivers, "You don't know yet, our Songjiang Prefecture will soon no longer be under the jurisdiction of Yingtian Prefecture."

"Who is responsible for this?" Xu Weizi asked.

"Of course it will be directly under the jurisdiction of the imperial court." Xu Yuanchun clapped his hands and said, "In the future, our Songjiang Prefecture will also be able to become a third-rank government. This area will be worth every inch of land in the future, and the scenery today cannot describe it."

Seeing that Xu Yuanchun's words were so convincing, Xu Weizi felt itchy in his heart.

After that conversation, Xu Weizi returned to Nanjing, and the first thing he did was to go to Songjiang Prefecture and purchase 10,000 acres of land.

At the beginning of this year, a report from the Ministry of Public Administration was sent to the south of the Yangtze River.

Songjiang Prefecture was directly under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.

With just this one move, the value of the land he owned increased by 50%.

After tasting the sweetness, he naturally knew the ability of this upstart, so he thought about coming to his house and winning over his favor.

Zhang Yunxiu had no idea of ​​the goings-on between the two and was foolishly deceived into a "trap".

However, he was extremely happy for the Duke of Wei's Mansion to join.

Firstly, he is a local tyrant in Jiangnan, and his influence here is deep, which is far beyond the reach of a single person like him. Secondly, eating alone is easy to make people hate you, so it is not a bad thing to have more people share the spoils.

After understanding this, Zhang Yunxiu said with a smile: "It is true that there are mountains of gold and silver overseas, but there are also many risks. It depends on how much capital you are willing to invest, Brother Xu."

"We have one hundred ships. If you are short of people, just tell us. We don't have anything else but people and ships." Xu Weizi patted his chest and replied confidently.

As the garrison commander of Nanjing, Duke Wei was nominally in charge of all the troops in the city.

Of course, these troops cannot be moved around at will.

But his family also raised a lot of servants, that is, private soldiers. These people were well-equipped, well-trained, and extremely loyal. Moreover, they did not belong to the court, but were the private property of Duke Wei.

"Then let me thank Brother Xu for his generous donation. This matter is settled!" Zhang Yunxiu said as he walked over to Xu Weizi and poured him a cup of tea.

Xu Weizhi stood up, picked up the teacup, drank it down in one gulp, and praised: "What a good tea."

Xu Yuanchun, who acted as a matchmaker, was stunned. He didn't expect things to go so smoothly.

This is like eating from someone else's pot.

I thought it would take a lot of effort, but unexpectedly, Zhang Yunxiu agreed to it after just a few words.

After being stunned for a while, Xu Yuanchun said with a smile: "Since everything has been settled, young master, since you have nothing to do anyway, why don't you take our brother-in-law to visit Nanjing City?"

"Great! I wanted to take Brother Zhang to visit Nanjing in the first place, so that I can show my hospitality as a host." Xu Weizhi's eyes lit up and he joked, "People say that the Qinhuai River in Nanjing is a man's paradise."

"Brother Zhang hasn't been there yet, has he?"

Zhang Yunxiu felt warm in his heart, tilted his head, and after a fierce psychological struggle, he shook his head and said, "Forget it, our schedule is tight this time, and going back and forth to Nanjing will take up a lot of time."

"Next time, next time we must go and try the specialties of Nanjing."

"Okay, it's settled." After getting the promise, Xu Weizi was unwilling to stay any longer.

At this moment, his heart had already flown to the Qinhuai River, to those beautiful ladies with sweet fragrance and gentle voices.

After a brief greeting, Xu Weizi left that day.

Xu Yuanchun tried to keep him affectionately.

The two of them pulled each other for a while, and finally Xu Weizi reluctantly followed the convoy and slowly drove out of Huating County.

At the county gate, after seeing Xu Weizhi off, Zhang Yunxiu looked at the sky and thought it was still early, so he smiled at Xu Yuanchun and said, "Brother, I have some things to do with County Magistrate Wei Ming, so I won't go back with you."

"Okay, I'll go back and tell Ruoxi." Xu Yuanchun nodded and agreed readily.

The two separated at the city gate, and Zhang Yunxiu led two servants and went straight to the mansion of Wei Ming, the county magistrate. After entering the mansion, Wei Ming followed and urged the servants to bring wine and food.

After sitting down with the etiquette of host and guest, Wei Ming flatteringly poured a glass of wine for Zhang Yunxiu and said with a fist: "Zhang Sicheng, I am now convinced that you can directly strip away the land of an entire prefecture."

"Don't you see what kind of people those officials are?" Zhang Yunxiu took the wine glass with a smile, took a sip, and continued, "As long as these officials in Beijing see the benefits, not to mention one prefecture, even two prefectures will be no problem."

"That's it. That's it."

Wei Ming nodded and bowed, trying his best to please.

"Oh, by the way, 20% of the taxes have been reserved for your Songjiang Prefecture. That should be enough, right?" Zhang Yunxiu suddenly thought of something and asked.

"It's barely enough, but after we set up the customs in Songjiang Prefecture, money will naturally come in large quantities in the future." Wei Ming stroked his beard lightly, his face full of calmness and composure.

Although the Ming Dynasty's overseas trade developed greatly after the opening of the port in Longqing.

According to incomplete statistics, at least one-third of the world's silver is currently flowing into the Ming Dynasty.

It is a pity that the Maritime Customs Offices in various places are in disrepair, and there are too many of them to be found in various locations.

These ocean-going merchants came in an endless stream, but the Ming court rarely benefited from them.

Zhang Yunxiu then petitioned Emperor Wanli to retain only the four Maritime Customs Offices.

The first is Quanzhou, Fujian, the second is Guangzhou, Guangdong, the third is Songjiang Prefecture located in the East China Sea, and the fourth is Tianjin located in the Bohai Sea.

Among them, Songjiang Prefecture and Tianjin Wei were both directly under the jurisdiction of the central government.

The tariffs from these two places can directly bring blood back to the central court.

"Well, we must hurry up and prepare for the Maritime Customs. Also, the customs officers must be strict people, and they cannot bend the law for personal gain, otherwise the customs will become meaningless." Zhang Yunxiu pondered for a moment, looked up at Wei Ming and gave instructions.

"Don't worry, Zhang Sicheng, we have already thought of the candidate." Wei Ming nodded and smiled.

"Who?"

"It's our county magistrate, Li Liangcai. He is upright and incorruptible, and he can't tolerate any injustice. If we ask him to be the director of the Maritime Customs, he will surely be able to deal with these evil spirits."

This is a thankless task that offends people.

Wei Ming naturally didn't want to get involved in this mess, so he pushed the responsibility to his deputy Li Liangcai, who had always been trying to please him.

"Can he do it?" Zhang Yunxiu still didn't believe it, and explained, "Once the Maritime Customs Office is opened, many princes, nobles, and ministers will come to him to seek connections and establish friendships."

"We are afraid that he can't bear the pressure."

"Don't worry, Zhang Sicheng. This guy has a bad temper. He accepts invitations but never takes more. As soon as he's off duty, he locks himself in his house and refuses to see anyone. It's perfect for this kind of person to be the supervisor of the Maritime Customs."

"It seems that County Magistrate Li has offended you." Zhang Yunxiu couldn't help but joked with a smile.

"How can this be considered an offense? The Director of the Maritime Customs is a sixth-rank official. He is now a seventh-rank official, which means he has moved up one level." Wei Ming chuckled and said complacently, "This is called recommending the virtuous regardless of their relationship."

"Hahaha, fine, as long as he can do it, then we'll choose him."

(End of this chapter)