The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 265: The National Capital Dispute Resurfaces
Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan is pregnant again.

Moreover, the accompanying genius doctor Wan Bangxiao diagnosed the little princess as having a pulse.

Wanli was so happy that he couldn't help it.

Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan's height is hereditary. Qin Bangping and Qin Liangyu are both over 1.8 meters tall. They might give birth to a little princess who is over 1.8 meters tall.

However, he was also worried.

At this moment they were not in the capital, nor in the summer resort, but in a mountain cave thousands of miles away from the capital.

They came all the way back, and if something happened he would regret it to death.

The problem was, he had to go back. He couldn't stay here and wait for the little princess to be born.

After all, he is the emperor. It is okay for him to leave the capital for a few months, but if he leaves the capital for more than a year without returning, there will probably be problems in the court.

He had no choice but to order the carriages left in the front to be transported here, and to pull over the thousand-ton ship left in the capital. Only then did he set off with Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan.

Early in the morning at about noon, when the sun had already risen, he brought Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan to the huge carriage.

To be honest, he was really worried.

At this time, he couldn't help but ask, "Uncle, is this carriage really not bumpy?"

Li Xuancheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry. The road is very flat and the carriage is not bumpy at all. I rode the carriage back and forth yesterday and didn't feel any bumps at all."

Wanli looked at the smooth asphalt road, then gritted his teeth and nodded, "Okay, let's go, Doctor Wan, get in the car with us."

Upon hearing this, Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan jumped onto the carriage in a few steps.

Seeing this, Wanli quickly chased after him and advised: "Slow down, slow down, be careful, don't rush, we are not in a hurry."

Upon hearing this, Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan couldn't help but roll her eyes.

She has already given birth to one child and has some experience.

Moreover, she didn't feel anything in her stomach at the moment, just like normal.

Wanli was simply too concerned and confused.

Fortunately, the asphalt road is indeed very smooth, and it was paved not long ago, so there are no potholes at all.

They rode in a horse-drawn carriage from Yanchang County to Hekou Wharf without feeling any bumps at all.

Wanli brought his Imperial Consort Qin Lan aboard the thousand-ton ship, and then he heaved a long sigh of relief. He then sighed, "This asphalt-paved road is indeed good. We need to pave it in the capital as well, and in all the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty."

How much will that cost?
Don't spend so much money on road repairs just because I rode a carriage for hundreds of miles without any problems.

Although Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan didn't know much, she had seen a lot. Road construction was the most labor-intensive, especially asphalt roads.

She carefully reminded him, "Your Majesty, this road took tens of thousands of craftsmen several months to build. And it's only a hundred miles long. If all of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty were built, it would probably be hundreds of thousands or even millions of miles long. Not to mention anything else, the labor costs alone are terrifying."

This road construction is indeed labor-intensive.

However, this is a good opportunity to develop the Ming Dynasty's economy.

Wanli patiently explained: "In fact, road construction does not necessarily require craftsmen. In the past, road construction was done by conscripting local young and strong men.

Although this asphalt road is different from the previous dirt roads and stone roads, it is actually just a little more troublesome to mix the asphalt and flatten the road surface. If we send a few craftsmen who have built asphalt roads to teach them, the people will also be able to do it.

As for the issue of wages, we can pay the people wages, and we can actually earn back these wages slowly. After all, the people earn money to spend.

For example, we recruited 50,000 young and strong men to build a road of more than 100 miles. Each person was paid one tael of silver per month. Even if the road was completed in three months, the total wages would be 150,000 taels of silver.

Now that the road is built, the people will have money, and it will be easier to transport our ironware, cloth, coal, medicine, lamp oil and other things in. We will be able to earn back this money sooner or later.

After buying our products, the people have better tools for working, warmer clothes, no need to chop wood, and can recover quickly if they are sick without delaying. They can even do some manual work at night.

In this way, they will have more strength and energy to grow crops, medicinal herbs, and vegetables, and even do physical and manual work to increase their income. Their output will increase, they will earn more and more money, and their lives will get better and better.

Our business will continue to grow, and we'll earn more and more money. Building a road is like revitalizing a region. If all of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty were revitalized, the Ming Dynasty would truly flourish. The small amount of money invested in road construction wouldn't even be a big deal."

This seems to make sense, but there seems to be something wrong.

Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan thought about it carefully, and then couldn't help but asked curiously: "Your Majesty, this money can't give birth to children, why is it getting more and more?" Uh, this.

Money is actually just a kind of currency. Its function is to mark the productivity value contained in a certain item. Money itself has no productivity value. If it is printed paper money, it can indeed be printed more and more according to the development of productivity.

However, the money at this time is still hard currency such as gold, silver and copper, which has the attribute of scarcity in itself, and also contains certain productivity value in the process of mining, smelting, casting, etc.

Therefore, today's hard currency is different from the paper currency of later generations.

Gold, silver and copper do not reproduce. If there is no external inflow, then as productivity develops, the prices of goods will become lower and lower, which will cause deflation. Ordinary people will lose their motivation because they cannot make money, or the money they earn is getting less and less, and productivity will decline accordingly.

There is a simple way to solve deflation, which is to increase the amount of currency in circulation, especially in this day and age when it comes to hard currency. The value of gold, silver and copper is recognized by everyone. As long as the inflow of gold, silver and copper can be increased, the problem of deflation can be solved.

The problem is that this is too complicated. He doesn’t really understand it, so how can he explain it to others?

Wanli thought about it carefully and said simply, "This money won't make a living. However, if the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty can produce enough food and supplies to ensure that our army has enough supplies, we can expand our territory and mine and smelt more gold, silver and copper in new territories. In this way, we will have more and more money."

Oh, expanding territory does bring in more money.

Upon hearing this, Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan nodded, not quite understanding.

At this time, the giant ships had already started moving.

They sailed downstream all the way to the Grand Canal, and after passing Hukou, they could travel a thousand miles a day without setting sail.

Moreover, there are enough warships in the navy now, and they can easily dispatch four or five hundred centipede ships.

As long as there are enough centipede ships, twenty or thirty of them can take turns pulling a thousand-ton giant ship, and the speed is actually quite fast.

Within a few days, the giant ship was pulled to the Tongzhou Canal Wharf, and then it was changed to a centipede boat and rowed directly into the imperial city in less than half a day.

After Wanli returned to the capital, he ordered people to bring back Queen Wang, Concubine Wang and other princes and princesses from the Summer Palace. Then, he stayed away from the palace and waited for the birth of the little princess while making a baby with Queen Wang and others.

He was too lazy to care about the affairs of the court, because no matter how much those civil servants argued, the final result would be the same, that is, the imperial party would control the power of the court. He just had to wait for the imperial party to grow.

Unexpectedly, even though he didn't care about the affairs of the court, those civil servants with ulterior motives still wanted to interfere with him.

At about noon that morning, he was about to finish reviewing the memorials and go to accompany Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan and the little prince.

Li Xuancheng suddenly poked his head out again and said, "Your Majesty, Luo Sigong requests an audience."

Did they get any intelligence from the Northern Tartars?
Wanli said without hesitation: "Announce."

Soon, Luo Sigong walked in quickly, bowed and said, "Greetings to His Majesty."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Why, is there any news from the Northern Tartars?"

Uh, this.

Luo Sigong shook his head awkwardly and said, "No, Your Majesty, the situation outside the Great Wall is still chaotic. Our spies have just infiltrated, and the various northern barbarians are running around everywhere right now. We haven't received any useful intelligence."

It looks like the raid is almost over and we should call it a day.

It's October now, and the cold wind is howling outside the Great Wall. It's time to withdraw the troops.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "What's that?"

Luo Sigong said carefully, "Your Majesty, there are rumors in the capital again, saying that the Queen is still not pregnant, and Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan is pregnant again. Your Majesty is determined to make the prince born to Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan the crown prince."

These guys have no other excuses to fight with me, so they can only fight for the foundation of the country, right?

Another question is, how did this news get out?

He did not tell any outsiders that Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan was pregnant again. Moreover, he ordered Li Xuancheng to warn the eunuchs and palace maids in the Qianqing Palace and the Kunning Palace not to spread the matter.

Although this news will get out sooner or later, it shouldn't be spread so quickly. They just came back, and Imperial Noble Concubine Qin Lan's belly is not bulging yet.

Who spread the news out of the palace so quickly?

Upon hearing this, Wanli frowned and said coldly, "Send secret guards to monitor all the gates of the imperial city. Send people to monitor every eunuch who leaves the palace and investigate them thoroughly to see who is behind this."

(End of this chapter)