The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 46: Cool Autumn

The autumn is getting colder and the leaves are falling.

The world is in turmoil, and people yearn to return home.

Zhang Xueyan, Xu Xuemo and Zeng Shengwu all submitted petitions to resign, wanting to retire and return home.

They have no choice.

In order to eliminate dissidents, the cabinet chief Zhang Siwei frantically implemented the "Kaocheng Law".

The Minister of Personnel Wu Dui, under the pretext of evaluating officials, found fault with them at random.

Chen Yu, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Inspectorate, was so angry at his friend Yan Qing that he resigned from his post, so he deliberately caught them and conducted a random investigation.

The Minister of Justice Zhang Wei even took chicken feathers as a token of authority, and made random arrests of their relatives and friends and tortured them severely.

Who can stand this?

Zhang Siwei was truly vicious. The Kaocheng Law was the core of Zhang Juzheng's reforms, and he pushed it forward crazily. Can you say he was wrong?

This guy is killing two birds with one stone. If you say he is right, then he must dismiss Zhang Juzheng's old party members such as Zhang Xueyan, Xu Xuemo and Zeng Shengwu according to the "Performance Evaluation Law".

You say that what he did was wrong. That's perfect. If vigorously promoting the "Performance Evaluation Law" is wrong, then just abolish it!

This guy is really shady.

At around noon, the sun began to rise, a light breeze blew, and the leaves fell one after another.

The Summer Resort looks a bit bleak.

Wanli sat in the water room, looking at the falling leaves outside, and couldn't help but sigh slightly.

There was no need to fill the water room to cool off at this moment, and he did not really start a large-scale construction to build a palace for himself.

His residence in the Summer Resort started with the original large water room, and expanded to the west with three courtyards, covering an area of ​​more than 100 acres.

The east side has a circle of bungalows for the Jinyiwei and the imperial guards to rest, with the water room as the center. It was where he met with his confidants and reviewed memorials.

The middle entrance is Queen Wang’s residence, and the west entrance is Concubine Zhang Shun’s residence. It’s that simple.

He's used to living here.

However, he was afraid that he would have to return to the capital now.

Zhang Juzheng’s reforms must not be abolished, and the "Kaocheng Law" must be implemented.

The problem is that the annual assessment of the "Kaocheng Law" is equivalent to the previous imperial examinations, and in the end a group of officials will definitely be purged.

There are two main government offices for evaluating officials: the Ministry of Personnel and the Inspectorate.

Now the Ministry of Personnel is controlled by Zhang Siwei, and Chen Yu, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Inspectorate, is deliberately making things difficult for him because he angered Yan Qing and drove him away. If he doesn't go back, most of Zhang Juzheng's old party will probably be purged this time.

This is no joke. Last time, he used the excuse that there was no court discussion to deliberately prevent Zhang Wei from becoming the Minister of Justice. As a result, during the court discussion, Zhang Juzheng's old party still failed to defeat Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing, and Zhang Wei was the winner in the end.

To be honest, among the people promoted by Zhang Juzheng, only Pan Sheng and Liang Menglong were worthy of important positions, and the others were not very capable.

Unfortunately, Pan Sheng was dismissed and Liang Menglong really couldn't handle it alone.

He could no longer stay here and teach people how to make cannons, telescopes, and produce glass.

Zhang Siwei is such a sinister guy that Zhang Juzheng's old party has no chance of defeating him. He has no choice but to go back and take charge of the situation.

Wanli sighed again, then said decisively: "Invite the emperor's father-in-law and Duke Zhou."

Soon, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei and Zhou Ganquan came together.

They are all outstanding craftsmen, with similar interests and mutual respect. Their relationship is extremely good.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli said solemnly, "Father-in-law, I must return to the capital. You will be the only one responsible for the trial production of the artillery."

what?
Yongnian Earl Wang Wei said somewhat nervously: "Your Majesty, I am just a carpenter, not even a blacksmith. I am afraid I can't make this cannon well." You are too modest.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "Father-in-law, don't underestimate yourself. You are not only a carpenter, you are also the deputy envoy of the Wensi Academy of the Ministry of Works. Few people are more familiar with the work of various craftsmen than you.

Besides, you have already made the new musket. The new cannon is actually an enlarged musket, and the buttstock is changed into a gun carriage. Except for the single-barreled design, the new cannon is actually not much different from the new musket.

I've already drawn a rough sketch for you. Just follow the same method as for a musket. To put it simply, just enlarge the size of the new musket tenfold. Aside from the need to ensure the gun carriage is stable, the other difficulties shouldn't be too great."

Is this simply magnification?
Upon hearing this, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei thought about it carefully, then slowly nodded and said, "Okay, I will make it according to the new musket style. When it is finished, please give your comments."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Duke Zhou, how is the development of the telescope going?"

Zhou Ganquan was indeed one of the best porcelain masters. He used tribute paste to dissolve tin foil, heated it, and evenly attached it to one side of transparent glass to make a mirror. This was similar to adding metal glaze under clear glaze. After he knew the method, he was able to make the mirror very quickly.

However, a telescope is not that simple. The lens of a telescope cannot be cast using a mold, and the concave and convex surfaces must be polished.

This really stumped him. The reason why the surface of porcelain is smooth is because it is fired, not polished. The mirror surface polished by the method he knew was blurry and he couldn't see anything clearly.

He said rather embarrassedly, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid I can't polish the lens of this telescope smooth. However, I've already asked someone to invite a jade carving expert. He should be able to polish the mirror smooth when he comes."

This wasn't too urgent. Wanli nodded slowly, then asked, "Is the person you hired reliable? This telescope is for war, and the manufacturing method can't be spread everywhere."

Zhou Ganquan nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry. The person I invited is an acquaintance of several decades. I know him well. He is very tight-lipped and won't spread rumors."

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Well, as long as it's reliable, there's no need to rush the telescope. As long as we can make a sample after the New Year, it will be fine. As for the production of mirrors and glass, what about the production? We plan to open for sale before the New Year."

Zhou Ganquan explained in detail: "Your Majesty, these mirrors and glass require finely carved molds, and one mold can only produce ten pieces a day at most.

Over the past month, we have called in craftsmen who can carve fine iron molds, but they have only been able to carve out about ten sets of molds of various sizes. Therefore, now we can only produce more than a hundred pieces of various types of glass a day.

Most of them are round mirrors of various sizes. We can now make hundreds of round mirrors of various sizes a day, but we can only produce twenty pieces of window glass a day."

The output is really pitifully low, but there is no way, it cannot be rushed.

He didn't know how to mass-produce flat glass, and they hadn't found diamonds that could cut glass. Now they could only rely on sophisticated molds to ensure the glass was flat and smooth, and the shape could only be shaped by the molds.

Wanli thought about it carefully, and then said decisively: "Then let's sell mirrors first. The mirrors should be framed with precious wood, and the style should be similar to that of bronze mirrors. They should be palm-sized so that they can be easily held in the hand. The washbasin-sized and footbasin-sized ones should be equipped with stands.

Also, precious woods must be carved with exquisite patterns to make glass mirrors look more valuable than bronze mirrors."

This glass mirror is more valuable than a bronze mirror, right?
Zhou Ganquan thought for a moment, then asked carefully, "Your Majesty, who should sell this mirror? How much should we charge for it?"

This is to kill the rich people.

Wanli pondered and said, "How about this, you prepare for the next two months and prepare more mirrors, and let Yingzhen be in charge of the sales.

Ying Zhen, pick out a few good shops under your control, renovate them, hang up the Wansheng brand plaque, and then arrange for a few reliable merchants to specialize in selling mirrors and glass products.

From now on, Zhou Gong will be the head manager of Wansheng Trading Company. You will be responsible for selling glass and mirrors to him, and each of you will take 10% of the profits.

As for the price of this mirror, the palm-sized one is sold for ten taels, the washbasin-sized one is sold for fifty taels, and the foot basin-sized one is sold for one hundred taels. The same goes for window glass, too, with prices based on size."

My God, it’s so expensive!

They have now made round mirrors ranging in size from a palm to a foot basin, and can make a hundred a day. At this selling price, wouldn't they be able to make several thousand taels a day?
Upon hearing this, Duke Chengguo Zhu Yingzhen cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, is anyone willing to buy it even though we're selling it at such a high price?"

You talk as if you have no money.

This rare thing is used to make money for rich people like you.

Wanli did not answer but asked: "If you were not in charge of selling this, and you saw such a fine mirror in someone else's house, would you be reluctant to buy a few for your wives and concubines?"

Of course he was willing to give it up. Dozens or hundreds of taels were nothing to him.

Upon hearing this, Duke Chengguo Zhu Yingzhen's face was filled with excitement.

He was going to make a lot of money now, hundreds of taels of dividends a day, and this was just the beginning. Adding more than ten sets of molds every month would mean giving him tens of thousands of taels of dividends every month!
When Duke Yingguo Zhang Yuangong saw this, his face was full of envy. The Duke Chengguo Mansion and the Duke Dingguo Mansion both had an income of over ten thousand taels a month. When would it be his turn to have such a good thing?
(End of this chapter)