Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 715 Cultivating Elites
Li Jing continued: "Your Majesty, do you know why I set five ranks and fifteen ranks for titles? In fact, it was set up to confer titles on soldiers who have done meritorious service. You know that I want to recover the territory occupied by Ming Dynasty, and also Raiding many countries and regions, so many battles are fought, there will be countless soldiers who will make military exploits. If there is no level for the title, then there will be a problem of the same title when the title is awarded. It's clearly unfair."

Zhu Youjian hurriedly said: "I understand this truth."

Li Jing continued: "But even if I have set five levels and fifteen levels, I can't just give titles to soldiers, and we must follow the principle of preferring low rather than high. We need to let the soldiers know that being a knight is very serious and very important." glorious thing."

Sighing lightly, Li Jing continued: "I have no objection to conferring Shen Zheng as a duke, but it is obviously too high to be duke. Although Shen Zheng's contribution is great, no matter how great his contribution is, it is greater than Cao Wen's." Will the imperial edict pacify Liaodong?

Cao Wenzhao is the one who contributed the most among all the generals of the Ming Dynasty, and he was only made a first-class marquis. If you make Shen Zheng a Duke, how can the generals below be convinced?

In addition, the Duke of our Ming Dynasty can only be conferred on those generals who opened up the territory for the Ming Dynasty, so as to reflect the dignity of the Duke title.I have done the calculations, there will not be many people who are eligible to be dukes, at most six or seven people, namely Cao Wenzhao, Gao Qi, Sun Meng, Lu Xiangsheng, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting. "

Zhu Youjian hurriedly said: "Brother Li is a first-class public. Naturally, these people cannot be on the same level as Brother Li. I think they can be named second-class or third-class public. I think they will have no objection."

Li Jing waved his hand: "These are things for later, it will be determined according to their merits at that time, let's move on to the matter of ennobling Shen Zheng.

Judging from the size of his contributions, Shen Zheng's contributions are no match for Cao Wenzhao's, so his title cannot be equal to Cao Wenzhao's, nor can he be named a Marquis.What I mean is to make Shen Zheng an earl, which raises the threshold of the title. In the future, if some soldiers feel that their title is low, then we will let them compare their credit with Shen Zheng, so that they will not complain anymore. up. "

Zhu Youjian continued: "I understand what Brother Li means. Brother Li is deliberately lowering Master Shen's title, so that he will save a lot of trouble when he can become a knight in the future."

Shaking his head, Zhu Youjian sighed softly: "But only giving Shen Zheng an earl really feels a little wronged to him."

Li Jing said with a smile: "There is nothing to be wronged. My father-in-law was born as a businessman. He can occupy the position of cabinet minister in this life and be conferred a title. What else is there to be dissatisfied with?"

Zhu Youjian shook his head again and again: "This is just Brother Li's own idea, Mr. Shen may not be so magnanimous."

Li Jingdao: "Conscientiousness is the most important thing. My father-in-law now has a status, a successful son, and a grandson. If he is not satisfied, he will bring disaster on himself."

Zhu Youjian nodded silently, and said after a while: "It's a pity that there are not many people in this world who understand this truth."

Li Jing sighed: "Yes, most people are not satisfied."

Shaking his head, Li Jing smiled lightly: "Actually, dissatisfaction has its advantages. It is precisely because of dissatisfaction that workers work hard, farmers work hard to produce, businessmen work hard to expand their business, and soldiers fight desperately."

"It is precisely because you are not satisfied that you fight non-stop. After fighting here, fight over there, fight east and west, and fight north and south." Zhu Youjian laughed.

Li Jing couldn't help laughing when he heard that.After laughing for a while, Li Jing waved his hands and said seriously: "Okay, let's continue talking about titles. Your Majesty, you know that there are many nobles and nobles in Ming Dynasty, but except for a very small number of these nobles who know how to make progress, most of them have nothing to do. To be obedient is to eat and wait to die.

Your Majesty, the nobles should be said to be the elite class of the Ming Dynasty, but if all the elites of the Ming Dynasty are like this, can the Ming Dynasty still have a future?

Therefore, we need to cultivate real nobles, real elites. The people we will consecrate in the future will be the new nobles of Ming Dynasty, but they themselves are not the elites of Ming Dynasty, or they are not nobles. Their descendants are. We have to spend a lot of money Do our best to train the descendants of these people, and we must train the descendants of these people to become real elites.When I say that, can the emperor understand what it means? "

Zhu Youjian pondered for a while and said: "Judging from Brother Li's attitude towards those lords before, I don't think these people who have been newly promoted to the title will have any privileges. The title of these people can only be regarded as an honor, but Li Brother, this move is sacrificed, and the soldiers will definitely not fear life and death on the battlefield in order to become a knight."

Li Jingzhong patted Zhu Youjian's shoulder again: "The emperor knows me, that's what he meant. We Han people actually live for our children and grandchildren. For our children and grandchildren, we are willing to do anything as parents."

Zhu Youjian sighed: "Yes, for the sake of future generations, we are willing to do anything."

At this time, someone outside the door interjected, "What are the master and the emperor going to do?"

Zhu Youjian couldn't help laughing and said, "Miss Huang is here."

Immediately afterwards, Shen Ying and Zhu Huihou walked into the study with the maid's money.

Seeing the two of them enter the house, Li Jing asked with concern, "Is your father-in-law settled down?"

Shen Ying nodded: "It's settled, my mother and two younger siblings have also come over, and they are taking care of my father now."

Li Jing nodded slightly, waved his hands and said, "No outsiders, sit down and talk."

Shen Ying smiled and turned to Zhu Youjian to congratulate her.

When Zhu Youjian saw it, he hurriedly got up: "Sister-in-law is very polite."

Shen Ying said: "My master and the emperor don't need to talk about etiquette, but the ministers and concubines have to. Otherwise, if it spreads, it will lose the majesty of the emperor, and it will even be said that the ministers and concubines don't understand the way of emperors and ministers."

Zhu Youjian said with a smile when he heard the words: "Mrs. Sister-in-law, you are outrageous when you say that. I treat brother Li like an elder brother. Don't be polite to me. Madam sister-in-law, please sit down."

Zhu Huiling smiled and said, "Not just your brother, but also your son and daughter's relatives. We are real sons and daughters' relatives."

Zhu Youjian laughed and said, "It's still my brother-in-law."

"Hahaha." Li Jingwen couldn't help laughing out loud.

After Shen Ying and Zhu Huihou sat down, Li Jing said, "I called you two here because I have something to discuss with you."

"Sir, please tell me." Shen Ying said hastily.

Li Jingdao: "That's it. Now Gao Qi's troops have occupied more than half of the territory of Toungoo Kingdom, and Laos and Annan have also surrendered. If we want these places to truly become the territory of Ming Dynasty, we must let the people in these places Feel the benefits of belonging to Ming Dynasty.

To get the common people to recognize Daming is not just about giving them land to grow, but also about making more money and enjoying a better life.Therefore, I am going to let the emperor invest in and build factories in these places, and use the factories to drive the business in these places and make the people in these places rich. "

Zhu Huiyu laughed and said, "Although the emperor has earned a lot of money in the past few years, he can't spend so much money to build factories in so many places. The master is planning to let us sisters lend money to the emperor, right?" ?”

Li Jing smiled and said: "Madam is really smart, but this time you didn't fully guess it. I plan to let the emperor set up a royal joint-stock company, and then let you subscribe for a part of the shares."

Zhu Huiyu couldn't help being taken aback when he heard the words, and hurriedly turned his head to look at Shen Ying. Seeing that Shen Ying shook her head slightly, Zhu Huiyu continued: "Subscribe for shares? How can my sister and I have the energy to take care of so many businesses? If the emperor wants to use money , our sisters can lend it to the emperor, and we can still get three to five million."

Zhu Youjian hurriedly said: "It's not borrowing money, but I really want Mrs. Sister-in-law and Sister Huang to subscribe for shares."

Zhu Huiyu laughed and said, "Your Majesty, those factories of yours are actually not worth a lot of money. What is valuable is the royal signboard. You let us subscribe for shares. It's not a good deal! Why don't we lend you a few million taels of silver?" , How many years will you pay off the principal and interest in the balance?"

Zhu Youjian smiled wryly and said: "Sister Huang, you put all your loans on your brother. If I want to borrow money, I might as well borrow from Daming Bank."

Zhu Huiling laughed and said, "Daming Bank is not as convenient as our bank to borrow money."

Li Jing waved his hand: "Forget about borrowing money, you should still think about subscribing for shares."

"I really want to subscribe!" Zhu Huixuan asked doubtfully.

Li Jing smiled bitterly and said, "Do you think the emperor and I are joking with you? In fact, the emperor wanted to borrow money at first, but I was thinking about how many years it would take to pay off your loan, or let you subscribe for equity. .”

Shen Ying heard the words and said: "Since the master asked us to subscribe for the shares, let's subscribe. I just don't know how many shares the master wants us to subscribe for?"

Zhu Youjian pondered for a while and said: "Sister-in-law, I think so. I have saved some money in the past few years, and I have about 400 million. I will use it all to build a factory, and then you will take out 1000 million. I'll sell half of my shares to you."

Shen Ying looked at Li Jing when she heard the words, and Li Jing hurriedly waved her hand to Shen Ying. Shen Ying understood, and said: "The emperor's factory is worth at least 1000 million taels of silver, you can take out another 400 million, plus our 1000 million, it is worth 400 million taels of silver, we only pay 1000 million, how can we take half of the equity? [-]% is justified."

Li Jing smiled: "Forty percent is too much, maybe thirty percent."

Zhu Youjian hurriedly said: "We are a family, so we don't need to calculate the accounts so carefully, just half and half?"

Li Jing shook his head: "Your Majesty, you still have so many princes, you should leave some more for them. In fact, [-]% is not a lot. After a few years, when these factories are profitable, you will know how much [-]% is in return. "

Shen Ying said with a smile: "Master said [-]%, then [-]%."

Zhu Youjian smiled bitterly and said, "Isn't this taking advantage of you?"

Zhu Huiling laughed and said, "The emperor said just now that we are a family, so why are we so careful about accounting. But my sister and I have to think about this matter, so let's pay for the construction of the factory first, and wait for the factory to be built." After getting up, let's re-study the matter of selling the shares, shall we?"

Li Jingwen said with a smile: "You want to sell the equity again."

After finishing speaking, Li Jing turned his head to look at Zhu Youjian, and then said with a smile: "Your Majesty, if you want to make money in business, neither of us can compare to your sister."

Zhu Youjian said with a smile: "That is, the money my sister and sister-in-law have earned in the past few years is more than the combined revenue of the treasury in the years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Huiling laughed and said, "There are so many!"

Seeing that Zhu Huiling didn't admit it, Zhu Youjian smiled and didn't ask any further questions.

At this moment, the guard outside the door reported that Mrs. Shen and the two young ladies had come.

Hearing this, Li Jing urgently ordered the guards to invite Mrs. Shen and the two young wives in.

(End of this chapter)