Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 294
Yang Chao was quite surprised by what his mother said, and thought to himself, it seems that many stories happened during this period, but he didn't know about it.

Yang Chao later found out that Dong Xiaowan often communicated with the Yang family, and from time to time sent someone to send some pastries she personally made to honor the Yang family and his wife. Delicious food, vigorously expressing her character of going to the hall and entering the kitchen.

Since Dong Xiaowan's mother came to Nanjing, and because Dong Xiaowan has a lot of money for treatment, her condition has improved.Of course, Dong Xiaowan's fate has also changed in history. In the original history, Dong Xiaowan sold himself into a brothel in Suzhou in order to treat his mother's illness. But in this time and space, because of Yang Chao's appearance, Dong Xiaowan has redeemed himself In the Jinchai Tower, she also sold her art but not her body, which reassured Dong's mother a lot, so her health improved.

And Dong Xiaowan's mother is also very optimistic about Yang's family, and she grew up to visit Yang's family. Dong's mother was originally from a wealthy family, and Yang's mother still admires her behavior, thinking that it is a decent family, and she gradually becomes fond of Dong Xiaowan. Prejudice is lowered.

Of course, what makes Yang's mother more optimistic about Dong Xiaowan is Dong Xiaowan's own strength. Dong Xiaowan was originally a smart woman. Accepted, and assuredly handed over the family's financial power to her, and she also managed it in an orderly manner, which convinced everyone, a bit of Wang Xifeng's posture.

Now that Dong Xiaowan valued the Yang family, and missed it with Mao Bijiang by mistake, it was easier to win the approval of the Yang family, which was originally a small family. In fact, this time Yang's mother, Zhao Lan, came to Linggu Temple to fulfill her wish. The idea was that she found out that Shi Kefa was going to go to Linggu Temple with her mother that day, and then suggested that Yang's mother take her son with her, and told Yang's mother that Shi Kefa was the Minister of the Ministry of War, and it was the immediate superior of these military officers. It is of great benefit to Yang Chao's future.

So Yang's mother acted according to her words, she met Shi Kefa's mother and son, she felt that she had helped her son, she was very happy, and she was even more satisfied with Dong Xiaowan, so she couldn't wait to express her attitude in front of the house.

But Yang Chao really didn't touch Dong Xiaowan's idea, or he hasn't thought about his personal problems until now, he has been so busy that he doesn't care about his children's love, and the future trend that weighs on his head makes Yang Chao even more so. Chao's feelings are always concerned with changing his destiny, and he doesn't take this kind of ins and outs into account for a while.

This is a later story, Yang Chao rushed to Jinchai Tower that night, unexpectedly Shi Kefa went earlier than him, and was already waiting for him.

This further confirmed Yang Chao's idea that something was definitely wrong with Shi Kefa.

But things can be put aside for now, Kang Xiaobao is already prepared, and a Minister of the Ministry of War will come to Jinchai Tower, which is a big event.

It's just that Xiong Mingyu never came to the Jinchai Tower to support him back then, but now that Shi Kefa has come, it can be said to be a sensation, if Kang Xiaobao doesn't make good use of it, he will be too sorry for his cleverness.

So he prepared early on to invite Dong Xiaowan and Chen Yuanyuan to the stage, and he just invited Shi Kefa to watch the performance alone, and declined all the guests tonight. The presence of such court officials is a good publicity for the Jinchai Tower, even if Jinchai Building is now Hairpin House no longer needs much publicity, but it is still a very important thing.

It's like those famous stars in later generations are still very keen on going to the Spring Festival Gala. This represents a kind of official recognition. No matter how bullish the former Jinchai Building was, it was just a brothel. It is not a brothel in the general sense, it has a unique status in the whole of Nanjing.

Moreover, Shi Kefa, as the most powerful person in Nanjing City, is not very keen on brothels. Of course, as a literati in the late Ming Dynasty, Shi Kefa also likes to recite poems and play against each other, listen to piano and music, but he usually invites three or five friends. When gathering at home, it doesn't hurt to invite one or two famous prostitutes to join in the fun, but he would not go shopping in brothels.

This is Shi Kefa's first visit to a brothel, so it is extraordinarily attractive. Before staying overnight, it spread from the mouths of those rejected guests. Bai, his tone was full of astonishment, but he didn't have many complaints. No one was willing to compete with Shi Kefa for a place, and it was too late to flatter.

In this way, Shi Kefa was passively used by Kang Xiaobao. Accompanied by Yang Chao, he first listened to Dong Xiaowan singing a few southern operas and then Chen Yuanyuan sang The West Chamber. Then he found time to talk to Yang Chao.

"General Yang, do you have a plan for opening the sea to collect taxes?"

This is what Shi Kefa has always been concerned about.

Yang Chao had already vaguely guessed, because it was fairly peaceful recently, and it seemed that there was nothing worthy of Shi Kefa asking for himself.

From a closed country, it is obviously impossible to start trading immediately without encountering problems.

However, in order to strengthen Shi Kefa's confidence, Yang Chao still said: "Master Shi, don't worry, opening the sea will bring a lot of benefits and no harm!"

Shi Kefa sighed: "What if the big profits attract pirates?"

Yang Chao laughed and said, "Hai Bandits? Could it be that Mr. Shi has forgotten that the last general still has hundreds of elite soldiers in his hands!"

Shi Kefa shook his head: "Although your soldiers are fierce, you must guard against the Japanese pirates back then."

Yang Chao shook his head and sighed, "Your Majesty, worry too much. Today's Japanese pirates have long been extinct, and the Japanese kingdom has been closed to the outside world. No one person or boat can go out to sea. There are no Japanese pirates!"

The officials of the Ming Dynasty didn’t know about the retreat of the Wa Kingdom, because they didn’t care about it at all. Compared with the Wa Kingdom, who always paid attention to the information of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty seemed too numb to the outside affairs, and the eyes of the emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty were always fixed on His one-acre three-point land is completely blind to the general trend of the outside world.

Shi Kefa didn't know either, when he heard Yang Chao mention it, he was stunned and said, "Is this really true?"

Yang Chao nodded.

Shi Kefa frowned suddenly, and asked suspiciously: "General Yang, how did you know?"

Seeing Shi Kefa's suspicious expression, Yang Chao knew that Shi Kefa doubted himself, but Yang Chao didn't intend to deny it.

"That's right, the general also does some sea-connecting business, but it's just to deliver goods to some merchants. The ships under the general's command can't go to the sea. So I know some news."

Shi Kefa looked at Yang Chao with complicated eyes, pondered for a long time, and then heaved a long sigh.

"Forget it, it's not easy for you to raise soldiers, and you finally raised an elite soldier for the court."

It seems that Shi Kefa intends to use raising soldiers to excuse Yang Chao, or to comfort himself, at least Yang Chao's secret journey to the sea is not for his own selfishness, but the soldiers may not be raised for the court.

"Forgive me, Mr. Shi. Without access to the sea, the last general really can't support these hundreds of soldiers."

Yang Chao gave Shi Kefa a step down. This kind of pedantic and upright person sometimes really causes headaches. It's not that he doesn't know how to adapt, but he is unwilling to adapt. This is the so-called belief, and he has no reason at all.

Sometimes Yang Chao also thinks, if that old slicker Xiong Mingyu was in Nanjing, it would be easier for him to do things in many cases, but it would be easier for him to do things with this responsible Shi Kefa, but emotionally, Yang Chao would I just feel that such an upright person is more credible.

Shi Kefa sat down and took a sip of tea, discussing business matters, he didn't dare to drink.

"Then tell me, how should the imperial court make profits?"

Saying this made Shi Kefa feel a little uncomfortable, and his brows were wrinkled. The court actually needed to speak up, which made him feel bad, but the emperor's secret decree had been issued, and other officials might refuse to accept this kind of unreasonable He received the decree from the cabinet, but Shi Kefa was a loyal minister, so he would not refuse.

Yang Chao said with a smile: "It's not easy. The last general can raise five hundred elite soldiers just by transporting sea goods. If the imperial court opens the sea, it can raise thousands of times as many soldiers. As for the opening of the sea, the previous court will There are rules, so why bother."

The Yuan Dynasty before the Ming Dynasty also opened up sea trade for most of the time, not to mention the Song Dynasty when sea trade was perfect. It has to be said that the Ming Dynasty turned back history in many aspects, including the financial system including sea trade. , don't compare it with the Song Dynasty, even the Yuan Dynasty is far from it.

Shi Kefa smiled wryly and said, "It's just that I can't use these rules, so I'm in trouble."

Yang Chao couldn't help but wonder, could it be that the emperor wanted to open the sea to collect taxes, but didn't want to use historical experience, and planned to start a new business and get a new one?
Shi Kefa pondered for a while, then suddenly stared into Yang Chao's eyes: "Yang Chao, can I trust you? Can the Holy One trust you?"

Yang Chao was taken aback, Shi Kefa seemed to be planning to say something important and secret to him, but the way he asked Yang Chao had pushed Yang Chao to a dead end, how could he say that he was not worthy of Shi Kefa's trust or the emperor's trust? Take the way of death.

Yang Chao nodded: "Master Shi, please tell me."

Shi Kefa nodded vigorously: "Okay. I won't hide it from you. In fact, the Holy Majesty has issued a secret decree to me, wanting me to gain profits, but I can't let all the officials know!"

Yang Chao couldn't help being taken aback again, what's the matter?I want to open the sea to collect taxes, but I don’t want all the officials to know. How is this possible? Now that the sea ban has been lifted, let alone all the officials, according to Yang Chao’s idea, it should be announced to the world, so that a large amount of capital will enter it Make money, and then you can collect more taxes.

Seeing Yang Chao's expression, Shi Kefa sighed, "Once all the officials know, I'm afraid it's time for impeachment again, and the Holy Majesty will be very embarrassed."

Speaking of the embarrassment of the emperor, Shi Kefa said with a sad tone, the so-called master humiliated his ministers to death, seeing the emperor so worried, the impeachment of the officials seemed to add chaos, but the sea ban is an ancestral system, and the officials are not wrong. What's wrong.

But Yang Chao understood that the emperor and Shi Kefa only wanted to extract money from Haimao, but they didn't want to make Haimao bigger at all, or they didn't have such a consciousness at all, and what they valued was only a few million taels of silver, that's all. Therefore, I simply want to secretly participate in the sharing.

But Yang Chao really didn't understand what he was thinking: "What does His Majesty mean?"

Shi Kefa said: "Can you find someone to help the court make money?"

Yang Chao was taken aback for a moment, he completely understood that the emperor wanted to find someone to smuggle secretly, and then get money for the court.

But now, what are you kidding!

(End of this chapter)