my brother-in-law is the prince

Chapter 436

Ma Yangming is not a fool.

After living most of his life, how could he not know the power of this?
What is the reason for being an official for thousands of miles?
Is it really for Confucius?

This is a pure profit of 7 taels of silver for a round trip.

In a few years, it will be millions of dollars.

Naturally, merchants also have many disadvantages.

For example, it is easy to be looked down upon by scholars, but his son is a real champion. Even if he is not an official, his fame is real.

In the county, a scholar can talk about things, but when it comes to juren, he can almost push a cup with the county magistrate.As for the Jinshi...even if it is a Jinshi who is not an official, it is not something that anyone can bully!
If it is the number one scholar, to be honest... Although he cannot be an official and cannot bully others, he is by no means a person who allows others to bully him.

Plus so much white money.

As for being an official...it is a pity, but to be honest, the danger involved is beyond what ordinary people can expect.

This was the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, starting from Emperor Taizu Gao, although standing in the temple was noble, but since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, this minister's head was like a leek, and he didn't know how many stubbles he had cut.

Emperor Taizu Gao killed several batches. After Jing Nan, he cleared Jianwen's party members and killed another batch.

Now because of the New Deal, another batch has been killed.

Entering the court and becoming an official is really more dangerous than going up the mountain to be a bandit!
If you are not careful, not only your own head will be lost, but your family may also be harmed.

The reason why he wholeheartedly hoped that his son would be famous was because for the Ma family, there was only one way to go.

But now, since there is a new way, although it sounds ugly, the benefits are real.

After he slapped Ma Chao viciously, he returned to look at Ma Yu, his face suddenly relaxed.He supported Ma Yu with both hands, looked straight at him, and said, "Your business is not a crime, is it?"

Ma Yu hurriedly said: "My son responded to Taiping Mansion's move to open the door. My son's fleet arrived in Luzon, and the local Prince Ning's Mansion was overjoyed. This is an upright business, and there is no crime. Father, I have read books for so many years, don't I understand these things?"

When Ma Yangming heard this, he was very relieved, and his whole body seemed to have a little vitality all of a sudden, and he hurriedly said: "This... this is good, this is good, as long as you can keep yourself safe and don't commit crimes, our Ma family You are the smartest and the most obedient when you were young, the so-called everyone has his own aspirations, and he supports you as a father."

As he spoke, he stroked Ma Yu's face lightly, and continued, "It's not serious to attack my father just now, it didn't hurt me, good boy."

Ma Yu shook his head.

Ma Chao on the side covered his face, looked at Ma Yangming with tears in his eyes, and hesitated to speak.

He felt that he was hurting again.

On the contrary, Ma Yangming seemed to have suddenly realized something at this time. He got up immediately, bowed at Zhu Di's feet, and said: "The grass people will die."

After listening to Ma Yu, he seemed to understand at once. He had been doubting the identities of Zhu Di and Zhang Anshi, but felt that the other party was not an ordinary person. Now that he heard his father's words, he suddenly came to his senses, and hurriedly knelt down to Zhu Di and said, "Wan Shi !"

Zhu Di was actually quite regretful in his heart.

He originally thought that it was a catastrophe, father and son turned against each other, or some kind of human tragedy, who knew it would have such a happy ending.

Zhang Anshi was also very surprised, he didn't expect that the rumored No. [-] scholar... would hide here in Qixia just to do business.

All of a sudden, Zhang Anshi's head started to spin rapidly, and then he said: "Wait for father and son to cause trouble, can you be convicted?"

This is not a small matter, Ma Yangming said immediately: "This matter was done by Caomin and Caomin's son Ma Chao. If you want to kill him, Caomin has no complaints. As for Caomin's eldest son, Ma Yu, he really has nothing to do with this matter. Your Majesty, please help me." Know everything."

Zhu Di gave Ma Yangming a hard look.

But at this time, he can quite understand the feeling of this horse becoming famous for licking the calf, but he glanced at Ma Chao, and couldn't help thinking in his heart, there are some feelings of this horse becoming famous for licking the calf, but not many.

Zhu Di collected his thoughts, looked up at Yang Rong and Hu Guang and said, "Yang Qing, Hu Qing, do you have any suggestions?"

Yang Rong took a deep look at Ma Yu, feeling a little weird.

But Hu Guang was heartbroken, and after looking at Ma Yu with the eyes of a kind-hearted beauty who is a thief, he still said: "Your Majesty, I think that it is an unforgivable crime for this horse to gain fame and credulously believe the words of the market. , but it is also understandable. Your Majesty values ​​loyalty and filial piety the most, and those who are sons should obey filial piety, and those who are fathers naturally need to love their sons. This is the principle of ethics. I think... it is better to be punished lightly."

Even though the father and son didn't quite suit Hu Guang's wishes, even Ma Yang's famous philistine aroused Hu Guang's great resentment.

But after all, Hu Guang still thinks that if Ma Yangming is held accountable just because of this, it would be too much punishment.

Zhu Di nodded and said, "What Hu Qing said is not without reason."

He stood up, but looked at Ma Yu: "Others have worked so hard to test for fame, and if they have an official career, they will be ecstatic. You are good, you are different from ordinary people! Of course, there are also people who resign, but these people resign , it is also for the sake of fame, but you, the number one scholar, resigned because of business. It is really unimaginable, unprecedented."

Ma Yu breathed a sigh of relief, but replied: "Your Majesty, when the sage was alive, he had three thousand disciples and 72 sages, but the sage never taught these 72 sages to have three thousand disciples, so he had to be an official. Disciples include farmers, merchants, and nobles."

"It can be seen from this that what the sages teach is not just the knowledge of becoming an official. Now, after reading the Four Books and Five Classics, one has to be admitted to fame and enter the temple. The grassroots feel that this is really strange."

After hearing this, Zhu Di said, "What exactly do you want to say?"

Ma Yu said frankly: "Later people praised the sage, saying that the knowledge of the sage is the most holy knowledge. Such a great knowledge should be able to solve all kinds of problems. I learned skills from it. But now I only use the knowledge of saints as officials. From the perspective of grassroots people, people in the world look down on saints. But any way can be learned, so that people can be reborn, so that they can mount horses and soldiers, and dismount If you can write, why stick to being an official?"

"Caomin's business is not only because of their interest, but also because of their profit. There is one less Hanlin in the world, but one more merchant. What's wrong?"

After hearing this, Yang Rong stared at Ma Yu, his eyes flickering, and nodded secretly.

Hu Guang only blew on his beard, but couldn't speak.

After Zhu Di heard it, he said: "This statement is not unreasonable. The saint you speak of is ten times wiser than the saint mentioned by the Imperial Academy. I thought that the saint only knows what he knows. I see you Sincerely, I will accept your resignation. You have your aspirations, and I will not force you. And your father, he committed a heinous crime, but I have a kind heart, and it is understandable to miss him. , there will be no punishment, and after that, you can do it yourself."

Ma Yu hurriedly kowtowed gratefully: "Your Majesty's kindness, it is hard to repay the grassroots even if they die."

Zhu Di waved his hand, looked at Hu Guang and said, "Hu Qing's family, do you have anything else to say? Do you still want to complain for the Ma family?"

These words were like pricking Hu Guang with a needle, Hu Guang blushed, shook his head and said: "I have nothing to say."

Zhu Di said: "Since that's the case, don't watch the excitement, let's go."

Zhu Di didn't stay long, he paced away while thinking.

Zhu Di was very impressed by Ma Yu, this person... was not an ordinary scholar, and Zhu Di was also deeply impressed by his conversation just now.

After walking out of the horse house, Zhu Di couldn't help saying: "It's a pity."

Zhang Anshi said: "Your Majesty, what is there to regret?"

Zhu Di said: "Such a person cannot be used by the imperial court. Even if I force him, I'm afraid it may not be able to make him sincerely convinced and willing to use his life. Wouldn't it be a pity..."

Zhang Anshi smiled, and said in a low voice: "Who said that it cannot be used by His Majesty? Think about it, Your Majesty. If his fleet is managed well in the future, it will be of great benefit to opening up many routes. Your Majesty..."

Zhang Anshi gave a small smile, and continued, "He will have to pay customs duties when he brings the goods back..."

The voice was inaudible, but Hu Guang and Yang Rong heard it.

The two pretended not to hear, turning their heads to the other side.

When Zhu Di heard this, he felt relieved immediately.

Entering the court as an official, I spend money to support him, and in business...he earns money to support me.

With such a calculation, Zhu Di's slightly frowned brows suddenly relaxed, and he felt much happier. He said with a smile, "That's okay, this person is quite talented, and maybe he can be Tao Zhu in the future."

Hu Guang muttered, "Or Lu Buwei..."

Zhu Di also heard this, and turned his head to stare at Hu Guang.

Hu Guang consciously slipped his words, and hurriedly said, "Million dead."

Zhu Di didn't bother to pay attention to him, and continued to say to Zhang Anshi: "This Taiping Mansion has opened up its doors, and even this Ma Yu is engaged in shipping, earning so much money, it seems that the shipping of this Taiping Mansion has begun to take shape. "

Zhang Anshi introduced enthusiastically, and said: "Your Majesty, there are hundreds of new docks, big and small, almost all of which are working day and night to build ships, and the number of manpower recruited is endless. Besides...there is a boat, and it is necessary Purchased a large amount of goods to go to sea, which forced many merchants to gather a large amount of goods to Taiping Mansion to board the ship to go to sea..."

After Zhu Di heard this, he couldn't help asking curiously: "There are hundreds of shipyards, how to deal with this ship material...?"

Zhang Anshi smiled and said: "That's right, the wood on the ship needs to undergo special treatment if it wants to withstand the corrosion of sea water and wind and waves. What everyone uses now is still the wood left over from the past, but this wood is not It is inexhaustible and inexhaustible.”

"However...the docks of Qixia Trading Company are trying their best...to improve the wood."

Zhu Di was taken aback, looked at Zhang Anshi and said, "I heard that it takes ten years of hard work for high-quality ship wood before it can be used on a ship. How can you improve your wood?"

Zhang Anshi smiled and said: "Nowadays, the demand for ordering ships is high, and the price is naturally rising. Therefore, the price is not a problem after the ship is built. The biggest problem is indeed the required ship materials and the lengthy time. Find a way to step up and improve some shipbuilding techniques, especially the processing of this wood, if it can be successful, then the use of ship materials can be greatly reduced, and by then... the speed of shipbuilding will be even faster."

Zhu Di asked, "Is there any progress?"

Zhang Anshi said: "There has been progress. In just a few months, this new ship will be launched for sea trials. If it can be successful... then the speed of ship construction will be greatly accelerated, and the processing of wood will also be greatly improved. simplification."

Zhu Di said: "It's very good."

Zhang Anshi said with a smile: "Actually, building more ships is no problem for me. More ships mean more cargo. Less ships mean higher prices. You can earn money anyway. But this time The boat built by the Qixia Commercial Shipyard is actually just a demonstration."

"Demonstration?" Zhu Di looked at Zhang Anshi suspiciously.

Zhang Anshi said: "Many shipyards only know how to focus on building ships. The ships they build are similar with minor differences. They all hope to catch up with the construction period to earn money."

Zhang Anshi paused, and then said: "The dock of Qixia Commercial Company is actually to set an example for them, that is to tell them that they can't make a lot of money if they only concentrate on recruiting a large number of manpower to build ships. Only by improving production and innovating new ships can we greatly reduce the construction period and improve the process, so that we can make a fortune."

"Only the dockyard of Qixia Commercial Company made a lot of money through it. This kind of concept can be deeply rooted in people's hearts. In this world, the most difficult thing to change is people's hearts. Only when people's hearts change can everything go smoothly."

Zhu Di looked at it with great interest and said, "I'll wait for your good news."

…………

After seeing off Zhu Di and the others, Ma Yangming went back to pick up the letter, and after rereading it a few times, he let out a long sigh of relief.

He looked up, with a look of relief on his face, looked at Ma Yu with burning eyes and said, "My son... is really promising, won the first prize, and can easily earn such a big family fortune... Chao'er..."

Ma Chao was beside him, drooping his head and said, "Yes, yes."

Alas, he always felt that he was not his own.

I saw Ma Yang said: "You go back to your hometown and bring your mother and other family members to the capital. Sell everything in the family that can be sold, and move the whole family to the capital."

"Ah...Father..." Ma Chao couldn't care less about mourning, and said in shock, "Father, where are our roots..."

Ma Yangming sighed and said: "Now that something like this has happened, you can't go back to your hometown. After you go back to your hometown...if you know that your brother is in business, you will make fun of your neighbors. Instead of being laughed at by others, the whole family Moved here, and settled down again. Trees are moved to death, people are moved to live, don’t you understand this truth?”

"Naturally, when you go back this time, you have to prepare a sum of money and give it to your cousin to ask him to take care of the ancestral grave. When the time comes, he will teach someone to bring some money back."

After saying that, Ma Yangming ignored Ma Chao, and said to Ma Yu: "Your brother, you are not promising, and he has no skills, but Brother Dahu, if you think he can help you, give him one." Errands, of course, others are honest, which may not be all bad, at least he is willing to listen to what you say."

Ma Yu said, "Of course."

After Ma Yangming explained this, he sat down and said enthusiastically, "My son, will there be any great risks in doing business at sea?"

"Don't worry, if you want to buy insurance, if you really encounter any risks, at least you can get back some losses, and you won't lose everything. What's more, this time to go to sea for business, in fact..." Ma Yu thought for a while, and said with a smile: "Actually, the money earned is just a small amount."

"Little head?" Ma Yangming's face, which had finally calmed down, was once again taken aback.

Can you not be surprised, this is tens of thousands of taels of silver!
Come to you, is it Xiaotou?
Ma Yu said: "Right now, everyone in Qixia is waiting to see if the Haimao business is profitable. My son went to sea first, and took this opportunity to get in touch with each other. But Haimao is not a workshop business after all. It is beneficial for everyone to meet a certain workshop. To plan, one must rush to do it. However, maritime trade needs to be proficient in shipping routes, need to spend a lot of money to buy ships, and also need to have certain connections overseas. There are countless troubles. Many people see such Huge profit, even if you want to earn money by this right away, you will definitely feel daunted when you think of the troubles that are so numerous."

Ma Yu paused, and continued: "Because of this, this time is a good time for my son to take this opportunity to expand his business. If the fleet returns safely, when his son distributes the dividends to others, everyone Everyone is happy after getting the money, then... in the future, I am afraid that there will be more people who want to give money to my son to invest in Haimao, and even if my son wants to refuse, it will be difficult."

"My son's next step is to find a way to raise 50 taels of silver. In addition to buying more new ships and opening up a few new routes, in addition, he wants to buy a few warehouses in commercial ports in Luzon and other places as a For the collection and distribution of goods..."

Ma Yu thought for a while, and then said: "Of course, it is inevitable to cooperate with some local merchants. Now in Luzon and other places, if you can invest in several sugar workshops first, extract sugar cane, make sugar, and then pass through our ship I’m afraid it’s a huge profit to transport it back. Of course, although these are only for making money, they are not the purpose. Instead, Luzon and other places have fertile land and a lot of sugarcane plantations. Whether it is Zhao Wang or Ning Wang, they also urgently need to use these lands The sugar cane planted is exchanged for real money to maintain the income and expenditure of the palace. At this time, my son cooperated with them and solved their big trouble, which is equivalent to selling a favor."

Ma Yangming half understood what he heard, and finally said simply: "Just tell me how much money you can earn in the future?"

Ma Yu smiled wryly and said: "It's not easy to calculate, but...if it succeeds, I'm afraid the gold and silver can fill all the rooms in this mansion."

Ma Yangming took a deep breath, and felt that his heart was a little stuffy again. He covered his heart, tried hard to stabilize his beating heart, and said: "Oh, oh, don't say it, don't say it. You can go on. , father will die soon."

Ma Chao immediately rubbed Ma Yangming by his side, and said, "Father, brother has no winks, don't scold him."

Ma Yangming glared at him with a red face, and squeezed out a word between his teeth: "Get lost!"

(End of this chapter)