eldest son of Ming dynasty

Even if it rains lightly in Jiangnan at the end of May, it is no longer so cold, and it can even exaggerate the feeling of misty rain like waves.There are many ships on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and one of them is an official ship from the capital.

In accordance with the emperor's order, Wei Ningbo, Wang Hua, the Minister of Rites, and the Minister of War came to Zhejiang through the tunnel.

On the pier, Zhang Li, Heping Haibo, and Mei Kejia led all the officials to greet them.

This is a very normal scene of welcoming and sending off, except that Weiningbo is followed by a woman in plain clothes. She does not speak, and no one introduces her. She just stands under the maid's paper umbrella and waits for the officials to communicate with each other. The courtesy is over.

Zhang Li was originally the chief envoy of Fujian. After he was promoted to governor of Zhejiang, his tasks were significantly increased, and he seemed to have moved to a more central position in the government. When had he taken over two ministers at once in the past?
After some pleasantries, he led the people to the imperial envoy's residence.

While still on the way, Wang Hua asked: "Presumably Ping Haibo and Zhang Zhongcheng have both received your Majesty's decree. Your Majesty wants to expand the navy and hold a ceremony. The key is the treasure ship with two thousand materials. Is the ship ready now?" Already?"

Ping Haibo replied, "At the end of last year, we reported to your majesty the treasure ship with two thousand materials. It was ready to be built at that time, so you don't have to worry, there must still be ships. However, your majesty wants envoys from all countries to watch it... "

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

"No problem, but we have to wait. Envoys from Japan and Ryukyu Kingdom have already arrived in March, but the Southeast Asian countries will not arrive until July or August."

Qi Chengtun frowned, "So, we have to wait here for two months."

Wang Hua has nothing major to do, but his military department is in urgent need. Most of the towns in Jiubian are currently preparing their armies. Among them, the increase and decrease of personnel, transfers, and the supply of food and grass for Wang Shouren's department are all piled up there.

"The sea is not as good as the land. There is no wind and it is impossible to reach it." Mei Kejia said flatteringly: "And this is a foreign-related matter, so a big commander is indispensable. Your Majesty must have had this intention in sending the big commander here."

Wei Ningbo actually knew what the emperor meant.

In dealing with these envoys, His Majesty was prepared with sufficient etiquette and sufficient force.The former is for people with good intentions, while the latter is for those who are ambitious.

Zhu Houzhao had already told him all this, otherwise, he was worried that Wei Ningbo wouldn't understand it.

Not only that, Zhejiang people couldn’t understand that he also considered returning the donation money, which is why so many people came to Zhejiang.

After arriving at the palace, Zhang Li asked about the situation in the palace at that time and why he had to return the donated silver.

Wang Hua woke him up with just one sentence, "Has Zhang Zhongcheng ever thought about standing up a tree for faith?"

"A standing tree is a sign of faith?" Zhang Li pondered for a while, seeming to have a clear understanding.

The so-called "standing wood for faith" means that Shang Yang was afraid that the people would not believe his reform, so he offered a reward of fifty gold to anyone who moved the wood from the south gate to the north gate.

This is a very simple allusion that even people like Uncle Weining, who are not proficient in academics, learned about it when they were young.

Wang Hua continued to explain: "Your Majesty said that the imperial court built navy ships and protected merchant ships. It is difficult for ordinary people to believe it. The amount of money donated is not clear, and it is easy to breed corruption. Besides, it is only more than [-] taels, so it is better to buy it from a merchant in Zhejiang. A confidence.”

"confidence?"

Song Heng, Chief Minister of Zhejiang Province, said: "The core of business operations lies in confidence. Only when they expect to continue to make money in the future, businessmen will continue to invest money, buy more looms and hire more machine owners, and the market will prosper for a long time. Only a commercial city like Hangzhou can continue to prosper.

If a businessman has no confidence, he saves money after making a profit, and saves money after making another profit, then the currency in circulation will never be enough, just like the human body does not have enough blood flow, and it will always be weak. "

When Song Heng, who was born in a young government, said this, everyone present more or less understood the importance of the word confidence.

Zhang Li also understood, "So His Majesty wants to use this to establish the imperial court's posture."

"Yes." Song Heng nodded and praised, "His Majesty often makes unexpected moves, but in hindsight it is indeed a good idea."

Then he handed over to the three people from Beijing, "Uncle Da Zong, Da Sima, and Uncle Weining. After the imperial edict arrived in Zhejiang, the chief envoy Si Yamen had already returned the donated money one by one according to the list of donations, and announced to everyone City, the imperial court will never collect money from merchants in the name of building a navy. Regardless of whether they donate money or not, they are merchants of the Ming Dynasty and are protected by the navy of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Hmm. How was the response?"

"Extremely enthusiastic." Song Heng was also a little excited. "I have been an official for many years and have been in contact with many businessmen. It is rare to see people like this today. They have to pay donations to the government through trusting connections."

"This hole cannot be opened." Wang Hua reminded immediately.

"The lower official knows that the Holy Spirit has decreed not to accept it, so he certainly won't dare to accept even one tael."

Mei Kejia said: "Some people also came to me. The reason why they asked for donations through connections is because this time the imperial court not only returned more than [-] taels of silver donation, but the Holy Emperor also rewarded those merchants. Businessmen lack official connections the most. , with the imperial court award, they will have a lot more conveniences in the future."

But this opportunity will definitely disappear afterwards.

So the trust relationship is obviously useless, but there are always people who want to give it a try.

Although businessmen did not directly serve the court, Zhu Houzhao paid great attention to certain sentiments of businessmen from the beginning. Those who were close to the court and served the court would definitely receive preferential treatment.There is not much to say.After hearing this, Wang Hua and Qi Chengsui still felt that there was no problem.

Zhejiang is still different from other places. The emperor appointed many young officials here. The implementation of the imperial edict was very good in this place, so the atmosphere of the banquet was very good.

It was a pity that Wang Zhi did not attend such a banquet. It was still inconvenient for her after all, but her second brother basically talked to her word for word when he came back.

After hearing this, the girl was a little surprised, "So, Hangzhou has changed a lot."

"It should be. Want to go out and take a look tomorrow?"

The girl pinched her fingers and nodded gracefully, "Then I'll trouble my second brother."

"You don't have to be polite to your family."

The next day.

The brother and sister found a carriage.

In fact, the streets of Hangzhou are currently dominated by various silk and satin shops and porcelain shops. Many non-local businessmen will choose to find a place to stay in Hangzhou. First, it is convenient for them to do business with the Ming Nanyang Company. Second, it is also to participate in the maritime trade. development trend.

What particularly impressed Wang Zhi was that there were very few beggars on the streets of Hangzhou.

She sat in the carriage and looked out from time to time. Pedestrians were coming and going, and there were even Japanese people, but there were indeed very few beggars.

"His Majesty said that commerce is an important supplement to agriculture, and it seems to be true. After the opening of the sea, all kinds of products were exported to overseas trade, and every household's weaving workshop needed people, and the number of merchants gathered from all over the world increased, which also allowed inns and restaurants to take advantage of the situation. , as long as you are not a lazy person, it shouldn’t be difficult to find a living.”

"Yes, they said during the banquet yesterday that Ningbo is like this, and there are more foreigners and Japanese. And the most profitable people now are not these small and large households."

Wang Zhi was curious and blinked her big eyes, "What is that?"

"They are people who are proficient in the languages ​​​​of various countries. Because the number is not enough, one translator often has several customers. Only companies like Ping Haibo and Nanyang Company with a imperial background have the financial resources to hire full-time translators."

"Oh?" Wang Zhi was surprised again, "I heard a young official say before that the development of business will give rise to new businesses."

Anyway, in the fifth year of Zhengde, the situation here has been far better than before.After four or five years of cultivation after the opening of the sea, commercial-oriented cities such as Hangzhou and Ningbo have completely shown a different look.

Wang Zhi will be even more shocked next.

Because money makes people move, and the prosperity of commerce will also attract people to gather around them. More people need more food, more housing, and to put it bluntly, more wine and more girls. .

There are many shops and crowds of people. This is just the initial change. Next, some institutions that seem strange to them will be born.

Because business is an activity that requires a variety of supporting facilities, such as banks to provide financial services, and another type of pawn shop that is more in line with changes in reality to provide better mortgage services.

Even payment needs supporting facilities. After all, as the exchanges between big merchants increase, it will be impossible to always use serious silver to deliver goods. Otherwise, the streets will be filled with horse-drawn carriages dragging silver.

In this way, the anti-counterfeiting technology of banknotes must also be updated, because the amount of economic activity is too large, unlike in the past, when a little problem was a big deal.

And these all require people to do it.

"Second brother." Wang Zhi watched and thought about it. She felt that she had something to advise the emperor, "Do you still remember why His Majesty established the military academy?"

Wang Xuan also stayed there. He is the grandson of Wang Yue. He will definitely win this spot. "I heard from the teacher at the time that the direct purpose was to train more people who know how to deal with the Tatars."

"Just like today's business." Wang Zhi pursed her lips, "Since the emperor has sent you here, let's take a closer look at the changes in Hangzhou. After reading it, you can advise His Majesty, imitating the military academy, in A business school is established in Hangzhou.”

Wang Xuan felt unreliable, "Who would send their children to learn to be a businessman?"

"Some people are generals, and some are soldiers. Second brother, believe me. Look, in just a few years, Hangzhou has already seen many things that were difficult to predict at the beginning, some of which were good and some bad. Who can say what will happen one day in the future? Once you understand what is going on, His Majesty will entrust it with important responsibilities. You must know that Ming Dynasty is completely different from the past."

Although Wang Zhi was praised as being somewhat intelligent, based on her knowledge, she really could not have imagined that Hangzhou would undergo such changes after the opening of the sea.At first, like many others, she just thought that once the sea ban was lifted, more things would be sold.

No matter how you think about it, everything in the world affects each other.

Seeing that her second brother was still hesitant, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at him, "If you're afraid that you can't explain clearly, then let me do it."

Her original intention was to provoke her second brother, but she didn't expect that this idiot actually laughed as if he was relieved, "Well, it's up to my sister to talk."

Wang Zhi was speechless for a moment. How could she manage this family if she didn't put more thought into it!