Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 424 Backer
Fang Yizhi and Chen Zilong are really talented. The school has always welcomed such talents with both hands and gave them a lot of convenience, so they completed the procedures in a very short time.Then, you have to pay the tuition fee.

Nanyang Technical School's method of collecting tuition is very interesting: children are completely free, and those over 20 years old have to pay two taels of silver every year.There are some young people who are extremely interested in natural sciences but cannot pay the tuition fees. It is easy to do. You can borrow them from the school and pay them back after you finish your studies.It is precisely for this reason that many young people come here especially, and more than half of them cannot afford the tuition fees.Of course, with the net worth of these two, there is no shortage of such money.

It's just that adult students can't live in the school, so they have to find a house by themselves.Scores of small buildings have been built around the school, very close to the school, and the decoration is also good, but the price is quite ridiculous, much more expensive than the best inns in the county, and it is so expensive: it is close to the school!The most deceitful thing is that even if they are willing to pay twice the price, they still can't rent the house, it's already full!These two schoolboys broke their legs, their mouths were worn out, and after a lot of effort, they finally found a small house that was lucky not to be overwhelmed by the army of schoolboys a mile away from the school. , there are two more rooms.Thankfully, it's finally time to settle down.

"Mizhi, what do you think of Master Yang?" After settling down, Chen Zilong frowned and asked Fang Yizhi.

Fang Yizhi's eyes never left the "Celestial Spheres Movement": "He? He's pretty good, capable of writing and martial arts, very capable."

Chen Zilong tapped his finger on the table and said: "Everyone knows that he is very capable. If he had no ability, we wouldn't be in the current situation. It's just some of his practices, such as vigorously encouraging women to let their feet go, let them go out Work, co-education, etc. are really difficult to accept, and these are not in line with etiquette."

Fang Yizhi raised his head slowly and said, "Sage Confucius didn't say that women must have their feet bound, and they can't go out to work or study."

Chen Zilong was suffocated, and said, "Sage Kong didn't say that, but Sage Zhu..."

Fang Yizhi snorted: "Sage Zhu? Even he can't do what he proposed!"

Fang Yizhi continued to read the book, and said while reading: "I think Mr. Yang is an open-minded gentleman, and he has no intention of dealing with others. Such a person will definitely not be a villain."

Chen Zilong had a headache.The Donglin Party hated and hated Yang Menglong's behavior extremely, and denounced him as "crazy", saying that if he didn't try to stop it, the customs would be corrupted, and the country would be ruined. Who should I trust?He sighed helplessly and said, "Forget it, let's have a look again."

Yang Menglong didn't know that someone was whispering about him behind his back. If he knew, he would definitely laugh and hurt his stomach: Tens of thousands of Jiannu can't eat a single hair of Lao Tzu, so you sent two scholars over to try to touch me?Are you kidding me?This guy who has always been out of tune showed a little professionalism, and spent more than half a month in school, giving lessons to everyone, and every class of his was full, those who spent most of their lives finally got a little touch on chemistry. People with fur and fur are eye-opening and amazed at the magic of chemistry. Even some children who don't know what chemistry is also like to listen to his lectures, watch him do various experiments, and have this magical knowledge in their hearts. a strong interest.He didn't know how effective it would be to talk about things like this. Anyway, he just planted a lot and got a lot of money. He was satisfied with one chemist among the two hundred people who came to attend the lecture.

One of the major consequences of taking chemistry class is that many people are not satisfied with just listening, they even do it themselves, wanting to see if Yang Menglong has lied to them... After seeing what a biogas lamp is, Nanyang quickly blew up a wave. The trend of repairing septic tanks is to see if dung, vegetation and other substances will really produce a flammable gas in a sealed environment, which can be used to boil water and cook rice instead of firewood.After seeing the power of gun cotton, things like nitric acid and cotton became extremely popular in the market, and everyone was trying their best to collect these things, hoping to get some gun cotton to play with.Fortunately, the production of nitric acid is very small, and cotton is even more precious. Otherwise, we don’t know how many explosions would have occurred!After getting a preliminary understanding of the properties of acids and alkalis, Yang Menglong discovered to his dismay that the consumption of these two experimental equipments had increased tenfold. Help the lunatics rush to pick them off, and use hydrochloric acid and alkali to see if it will change color... What made him shudder, the Chinese are not fanatics, and they are not people when they are fanatics. This is absolutely true!

The Jingxiang area is also quite fanatical.

The battle of Yiling shocked Huguang. Millions of refugees gathered in the forests and pools of Jingxiang Mountains responded in groups. Holding knives made of inferior iron and spears made of bamboo, they dragged their families down the mountain and went to the villages and towns. The attack was launched.This is not terrible, the most terrible thing is that even the people in Huguang rebelled. Before the rebels arrived, they showed their knives at the landlords, slaughtered them all, and then divided the fields and animals.Many landlords were so frightened that they retreated into Wubao to defend themselves... Hehe, do you think it will be all right?There is an old saying that "the strongest fortress is often breached from the inside". Some landlords' slaves secretly opened the gate and let the rebels in when the fierce battle was in full swing. That's how it was broken.No matter how strong the dock was, a few [-]-jin explosive packs would be blown up if they flew in.Still want to fight to the end?Well, keep bombing and see if it's your fate or my explosives!

In just one month, all the vast villages around Jingxiang had fallen into the hands of the rebels, and only a few big cities could be controlled by the imperial court.What made Huguang officials vomit blood the most was that they were beaten out of their brains by the rebels, but Nanyang took the opportunity to make a fortune. The iron materials, grains, and gunpowder that the rebels urgently needed were shipped over one by one, and then shipped back to the shiploads of phosphate rocks. stone.After all, Hubei is landlocked. There are no sailors, and there is no way to block the waterways of the Yangtze River and the Han River. You can only watch Nanyang's fleet shuttle in the waterway, making a fortune... If you have the ability, you come to collect taxes!

Seeing that the momentum of the rebel army was getting bigger and bigger, Governor Jing Xiang finally couldn't sit still, and personally went to Nanyang by boat to find Fang Yizhi.

At this time, Fang Yizhi was happily watching the unloading of the cargo at Nanyang Chengguan Wharf.These goods are all shipped from Denglai, Shandong, including kelp, seaweed, shrimp skin, salted fish... everything is available, and Nanyang people can also taste the taste of seafood, although they are mainly dry goods.He wondered if the pier should be expanded to accommodate more cargo ships.Before he could make up his mind, the master came to tell him: Governor Jingxiang is here!

Fang Yizhi said: "Let him wait first! Zihua, do you think we should expand the wharf? Now that the canals in Nanyang are basically cleared, and the number of cargo ships passing by is increasing, the wharf is so small that it can't accommodate it! "

The master felt the same: "It really should be expanded, and the warehouse should also be expanded. There are too many goods to fit!"

Fang Yizhi stroked his beard and said: "That's right, if there are more warehouses, we can receive more rent. If the rent is more, our income will also increase... Should we call the officials and gentry of the thirteen counties to discuss the renovation What about the pier?"

The master said: "No need? This is a matter of Nanyang Fucheng, we can solve it ourselves..."

These two stood by the pier like this, talking and gesticulating about transforming the pier to increase income, completely throwing Governor Jingxiang out of the blue.It was not until an hour later that Fang Yingqiu came over to remind him that Fang Yizhi forgot that there was such an important guest waiting for him, said "sin, sin" repeatedly, and walked back home slowly.

In the government office, Governor Jingxiang was so angry that his nose was smoking. He sat here for an entire hour, but Fang Yizhi didn't see him and didn't even drink a cup of tea. Can you not be angry?Seeing Fang Yizhi, he had the urge to jump over and strangle him to death.But now he has nothing to do with asking for help, so he suppressed his anger and bowed to Fang Yizhi, and then there was a burst of unnutritive greetings, simply put, it was nonsense.Having dealt with Yang Menglong for a long time, Fang Yizhi has also developed a good habit of speaking directly. If any subordinate dares to show off his rhetoric in front of him and talk about it for a long time without getting to the point, he will 70% tell him to leave. Six to seven million people are eating and drinking, and they are so busy that they hit the back of their heads with their heels, and have no time to grind their teeth with you!But now he sighed uncharacteristically, and smiled and hummed with the prefect of Jingxiang, competing for the ability to talk nonsense, anyway, it just didn't get into the topic.

After going around for a long time and still not getting to the point, the prefect of Jingxiang couldn't bear it any longer, and said stiffly: "...To be honest, someone came here specially for Jingxiang's rebellion!"

Fang Yizhi was taken aback: "Jingxiang rebelled? Jingxiang rebelled? When did it happen? Oh, this is terrible. Huguang is the granary of Ming Dynasty. This rebellion will shake the foundation of the country. How can this happen? good?"

She acted with emotion, but no matter how you look at it, she seems to be taking pleasure in other's misfortune...

Governor Jingxiang's face turned red and white, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Master Fang, let's get straight to the point! Those rebels killed the gentry and slaughtered the common people. They are extremely vicious, and the people and gods are all angry. It's just that the court is unable to do what it wants and can't wipe them out in a short time... A certain hope Don't provide them with food, iron and other materials anymore, this is the enemy!"

Fang Yizhi was taken aback again: "When did we provide these supplies to the rebels? As an official of the imperial court, I govern one side on behalf of the emperor. Although I have no other skills, I also know the word loyalty. How dare I do it?" Such collusion with grass bandits? My lord, don't talk nonsense, it will kill people!"

Governor Jingxiang clenched his fists, held back desperately, and his tone became a little rushed: "You don't have any, but your Nanyang merchants transport boatloads of supplies to the areas controlled by the rebels every day and sell them at low prices to the rebels. What difference does the enemy make!"

Fang Yizhi said slowly: "Of course there is a difference. It was done by Nanyang merchants. You can go to them. Why do you go to me?"

"You——" Governor Jingxiang finally got angry, and said loudly: "Master Fang, we are all officials in the same dynasty, even if I offend you in the supply of phosphate rock, you don't have to do it like this? If You can't stop Nanyang merchants from joining the enemy, I will definitely go to the imperial court, and I will give you a copy, so you can do it yourself!" After finishing speaking, he didn't even drink tea, and left in a huff.

Fang Yizhi said with a smile: "It's easy to go, don't send it off, come and sit when you have time." When this man walked away, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth: "I will play the imperial court, and I will be a ruthless official." Ben? You'd better save your own life first!"

Fang Yingqiu was a little worried: "Father, we are making an enemy of the entire Huguang civil official group by doing this. Are you not afraid of the imperial court's anger?"

Fang Yizhi glanced at his son, shook his head and said, "You, you are still too naive! What did you do for your father in Nanyang, which one can be called deviant? The court really cares about it. If you die for your father ten times It’s not enough. But the imperial court still dare not touch Weifu, because there are 70 to [-] people supporting Weifu! These hundreds of thousands of people are Weifu’s backing! If Weifu compromises with Huguang Wenchen Group , harming the interests of the people of Nanyang, then I am afraid that before the court gets angry, the father will die without a place to bury him!"

Fang Yingqiu was taken aback: "It's so serious!?"

Fang Yizhi said: "It's more serious than you think... From the moment my father promised Yang Menglong to promote industry, commerce, and education, there is no way out for my father. Except for the millions of people in Nanyang, everyone in the world is in danger. My father's enemies, they are waiting for me to lose this great backer, and then pounce on me and tear me to pieces! However, they will not succeed!"

(End of this chapter)