Signed to Zhu Cihong, Prince of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 263 Chapter 263, Zhu Cihong expanded the East Factory, and Li Dingguo returned to offer advice
Summer is long for Zhu Cihong.

He misses the air conditioner of later generations very much!

Of course, as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, it's not impossible for Zhu Cihong to have two palace maids follow behind him all day to fan the wind like on TV.

But from the perspective of a modern person, this method is more or less too embarrassing.

What's more, Zhu Cihong is not the real head of the family yet, and Chongzhen and Empress Zhou have the final say in this palace.

These two couples are people with very simple lives. Can you imagine that the two couples who usually only eat three dishes and one soup see Zhu Cihong followed by two beautiful court ladies, and then the court maids are holding them in their white hands as delicate as lotus roots? Is it the scene where the cattail fan as big as Zhu Bajie's face is blowing up and down?

The only thing that comforted Zhu Cihong was that there were finally ice cubes in Daming's summer.

Ice cubes are definitely an artifact to spend summer!But it is a pity, because of the frugality of the Chongzhen couple, Zhu Cihong can only get a small piece of ice the size of a palm every day, which is useless except for some iced drinks to drink...

Zhu Cihong looked up to the sky and sighed: "Old Fang, this society needs progress too much!"

Fang Gong on the side didn't know what to do, so he hurriedly said: "With His Highness here, Daming will definitely improve more and more."

Zhu Cihong shook her head in disappointment: "Old Fang, you don't understand me, no one in this world can understand me."

Fang Gongqian blinked and said seriously: "Your Highness is a talented person in the world. Naturally, no one in this world can compare with His Highness."

Zhu Cihong: "..."

In fact, I just want an air conditioner. Lao Fang, you don’t need to work so hard to flatter me, even if I know that every word you say is sincere.

Zhu Cilang withdrew his mind and said, "Is there any new news recently?"

Under Zhu Cihong's repeated recommendation and the painful lessons of the past years, Chongzhen also gradually realized that it was really impossible without a "Wei Zhongxian" to supervise the officials.

As a result, Dongchang once again surfaced.

This move was naturally opposed by many officials and ministers, but this time Chongzhen was still relatively tough, and directly dismissed the first few who made the list, and the most scolded were demoted by three levels.

After this operation, everyone knew that it was imperative for His Majesty the Emperor to restart the East Factory, so they could only hold their noses and admit it.

In the final analysis, the emperor really needs to have his own eyes and ears, which is something everyone knows.In the past, Chongzhen was willing to self-castrate these eyes and ears. It can only be said that he was too naive, but if Chongzhen really wanted to rebuild his eyes and ears, it was still logical.

Fang Gongqian said happily: "Your Highness, our East Factory has basically started to take root in places north of the Yangtze River, and is moving deeper to the south of the Yangtze River. I believe it won't take too much time, a year and a half." sufficient."

Zhu Cihong was a little surprised: "So fast?"

Fang Gonggan raised his chest proudly: "Your Highness, we are rich."

Yes, Dongchang is really rich.

Where does the money come from?

The first thing that comes to mind is of course the court's funding, but now the Ming Dynasty's finances are extremely tight, so this aspect can only be said to be better than nothing.

The real money comes from two aspects. The first is that part of Zhu Cihong’s house raids in the south of the Yangtze River was rewarded by Chongzhen, and the other is the money seized in the process of eliminating Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

Although Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were miserable poor people when they raised their troops, after many years of fighting, they also robbed a huge amount of wealth from various parts of Ming Dynasty. Zhu Cihong handed over most of these wealth to the court as expenses and rewards, but the remaining A small part of it is still a huge amount of wealth that ordinary people can hardly earn in a hundred generations.

Like other people who may be extravagant and wasteful when they are rich, Zhu Cixiang directly waved his hand and invested all the budget in expanding his power.

With His Majesty's will as protection, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's sufficient financial resources to open the way, if the Dongchang can't do everything in its favor, then Fang Gongqian really shouldn't mess around.

Zhu Cihong thought for a while, and said: "The south of the Yangtze River must first be Nanzhili, then Guangdong, and then Fujian. As for Guizhou, Guangxi and Yunnan, they should be the final development goals, understand? Especially Guangzhou in Guangdong. , you immediately send a capable force to concentrate on collecting all the information about the European Red Barbarians."

In Zhu Cihong's view, after overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and Mongolia, the next target must be the Europeans who had already begun the age of great voyages.

If it is about China, the Portuguese and the Dutch are present, especially the Dutch have begun to develop power on Taiwan Island, so we have to guard against it!

After giving instructions to Fang Gongqian, Zhu Cixiang returned to the room and drank his iced sour plum soup to relieve the heat.

Before he could finish a cup of sour plum soup, Fang Gong left and returned.

"Your Highness, Li Dingguo is here!"

Zhu Cihong's spirit lifted, he was pleasantly surprised, and immediately stood up.

Sure enough, there was a person standing behind Fang Gongqian, who was Li Dingguo himself.

Li Dingguo took two quick steps and knelt down on one knee: "The grassroots Li Dingguo has seen His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Zhu Cihong laughed loudly, and kindly helped Li Dingguo up: "Okay, that's really great. I thought you would have to wait three years before you can leave the mountain."

Li Dingguo smiled slightly, and said: "The grass people are people in the grass, and 49 days are enough. This time the grass people came here in a hurry, in fact, to report to His Highness about Tibet."

Zhu Cihong snorted: "Aren't you from Shaanxi, how do you know about Tibet?"

Fang Gongqian interjected: "Your Highness, he went to Tibet with our envoy of Ming Dynasty, and it is said that he has made some meritorious service."

Li Dingguo smiled and said: "I dare not say that I have done meritorious service, but I do know a little more about Tibet. If the common people's guess is correct, the Ming Dynasty will use troops against the Oara and Shuote tribe in a few years. By then, the common people's information may be able to be sent to Useful."

Zhu Cihong patted Li Dingguo's shoulder, and said seriously: "You are wrong, the imperial court is not going to use troops in a few years, but will march into Qinghai and Tibet next year, and regain my Ming territory! Okay, come in with me, let's talk in detail!"

After a while, Li Dingguo sat down in the study, pointed to the map of Daming in front of him, and said: "Although the Heshuot Khanate is ruled jointly by the Khan and the monks in name, in fact, the monks still have a hard time deciding whether to leave our Ming Dynasty. They were quite hesitant, at least they didn't want to break faces with Daming right now. So when the envoys arrived in Lhasa, these eminent monks secretly sent people to contact the grassroots..."

After Zhu Cihong finished listening, he felt happier, but also curious: "How did you get on line with these monks?"

Li Dingguo hesitated for a moment, then said: "It's actually like this. When Vatu Khan went south, the Panchen Lama sent a group of envoys to Daming to ask for help. They entered Sichuan from Tibet, and when they heard that Li Zicheng was powerful, they decided to detour to Hubei and continue northward. ..."

Zhu Cilang understood: "Then you met Zhang Xianzhong's army?"

Li Dingguo smiled embarrassingly, and said: "That's right. The Caomin helped them say some good things, so the adoptive father didn't kill them, so he released them back to Tibet. It was this person who came to contact me when he arrived in Lhasa. They are among the first batch of envoys, so the grassroots naturally know them."

Zhu Cixi laughed loudly: "So there is such a story. It seems that God really helps the Ming Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)