Traveling through history leaving a name

Chapter 324 Textile Industry

On Zhu Changluo's side, Zhang Qingfeng did not visit Daoxi in person.

At this time, Zhu Changluo had just become the prince, and there were many people who followed him. If he went to meet Zhu Changluo by himself, there was no guarantee that he would not be discovered by Concubine Zheng's people.

So the next day, Zhang Qingfeng just met Wang An, the personal eunuch next to Zhu Changluo, and sent a deposit note of 3000 taels of silver to express his congratulations to Zhu Changluo for becoming the prince.

"Zhou Qingfeng, His Highness asked me to thank you for your help. Your Highness will keep all this in mind." Wang An said to Zhang Qingfeng.

"Don't dare, dare not, Concubine Gong saved the boy's life, what the boy did for His Highness is what he should." Zhang Qingfeng quickly said modestly.

"I've heard about you. You are very good. You have become the admiral of the Military Bureau at a young age. You should work hard. After His Highness is crowned a great treasure, you will definitely be used again." Wang An said to Zhang Qingfeng.

Next, after talking to Wang An, Zhang Qingfeng went back.

"Wang Banban, what do you think of Zhou Qingfeng?" Wang An returned to Ciqing Palace, and after handing over the 3000 taels of deposit to Zhu Changluo, Zhu Changluo asked him.

"Your Highness, this Zhou Qingfeng belongs to Concubine Gong, so he should be very reliable." Wang An said to Zhu Changluo.

"I heard that he is still a member of Concubine Zheng, do you think he is trying to please both ends?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"I don't know about this, but even if he is trying to please both sides, it will only help us and not hurt us." Wang An said.

"That's right." Zhu Changluo nodded.

After Zhang Qingfeng returned to the Military Bureau, he devoted himself to his work.

Time passed, and soon it was the end of the year.

Around the New Year's Eve, Zhang Qingfeng was mainly busy with courtesies. He had many people to curry favor with, and many people also needed to curry favor with him.

Time soon entered 1602 AD.

In the first month, Zhang Qingfeng wrote to Emperor Wanli, requesting that the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau be allowed to participate in private trade, so as to increase income for the Ming Dynasty.

Neifu is the emperor's personal treasury, also called Neijin.

Zhang Qingfeng promised Emperor Wanli that if the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau was allowed to participate in private trade, he would be able to earn tens of thousands of taels of silver for the inner government at least every year.

After seeing Zhang Qingfeng's memorial, Emperor Wanli agreed without asking.

At this time, Emperor Wanli was very short of money, otherwise he would not have sent eunuchs to collect mining taxes everywhere.

The so-called mining tax is actually divided into two types: mining and taxation. Some eunuchs only have mining rights or taxation rights, and some eunuchs have both.

Mining literally means going to various places to mine.

Taxation is not just about levying mineral taxes on private mining, but also levying taxes on commerce and handicrafts.

Taxation is actually not a bad thing. After all, there are no people in modern society who don’t pay taxes?

The bad thing is that the mines and businessmen in various places are protected by powerful people. They belong to the kind of collusion between government and businessmen. The emperor wants to collect taxes, which is to move their interests.

Moreover, the tax inspectors sent by Emperor Wanli were not kind people. When they arrived in the localities, they would also impose violent taxes and arouse people's resistance.

The result is that after so many eunuchs collected taxes for so many years, they only paid 300 million taels of silver to Emperor Wanli. God knows how much they were greedy.

Later, in order to make money out of the palace, some people only had to report where there were mines. Emperor Wanli would not send anyone to investigate, but would directly send eunuchs to mine mines and collect taxes.

During this period, whether it was the court ministers or some eunuchs in the palace, they all opposed the collection of taxes by the tax supervisor, and it seemed that an agreement was reached.

Faced with such opposition, Emperor Wanli has always insisted on collecting mining tax. He not only wants money, but also wants to form mining tax into a long-term tax.

In fact, in any industry, as long as it can bring money to Emperor Wanli, you can discuss anything. If you can't make money, then don't say anything.

Zhang Qingfeng said that as long as the imperial court allows the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau to participate in private trade, it promises to make 1 taels of silver for the inner government within a year. Seeing such a situation, it is no wonder that Emperor Wanli did not allow it.

1 taels of silver is not a small amount.

For example, Linqing, Shandong, sits at the pass of the Grand Canal, which is the throat of water transportation in the Ming Dynasty, and Chaoguan is the most fertile in the world.

That's it, Wanli can only collect 25 taels of tax silver every year for 11 years, which is equivalent to the sum of the tax revenue of the second Shuntian Prefecture and the third Suzhou Prefecture.

It can be seen that 1 taels of silver is not a small amount, it is equivalent to 1000 million copper coins.

In fact, it doesn't matter whether you are a gunpowder bureau or a machine bureau, as long as you are not selling weapons that can lead to rebellion, such as swords, guns, swords and halberds, as well as items controlled by the imperial court.

As long as you can make money for the emperor, Emperor Wanli will readily agree.

After Zhang Qingfeng received the reply from the emperor allowing him to participate in private trade, he immediately bought a shop on a street in the capital and renamed it "Ruyifang".

In the store of Ruyifang, Zhang Qingfeng sold many hand-made machines manufactured by the Gunpowder Bureau and the Machine Manufacturing Bureau.

These involve machines that can be used in various industries. For this reason, Zhang Qingfeng also spent a lot of time designing and manufacturing.

After that, Zhang Qingfeng found another printing workshop, printed many small advertisements, and then sent people to paste them on the streets and alleys of the whole capital.

The common people of Ming Dynasty have never seen the pasting of small advertisements, and it is almost the first time in the world.

Therefore, as soon as this kind of small advertisement appeared, it immediately became the talk of the people in the capital after dinner, and the name of Ruyifang also resounded throughout the capital.

The Ruyifang store became popular soon after, and many people came curiously to see what Ruyifang did.

After seeing that there are many useful handmade machines in Ruyifang, many craftsmen tried to buy some.

In addition, there are some merchants with a keen sense of smell who are preparing to sell these machines wholesale on a large scale.

For a time, the orders of the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau began to increase.

Of course, relying on these commodities, although the 1 taels of silver that Zhang Qingfeng promised Emperor Wanli was fine, it would not be much more.

Therefore, he is going to develop some more profitable products.

One day two months later, Zhang Qingfeng invited more than a dozen prominent textile merchants in the capital to the warehouse of a machinery manufacturing bureau.

At this time, the warehouse had been transformed.

Inside the warehouse, there are more than a dozen machines of various sizes.

"Everyone, let me introduce to you first, this is a hand-held cotton picking tool. Using this tool, cotton farmers can increase the picking speed several times without hurting their hands." Zhang Qingfeng pointed to a small tool and said to everyone.

After finishing speaking, he also asked everyone to take one of this cotton-picking utensils.

This is a very simple thing like a clip, made of iron, very light.

Next, Zhang Qingfeng personally demonstrated how to use this kind of thing.

"It is really a good thing. Using this kind of thing to pick cotton can not only improve the efficiency, but also prevent your hands from being pricked by the thorns on the cotton shell." A textile businessman said in admiration after reading Zhang Qingfeng's cover-up.

(End of this chapter)