The Ming Dynasty started with caution

Yan Chengjin guessed that Prince Ning wanted the flying shuttle from Liangxiang.

The new flying shuttle loom was still sealed in Liangxiang, and Wang Bushui and Xie Yu treated it like a father.

If Prince Ning did overseas business, with this loom, he could take up most of the silk business in Jiangnan.

There are many silver mines overseas, and for foreign merchants, the value of silver is not as valuable as the silver in the Ming Dynasty.

They need silk more.

Although the price of silk has increased, the price of silk overseas is more than ten times, or even hundreds of times, higher than the price of silk in the court.

Prince Ning needs a lot of silver to recruit soldiers and buy horses.

"No, Liangxiang will not do business with this person in the future."

Wang Bushui was confused, but he immediately smiled and agreed.

When the silk is sold, he will make a fortune.

After hearing the price increase of silk, the gentry in the Chamber of Commerce were so angry that their thighs were broken.

Especially Xie Yu, who cried every day and wished he could jump into the river in front of Liangxiang and die.

"Hey, who would have thought that the price of silk would go up..."

In Kunning Palace,

Empress Zhang looked worried, watching her two brothers kneeling on the ground, shouting that they had been cheated of their money.

When Zhang Heling and his brother returned home, they heard that the price of silk was still rising, and the price of raw silk had risen to three taels of silver.

When they sold it to Yan Chengjin, it was less than half a tael!

The two brothers cried for a long time at home, and decided to go to the palace to find Empress Zhang, asking the queen to issue an order to get the raw silk back.

Empress Zhang frowned: "I said that you two are not allowed to come to the harem without anything."

Zhang Heling wiped his tears and said: "My queen, someone cheated us of our money."

"Yes, either send the raw silk back, or make up for the missing silver." Zhang Yanling calculated that Yan Chengjin had to make up for them at least 120,000 taels.

"Who dares to cheat you out of your money?"

"Yan Chengjin! He is so bad. He knew that the price of silk would rise, but he deliberately came to buy our raw silk. Now that the price of silk has risen, the money he earned should be ours... Queen... He cheated us out of our money..." Zhang Heling cried.

When Yan Chengjin bought raw silk, Zhang Yanling laughed at him for being a fool.

Who would have thought that the price of silk would not only rise, but also rise even higher.

Empress Zhang listened to the two brothers crying and said with displeasure: "Although I am in the harem, I have heard of Yan Chengjin's reputation. You two should not slander him!"

"Mother... Mother... But he really bought our raw silk!" Zhang Yanling was so miserable that he wanted to die, and his dearest sister didn't believe him anymore...

Outside Kunning Palace,

Zhu Houzhao came to pay his respects, and heard the crying of his two uncles from a distance.

He was about to go back to the East Palace for some quiet time.

But when he heard Lao Gao's name, he looked at Liu Jin uncertainly: "Did he just call Lao Gao?"

Liu Jin smiled: "Yes, it's Lord Yan's name, there's no mistake!"

Zhu Houzhao thought about it, put his hands behind his back, and walked into the hall.

The Zhang brothers heard someone coming, looked back, and found that it was Zhu Houzhao, the little ancestor, and turned around to continue crying.

Zhu Houzhao said respectfully: "Your son Houzhao, I meet the Queen Mother."

Empress Zhang smiled when she saw him: "Why are you here instead of studying in the Zhanshi Mansion?"

Zhu Houzhao said: "You came in when you heard them crying. Were you talking about Lao Gao just now?"

"He cheated my uncle's money..." Zhang Yanling found that the Queen's face was not right, and quickly changed his words: "He cheated the two of us."

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile: "I heard that Lao Gao spent half a tael of silver to buy all your raw silk. How can it be called cheating when you spend money on a business?

You two came here to cheat my mother again."

You bastard, you are turning your elbows outward.

Zhang Heling secretly cursed Zhu Houzhao for being a piece of shit, and he actually helped outsiders to deal with his uncle.

Empress Zhang shouted: "Get out of the palace!"

The Zhang brothers stopped crying, and helped each other to stand up, pretending to stagger a few steps and about to fall.

But Empress Zhang never looked at them more.

Huagai Palace,

Xiao Jing dismissed all the slaves and servants, leaving only Emperor Hongzhi and Han Wen in the empty hall.

Emperor Hongzhi asked: "Have you investigated it clearly?"

Han Wen bowed slightly: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the investigation is clear. After Wang Shouren returned to Beijing, some private merchants went to sea and sold silk to Ryukyu and even further away.

So, the price of silk will rise."

It turned out that someone bought raw silk in large quantities and sold it overseas.

But why is Yan Chengjin so sure that the price of silk will rise?

Emperor Hongzhi found it strange.

"In other words, if the Silk Road is opened, merchants will openly buy and sell silk, and the price of silk will rise again?"

Han Wen nodded and said: "It will rise again. As far as I know, the price of silk for foreign merchants is extremely high.

It is already expensive to sell a piece of silk for ten taels, but they buy it for twenty or even fifty taels.

It seems... there is endless silver."

After Emperor Hongzhi ascended the throne, he has been worrying about the nine frontiers and has no time to take care of the economy.

Now that the Nine Frontiers are stable, he has a lot of free time and can spare time to study.

Hearing Han Wen's report, he was shocked.

Early in the morning, at the Meridian Gate,

Liu Jin saw Yan Chengjin and hurriedly came up to him and said, "This servant has met Lord Yan.

I have a few things to tell you. Yang Yiqing, who impeached you, is Li Mengyang's mentor.

Yesterday in Kunning Palace, the two lords of the Zhang family complained to the queen, saying that you bought their raw silk and cheated her out of money."

Yan Chengjin said, "You did a good job. The observation period will be extended by one day."

Liu Jin was so moved that he burst into tears, as if he had been pardoned. He was so grateful that he almost knelt down to him.

Yan Chengjin understood that Yang Yiqing was Li Mengyang's teacher.

In the morning court, all officials walked into the hall and just stood still.

Emperor Hongzhi shocked everyone when he spoke.

"I am determined to reopen the Silk Road!"

The hall fell silent.

Li Dongyang looked up in astonishment and saw that Emperor Hongzhi's face remained unchanged.

Liu Jian opened his mouth slightly, and his majesty's eyes were firm. At this time, it was useless to shout about the ancestral system.

Han Wen was not surprised. When he came out of the Huagai Hall yesterday, he knew that his majesty had made up his mind.

Yan Chengjin was a little confused. He was caught off guard by Emperor Hongzhi's words.

His majesty figured it out so quickly?

He also prepared a statistical table of the annual income of the court after opening the silk road.

Just waiting for a few days to present it to His Majesty, who knew it was all in vain...

Emperor Hongzhi said calmly: "How many new post stations and banknotes should be built? The Ministry of War will order people to count and the Ministry of Revenue will allocate money.

I want to be like the Han and Tang Dynasties, with merchants stretching for ten miles."

Qin Hong was slightly shocked and looked at Han Wen next to him.

Han Wen nodded to him.

"I obey your order!"

The two said in unison.

Liu Jian stood up and said: "Your Majesty, there are many bandits entrenched in the northwest. Opening the Silk Road at this time is tantamount to sending sheep into the household."

Emperor Hongzhi had already thought about it: "Then add sub-patrol roads and military preparation roads."

"Your Majesty, when building new post stations and banknotes, it is better to send people to eliminate the bandits first." Yan Chengjin's voice rang out in the hall.

Ma Wensheng nodded: "If your majesty insists on opening the Silk Road, it would be a good idea to first eliminate the Qing official road."

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Qin Hong: "Does anyone in the Ministry of War recommend someone?"

"I do have someone who recommends someone."

As soon as Yan Chengjin finished speaking, Qin Hong snorted coldly: "You are going to recommend Wang Shouren again!"

"This time, I recommend Yang Yiqing!"

When the ministers heard this, they understood what was going on.

Yang Yiqing had just impeached this guy, and sure enough, he ended up like Li Mengyang.

This is revenge.

It is said that Yang Yiqing wanted to be transferred back to the capital and run around in the capital.

Now, I am afraid that it will be a long time.

The northwest is vast, and the bandits will never be eliminated.

Li Dongyang frowned and said anxiously: "Yang Yiqing knows very little about horse politics, I'm afraid he is not competent for the job."

"Lord Yang has been in Shaanxi for a year, always on guard against horse bandits stealing horses, and inevitably dealing with horse bandits. Who dares to say that he is more familiar with the grasslands in the northwest than him?

If Your Majesty is worried, you might as well send Lord Zuo to go with him."

Yan Chengjin remembered that Zuo Zongyi had reported him for building a big ship, and it was all in the small book.

This time, Qin Hong did not refute it. The person he wanted to send was Zuo Zongyi.

However, Yang Yiqing seemed reasonable.