The Ming Dynasty started with caution

Yan Chengjin slightly raised his head and looked at Emperor Hongzhi, waiting for His Majesty's decision.

He was just an imperial censor of the Duchayuan. This was a matter for the cabinet and the six ministries. If Li Dongyang and Ma Wensheng and others recommended him, His Majesty would not doubt him.

It might not be the case if it was an imperial censor.

Yang Yiqing gradually showed his military talent after getting rid of Liu Jin. Emperor Hongzhi was not clear about his strengths. I am afraid that he only regarded him as an ordinary horse officer.

After a brief silence in the hall, Emperor Hongzhi asked: "What do you think of Li Qingjia?"

Li Dongyang was a little unsure. He frowned and thought for a while before saying: "Yang Yiqing raises horses in the northwest and is familiar with horse bandits and robbers. With Zuo Zongyi's assistance, he should be able to do the job."

Based on his understanding of his junior brother, he is not a talentless person.

However, his wish to be transferred back to the capital is likely to be in vain.

Emperor Hongzhi nodded, looked at Qin Hong and said, "Appoint Yang Yiqing as the governor of the northwest, and Zuo Zongyi to go with him, and mobilize 5,000 troops from the northwest to suppress the bandits in the northwest."

Qin Hong bowed and said, "I obey your order."

The Zhang brothers looked ashen, the court really opened the Silk Road!

Think about it now, they don't have raw silk in their hands, and the earliest they have to wait for next year's spring silk to weave silk, and I don't know how long it will take.

I wish I could file a lawsuit in front of the emperor and sue Yan Chengjin for cheating money.

But Yan Chengjin is too unlucky.

Yang Yiqing just impeached him once, and then he was sent to the northwest to suppress bandits.

Suppressing bandits is extremely dangerous. You have to cross the grassland next door day and night, and go to the uninhabited hills to find bandit nests. You may also be hacked to death by bandits and fed to wolves and tigers.

Zhang Heling doesn't want to be fed to dogs.

The ministers have their own concerns.

Yan Chengjin felt relieved. It was good news that Yang Yiqing led troops to the northwest.

When merchants were doing business, they were most afraid of encountering bandits who robbed goods and killed people.

The court sent people to suppress the bandits in the northwest, which gave merchants more trust.

The court was dismissed.

Zhou Yu was reluctant to leave, and saw that all the ministers had left.

He smiled and walked forward, looking at Emperor Hongzhi and said, "Your Majesty, the court has reopened the Silk Road, and I also want to do good things. There are too many wastelands in the northwest, which are wasted.

Your Majesty, why don't you allocate some to me? I will build houses in the northwest for merchants to rest."

This is a big business!

When the Silk Road in the northwest is reopened, thousands of foreign merchants and Ming merchants will take this road.

As long as you build houses on the road to provide accommodation for merchants and park their carriages, you can make money.

The houses in Liangxiang have made a lot of money from merchants traveling from north to south.

Emperor Hongzhi frowned slightly and looked at Mou Bin beside him, not knowing what a collapsed house was.

Your Majesty has been in the palace for a long time, so it is reasonable that he does not know about collapsed houses.

Mou Bin said: "It is an inn. Unlike an inn, it can also store goods, which requires a lot of space. The collapsed houses in Liangxiang are as big as the square in front of the Meridian Gate, which can accommodate the goods of hundreds of merchants."

"I asked the Ministry of War to build a post station, so what do we need collapsed houses for?"

The distance between post stations is usually calculated based on the distance that can be reached in one day.

Zhou Yu smiled and said: "Your Majesty, you don't know that the speed of merchants' business is fast and slow. Although the post station is good, it may not be able to reach it."

Emperor Hongzhi is also a smart person. He knows where the benefits are and asked: "How much silver do you give to the court?"

"This..." Zhou Yu really didn't think about paying taxes.

One of the sources of commercial taxes in the market is collected from collapsed houses.

Some merchants store goods in collapsed houses and have to pay taxes.

Emperor Hongzhi thought for a moment, then said to Xiao Jing: "Since there is a collapsed house in Liangxiang, let Yan Chengjin take care of it. This guy is afraid of death and dare not covet the tax silver from the court."

Xiao Jing smiled and said: "I think so too."

Even if the silver was placed in front of Yan Chengjin and forced to covet it, he would not dare to covet it.

Zhou Yu hurriedly said: "I can also pay the tax silver."

"Go away."

Emperor Hongzhi waved his hand and asked him to go away. When he saw the Zhou brothers and the Zhang brothers, he felt irritated.

After Zhou Yu left, he asked Mou Bin on the side: "How much silver did the silk woven by the shuttle loom in Liangxiang sell for?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, not a single piece was sold." Mou Bin continued: "The weaving bureau in Liangxiang is really going to make a fortune this time..."

The news that the court opened the Silk Road spread throughout the capital, and Shuntian Prefecture posted a notice, and the whole capital was boiling.

The news spread quickly, and it reached Liangxiang in just one hour.

The Silk Road, which had been closed for more than a hundred years, was opened again!

This meant that foreign merchants would enter the Ming Dynasty in large numbers, and the northwest would resume its previous prosperity.

What was most worrying was that the price of silk suddenly increased from four taels of silver to ten taels of silver!

The price of top-quality silk even reached twenty taels.

All the major cloth shops were buying silk, and even the gentry who never did silk business began to desperately buy it.

As for who was buying silk, no one knew.

All we knew was that it suddenly increased in price and became more expensive than gold!

Liang Zhong didn't understand these, but he was very excited. He bet his entire fortune, spent fifty taels of silver, bought a flying shuttle loom and twenty-five kilograms of raw silk, wove thirteen pieces of silk, and the remaining silk could be used to weave seven pieces.

Fifty taels suddenly became two hundred taels!

He didn't dare to go out.

He was afraid that someone would come in and rob the silk. Silk is soft gold now.

"It has gone from 4 taels to 10 taels, a price increase of nearly three times. Fortunately, I bought it early." Liang Zhong sighed.

The price of silk has doubled, just like a thousand-year-old iron tree blooming, which is rare in a century.

What's even more valuable is that there are not many refugees in Liangxiang who can buy looms and raw silk, and now they can't even buy them.

In a cruel move, he actually made a fortune, earning more than a hundred taels of silver out of thin air.

In the hut area where the refugees live, they are the most wealthy households.

Liang Zhong had no idea of ​​buying land. With more than one hundred taels of silver, he could not afford to buy land in Liangxiang. No one in Liangxiang was selling land.

I need to go to Dayuan County to buy it.

But he didn't want to move out of Liangxiang. Here, although he lived in a dirty and smelly straw hut with drafts from all sides in winter, he had the opportunity to make money.

If he moves out, the hut will be given to other refugees.

Nowadays, the refugees want to settle in Liangxiang, but they still can't.

"Dad, the silk has gone up to ten taels of silver, should we sell it?" The eldest daughter-in-law of the Liang family was in the workshop and heard others talking about it.

"Sell! Tomorrow I will put these ten pieces of silk into sacks and sell them to the workshop."

Liang Zhong was afraid that the price of silk would fall and he would lose money.

The Liangxiang Chamber of Commerce is in complete chaos.

Xie Yu took the lead, and members of the chamber of commerce crowded into the Yamen, holding the equity deeds that had been signed and pledged.

"Master Zhang, I will treat you as your grandson. Let's divide the equity..."

"You made a mistake, sir, let us invest in shares again, this time the small amount is thirty thousand taels..."

Xie Yu cried until his eyes were dim, and the gentry all cried like ghosts and howled like wolves, making the yamen look like a funeral hall, and hugged Zhang Xian's thigh tightly.

They have more business vision than Orihu. Once the Silk Road in the northwest is opened and countries enter the customs for trade, there is no possibility that silk prices will fall back.

Wang Busui earned 40,000 taels of silver and took 10% of the shares in the weaving factory.

In other words, if the weaving factory makes 10% of the profit, it has to pay 10% of the profit.

They only invested one hundred taels of silver in the stock, and couldn't even drink the soup.

Wang Busui made the right bet!

Zhang Xian shook his head: "This is the rule set by the Royal Censor. If you miss it, you have missed it.

It’s useless for you to treat me as my grandson. Besides, I’m not married yet, so you can’t do this..."

According to Master Yan's character, he will definitely not set a precedent again.