Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1107

now what?Now it's time for viewing flowers and chatting.

Gao Yushi is like an incompetent tour guide, leading Princess Yongning to watch his only Western-style courtyard in the Ming Dynasty.

The reason why he is incompetent is because he does not know many flowers in the garden in the courtyard, and he needs the maids and gardeners around him to introduce me to Princess Yongning.

The courtyard of the Baiyu Building is very interesting. The main body is divided into two gardens, the front and the back. In the middle is the irregular main building of the Baiyu Building. The flower gardens are not only located in the front and rear courtyards, but are even dotted around the main building.There is only a very wide square in front of the main building - this is also the habit of European style palaces.

Because the courtyard was too large, Gao Wushi only took Princess Yongning to visit the vestibule garden, and especially introduced to her the flower garden with several fragrances used in Jinghua soap, including jasmine, laurel, orchid, magnolia, mint, honeysuckle, etc., and then came to some trees.

"These trees are called oak trees, or eucalyptus trees. Those foreigners from Europa prefer to call them oak trees. I personally took care of these trees and asked them to plant them here. For this matter, Enzo, the designer of Baiyulou, Mr. Greco also had an argument with me, and his face was flushed—he insisted that even if these trees were to be planted, they could not be planted in this place, saying that they would seriously damage the overall beauty of the courtyard... or something, Anyway, he wasn't happy about it."

Princess Yongning looked curiously, then looked around, nodded and said: "I also think what Mr. En said makes sense, these trees are a bit abrupt here."

"Hahaha, he can't be called Mr. En. The correct name is Mr. Greco, because Greco is his surname and Enzo is his first name."

Princess Yongning said in astonishment: "I only heard that there is a compound surname, but I don't know that there is another three-character surname...and why is his name after the surname?"

Gao Wushi smiled and said: "Europa is different from our habits. Most of them have their first name first and last name last. As far as I know, there seems to be only one kingdom called Hungary that is in the same order as ours. It is said that it is because of this Hungarian kingdom. The main ethnic group of the kingdom is the descendants of the Huns in the past. After the Huns were defeated by the Han Dynasty, some of them moved westward and finally went to Europa, and at the same time they brought this naming habit with them.

As for the double surname, in fact, Greco is just a translation based on pronunciation. This word should mean "Greek" in their language.Greece was a part of Europa, east of his native Italy—perhaps his ancestors were Greek. "

Princess Yongning's eyes showed a look of admiration: "Young Master Gao is really a pedantic heavenly man, he even knows so clearly about Europa thousands of miles away."

Gao Wushi's smile froze, and he said with a dry smile: "Miss Zhu is absurd, but in fact, my knowledge is very shallow..."

"A humble gentleman, humble yourself." Princess Yongning blushed, "Young Master Gao is really a model scholar."

"Uh...haha, if Miss Zhu continues to praise her, I don't know what to do with myself." Gao Wushi quickly changed the subject: "Miss, don't you want to know why I planted these trees here?"

"Why? Oh, let me guess..." Princess Yongning really thought about it, paused for a while, and turned her beautiful eyes: "Is it because of the tussah?"

In fact, although oak and oak (the same thing) are theoretically the same species as oak, there are actually many specific species, and there are dozens of common ones.In China, it generally refers to the Mongolian oak, but it doesn’t matter, its leaves can indeed raise silkworms—that is, the tussah silkworm that Liaodong is now vigorously developing under the auspices of Gao Yushi.

Although the tussah silkworm and the mulberry silkworm in the south of the Yangtze River belong to the same order of Lepidoptera and the family Boriidae, there are still great differences between the two silkworms.

Tussah silkworms were originally raised in the wild and are one of the important varieties of wild silkworms.Its body skin is green and gray, and its cocoons are light yellow in color.Tussah silkworms are larger than silkworms, and because they can be raised in the wild, their resistance and vitality are better than silkworms.

As for silk fiber, it is slightly thicker than mulberry silk, and its elasticity is better than that of mulberry silk, because only tussah silk is hollow.If it is made into a quilt, its bulkiness and warmth are slightly better than that of mulberry silk.

Both of them are real silk, so tussah silk is also very smooth, close-fitting and full of elasticity.In addition, the advantages of tussah silk are not limited to this. For example, its toughness, acid resistance, alkali resistance and other indicators are also better than mulberry silk.

Of course, mulberry silk also has the advantages of mulberry silk, the most intuitive of which is gloss and fineness.In terms of color, mulberry silk is mostly an extremely elegant milky white, while tussah silk is slightly yellowish.At the same time, the texture of mulberry silk will be better because it is thinner.

Since the common people's habit of viewing "silk" is "high-end fabrics", Gao Shi's development of tussah in Liaodong has no choice but to define it as a more popular product with a slightly lower grade than silkworm.However, popularization is not necessarily a bad thing, because popularization means that the wider the audience, the greater the total sales in theory.

All in all, from a long-term perspective, he hopes that silkworms and tussahs will complement each other and jointly rule the world's high-end textile market.

Princess Yongning was able to think from oak tree to tussah silk at once, it seems that she really listened to Gao Yushi's words that day.Gao Wushi was also very happy, nodded with a smile and said: "Miss Zhu is beautiful and intelligent, she has already guessed half of it."

"Is there another half? Then I really don't know." Princess Yongning was not disappointed. Instead, she smiled at Yanyan. It seemed that even if she only guessed half of it, she was very happy.

Gao Wushi said, "The other half is shipbuilding."

"Shipbuilding? Are those ships of Jinghua Maritime Trade made of this kind of oak wood?"

"Well...not all oak wood, but it does need a lot of oak wood, especially in some parts of the ship, oak wood can be said to be the best choice." Gao Yushi explained: "The tree is 100 to 120 years old. The 14-year-old oak wood can be said to be the best wood for building ships. After being harvested, these oak wood must be placed in a dry and ventilated environment for [-] years before they can be used to build warships.

The reason why oak trees over 100 years old are needed is that oak wood of this age has better strength and higher hardness, while oak wood over 120 years old is more prone to decay and voids, which is not suitable for construction The warship is gone.The reason why the felled oak wood has to be air-dried for another 14 years is to ensure that the wood does not crack, deform, and has dimensional stability. "

"So that's the case." Princess Yongning said in surprise: "But I remember that Jinghua Maritime Trade has only been around for less than 14 years. How did you build your fleet?"

"Because it has been less than 14 years, only a few ships in Jinghua Maritime Trade's fleet are built according to the standard of warships. Their main purpose is to prevent large groups of pirates from attacking." Gao Wushi began to speak nonsense with his eyes open.

"As for other ships, the strength of their hulls is not up to the standard of warships. They are just ordinary civilian ships. Although they are still equipped with artillery to guard against pirates, the number of artillery they can carry is far lower than that of warships. , Jinghua's armed transport ships are like this."

"Then why did you plant these trees here?" Princess Yongning asked curiously.

"Just to remind myself, it's still a few years before the ship starts blowing up."

"Explode the ship?"

"Oh, it's a big warship."

"Building a big warship?" Princess Yongning asked in surprise, "Are there still many powerful pirates in Nanyang?"

Gao Wushi laughed: "It can be regarded as a country. Some countries look like one country, but they are no different from pirates. If you want to do business with them, if you don't have a strong fleet, they will not be honest. Why buy strong? Selling, arbitrarily lowering the price, etc., are considered polite, even if they directly rob, they dare to do it."

"Oh..." Princess Yongning nodded, and suddenly asked, "Isn't it hard to find a tree that is more than 100 years old?"

Gao Wushi said: "Fortunately, this tree is quite widely distributed in our Daming, but I don't really want to cut down too much inland, so the large oak trees that have been cut down and stored for air-drying generally come from the deep mountains and old forests in the north of Liaodong. In addition, there are some in Guangxi and Annan. At the same time, in Annan, Guangxi, including Myanmar and other places, there are also some such high-quality woods as teak, etc., which have also stored a lot.

To be honest with Ms. Zhu, if I can be forced to surrender to Myanmar this time, I don't plan to get involved in the jade business that everyone covets. My next goal is more about timber.In particular, the teak business is bound to win. "

Princess Yongning smiled: "Young Master Gao seems to have a soft spot for Haimao."

Gao Wushi also smiled, and said pointedly: "It seems to be true, maybe I really have 'aspirations in the world'."

Princess Yongning smiled, her face froze suddenly, she hesitated for a moment, and said: "Master Gao, when you mentioned this, I suddenly remembered something."

Seeing her expression, Gao Wushi was a little surprised, and asked, "Oh, I don't know what it is?"

"Brother Huang once made a slip of the tongue, roughly meaning that someone slandered him in front of him, saying that Mr. Gao, you have thousands of sails under your command and you control Baiyue. Once... Once you have a wrong heart, I'm afraid that my Ming Dynasty will be in danger."

Gao Yushi calmly said: "The mountains and rivers are hanging upside down? Interesting... just rely on the thousands of sails and hundreds of boats? Could it be that these thousands of sails and hundreds of boats can go ashore? The emperor is wise and wise, and he will not be affected by such slander."

Seeing him like this, Princess Yongning seemed a little anxious, and said: "Brother Huang naturally doesn't believe it, but if you talk too much about such slander... it will inevitably be a bit bad, Mr. Gao should not be careless."

Gao Wushi smiled wryly and said: "Careless or not, it doesn't really make much sense. Jinghua's future development is mainly in the sea. I can't stop doing this business just because someone is talking nonsense in front of the emperor, can I?"

Princess Yongning opened her mouth, but she didn't know what to say.

Gao Wushi continued: "Miss Zhu doesn't know something, but I actually have a deeper desire to focus on developing maritime trade."

"Oh?" Princess Yongning was slightly taken aback.

Gao Wushi explained: "After nearly 200 years of reproduction, the population of Daming has far surpassed that of the founding of the Taizu. Now the land of Daming is overwhelmed. There are more and more landless people among the people. Frequent occurrence, I am always worried that there will be trouble one day in the future...

At the same time, the noble relatives and high-ranking families, including my Gao family, own more and more fields.In other words, the land is becoming more and more concentrated, the rich will remain rich, and the poor will remain poor. If this continues, sooner or later, the court will be ruined.

That's why I wanted to find a new way to drive more people to get rich without relying on the fields.Once these people who hold a large number of fields find that they can earn more at sea, maybe they will sell their fields and join in the sea trade, so that the crisis of Ming Dynasty may disappear invisible.Ms. Zhu, I can't tell the world about this thought now, but I still hope you can understand it. "

Princess Yongning was awed when she heard this, she was both happy and nervous, and hurriedly said: "Young Master Gao is indeed talented and courageous, there is no other person in the world who can match it, Yao Yao has really seen it today."

Gao Wushi waved his hands again and again, showing some humility.

Princess Yongning seemed to think of something, thought for a while, and tentatively said: "Since the business of Haimao must continue, and slander may not be avoided, Yao Yao has an idea that I don't know if I should say it or not."

In fact, at this stage of the conversation, there is no difference between addressing "Miss Zhu" or "Princess Yongning", but Gao Yushi still deliberately maintained the previous title, saying: "Miss Zhu has a good plan to teach me, I should listen to it."

"In front of Mr. Gao, how dare Lady Yao think that she has any good strategies? It's just that a fool may have something to think about." Princess Yongning blushed shyly and said: "Although I don't know who the slanderer is, but this slanderer Basically, it is nothing more than the fact that the fleet in the hands of Mr. Gao is too large, but it is not well known by the court and the emperor... What Yaoyao means is that if Mr. Gao doesn't mind, you can actually ask the emperor to see if he is willing Just like those nobles who hold shares in the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, they also invested one or two in this fleet and took some shares."

Before Gao Wushi could answer, Princess Yongning hastily continued: "But Mr. Gao, don't misunderstand, Yao is not saying to let the emperor watch over you, but once you buy a share, you will naturally know that this fleet is just doing business outside. ..."

"Miss Zhu is worrying too much. I know you have good intentions." Gao Wushi smiled and said: "Actually, I have always had such thoughts, and even hinted at the emperor. It's just that the emperor is worried that if he does this, those science and Taoist officials may have to kill him again." It’s noisy, so I haven’t been able to make up my mind so far.”

"Really..." Princess Yongning was a little disappointed.

Gao Wushi said again: "However Miss Zhu came here to remind me that there may be a workaround."

Princess Yongning's eyes lit up, and she asked, "How to change?"

Gao Wushi said: "This method is not difficult to say: Miss Zhu, you will replace the emperor and become a shareholder of Jinghua Shipping."

"Ah?" Princess Yongning was taken aback: "How can I?"

"Why not?" Gao Wushi smiled and said, "Miss Zhu, think about it carefully, aren't you the best agent?"

Some words are inconvenient to say clearly, but Gao Wushi knows that Princess Yongning must be able to figure it out: she is the emperor's sister, a "married woman" in name, but in fact her husband's family has been wiped out, so the only one she can rely on is the emperor myself.Not only can the emperor rest assured that she secretly replaces the emperor as a shareholder of Jinghua Marine Trade, but even if the outside world finds out the tricks, the emperor can push back and say that he doesn't know, so as to avoid being directly overwhelmed by the officials' saliva.

As for the officials, if they insisted on punishing them, the emperor could use the excuse of protecting their younger sisters to force them. "Brothers, friends, and younger brothers respect each other" is the ethics advocated by Confucianism. If younger brothers are like this, younger sisters can of course follow suit.What's more, Princess Yongning's marriage disaster can become a bonus item here: my sister is already so pitiful, you still don't let it go, how can your conscience be at ease?
In this way, the pressure on the emperor will be reduced, and Princess Yongning will be fine. By the way, his high-level troubles will be solved, killing three birds with one stone, perfect.

However, Princess Yongning is no better than Gao Yushi, who is addicted to conspiracy. It will take some time for her to understand the truth, so Gao Yushi said: "Miss Zhu, it's almost noon, and the sun is a bit poisonous. Why don't we go ahead?" Bai Yulou take a rest, you can think about it slowly?"

"Oh, good, good." Princess Yongning nodded, and suddenly her mind exploded, "Let's go first to the White Jade Tower for a rest" echoed in her mind several times in succession.

Gao Wushi had already turned around to lead the way, but she just subconsciously touched the sachet on her waist, clutching it nervously, biting her vermilion lips lightly with her beautiful teeth, as if a big girl was about to get into a bridal sedan chair.

Oh, she actually got on the bridal sedan chair once, but that time she was not nervous at all, far less than at this moment...
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Thanks to book friends "Apodes", "1 Optimistic and Good Youth 1", "Book Friends 20191222082432915", "Friend" for their monthly support, thank you!
PS: I try my best to make the female characters appear less vase-like, but I don’t know how the actual performance will be?At present, there are three women who are more inked. I personally think that the difference in personality can still be seen.Of course, there are still not enough opportunities for Liu Xin to perform. This is because the plot has not yet arrived... Because in terms of setting, her thinking is relatively "modern", and she is a little disgusted with talking about marriage when she is a teenager, so I gave her a plot section Stay back. [The number of characters above does not affect billing]

(End of this chapter)