Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1199 Night Party
It was a pleasure to agree to it in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, but it was actually quite difficult to persuade Zhu Yijun to agree to this matter, even if he was highly pragmatic, he had to think carefully about his rhetoric.

There are several reasons why this matter is difficult.

One is that the imperial court has formed a habit of using this batch of free labor. Neither the Ministry of Industry nor Zhu Yijun himself may find it difficult to understand why they have to pay for this batch of "idle labor".Aren't you soldiers raised by the imperial court?Since it is, why not listen to the imperial court?
The second reason is that the Ministry of Industry is a civil government yamen, and the Jingying, except for Gao Yushi, the assistant manager of the Jingying Rongzheng, is basically all military officials. At most, there are only a few low-level clerks in the five houses. .

The civil servants' yamen faced the military officials' yamen, and the psychological habit was to come and go as soon as they were called.The Ministry of Industry probably thinks this way: My Ministry of Industry uses your people to do things, it looks down on you, you should feel extremely honored, why are you so ignorant, and even talk about money with me?

Of course, in addition to the huge difference in civil and military status, one of the reasons for the formation of this mentality is that the Beijing camp was useless before. The Ministry of Industry probably also has a mentality of waste utilization.

Since it is already used as waste, what is the money or not?It's like picking up horse manure on the street. Do you have to pay the horse owner?

The third is that Zhu Yijun may not be able to settle the account.In fact, this account is directly read on paper. Once the court pays, it seems that it is indeed a loss, but Gao Yushi knows that this view is too superficial. How is the economic account at the national level calculated like this?
The Beijing Camp or the Three Great Battalions, a thing created by Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di's father and son, originally existed as the "Central Army" of the imperial court, but what are the characteristics of the "Central Army"?
The characteristic is that no matter how bad your court's finances are, you must maintain the stability of this army, because once this army is not stable, your court will not be far from falling apart - this point can be found in the last years of Chongzhen It was very clear that after all the troops that the imperial court could mobilize smoothly were finished, no matter whether it was Wu Sangui, Zuo Liangyu, or other soldiers, Chongzhen had no choice but to coax and support them.

Of course the imperial court now knows this, so the Beijing camp still has to invest a lot of money every year. The maintenance and replacement of weapons and equipment is one aspect, and maintaining the Beijing camp will at least prevent people from starving to death or freezing to death is another aspect.

However, after the highly pragmatic restructuring of the production and construction corps, the imperial court has actually been liberated in this area, because the production and construction corps will not only "be responsible for its own profits and losses", but also support and supply the imperial guards that really exist as the central field army.

In this process, the proportion of the court's burden is already very low. Most of the routine expenses are borne by the Production and Construction Corps, while the court's allocation is only responsible for equipment changes—such as the purchase of new cannons, guns, and so on.

Of course, this special case during wartime is an exception. This belongs to the nature of "war funds" and still has to be paid by the court.

In this way, since Jingying has to be responsible for its own profits and losses, it usually belongs to the nature of commercial operation whether it accepts projects or produces itself.At this time, your imperial court still wants to use others for nothing, how can you make it passable?

As for whether it is a loss or not, first of all, the regular burden of the imperial court itself has been reduced, and the Ministry of Households no longer needs to pay this expenditure. Of course, this money can be allocated back to the Ministry of Industry to start large-scale projects.Second, after Gao Yushi defined the Production and Construction Corps as commercial in nature, it also had to pay taxes, and it was a special tax—Gao Yushi named it "production and construction surplus tribute".

This "production and construction surplus tribute" was calculated by Gao Yushi, the military minister, and paid a quarter of the production and construction corps' annual surplus as a special "tribute" to internal funds.

Why is it internal funds instead of the Ministry of Households?Because Gao Wushi thinks that as long as the money is linked to the Ministry of Accounts, the Real School may be able to control it and not interfere too much when it is in control of the Ministry of Accounts. , Most of them will play tricks.For example, intervene directly, or even squeeze the production and construction corps by changing the payment ratio and other means, then it will be over.

The Production and Construction Corps is actually the financial foundation of the Imperial Guard. If it is destroyed by the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Imperial Guard will have to follow suit.

Therefore, Gao Wushi would rather give the money to internal funds than to the Ministry of Households. Even if the Ministry of Households is still in power of the Real School, he dare not make such an opening.

And there is another advantage in this way, that is, even if Zhu Yijun is looking at the money, he will pay more attention to safeguarding the interests of the Production and Construction Corps, instead of allowing them to be bullied by the civil official group and remain indifferent.

However, judging from the actions of the Ministry of Industry this time, either Zhu Yijun didn't know it at all, or he hadn't adapted to this idea, or even more directly, he might not know how much "tribute" the Production and Construction Corps could give him.

Perhaps in Zhu Yijun's mind, the production and construction corps was able to support themselves and the imperial guards according to the high-level plan, and Amitabha was already thankful. As for paying tribute, he might not have counted on it at all.

Gao Yushi analyzed the interest relationship in his mind again and again, and he didn't relax until he figured it out clearly.I looked at the time, and it was about to go down again.

Tonight is the same as the previous time, directly staying overnight at No. [-] Scholar in Jinggongfang of Zhaohui, instead of going to Baiyulou.

But to his surprise, when he returned to the No. [-] Scholar, he found that a guest had already arrived.

This guest is very familiar with the high-practical No. [-] scholar, and he is sitting in the viewing pavilion enjoying the scenery of Shichahai in the sunset.

Seeing Gao Wushi approaching, the guest dressed in a scarlet silk unicorn robe greeted him with a smile, cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Brother Qiuzhen, the unexpected guest came uninvited and wanted to have dinner, I don't know if Brother Qiuzhen will agree to it." A handout or two?"

Gao Wushi laughed out loud, bowed his hands back, and said half-jokingly: "The majestic Zuo Zong is coming to the door, and the lower officials are far away to welcome him. It is already extremely rude. It is also appropriate to hold a banquet to make amends. How can we talk about charity?"

It turned out that this "uninvited guest" was none other than Hou Gongchen, who had just been appointed as Zuo Zongzheng's son-in-law.

Hou Gongchen lived here for a long time, and he is very familiar with this place, even the people in the house are very familiar with him. In addition, Gao Wushi has explained it a long time ago, so Hou Gongchen can directly invite Because of this, he was able to wait directly in the mansion for Gao Yushi's subordinates.

The servants of the Gao Mansion are naturally very winking. When Hou Gongchen first arrived, he knew that he would definitely have a sincere talk with his master, so they had already prepared a dinner for the two of them.Because Gao Yushi had lost weight in his previous life, he was used to having dinner earlier, so he directly took Hou Gongchen along.

Why Hou Gongchen came here, even a blind person can see it, Gao Yushi waited for the dishes to be served, then sent out all the servants, the two of them poured their own drinks and ate facing each other.

Gao Yushi is a person who can drink but not addicted to alcohol. Even if he entertains guests at night, he only uses a small bottle of wine.

"This wine was transported across the ocean from Florence in the far west to Daming. The quantity is quite limited, but I happen to have a few bottles here. Let's open a bottle today to celebrate Brother Hou's success. new."

Gao Wushi smiled, opened the wine bottle himself, and poured wine for Hou Gongchen.

Hou Gongchen was flattered and thanked repeatedly.

"Oh, by the way, Brother Hou, look at this wine bottle stopper, do you feel that it is a little different from my Daming?"

Hou Gongchen was stunned for a moment, subconsciously took it over and looked at it, gave a soft "huh", squeezed it hard again, and said hesitantly: "The wood of this cork is so soft."

Gao Wushi laughed loudly: "Brother Hou really sees through at a little bit. This is a cork. Sealing and storing it in this way can ensure that this wine will never go bad."

Hou Gongchen was a little puzzled and said: "Never spoil? But our mud seal can also be used."

Gao Wushi shook his head and said, "It's true that mud seals are also acceptable, but Brother Hou, don't you think that using such a cork to seal the seals will have a higher style?"

Hou Gongchen didn't understand what Gao Yushi wanted to express, but he knew that Gao Yushi must know the purpose of his visit, so he didn't dare to take it seriously, so he could only follow Gao Yushi's words: "Oh, that's true, it seems dry like this. It's clean, but it's actually better looking than a mud seal."

Gao Wushi nodded and said, "Yes, it's about looking good...Brother Hou, sometimes, if you want to get good results in doing things, whether you look good or not is actually very important."

Hou Gongchen's heart moved, he was thinking about what Gao Yushi was implying, and suddenly he heard Gao Yushi continue to introduce: "In addition to this cork, there is also this wine bottle—look, this thing is called glass, crystal clear, like For light green crystal, there is only one place called Venice in the far west, and there is such a craft that can make glass so exquisite."

It was only then that Hou Gongchen noticed the wine bottle, took it over and looked at it, played with it carefully, but shook his head and said: "Although the crystal is good, it is not as good as the jade of a gentleman."

Gao Wushi smiled and said: "I have colored glazes in China for a long time. In fact, colored glazes and glass are quite similar in purpose. It's just that because I love jade in China, I often imitate jade. I don't want to make it so crystal clear... However, the beauty of being muddy, and the beauty of being transparent, once this glass is made extremely transparent, it will be of great use.”

"Oh?" Hou Gongchen was a little surprised, but judging by his appearance, he seemed half-doubtful.

Gao Wushi got up and said: "I'll show Brother Hou two small things, and Brother Hou will know the trick." Then he turned and went to the Nuan Pavilion next to him, and brought two things after a while.

"There is no need to introduce these two things, the mirror, and the other is called the telescope, which can multiply people's eyesight."

But that being said, Gao Yushi still handed over the mirror first, and said at the same time: "Brother Hou, let's see how this mirror is different from the bronze mirror?"

Hou Gongchen just glanced at it, and was taken aback: "I have seen this mirror in the princess mansion before. It is said that it is a Western treasure, and it can show every detail. Princess Shouyang had a piece when she came out of the cabinet...but it is more than truth. Brother, your piece is much smaller."

He secretly clicked his tongue in his heart: As expected of the richest man in the world, he treats such a big crystal mirror as an ordinary thing, and he probably doesn't even have a few dollars for this thing in the palace.

Gao Wushi smiled and said: "If Brother Hou likes it, I will give this mirror to Brother Hou, and you can bring it to Your Highness the Princess next time." He handed it to Hou Gongchen without taking it seriously.

"Ah, how dare Gongchen accept such a precious thing? Please..."

"Hey, what's the big deal." Gao Wushi shook his head and said, "Although this technology is considered more important than God by the Venetians, it's not a secret to me. If it weren't for our glass manufacturing technology The two difficulties have not been overcome, so I can make them in a matter of minutes—cough, I mean, I, Jinghua, can make many at any time. As for this one, it should be a congratulatory gift to Brother Hou in advance. "

Hou Gongchen was surprised: "Is this mirror made of glass?"

Ah... aren't you talking nonsense?
The corner of Gao Yushi's mouth twitched, but he still nodded: "Exactly."

Unexpectedly, Hou Gongchen frowned and said, "Then we can use crystal to grind it out?"

Of course natural crystals can be ground like this, but do you not consider the cost at all?
Gao Wushi shook his head and said, "Once the glass manufacturing technology is mastered, the cost will of course be lower than that of crystal... But let's not talk about that today, and you can look at this telescope."

Hou Gongchen took the binoculars and took a look under Gao Yushi's guidance. At that moment, he shrank his neck back in fright, and said in surprise, "How can it be so... miraculous?"

Hmm...Your brother is really not very good, and he is a little lacking in knowledge.It has been almost ten years since I introduced this telescope into the Ming army through the hands of Qi Jiguang and others. Even now, Jinghua's own family has changed to binoculars instead of monoculars, but this is the first time you have seen it.

However, Gao Wushi didn't mean to ridicule others, he introduced Hou Gongchen patiently, and then said: "Brother Hou, what do you think the glass is useful for?"

Hou Gongchen nodded and said: "It's a good thing, but...Brother Qiuzhen, you have been introducing this thing to me, isn't it just a whim? I'm here today for..."

"Of course I know why brother Hou came here today, isn't this just giving advice to brother Hou?"

Hou Gongchen was taken aback for a moment, and hesitated, "Brother Qiuzhen, what you mean is...the matter of Zongfan this time is actually related to glass?"

"It's not about glass, it's about silver." Gao Wushi shook his head and said, "The reason why I showed this to Brother Hou is because the biggest obstacle to lifting the feudal ban is actually money. Even if everything goes well, the emperor and the court will still have to spend A lot of money to provide that initial capital for clans willing to fend for themselves.

However, no matter whether it is the imperial treasury or the emperor's internal funds, they will definitely not be able to spend such a large amount of money now. Didn't Brother Hou come here today for this matter?Hehe, Brother Hou, look, I have sent all the countermeasures to solve this matter to Brother Hou, why did Brother Hou turn a blind eye? "
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(End of this chapter)