Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 765
The hall is quiet.

The sound of ticking ticking from the bell is particularly clear in the hall.

Wu Yi, a scholar of Zhaowen Pavilion, is sitting in the hall, holding a cup of hot tea in his hand, and looking at the chiming bell. It is not uncommon to say that this thing is rare. It was brought to Ming Dynasty by missionary Luo Mingjian 70 years ago. Later, missionaries such as Matteo Ricci also brought chime bells to China many times, and they also brought with them Western exotic skills such as binoculars, glass mirrors, glasses and other gadgets.

In the past, Guangzhou Port imported tens of thousands of taels of chime bells from the West every year, ranging from 50 taels of general chime bells to hundreds of thousands of taels. In Guangzhou, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places in the south In the home of the wealthy businessman and big family, there has long been a chime clock, and many wealthy southerners also have pocket watches.

But the chiming clock in front of him is not imported.

This is a red sandalwood Duobaoge self-ringing clock with a gold-plated copper base. On the front of the base, you can clearly see the inscription made in Shaotian Year of Ming Dynasty, and the inscription is neat and elegant.

The vaulted top of this clock’s treasure chest is in the shape of a multi-leaf arch. The edge of the wooden board is double-lined to squeeze the abdomen, and the outer edge of the board is inlaid with copper-gilt scroll pattern lace, which makes the whole clock dazzling.

The gilt curly pattern lace is exquisitely carved, and the yin and yang of the curly grass are meticulously arranged, and the front and back are scattered, with distinct layers, full of three-dimensional effect, and lifelike, as if the curly grass grows on a multi-treasure inlay.

There is also a glass door on the front of the box. The outside of the door is inlaid with filigree pattern blue, and the inside is inlaid with gilt copper scroll patterns. The back of the glass is mounted with silk paintings, painted with golden pheasant, rose, narcissus, ganoderma lucidum and strange stones. Slender and lively.

Inside the box is a boguge, with grooved lattice panels, a small door on the bottom floor, and a gilt copper scroll hollow grass pattern as the center, two drawers, inlaid with filigree French blue flower panels, and gilt copper scroll grass patterns on both sides of the middle layer Inlaid cloisonné enamel fence...

Wu Yi seriously admired this exquisite chime clock. This craftsmanship is so accurate that Xifan craftsmen can't make it. This is a fine product produced by Daming Ningbo Ziming Clock Factory, which is under the supervision of the Royal Shaofu.

In fact, now Daming no longer imports clocks and watches from the West. From chiming clocks to pocket watches, all of them are self-produced. Not only are the craftsmanship more exquisite, but the cost is even lower.

Ordinary ones can be more than twice as cheap as Western ones, and their exquisite high-end products are completely luxury goods.

Now a large number of clocks and watches are exported overseas. North Korea, Japan, Ryukyu, Annan and even Mongolia, as well as Luzon, Batavia, Malacca, etc. are all importing in large quantities, especially those top-notch ones, which are sold at extremely high prices. The merchants shipped it back to Europe and sold it to kings and nobles.

The chime bell in the Hall of Martial Arts is a top-level luxury item, but it is not the emperor's luxury. In fact, the emperor is very frugal, and he still lives in Beijing. He didn't ask for any decorations for the looted Forbidden Palace.

This clock is actually a sample of the Ningbo Clock Factory. It is placed here as a display. The emperor often receives ministers and envoys here. This is also a kind of propaganda, and this propaganda has a good effect. It is said that many foreign envoys and tribal leaders After seeing this clock, I like it very much, which has led to many new orders.

And it is said that this clock does not look magnificent, but the profit is very high.

In the past, some people objected to the Huangzhuang Huangdian, especially when the emperor established the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was later integrated into the Shaofu Supervisor. Then silk weaving, trade, and even tea, tobacco and wine, the scope of business became wider and wider.

Later, clocks and watches were made, glass was made, porcelain was fired, telescopes and glasses were made, and everything else was done.

Some people think that the imperial store competes with the people for profit, and some people think that the emperor is too rich.

But the emperor never paid any attention to these things. Instead, he increased his investment every year, and even created a joint stock operation later, and also distributed dividends to the shopkeepers and other personal shares.In almost every profitable business, there are royal figures.

However, Wu Yi doesn't think there is any problem with this, because he has paid attention to it a long time ago. Although Huangdian is involved in various aspects, it is basically a leader, and the resetting of industry standards has played a good leading role. Among them, mining, Smelting, shipbuilding and cannon casting are extremely important and beneficial to the country and the people.

Just like chime clocks and pocket watches, no matter how cheap the chime clocks are, they cost dozens of silver dollars. Anyway, they are not available to ordinary people, and have no effect on ordinary people. At least the buyers are wealthy families. Necessities are akin to luxuries.

Dozens or hundreds of dollars is not a big problem for them. They buy them to improve their taste and status, while the imperial shop makes money selling clocks and watches, and the imperial court collects taxes on it.

Even the business of the imperial shop is good, employing many craftsmen, and the craftsmen have stable jobs and good pay, which is a good thing.

Anyway, no matter whether it is Huangzhuang or Huangdian, they never evade taxes. They are always proactive in filing taxes.

The annual tax paid by various industries in the Huangdian is quite considerable.

After tax, dividends are distributed to shareholders, treasurers and fellows, and the remaining profits are put into the internal treasury. The emperor often uses this internal money to reward soldiers, supplement military expenses, relieve disaster victims, appease orphans and widows, subsidize students, etc. Wu Yi is a cabinet scholar , how could it be possible to object to this matter?
"clang!"

"Clang!~"

When the hour hand pointed to three o'clock, the chiming bell began to clang, and the sound was extremely crisp, which also brought Wu Yi's mind back.

This clock is really a good thing.

Even now because there are more and more clocks, many people have started to change from 24 o'clock to [-] hours. Although there were hours in the past, they were not popular, but with this clock, people now talk about more hours.

It is said that the Ningbo Watch Factory even built a large clock tower in Ningbo City, and a tall building was built in the central square of the city. There is a huge clock on the upper floor. It has become a new symbol of Ningbo. I heard that they will come to Beijing to build a bell tower, which is much more advanced than the traditional bell and drum towers.

Wu Yi even plans to buy such a high-end clock for his family in the living room, and he can also buy a watch clock and an alarm clock.

The watch clock is made in Ningbo factory. It is made according to the tradition of telling the time at night in ancient China. It can tell the time at night, even the watchman is not needed.And the alarm clock can be timed, which is convenient for getting up early.

At the beginning, the self-ringing clock introduced by Luo Mingjian and the others had a large error, and the error could be at least a quarter of an hour a day. Now the clocks and watches of the Ningbo Watch Factory are 24 hours a day, and the error is no more than 1 minute.

Of course, compared to the incense that can be burned for a whole day with a plate of three pennies, this clock cannot enter the homes of ordinary people, but people above the middle class can buy a watch if they cannot afford a clock. The market is still huge. Anyway, Ningbo Clock The factory has already opened several branch factories in Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Shanghai and other places. The salaries of the craftsmen are rising steadily, and the newly recruited apprentices all have a good basic salary and a piece-based commission.

The chiming bell struck loudly three times before it stopped.

First, the emperor coughed a few times.

"The prince will be 15 years old in the next year. I plan to officially concubine the prince in the next year and marry Zhang Cangshui's daughter into the East Palace, and marry the other six concubines together."

"After the prince got married, he supervised the country in Beijing, and I personally conquered the northwest."

New Year's Day is approaching, and the missions of various countries have already arrived. The emperor has also summoned the three tribes of Khalkha and Mongolia in Mobei, as well as the Junggar Khanate, the Heshuote Khanate, the Lute Khanate, and the Durbert Khan in Oirat. The envoys of the Kingdom, the Turghut Khanate, and the Kazakh Khanate communicated with them separately, and talked about jointly sending troops to crusade against the Yarkand Khanate.

This matter has been united with various countries since last autumn, and the messengers have gone back and forth several times. Basically, a consensus has been reached. Next year, all the ministries will meet to send troops to wipe out the ignorant Yarkand in one fell swoop, and wipe out these heretics of the New Moon Sect. .

Zhu Yihai even discussed with them the plan for the distribution of benefits after the destruction of Yarkand.

The Tashkent area, which was the Shi Kingdom of the Dawan Dudufu in the Tang Dynasty, was allocated to Yang Jier Khan of the Kazakh Khanate, while the Fergana Basin was allocated to the Chechen Khan of the Khanrut Khanate in Ili.

Kashgar, Yarkand, Aksu, Khotan, and Heshuote in the Kunlun Mountains of Congling Mountains,
Kuqa, Korla to Junggar.

The original seven guards of Kansai belonged to Daming.

This preliminary demarcation seems to be the worst for Ming. After all, Yeerqiang was divided by several Khanates, and Ming got the least number of seven guards in Kansai, and these seven guards have already accounted for four.

But for Zhu Yihai, only when the cake is big enough can the Oirat and other khanates send troops to destroy Yarkand.

As for the three Khalkha tribes, Durbert, and Torghut who were not close, what Zhu Yihai proposed was to distribute some people and livestock to them at that time.

Because Daming has little land, it will also distribute some cattle and sheep as compensation.

From the performance point of view, this partition plan is still good, especially for the three Khanates of Junggar, Heshuot, and Jalut. They can get a lot of territory, so they will naturally be more active.

For Zhu Yihai, the main purpose of this alliance is to destroy the Yarkand who is going to fight against Da Ming first, so that Da Ming can not only rectify the Northwest Shaanxi and Gansu with peace of mind, but also kill the source of the Green Sect, and at the same time open a new path. West entrance.

As long as this alliance is pulled together, Zhu Yihai can wipe out an opponent in the Western Regions with a small amount of troops, horses, money and food, secure the Seven Guards of Kansai, and carve up a lot of people, cattle and sheep. How can this deal be worthwhile? of.

"Your Majesty, Lanzhou, Liangzhou, and Xining have all been recovered. Now that the rebel leader Mi Layin has been beheaded, Ding Guodong has led some remnant soldiers to flee back to Ganzhou and Suzhou. They can't last for a few days. Why do you need your majesty to go to the west?" Wen Anzhi opposed the emperor's westward expedition.

Wu Yi also nodded, "If Your Majesty is worried about the battle of Yarkand, you can send a cabinet scholar to assist in organizing the battle, or even a bachelor to go to the governor of the war, and you can communicate with the khanates."

"I have already decided that I will leave Beijing after the spring of next year. I will tour the west along the road. The route has been planned. I will leave Juyongguan to Xuanfu, then pass through Datong, then go to Guihua City in Suiyuan, then go to Baotou and Jiuyuan, and then go to Ningxia. , arrive at Lanzhou, pass Liangzhou, go to Zhangye, Ganzhou, Jiuquan, Suzhou, Jiayuguan, go out of Guanxi to visit Yumen, Anxi, Dunhuang,
I am going to meet with the khans and leaders of various ministries of the Western Regions in Dunhuang, and I plan to hold a Ming commodity fair in Dunhuang. "

For Zhu Yihai's trip, the western expedition is not the focus, the focus is the western tour.

The farthest westward of the ancient Chinese emperors personally reached was only Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, who went to Zhangye. On that trip to the west, Yang Guang exterminated Tuyuhun, and the 27 kings of the Western Regions met with them, re-opening the Silk Road of the Western Regions.

However, when Yang Guangxi was touring Zhangye in the west, he encountered a snowstorm on the road, and it is said that tens of thousands of people froze to death and starved to death along the way.

The great scholars did not want the emperor to go to the Western Regions in person.

"I'm the Son of Heaven right now, I can't go anywhere." The emperor waved his hand and laughed, as usual, he just informed the ministers instead of really asking for their opinions.

(End of this chapter)