Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1117 1112 [Counterfeit Banknotes Caused a War of National Destruction]

Li Zuqia also came back this time, and changed to a merchant ship in Guangzhou and headed straight to Shanghai.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, it was just the Shanghai Maritime Affairs Bureau.

Twenty years after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Shanghai's port prosperity was catching up with Hangzhou, thanks to the convenient shipping on the Yangtze River and the commodity supply and markets of several provinces.

Gradually, the Maritime Customs Office was upgraded to the Maritime Customs Bureau, and then Shanghai County was established.

Li Zuqia, with several clansmen, as well as letters and money from his fellow clansmen and fellow townsmen, was waiting in Shanghai to board a merchant ship bound for Chuzhou.

He is going back to Huainan to recruit more gold diggers to go to Australia!

"My dear, I have heard that it will take at least five days for a merchant ship to pass through Chuzhou. The cabins are already full, so you have to squeeze in with the crew. However, there is a ship going to Zhenjiang tomorrow, and the cabins are not full yet."

"Then take a boat to Zhenjiang for transfer. Go buy your tickets."

Li Zuqia left the inn and wandered around, observing the busy crowd along the way. When he reached the post station, he said, "I'll get a copy of every issue of the Daming Monthly Newspaper since the beginning of winter last year."

The postman who also sold newspapers searched for a while and said, "The March, April, and May issues of this year have all been sold out."

"Damaged old newspapers will do, too," said Li Zuqia.

The postman quickly took out three obviously worn newspapers.

After buying the newspaper, Li Zuqia strolled back to the inn and read the newspaper by month.

The biggest news this spring was the imperial examination. The "Da Ming Monthly" used a special edition to list the complete list of successful candidates.

A total of 355 people were admitted, and the top scorer was named Wang Zuo, who was actually a fellow townsman of Lu You.

Well, Lu You failed the exam again.

The second to last student was Zhu Xi, who almost failed the exam.

Li Zuqia stared at the list of successful candidates for a long time, and then sighed. Although he knew that he was not talented enough and would most likely fail even if he took the exam, he was still very depressed to be directly disqualified from the imperial examination.

In addition to the imperial examination, another big news was the expedition to Mobei, which took two full issues of newspapers to report.

The first issue is a warm-up for the war, telling the story of the situation in Mobei, denouncing Toli's killing of his brothers, and condemning the Mongolian tribes for repeatedly disobeying the court's orders.

The second phase was to formally declare war on the Mongolian and Kereyid tribes.

Detailed information has not been reported, after all, it is a military secret, and it is estimated that the war is currently underway.

Li Zuqia also paid attention to some information on the appointment and removal of officials. For example, Mao Kui, a doctor in the Buddhist and Taoist Department who was nearly 80 years old, finally retired officially this year.

In recognition of Mao Kui's achievements (mainly the surrender of Fuzhou City), he was promoted to the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites when he retired, and was given the title of Special Advancement, which allowed him to receive a higher pension and a more luxurious funeral after his death.

In addition, the Minister of Rites He Su died, and the officials of the six ministries were changed accordingly. Bai Chongyan, who had a bumpy career, came back and took over the position of Right Vice Minister of Rites.

Left Censor-in-Chief Li Guang retired due to illness, and Pan Lianggui took over as Left Censor-in-Chief.

Li Zuqia had not yet finished reading the newspapers he had read for the past six months when he suddenly heard a commotion outside. He quickly got up and opened the window to look out.

But then they saw a group of soldiers coming from the direction of the dock, fully equipped with weapons and heading towards the southeast suburbs of the county town.

Li Zuqia went downstairs and into the street excitedly, called a few people from the same clan, and followed a group of people to watch the excitement.

Soon, the Shanghai County Magistrate also heard the news and left the city, leading a group of officials to chase the soldiers.

"Xiao Lang, has someone done something wrong?" asked his cousin Li Zuyuan in surprise.

Li Zuqia said: "It's more than just a crime. The court sent out troops to arrest people, but the county officials were still unaware of it. This is a shocking case."

In the southeastern suburbs of the county, a mansion that had only been built a few years earlier was surrounded by officers and soldiers.

The leading lieutenant said, "We have them all surrounded. If anyone resists arrest, we will kill them without mercy!"

When the county magistrate arrived, the soldiers had already broken into the house.

"General, where are you from to come to our county to work?" the county magistrate asked cautiously.

The lieutenant said, "Nanjing Imperial Army."

"Forbidden... Forbidden Army..."

The county magistrate did not dare to ask any more questions and only bowed and said, "If you need our cooperation, please let me know."

The lieutenant took out a joint document from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War and said, "Two years ago, a large number of counterfeit banknotes were discovered in the south, and later appeared occasionally in provinces north of the Yangtze River. They were printed very beautifully, and all were of the smallest denomination. But the steel seal was not well stamped, the anti-counterfeiting patterns were distorted, and the banknote serial numbers were all repeated."

The county magistrate was shocked: "There are people in this county who are counterfeiting banknotes?"

The lieutenant sneered, "They are not that bold. The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War have been jointly investigating for two years and have determined that the counterfeit banknotes were printed overseas. This house in front of us is one of the distribution points!"

"Fortunately, it's just loose goods." The county magistrate breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, a soldier dragged a corpse in: "This guy climbed over the wall to escape, and was shot to death by several arrows."

After a while, a group of soldiers came from the south and captured a rich man wearing silk. The leading officer laughed and said, "This guy wants to escape!"

However, these imperial troops from Nanjing not only landed in Shanghai County, but also sent a team to intercept them in the south by boat along the Huangpu River.

The county magistrate said, "This man's name is Du Jicai. He was originally a wealthy businessman from Huizhou. He moved to Shanghai in recent years and bought land and built a house. I heard that he made a lot of money supplying goods to sea merchants."

The lieutenant said, "The Ministry of Justice and the Military Intelligence Department have already investigated everything. My comrades have led troops to Huizhou to arrest people. Hehe, you dare to touch counterfeit money? You must be tired of living!"

Because the Yi San tribe was too cruel, this punishment was abolished for most crimes.

However, the counterfeiting and distribution of fake currency still remains.

There is no need to exterminate three clans, only the person himself, his grandparents, parents, uncles, brothers, legal wives, sons, and grandsons should be killed. The sons of uncles should be exiled.

The concubine was ordered to remarry.

Married sisters, daughters, and granddaughters will not be held accountable, but unmarried sisters, daughters, or granddaughters will be exiled.

Those who are too young will be raised by their surviving relatives and will be disqualified from taking the imperial examinations.

The three generations of descendants of uncles were also disqualified from taking the imperial examinations.

All the property of myself, my parents, brothers, uncles and aunts will be confiscated.

Once it's involved, the family is doomed.

The Shanghai County Magistrate glanced at Du Jicai and found that he was paralyzed by fear. He sighed and said, "Alas, why bother?"

"Take him away!" the lieutenant colonel ordered.

Du Jicai was dragged for more than ten steps, and suddenly shouted: "I want to make meritorious service for my crime, I want to make meritorious service for my crime! I bought those counterfeit banknotes from Sun Luzhen. I have inquired indirectly, and his counterfeit banknotes should come from a country in Southeast Asia."

The lieutenant sneered, "It's too late. Someone has already made amends for his crime. We'll find out who is printing counterfeit money before we close the net."

Du Ji had just recovered some of his spirits, but he collapsed again after hearing these words.

……

Where does counterfeit money come from?

Coconut city!

Those guys didn't dare to print in China, nor did they dare to print under the governor's command overseas. So they chose the emerging port of Coconut City, where many Ming Dynasty merchants came and went every year, and the Ming Dynasty did not station troops in Coconut City.

At this moment, the telegram has been sent to Guangzhou.

The Guangzhou Army assembled 3,000 men, and the navy was on standby at all times, waiting for the monsoon to arrive and then move south.

At the same time, destroy the Sunda Kingdom and seize the Coconut City!
The reason for the destruction of the country was simple: the King of Sunda protected and condoned the makers of counterfeit money.

This is definitely not a false accusation. The Military Intelligence Department sent people to Coconut City last year. Various signs indicate that the King of Sunda not only knows about it, but is also very likely a partner.

The counterfeit banknote maker was named Zeng Boda, who had the title of scholar but had never passed the imperial examination to become a juren.

Later, when his family fell into poverty, he began to have evil thoughts. He first went to work in a printing factory owned by a classmate, gradually learning and mastering printing technology, and then inquired about the special paper technology for Baochao.

He couldn't make the special paper for Baochao, and this thing was prohibited from being sold privately by private individuals. There were only four special paper mills in the country.

Zeng Boda chose a papermaking factory in Fujian that made special paper for treasure banknotes. He deliberately made friends with the papermaking workers in the factory and stole paper from the factory to counterfeit treasure banknotes.

The paper used for the treasure notes was strictly monitored throughout the process, and even defective products and scraps had to be destroyed. The official in charge had been cleared of suspicion of committing the crime, but he would definitely be dismissed this time because more than a dozen of his clerks and workers had problems.

They registered the paper as defective, but instead of destroying it, they secretly transported it out of the paper mill. Fearing a strict investigation by the government, Zeng Boda went to Yecheng to print money, thinking that this would evade the Ming court.

Today, Zeng Boda's family has moved to Coconut City, and his brother is still serving as a court official in Sunda Kingdom.

The winter wind is coming.

Merchant ships from all over the world are about to depart from Guangzhou.

Wang Chongdu was also ready, but there were still a few ships that had not arrived from Shanghai, Hangzhou and Fuzhou.

He picked up the latest issue of the newspaper and read the breaking news.

The central army led by Han Shizhong and the western army led by Liu Qi had conquered the Kereyid tribes four months ago. The Naiman tribe that came from the west to disrupt the situation was defeated by Liu Qi and Han Shizhong, and more than 3,000 people were killed and captured.

Yue Fei's Eastern Army was in a worse condition. Although it won a few battles easily, the Mongols hid in the mountains and did not engage in a head-on confrontation with Yue Fei.

Historically, the Mongols also dealt with the Jin Dynasty in this way.

If they couldn't win, they would run away. When the Jin soldiers ran out of food and supplies, they would come out of the mountains to pursue them, and beat the Jin army so hard that they were completely helpless.

In the end, the Jin Dynasty could only support the Tatar tribe and use conspiracy and trickery to kill the Mongol Khan, causing the Mongolian tribes to be torn apart. It was not until the time of Genghis Khan that the Jin Dynasty rose again.

Yue Fei will not leave this time!
Yue Fei sent the infantry and the extra laborers back, and he himself stayed with 5,000 elite cavalry and a large amount of food, fodder and livestock. At the same time, he also moved in the remnants of the Tatars driven away by the Mongols, as well as some Khitan and Tanggu tribes in the southern steppes of the desert.

These Han, Tatar, Khitan, and Tangut peoples divided the pastures around Hulun Lake and Buir Lake. The Han people were stationed in the cities built by the Liao Kingdom, while the other tribes guarded the surrounding grasslands.

Han Shizhong also allowed the surplus soldiers and civilians to return, and he led his troops to station in the Kerait tribe, and enfeoffed the remnants of the Kerait tribe who had surrendered on behalf of the imperial court.

Liu Qi led his army back to Ningxia Province.

Han Shizhong and Yue Fei refused to leave Mobei, so the Mongols had to either hide in the mountains for the winter or rush out for a decisive battle!

The Ming Dynasty was not like the Jin Dynasty, which had no surplus food. The expeditionary army would not use up all the food and fodder in just two or three months.

After reading the newspaper, Wang Chongdu lay down to rest.

A subordinate came running over in a hurry: "Ship owner, the Guangzhou Navy has blocked the port, and the Maritime Customs has ordered all sea merchants to delay sailing for five days!"

"What's going on?" Wang Chongdu looked confused.

The subordinate said, "Someone saw the military camp outside the city mobilizing troops, and they were heading to the military port by boat. Maybe the imperial court is going to attack another country in Southeast Asia. The order to delay the departure of the merchants is probably to block the news and catch the enemy off guard."

Wang Chongdu muttered, "Are they going to attack Sunda? I paid a deposit to buy futures, so I hope the supplier won't be killed by the soldiers."

Jambi and Palembang had already been conquered by Yang Yao, and Malacca had long been owned by the Ming Dynasty.

The most valuable port in Southeast Asia now is the Coconut City in Sunda Kingdom. Wang Chongdu guessed the target of attack at once.

(End of this chapter)