I'm really not doing business

Chapter 673: Open a tobacco shop and kill without mercy!

Yuejiang Tower was the second largest unfinished project in the Ming Dynasty. Although Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to build it very much, he was reluctant to spend money. He initially used death row prisoners to build the foundation, but after calculating the costs, he found that there was a lack of wood, so Zhu Yuanzhang personally ordered a halt to the project.

There is still a lack of wood, but Yingtian Governor Li Le’s suggestion is not to use wood, but to directly pour concrete and paint the outside to make it look like wood.

The Ming Dynasty's lime factory needed some orders to maintain its scale. Similarly, the Southern Court also needed a main bell and drum tower for timekeeping. For various reasons, Li Le submitted a petition for approval.

Like emperor, like ministers. Li Le was a stingy person, so he could have built it somewhere else. However, Yuejiang Tower had a foundation and it would have been a waste not to use it. In addition, Lulong Mountain (now Shizi Mountain) where Yuejiang Tower was located was closer to the Ming Dynasty's Longjiang Shipyard, Lime Factory, Coal Bureau and Weaving Bureau for the coke and steel intermodal transport, so Li Le chose this place.

"At most, it's only 230,000 silver coins, which can be regarded as the fulfillment of Emperor Taizu Gao's long-cherished wish." Feng Bao said in a low voice: "Because of the need to repair the Yingtian city wall and Fengyang Zhongdu Palace City, the construction had to be stopped in the end."

Zhu Yuanzhang fought throughout his life and had won and lost times. The one that later generations talked about most was the Battle of Poyang Lake, where Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the strong with the weak. With the help of the east wind, he set his small boats on fire and defeated Chen Youliang's large ships that were strung across the river with iron chains.

In fact, what Zhu Yuanzhang was most proud of was the Battle of Longwan, which was an ambush at the foot of Lulong Mountain. It was a matter of life and death.

In the 20th year of Zhizheng in the Yuan Dynasty, Chen Youliang, who had killed Xu Shouhui and proclaimed himself emperor with the name of Han, led an army of 100,000 and attacked Yingtian directly, preparing to achieve his goal in one battle and completely eliminate Zhu Yuanzhang.

At this critical moment, some people in Yingtian City were panic-stricken and advocated retreating to Zhongshan for defense, while others advocated surrender. On paper, Chen Youliang had a strong army, while Zhu Yuanzhang was attacked from all sides. Chen Youliang joined forces with Zhang Shicheng to attack Zhu Yuanzhang.

Unable to win, and attacked from all sides, people were in a panic.

At this critical moment of life and death, Zhu Yuanzhang personally commanded the troops, ordered Chang Yuchun to lead 30,000 troops to ambush at Shihui Mountain, ordered Xu Da to deploy troops at the South Gate, ordered Zhao Desheng to garrison Hukou City, ordered Yang Jing to Dasheng Port, and personally led troops to ambush at Lulong Mountain, using red and yellow flags as a signal to lure the enemy deeper.

Chen Youliang's greed for merit and reckless advance played right into Zhu Yuanzhang's pocket, and Zhu Yuanzhang won the life-and-death Battle of Longwan.

The Battle of Poyang Lake was indeed a decisive battle, but the situation was definitely not as critical as the Battle of Longwan. Even if he had failed in Poyang Lake, Zhu Yuanzhang could have regrouped and dealt with Chen Youliang again. However, if he had lost the Battle of Longwan, given Chen Youliang's character, he would have definitely killed Zhu Yuanzhang, and there would have been no future for him.

This is also the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang was obsessed with building the Yuejiang Tower, as that was the most dangerous moment.

But due to various reasons, it was ultimately not completed, leaving only a foundation, witnessing the rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, what Governor Li said makes sense. It is indeed a plan to pacify the people and strengthen the capital to control the distant areas. The country has suffered a great loss of financial resources. At that time, the gentry in Jiangnan all looked down on the court. Now, the time is different. We should rebuild the Yuejiang Tower to prevent these gentry in Jiangnan from forgetting that this world still belongs to the Ming Dynasty." Feng Bao still believed that it needed to be built.

There is a real need for a bell and drum tower to tell the time and to fulfill the long-cherished wish of Emperor Taizu Gao. The most important thing is to calm people's hearts.

When the country was poor, the gentry looked down on the imperial court and the emperor. Now that the emperor is rich enough to rival a country, if you don't make some noise, who will know that you, the emperor, are rich enough to rival a country?
"Doesn't that make me the Elder of Jinchi? Must I wear that brocade robe?" Zhu Yijun was stunned. Xu Wei mentioned in his memorial that Mori Terumoto accused Oda Nobunaga of wearing the land inspection law which was essentially the brocade robe.

This boomerang from the Wanli period is really that fast!
"Your Majesty, sometimes you have to wear what you need to wear." Feng Bao said earnestly.

Zhang Jin has been the governor of Yingtian Prefecture for twelve years and is very familiar with the Southern Court. Many people climb Lulong Mountain every year to mock Zhu Yuanzhang's vanity and ostentation. Such poetry gatherings are held every year.

When people die, they turn into dust. These despicable Confucians just curse you at the very moment when you are most proud of yourself. That is the evil taste of them.

This is deliberately creating centrifugal force. The completion of Yuejiang Tower at this time is to give these bastards a hard slap in the face and tell them that the Ming Dynasty has not yet perished, so just wait!
"Okay, let's build it since there is a need." Zhu Yijun was finally persuaded. The centrifugal force in the south of the Yangtze River is very strong, and there is indeed a need for such a wonder. After it is built, it can at least tell time.

The Ming Emperor was not very fond of these fancy spectacles.

The first unfinished project in the Ming Dynasty was not the Yuejiang Tower, but another one. During the Yongle period, Zhu Di was working on making the world's first stele for Zhu Yuanzhang, the Xiaoling Mausoleum, which weighed more than 30,000 tons. He was halfway through the work when he discovered that it was too big and too heavy to transport, so he gave up.

"Your Majesty, there is something that may require your review." General Zhao Mengyou hurried in and handed His Majesty a court report.

Wherever he went during his southern tour, Zhu Yijun would release all the imperial guards to visit and investigate the people's sentiments. This time, Zhao Mengyou discovered something that surprised him: a opium den.

It is an opium den that specializes in providing venues, opium, and tools for smoking opium.

This is Yizhou, which is not on the coast, but there are opium dens in Yizhou. The prevalence of opium can be imagined.

"Let's go and take a look." Zhu Yijun immediately stood up, changed into casual clothes, and followed the imperial guards to the place where the opium den was located.

Yizhou has one axis, four sections and ten districts. It is a medium-sized city in the hinterland, with a circumference of no more than 30 miles and a population of no more than 700,000. Looking at the whole world, Yizhou is one of the top super cities. Even Madrid, the capital of Felipe II, is only half the size of Yizhou. But in the Ming Dynasty, Yizhou is just an ordinary provincial capital.

Zhu Yijun rushed to Huiminfang. He did not go into the opium den, but to a three-story restaurant across the street from the den. The restaurant had been completely cleaned up, and there would be no danger for the emperor to go in. The imperial guards even cleaned the place to prevent His Majesty from seeing anything that was an eyesore. After lighting sandalwood, His Majesty could enter.

"It's there." Zhao Mengyou pointed in the direction of the tobacco shop.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty climbed to a high place and took out a telescope, looking in the direction Zhao Mengyou pointed, from where he could see the whole picture of the opium den.

The opium den looks like an ordinary house, with a main house and left and right wing rooms, but if you climb up high and look far away, you can see the problem. This group of houses are cleverly connected together through various secret doors. It is only daytime, but people are coming and going inside in an endless stream. You can even see scantily clad women walking around in groups of three or four, talking and laughing.

From some open doors and windowsills, one can clearly see that on rows of large beds are bed tables, on which is a tray with candles, pipes, tweezers, teapots, cups, etc., and on the beds are people lying, leaning on pillows, puffing out smoke.

There were also some women sitting on these men, shaking up and down. The scene was extremely decadent.

All the people coming in and out of this place were dressed in gorgeous clothes, silk and satin, and they were obviously rich or noble. Even some people wearing linen clothes were servants serving these rich people. In many places, there were sentry posts, and these sentries squatted in small compartments on the second floor with a clock beside them.

"There is a sickening sweet smell." Zhu Yijun put down the telescope. Even though he was far away, he could still smell the sweet smell of the burning opium. He knew this smell because he had really smelled it.

"How did you find out?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously. Without climbing high and without a telescope, it would be difficult to see what was going on inside. This place was extremely secretive and had many entrances. It wasn't crowded with people. The Imperial Guards were very capable in investigating cases, but not to this extent.

"The common people always smell a greasy odor when passing by here, and many wealthy families keep coming in. The common people think it is a gambling house, so they tell the imperial guards about this interesting story. The imperial guards paid attention to this and found that something was wrong here." Zhao Mengyou told the emperor how he found out.

Zhu Yijun looked at the gentry who were in and out of the opium den and dressed in gorgeous clothes, and said with emotion: "According to the results of the land survey, 4% of the people in the Ming Dynasty controlled 40% of the land, and 10% of the people controlled 80% of the land. In other words, if all the gentry families are included, there are only more than million people, but they control more than million hectares of land in the Ming Dynasty."

"The lives of these gentry seemed to be fixed. The biggest expense was donating money to each of their children to become a scholar. If they passed the imperial examinations, it would be a great honor for the family. If they failed, they would not pass. The second expense was to pay the government to settle various lawsuits, to bribe local officials, and occasionally to meet the demands of local officials."

"Besides these three, you can marry a concubine, have a mistress, and then live a life of quarrels. When the time comes, find a doctor and ask for ginseng or Polygonum multiflorum to prolong your life. I don't know if it works, but everyone does it, so I have to do it too."

Zhao Mengyou thought for a moment, then gave up thinking, shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, I am stupid."

Your Majesty is right. Over the years, Zhao Mengyou has met many gentry, and these gentry are indeed exactly like what Your Majesty said. The lives of these gentry are basically fixed. Few of them can pass the imperial examinations. Most of them donate money to gain fame, settle lawsuits, marry concubines, and engage in ginseng, and then their lives end. It is all like this.

Zhu Yijun sighed and said, "Eating, drinking, defecating and urinating don't cost much, and clothes to keep out the wind don't cost much either. Even buying a maid to warm your feet doesn't cost much. They can't even go to a brothel a few times in their lifetime because it's not rare. This opium is a bright spot in a boring life."

"They hold the vast majority of the Ming Dynasty's wealth in their hands, but they won't exchange it. As a result, the products produced by the poor laborers and the family workshops where men farm and women weave are not wanted by anyone at all."

"So, this is the problem of the Ming Dynasty."

When Zhang Juzheng was giving a lecture to the Emperor, he also mentioned people's threshold of pleasure.

The threshold of pleasure will get higher and higher in the long-term extravagant life of having everything provided for you, and eventually people will enter a state of transcendence, feeling that they can defeat death head-on. That kind of self-cognition and self-transcendence is commonly known as seeking death, because nothing can stimulate their nerves anymore.

Being detached and different from the ordinary is a kind of self-satisfaction with standing on one's feet.

Other things can no longer stimulate their nerves, but opioids can.

"Search them." Zhu Yijun put away the telescope and said calmly, "Follow this line and keep digging. Find all those who dare to open opium dens. Kill those who dare to resist without mercy! After the investigation is complete, send them to the capital to be executed."

"Drug control is a war we must win. If we can't win, no matter how much money I have in my treasury, it will be meaningless."

"I obey your command." Zhao Mengyou was already prepared. He had already made all the arrangements and was just waiting for the emperor's order.

The Ti cavalry began to take action. Teams of Ti cavalry surrounded the entire Huiminfang. The gleaming iron armor and hook-and-sickle spears reflected the midday sun, making everyone frightened. At all the entrances, submachine guns were pushed out and tiger squatting cannons were placed on the ground by the Ti cavalry.

The sentry at the opium den was horrified when he saw the Tiqi, and he struck the bronze bell in his hand vigorously to warn everyone that people from the yamen were coming.

What surprised Zhu Yijun was that the Ti cavalry had actually dug four pits in the encirclement and placed a jar inside. The purpose was to listen to see if anyone was moving underground and whether the opium den had tunnels or secret passages.

The arrows began to rise into the air with a sharp hiss. "Kill!" The Ti riders put on their helmets, their voices were a little dull, and they thrust their sickle spears forward and began to attack the entrance. If there was any resistance, the sub-cannon and tiger squat cannon would be fired, but there was no resistance.

It was the first time that Zhu Yijun saw the use of a door-breaking device. After a burst of smoke, the doors of several entrances collapsed, and this scene happened at the same time.

The Ti riders rushed in, and there were cries everywhere, and even flames, but they were quickly put out. The poisonous insects on the bed were dragged out like dead dogs and gathered in the middle of the yard, while the half-naked prostitutes all squatted on the ground, holding their heads and covering their bodies.

The commotion only lasted for a quarter of an hour, and everyone was arrested, including those who wanted to go through the secret passage or hide in the dark room. Before taking action, Zhao Mengyou had already sent the Tiqi to find out all the arrangements of the opium den in order to prevent any fish from slipping through the net.

A total of seven opium dens with three entrances and exits connected to the houses were wiped out by the Ti riders.

"Since the gunpowder has been withdrawn, just release it and watch the fun. Otherwise, we will have to settle the account when we go back, which is very troublesome." Zhu Yijun gave the final instructions. Even for the Imperial Guards, the procedure for withdrawing gunpowder was extremely cumbersome. It required the emperor's approval and the purpose must be clearly stated. It would be better to just release it directly.

"I obey your command." Zhao Mengyou chose to agree with His Majesty's statement. It was indeed troublesome.

Besides, if the Tiqi are deployed, who would know that they have been deployed if they don’t make a big noise?! If no one knows, they can’t achieve the effect of intimidation.

Amid the roar of artillery fire, Zhu Yijun's carriage left Huiminfang.

Qi Jiguang arrived very soon. Drug control has been defined as a drug war from the very beginning, so as a general, Qi Jiguang naturally had to ask for details. He soon followed the Beijing camp to help the Imperial Guards with the case, because the scale of the case was relatively large, and the Beijing camp soldiers needed to be dispatched.

The people of Yanzhou Prefecture once again felt the emperor's majesty in a physical sense, as the streets were filled with neat rows of soldiers marching through the streets. After the imperial guards had checked everything out, they immediately began to arrest people.

After Shandong Governor Wang Yi'e learned about this, he immediately came before the emperor to plead guilty.

"No need to be so polite. You don't have the ability to see and hear from afar. Just because you, Wang Yi'e, are the governor, does that mean there are no problems in Shandong? I am in the capital, and there are many traitors in the capital. Come on, stop kneeling. Any problems are not scary. What is scary is not daring to face these problems." Zhu Yijun did not blame Wang Yi'e too much.

In fact, even the common people living in Huiminfang just thought it was a casino, and it was only after repeated investigations by the imperial guards that they discovered the truth.

Wang Yi'e didn't notice it because the problem was not too big and the scale was not large enough to alarm him. If it really became a disaster, Wang Yi'e would have never heard of it. It had to get to the point of a mutiny among the nine battalions in Zhejiang. There would be no need for Zhu Yijun to order an investigation. Wang Yi'e would just find a tree and hang himself on it.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Wang Yi'e stood up. It was only spring, but he was already sweating profusely. When he heard that something had happened, he cried out that he was doomed. He was really nervous.

"The source of opium is the private mirage market set up by Zhang family of Hejian in Tianjin. In fact, wherever I go, these demons and monsters will choose to lie dormant, waiting for me to leave before coming out to stir up trouble." Zhu Yijun motioned for Wang Yi'e to sit down before explaining the details of the case.

The opium in Shandong did not come from the Mizhou Maritime Customs. Wang Yi'e kept a close eye on it and ensured that opium did not flow in from the Mizhou Maritime Customs. In addition, the construction of the coastal defense system ensured that opium would not flow into Shandong from the sea.

But despite his day and night defenses, he missed the land inflow, especially the route from north to south, from Tianjin to south, which caught Wang Yi'e off guard.

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "I am not being hypocritical. I am the emperor after all, and I am traveling with the imperial guards. This is all public business. I arrived in Mizhou along the highway. Wherever I went, even if there were opium dens in the city, they avoided my presence and closed their doors, fearing that I would find out."

"But when we got to Yizhou, they actually dared to open their business so openly before I even left!"

"I have to say, this traitor is very brave. I admire him!"

The windows of the Beizhenfusi were clean and the gaps between the bricks were spotless, because His Majesty the Emperor was coming, so no matter how meticulous the preparations for the inspection were, it would not be excessive. Apparently Yizhou had also made preparations to welcome the Emperor, even the eaves of the roofs had been cleaned, and the streets were even cleaner. However, this opium den had the audacity to open before the Emperor left. It was truly audacious.

"People who take opium cannot be treated with common sense." Wang Yi'e wiped the sweat from his forehead and said quickly.

The great medical officers studied opium and believed that opium can make people develop an uncontrollable inner demon, so these people can't hold it back. What's wrong with the king of heaven? Even if the king of heaven came, he couldn't stop me from taking opium!
"The prices in Shandong are surprisingly so much cheaper than those in the capital." Zhu Yijun and Wang Yi'e talked about the prices in Shandong. It's not that the prices in Yizhou are low, but that the prices are very low overall. The price of rice in the capital is five cents of silver per stone, while in Shandong it is generally three cents of silver per stone. The most expensive is three cents and a half of silver per stone in Jinan, which is still cheaper than the capital.

The price of pork tenderloin in Shandong is 1.6 qian of silver per pound, while in Beijing it is 2 qian of silver per pound. Chicken, duck, fish, beef, mutton, cotton cloth, red dates, paper umbrellas, etc. are all much cheaper than in Beijing.

Wang Yi'e said quickly, "Shovels are cheap in Beijing. You can buy five for two coins of silver. But in Shandong, one coin costs one coin of silver."

"What I mean is, you are doing a good job, just keep doing it. How can it be so clean?" Zhu Yijun saw that Wang Yi'e didn't understand at all, so he chose to speak frankly.

What Zhu Yijun meant was that the prices in Shandong were cheap, which showed that under Wang Yi'e's governance, the overall situation in Shandong was quite good and not particularly chaotic. The emperor would not hold him excessively accountable for some problems that he was not aware of.

Wang Yi'e is not a god who can do everything.

But Wang Yi'e didn't understand the subtext of the emperor's words at all. He just felt that he was promoted because of His Majesty's strong opposition. Now, His Majesty was personally questioning him about the problem, which made Wang Yi'e quite frightened.

"I thank Your Majesty for your great grace." Wang Yi'e finally understood and hurriedly expressed his gratitude.

Shandong Tobacco House, Tiqi Zhao Mengyou followed this clue and conducted a comprehensive investigation, and wiped out the entire drug network in Shandong. More than 980 people were arrested, and more than 3,000 drug addicts were exiled to Java. It was an absolute major case.

When Zhu Yijun left Yizhou, the Ti cavalry were still active in Shandong and would not stop until the entire drug network was eradicated.

Shandong Governor Wang Yi'e personally took command and dispatched the Inspection Office, yamen runners, and constables to cooperate in the operation. Later, Wang Yi'e banned the yamen runners and constables from participating in the matter, and the imperial guards and soldiers from the Inspection Office were specifically responsible for the arrest. Because these yamen runners and constables actually tipped off the criminals, Wang Yi'e was furious and, at the same time, he sorted out the local officialdom in Shandong.

Without the protection of officials, how could these insects be so rampant?

Soon, the magistrate of Yizhou, Lei Shizhen, was thrown into prison. Starting from the opium den, a major earthquake in the Shandong officialdom began. This time, Wang Yi'e changed his image of a good guy and used cruel and vicious means. He even tortured several officials who were former juren and investigated the people who were behind them.

Drug addicts, opium den owners, vagrants and bandits, gentry, officials and other criminals were sent to the capital in batches. The Beizhenfusi jail was not enough, and the Ministry of Justice jail was almost full.

"There's no way they can finish swimming around!" Zhu Yiliu looked at the pile of files and felt desperate. He needed to make more parade cars to hang all these insects on them!

"Your Majesty has sent a letter." Li Yougong presented the emperor's letter to His Royal Highness Prince Lu.

"Huh?" Zhu Yiliu held the letter, his eyes widened, and he uttered a puzzled sound through his nose in horror. There was only one "" on the piece of paper.

"What does the emperor mean!" Zhu Yiliu said viciously.

"Your Highness, did you hold it upside down?" Li Yougong asked tentatively, looking at the already furious Zhu Yiliu.

Zhu Yiliu did hold it upside down, but that's how the letter was pretended! The emperor did it on purpose. Compared with His Majesty, what Zhu Yiliu did was just like a child playing pranks.
Your Majesty has handled cases and sentenced more than 500 people to death. This is much more terrifying than Zhu Yiliu's petty actions.

"Your Highness, it's time to deal with the memorials." Li Yougong reminded His Royal Highness Prince Lu that the memorials were seriously backlogged. If His Royal Highness Prince Lu did not read the memorials, they would pile up like a mountain.

Zhu Yiliu lay down on the armchair, waved his hands and said, "Tomorrow, let's see. I'll get tired of scolding people."

"It has been postponed for four days. All the ministries are urging us to speed up the process. The Imperial Household Department has been questioned many times." Li Yougong refused to back down and forced Prince Lu to read the memorial. The officials of the Ming Dynasty, who were used to not submitting memorials overnight, had not felt the relief of seeing memorials not being approved for a long time.

The officials of the six ministries did not want this kind of relaxation at all, because many things involved performance evaluation. No one could evaluate Zhu Yiliu, but Zhang Juzheng would evaluate all officials. This involved important matters of promotion and transfer, and could not be taken lightly. However, this living ancestor, Prince Lu, had not read four days' worth of memorials!

"Oh." Zhu Yiliu knew he couldn't escape anymore, so he sat up reluctantly, picked up a memorial lazily, and began to review them one by one, poking and prodding with the seal.

"I don't know how my royal brother persisted. I only read it for a month and was already bored. But my royal brother has been reading it for twelve years and is not bored yet. It's really... Hey, this book is quite interesting." Zhu Yiliu suddenly noticed a memorial from the Ministry of Revenue.

The major customs offices of the Ministry of Revenue made a list and sorted out the exported goods each year. In the twelve years since the opening of the sea, various goods have increased in different situations, but the situations are different.

For example, in the second year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty exported a total of 450 boxes of tea, with a total value of about 21185 silver coins. Last year, the Ming Dynasty's tea export settlement had reached 21543 boxes, with a total value of 507102 silver coins, accounting for 10% of the Ming Dynasty's export goods. The proportion is increasing rapidly. Another item is Yunnan coffee beans, which appeared on the list for the first time in the tenth year of Wanli. It has reached 700 boxes, with a total value of about 3 silver coins.

"Oh my god, is tea also becoming a bulk commodity?" Zhu Yiliu looked at the goods on the list. Among the bulk commodities, silk and cotton ranked first, ironware ranked second, and tea ranked third.

"Li Yougong, are these barbarians so willing to watch the silver flow into the Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Yiliu frowned and said, "Look at the difference between exports and imports. Last year, including the global trade fleet led by Liu Ji, a total of 1189 million silver worth of goods were exported, and less than 300 million silver was imported. This is the result of shipping the governor's office in Luzon back to the hinterland and counting it as import."

If all the Governor-General's Offices in Luzon were removed, the import of three million silver would be directly reduced to less than one million.

Li Yougong also looked for a long time before he said with certainty: "Indeed, from this point of view, the barbarians have never seen any return on their business with us. If I were a barbarian, I would not be willing to accept this either."

"The huge trade deficit will definitely make these foreigners take risks, because they are really far away and the Ming Dynasty cannot reach them."

(End of this chapter)