Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 720 Xu Heng took advantage of others' danger and sold grain at a high price of two liang and one stone.

Xu Heng's strategy was a bit retro, and he still used Taizu's old method of 'building walls high and hoarding grain widely'.

In and around Sakai Port, [-] elite Ming troops and [-] young auxiliary troops were gathered.

Because of the special relationship between the Xu family and the emperor's family, Zhu Qiyu did not send any civil counselors to advise on military affairs. There is only one so-called supervisor, Jin Xing, who was actually sent by Zhu Qiyu to accumulate qualifications.

Therefore, Xu Heng alone had the final say in military matters.

During this period, Xu Heng focused on building fortifications and set up three lines of defense to defend Sakai Port.

The navy of the Ming Dynasty transported more than [-] war horses to Xu Heng with tears in his eyes.

There were soldiers and horses, guns and armor, food and artillery. After the defense line was built, Xu Heng drank tea and chatted with Jin Xing in the Chinese army tent every day.

Jin Xing had nothing to do all day, and he was a little anxious: "Dong An Guo, when are we going to start fighting?"

Xu Heng smiled and said: "The situation has reached this point, either we don't fight, or we have to fight a decisive battle. Anyway, we have food in our hands, Ashikaga Yoshimasa doesn't have food in his hands. When they are hungry, they will naturally be willing to fight a decisive battle."

This is exactly the same as the Battle of Changping. There were several Lianpo on the opposite side. They were lucky and thought that the energy would be exhausted forever. However, after only one year of defense, they caught up with a severe drought.

In a real fight, the Japanese army would end up much worse than the Zhao army. There are plains between Kyoto and Sakai Port. If our heavy armored cavalry and heavy armored infantry kill light infantry, it would be just a joke. "

Jin Xing smiled and said: "Our military advantage is so great. If we took the initiative to attack from the beginning, we would have defeated Kyoto long ago."

Xu Heng explained: "What we want is for the enemy to fall into despair and take the initiative to surrender. What's the use of just conquering Kyoto? Japan is full of mountains. If the enemy troops drill into the deep mountains and old forests, we will be dumbfounded."

Heavy armored cavalry and heavy armored infantry cannot enter the mountains. If light infantry goes into deep mountains and old forests when they are unfamiliar with the place, isn't that looking for death?

If we don't take the initiative to attack, the enemy will not be willing to abandon Kyoto and go straight into the mountains and forests.

Besides, if Ashikaga Yoshimasa throws Kyoto and runs away without being attacked, then his prestige and ruling foundation will collapse, and how can others continue to resist.

In the words of the Holy Spirit, this battle is about psychology and human nature. "

Jin Xing nodded and continued to ask: "If the Japanese guardian daimyo surrender after Ashikaga Yoshimasa fails in the decisive battle, how will we arrange for them?
  Although I have no control over these things, I am very curious. I'm afraid these local snakes will be very difficult to deal with. "

Xu Heng said with a smile: "Based on the Holy Emperor's arrangement and my own guess, several larger plains in Japan, as well as important ports and mines, should be placed under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court as provinces and prefectures, and guarded by feudal princes and princes.

In other places, it is similar to the southwestern provinces, such as Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, where some chieftains, local magistrates, xuanwei envoys and the like are granted semi-autonomy.

However, the rights to mine, mint, and maritime trade within its territory belong to the imperial court.

In the future, the local officials will be gradually changed to the official officials, and they will be fully integrated into the rule of the imperial court. "

The two were chatting enthusiastically when a secret letter came in from the soldiers. Xu Heng opened it and read it carefully, then handed it to Jin Xing: "Look, this year's severe drought has caused Japan a lot of trouble.

Our neighbors, the Akamatsu clan, the guardian of the three kingdoms of Harima, Bizen, and Mimasaku, asked us to buy grain for [-] koku, and at a high price. "

Jin Xing took a deep breath when he heard this: "Five hundred thousand dan, why do they come so easily? Even if we have so much food, we can't give it all to them."

Xu Heng held out two fingers: "The price is two taels of silver and one stone."

Jin Xing was even more surprised: "Half a million shi is one million taels of silver. Can the Chisong clan afford so much?"

"The Akamatsu family wanted to use copper to offset the lack of money. The Muromachi shogunate had three bureaus and four positions, a total of seven families, and the Akamatsu family was one of them. If we compare it to the Ming Dynasty, the Akamatsu family is equivalent to the level of nobles like Wudinghou, maybe It's a little higher, even close to Xipinghou.

Their family is still very wealthy. If you think about it, the previous head of the family, Akamatsu Mitsuku, assassinated Ashikaga Yoshimasa's father, the sixth shogun.

Although this behavior is reckless, it also shows how powerful their family is. ” ˆ ˆ “Then let’s sell it to them? "

Xu Heng said with a smile: "Sell some of it. In fact, with Japan's current food shortage situation, if we connect with multiple buyers, we can sell it for five liang and one stone.

Save your money and sell it in small batches at a high price. The later you go, the more expensive it becomes.

And evil wolves like the Akamatsu clan should not be overfed.

Sell ​​[-] stones first and receive [-] taels of cash from them. When the new rice from Annan arrives this year, we will sell the grain as appropriate. "

Jin Xing also smiled and said: "No wonder the emperor insisted on sending me to supervise the army. This business is so good. Two taels of silver and one stone of rice, it's funny to think about it."

"Don't laugh, we gave the food to the Chisong family without even negotiating the price. This is just like being a good person.

The main reason is that the Akamatsu clan has a blood feud with the Ashikaga clan, and they are helping us to besiege Kyoto from the west. We cannot just watch them have civil uprisings and mutinies due to lack of food. "

After the two agreed, they sold [-] shi of grain at the price of two liang and one shi. Subtracting the cost of shipping food, the two of them tearfully earned a net profit of [-] taels of silver for the court from this transaction.

At the same time, he also helped his ally the Akamatsu clan to temporarily survive the famine and stabilize the situation.

……

April [-]th, the weather was fine.

After breakfast, Zhu Qiyu sat on the couch, leaning against the window. The couch and coffee table were filled with all kinds of porcelain.

Zhu Qiyu took several of his beloved concubines to examine the porcelain one by one.

Lin Xiangyu asked with a smile: "Porcelain from Jingdezhen official kilns and private kilns, Dehua white porcelain, and our own Qingzhou porcelain, which one do you think is better?"

Zhu Qiyu shook his head: "To be honest, although we have taken over the property of Prince Qi's Mansion in Qingzhou for several years, although Qingzhou Porcelain has made progress, it is still not as good as the other two.

Among the three, I obviously prefer Dehua white porcelain. I love white the most, and this Dehua porcelain is as crystal clear as jade and has a glaze like gelatin, which is very popular with me.

This Jingdezhen porcelain is not realistic enough or freehand enough. It is so colorful that it makes me dizzy.

There's nothing wrong with their technology, but I don't quite agree with their aesthetics. If they could be realistically realistic, I would be willing to take a high look at them. "

Lin Xiangyu nodded: "We all have the same preferences. These Dehua white porcelains are for home use and the others are for appreciation."

"The sea trade route will be opened soon. We can take porcelain, tea, silk and go out to exchange for overseas gems, spices and other specialties."

Lin Xiangyu asked curiously: "The slave family thought that my husband was going to exchange for silver and copper coins."

Zhu Qiyu teased: "Why exchange it for silver, exchange it for copper coins? Now the big silver mine and the big copper mine are in my own hands.

Japan has a lot of gold, silver, and copper mines, so its dignitaries and people have huge stocks of gold, silver, and copper.

How can there be so much silver and copper in other places overseas? If you go there with porcelain and silk, people can't bring you that much silver, so they can only exchange things for things, with gems, spices and other specialties. "

There are some things that Zhu Qiyu cannot say clearly. It was more than a hundred years later that people in the west exchanged American silver for Ming Dynasty goods.

The American silver mines are still buried in the mountains. Emperor Jingtai, who owns the Dexing Copper Mine and the Japanese gold, silver, and copper mines, is the largest holder of precious metals today.

(End of this chapter)