Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 101 Money incident begins
"He has had a bad temper since he was a child. I know this, but I never thought that he would even dare to contradict His Majesty, all because of Ying Guogong and Song Guogong."

In the Cunxin Hall of Prince Yan's Mansion, Zhu Di and Yao Guangxiao were sitting together, their faces full of embarrassment.

In front of them, Mrs. Xu, who was walking back and forth, was scolding her son for his faults. When it came to the key point, she frowned and lectured Zhu Di:

"I'm worried here, but you'd better go north to patrol the border. You can't find anyone for more than 500 miles."

Zhu Di was told by Mrs. Xu that he couldn't help but touch his beard, but before he could do it, he was stopped by Mrs. Xu's sharp gaze.

In order to divert Xu's attention, Zhu Di immediately coughed and said: "Ahem, Daoyan, tell me what my father means..."

Yao Guangxiao on the side almost showed a mask of pain when he heard this. Fortunately, the Buddhist beads in his hand helped him calm down. He could only pick up the letter from Zhu Gaochi and read it over and over again.

At this glance, he saw something, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your Highness and Princess, don't be anxious. According to my humble opinion, Your Majesty is probably just acting."

Yao Guangxiao showed the letter and said with his finger: "His Royal Highness wrote here. His Majesty did not ban His Majesty the Second Highness on the first day, but only banned the Second Highness when he was reminded the next day. This is enough to explain the ban. The Second Highness is not what His Majesty wants, but he has to do it.”

Yao Guangxiao put the letter away and saluted the two of them: "Your Highness should be fine, you don't have to worry."

"Let me just say...if my father had a temper, he would have lost it on the spot. Sure enough, the second child is fine."

Zhu Di spoke in a low voice at this time, which felt like an afterthought, causing Xu to glance at him, and Zhu Di smiled awkwardly in response.

Seeing that Zhu Di was safe, Mrs. Xu worriedly asked: "According to what the master said, Gao Xu is indeed fine, but he has done too many things this year. I'm worried that keeping him in the capital will cause even greater trouble." , I wonder if I can persuade His Majesty to send him back to Peking?"

"Yes, yes! It's best to send the second child back." Zhu Di quickly agreed, but it was not because he missed Zhu Gaoxu, but because he felt that when Zhu Gaoxu came to Peiping, someone would help him manage politics.

After all, this kid can enter the Wuying Palace, so wouldn't it be easy to deal with a Peiping?

By then, without the obstruction of government affairs, and with the ability of "looking at mountains and mines" that the boy didn't know where he learned from, he might be able to raise military resources and find an opportunity to go to the north and take care of Wu Liangha.

Zhu Di was having his own sweet dream, but Yao Guangxiao shook his head solemnly:

"If His Majesty and Grandson were not happy with His Highness's actions, I am afraid they would have sent him back to Peking."

"Since we are only grounding him now, and His Highness also said in his letter that His Majesty Taisun spoke kindly to His Highness the Second Highness in Wuying Palace, it seems that neither His Majesty nor His Majesty the Grandson wants His Highness to leave Nanjing..."

"That won't work!" When he heard that Zhu Gaoxu wouldn't come back, Zhu Di immediately quit. He stood up and walked back and forth with his hands behind his back, like a little brown bear.

"Wuliangha in the north is restless. I have to patrol the border all the time. I don't feel at ease when there is no one in Peiping. I have to let him come back."

"I will write a letter to dad right now!" Zhu Di slapped his forehead and was about to write a letter, but Yao Guangxiao saw this and quickly stopped him:

"Your Highness, no matter how difficult it is in Beiping, it can't be as difficult as things in the south."

"If Your Majesty doesn't want to release him, no matter how miserable you make Peiping, I'm afraid it will be difficult for His Highness to come back in a short time."

"The top priority is to send people to search for information in Nanjing City and find out why neither His Majesty nor the Grandson is willing to let His Highness return to the north."

Mrs. Xu didn't think as much as Zhu Di. She just wanted Zhu Gaoxu to be safe, so she walked up to Yao Guangxiao and squeezed Zhu Di away:

"Master, I leave this matter to you. I just want Gao Xu and the three of them to come back early and not have to wade through the muddy waters of Nanjing."

As the daughter of Xu Da, Xu naturally knew how dangerous Nanjing City was to them.

She is not worried about Zhu Gaoxu's life, but she is worried about Zhu Gaoxu being taken advantage of.

For example, Mrs. Xu didn't believe that Zhu Gaojiu could do things like those in Zhu Gaochi's letter. There is no better way to know a son than a mother. Zhu Gaojiu was the meat that fell from her body. She didn't know what Zhu Gaojiu was capable of.

The so-called "Treatise on Reducing the Domain", "Law of Money", "Looking at Mountains and Pointing Mines" and other matters may have been deliberately guided by someone, and my stupid son may have become someone else's pawn.

"I think these are all done by Gao Xu..."

Zhu Di spoke in a low voice, which immediately attracted the double gazes of Xu and Yao Guangxiao.

But this time Zhu Di did not give in, but analyzed: "Gao Chi may have been deceived by Gao Xu, but my father is a good man. If Gao Xu really didn't have any ability, I'm afraid my father would have written a letter to scold me." ”

"This..." Yao Guangxiao also looked embarrassed. He also felt that a person like Zhu Yuanzhang would not be able to detect a person's disguise.

From the current point of view, Zhu Yuanzhang really likes Zhu Gaoxu, and this alone is enough to explain everything.

Even if Zhu Gaoxu was not the leader of those matters, he probably had his share of participation, otherwise he would not be qualified to join the Wuying Hall to manage politics.

"We still have to wait for more detailed news from Nanjing to know."

Yao Guangxiao did not make a hasty decision, and Zhu Di and Xu had no choice but to nod in agreement.

But as soon as the two of them agreed, Zhu Di hugged Xu and walked aside, whispering: "Sister, I haven't done anything about patrolling yet..."

"Before Gao Xu's confinement is lifted, His Highness should wait in the palace. Commander Zhang will be responsible for patrolling the border." Mrs. Xu interrupted Zhu Di unceremoniously and walked out of the palace angrily.

"Sister! Sister!"

Seeing that Mrs. Xu didn't look back, Zhu Di quickly followed her while shouting.

Watching the two leave, Yao Guangxiao took out the letter written by Zhu Gaochi from his sleeve again.

Looking at the content above, Yao Guangxiao couldn't help but think of Zhu Gaoxu's childish face, his brows gradually wrinkled, making it difficult to separate...

Just when he was worried about Zhu Gaoxu's changes, all the northern vassals successively obtained various intelligence about Nanjing City.

Whether it’s the copper mines in Yunnan and Jiuhua Mountain, or the fact that the head of the three prefectures entered Wuying Palace to manage government...

All of this seems to be traceable to Zhu Gaoxu.

In the palace of Prince Jin in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, Zhu Fan lost his usual composure. At this moment, he was holding a thick stack of letters in his hand, with a very ugly expression on his face.

He was naturally happy that Zhu Jixi entered the Wuying Palace to manage politics, but he was even more angry at the changes in Zhu Gaoxu.

He wanted Zhu Jixi to be the first to enter the Wuying Palace to manage politics and become the No. 1 among the three generations of descendants besides Zhu Yunwen, but he did not want this title to be taken away by Zhu Gaoxu.

In addition, the recent situation in Jiangnan is also a bit strange, and it is probably related to Zhu Gaoxu.

Except for Zhu Jixi's entry into Wuying Hall to manage politics, only the fact that Zhu Gaoxu was banned from speaking for Fu Youde and Feng Sheng in Wuying Hall made Zhu Fan slightly happy.

"The fourth child did give birth to a good son, but fortunately, he is just a legitimate second son..."

Zhu Han slowly put down the thick letter in his hand. After a while, his face calmed down again and his eyebrows gradually relaxed.

In front of him was the Cunxin Hall where there was only one person, Chang Shi of the Jin Palace. While he was sitting on the main seat, his mind gradually became active.

"The old man doesn't want to kill them yet, so I have a chance."

After learning about Zhu Gaoxu's experience, Zhu Fan saw Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts, but he also knew that he could not contact Fu Youde immediately, otherwise the eldest nephew in his palace might immediately turn the gun against him, but...

"Humph, it's just a little baby."

The image of Zhu Yunwen flashed through Zhu Fan's mind, with a bit of contempt on his face.

"Your Highness, the second legitimate son of Yan, Xu, is speaking for Duke Ying and Duke Song. Could this be a conspiracy by King Yan?"

While Zhu Fan was deep in thought, the Chief of the Jin Palace, Shi, couldn't help but bowed and spoke, but Zhu Fan subconsciously shook his head in denial:
"Although the fourth child is on good terms with Ying Guogong, he is scared to death of my father. Even he himself does not dare to go to Shu to plead for Ying Guogong. How could he let a little baby plead for mercy?"

"So, is it really Yan's second son, Xu, who took it upon himself to plead for mercy?" Prince Palace Chief Shi couldn't believe it. After all, which 15-year-old boy dared to go against the emperor.

"Maybe..." Zhu Fan responded, but couldn't help but look at the three words 'Zhu Gaoxu' on the letter, and couldn't help but be a little curious about his nephew.

"This kid is quite interesting..."

Zhu Fan was deep in thought, but the palace chief Shi spoke again: "Right now, all the eyes in the palace are on the issue of 'deducting taxes with banknotes'. When this matter is over, I'm afraid the man in the East Palace will take action against Duke Ying. "

"Just him?" Zhu Fan smiled contemptuously, and then his face quickly turned gloomy:
"It's just relying on my father to support him. When I get everything done, I want to see if my father chooses me or him!"

As soon as his words were spoken, the royal palace chief Shi also lowered his head.

Seeing his appearance, Zhu Fan waved his hand casually: "Continue to pay attention to the matters in Nanjing City. In addition..."

Zhu Fan paused for a moment, but then continued: "The second-in-law Zixu should also send people to pay more attention. If this kid returns to the north in the future, I am afraid it will affect something."

He did not thank Zhu Gaoxu because Zhu Gaoxu indirectly helped him. Instead, he paid more attention to Zhu Gaoxu and believed that he would affect some of his layout in the future.

Such an approach is very unethical, but in Zhu Fan's opinion, morality is just something that only ordinary people can use!

Prince Shi heard the words and agreed, then bowed and left the Cunxin Hall.

At the same time, Zhu Xi of Prince Qin's Mansion in Xi'an also received news from Nanjing, but he did not have Zhu Di's worries or Zhu Fan's intentions.

He was just happy for a moment after learning that Zhu Shangbing had also joined Wuying Palace to manage politics, and then he was busy leading his troops out of the city to hunt.

He knew very well that Fu Youde and Feng Sheng would not live long. As long as they died, he would be able to plot military power in the northwest.

Before that, you have to make some preparations.

Thinking of this, Zhu Xi led his bodyguards to march to the Qinling Mountains in the south, and Zhu Gaoxu's deeds spread completely among the clan.

Regarding his disobedience to Lao Zhu's wishes in the Wuying Palace, many feudal kings only regarded it as a show of excitement. After all, not everyone could have the thoughts and strength of the four powerful feudal clans "Qin, Jin, Yan and Zhou".

But no matter what, the name Zhu Gaoxu was remembered by all the vassal kings...

"Dang...dang...dang..."

At nine o'clock, as the morning bell of Nanjing rang, Zhu Gaoxu in the dark room also groaned and turned over.

After repeating this several times, he finally opened his eyes due to the noise of the bell, and there was also the sound of rushing water outside the house.Zhu Gaoxu turned around and put on his middle coat and round-neck robe. He pulled his long hair and sat in front of the bronze mirror in the bedroom. He skillfully pulled his hair into a bun, and finally tied it all with a wooden hairpin.

When he got up and left the house, there was already smoke from the kitchen, and someone was getting up and tidying up in the side room on the left side of the courtyard. The courtyard door was opened, and Lin Wuliu was changing shifts with Wu Zhangyi.

"Your Highness, please wait a moment, the hot water will be ready soon!"

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu getting up, a thirty-year-old man working in the kitchen greeted him with a smile. Zhu Gaoxu had become accustomed to all this during the past ten days of confinement.

He stretched out a few times in the yard, while the brothers on shift "ignored" him and were minding their own business.

When the shift ended, Lin Wuliu and Wu Zhangyicai ran into the yard and bowed to Zhu Gaoxu: "Your Highness, let's go home first."

As soon as Wu Zhang finished speaking, Lin Wuliu also said: "Breakfast has been bought by someone. Your Highness, you can eat it after you wash up."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work." Zhu Gaoxu did not shirk the blame. After all, in his opinion, everyone in the Xu family was his brother.

Seeing him like this, Wu Zhangyi also packed up his saber and led his brothers in armor out of the yard.

"Your Highness, we are leaving!"

"Well, be careful on the road."

The brothers waved goodbye to Zhu Gaoxu before leaving, and Zhu Gaoxu responded with a smile.

In the blink of an eye, Wu Zhangyi and others had left, leaving behind Lin Wuliu and the nine brothers of Jiazi Xiaoqi.

They bowed and saluted Zhu Gaoxu as always, and then divided their duties and rested as before.

Zhu Gaoxu washed himself with hot water from the kitchen. After finishing, Lin Wuliu also sent someone to buy fried cakes, soy milk and other breakfast.

After washing up, Zhu Gaochi had a meal with the six brothers who were resting, and talked about the events in Nanjing in the past few days.

"Wu Liu, have the prices of treasure notes gone up?"

He asked while holding a bowl of soy milk, and Lin Wuliu replied while eating fried cakes:

"As you expected, it has only been ten days, and the treasure banknotes in the city have risen again. Now the usual treasure banknotes can be exchanged for four hundred coins."

"I haven't asked Su Song yet. I guess Wang Baihu will bring news to you in the afternoon."

Lin Wuliu was just a small flag officer, so naturally he couldn't find out the news about Su Song's second mansion. In comparison, Wang Jian's sources of information were wider. As long as he chatted with hundreds of officials from other guards, he could get information from them. The hundreds of officials on duty at each city gate discovered news from other places.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu changed the topic and directed the topic in the courtyard to a more familiar topic, which made everyone laugh and chat.

After breakfast was finished, Zhu Gaoxu returned to the study without doing anything, and Lin Wuliu took the two of them to clean up the dishes.

Looking at them, Zhu Gaoxu felt that he didn't feel like he was grounded, but rather like he had invited a group of people to take care of him.

Although he couldn't go out, he could basically get some ordinary news through Wang Jian, Lin Wuliu, Wu Zhangyi and others.

If this can be called grounding, then Fu Youde and Feng Sheng may be imprisoned.

"It's been ten days and there's still no news..."

Sitting back on the chair in the study, Zhu Gaoxu held a copybook in one hand and prepared to practice calligraphy while thinking continuously in his mind.

He had a hunch that he might be able to leave Nanjing City soon, perhaps not long after the ban was lifted.

"The rise of Baochao is too fast. This is definitely not what Zhu Yunwen can do..."

The figure of Zhu Yuanzhang appeared in Zhu Gaoxu's mind, because only he could do such a thing.

The current situation is very similar to the stocks in the stock market in later generations. The difference is that one is a stock and the other is a treasure.

Zhu Gaoxu studied ink and practiced calligraphy while analyzing the current situation in his heart.

"The autumn harvest is coming soon. This time, Su and Song's second government can use banknotes to offset taxes, which can offset at least 300 million guan."

"Given the current amount of treasure banknotes in Jiangnan, I am afraid that these 300 million guans of treasure banknotes have already been collected. Those big wealthy squires are expected to stop soon. If they stop, then..."

Zhu Gaoxu stroked his pen for a moment. He probably knew what would happen next, and his hand holding the pen tightened.

"Collect treasure notes! They are always worth four hundred and six cents!"

Suddenly, there were jingling sounds and voices shouting to collect treasure money from outside the hospital.

The sound was loud at first, but it seemed to have seen the soldiers at the courtyard gate, so it became quieter when passing by the gate, and it didn't get louder again until they were far away.

"It has risen again..."

Zhu Gaoxu frowned slightly. He really didn't expect that Lao Zhu would come up with further ideas on his "Money Law".

"Tulip crisis..." He couldn't help but think of the Dutch tulip financial crisis 200 years later.

In The Tulip Trap, Dutch merchants profited from the trade in tulips obtained from the East.

This kind of trade was normal at first, but as Dutch merchants hoarded tulip bulbs on a large scale, tulips became the most sought-after commodity at the time. The price skyrocketed, and tulip merchants made a lot of money.

When one person starts to make money, others will become enthusiastic about it, and then more people will enter the market and get involved in this big speculation, hoping to jump on the carriage of getting rich overnight.

In just a few years, the whole country in the Netherlands began to be crazy about tulips, and some even spent money buying tulip bulbs.

In an era when three hundred guilders could meet a family's annual expenses, a rare tulip named "Forever Augustus" was sold for as high as [-] guilders, and this money could buy To a mansion on the canals of Amsterdam.

Speculators believe that tulips are worth it no matter how expensive they are because they are beautiful and have a promising future.

In the illusion of tulip prices continuing to rise rapidly, almost no one can hold the reins of speculation and profit-seeking, and a transaction similar to the modern futures market came into being.

In order to facilitate tulip trading, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange opened a fixed tulip trading place, and later cities such as Rotterdam and Leiden also followed suit.

The newly formed "futures" market has no clear rules and no specific constraints on buyers and sellers, making it easier for merchants to buy and sell, making the tulip bubble continue to expand.

Madness became a common sight in the tulip market, but after the madness came the crash.

When the tulip market reached its peak, the market began to collapse without any warning.

Someone started selling out their Tulip contracts, and it was like the first domino to fall.

When the first domino fell, more people began to sell their accumulated tulip contracts, and tulip prices plummeted.

One week later, the price of tulips had dropped by an average of 90%, and investors had lost all their money.

In the end, the Dutch government had to order the termination of all tulip contracts, but by this time most ordinary Dutch families had already been swept away by the economic crisis.

There are still many such things, and the current Ming Dynasty Baobao looks a bit like a low-end version of the "Tulip Crisis".

Now it seems that the price of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes has increased, but the problem is that the number of treasure banknotes on the market has not changed. It has just circulated and concentrated in the hands of wealthy households, squires and a large number of ordinary people in Susong's second mansion.

If the imperial court collects the treasure banknotes in accordance with the originally established rules, then the people will not suffer harm to their interests, and only the Ministry of Household Affairs will really suffer losses.

But once the Ministry of Revenue fails to do what it said in advance, Susong and the Second Mansion, as well as most of the people in Jiangnan who are currently hoarding money, will suffer unforeseen disasters.

But there is no problem with this, because when Zhu Gaoxu first mentioned "using banknotes to offset taxes", it was to recover the treasured banknotes and let the real value of the treasured banknotes rise.

As for the loss of profits suffered by the Ministry of Revenue, it can also be compensated for by the gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan and Jiuhuashan.

However, in the face of the rapidly rising Baochao, Zhu Gaoxu still couldn't help but feel guilty.

Even though he had the full face value of the banknotes, he was still worried that he would collapse the policy of "paying taxes with banknotes". After all, he never had the opportunity to implement his own economic measures on a country in his previous life.

Judging from the current situation, once the 'money tax offset' policy collapses, I will become a villain that everyone in the Susong and Song Dynasties despises...

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu regretted his original recklessness.

If he hadn't proposed "paying taxes with cash" at that time, I'm afraid he wouldn't have so many things bothering him now.

While trying to protect Feng and Fu, they also need to be wary of the collapse of the Baochao economy...

Such pressure made Zhu Gaoxu feel heavy, but he also knew that if this hurdle passed, it would be difficult for anything to overwhelm him in the future.

With a long sigh, Zhu Gaoxu wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "You have become too stubborn. I can no longer find things for myself to do in the future."

After saying that, he looked towards the corner of the study.

There, there were three large boxes delivered a few days ago, containing hundreds of gold, silver, and copper coins.

The person who delivered the things was Donggong Li Daiban whom he met last time. After delivering the things, he also sent a message to Zhu Yunwen, that is, Zhu Yunwen would try his best to put in a good word for himself in front of Lao Zhu and persuade him not to be anxious. It won't be long before he can get out.

Regarding the words sent by Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Gaoxu just laughed it off.

He believed that Zhu Yunwen said good things for him, but Zhu Yunwen was definitely not purely kind-hearted.

Judging from the current situation, his ability to "look at mountains and mines" is the reason why Zhu Yunwen wants to save him.

But even so, Zhu Yunwen still didn't like himself.

But this is not surprising. After all, if it weren't for him, Fu Youde would have been in hell by now, and his good third uncle would have had his arm chopped off.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu had a strange expression and couldn't help but rub his hands:
"If my father knew that I helped my third uncle, I'm afraid he would be so angry that he would chase me all over the courtyard with a stick."

When he thought of the scene of Zhu Di chasing him with a stick, even though Zhu Gaoxu had traveled through time, the memory retained by his predecessor still made him shudder...

(End of this chapter)