Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 305: Rewarding Nanyang Rock Candy
Three days later.

Hall of Martial Arts.

Zhu Gaoxu sat behind the imperial table, looking down at the list presented by Jian Yi, the official minister, with a pleased smile on his face, stroking his beard and saying: "Good!"

There are a total of eighteen candidates on this list, all of whom are Beijing officials around 50 years old.

Moreover, they were among the first batch of old people to take part in the new imperial examination. After passing the imperial examination in the early years of Yongle, they worked hard in the officialdom for more than [-] years.

In fact, it was not that Jian Yi, Qi Tai and others, out of consideration for the Holy Heart, intended to recommend officials from the new imperial examinations, but that they looked at the entire Gyeonggi area and could not find officials of the right age and experience from the traditional imperial examinations. .

In the 31st year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty ordered the pilot implementation of the new imperial examination policy. From the early years of Yongle, the new imperial examination policy was fully rolled out.

The benefits of obtaining scholars by subject have been mentioned before and will not be repeated here. However, there is one point that must be highlighted.

That is, after the division of subjects, each of the nine subjects has its own strengths. Even though the Four Books and Five Classics are compulsory studies, the ideological concepts of each subject are still very different from those of other subjects.

For example, when scholars of the Legal Science Department do something, they often instinctively consider whether the matter violates the laws of the Ming Dynasty. They are born with the way of thinking of a Legalist apprentice.

Officials with Jinshi backgrounds in finance and economics, mathematics, education, construction and engineering, agriculture, medicine, literature and history, and martial arts have different ways of thinking.

In other words, unless there are sufficiently large interests, it is generally difficult for people with different ideas to urinate into a pot.

Of course, these people will also gradually gather together for reasons such as being from the same hometown, classmates, and classmates, and even inevitably form parties for selfish purposes. After all, this is a weakness of human nature.

However, for Zhu Gaoxu, the supreme ruler of the Ming Dynasty, he could take advantage of the ideological differences between officials from different disciplines to deliberately create ideological conflicts and break the traditional situation in which civil servants easily cliqued together.

In this way, the resistance to Zhu Gaoxu's implementation of the New Deal will be greatly reduced.

"Your Majesty, if you have nothing else to say, would you please retire first?"

Seeing that the emperor was fascinated, Jian Yi bowed and said with interest.

Zhu Gaoxu raised his head slightly and said loudly: "Jian Aiqing has done a good job in handling this matter. I have decided to grant your request as a reward."

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I don't dare to take credit for this. After all, the governors of the six provinces are elected by the officials of the six ministries."

Jian Yi responded respectfully.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "In that case, everyone will be rewarded."

When he said this, he turned to look at Kang Ping and ordered: "According to my decree, the officials of the six departments have discussed the candidate for the governor of the six provinces, which is in my heart. I am very happy, and I will give each person ten kilograms of Nanyang rock sugar as a special reward. Jian, the Minister of the Ministry of official affairs, A righteous man looks at the overall situation, works tirelessly, and doubles his rewards.”

"The servants lead the order."

Kang Ping bowed and accepted the order.

Jian Yi was stunned when he heard this. He was secretly happy in his heart, but his face remained calm as usual. He bowed respectfully and said, "I thank your majesty for the reward."

This is twenty pounds of rock candy!

Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, the saying "one tael of sugar and one tael of gold" has been circulated among the people. The "sugar" here is rock sugar, and its price is comparable to that of amber!

During the reign of Zong Dali of the Tang Dynasty, the monk Zou traveled to Umbrella Mountain, thirty miles north of Suining City. He saw the beautiful mountains and clear waters and sugarcane fields, so he lived on the mountain with thatch.

At that time, Suining was rich in sugar cane, but its sugar-making technology was backward, so it had to rely on exposure to the sun to obtain low-quality sugar.

On the basis of summarizing the sugar-making experience in other places, Monk Zou carefully researched and after many experiments, he pioneered the technology of making sugar frost with yìn, and created a complete set of steaming, boiling, decoction and steaming, filling and urn connection and taking. Frosting method produces excellent frosting with good aroma and taste.

After this technique of making icing spread, Suining gradually became the first place to produce icing in the Tang Dynasty. The icing produced was smooth and crystal clear, delicious and refreshing, and was listed as a tribute to the imperial court.

Because this kind of frosting looks like ice cubes, people call it rock sugar.

By the Song Dynasty, Suining's sugar industry had become the first of the five largest sugar-producing areas in the world.

In order to express their gratitude to Monk Zou, the local people painted his portrait and worshiped him as a god or Buddha.

Historically, in the 18th year of Wanli reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty, Shen Bang, then magistrate of Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture, recorded the prices at that time: "Eight cents per catty of rice, forty cents per catty of sugar." That is, the price of white sugar is the price of rice. Fourteen times as much.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Shuntian Mansion does not produce sugar.

Because the production process of rock sugar is more complicated, its price is more expensive than white sugar.

After history was changed, many islands in Southeast Asia were occupied by the Ming Dynasty. Under the guidance of the imperial court, the people who immigrated to Southeast Asia planted sugar cane extensively, and gradually formed a huge sugar industry.

The rock sugar sent as tribute from Nanyang is the best among rock sugars and is used by the royal family. Its price is more than ten times that of Shuntian Prefecture sugar during the Wanli period in history.

In other words, the price of a pound of Nanyang rock sugar at this time is more than 140 times that of a pound of ordinary rice.

If the [-] kilograms of Nanyang rock sugar that Zhu Gaoxu rewarded Jian Yi could be exchanged for ordinary rice in the market, it would be worth at least [-] kilograms!
Although this seems very unreasonable, things are more valuable when they are scarce. In later generations, an ordinary three-bedroom apartment in the capital cost tens of millions. This is the logic.

"Okay, you step back."

Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand.

Jian Yi bowed again and said: "Wei Chen, please retire."

After a while.

Just as Zhu Gaoxu was pondering over the candidates for governor of the six provinces, Changsheng, the eunuch on duty outside the palace, bowed inside and said, "Your Majesty, Sai Hazhi, the commander of the Imperial Guards, claimed that he had something important to report and came here to see you?"

Zhu Gaoxu knew that Jin Yiwei must have obtained important information, so he nodded and said: "Let him come in."

"It is said that Sai Hazhi has entered the palace." Changsheng shouted loudly.

Immediately, Saihazhi bowed and walked twenty steps away from the imperial case, knelt on one knee, saluted and said: "I pay homage to your majesty, long live my emperor."

"No gift, flat body."

Seeing Sai Hazhi's slightly panicked expression, Zhu Gaoxu knew that something big was going to happen, so he immediately ordered Kang Ping, Changsheng and other attendants decisively: "All of you, please step back."

"The slaves retire."

Kang Ping, Chang Sheng and other eunuchs bowed and retreated with great discernment.

"Say."

Zhu Gaoxu said in a deep voice.

Saihazhi clasped his fists and knelt down and said in a marching salute: "Your Majesty, the commander of the Guangxi capital, Han Guan, died suddenly during a rapid march. The accompanying military doctor consulted and performed an autopsy and issued a document, which concluded that he had heart failure caused by overwork."

When Zhu Gaoxu heard this, his expression suddenly changed.

After being silent for more than ten breaths, he took a deep breath and asked slowly: "When did you receive this news?"

"Just now. As soon as the general got the news, he immediately came to see His Majesty."

Sai Hazhi whispered.

After he said this, he took out a secret letter from his arms, bowed to the imperial table, and presented it to Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu took the secret letter and read it again and again carefully.

He found that the secret letter was sent along with the autopsy document issued by the accompanying military doctor for Han Guan after consultation.

"I am writing two secret edicts for you. The first is to order Tongzhi Shanyun, the commander of the Guangxi capital, to temporarily take over the position of the commander of the Guangxi capital and continue to encircle and suppress the remnants of the White Lotus Sect and the local rebels and bandits; the second is to order the general Gu Xingzu to assist Guangxi. , there must be no mistake.”

After Zhu Gaoxu put away the secret letter, he wrote two secret edicts and stamped them respectively.

(End of this chapter)