Smuggling Daming

It took Wang Shouren nearly half a year to travel all over Taiwan and Malacca. On the two lands newly occupied by the Ming Dynasty, Wang Shouren saw countless Han people who moved from the Central Plains live there, and everywhere he looked was full of vitality. In the lively scene, everyone has a sincere smile on their faces. Compared with most of the poor and numb people in Daming, Wang Shouren feels that the people in these two places are really alive.

Taiwan's government is now mainly based on agriculture. Immigrants will be allocated a field after they arrive there, and the hardworking people will work hard on their own fields. Both the sweet potatoes of the previous year and the corn of the previous year have achieved huge harvests here. This has made the entire Taiwan Province a famous food producing area in the south. The dried sweet potatoes and corn produced here have begun to be sold to various places in Ming Dynasty. In addition, secondary processed foods such as sweet potato wine, vermicelli, and cornmeal have also begun to become important products of the Taiwan Province. .

Compared with Taiwan's agriculture, Malacca is mainly commercial, and most people are engaged in commercial-related jobs. After all, it is a commercial port, and the port's income accounts for more than [-]% of the entire Malacca's income.And here in Malacca, Wang Shouren really saw what Zhou Zhong said. Less than [-]% of the total population is engaged in agriculture, and the remaining [-]% are engaged in industry and commerce, but the food here can be self-sufficient. , and the people here are richer than the people in Taiwan. From this, it can be seen that Zhou Zhong's idea of ​​feeding most of the people with industry and commerce is absolutely feasible.

Through a comprehensive inspection of Malacca and Taiwan, Wang Shouren also gained a lot.In particular, he gained a deeper understanding of the relationship between industry, commerce and agriculture, and at the same time strengthened his determination to assist Zhou Zhong in completing the transformation of Ming Dynasty.

Of course, not all the things Wang Shouren encountered along the way made him happy. In some places in Taiwan and Malacca, he found that most of the local officials had just entered the officialdom and had no idea how to manage the people under their rule. Too much experience has turned some things that could have been done well into a mess, and some officials even feel that the sky is high and the emperor is far away.The land under his rule was very remote, so he simply became the emperor of the land and exploited the people under his rule, making the people miserable. If Wang Shouren hadn't dealt with those officials in time, there might be a civil uprising in a short time.

However, although Wang Shouren met some bad officials on the road.But in general, Taiwan and Malacca left him with a very rich and beautiful impression, especially those big merchants who appeared in the port of Malacca. Box of pure rubies, which attracted many sea merchants to compete.The maritime merchants present competed for quotations, and each price increase was more than a thousand taels.This made Wang Shouren couldn't help being shocked by the wealth of these sea merchants. After all, as a senior official from the second rank, his annual salary is not enough for a one-time price increase.

Wang Shouren stayed in Malacca for more than a month. During this time, he never revealed his identity, nor did he contact the local government.Instead, he traveled around Malacca as an ordinary person, during which time some officials were found to be dereliction of duty.But in general, the administration of officials in Malacca is better than that in Taiwan. Firstly, Malacca is a small place, and secondly, Zhou Zhong attaches great importance to Malacca, so the local officials pay close attention to the administration of officials.

It was not until two days before Wang Shouren was about to leave Malacca that he visited the prefect of Malacca as an envoy, that is, Tang Yin Tang Bohu, a great talent he had heard about for a long time. Not far away, when Wang Shouren was studying in Yangzhou, he once had a relationship with Tang Bohu. Wang Shouren was two years younger than Tang Bohu, and he admired Tang Bohu's talent very much, so he was always called Tang Bohu.

What is even more coincidental is that Wang Shouren and Tang Bohu took part in the imperial examination in the same year in the capital, but it is a pity that Tang Bohu not only lost his fame but also could not take part in the imperial examination for life because he was implicated in the "examination leak case".In contrast, Wang Shouren achieved the No. 7 result of the second-class Jinshi, and has since embarked on officialdom.

Speaking of it, Wang Shouren didn't believe that Tang Bohu would cheat in the imperial examination at all. After all, with Tang Bohu's talent and learning, it was easy to pass the imperial examination. Unfortunately, he was so soft-spoken at the time that he couldn't help Tang Bohu at all. Fortunately, Tang Bohu was later restored by His Majesty. When Wang Shouren heard the news, He also breathed a sigh of relief, and what is even more amazing is that now the two are officials in the same place, and they meet again in this overseas place.

It's just that when he saw Tang Bohu again, Wang Shouren almost couldn't recognize him, because what appeared in front of him was no longer the suave and suave great talent back then, but a hard-working Ming official, and even his whole temperament changed. Such a big change that Wang Shouren almost didn't recognize it.

Tang Bohu and Wang Shouren were naturally very happy to meet their old friends. However, after talking about their private matters, Wang Shouren, as an inspector, recounted his experience in various places in Malacca, and Tang Bohu's deficiencies in administration. What Wang Shouren said Well, Tang Bohu is also sincerely taught. After all, Wang Shouren has been an official for many years, and he is indeed better than him in terms of being an official. Second, this is originally the duty of the inspector. If you don't say anything, the consequences will be more serious.

That night, Wang Shouren and Tang Bohu served a few small dishes in the gazebo in the backyard of the magistrate's yamen, together with a pot of fine wine, intending not to get drunk and not to return home.After all, "meeting an old acquaintance in another hometown" is one of the four joys in life, not to mention that this is Nanyang, thousands of miles away from Daming, and both of them know each other's personality, so they both drink freely, and even some people in the officialdom What should not be said, they also have no taboos to talk about it.

"Bo'an, I'm not afraid of making fun of you if you say it. Brother Wei's recovery of fame this time all depends on the indirect help of the governor, otherwise I can only spend my life in waking life, dreaming and dying!" Tang Bohu said at this time Already a bit drunk, coupled with the hot weather in Nanyang, I saw him tearing off his clothes, exposing his chest and shouting loudly.

"Oh? What's so ridiculous about this? Although the governor is much younger than you and me, he is a man with great ambitions. After I talked with the governor before, I feel that I have benefited a lot. Brother Tang can get If the Governor's help is passed on to future generations, it will be a good story, so how can there be a joke?" Wang Shouren also felt that the weather in Nanyang was hot, so he also took off his outer robe at this time, wearing only a single shirt and laughed.

"Hey, I just said that the governor helped me indirectly, but this matter must not be spread, otherwise not only will I have trouble with the governor, but even His Majesty's place will be ugly." Tang Bohu said, He told how he entered the palace to help Emperor Zhengde draw erotic pictures, and that the content of the erotic pictures was "Jin Ping Mei" written by Zhou Chong. Originally, Tang Bohu had never told anyone else about this matter except Zhou Zhong. I mentioned it, but Wang Shouren's arrival today made him very happy, and he also knew that the Yuyao talent in front of him was a man with a big heart, so he wasn't worried that Wang Shouren would spread the word about it.

After listening to Tang Bohu's tortuous experience of recovering his fame, Wang Shouren was also stunned in surprise. He was not surprised by Zhengde's absurdity, but he really didn't expect that a character like Zhou Zhong would write such an eclectic novel, but Then he thought that the most popular "Journey to the West" in the world seems to be written by Zhou Zhong. From this point of view, it seems that Zhou Zhong is indeed capable of writing a novel that even Tang Bohu feels very amazing.

Thinking of this, Wang Shouren also shook his head with a wry smile, but although he felt that Zhou Chong's writing such a voluptuous novel was a bit of a joke for Zhengde, he did not underestimate Zhou Zhong because of this, after all, everyone has a time when he is young and frivolous, such as the time before him. This Tang Bohu, who used to stay in brothels every night, isn't he also a qualified official now?

Tang Bohu mentioned Zhou Zhong, which made Wang Shouren very interested. After having a hasty chat with Zhou Zhong before, he took people to Taiwan on the third day. He didn't have time to talk to Zhou Zhong in detail. Sometimes I feel a little regretful.In addition, he was also very curious about Zhou Zhong himself. The Tang Bohu in front of him was considered an old man under Zhou Zhong, so he must know Zhou Zhong very well, so he wanted to hear what kind of person Zhou Zhong was in Tang Bohu's eyes.

What Wang Shouren didn't expect was that just as he raised his question, Tang Bohu, who was already a little drunk, suddenly woke up, and said with a serious face: "Boan, I don't care about the behavior of the governor. I know how to describe it. Before, I saw that the Governor vigorously developed the seaport and encouraged industry and commerce, which made me very puzzled. After all, in my opinion, encouraging Nongsang is what officials should do."

When talking about this, Tang Bohu paused for a moment and then continued: "But then I found out that my idea was really ridiculous. The profit of the seaport is countless times that of agriculture. Not to mention, Malacca is less than Taiwan. One-thirtieth, but the tax revenue invited is not less than that of Taiwan government. From this, we can see the great role of maritime trade and industry and commerce. Therefore, since I took office, I have always followed the original instructions of the Governor-General to vigorously develop Malacca's industry, commerce and maritime trade. , You have also seen the results now, and I feel extremely satisfied when I see countless ships departing from the port every morning!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets, you Your support is my greatest motivation.)