Idle courtiers

Chapter 244 My Dad Is Li Wei

After finishing this matter, Deputy Envoy Guo came back and brought back 20 taels of silver.

Seeing the four ingots and five taels of small ingots, Zhou Nan felt tears streaming down his face: The heavens are pitiful, this is the first income I can get after I came to Beijing, and finally I don’t have to eat soft meals.

His monthly income in the Pedestrian Department is only two taels of silver. Living in the capital is not easy. This salary is not even enough for social occasions. When using money, it is spent from Xun Fangyu's private money.

In addition, Xun Fangyu paid for the house in the capital after all.

Zhou Nan felt a headache seeing the women and maids brought by Xun Fangyu bossing around in front of Wotou, soybeans, and blue flowers.If things go on like this, isn't the west wind at home going to overwhelm the east wind?

Lao Guo: "My lord, since he has been arrested, this subordinate will send him to Qian Xunjian."

Zhou Nan thought for a while and said, "I'm not busy, we'll talk about it tomorrow."

Lao Guo nodded: "It's good to let him hang out. It's too easy to get things and you don't know how to cherish them." He also suggested: "My lord, let's let a master go back and let him bring the news to Le Juren. I have checked clearly. That Le Juren has no background, he is just an ordinary squire. As long as he knows how to be a man, if he wants to continue this business for a long time, he will inevitably come to Daxing in person, and he will naturally have a filial piety."

Wouldn't it be nice to eat money at both ends?
Zhou Nan thought for a while, then shook his head: "The appearance of eating is too ugly, it's detrimental to my lord, that's all. These twenty people were locked up for three or four days and then released back. Le Juren learned this lesson, and I'm sure I won't pester him again in the future." Deduct [-]% of the impurities."

He still felt ashamed, and he couldn't get over the barrier in his heart for doing such a thing.

Zhou Nan felt strange.This Le Juren used to remove [-]% of the skin when sending pig iron to the Military Weapons Bureau.He didn't make trouble before, but today the masters want to make trouble, why is this?

Speaking of the deduction of [-]% of impurities, it involves the salt and iron monopoly system of the Ming Dynasty.

Since the Han Dynasty, salt has been a daily necessity of ordinary people and one of the main revenues of the country's finances; copper and iron can not only be used to make money, but also can be used to make weapons.

Therefore, the state implements a monopoly system and implements strict control.

By the time of the Ming Dynasty, with the further development of the economy, with the further strengthening of the ruling power of the central government.The salt policy is still strict, but the iron policy has been relaxed. In addition to government operations, private mining is also allowed.

The reason is simple. China's iron ore is of low grade and difficult to mine. The mines are scattered in the mountains.If it is all government-run, the cost is too high, and in the end, it may even lose money when it is settled.

Besides, if every piece of ironware is dedicated, too much manpower will be involved.Is it impossible for ordinary people to go to the Yamen to report to the real-name system every time they buy a pot, a sickle, or a lock?In this way, there is no need to do other things in the yamen every day.

Therefore, from the year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang lifted the ban on iron, and issued an edict to order iron smelting everywhere, so that the people can collect and refine it by themselves, and take two out of every [-] points for the year-old class.In other words, two-thirtieth of the business tax is collected every year.

Of course, up to now, this tax rate has doubled several times.

In addition to taxes, there are various miscellaneous donations.

However, because these mines are located deep in the mountains and controlled by local gentry, it is not easy to collect taxes.Therefore, starting from the Jiajing year, the emperor's family sent mine supervisors to various mines to collect money.All the money collected went into the emperor's internal treasury until the emperor was limped by the Donglin Party and withdrew all the eunuchs during the Chongzhen period.

As mentioned earlier, the biggest problem with iron ore in China is that it is of low grade and difficult to mine.In particular, it contains impurities such as sulfur, and the quality is very low. If the cast pig iron is directly used to make weapons, it will be easily broken and brittle.

This disadvantage is now very prominent in the southeast war against the Japanese. The Yanling sword of the Ming army paired with the Japanese Japanese sword was often cut in two.

It is also for this reason that Qi Jiguang invented the mandarin duck formation on Tang Shunzhi's on-demand broadcast, and made the soldiers change into long weapons.

In fact, the way to obtain qualified steel is also very simple. It is to ask the blacksmith to forge it repeatedly. As long as the time is long enough and the number of times is enough, the impurities in the pig iron can always be forged little by little.

The impurities that are knocked out are not a small loss, usually between [-]% and [-]%, and the Armament Bureau will deduct them when collecting pig iron.

Zhou Nan also couldn't understand that Le Juren would suddenly be entangled in this matter today. This person has no background and is so arrogant. Isn't that crazy? Would he still want to do this business in the future?
Just as he was thinking, another soldier sent a post, saying that a local squire named Li hosted a banquet in "Su Yu Lou" to welcome the grand master.

Zhou Nan saw that it was Suyulou again. Could it be that there is no good place to go in Baigezhuang?The vulgar and vulgar fans of that place, Mr. Zhou respectfully thanked him for not being sensitive, so he was about to push him away.

It was too late to say it, and then a few more posts were sent over, all of which were from local merchants, and they were still welcoming the old man, and the location was unsurprisingly Suyulou.It turns out that Baigezhuang is located on the official road, which is the main road connecting Baoding Mansion in the southwest of the capital.After the Military Weapons Bureau was established here, it became a thoroughfare due to the increase in population.

The Military Weapons Bureau took over the law and order authority of the local inspection department in Daxing County. If the merchant had something to do, he would definitely ask Mr. Zhou to come to him. Naturally, he wanted to please him.

Deputy Envoy Guo reminded Zhou Nan: "My lord, these squires want to get along with you. If you don't show face, it's not appropriate. At least you have to deal with it."

Zhou Nan was amused, and joked, "Old Guo still thinks about that baby Lin?"

Lao Guo shook his head: "The dewy love, let's just let it go later, it can't be taken seriously. Actually, I also want to get to know the people in the local area, and today is also an opportunity." If you turn your head back, you will be laughed at in the fast food industry.

Zhou Nan understood, and the country gentry and merchants must be filial when they go down, so they might as well go there.

So, for dinner that day, Zhou Nan came to Suyulou, had a few glasses of wine with a lot of local dignitaries, looked at some really hideous women, and wrote some romantic poems.

Lao Guo hooked up with everyone for a long time, and received more than 20 taels of red envelopes for Mr. Zhou, and then excitedly got into Lin Baobao's room.

Zhou Nan didn't bother to care about this duplicity hungry tuberculosis, so he couldn't stop drinking.

After drinking and eating to the fullest, seeing how respectful everyone is to him, the elder is very happy today.

Soon, it was completely dark.

Seeing that it was almost time, everyone left.

Mr. Zhou sat in the abode and started a fierce ideological struggle. Did he sleep in this building today?Speaking of which, I have been guarding my body like jade for more than half a year... But, it is easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but difficult to go from extravagant to frugal. The women here... There are no women here, so I can't talk at all!

Just as I was thinking, I suddenly saw a man rushing in aggressively, and shouted in a low voice: "Master Zhou, what you are doing is not natural!"

The person who came was the inspector Qian.

Zhou Nan turned the wine glass in his hand and said with a smile: "The inspector blames me for not inviting you for a drink out?"

Qian Xunjian's eyes flashed with anger: "Master Zhou, we have agreed on the crimes committed by people. You have collected enough people, but you let them go back. You collect money and do nothing. You want to blackmail the official." Is there any justice in this world, who would dare to get close to you if it spreads out?"

Zhou Nan was stunned: "I arrested more than 20 people, and I plan to send them to you early tomorrow morning. They are locked in the classroom right now, or you can take people there to receive them now."

Seeing that his expression did not seem to be fake, Qian Xunjian asked, "Your Excellency, you really don't know?"

Zhou Nan: "What do I know, old Qian, what's going on, please tell me clearly!"

"It's really strange that the old man doesn't know about it. It's strange." Qian Xunjian said, "I've heard about the fact that the Weapons Bureau has arrested more than 20 breeding wives. The old man is indeed a rich man. However, Just now, a street patrolman from my side came to report that your yamen released those 20 people again."

Zhou Nan was furious, and charged at the case: "Who is so bold to release him without my master's nod, I'll go back to the Yamen to have a look. Don't worry about Qian Xunjian, I will definitely give you an explanation."

He hurried out of the room and yelled to the other end: "Old Guo, Deputy Envoy Guo, something has happened, hurry back to the Yamen!"

Old Guo leaned against the wall and came out: "What's the matter, what's your order?"

Zhou Nan's face was ashen: "Wei Yan came out of the yamen. My master came to the Military Weapons Bureau this time to convince people with virtue. It seems that today we will take some unsightly guys to sacrifice the flag."

"Straight mother thief, you are so bold. Don't worry, old master, Lao Guo knows how to do this." Hearing what Zhou Nan said about this, Lao Guo's face flashed fiercely.

This matter is a challenge to the authority of Mr. Zhou and his second Mr. Guo. This time, maybe a few unsightly things will be maimed.

The two returned to the official office in a state of desperation, and sure enough, the classroom was empty.

Deputy Envoy Guo scolded loudly: "Who, who released the prisoners privately, how bold?"

A few soldiers with pale faces knelt down tremblingly and replied: "My lord, Mr. Guo, was released by Deputy Envoy Li, and there is nothing the villains can do."

Old Guo was stunned: "What Lieutenant Li?"

"It's the new Mr. Li. He said, if Mr. Guo comes back, please talk to him."

Deputy envoy Guo was furious: "A deputy envoy asked his superior to come over to talk, he is such a villain, you go and call him over."

Zhou Nan suddenly felt something was wrong, and asked, "Where is Deputy Envoy Li?"

"In the courtroom."

The power structure of the Weapons Bureau is as follows. Zhou Nan is in charge of the overall situation, and there are two deputy envoys under him. One is in charge of weapon manufacturing, and the other is in charge of internal affairs and local security.

Being in charge of internal affairs and public security has a lot of authority, but the affairs are complicated and there is not much oil and water.When Zhou Nan ran for the old Guo, he considered Guo Shuban's hard work, so he asked him to be in charge of weapon manufacturing to earn some pocket money.

The former Deputy Envoy Zhang resigned and left, and this Deputy Envoy Li should be here to replace him.Command the one hundred soldiers in the bureau and manage the squad.

Each of the two deputy envoys had a trial hall, and when Zhou Nan walked into the room of Deputy Envoy Li, a wretched official in his twenties sat firmly in the grand teacher's chair and squinted at Zhou Nan: "You are Zhou Xingren, and the criminal is me. Let go, my name is Li Gao, and my father is Li Wei."

My father is Li Wei, the future father-in-law Li Wei, just ask if you are afraid?
(End of this chapter)