Baidu otaku as Chongzhen

Chapter 132 Talk

"Huh..." Reform Chief Yang let out a sigh, and finally arranged the matter of Jin Yiwei.I don't know if the salt merchant's knife is good or bad.

Two days ago, Xu Guangqi vomited blood in the Qianqing Palace. Yang Reform felt that he owed him a lot and planned to leave the palace to see Xu Guangqi.

"Big companion, let's go to Master Xu's house. Master Xu vomited blood because he worked too hard on my affairs. I should visit him."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Well, don't go in plain sight. Let's change our clothes and go see secretly, just like we did when we left the palace." Yang Reform decided to go to see Xu Guangqi in casual clothes. Yang Reform felt very guilty about this respectable old man.

"As ordered, Your Majesty." Wang Chengen replied again.

……

A group of people, Yang Reform is the young master, Wang Chengen is the housekeeper, followed by a few servants, servants, and there are some big men around from time to time around.So he went to the street and went straight to Xu Guangqi's home.

Xu Guangqi's home was not far from the imperial city, and he arrived soon after leaving the palace gate.Wang Chengen asked a servant to call the door, and after a while, the middle door of Xu Guangqi's house opened wide to welcome the "honored guest".

Yang Reform paid attention to it, he didn't see many carriages, sedan chairs and the like in front of the gate!In other words, this Xu Guangqi was ill, and no one came to see him.

Yang Reform took a look at the bare door, and entered after thinking about it.Go straight through the inner hall and go to Xu Guangqi's bed.

……

"Master Xu, don't get up, take good care of your body. I still want Master Xu to recover soon so that he can advise me. Lie down quickly." Seeing Xu Guangqi who was struggling to get up to salute, Yang Reform hurriedly said no more.

"The old minister is rude." Xu Guangqi lay down again.

Looking at Xu Guangqi, whose hair had already turned gray, his face was a little sickly white, and he looked old, Yang Reform felt very guilty.If it wasn't for his uselessness and casual picks, this kind of thing wouldn't have happened.

"Sigh...it's all my fault, I shouldn't lose my temper, put down my picks, and make my master suffer."

"Your Majesty, you don't need to blame yourself. You are all ministers. You shouldn't talk about the salt class with your majesty. I also blame the old minister for his poor health. Alas... I am old." Xu Guangqi couldn't help blaming himself when he saw the emperor, saying his own No, I shouldn't have mentioned the salt lesson with the emperor.

"Hey...Master Xu, don't blame yourself. I should blame me for this..."

"Your Majesty, don't blame yourself like this, and don't give up on yourself. Daming, Your Majesty is absolutely indispensable, and tens of thousands of people can't live without His Majesty. Please cheer up..." Xu Guangqi nagged again, telling the emperor not to Abandoned himself, the Ming Dynasty was about to fail, and the emperor didn't care about things, the Ming Dynasty was really over, and this change of dynasty has always been a catastrophe for the common people.

"Sigh... I know it's my fault for this matter, and I will cheer myself up, and I will never give up the burden again. I will not shirk the burden that should be taken on me."

"That's good, that's good." Seeing that the emperor had cheered up, Xu Guangqi finally felt relieved.

Yang Reform thought for a while, and then said: "Big companion, clean up the surroundings of this house. I have something important to discuss with Master Xu, and I don't want anyone to hear it. Do you understand?" , Talk to Xu Guangqi and see his opinion.This old man dared to reveal the inside story of the salt class. He must have a deep understanding of the salt industry and can give himself a lot of advice.

"As you order, Your Majesty." Wang Chengen went out.The surroundings of the house were quickly surrounded by some burly men.No one is allowed to come near.

Xu Guangqi was puzzled, what important business did the emperor have?
"Your Majesty, what's the matter? Do you want such a secret?"

"Hehe, Master Xu, this matter is also related to salt. I will not easily let those salt rats go, including those salt merchants. I have already made up my mind to work with those salt merchants in the salt industry. Salt rats fight hard and kill, they don't hesitate."

When Xu Guangqi heard that the emperor was going to fight the salt merchants, his heart fell down, but he lifted it up again.Lying on the bed, trying to support himself, he said anxiously: "Your Majesty, the matter of the salt class is no small matter. Your Majesty listens to the old minister and must not act rashly." Xu Guangqi knows a lot about the shady scene in the salt industry. The royal relatives and nobles, the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, I don't know how many people's interests are involved. The emperor wants to fight with them, I'm afraid it's a little too tender!
Yang Reform hurriedly supported Xu Guangqi to lie down, and said, "Hehe, Master Xu, don't worry, I have already made arrangements for this matter." Yang Reform was going to tell Xu Guangqi about his plan and listen to his opinion.

"What's your majesty's arrangement?" Xu Guangqi was very anxious, he knew the inside story of the officialdom, and he was afraid that the emperor would suffer, so the situation would be even more unmanageable.

"I plan to abolish this salt tax in the name of amnesty for the world after a while, so that the world will no longer have a salt tax, and let the world freely produce salt and sell salt..."

Xu Guangqi gasped, this matter is not trivial, it is really big, it will completely offend the salt merchants and those who rely on the salt industry for profit in the officialdom!The bottom of the pot was drawn out, those royal relatives, nobles, officials and bureaucrats, I am afraid that they have the intention of changing to be the emperor!Xu Guangqi originally planned to bring up the salt class again, and proposed to reopen China and France, but he just wanted to make more money, but he didn't have the courage to push it all to the salt industry like the emperor.The emperor's idea is really against the sky!

"Your Majesty, this matter is no small matter. If Your Majesty is like this, can there be countermeasures?" Xu Guangqi thought about it, and felt that since the emperor dared to say such a thing, he must have been prepared, so he asked the emperor what he planned to do.The emperor is not an idiot, there must be reasons and countermeasures for saying this.

"Master Xu, it's like this. I have prepared a secret weapon, which is sun-dried salt. This sun-dried salt can produce salt on a large scale, and the cost is very low. After the end of the salt administration, I plan to distribute it to the entire Ming Dynasty on a large scale." The dumping of this cheap salt, the destruction of those salt merchants, and the domination of the salt industry in the Ming Dynasty, the price of this salt, isn’t it up to me? Isn’t the annual profit more than 100 million taels a year? Come quickly? Come quickly? Wouldn’t it be better than being angry with those salt merchants and salt rats?”

"Your Majesty mean sun-dried salt?" Xu Guangqi asked with concern when he heard the word "sun-salted salt".

"Exactly, I am going to dry the salt on a large scale." Yang Reform was curious. Seeing Xu Guangqi's appearance, he seemed not interested in or criticizing how he dealt with the salt merchants and salt rats, but he was not interested in this "sunning." Salt" Interested, this?

"Does Master Xu also know what sun-dried salt is?" Yang Reform remembers reading a lot of novels. No one knows!Could it be that relying on time travel novels to do things is really unreliable?Yang Reform has experienced several unreliable time travel novels.

"Salt drying, hehe, how can the old minister not know? The old minister has personally tested how to dry salt in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and has achieved success. Of course he knows this large-scale salt production technique. Bringing up the salt lesson to His Majesty for no reason? When Japan wanted to make it clear, but His Majesty left suddenly, there was no chance. The second time, I was going to say it, but the old minister was not up to date, and he vomited blood and fell into a coma. Ask the right person." Xu Guangqi's radiant look was mixed with a sick face, and there was this strange look.

This...Yang Reform was surprised and embarrassed. What's wrong with this? Did Xu Guangqi dry the salt himself?Is this Xu Guangqi a time traveler?Learned to use Baidu search?Could it be that the time travel novels I have read are unreliable?Jiong ah Jiong!

"This...Master Xu, are you telling the truth?" Yang Reform was super surprised, and he went back to Baidu to find out how to dry salt, and worked on the technology for a long time, but he didn't expect that this Ming Dynasty, his master, had already done it himself. I have dried salt and achieved success. Doesn't that mean that the technology of drying salt in the Ming Dynasty has long existed?Then what kind of sun-dried salt do I rely on to dump salt on a large scale, is it unreliable at all?Yang Reform completely burst into tears. He was self-righteous and took it for granted. Unexpectedly, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the technology of drying salt already existed, and it was even promoted.

Sick~~!Yang Reform yelled injustice in his heart, and he blamed himself for reading too many time-travel novels. Many time-travel novels made their fortunes in the late Ming Dynasty!How come it's my turn to dry the salt, and the people of the Ming Dynasty already know how to dry the salt?God is not fair!Yang Reform was about to faint.

"How can there be a fake? Your Majesty, the old minister once specially tested how to dry salt in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas in the early years. It is completely feasible and has been promoted, but the effect is not good, so we have to let it go. This time, I will bring up the salt lesson again with Your Majesty." The thing is to promote this method, reduce the cost of salt production, so as to collect more salt tax for the imperial court, in case your Majesty urgently needs it." Xu Guangqi said with a sigh, and tried to test the sun-dried salt technology to himself, and the promotion of the sun-dried salt technology encountered difficulties. The resistance seems to be very uncomfortable and sad.

"...@#￥%...&" the Khan in Yang Reform's heart, the Khan of Genghis Khan, cursed that the time-travel novels are unreliable, what should we do?The matter of killing the salt merchants by himself has already been arranged. Now that there is such an oolong, how should it end?Could it be that he said to Fang Hongzan: "Brother, my brother made a mistake in thinking about this matter, it has been suspended, and it will not be done." How can Emperor Chongzhen, who is called Yang Reform, say it?

Tears ran, and Yang Reform completely burst into tears: "Master Xu, why didn't you say it earlier? With this technology of drying salt, I will not arrange it like this. I plan to use the new technology of drying salt to defeat those salt merchants. Now it seems that it is a waste of wax for a blind man to light a lamp!" Yang Reform was completely speechless.What can I do!This time, I made a big joke, and I really wasted a lot of expressions!

"Your Majesty, what does it mean for a blind man to light a lamp in vain? Does Your Majesty think that those salt merchants will use this method of drying salt to make salt? The old minister tried his best to promote it in the early years, but it has no effect. Those salt merchants don't use this method to make salt at all. Your Majesty Why not use the new salt-making method to attack salt merchants?" Xu Guangqi lay on the bed, talking in a bad voice, as if he was quite dissatisfied with those salt merchants.

What?Now that the drying salt method has been invented, why not use it?Yang Reform was puzzled. He remembered that apart from sun-drying salt, this salt was boiled salt. Boiled salt was obviously more difficult than sun-dried salt. Now that there is a new-style salt-making method, why not use a new-style method?Yang Reform is strange.

"Master Xu, why didn't my Ming Dynasty use the sun-dried salt method?" Yang Reform was completely puzzled.

"Your Majesty, those who are not in the game will not know the twists and turns. Fortunately, the old minister grew up by the sea and knows the salt industry very well. The old minister has witnessed how to cook salt and how to dry salt. Only those who have seen or personally experienced it can understand the salt administration, and dare to mention the salt lesson to His Majesty..."

After hearing Xu Guangqi talk about his experience, Yang Reform felt that Xu Guangqi's experience is really rich!The best representative of true knowledge from practice!In the eyes of the traditional scholar-bureaucrats in the late Ming Dynasty, it must be a rare "monster" to actually dry the salt by himself.Live by the sea?Yang Reform remembers searching for Xu Guangqi's life trajectory before, and he was born in Shanghai.Yes, it is the present Shanghai, um, this is a good place, the economic capital of the 21th century and the [-]st century!

Yang Reform was drooling again, why couldn't Shanghai become an economic capital at the end of the Ming Dynasty?If it becomes the economic capital of the Ming Dynasty, then I don't know how much tax I collect every year.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty?" Xu Guangqi obviously noticed that the emperor was absent-minded, so he had no choice but to remind the emperor.

"Uh~~uh, what's the matter, what's the matter? Master Xu said where?" Yang Reform just woke up from the "dream".It was very embarrassing. I thought about going to Shanghai in the 21st century, but I didn't realize that I was still in the late Ming Dynasty, and I was still listening to Xu Guangqi's stories.

Xu Guangqi was ashamed. The emperor really liked to be distracted. If he wanted to study, he would definitely be a doomed scholar. Fortunately, he was the emperor, so he didn't need to study or take exams. Otherwise, he would have no future in his life.

Xu Guangqi had to start all over again, explaining the twists and turns of the salt industry to the emperor.

"...Your Majesty, in my dynasty, there is more salt in the two Huaihe Rivers and the coasts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which account for more than half of the salt production in my dynasty. As for why they refuse to use the method of sun-drying salt, it is actually simple. The imperial court controls the tools for salt production. Take control of the salt industry." Lying on the bed, with a sickly pale face, Xu Guangqi explained to the emperor the twists and turns of the salt industry.

"Then why do you control the salt industry by controlling the tools for producing salt? Sun-dried salt is obviously more advanced than boiled salt, with lower production costs and more money to be made!" Yang Reform wondered, economic laws are here Nothing works anymore?I don't understand the twists and turns.

"...Hey, Your Majesty, Your Majesty must have never seen this salt-boiling pot. The salt is boiled in a pot (piě). This pot is made of iron. The pot is shaped like a plate. This iron The plate is more than ten feet wide and one foot high. The iron plate is made of several iron leaves. The gap between each iron leaf is filled with marinade, and there will never be any gaps. This pot weighs several thousand catties and requires a lot of iron. How can ordinary stove households afford it? In addition, a "group frying method" is also organized, that is, several stove households cook a pot together to control the stove. Households produce salt, these pots can only be purchased by the government, and can only be made with the permission of the court. In this way, mastering the tools for producing salt also controls the production of salt.”

Xu Guangqi was pale, with a tinge of blush on his sickly face, and he explained to the emperor how the imperial court controlled the salt industry.

It was also the first time Yang Reform had heard of such a "perverted" method, and he felt very contemptuous.Said: "Control is the control of the salt industry, but the production method is very backward! Moreover, it is the imperial court, the government controls the salt industry, not I control the salt industry. The salt class is only 100 million taels of silver per year! "

Yang Reform complained. Does such strict and painstaking control of the salt industry have anything to do with him?Uh, it seems to be a relationship of 100 million taels!But is 100 million taels a lot?Compared with the actual salt class, it must be multiplied by more than 25.Therefore, such strict control of the salt industry has nothing to do with me. Others are just using their imperial power to seek greater benefits.

"Alas... Your Majesty said that the production method is backward, and it is true. Thinking about this pot, dozens of stoves need to chop hundreds or even thousands of catties of firewood, and each pot also needs to carry dozens of loads of seawater. Household households work together and work day and night, but they can boil 200 catties of salt, and drying salt can dry more than [-] catties a day without chopping firewood, carrying water, or cooking pots. Fan..." Xu Guangqi's experience is obviously quite rich, and he is also a pragmatic official. He is familiar with these data and sees the pros and cons of the salt industry very clearly.

"Since this is the case, that is to say, this sun-dried salt has not been promoted on a large scale in our dynasty? The current method of producing salt is still boiling salt?" Yang Reform heard some hope, and Yang Reform just started listening Xu Guangqi said that he had promoted this sun-dried salt, and he thought that the Ming Dynasty had already used this sun-dried salt technology on a large scale. In that case, he still wanted to use sun-dried salt to defeat boiled salt, so he felt that his plan was like a joke. I understand that the main producing area of ​​salt in the Ming Dynasty used boiled salt, that is to say, this sun-dried salt can actually be used.

"Your Majesty, it is true that boiling salt is still the main means of producing salt. Boiling salt was appointed by Emperor Taizu. At that time, it was for the purpose of unifying the standard of salt tax for easy tax collection. In addition, drying salt is not perfect. , that's why we use boiled salt... now it's different, after continuous improvement, the taste of the salt produced by the sun-dried salt method is comparable to that of boiled salt, there is no difference, even slightly stronger than boiled salt, so, use Practical sun-drying salt is completely feasible. Your Majesty is short of money in the treasury. He wants to resist foreign invasions, provide disaster relief, and appease the people of the world. How can we do without money? Always increasing taxes in the land tax will definitely hurt the vitality of the country, and it is not a long-term solution. Ah! Therefore, Your Majesty must make a fuss about the salt tax. The salt tax is already a matter of life and death for the Ming Dynasty!"

Xu Guangqi worriedly explained to Yang Reform the historical origin of boiled salt and sun-dried salt, and explained the relationship between salt tax and the court. Salt tax has already related to the life and death of the Ming Dynasty.

Yang Reform couldn't stop nodding, admiring Xu Guangqi's eyes very much. Later on in the Ming Dynasty, he always made a fuss about the land tax, constantly increasing taxes, and avoiding better taxes--salt tax. The result was more The people rebelled, the peasant uprising continued to be culled, and the foreign invasion was helpless, which eventually led to the destruction of the country.Xu Guangqi was right. If more salt taxes were not received, Chongzhen would have died in that way in history, and the Ming Dynasty would have ended in this way.

"Master Xu said sun-dried salt existed in ancient times?" Yang Reform was very surprised. This sun-dried salt was not invented by people in the Ming Dynasty. According to Xu Guangqi's tone, it was invented in ancient times. This sun-dried salt has always been in Yang Reform's mind. It is a sharp weapon of the traveler, and now it has become an ancient one in the Ming Dynasty. This, it seems, is so embarrassing!Time travel novels are really unreliable!

"Yes! Your Majesty, according to records, this sun-dried salt already existed in the Song Dynasty. It was created by Chen Yinggong, a man from the Northern Song Dynasty. It has been perfected in our dynasty." Xu Guangqi explained.

Song Dynasty already existed?this?At the beginning of Yang Reform, he also planned to get someone to pretend to have invented the sun-dried salt method, and then granted a patent, and then restricted other salt merchants from using the sun-dried salt method. In this way, he could use dumping methods to impact traditional salt merchants and control the national salt industry in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, this plan would not work at all. In the ancient Ming Dynasty, there was a sun-dried salt method. It is impossible to find someone to be the person who invented the sun-dried salt.What can I do?
Xu Guangqi saw that the emperor's face was serious and uncertain, as if he was thinking about something, and asked, "Your Majesty, why are you thinking so hard?"

Yang Reform told his plan, let's see what Xu Guangqi can do.

"Master Xu, I originally planned to find someone to invent this method of drying salt, and then grant it a patent, and not allow other salt merchants to use the method of drying salt, but I didn't expect that now, this method of drying salt has existed in ancient times. Difficult for this."

As soon as Yang Reform said, Xu Guangqi looked at Yang Reform with a strange look, and then asked: "Your Majesty, this patent, the old minister has heard of it. Fu Mingde, the eunuch of the Military Warfare Bureau, and several craftsmen who made some grenades have the patent money. His Majesty allowed them to earn a penny for every hand grenade they made? And that Bi Maokang who invented the flintlock musket, it is said that His Majesty also allowed him to obtain a patent? Specialize in making muskets?"

"Master Xu has a good memory, yes, I have promised them patents, the so-called patents, I think this way, whoever invents new things, new objects, as long as it is beneficial to the court, the community, and the benefit of the people, I will allow him to enjoy it." Patent', has the exclusive right to use, and prohibits others from using the 'patent'. To use his 'patent', he needs to obtain his own consent and pay a certain patent fee, so as to encourage more and more. Better methods and objects to benefit the people of the world.”

Yang Reform is not a saint, a good man, or a democrat. This patent is designed to benefit himself and restrain others. He wants to use the patent to restrict those salt merchants who are still using boiled salt, and then use sun-dried salt to defeat them and unify The national market, including any sweet potato vermicelli in the future, needs to be protected by "patents".When I first started patenting, I didn't think about so many uses. At that time, I just wanted to stimulate the enthusiasm of the craftsmen to invent and create. Now it seems that this step of my "leisure chess" has played a big role. , Yang Reform is secretly proud, thanks to the "patent" education in the 21st century.

(End of this chapter)