I

  Chapter 433 431 [Yangzhou thin horse, disappeared from now on]

   Gu Junen, who set the development path for Li Zicheng, did not meet Li Zicheng in this time and space, and is now working as a petty official in Zhao Han's territory.

  The envoy sent by Li Zicheng was called Fu Geng, who was detained at the border of Anhui and was quarantined for half a month before being released.

  Fu Geng caught up with Zhao Han's driver in Gaoyou, and as Li Zicheng's envoy, he was immediately summoned by the Emperor of Datong.

   Fu Geng wanted to take off his mask and knelt down, but Zhao Han stopped him: "There is no need to take off the mask."

   "Meet His Majesty the Emperor of Datong!" Fu Geng knelt down.

  Zhao Han said: "Sit down."

After Fu Geng sat down, he did not convey Li Zicheng's intention, but asked: "Your Majesty, I have a younger brother named Fu Shan. A few years ago, he went south with Master Yuan, and he wrote a letter to go home. Later, the north and the south were blocked. There is no news, I don't know if Your Majesty has heard my brother's name."

  Zhao Han laughed suddenly: "It turns out that he is Fu Qingzhu's elder brother, and his younger brother is doing very well in Nanjing."

  Emperor Datong actually knew his younger brother, so the younger brother must be doing well in the south, Fu Geng felt relieved and at the same time excited.

  Fu Shan is proficient in a subset of classics and history, is good at calligraphy and painting, and also has research on swordsmanship, Buddhism and Taoism. But he was reused by Zhao Han because of his status as a "master of gynecology", and now he is the vice president of Jinling Medical College and the head of the gynecology department.

  If the concubines of Zhao Han were unwell, they would call Fu Shan by name and invite him into the palace for consultation.

  Fu Geng said comfortingly: "It's good to be alive, it's good to be alive."

   Zhao Han asked: "What did your lord order you to do?"

  Fu Geng said: "My lord wishes to be brothers with His Majesty, and Dashun and Datong are also countries of brothers."

  Zhao Han couldn't help but smile: "Then should I call your lord brother?"

"Your Majesty is a brother, and my lord is a younger brother," Fu Geng said, "I heard that your majesty is a descendant of Zhao Song, while my lord is a descendant of the Li family in Xixia. The situation now is the same as it was then. After your majesty recovers Henan and Shandong, the land will be like Like the Song Dynasty. My lord is based on the old land of Xixia, and the puppet Qing Dynasty was the Liao Kingdom at that time."

  At this moment, the news that the Manchu Qing moved back to Liaodong had just reached Shandong, and neither Zhao Han nor Fu Geng knew about it.

  It is about a country of brothers, but the price offered by Li Zicheng. His bottom line is to surrender to Zhao Han, but keep his own country name and territory, just like Xixia surrendered to Zhao Song.

  As for the descendants of Xixia, it is purely to put gold on his face. Li Zicheng twice said that the emperor respects Xixia Li Jiqian as the ancestor.

   This is a routine operation. After a small person makes a fortune, he always has to find a powerful ancestor for himself.

  Even the civil and military ministers in Nanjing proposed to compile the royal family tree, and the ancestor can be designated as Zhao Wenzi (the orphan of the Zhao family), because the royal family of Zhao and Song Dynasties also followed this path.

  Zhao Han is not interested in this kind of thing, nor is he interested in meeting Li Zicheng as a brother.

  He asked Li Xiangjun to bring a pen and paper, fearing that Li Zicheng would not be able to understand, so he wrote the letter in vulgar Chinese:

"Self-Cheng Xiongtai Lesson: My brother was a postman earlier, and my younger brother was just a slave. The Ming Dynasty has no way, and the people have a hard time living, so you and my brother raised up the army. My brother is a man, and he is indomitable. I admire him very much. If there is no brother to restrain him The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, it is impossible for the younger brother to take the south lightly. This kindness and righteousness, the younger brother must repay it. If the older brother surrenders the mountains and Shanxi, the older brother can be the Duke of Dingbei. The younger brother’s generals, such as Li Guo and Liu Zongmin, must have titles Waiting. If you don’t want to join me, you and I will recuperate separately and come back to compete in the Central Plains in three to five years. Brother Zhao Han, I worship you!”

  The letter was boxed and the envelope sealed with sealant.

Zhao Han said to Fu Geng: "Take the letter back and give it to your lord. They are all sensible people, there is no need to engage in such nonsense. Don't talk about being a brother, he respects me as an ancestor. When it's time to fight Still have to fight."

   "Obey!" Fu Geng took it.

   Zhao Han asked: "How does Li Zicheng govern in Shanxi?"

  Fu Geng replied: "When I left Taiyuan, I was preparing to start a course to obtain a scholar. It was nothing more than a light tax and a small tax, encouraging farming and mulberry. This year, the weather in Shanxi is good, and it is just time to recruit refugees for reclamation."

   "It's good to take care of people's livelihood." Zhao Han nodded in approval.

   As for the military, Zhao Han is too lazy to ask.

  Li Zicheng's occupation of Shanshan was too smooth, and many of the subordinate generals were still like small warlords, which took a lot of time to clean up.

   At least within this year, Li Zicheng will not make any further moves.

  Fu Geng also wrote a letter requesting that it be forwarded to his younger brother Fu Shan. His family was not bad, and although the Manchus forced him to hand in food, his family and property suffered no loss.

  Zhao Han continued to go south, and Fu Geng returned to Shanxi with the letter.

  Walking to Yangzhou, Jiangsu left and right political envoys brought officials at all levels to have an audience.

  Zhao Han didn't disembark the ship, but only planned to dock overnight, and then set sail for Nanjing tomorrow.

  Liu Anfeng, Chen Wenkui and other Jiangsu officials were led into the cabin, lined up in two rows and bowed their hands together: "Greetings, Your Majesty, and congratulations on your triumphant return!"

   "Sit down." Zhao Han smiled.

   "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

   All the officials sat down carefully.

  Zhao Han asked casually: "How is the summer grain harvest in Jiangsu?"

   Zuo Buzheng Liu Anfeng replied: "This spring, only Rugao, Haimen, and Tongzhou (Nantong) counties have experienced drought, and the rest of the prefectures and counties have experienced good weather. It's just that the flood in Henan will inevitably affect the Huaihe River. Fortunately..."

  Fortunately, Huanglinggang broke its embankment and flooded the southwestern part of Shandong Province. Jiangsu escaped from this catastrophe.

  Zhao Han nodded and said: "It seems that this year's summer grain harvest in Jiangsu is really bumper."

  Liu Anfeng smiled and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

   Zhao Han suddenly asked, "Are there any Yangzhou skinny horses?"

  All the officials were stunned. Could it be that the emperor was interested in the Yangzhou skinny horse and wanted to take one back and place it in the harem?

  The right chief Chen Wenkui said with a serious expression: "Your Majesty, there is no Yangzhou skinny horse in the world!"

   "Very good," Zhao Han nodded in satisfaction and asked, "How do you govern?"

Chen Wenkui replied: "When I first took office, I ordered the magistrates of Yangzhou and Jiangdu to vigorously rectify the evil custom of raising women as skinny horses. First, to cooperate with the release of slavery, to encourage concubines to leave their husbands' homes, and to encourage prostitutes to be self-reliant; second , outlawed human tooth trade, and prohibited human trafficking; third, encouraged women to take exams to become officials; fourth, persuaded merchants to set up textile workshops, and hired a large number of women as weavers; Put a special mark at the time. The past crimes are past, and if they dare to commit again, not only the old crimes will be prosecuted, but the crimes will be added to the third class! More than ten people were killed, and two salt merchants were revoked. The franchise license was revoked, and the Yangzhou Skinny Horse disappeared from then on! "

"Your approach is worthy of advocacy. Politics is like controlling water. Not only must strict prevention be blocked, but also dredging and guidance," Zhao Han praised. "

   What is really scary is that there are two salt merchants whose salt franchise license was revoked for buying Yangzhou skinny horses!

  The main customers of Yangzhou Shouma are salt merchants, and the franchise license is their lifeblood. Who would dare to buy Shouma in the future?

   It’s just that it’s difficult to define the behavior, because the purchase of Yangzhou skinny horses has always been under the sign of “accepting righteous women”.

  Since the salt merchants were mentioned, Zhao Han asked, "How is the Jiangsu salt industry?"

Yu Shiqin, head of the Jiangsu Industrial and Commercial Department, said: "There are more and more salt factories, and the two methods of frying and drying are used together. The salt is dried on sunny days, and the salt is boiled on rainy days. The salt that is farther from the sea is also boiled. The pot replaces the salt plate. The salt pot is not easy to burn out, and it can be fired in rotation day and night, and the output is greater. One pot can produce 600 catties of salt!"

   This is a technical improvement.

  Salt pot method is a salt cooking technique that emerged in Shandong in the last years of Wanli. Not only the salt cooking utensils have changed, but also the salt cooking process has been slightly changed.

  The benefit brought about by the privatization of saltworks is that merchants adopt new technologies spontaneously.

   As for the disadvantages, industry monopoly, government-business collusion, and worker exploitation... Well, these disadvantages also exist when there is no privatization.

  The technological innovation of the Lianghuai Salt Field has led to a rapid drop in the cost of salt production. The government issued many licenses for selling salt, and no longer used salt to attract sales. With a two-pronged approach, the price of salt dropped rapidly, and there was even no market for private salt.

   Illegal salt is also profitable, but the cost of crime is too high, and there are too many people who report (low-level officials like to report meritorious service), so few people take risks anymore.

Today, the retail price of salt produced in Lianghuai River and Huaihe River to Jiangxi is only 4 Wen a catty, which is close to the lowest point of the salt price in the Ming Dynasty - 7-14 Wen in the middle and late Jiajing period, 3-9 Wen in the late Jiajing period, and 3-9 Wen in the middle Wanli period. 4-6 texts. As for the Chongzhen period in history, there were about 10 essays in the early stage, and it rose to more than 50 essays in the last year.

  Just looking at the price of salt, you can know that after Zhang Juzheng's reform, the price of goods in Daming has become very low.

  The civil affairs under Zhao Han's rule can already be compared with Zhang Juzheng's reform in terms of salt alone. Moreover, the overall income of the people under Zhao Han's rule was higher than that of the Wanli Dynasty.

  Zhao Han suddenly had an impression of Yu Shiqin: "Are you from Nanchang Juren?"

  Yu Shiqin said happily: "Your Majesty manages a lot of things every day, but he still remembers the name of this official. This official is terrified and very honored!"

  Zhao Han said with a smile: "I still remember that when a group of you raised talents, you captured Jiangxi General Soldier Yang Jiamo alive and went to join him."

   "Your Majesty implemented benevolent government at the beginning of the incident, and people of insight naturally came to vote." Yu Shiqin said flatteringly.

   Zhao Han asked: "Are there any salt merchants who treat workers harshly?"

Yu Shiqin replied: "There are trade unions in every salt factory, and there is a salt workers' federation in every county. Moreover, there are more and more salt factories, and the factory owners are desperately recruiting workers. How dare they easily offend the salt workers? Stopping production for a few days is unbearable loss."

   "That's good." Zhao Han nodded.

  We must also remain vigilant against trade unions, and cannot give too much power, and must formulate laws to suppress them. Otherwise, a new class of union leaders would form, threatening to extort factory owners from above and using workers as tools for profit from below.

  The next day, Zhao Han's royal fleet set off.

  A large number of people in Yangzhou City and nearby people rushed to both sides of the canal after hearing the news. When the fleet passed by, the former military households, Caomin, tenant farmers, domestic slaves... knelt and kowtowed one after another, and the black and white people knelt everywhere on both sides of the canal.

   "His Majesty the Emperor, long live long live long live!"

  This is the real Shan Hu Long live, no one organized series, all from the heart.

  (end of this chapter)