Zhu Shun was busy building a device to stabilize the steam engine, and the Donglin Party and the Jin merchants were not idle, especially Wang Dengku, one of the eight Jin merchants, who was ready to use this matter to complete a temple calculation that the accounting gentlemen had planned for a long time.

However, Wang Dengku should now be called the Seven Great Jin Merchants, and Huang Yongfa, one of the Eight Great Jin Merchants, has completely finished his family.

Not to mention that the family property was embezzled by the other seven Jin merchants, even most of the children of the Huang family were forced to commit suicide by the seven Jin merchants.

This is also reasonable, it is easy to go from thrift to luxury, and it is difficult to go from luxury to thrift, and they are used to fine clothes and jade food, and they suddenly want to eat bran vegetables.

didn't even stutter, where could they live, and soon many children of the Huang family committed suicide, leaving only some outsiders who were not very close.

Huang Yongfa's eldest son didn't commit suicide, he still wanted to make a comeback alive, but unfortunately the seven Jin merchants were worried that this kid would make a comeback and retaliate against them in large quantities, so they found someone to sink Huang Yongfa's eldest son into the Yongding River.

After Huang Yongfa was completely wiped out, if he knew that the good brother who wanted to wear a pair of pants at the beginning would treat his family like this after he died, he didn't know how he would feel.

In a carriage covered with satin embroidered cloth.

Wang Dengku sat in a large carriage with a volume of "The Hanging Realm of the World" in his hand and studied it, with a Xuande furnace in front of him, burning the finest Canaan incense.

This book "The Hanging Realm of the World" has been read for decades, and Wang Dengku's ability to reach the top and become one of the seven great Jin merchants in the world has a great relationship with this ancient book of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

After a while, Wang Dengku put down the rare book in his hand, took a sip of tea from the bucket cup of the Doucai chicken bowl, looked at the clan brother Wang Dengke in front of him and said: "Dengke, when this matter is over, pack up your things and go to Liaodong." ”

Wang Dengke, who was half-lying in the carriage reading a book, put down Cheng Zhu Lixue in his hand, and some didn't understand what his brother meant, and frowned: "Big brother, with my status as an official in the court, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to personally take the caravan to Liaodong." ”

Wang Dengku knew that the clan brother would have questions, so he didn't explain it immediately, but asked one thing: "Dengke, do you know why Brother Wei gave Bei Le Ye enough food to feed 100,000 Zhuzhen after the failure of Bei Leye's attack on the capital. ”

Really? Hearing a Manchu sentence that suddenly came out of his brother, he didn't react for a while, combined with the previous words, Wang Dengke roughly understood what Zhuzhen meant.

But he didn't understand and shook his head.

Wang Dengku is getting older and older, and he can't sit for too long, so he brought the Su embroidery pillow next to him and half-lay in the carriage: "Officialdom pays attention to observing words and feelings, and shopping malls pay more attention to opportunism." ”

"It's easy to put the icing on the cake, it's hard to send charcoal in the snow, the year before last because of Zhu Shun's little thing, Lord Belle was miserable, if there was no this batch of food, his clansmen in that banner would inevitably starve to death a lot."

"Send this batch of grain, Lord Belle has to remember a great favor from us, which is opportunistic speculation, in exchange for a great favor in the snow."

"For my brother, I know a little bit about the art of face-to-face, and the fourteenth Belle Dolgon has the appearance of an emperor, so our great favor is different, that is, from the dragon's skill."

When the clan brother Wang Dengke heard the appearance of the emperor, he couldn't help laughing, but he sneered, the Jurchens were indeed the henchmen of the Ming Dynasty, but it was not enough to subvert the Ming Dynasty with their population.

Wang Dengku saw the expression on his brother's face, knew what he was thinking, and nodded, it seems that Wang Dengke has not been an official in vain over the years, and his vision and city government have grown a lot: "The number of Jurchens is indeed the most difficult problem to solve. ”

"But from now on, this problem does not exist, a few days ago, my brother got a report from the steward of the horse gang, and the Jurchens have begun to plant potatoes with a yield of twenty stones per mu."

"With such a high yield of potatoes, the Jurchen population will not only grow explosively, but it may also dominate the vast grasslands of the north again."

"Once again, build a powerful empire that spans thousands of miles and fights all the way to Europa, do you think that when that day comes, the Ming Kingdom will be able to stop the iron cavalry of Lord Belle?"

The younger brother Wang Dengke still shook his head and talked eloquently: "If potatoes are the staple food, what the eldest brother said is still possible, but unfortunately potatoes are only auxiliary food, and it is good to feed the livestock." ”

"If you really let the Jurchen people eat this thing, I'm afraid that all the banners will rise up against Huang Taiji's rule."

Wang Dengku nodded again, stroked his beard and smiled: "Dengke, your words are very correct, but you remember one thing, everything must be judged according to the local customs." ”

"Don't use your own knowledge of the Central Plains terroir to see the grassland terroir."

"It's true that potatoes are supplementary food, but the staple food that the Jurchens eat is not just grains, but beef, mutton and grains."

"The root cause of limiting the number of Jurchen people is that there is not much grain to grow in the cold Liaodong, and the pasture grass grows very slowly, so there is not enough pasture to feed more cattle and sheep."

"If you have potatoes that yield 20 stone per mu and are suitable for growing in alpine areas, what do you think will happen to the number of cattle and sheep?"

Clan brother Wang Dengke suddenly shuddered, and said with a shudder: "The vast northern grasslands will become fertile land for Jurchens. ”

What made his younger brother Wang Dengke shudder was that he had seen the Kunyu Wanguo Map, and the real territory of the northern grassland was much larger than the territory of the entire Ming Dynasty.

The Jurchens have been nesting in Liaodong, precisely because those regions further north cannot grow food because of the cold, and if those regions can grow high-yield potatoes, the Jurchens will have endless cattle and sheep, then the Jurchen population .........

Thinking of this, the clan brother Wang Dengke didn't dare to think about it anymore, took a deep breath and said, "The eldest brother knows about this, so it's not so simple for me to go to Liaodong." ”

Wang Dengku lifted the curtain and glanced outside the car, there was still a long distance from where he was going, and continued: "That's right, it should be no problem to exchange that big favor for my brother in exchange for a Beile master's coat." ”

"Don't do this little ambassador of the Baoyuan Bureau, go and be a coat for the fourteen Belle Dolgon, and when the day Belle Lord enters the Central Plains, you will be from the minister of the dragon, and our Wang family will carp and leap into the dragon gate from now on."

Clan brother Wang Dengke suddenly remembered something, frowned and said: "This plan of the eldest brother is not bad, but our Daming has also started to plant potatoes......"

Halfway through his words, his brother Wang Dengke suddenly sighed: "Just as the eldest brother said, the customs and customs of our Central Plains are different from those of the northern grasslands, and we can't only eat beef and mutton for a long time like the Jurchens, and our bodies will not be able to stand it." ”

"It would be nice if potatoes could really become a staple food."

Wang Dengku heard his brother talking about staple food and supplementary food, but he smiled: "Zhu Shun should be glad that potatoes are not staple food, if it is really staple food, he will not live long." ”

"The land under heaven is basically in the hands of the bureaucratic gentry, and once the potatoes with a yield of 20 stone per mu become a staple food, the price of grain will plummet."

"How can the bureaucrats and squires who rely on grain to scavenge for silver accept it, Zhu Shun is digging their foundation, which is even more heinous than digging the ancestral graves of the bureaucrats and squires."

"Not to mention becoming a staple food, it is an auxiliary food, and if you want to promote it in the Ming Dynasty, it will be vigorously resisted by the bureaucrats and gentry."

"Dengke, do you think Zhu Shun, who has offended all the bureaucrats and gentry in the world, can still live?"

The younger brother Wang Dengke vaguely remembered that he had seen the time when potatoes appeared in a miscellaneous book, as if they had appeared in the Jiajing Dynasty a hundred years ago.

After such a long time, so many famous ministers, don't you know the value of potatoes with a yield of twenty stones per mu?

I'm afraid I already knew it, but no one dared to promote potatoes, which touched the interests of all the bureaucrats and gentry in the world, and whoever dared to move would die.

Based on the temples of the old Shangshu of the Donglin Party, the real reason why they agreed to promote potatoes should not only be the water-powered spinning machine and the Daming steam engine, but also to push Zhu Shun to the opposite side of the bureaucrats and gentry in the world.

"Phew—"

The clan brother Wang Dengke also slowly peeled off the cocoon to promote the conspiracy involved in the potato incident, the carriage stopped, followed Wang Dengku out of the carriage, and saw two stone lions in the town house for the first time, and looked up to see that it was the largest mule and horse shop in the capital.

Wang Dengku looked at the largest mule and horse shop in the capital, his slightly old face, and his glory was a lot: "Dengke, do you know why I brought you here today." ”

Where can the clan brother Wang Dengke guess the thoughts of the eldest brother Wang Dengku, shook his head and said I don't know.

Wang Dengku walked up the stone steps, walked straight into the crowded mule and horse shop, and came to a secluded side hall and sat down: "After you became a coat, it is just the beginning, if you want the Fourteen Belle Lord to pay attention to us, you must be important enough to him." ”

"In the future, there will be no shortage of food for the Jurchens, but their iron tools and tea shortages are even greater, and iron tools can make the Fourteen Baylors also strong Eight Banners, and tea is even more important to them, so that they can pull out."

"Don't think this sentence is vulgar, it's a fact, they don't eat fruits and vegetables for a long time, they don't have tea, and they can't live long."

"So for my brother, I used the auxiliary food to become the main food, and calculated the owner behind a mule and horse shop, and I can't reveal too much, and it's not that my brother doesn't trust you, but the more people who know, the easier it is to leak the news."

"As long as Zhu Shun can't turn auxiliary food into staple food, the biggest mule and horse shop in the capital is ours, and we can control the mule and horse shop in the entire capital through this mule and horse shop."

"At that time, we, who have a large number of mules and horses, will be able to transport iron tools and tea for the fourteen Belle Lords, which will be enough to support the Belle Lords to build an army of more than 300,000 people."

"When Lord Belle enters the customs, no one can move the status of the Wang family."

The clan brother Wang Dengke looked at the eldest brother who calmly narrated this scene as a means of turning his hands into clouds and covering his hands as rain, and secretly rejoiced, glad that the eldest brother was from the Wang family.

Wang Dengke, who was in a very good mood, asked casually: "If the supplementary food really becomes the staple food, what is the loss of our family?" ”

Wang Dengku knew that his clan brother was joking, so he stroked his beard and said with a smile: "The Wang family will become the second Huang family." ”

The second Huang family? The clan brother Wang Dengke was frightened, knowing that this was impossible, he still said in his heart: "The price is inevitably too great." ”

Wang Dengku smiled indifferently: "If you want to get such a big fortune, it is impossible not to pay some corresponding price." ”

"This is also the reason why most people are just ordinary people all their lives, knowing that they will win one thing, just because the price is too great, they retreat, and they will never be able to do anything big in this life."

"Besides, Zhu Shun is not a god, the biggest reliance is just hydraulic machinery, and the Ming Kingdom is not without a hydraulic mill, at most two or three pairs of grinding discs can be driven, and potatoes cannot be changed from auxiliary grain to staple food."

Wang Dengke was just frightened by the price, and thinking about it, he said that Zhu Shun couldn't change it.

Even if he could change, would he dare?

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