Another month passed.

During this time, Shi Lang had persuaded his uncle Shi Fu to surrender to Fang Yuan together and serve as the deputy commander of the Sailor Battalion. Shi Lang also negotiated with the Zheng family on the terms of the hostage exchange, exchanging the captured Lin Xishan and the lives of 10,000 Zheng family sailors for one or two thousand people of the Shi family in Fujian.

Shi Lang first released 3,000 captives to show his sincerity in fulfilling the contract, and the Zheng family arranged for someone to return to Fujian and began to gather the Shi family to migrate.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty also came with important news, Huang Taiji, who had been ill for a year, finally passed away. Because the power of supporting Prince Rui Dolgon has far exceeded the lineage of Huang Taiji, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty has a parliamentary system of eight banners, and there is no system in which the throne must be hereditary.

In the case of Sony's efforts to no avail, Huang Taiji's eldest son Hauge and youngest son Fulin failed to inherit the throne, and it was Dolgon who succeeded to the throne.

At the behest of Hong Chengchou, the imperial court in Beijing sent a eulogy to the Manchu Qing and congratulated Dolgon on his accession to the throne. Dolgon also reiterated once again that he hoped to earnestly fulfill the peace treaty with the Ming Dynasty and that the two sides would not invade each other.

Dolgon, a gambler, was willing to maintain peace with the Ming Dynasty for the time being, and had nothing to do with the peace treaty between the two countries. It's just that because there are still Huang Taiji's eldest son Haoge and other forces supporting Huang Taiji secretly dormant in the Manchu Dynasty, Dolgon sits on this tricky throne, and does not dare to go south easily before settling other opposition forces.

The Fukuoka Domain of Japan had complied with the agreement and sent 100 craftsmen and 1,000 women of the right age of the Wa Kingdom in exchange for the captured Kuroda Tadayuki.

Fang Yuan directly sent the craftsman to the Changshu Arsenal, and a thousand Japanese women were sold to Xu Hua for ten taels of silver.

He originally wanted to use these Japanese women as military prostitutes and comfort women for the Xuanjia Army. However, this kind of public encouragement of rape of ** women has irreparable damage to military regulations, military discipline, and the reputation of the Xuanjia Army.

Fang Yuan thought about it, but decided to give up the plan of comfort women, and used the silver from selling women as the marriage fee of the Xuanjia Army. What he wants to encourage is a normal military marriage relationship, not wanton rape.

Canglang Pavilion

Fang Yuan sat alone by the stream fishing, his eyes staring intently at the surface of the lake, but his thoughts had already flown to the horizon.

It's because three unfavorable pieces of intelligence have just been received.

First, the prices of copper, iron ore, and saltpeter have skyrocketed. According to the Xi family, who is in charge of the procurement of these strategic materials, businessmen in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guangdong have all raised the prices of copper, iron, and saltpeter, ranging from three to five times. If the price of these strategic materials rises, it will inevitably increase the cost of building armaments. Moreover, the price of these strategic materials has risen together, and it would be strange if there was no driving force behind it.

Second, the 300,000 acres of imperial land in Beizhili began to promote the cultivation of millet potatoes, that is, sweet potatoes before the crossing, in accordance with the eleventh law. The yield of sweet potatoes per mu is extremely high, and one acre of sweet potatoes is at least equal to seven or eight acres of wheat. The imperial court suddenly began to promote sweet potatoes, which were not the staple food, as rations for the common people, that is, a large amount of wheat was to be levied for military rations.

In short, the imperial court in the capital is about to start preparing for war, or preparing for a riot. Whatever the purpose, the other party turned out to be quite unfavorable news.

Third, the imperial court in Beijing suddenly implemented two new policies in succession. One is the lord system, and the other is the official and commercial system. The main implementation areas are currently tentatively designated as Beizhili, Shanxi, and Shandong.

As soon as Fang Yuan saw the specific content of these two new policies, he saw through these two systems, the essence of which was to encourage corruption, legalize and institutionalize mergers; One is to play through the capitalist system of the former Europe and the United States.

Of course, the main purpose of the imperial court is to accumulate wealth and solve the financial crisis, and the second is to fight against the army and prepare for war.

The only difference is that before the crossing, a constitutional monarchy was usually practiced, while the imperial court played the emperor with the gentry and wealthy merchants. The emperor ceded part of his power to the gentry and wealthy merchants, and the world was no longer the world of the Zhu family alone, but a common world, but the emperor was still the largest real power faction.

Fang Yuan had heard Empress Zhou mention this in the capital before, and now the reform of the imperial court did not surprise him very much. If the lord system and the capitalist system are carried out together, it is actually the solidification of social classes. Officials, gentry, and wealthy merchants who previously owned a large amount of land and wealth would form a privileged class between the imperial power and the common people, monopolizing the most important means of production - land, monopolizing the most important currency in circulation - gold and silver, and even monopolizing the administrative power.

This is the organic unity of the aristocracy before the bureaucracy and the plutocracy after the bureaucracy. If the previous Ming Dynasty was still the germ of capitalism, the current sudden change is the real crony capitalism.

As a traverser, Fang Yuan also had to admit that this new, energetic and wild system, which at least ensured that the white races of Europe and the United States had been at the pinnacle of the world's nations for 300 years, was undoubtedly a huge impact on the outdated system dominated by Confucianism.

The court suddenly resorted to this trick, which was to achieve the end by unscrupulous means. changed the previous national policy of Chongzhen loving feathers and unwilling to bear notoriety, and completely transformed it into a practical strategy with interests greater than fame. Needless to say, the main driving force behind it is his mother-in-law, Queen Zhou.

Women are indeed sensual, and if they are ruthless, they are more ruthless than men. Such a major national policy is neither investigated nor tried in a certain place, and directly rolled out in Beizhili, Shanxi, and Shandong, which is a reckless gamble.

Although Fang Yuan was fishing, he was actually struggling to think about how to deal with it, and it was really a headache for him to meet such a mother-in-law who played cards out of common sense!

Xiao Yuan, who was nine months pregnant, came to him slowly, sat on the chair, and asked softly, "Childe, why have you been sullen today?" Is there something going on? ”

Fang Yuan stepped forward, half-squatted on the ground, caressed her round belly lovingly, and said with a smile, "Xiaoyuan, you can raise the fetus with peace of mind and continue the incense for our family." Don't ask about military and political affairs these days, don't think about it, understand? ”

Xiao Yuan pouted and asked, "Childe, I'm also bored!" Turning around in the Canglang Pavilion all day long, they are all suffocated to death. Looking at the accounts of the independent accounting group, is it true that the prices of iron ore, copper ore, and saltpeter raw materials have all increased? ”

This was exactly what Fang Yuan was worried about, and he said with a solemn expression, "Yes, the saltpeter in Sichuan, the copper mine in Yunnan, and the iron ore in Guangdong have all suddenly increased in price, and it is estimated that it is due to the will of the imperial court." As a result, military spending would have to at least double. ”

Xiao Yuan chuckled and said, "Childe, they want to raise the price, and we really can't get used to them, so we won't buy them at all, so we can hoard those saltpeter, copper ore, and iron ore." Moreover, if they raise the price, we will increase the tax, and it is a big deal to lose both, depending on whether the rich Nanzhili can't hold it first, or those poor and remote areas can't hold it first. ”

Fang Yuan was still hesitating before, whether to buy these strategic materials at a high price first, and then break them one by one, and slowly reduce the cost. How do you know that Xiaoyuan's delicate little woman put on a posture of carrying it at the same time as Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guangdong provinces as soon as she came, which made Fang Yuan also startled, and asked, "Why do you lose both, you come and hear it." ”

"Sichuan's Shu brocade is to be exported overseas through the Yangtze River waterway! We will increase the city tax of Shu brocade five times, if there is Shu brocade smuggled out of the sea, so that Liang Min robbed all in the Yangtze River waterway. ”

"The cinnamon, spices, melons and fruits sold in Guangdong to Nanzhili were all returned to Guangdong, and the cinnamon and spices were purchased directly from the Dutch this year. As for the melons and fruits, if they are rotten, just throw them away! ”

"Yunnan's silverware and native products, all sold to Nanzhili, will be subject to five times the commercial tax."

"In addition, all the merchants in Sichuan, Guangdong, and Yunnan who are engaged in trading in Nanzhili should thoroughly check whether there are any commercial tax arrears, traitors, oppressors of the people, and forced buyers and sellers. Anyone who violates the Ming law will be imprisoned in accordance with the law, and all the goods of the merchant gang will be seized and used as fines and taxes. ”

Fang Yuan was slightly stunned, Xiao Yuan's resolute and resolute methods, before the crossing, were not only a trade war for a tooth, but also a government administrative intervention and punishment. The two-pronged approach is indeed overbearing, but it is indeed a powerful medicine to heal Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guangdong provinces.

Xiao Yuan's ghost ideas are endless, and many of them are still beyond Fang Yuan's expectations, which makes Fang Yuan overjoyed, "Xiao Yuan, you are Zhuge of the female middle school!" ”

Xiaoyuan Huarong said with a gloomy face, "Where am I the female middle Zhuge , the princess saw through the previous Gongzi and Shi Lang's schemes, I didn't see through it, the princess she is the female middle Zhuge ." ”

Fang Yuan saw that she began to eat Kunxing's vinegar again, and said with a smile, "That's the princess and Xu Ru are close, you can see it thoroughly, in terms of stratagem, ten princesses together can't compare to you." ”

Xiao Yuan asked reluctantly, "I heard that when Gongzi went to the Taihu Lake base, he stayed in the princess's bedroom for one night, or let the princess continue the incense for the Fang family, anyway, she is the wife that Gongzi Mingmei is marrying, and I am not right." ”

She was full of complaints, Fang Yuan was quite helpless, this critical time when labor was imminent, and she couldn't stimulate her, so she could only explain slightly, "I just slept in the princess's room all night drunk, and I had nothing with the princess." ”

Fang Yuan instructed the maid to take her down to take care of the baby, and invited the best stable woman in Suzhou City a month in advance, as well as the doctor, who must come to Canglang Pavilion every day to check the labor situation of Xiaoyuan, and there must be no mistakes.

Seeing that he was so enthusiastic and considerate, Xiao Yuan pursed his lips and smiled, so he let him go.

Fang Yuan sent Xiao Yuan away, and ordered Hu Qi to recruit Qin Zhan to come.