On the tenth day of the fifth month of the twelfth year of Chongzhen.

Lai Mancheng, the nephew of Xu Zucheng and the proprietor of Shunxiangbao Qingtianfu Commercial Bank, came to Yongning City and met with Wang Dou, the general of Dingguo.

A few years have passed, Lai Mancheng is still so chic, the same oily head and noodles, and he is shaking the signature gold fan in his hand.

He smiled and kowtowed to Wang Dou and presented a gift slip, Wang Dou now forbade his subordinates to receive gifts such as gold and silver treasures, and more than that would be considered corruption. Chi Dacheng of the Zhenfu Division stared at him, and Wang Dou led by example, and the officials did not dare to make a mistake.

Therefore, Lai Mancheng's gifts are just some ordinary local products.

Wang Dou instructed Xie Yike to accept the gift list, looked at Lai Mancheng and said with a smile: "Shopkeeper Lai, I see that you have had a good life in the past few years, and you are still so radiant." ”

Lai Mancheng said with a smile: "Thanks to the general's blessing, the villain's life is okay." ”

Wang Dou asked him to sit down, Lai Mancheng had a flattered look on his face, and after sitting down respectfully, he asked Wang Dou about his intention in summoning him.

Wang Dou said.

Lai Mancheng said in surprise: "The general wants to sell horses? ”

He muttered, "Don't dare to say anything else, if there are horses for sale, everyone will definitely rush to buy them first." ”

He pointed his fingers: "Rich families everywhere, military leaders, and merchants everywhere need a large number of horses, and sell as many as they want. ”

He secretly guessed Wang Dou's intention in summoning him, and his eyes couldn't help but show excitement.

Wang Dou asked, "According to your estimates, how much silver can a horse sell for?" ”

Lai Mancheng said: "If it is sold to the people, according to rough estimates, each horse will not be less than twenty-five taels of silver." ”

Wang Dou nodded, what Lai Mancheng said was about the same as the price he estimated.

According to relevant historical records, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the price of horses was divided into upper horses, upper horses, middle horses, lower horses, and foals, etc., and they were traded in rice and silk. The upper horse is worth five stones, and the cloth and silk are five horses each. The horses are worth four stones, and the cloth and silk are four horses each. The middle horse is worth three stones, and the cloth and silk are three horses each. The dismount is worth two stones, and the cloth and silk are two horses each. The foal is worth one stone of rice and two horses of cloth.

After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it was traded in silver, and at the official price of the mutual market, a high-quality Mongolian horse cost more than eight taels of silver each. The medium ones are more than seven taels, and the inferior ones are more than six taels. Of course, this is only the official mutual market price, if it goes to the people, the average discount of a horse will cost twenty-four taels of silver. Sold to Jiangnan, the price of horses is higher.

In the fifth year of Longqing, there were more than 4,000 horses in Zhangjiakou, and the average price was 7.07 taels of silver. The 859 horses, which were of inferior quality, were then resold to merchants for an average price of 9.35 taels of silver per horse, and a difference of 2.28 taels of silver.

These businessmen all have backstage, ordinary businessmen do not have this kind of treatment, and the price of buying a horse will not be less than 20 taels.

Buying a Mongolian horse can make a profit of fifteen or six taels of silver, so the Taifu Temple that manages Ma Zheng is quite rich, and the history records that the old treasury of the Taifu Temple at that time accumulated silver "several to ten million", of which only the silver taels of the "Household Department borrowed from the Temple" amounted to more than 7 million.

Wang Dou planned to sell more than 10,000 horses and get more than 200,000 taels of silver, but he didn't want silver, only grain and goods.

Thinking of this, he smiled and said: "Shopkeeper Lai, your chance to make a fortune has arrived, and Ben will decide to sell a large number of horses and sell them by you." ”

He glanced at Zhong Rong, the ambassador of the Financial Secretary, Zhang Gui, the ambassador of the Civil Affairs Department, and Tian Changguo, the director of the Department of Commerce, who were sitting quietly on the side, and said: "For every horse sold, you can draw a certain amount of dividends, and these staff members under my command will assist you." ”

……

In the battle last year, Wang Dou recaptured more than 22,000 horses and mules, and after these horses were sent back to Baozhou, they were fostered in pastures all over Baoanzhou, which brought Wang Dou an extremely heavy burden of grain, forage, etc., and it was better to sell some of them.

Wang Dou said that horses, mules and other goods were sold to the soldiers and civilians of Baoan Prefecture first, and the price was favorable, only ten taels, but the amount was set at 3,000 horses, and they were exchanged for grain and goods at the same price.

The military and civilians of Baoan Prefecture are now past the stage of food and clothing, and they need some things to show their identity. It's a pity that General Dingguo has very strict control over the land, and there is no need to build any mansions for small families.

Extravagance and waste are forbidden by the generals of Dingguo. It's good to buy a horse, it can show your identity, just like the car owners of later generations. Horses can be bought, ridden, ploughed, transported, and used for great use.

Therefore, after the news came out, people in all parts of Baoan Prefecture immediately surged into Lai Mancheng's trading houses, and many people planned to buy a horse, especially in this very favorable situation. Due to the large number of people who want to buy and the limited number of horses, it can only be drawn by lottery. ,

This also caused strong jealousy in all parts of the rest of the country, secretly hating that he was not from Baoanzhou, which made the soldiers and civilians of Baoan Prefecture even more ashamed, and they were glad to follow General Dingguo early. Because the price difference was too large, in order to prevent resale, Wang Dou set a rule that the military and civilians in Baozhou would prohibit resale within three years, and if there was a violation, a heavy fine of 20 stone rice would be imposed.

The horse selling operation was carried out vigorously, and many squires and wealthy families on the East Road bought horses from Wang Dou, as well as some powerful mine owners and merchant caravans. It was also organized by Lai Mancheng and sold abroad on East Road. Wang Dou did not accept the money, and while the buyers were surprised and cursed, they had to trade with Wang Dou with goods, grain, cloth, coal and iron, and many other things.

In particular, the miners in various parts of the East Road mostly exchanged coal and iron, and most of these miners were worth a lot of money.

Due to the huge demand in the market, the sale of iron has been in short supply, and the sale of iron is a very lucrative industry, so there are countless private riches.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, due to the backward management, in the late Hongwu period, private mining has occupied a dominant position. For the management of iron ore, the Ming Dynasty adopted the method of tax license and iron extraction, and the iron used by the imperial court was purchased from the private sector.

However, since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, all the mines have been occupied by Haoqiang, most of them do not pay taxes, and there are many officials and nobles in the background, and the eunuchs of the vassal kings or something, which is very difficult to provoke. Due to their great power, all the mines that could be mined in various places were also occupied by them, so that Wang Dou could only mine and make iron in the remote Huiyao Fort Mountain.

For these mine owners, one day, Wang Dou will collect taxes from them.

Wang Dou's sale of horses was boiling, where these horses came from, most of them knew well, the staff of the Military Garrison Office, and Guo Shitong, the general judge of the grain management, complained to Ma Guoxi, saying that Wang Dou did not consult with them, so he sold his own horses, which was really domineering.

According to their intentions, Wang Dou should share with them what he gained, but he swallowed it all.

Ma Guoxi smiled, and said with a smile: "General Wang raised funds to Tuntian, this is a good thing, and it is also for the sake of the people." ”

According to Ma Guoxi's view, after Wang Dou sold the horses, most of them were used in Tuntian, and in the future, Tuntian will have a large part of the results, which will be counted on his head, so why not? Regarding Wang Dou's actions, all the members of the court and the central government are silent, so why should they bother?

When Yang Guozhu of Zhencheng heard this, he also shook his head incredulously and said, "General Wang is willing to sell his horses. ”

In the Qianqing Palace, after hearing the return of Jinyiwei, Emperor Chongzhen paced back and forth for a long time, and sighed: "General Wang's loyalty to the country is really rare. ”

Although Wang Dou had very strict control over Baoanzhou, as soon as Wang Dou arrived on the East Road, the place was like a leak, and it was not difficult to get information. Hearing that in order to raise funds for Tuntian, Wang Dou did not hesitate to sell his horses, Emperor Chongzhen was quite surprised and a little moved.

Last year's war has become more and more clear, Yang Guozhu, Hu Dawei, Wang Dou and others have captured a lot of money, and Emperor Chongzhen acquiesced to their gains. It's just that unlike Yang Guozhu, Hu Dawei and others, they hid the silver and two horses tightly, but Wang Dou was willing to take them out to contribute to the court, this heart ......

Starting this year, the hundreds of thousands of acres of military land in Baoan Prefecture can already be taxed. In the coming year, when the East Road Tuntian is prosperous, how much tax can be collected for the hundreds of thousands of new military households who are resettled? Emperor Chongzhen was happy when he thought about it.

Of course, in order not to give this general, who was quite outstanding in training, fighting, and governance, a chance to disagree, Emperor Chongzhen decided to let the local officials watch it closer. The name of Ma Guoxi, the soldier of the East Road of Xuanfu Town, entered his eyes for the first time.

……

The horses that Wang Dou had stolen were constantly sold, and all kinds of grain and goods were slowly piled up in the warehouse. At the same time, a large-scale reclamation of tuntian land on the East Road is also underway, hoping to build some tunpu before autumn sowing.

On the day of the 15th, Ma Guoxi rushed to Yongning City, and held a new tunbao construction ceremony with Wang Dou, he and Wang Dou wielded a hoe together, and picked up half an acre of land in one go, although he was so tired that he couldn't breathe, and his old face was red, but in the end he persevered, so that Wang Dou had a higher evaluation of this old bureaucrat.

Zhang Gui's Civil Affairs Department was busy with farming, but also collected all kinds of agricultural books and studied how to increase the yield of cultivated land.

After another five days, Wang Dou suddenly remembered that Xu Guangqi's "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration" should be published at the beginning of the month, the book of 60 volumes, divided into 12 articles, including agricultural books, field systems, agricultural affairs, water conservancy, agricultural tools, arboriculture, sericulture, sericulture, sericulture, planting, shepherding, manufacturing, and waste administration. This book summarizes and retains the essence of ancient Chinese agricultural technology, and this book is extremely important. ,

Therefore, after Wen Daxing, the ambassador of the Intelligence Department, was summoned by Wang Dou to speak, he soon sent a clever night to the land south of the Yangtze River to obtain the book. At the same time, he also had to bring back the "Wuzhong Water Conservancy Quanshu" and "Jingyue Quanshu" and other books, both of which were also written in May.

The "Complete Book of Water Conservancy in Wuzhong" was written by Zhang Guowei, the governor of Yingtian, and painted the general water conservancy maps of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Zhenjiang and other prefectures, as well as a total of 53 water species maps of the prefectures and counties under each prefecture, which is an important material for studying the water conservancy construction in the Jiangnan region of the Ming Dynasty.

"Jingyue Quanshu" is even more unbelievable, compiled by Zhang Jiebin, the whole book is 64 volumes, it can be said to be a comprehensive medical masterpiece, a collection of plague, malaria, cough, cholera and other treatments, there are many new and ancient prescriptions. After the book was copied, there was a plague in the territory in the future, and there was also an effective treatment.

During these times, Wang Dou paid attention to the surrender of the bandits, the reclamation of Tuntian, and the repair of roads, which can be said to be very busy.

I am afraid that the land in the territory of the East Road will not be able to settle those people, although Wang Dou has the idea of filling the land outside, but at present, there are still many places to use manpower in various parts of the East Road. For example, this one repairs the roads in the territory.

If you want to get rich, first build the road, the benefits of building the road are endless, although the official post station of the Ming Dynasty is slack, but the related private post system is booming, such as this civil letter bureau.

This private profit organization, which was first created in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty and founded by merchants in Ningbo, flourished throughout the Ming Dynasty as early as the middle of the Ming Dynasty. The business of sending letters, goods, and handling foreign exchange is extremely prosperous, and it has not weakened because of the troubled times.

Wang Dou plans to build the road and develop related industries on the East Road, and the road construction requires a large number of manpower, so he can find a bowl of rice for the people on the East Road. It also weakened the population diverted into Baozhou, although Wang Dou vigorously controlled it, but he was afraid that if the plague was introduced into Baozhou, it would be a huge loss.

When Wang Dou was busy, time flew into the end of May, and on this day, Ma Guoxi, a soldier, suddenly asked Wang Dou to discuss the matter.

When Wang Dou came to Huailai City, Ma Guoxi took out a report and said to Wang Dou worriedly: "Zhang Xianzhong has rebelled again, this traitor has rebelled again, and he doesn't know what loyalty is. ”

Wang Dou silently took the Di newspaper, which was written very clearly, on the ninth day of the first month of May, Zhang Xianzhong, who accepted Zhao'an, raised the rebel flag again in Gucheng, killed Ruan Zhitian, the magistrate of Gucheng, and burned the official office. At the same time, Luo Rucai led the four battalions from Fang County, and the two joined forces to conquer the county, killing Hao Jingchun in Zhi County, and even under Yunxi, Baokang and other places. Soon, the fifth battalion of Hui Dengxiang, who was stationed in Junzhou, also rebelled.

The newspaper was written in black and white, shocking, in fact, Wang Dou had already read the newspaper in Yongning City, and he also knew about these things that happened in history. He had forgotten whether Zhang Xianzhong and others rebelled eight times or nine times. Perhaps, for them, rebellion, surrender, rebellion, surrender again, is a kind of pleasure and a profession

Looking at Ma Guoxi's long sigh, Wang Dou didn't know what he was thinking in his heart.

On the day he returned to Yongning City, Wang Dou sent another night to Jiangnan to find some talents to polish lenses, which would be used as gun mirrors and clairvoyant mirrors in the future. At the same time, there were some people who did not receive orders to go to Beijing at night to see if they could get some fire paper and cannon casting craftsmen to come back.