That night, Zhu Youxiao summoned Zhang Yan, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor's palm seal.

"Slave Zhang Yan, knock on the emperor." Zhang Yan entered the Palace of Nourishing Heart with some apprehension, I don't know if the emperor was unhappy after reviewing the four guards of Tengxiang yesterday, these days he has been working very hard to study how to rectify the Imperial Horse Prison, but he has just taken office not long ago, and he has not had time to take specific rectification measures.

"Zhang Yan, how many war horses does the Imperial Horse Supervisor have now?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"Your Majesty, there is a shortage of war horses. Nowadays, not only the border soldiers lack horses, but also the royal family, and the imperial horse supervisor only has more than 2,000 good horses for war horses. Zhang Yan replied, while quickly explaining: "The reason for the lack of horses is mainly that the tea and horse trade of Guanglu Temple was smuggled and robbed by private merchants, so that all the good horses entered the people, and the imperial court could only exchange for some inferior horses in the tea and horse trade. ”

It turned out that the trade between the Ming Dynasty and the northern nomads was monopolized by the imperial court. This kind of border trade, often with a lot of rough tea bricks can be exchanged for a good horse, and then by the imperial court to sell the horse to the people, the money is first stored in the warehouse of Guanglu Temple, and then the silver is taken out to buy war horses in wartime.

During the Wanli period, Guanglu Temple saved tens of millions of taels of silver, but after the three major expeditions, the silver has been used up. However, non-governmental smuggling is very rampant, and bribing border guards to trade out of the customs is almost blatantly done. Military attachés of the border army are also heavily involved, and the border army has already had a very strict corruption problem.

"How much silver does it cost to buy a good horse now?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"Qi Qi Emperor, the horse market is divided into 5 kinds of horses, horses, horses, horses, and horses, and a horse costs 20 taels of silver, and if it is a trader trafficking in the customs, a horse even needs 30 taels. It costs 15 taels of silver to get on the horse, and it costs about 20 taels to buy it in the customs. ”

"Can you send someone to buy it outside the customs?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"Horses in foreign trade need goods, and it is difficult to buy them directly with silver, and there are too many private teas among the people, and it is difficult for officials to compete." Zhang Yan said.

There is no war horse, which makes Zhu Youxiao a headache.

"So be it! You go out of the palace to buy a war horse for me, I will give you 200,000 taels, and you will find a way to buy 10,000 war horses back. "As soon as Zhu Youxiao gritted his teeth, it was more expensive, and he would train the cavalry first.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Yan received the decree, and then Zhu Youxiao asked Li Jinzhong to prepare the holy decree, and allocated 200,000 taels of silver to Zhang Yan, and Zhang Yan was ordered to go out of the palace to purchase war horses the next day.

Zhang Yan left the palace and immediately went to Zhangjiakou to investigate the situation. Zhang Yan, who is sixteen years old, is full of enthusiasm in the face of the emperor's trust, and his mind is thinking about how to buy more horses more economically.

Since deciding to train the army in person, Zhu Youxiao has learned from Sun Chengzong every day how to govern the army. In terms of learning, Zhu Youxiao is still very attentive.

Soon, Zhu Youxiao mastered a lot of knowledge about army management.

Zhu Youxiao calculated the accounts, if he wanted to form a cavalry force of 6,000 people, the cost was obviously very high.

To buy a war horse, spend 200,000 taels.

In terms of weapons and armor, each cavalry must invest at least 10 taels of silver to be considered well-equipped, so it will cost 60,000 taels.

For soldiers and horses, the monthly expenditure is at least 2 taels of silver, plus 2 taels of military salary, then it costs 24,000 taels a month. Coupled with some rewards on holidays, it will cost at least 300,000 taels of silver in a year.

That is, to form such a cavalry, it would take more than 600,000 taels of silver. The expenses for the second year will be reduced, but at least it will be about 400,000 taels of silver.

This is definitely a gold-swallowing beast!

Even the state treasury is a huge amount.

"Although the glass business is profitable, the market is limited. This thing is a durable good, the price will be lower and lower, although the scale of production can be expanded, but once the price is reduced to the point where the profit is flattened by the cost of transportation, there is no money to be made. Zhu Youxiao thought about it for a long time, and felt that he still had to continue to make money!

Otherwise, this amount of money, let alone subsidizing the state finance, is not enough to train the troops yourself.

Looks like we have to find a way to make money!

Fortunately, he now has a lot of capital, and there are millions of taels of silver that he can use.

"Xiao Guangzi, call Tian Ergeng to escort you, and I want to go out of the palace in micro-service." Zhu You instructed the little eunuch beside him.

"Yes, Your Majesty, the slave will go." Xiaoguangzi's name is Zhao Guang, thirteen years old this year, because he is more clever, his understanding is also good, he studies hard in the school, and he is a material that can be made, so Zhu Youxiao promoted him to the governor to serve the eunuch, and he follows Zhu Youxiao on weekdays, and is responsible for summoning or something. By the way, let's take a look, if you can really become a talent, you will have an extra person who can take charge of yourself in the future.

Xiao Guangzi immediately went out and asked Tian Ergeng to lead the escort, and the Hakka family changed Zhu Youxiao into the clothes needed to leave the palace, and said to Zhu Youxiao: "Emperor, you have to be careful when you leave the palace." ”

"I know." Zhu Youxiao nodded, in fact, there was no danger. At the feet of the Son of Heaven, who dares to mess around? What's more, he is escorted by Jinyiwei and Dongchang masters, and ordinary cats and dogs can't get close at all.

After preparing for nearly half an hour, Tian Ergeng was also waiting outside the palace. Zhu Youxiao immediately took two personal escort masters and went out of the palace again.

At this time, it was the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, and the weather was freezing. After a heavy snowfall, there is a rare sunny morning. In this good weather, Zhu Youxiao naturally doesn't want to be stuffy in the palace, go out for a walk, not only can he relax, but maybe he can find some business opportunities!

This time out of the palace, Zhu Youxiao did not take Li Jinzhong, he was busy arranging the spying activities of Dongchang.

Walking along Qianmen Street to the door of the imperial store he opened, Zhu Youxiao stopped to watch for a while, and found that the store was much bleaker than the lively scene when it first opened.

The powerful and wealthy businessmen who can afford to consume glass mirrors and glass windows in the capital have already consumed, and the current business is mainly those merchants who sell glass mirrors to other places, and the most important customers are still Jiangnan merchants.

Zhang Quansheng, the shopkeeper of the glass shop, saw Zhu Youxiao's group of people and knew that the emperor was coming, so he hurriedly came out to greet him.

"That's how business went?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"Your Majesty, now the business in the store is basically supported by Jiangnan merchants, and there have been a large number of freight to Jiangnan before, and it is estimated that there will be a large number of orders in half a month. In the opinion of the grass people, if the price is not reduced, there should be 2 million taels by the end of the year. Zhang Quansheng replied.

"Yes, well done." Zhu Youxiao nodded with satisfaction, Zhang Quansheng hurriedly bowed down and said: "It's all the emperor's credit, if it weren't for the fact that this mirror and glass window were sold by the royal family, the price would not have been so high." ”

That's right, since the glass mirror and glass window were called glass, they have become exclusive to the royal family, and they are forced to get up.

Coupled with the artisan zuò frames in the palace, the art is top-notch, and there is added value in art, which has caused a stunned profit.

There is another one, that is, the ability to live in strange goods. Although the Italians can make mirrors, they have not yet mastered the technology to make large pieces of flat glass, so the mirrors are so big. Compared with the royal mirror, it is completely different from cloud and mud.

"Your Majesty, in the opinion of the grass people, if you want to make the glass business bigger, it is not enough to have a shop in the capital, it is best to open the shops in Yangzhou, Nanjing, and even Fujian, Guangzhou and other places, which are places where there is so much silver that it is unimaginable." Zhang Quansheng tried to build a yì road.

"That's right, Yangzhou has the benefits of private salt, Nanjing has nobles, Fujian and Guangdong have the benefits of maritime trade, all of which are places where the wealth of the world gathers." Zhu Youxiao nodded after listening,

In terms of economy, the north is far inferior to the central and southern regions, and the private salt of the central salt merchants has been very rampant, and the maritime trade is a cancer of the Ming Dynasty. Because the maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty was not like that of the Song Dynasty, which relied on technical goods in exchange for more raw materials.

The maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty sold steel, silk, and cotton cloth that the common people had worked hard to produce, but in exchange for the silver mined by the Spaniards from South America. This silver flowed directly into the people, leading to inflation, and ordinary people not only did not get benefits, but became poorer.

The wealth of the capital is mainly gathered by the imperial court, while Zhangjiakou is the wealth gathered by trade with other races.

"So be it! You are responsible for the branches. In addition, a manufacturing plant was set up in Nanjing, eliminating the trouble of long-distance trafficking. I give you a 1% cut, and the more you sell, the more you get. Zhu Youxiao said to Zhang Quansheng that Zhang Quansheng was the shopkeeper who was temporarily recruited when Zhu Youxiao opened the glass store, and now he is doing well, and Zhu Youxiao can rest assured.

"Your Majesty." Zhang Quansheng knelt down excitedly to thank him, the business opportunities of these royal glazes are absolutely huge, every one hundred taels of silver dividends earned, it will not take a few years, he will be able to accumulate a net worth of tens of thousands of taels. For an ordinary shopkeeper, this is simply a splash of wealth.

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