At the end of May, even if it rains lightly, Jiangnan is not so cold, and it will even render a feeling of smoke and rain. There are many ships on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and one of them is an official ship from Beijing.

In accordance with the emperor's will, Wei Ningbo, Wang Hua, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Qi Chengkou, the secretary of the Ministry of War, came to Zhejiang.

On the pier, Zhang Li and Hai Bomei Kejia led the officials to greet them.

This is a very normal scene of ushering in and sending off, but Wei Ningbo is followed by a woman in plain clothes, she does not speak, and no one introduces her, just standing under the paper umbrella of the maid and waiting for the officials to finish their polite greetings to each other.

Zhang Li was originally just a political envoy in Fujian, but after he was promoted to the governor of Zhejiang, the task was significantly increased, and the whole person seemed to have reached a more central position in the government.

After some greetings, he led the people to Qincha.

Still on the way, Wang Hua was asking: "Presumably, Ping Haibo and Zhang Zhong Chengju have received Your Majesty's will, and Your Majesty wants to expand the water division and hold a ceremony." The key is the treasure ship of 2,000 materials, is the ship built now? ”

Ping Haibo replied, "At the end of last year, we reported to Your Majesty about the 2,000 treasure ship, and it could have been built at that time, so Uncle Zongbo doesn't have to worry, the ship must still be there." However, His Majesty wants the envoys of all countries to watch ......"

"What's wrong? Questions? ”

"No problem, but wait. The envoys of Japan and the Ryukyus had already arrived in March, but the Nanyang countries would not arrive until July or August. ”

Qi Chenghui frowned, "In this way, we have to wait here for two months." ”

Wang Hua is not a big deal, but his army is in a hurry, and most of the towns on the nine sides are preparing their troops at present, including the increase and decrease of personnel, the transfer of personnel, and the supply of grain and grass for Wang Shouren's department, etc., are all piled up there.

"The sea is no better than the land, and if there is no wind, you can't reach it." Mei Kejia said another sentence of flattery: "And this is a foreign-related matter, and it is indispensable to Da Sima." Presumably, His Majesty sent Da Sima over with this intention. ”

Wellingberg actually knew what the emperor meant.

For these envoys, His Majesty is full of etiquette and force. The former is for those with good intentions, and the latter is for intimidating ambitions.

Zhu Houzhao had already told him all this, otherwise, he was worried that Wei Ningbo would not understand.

Not only that, Zhejiang people can't understand the return of the donated silver, and he also took it into consideration, so so many people came to Zhejiang.

After arriving at Xingyuan, Zhang Li really asked about the situation in the palace at that time, why he had to return the donated silver.

Wang Hua woke him up with just one sentence, "Did Zhang Zhongcheng ever think about standing up for a letter?" ”

"Standing wood for faith?" Zhang Li pondered for a few minutes, as if he had enlightenment.

The so-called standing wood is a letter, that is, Shang Ying was afraid that the people would not believe it, so he offered a reward and said that whoever moved the wood from the south gate to the north gate would give 50 gold to this person.

It's a very simple allusion, and even people like Werningberg, who are not proficient in academics, have heard it when they were young.

Wang Hua continued to explain: "Your Majesty said that the imperial court built sailors and guarded merchant ships, such things are difficult for ordinary people to believe, and it is not clear to donate this silver, and it is easy to breed corruption, and it is more than 60,000 taels, it is better to buy Zhejiang merchants with confidence." ”

"Faith?"

Song Heng, the political envoy of Zhejiang, said: "The core of business management lies in confidence, only when it is expected that it will continue to make money in the future, businessmen will continue to invest money, buy more looms, hire more machine owners, the market will be prosperous for a long time, and a commercial city like Hangzhou can continue to prosper."

If a merchant does not have faith, he saves a sum of money, and then he saves another money, then the money in circulation is always insufficient, just as the blood flow of the human body is insufficient, and it is always weak. ”

Song Heng, who was born in a small family, said this, and everyone present more or less understood the importance of the word confidence.

Zhang Li also understood, "Therefore, Your Majesty wants to take advantage of this to set up a posture of the imperial court." ”

"Yes." Song Heng nodded, and praised, "Your Majesty always has unexpected moves, but in hindsight, it is indeed a good way." ”

Then he bowed to the three people from Beijing, "Da Zongbo, Da Sima, Wei Ningbo, after the holy decree arrived in Zhejiang, the political envoy Si Yamen has returned the donated silver one by one according to the list of donations, and announced to the whole city that the imperial court will never collect money from merchants in the name of building a water master, whether they donate silver or not, they are all merchants of the Ming Dynasty, and they are all protected by the Ming water master!" ”

"Hmm. What's the response? ”

"Extremely warm." Song Heng was also a little excited, "Xia Guan has been an official for many years, and he has also come into contact with many businessmen, but it is rare to see such a person today, and he has to donate to the government." ”

"This opening can't be opened." Wang Hua immediately reminded.

"The lower officials know that if the Holy Lord's will says not to accept it, then he will definitely not dare to accept one or two."

Mei Kejia said: "Someone also came to me. The reason why they want to donate money is because this time the imperial court not only returned more than 60,000 taels of donated silver, but also Zhu approved and rewarded those merchants. Businessmen lack the most official relations, and with the imperial court's awards, they can have a lot more convenience in the future. ”

But that kind of opportunity is definitely gone after the fact.

So it's obviously useless, but there are always people who want to give it a try.

Although businessmen do not directly serve the court, Zhu Houzhao has paid great attention to some feelings of businessmen from the beginning, and those who are close to the court and for the court will definitely have preferential treatment. There's not much to say.

After listening to it, Wang Hua and Qi Chengsui still felt that there was no problem.

Zhejiang is still different from other places, the emperor has appointed many young officials here, and the situation of the Holy Intention landing in this place is very good, so the atmosphere of the banquet is very good.

It's a pity that Wang Zhi didn't participate in such a banquet, she is still inconvenient after all, but her second brother basically talked to her word for word when he came back.

After listening, the girl was a little surprised, "Speaking of which, Hangzhou has changed a lot." ”

"It should be. Want to go out and see it on an unknown day? ”

The girl pinched her fingers and nodded elegantly, "Then bother the second brother." ”

"Your own family doesn't have to be polite."

Following.

The siblings found a carriage.

In fact, the streets of Hangzhou City at present, the most are all kinds of silk and porcelain shops, many non-local businessmen will choose to find a foothold in Hangzhou, one is to facilitate them to do business with Daming Nanyang Company, and the other is to participate in the trend of the development of maritime trade.

Wang Zhi was particularly impressed by the fact that there were very few beggars on the streets of Hangzhou.

She sat in the carriage, and from time to time she had to look out, pedestrians came and went, and there were even Japanese, but it was true that there were very few beggars.

"Your Majesty has said that commerce is an important complement to agriculture, and it seems to be true. After the opening of the sea, all kinds of goods are exported to the sea trade, and the weaving workshops of every household need people, and the number of merchants gathered from all over the world has increased, which also makes inns and restaurants take advantage of the situation, as long as they are not lazy, it should not be difficult to find a livelihood. ”

"Yes, they said yesterday that Ningbo is like this, and there are more foreigners and Japanese. And the most profitable now are not these large and small weavers. ”

Wang Zhi was curious and blinked her eyes wide, "What's that?" ”

"It is a person who is proficient in various Chinese languages, because there are not enough of them, and a translator often has several customers. Only companies like Ping Haibo and Nanyang with a background in the imperial court could afford to hire full-time translators. ”

"Oh?" Wang Zhi was surprised again, "I also heard a Shaofu official say that the development of commerce will give rise to new livelihoods. ”

Anyway, in the five years of Zhengde, the situation here has far exceeded before. After four or five years of cultivation after the opening of the sea, Hangzhou, Ningbo and other commercial-oriented cities have completely shown a different style.

Wang Zhi will be even more shocked next.

Because money is exciting, and the prosperity of commerce attracts people from the surrounding area, more people need more food, more housing, and to put it mildly, more wine, and more girls.

The abundance of shops and crowds of people is only the initial change, and then some institutions that seem strange to them will be born.

Because business is an activity that requires a variety of supporting facilities, such as banks to provide financial services, and another pawnshop that is more in line with the changes in reality to provide better mortgage services.

Even the payment needs to be matched, after all, the exchange between the big merchants has increased, and it is impossible to always use the silver to deliver, otherwise the streets will be full of horse-drawn carriages dragging silver.

In this way, the anti-counterfeiting technology of silver tickets should also be updated, because the amount of economic activity is too large, unlike before, a little problem is a big deal.

And these are things that need to be done by people.

"Second brother." Wang Zhi looked at it all the way, and thought about it all the way, and she felt that there was something she could advise the emperor, "Do you remember why His Majesty set up a military academy in the first place?" ”

Wang Xuan also stayed in it, he is Wang Yue's grandson, and this place will definitely be competed for, "I heard the teacher at that time say that the direct purpose is to cultivate more people who know how to deal with Tatars." ”

"Just like today's business." Wang Zhi pursed her lips, "Since the emperor has sent you, then let's take a closer look at the changes in Hangzhou, and after reading it, you can advise Your Majesty to set up a business school in Hangzhou following the military academy." ”

Wang Xuan felt unreliable, "Who will send their children to learn to be a businessman?" ”

"Someone is a general, someone is a soldier. The second brother believed in me once, and in just a few years, there have been many unpredictable things in Hangzhou, some of which are good and some are bad. One day in the future, whoever can explain the matter clearly, His Majesty will entrust him with a heavy responsibility. You must know that Daming is completely different from the past. ”

Although Wang Zhi is also praised for being a little smart, with her knowledge, she really can't imagine that after the opening of the sea, Hangzhou will have these changes. At first, she, like many people, just thought that once the sea ban was lifted, there would be more things sold.

Where to think, everything in the world is influenced by each other.

Seeing that her second brother was still hesitating, she couldn't help but glance at him, "If you are afraid that you can't say it clearly, then I'll say it." ”

She originally wanted to provoke her second brother, but she didn't think that this fool would laugh as if she was relieved, "That's good, it's better for my sister to say." ”

Wang Zhi was speechless for a while, how could she do this family if she didn't bother too much!

(End of chapter)