When coated.

In a house in the suburbs, Li Yaoguang is writing hard.

He studied traditional arithmetic as a child, and also studied the mathematical manuscripts left by Hu Shuxiu. Later, I came into contact with "Tao Yong Strategy", specializing in the study of "mathematics", and I studied silently at home.

Li Yaoguang does not communicate with any fellow practitioners, let alone the recent development of mathematics, but he has already developed dozens of formulas and theorems by himself.

"Rest, you've been counting all day." Mother Yang Shu came in with refreshments.

Li Yaoguang said: "It's almost over." ”

Yang Shu sighed, put down the refreshments and left, and gently closed the door.

Because of the rescue of relatives and friends, Li Zhiyi, who was almost 80 years old, was finally reunited with the official prostitute Yang Shu. The old husband and young wife were talked about in Runzhou, so they moved to Dangtu.

But it was too conspicuous, because they not only had a son, but also a younger daughter.

You read that right, after Li Zhiyi had a son at the age of seventy, she soon had another daughter......

A family of four originally moved to Dangtu County, but they couldn't stand the rumors, so they went to the suburbs to buy a house and land.

Now, the daughter is married to a small businessman, and she is okay in her husband's family.

But her son is still unmarried in his twenties, and Yang Shu is really anxious. She keeps lowering the standard of marrying a wife, but people with a little status are unwilling, because everyone knows that Li Yaoguang is a nerd.

A nerd who stays at home, only knows how to read, never communicates with people, and does not go to the imperial examination.

The mother and son depend on each other, and because there is not much land, there is no income. In order to survive, Yang Shu can only sell the calligraphy and paintings collected by her deceased husband, she doesn't know how long such a day can last.

Back in the bedroom, Yang Shu took out the guqin.

She stroked the strings, but she didn't dare to make a sound. Since her husband died, she has never played the piano and sung songs, for fear that others will say that she is an official prostitute.

"Lady, lady......" The maid pushed the door in, forgetting even the basic politeness.

Yang Shu didn't blame, but asked, "What happened?" ”

The maid pointed outside: "The angel is coming, the emperor sent someone to recruit Langjun!" ”

Yang Shu stood up with the piano in her hands: "What did you say?" ”

"The emperor sent someone to conquer Langjun!" The maid said happily.

Yang Shu instructed: "Go and call San Lang out, remember to change into clean clothes." ”

She went to the cash box herself, found that there was not much left, and rummaged through her gold and silver jewelry. But a lot of gold and silver jewelry was also sold, and only a few fine items were given to her by her deceased husband.

For the sake of her son, she stuffed the remaining jewelry into her arms and called a servant to carry the cash box out.

The official messenger had already arrived in the courtyard, and Yang Shu pulled his son to greet him.

When Li Yaoguang heard that he had been requisitioned, he was excited and terrified at the same time. He was a veteran social terrorist, and he was even afraid to deal with the county sergeant, and he didn't know how to deal with the emperor at all.

The mother and son went to the courtyard to meet and welcomed the court officials into the main hall.

The servant was boiling water to make tea, and at the same time brought preserved fruit to entertain him.

The pedestrian in charge of the proclamation is called Xu Du, who is the second Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty. He smiled and arched his hand: "Don't be polite, the official family heard that Ling Lang is famous, so they sent me to conquer Beijing." Daming does not have many false courtesies from the previous dynasty, you bathe and wash tonight, and don't eat garlic and other fishy things. Tomorrow put on clean clothes, and you will receive the decree. ”

"Thank you angels for taking care of you," Yang Shu took out a golden hairpin, "There is no money left at home, and the angels are running all the way, and there is nothing else to thank ......"

Xu Du pushed the golden hairpin back and said with a wry smile: "Don't hurt me, lady." Born in the lower second class jinshi, he was lucky to stay in the cabinet to watch the government, and was elected as a pedestrian of the General Administration Yuan. As long as you do things seriously, you can directly grant the county order at the end of the three-year period, and once you receive valuable gifts, your future will be ruined. ”

According to the trajectory of this official's career, he was obviously trained by the imperial court, and his promotion speed was faster than that of ordinary jinshi.

The gift could not be delivered, and Yang Shu was quite embarrassed.

Xu Du said: "If the lady is worried, you can prepare some food." It doesn't have to be too rich, just have wine and meat, and when the decree is received tomorrow, I will feast on the officials I have brought. But don't give money or gold, which is taboo these days. ”

"Thank you for the advice!" Yang Shu hurriedly saluted.

Li Yaoguang didn't speak the whole time, he actually knew how to deal with outsiders, but he really couldn't say the words when he came to his mouth.

Gradually, he turned his mind back to the math problem, completely oblivious to the mundane things in front of him.

Just as Xu Du was talking to Yang Shu, Li Yaoguang suddenly ran out of the main hall and ran briskly towards the study.

This move directly stunned Xu Du: "Ling Lang is ...... this"

Yang Shu said in fear: "The angel is angry. My son is an idiot, and I am afraid that I will think of something again, and go to the study to study mathematics. ”

"Hahahaha!"

Xu Du clapped his hands and laughed: "Ling Lang is really a wonderful person, and the emperor will definitely be happy when he sees it." ”

At this moment, the daughter's husband's family suddenly came to the door, probably because he heard about the emperor's conquest.

The daughter and son-in-law, as well as the in-laws, as well as the son-in-law's brothers, came to the door more than a dozen times to say goodbye.

After some greetings, Yang Shu invited her father-in-law to the side and asked him to help deal with the house and land. Sell the proceeds, give her in-laws an intermediary fee, and send the rest to the capital, and her mother and son will move to Kaifeng.

The in-laws were naturally willing, and they also took out money to give to the official errand, but Yang Shu stopped them and explained in detail.

The next day, a case was set up to burn incense to receive the decree and feast these officials who carried the holy decree.

Then he took an important collection of books, calligraphy and paintings, and went straight to Runzhou on an official ship.

After boarding the ship, Xu Du asked, "I heard that there are two portraits of the Li family, can you borrow them for a look?" ”

"Angel wait!"

Yang Shu found the portrait.

One is Su Shi and the other is Shen Kuo, both of which were painted by Li Zhiyi himself. And to carry it with you anytime and anywhere, even if you are in a different place, it is like carrying a photo of two friends with you.

Xu Du watched it seriously for a while, and said in a low voice: "The official family wants to borrow it from the Hanlin Painting Academy and let the painters there copy it." The lady can take the initiative to offer it, and it will definitely be returned after copying, and the official family will not occupy the real thing. ”

"Thanks for the pointers." Yang Shu said gratefully.

After arriving in Runzhou, he did not immediately go north, but waited for Zhu Yu's gang.

After waiting for half a month, Zhu Yu finally came.

This little old man carried a large wooden box, which was full of geographical information of the southern provinces, as well as a lot of trivial information about overseas countries.

One old and one young, enter Beijing together.

Zhu Yu was sorting out the old materials in the cabin, and Li Yaoguang was sorting out his mathematical research results.

On the second day after entering Beijing, they entered the palace to face the saints.

When meeting the emperor, Zhu Yu was calm and unhurried, while Li Yaoguang was cramped and uneasy.

"Sit down and talk," Zhu Ming said with a smile, "These days, I have been reading "Pingzhou Can Talk" whenever I have time. The old gentleman once settled in Huangzhou? ”

"I don't dare to be called a gentleman," Zhu Yu said, "My father was framed and demoted by Cai Jing because he wrote poetry." It was also reported that he had traveled with Mr. Dongpo and was dismissed from office by the former Song court. In the following years, my father was briefly reinstated, but he was demoted back and forth, and finally died in a foreign country. I followed my father wherever he was demoted, so I was able to see the customs of each place. After my father died of illness, I went to Huangzhou to settle down. ”

Zhu Yu said very tactfully, it is estimated that the clansmen are fighting for family property, he is too lazy to toss this kind of thing, so he simply moves far away when he gets a sum of money.

Zhu Ming asked: "I sent troops to take Huangzhou, why did you run away at that time?" ”

Zhu Yu replied embarrassedly: "I'm afraid of being burdened by the military disaster." ”

"You don't want to stay in the territory of the thieves, do you?" Zhu Ming ruthlessly debunked.

"Don't dare." Zhu Yu hurriedly denied it.

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "Pingzhou can be discussed" is very interesting. ”

The book is full of interesting facts, such as the fact that the Goryeo envoy passed through Changzhou and heard that the brushes there were well-made, so he wanted to buy a batch of brushes to bring back to Goryeo.

The accompanying Song Dynasty officials colluded with Changzhou pen merchants and partnered to deceive the Goryeo envoys.

It was not until the Goryeo envoys were about to board the ship that the merchant brought the brush. The Goryeo envoy was in a hurry to leave, and he didn't have time to inspect the goods in detail, so he hurriedly traded and left.

As a result, half of the brushes had no hairs, and only the empty barrels were used to make appearances.

Zhu Yu said: "It's just some interesting anecdotes. ”

Zhu Ming asked again: "Can Guangdong's sea vessels also be leased in partnership?" That's what I read in the book. ”

Zhu Yu explained: "There are some businessmen who own sea vessels, or because of insufficient stock, or because of the lack of turnover, or other things, they are willing to lease sea vessels. ”

I only have two or three hundred yuan in my hand, so can I go to sea to sell goods?

OK!

Guangdong's maritime trade is extremely developed, and it is even possible to go to sea by boat, and you can also rent cabin space.

Some small merchants lack financial resources and can only buy one or two boxes of goods. Pay the owner according to the volume or weight, you can bring the cargo on board, and then sleep on the container yourself (for fear of being dropped during the voyage), and then pay for the meal for the crew to bring food.

When a merchant ship goes to sea, most of the cargo may not belong to the owner himself, but from scattered small merchants.

There are even those who do not transport their own goods, but just run the ship to charge a cabin rental fee.

They also made an appointment to go to sea, and the crowd set off with a large number of ships, and everyone held together to guard against pirates.

Zhu Ming asked, "There are a lot of pirates in the South Seas?" ”

Zhu Yu replied: "There are too many to count. If there are only one or two ships, they will not dare to go to sea at all. ”

Zhu Ming said: "When I clean up the Jin Kingdom, I will send the navy to the South Seas to sweep away the pirates." ”

Zhu Yu said: "There are not many people who specialize in robbery and pirates, and it is often maritime merchants who become pirates, and it is useless to send a navy. Because as long as there is a navy, these maritime merchants will do business honestly, and the Ming Navy can't indiscriminately exterminate merchant ships, right? ”

"That's just as well." Zhu Ming nodded.

Zhu Yu said: "What should really be fought is the Nanyang countries. ”

"How?" Zhu Ming came to be interested.

Zhu Yu explained in detail: "Most of the states in Nanyang do not levy commercial taxes, but extract goods as tribute. Although the former Song Dynasty was also extracted, and the tax rate changed back and forth, at least there was a rough statute. Overseas countries do not have charters, and it is up to them to draw more or less. If you have a local consignee, you can bribe the official to take less. If there is no acquaintance, it is possible that even the ship and cargo will be swallowed. ”

Zhu Ming's face turned dark: "Even if it is Zhancheng and Zhenla, they dare to swallow the goods of Chinese merchants?" ”

"Why don't they dare?" Zhu Yu said, "It is a blessing that only the goods were swallowed." If the ship is confiscated, it can be returned to China on other merchant ships. When encountering murderous foreign officials, they will even kill people in the port and steal goods! For example, a person transported goods to Champa and drifted to Zhenla due to the wind and waves. The Zhenla officials would ask who the person was selling the goods to, and if they could not find a local businessman or official, then most of the goods would be swallowed by the Zhenla officials. ”

Zhu Ming sneered: "These envoys of the vassal kingdom are in Tokyo, and they are extremely respectful when they see the Ming Emperor. But I didn't expect that he didn't even pay attention to the rules of doing business, and he dared to swallow the goods of the Ming merchants. Even people took the boat to snatch it, and they also killed people and oversold goods! ”

Zhu Yu said: "It has always been like this. The former Song court didn't manage it, and the Ming officials couldn't manage it. ”

"In which country does this happen the most?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhu Yu said: "Zhenla." ”

Chenla is the Angkor Dynasty.

Zhu Ming slapped the table case: "The first one to clean up is Zhenla!" ”

(End of chapter)