"Put!"

"Boom, boom—"

On the Jiangdongmen wharf, with the sound of salutes, dozens of horse boats and treasure ships slowly sailed into the port.

Three years have passed in a flash, and in a blink of an eye, Zheng He's third trip to the West has been three years ago, and now he has come to the fourteenth year of Yongle.

Just before the Chinese New Year, Zheng and the others came back and brought a gift that was sufficient for the world.

"Your Majesty is envoy Zheng He, who led the navy to return triumphantly, please Your Highness review the soldiers and horses and read the book!"

Zheng He's voice sounded on the dock, and behind him were boxes of goods being carried.

Among them, there are some things packed in boxes the size of human heads, which look very heavy, and it takes two people to carry them.

With such a large amount of something, you don't need to say much to know what it is.

Standing under the canopy umbrella, Zhu Gaoxu took the gift list and couldn't wait to open it.

Whenever Zheng He returns, the most exciting moment is often this moment.

When the gift list was opened, the contents immediately made Zhu Gaoxu gasp.

[764,527 taels of gold, 12,765,427 taels of silver, 60,000 catties of copper ingots, 14,672 pieces of gold and silver devices, 27,700 pieces ......of cinchona bark]

The gold, silver, and copper ingots worth far more than 20 million yuan made Zhu Gaoxu clench the book, and his eyes couldn't help but look behind Zheng He.

Unlike the spices of the South Seas, these things are real money.

"What do you have to do with these gold and silver devices in the southern country?"

Zhu Gaoxu suppressed his excitement and asked Zheng He, Zheng He said without thinking when he heard this: "Originally, it was to trade and exchange, but the lord of the southern country attacked our division, and the slaves and maids had no choice but to fight back and defend themselves, most of these gold and silver were seized, and the value should be more than 30 million yuan." ”

The ministers couldn't see the contents of the booklet, so they only knew that Zheng He brought back gold and silver, but they never expected Zheng He to bring back gold and silver worth 30 million yuan in one go.

What is this concept, you must know that most of the gold and silver mines in the Ming Dynasty have been taken back by the imperial court to the state-owned, but even so, the annual output of gold is only a hundred thousand taels, the silver is only two million taels at most, and the color is at most more than three million yuan.

The gold and silver that Zheng He brought back at one time was the gold and silver mining volume of the Ming Dynasty for ten years, and it was also all the gold and silver accumulated in the south for more than 200 years.

Knowing the source of this batch of gold and silver, Zhu Gaoxu calmed down a lot, and even in his opinion, the people of the Inca Empire completely wasted the local mineral resources.

The Inca Empire of tens of millions of people has accumulated only 30 million yuan in more than 200 years.

You must know that in the 100 years after Spain and Portugal mined gold and silver mines in the Americas, almost every year the value of gold and silver ore shipped back to Europe was reduced to 8 million yuan.

In the past 300 years, European countries have plundered 3.5 billion taels of silver and more than 60 million taels of gold from the Americas, not counting the smuggling figures.

It can be said that the Inca Empire accumulated two hundred years of wealth less than the European colonizers in the early sixteenth century mined it in three years.

If the Ming Dynasty went to the Americas to mine gold and silver mines, Zhu Gaoxu would not dare to imagine how much gold and silver mines the Ming could get from the Americas every year.

"Let's go, say the golden bridle!"

Thinking of the mines in the Americas, Zhu Gaoxu grabbed Zheng He's wrist, and his eyes motioned for him and Yang Zhan to follow, very anxious.

Seeing this, Zheng He and Yang Zhan hurriedly followed his footsteps, but fortunately, Beijing moved the capital, and less than half of the officials who remained in Nanjing were less than half of what they were three years ago, so they didn't waste much time and walked to the golden bridle.

As soon as he sat down, Zhu Gaoxu asked about Zheng He's arrangements in Dongzhou and Beizhou, and at the same time asked about the gold and silver mines he was most concerned about.

These precious metals are still valuable even if they are put into the next generation, and they will not be eliminated even if human beings enter space, so they can be said to be permanent hard currency.

These things would have been the primitive accumulation of Europe, but now they will become the primitive accumulation of the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but think of the stalk of later generations, that is, how much money Cixi lost to the 1.4 billion people in later generations......

If Zhu Gaochu is not mistaken, Cixi's loss seems to be 1.23 billion taels of silver, and now in front of Zhu Gaoxu is more than 3 billion taels of silver and more than 60 million taels of gold!

Britain, Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands have spent more than 300 years mining so much, and compared with them, Daming has an advantage that they can't match, that is, a huge population market.

Although the "Yellow Book" of the Ministry of Household Affairs has not yet been handed in, judging from the situation in Jiangxi and Guangxi, there are at least 77,800 million people in Daming this year.

In contrast, Europe is now in the late Middle Ages, famine, plague and war are everywhere, and the European population has been significantly weakened, and in the Ming Dynasty, the population of the Ming Dynasty exceeded 80 million in a few years, but their population is precarious at the standard line of 70 million.

The population of the Ming Dynasty is four to five times that of the four countries including Spain, not to mention the productivity.

From textiles to steel, the Ming Dynasty crushed the whole of Europe in all directions, and such "industrial" strength is incomparable to them.

The gold and silver mines in the Americas, Zhu Gaoxu will get his hands on them no matter what method he uses, even if he saves them in the treasury and does not spend them.

"The establishment and system of the Dongzhou Propaganda Division and the Beizhou Propaganda Division are very good, so the Beizhou Propaganda Department will send Zhang Chun to go, I believe he can do it."

Zhu Gaoxu decided on the candidate for the Beizhou consolation envoy, and at the same time also had ideas about the candidate for the Dongzhou consolation envoy three years later.

"Your Highness, do you need to send an envoy to Xizhou (Europe)?"

Zheng He suddenly asked, Zhu Gaoxu wanted to agree after hearing it, but after thinking about it, he still shook his head and said:

"No, they don't have anything worth the imperial court now."

Zhu Gaoxu's words are not false, not to mention the time spent on laying supply stations on the way to Europe, just talking about the current European products, Zhu Gaoxu really can't think of anything needed.

Sharma and Yorkshire pigs may be good, but these species don't need to send a fleet at all, and they only need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to hire Arab merchants to buy and bring back.

In the world currently controlled by the Ming Dynasty, India is the population market, the Americas is the resource and population market, and the Middle East and Southeast Asia are also population markets.

These markets are closer and easier to develop than in Europe.

It is better to let European countries entertain themselves in Europe for decades, and only after they finish fighting will they find that the outside world has changed.

"Over there in Zhejiang, I'll go back and ask a little bit, now that the new policy is implemented, it is easy to move tens of thousands of people to Beizhou and Dongzhou."

"But these people in the past, you have to be careful, don't let them carry diseases, especially smallpox."

"Those people in Dongzhou and Beizhou have not experienced these diseases, and they can easily be infected and die, which is why I have repeatedly reminded you before."

At the moment, Zhu Gaoxu is still ready to support the three countries of Dongzhou to help him mine, but he is not ready to solve them, and he will have to arrest people from Kunlun Continent when the time comes.

Maintaining the situation in Dongzhou and obtaining sufficient benefits to develop the Indochina Peninsula, the Northeast and Northwest, and the South Seas is what Zhu Gaoxu wants.

The Americas are good, but after all, they are too far away, and before they entered industrialization, the hurricanes in the Great Plains of Beiping were agricultural killers, and only the central valley of the west coast was suitable for agricultural cultivation and survival.

For this continent, Zhu Gaoxu can take his time, but for Sanxuan and Ten Comforts, Nanyang, and even Nanzhou (Australia) and other places, he has to speed up.

After sorting out his mood, Zhu Gaoxu took Zheng He and them to Chang'an Gate to hold another state banquet, and then ordered Yang Zhan to hand over the overseas fleets to various shipyards for maintenance.

Although the voyage to the Western Ocean may not continue, Zhu Gaoxu still needs these fleets, after all, they are still needed in the shipping lanes of the South Sea, the Little Western Ocean, and the Great Ming Ocean.

After three rounds of drinking, Zhu Gaoxu returned to the Qianqing Palace drunk and lay down, and at the same time saw Guo Yan, who he hadn't seen for a long time.

Guo Yan served him to change his clothes, wash and lie down, pillow him with his legs, and comb his freshly washed and dried hair.

"Zhejiang's new deal is almost over, and your actions are much smaller this time......"

Guo Yan was talking about things in Zhejiang, and Zhu Gaoxu closed his eyes and responded: "Keep them, it's useful." ”

He didn't say much, but he answered.

"There are still three places that need to implement new policies, and when they are implemented, you will be the emperor?"

Guo Yan asked about this thing that outsiders didn't dare to ask, and Zhu Gaoxu grabbed Guo Yan's hand: "To be honest, I haven't thought about how to be a good emperor." ”

"Although in the eyes of outsiders, I am no different from the emperor now, but I know that if I am the emperor, I must be an unqualified emperor."

He is right, many of his policies are overthrowing the set of rules that the emperor is inducted by heaven and man, which will do more harm than good to the heavenly family in the long run.

"I have been back to Haozhou during the Qingming Festival all these years, and I have seen and heard many new things on the way."

Guo Yan answered the question, but Zhu Gaoxu understood what she wanted to say.

"There is no place where I pass through that is not praising you and Your Majesty, and in thousands of years, future generations will evaluate whether you and Your Majesty are good emperors, but for now, the people of the world think that your father and son are good emperors and the most virtuous princes."

"Throughout the ages, there have been many people who have talked about Juntian, but only Ling and His Majesty have done all this."

Guo Yan gave his opinion, Zhu Gaoxu sighed after hearing it, and slowly opened his eyes: "I think I'm a little sorry for my father." ”

If you say I'm sorry, there aren't many people who Zhu Gaoxu is sorry for, except for the soldiers at the beginning of Bohai, who are Queen Xu and Zhu Di.

Empress Xu is hiding from him, and Zhu Di is because of his accession to the throne soon after.

There are twenty-two years of Yongle in history, and now it seems that the longest is only sixteen years of Yongle.

Compared with the thoughtful Empress Xu, Zhu Di, who has a straightforward personality and is very aggressive, is easier to get close to Zhu Gaoxu.

Perhaps from the beginning when he said that he wanted to rebel, and Zhu Di chose to be imprisoned by him in Wuliangha Bald City, he regarded Zhu Di as his father, and Queen Xu was very late.

"Your Majesty should be proud, proud to have a son like you."

Guo Yan combed Zhu Gaoxu's hair and comforted him: "Whether it's Emperor Taizu Gao or my grandfather, they are all wrong......

"Actually, I saw it right, I knew for a long time that you would not be willing to be a little Bohai County King."

Guo Yan's eyes were bright with a hint of admiration, over the years, her love for Zhu Gaoxu has not become dull with the passage of time, but has become stronger as he has done great things.

"If they don't force me, I'd rather be a little Bohai County King......"

Zhu Gaoxu's words are true, although he is only thirty-four years old, his psychology is already in his sixties.

In the face of government affairs, he will also feel tired, and he also wants to live a plain and comfortable life.

If it weren't for Lao Zhu using the lives of Feng Sheng and Fu Youde to let him know what power is, if it weren't for Zhu Yunwen's pressing step by step and not leaving a way for himself to live, if it weren't for what Zhu Zhanji did to him in history......

If it weren't for these, Zhu Gaoxu would not have embarked on this road at all, he would have embarked on this road, completely forced to this point by one person and one thing at a time.

It's not that he hasn't shown favor to Zhu Yunwen and softened, but he didn't give himself a chance.

"I haven't walked out of Yingtianfu for fifteen years, and I haven't held an iron gun for fifteen years, rode a fast horse, and fought bravely."

Zhu Gaoxu had a hint of embarrassment in his voice, the emperor was good, but he could not forget the feeling of surging blood on the battlefield.

He looked at his hands, as he grew older, his strength grew stronger, and his understanding of the art of war became more profound, but he never had the opportunity to go to war again.

"I miss Jilin City a little......"

With a whisper, Zhu Gaoxu slowly put down his hand, closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep.

Guo Yan brought him a pillow to lean on, and he snuggled into his arms.

This kind of warmth did not last long, but in three hours, Zhu Gaoxu was woken up by the palace maid, and tiredly went to the Chunhe Hall in his regular clothes.

When he came to the Chunhe Palace, it was still Mao Shi, although Zhu Gaoxu did not hold the early dynasty, but he couldn't stand the six Shangshu Jue Shao, and came to the Chunhe Hall early in the morning to find him.

"Your Highness, Chitose ......"

When the salute sounded, Zhu Gaoxu's complaints last night were gone, and he continued to regain his usual steady, strode past the ministers, and sat down.

"Flat, give a seat!"

The skillful words came out again, and Zhu Gaoxu wanted to see what Xia Yuanji and the others wanted to do.

"Your Highness, after yesterday's day and night of verification, the amount of gold, silver and goods brought back by the Three Treasures Eunuch is indeed not much different from the one in the book."

"In addition, this is a copy of Zhejiang's new policy, which found a total of 124 officials involved in bribery, 1,756 officials, and more than 800 wealthy households."

"More than 64,000 taels of gold, more than 1,753,000 taels of silver, more than 4,700,000 taels of money, more than 1,320,000 yuan of treasure money, and ...... houses."

"During the implementation of the new policy, more than 16,000 mobs obstructed it, and all of them were arrested and detained."

Guo Zi, the secretary of the household department, respectfully reported the implementation of the new policy in Zhejiang, mainly talking about the seizure of gold and silver.

To tell the truth, with the size of Zhejiang, there will only be more gold and silver seized and officials involved than Jiangxi, not less than Jiangxi.

If it weren't for the idea of balancing the New Deal, Zhejiang would have been at least three feet into the ground by Zhu Gaoxu this time, and the resistance of the rich squires in Zhejiang would be greater than now.

Zhu Gaoxu reminded two months in advance that most of the gentry and powerful could not cooperate with officials to revise the booklet.

The group of people who have been pushed out now is just giving Zhu Gaoxu an explanation.

"More than 7 million, not bad......"

Zhu Gaoxu bowed his head after hearing this, and said to Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi at the same time: "The Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Households cooperate with each other, and the mob involved in this incident implicates three generations of father and son, and is assigned to the Ryukyu Mansion. ”

"Officials, wealthy and wealthy households, and officials are also implicated in three generations of father and son, and they are distributed...... Northland Propaganda Division. ”

Although Zhu Gaoxu didn't want to kill the Zhexi faction, it didn't mean that he would connive at this group of powerful gentry and corrupt officials.

Sending the North Continent Propaganda Division may be more difficult to accept than killing them.

You must know that the current Daming Ocean channel is not yet sound, and according to past experience, these more than 2,800 people can involve at least 20,000 people.

20,000 people were sent to Beizhou, and it is really difficult to say how much they will survive in the end.

"Ministers receive orders......"

Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi received the order, and Zhu Gaoxu continued: "How much gold and available silver and copper coins are left in the treasury now? ”

"In addition, how many Yongle Tongbao have been issued, and how many have been circulated overseas?"

Zhu Gaoxu's two economic issues were raised, and Guo Zi said unhurriedly:

"More than 3,960,000 taels of gold, more than 3,260,000 taels of silver, and about 20 million yuan of old money and copper ingots."

"Yongle Tongbao has been issued so far, with a total issuance of more than 42 million yuan, due to different denominations, so the specific number of coins has to go to the mint to check."

"As for the circulation of copper coins, they are basically domestic, but with the merchants trading in the small Western Ocean and the imperial court in the East, there are no less than three million guan popular overseas."

Guo Zi opened his mouth to explain, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said: "No need to tighten, the imperial court has now discovered a lot of copper mines, and there are enough copper materials." ”

"Behind these 42 million Yongle Tongbao, there must be a lot of money recovered, right?"

"Back to Your Highness, it is true." Guo Zi said with a smile:

"In the past 14 years, nearly 62 million yuan of old money has been recycled, and after recasting, only 57 million yuan of money has been recycled, and 5 million yuan is missing......

"So much?" Hearing that five million Guan had disappeared, Song Li and Jin Zhong sighed a few times.

"The old money market is like this, there will always be consumption, and the court does not bear it, only the people bear it."

Zhu Gaoxu was dissatisfied with Song Li and Jin Zhong: "This burden is too big, and the people can't bear it, so they have to let the court bear it." ”

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, five million guan in 14 years is not much, at least compared to the seven or eight million gold and silver overseas in the future, five million guan is not much.

In recent years, there have been fewer and fewer fake money in the market, and more and more fake money workshops have been destroyed, and gradually few people dare to mint fake money.

When Yongle Tongbao completely occupies the market, the economic environment of Daming will be much better.

"Since the imperial court has money, then the progress of Yunnan's land reform and return to the river will be accelerated, this time it is still the Duke of Qianguo and the Duke of Cao Guo in charge, and the Duke of Yingguo will follow."

"In addition, the Marquis Earls of Zhenyuan, Jianchang, Ningyuan, and Longchuan should participate, and the soldiers and horses of the six capitals of Sichuan, Huguang, Guizhou, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiaozhi are all subject to the control of the three princes."

Zhu Gaoxu spoke to the eunuch on duty not far away, and at the same time said to Guo Zi:

"Allocate five million guan to the three princes, this battle must be fought beautifully, I don't want to see the rebel Tusi again."

"The minister's decree ......" Guo Zi responded quickly, after all, the treasury is indeed abundant now.

"Next year, 50,000 officials will be recruited, 100,000 will be taught, and new policies will be implemented in Huguang, Fujian, and Guangdong."

Wave after wave of unsettled, Zhu Gaoxu finally pointed the new deal at the remaining three political envoys.

If nothing else, the new deal will end in the sixteenth year of Yongle at the latest, and Zhu Gaoxu will also give Zhu Di a satisfactory answer in that year.

"Your Highness, do you want to conduct a railway survey of the northwest, southwest, and northeast?"

Huang Fu, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, suddenly stood up and spoke, in his opinion, the imperial court is indeed rich now, since this is the case, it is completely possible to survey the routes of the other three railways in advance.

You must know that these three are not as good as the Liangjing Railway, and they are too sad to be compared to the Liangjing Railway in terms of geography and topography.

It took a year and a half to survey the two Beijing railways, let alone these three.

"It's okay to survey, but it's still a bit waiting."

Zhu Gaoxu confessed to Huang Fu, and said to Jin Zhong, the secretary of the Ministry of War: "The Railway Soldiers and Horses Division can be prepared." ”

"Decree ...... of the Minister's Decree"

Jin Zhong responded, Zhu Gaoxu glanced at everyone, and nodded with satisfaction: "If you have nothing to do, you can all step down." ”

"The ministers retired ......"

Xia Yuanji and the others retreated, and Zhu Gaoxu also sat in his position, quietly watching them leave.

After sitting for a while, he got up and walked out of the Spring and Peace Hall and walked around the Forbidden City in Nanjing.

At its peak, the city of Nanjing, which had nearly 10,000 civil and military personnel and tens of thousands of officials, became deserted due to the relocation of the capital.

The master of the palace went to Beijing, and Ji Gang, Chen Ying and others were the same.

Half of the six yamen and the Metropolitan Procuratorate moved north, dragging nearly 200,000 families.

Although he did not go out of the Forbidden City, Zhu Gaoxu had already seen the situation in Nanjing yesterday, and it was indeed a little colder than before.

Whether it is in the square in front of the Wenhua Palace, or in the squares of the Wuying Hall and the Fengtian Palace, the number of soldiers and horses and officials that can be seen is much, much less than before.

Compared with the outer court, the inner court was even more deserted, and more than a dozen concubines and thousands of palace maids, and more than 2,000 eunuchs followed Zhu Di to Beijing.

Now the inner court is defended by 300 Korean eunuchs and 500 Korean palace maids paid tribute by the Korean king Li Fangyuan.

Not surprisingly, they will stay in this deserted Nanjing palace city for the rest of their lives.

Nanjing's palace city will be deserted, but Nanjing City will not.

No matter how deserted Nanjing is now, it will return to its former prosperity in more than ten years, or even surpass.

It is necessary to move the capital to Beijing, and Beijing is also the most suitable national capital to build a railway.

Nanjing has the Yangtze River, Xi'an is too barren, Luoyang is too small, Kaifeng has no danger to defend, only Beijing is suitable for the Ming Dynasty, and the Liaodong Peninsula and Shandong Peninsula will also become Beijing's batteries facing the sea.

It's a pity that although Beijing has the advantage in all kinds of conditions, Zhu Gaoxu can't help but sigh in the face of Nanjing, where he has lived for more than ten years.

"I don't know if I'll be able to stay here for a few more years and if I'll come back in the future."

Walking on the road of the city wall, this idea popped up in Zhu Gaoxu's mind, but it was emptied by him shaking his head with a smile a moment later.

"What about going to Beijing?" Zhu Gaoxu stood on a female wall, looking at the imperial city outside the palace, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"It's just another place where I'm 'imprisoned'......"

When the thought fell, Zhu Gaoxu turned around and continued to walk around the city's head road, his back getting smaller and smaller until he disappeared......

(End of chapter)