Chapter 190 189 Breakthrough in the Maritime Ban

At this time, Wei Guangde's disadvantage of not having any official background was exposed. He didn't know who to ask about the news in the court.

Before, Wei Guangde's plan after the results of the joint examination came out was to start actively interacting with the Yan family as soon as the palace examination ranking came out, spending money when necessary, in short, to give himself a better background.

But after winning the palace examination, Wei Guangde became a little uncertain.

Although Wei Guangde still went to the Yan family after receiving the news sent by the Yan family, it was all a courtesy visit, which was completely different from what he had thought before.

He didn't think of giving hundreds or thousands of taels of silver for a certain official position for himself, because Wei Guangde knew that the first place in the second class would definitely stay in Beijing, so he would consider it after the court examination.

Are you going to the Yan family to inquire now?

Don't be funny, Wei Guangde didn't want to have too much to do with the Yan family from the beginning, not to mention that he knew that day that the Yan family seemed to be a firm supporter of changing rice to mulberry.

What I am going to do now is contrary to their purpose. If I really go to ask, what will I say?

Wei Guangde didn't want to be embarrassed in the future. The best way was to pretend to be deaf and dumb. Even if he did it, the Yan family would definitely know it.

Well, now the only person Wei Guangde can still talk to and should be able to know the movements of the court seems to be the current director of the Hanlin Academy, his immediate superior Yin Tai.

Wei Guangde looked at the sky. It was already afternoon. He didn't know if Director Yin was working in the courtyard at this time.

Wei Guangde came to the door of the director's public house. Sure enough, he saw that the door was closed.

Wei Guangde asked the clerk in front of the door and found out that Yin Tai had come in the morning and left before noon.

Calculating the time, it was almost the time when Zhang Ji came to inform him at noon, and it was time to leave the Hanlin Academy to do his business.

Yes, Wei Guangde had another arrangement today, which was to sign a house purchase contract with the owner of the Nanxunfang courtyard and the people from the pawnshop, and then go to Shuntian Prefecture for filing.

Wei Guangde had no choice but to make up his mind and come to ask Dean Yin tomorrow morning to see if he could find out the situation.

He told the clerk about his purpose, of course he would not say that he was here to ask for advice on the court, but just said that he wanted to take half a day off.

The clerk smiled and said, "Master Wei, just go by yourself. Come here tomorrow and ask the Dean to make up for the leave."

It turned out that Yin Tai was not always in the Hanlin Academy because he was also responsible for the work of the Zhanshi Mansion. Therefore, he had explained to other people in the academy that if he had something to ask for leave, he would come in the morning. He was usually not there in the afternoon.

For a newcomer like Wei Guangde, he naturally didn't know.

However, the clerk knew that Dean Yin was a reasonable person. Wei Guangde came here to ask for leave. When the time came, he would see Dean Yin early tomorrow morning and tell him. Wei Guangde would come to make up for the leave, and Dean Yin would not say anything.

In this way, Wei Guangde left the gate of the Hanlin Academy and left work early.

As soon as he walked out of the gate, he saw Li San driving a carriage opposite. At this time, he was standing on the roadside talking to Zhang Ji. When he saw Wei Guangde coming out, he immediately called Zhang Ji and took Wei Guangde to the Nanxunfang yard.

The whole transaction process was very fast. After Wei Guangde checked the yard and found nothing wrong, he signed and sealed the contract under the witness of the pawnbroker and the chief of Nanxunfang. Wei Guangde asked Li San to bring a box of silver and money, and the witness and the pawnbroker signed the contract.

The owner received the silver and handed all the keys of the yard to Wei Guangde very straightforwardly, and the transaction between the two parties was concluded.

"Sir Wei, I will send the contract to Daxing County Office right now, and send the house deed later."

Daxing County Office is not in Beijing, but in the northeast of Beijing.

Speaking of which, the administrative division of the capital of the Ming Dynasty is also very interesting. The east and west of the axis in the center of Beijing belong to Daxing County and Wanping County respectively.

More than 20 eastern markets such as Wuyunfang, Baodafang, and Nanxunfang belong to Daxing County, while western markets such as Wanbaofang, Shiyongfang, and Fucaifang belong to Wanping County.

Wei Guangde nodded, not afraid of the broker causing trouble.

"Zhang Ji, you can go with us. Ask Li San to drive over. Hurry up."

After sending off the original landlord and the chief of Nanxunfang, the broker and Zhang Ji followed him out, and Wei Guangde started walking in the yard.

When he walked to the backyard and saw the step-out bed, Wei Guangde suddenly remembered that he didn't seem to have sold anything yet.

The furniture in the yard was very complete, but it was obvious that many daily necessities needed to be replaced, and moving would also require asking someone to check the time in the temple.

Wei Guangde thought that it seemed that he couldn't move in in a short time.

However, the house had been bought, and these were just a matter of time. In addition, with such a large yard, Wei Guangde thought that he had to buy some servants to serve him and clean the yard.

It seems that we have to deal with people from the Yahang.

Speaking of the Yahang and the Yaren, they have a long history. It is said that the earliest record of "Yaren" was in the Western Zhou Dynasty. At that time, it was not called "Yaren", but "Zhiren". The name of Yaren was changed in the Tang Dynasty.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang did not like Yaren, probably because he thought they were not productive like merchants.

However, by now, Yahang has spread all over the Ming Dynasty, and Yaren is naturally the same, becoming a middleman involved in commercial transactions.

Wei Guangde felt that the function of the Shibosi was somewhat similar to that of the Yahang, both of which provided intermediary services and made money.

However, not everyone can do this business. The government is very strict on their management. Therefore, the people in the Yamen and the Yamen are quite familiar with each other, and collusion between internal and external parties often occurs.

It is worth mentioning that the Ming Dynasty prohibited the sale of "population", and the servants Wei Guangde wanted to buy through Yahang were naturally not among the "population".

In fact, all dynasties in China have strictly prohibited the sale of human beings. The law enforced by the Han Dynasty was that traffickers who had abducted but not yet been sold were sentenced to death, that is, executed and their bodies dismembered; people who knew it was abduction but still participated in the sale, and Traffickers are equally guilty.

The regulations of the Ming Dynasty are that abducting and selling a good man into a slave will cost him a hundred sticks, and he will be transported for three thousand miles; abducting and selling his wife and children as a concubine will cost him a hundred sticks and will last for three years; those who hurt others will be hanged; those who kill others will be beheaded; those who are kidnapped will be killed. Reunion with relatives; abduction and trafficking in the name of adoption and heir, the same crime as above

However, these laws were targeted at good people, that is, civilians and free people with household registration, excluding untouchables. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty often confiscated the property of offenders, and their women were put into priests' houses or sold.

Wei Guangde and the others were looking for Guan Ya, so they naturally planned to go through them if they wanted to find servants. For good people, Guan Ya did not dare to buy or sell, but there were workarounds.

Of course, Wei Guangde was not that interested. He just wanted to find a few maids to take care of the backyard and clean the front yard. It was enough to leave the front yard to Zhang Ji and Li San.

It's just that we have to wait until we move in, so there's no rush now.

Later, Zhang Ji brought back the house deed obtained from the Daxing County Government. This time the property purchase in the capital was completed.

After locking the door, they still had to stay at the Jiujiang Guild Hall. In the car, Wei Guangde handed the key to Zhang Ji and asked him to purchase daily necessities. He had to do the calculation of the check-in time himself.

Early the next morning, Wei Guangde came to Hanlin Academy and planned to find Yin Zhangyuan.

But it was still early at the moment, and Chief Yin might not arrive at the courtyard so early, so he drank tea in his public room and read a book to kill some time before going out.

When they arrived outside the principal's office, they saw that the door had been opened. Knowing that Mr. Yin should be here, he asked the clerk at the door to go in and inform him. After getting the news inside, Wei Guangde straightened his clothes and walked in.

"Greetings to Master Yin."

When Wei Guangde entered the room, he bowed respectfully to Yin Tai.

"Haha, don't be so polite."

Yin Tai sat on his seat and raised his hand to signal Wei Guangde to stop saluting.

"I understand your purpose of coming. If you are delayed by something in the future, just try to come over and talk to me in the morning."

While talking, Yin Tai had already picked up a pen on the desk and wrote a note, "You can give this to the concierge later, and it will be stored with the order book."

Wei Guangde hurriedly stepped forward, took the leave note with both hands, and kept saying thanks.

But after the matter was done, Wei Guangde didn't plan to leave yet. After all, he hadn't said anything about today's business.

Seeing Wei Guangde standing there, Yin Tai was just stunned for a moment and smiled: "Are you still waiting to arrange a bachelor's degree?"

Having said this, Yin Tai stretched out his hand and stroked his beard before saying: "In fact, most of the Shuji scholars in the past did not arrange for bachelor's guidance. They read books by themselves and submitted an article every month.

I have talked with several bachelors. In recent years, the palace and the court have not arranged for book repair work. Everyone has part-time jobs, so there is not much to do here in the Hanlin Academy.

Last year and this year, the editors Chen Sheng and Wu Qing were promoted to bachelor's degree after passing the nine-year examination. One of them was copying the records of Wuzong, and the other was in charge of the records of Xiaozong. Who do you think is the right name? "

Wei Guangde originally wanted to ask about rice cultivation and mulberry cultivation, but unexpectedly Yin Tai thought he was waiting for the bachelor teacher.

Well, I was given two choices, Wu Qing and Chen Sheng.

Wu Qing was the first adult he met in the Hanlin Academy. Chen Sheng also met him on the afternoon of the first day. Compared with the two, Wei Guangde felt that Wu Qing seemed kinder, so he immediately handed over his hand and said: "Bachelor, just follow Lord Wu." ”

"Okay, I'll talk to him later, and you can come over and pay a visit in the afternoon. If you have any questions in the future, you can come to him, and of course you can come to me."

Yin Tai nodded and said.

After finishing talking about the business, Yin Tai took a sip from the tea cup on the short-term table and saw Wei Guangde still standing there, as if there was still something wrong.

"Any thing else?"

Yin Tai asked as he put down his tea cup.

Wei Guangde knew he had to say it. Everyone was serving tea. It would be rude not to say anything else. Then he bowed his hands to Yin Tai again and said: "Master, the student heard that the Ministry of Industry's proposal to change rice cultivation to mulberry in Zhejiang was discussed in the court. I wonder if the proposal is true?”

Hearing Wei Guangde say this, Yin Tai frowned slightly, "So what?"

"The students were very frightened after hearing this."

Wei Guangde said immediately, and after looking at Yin Tai's expression, he continued: "During the examination, the students wrote in the article that they would encourage the development of industries such as weaving and porcelain-making, but the student's original intention was that the imperial court would issue policies to encourage them to produce more. , lowering the price so that more people can afford it, so that naturally produced products can be sold smoothly, and the court will also have more tax revenue.

However, when I heard that the Ministry of Industry suggested planting a large number of mulberry trees in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and even using some farmland for mulberry cultivation, the students thought it was inappropriate. "

"Well, actually before you wrote that article, someone in the court was already discussing this matter. It has nothing to do with you. It's just that your article happened to mention that matter."

Yin Tai nodded and said, "As for the pros and cons, the court is still discussing it. The princes naturally know the pros and cons, and they will judge the situation."

Wei Guangde heard it. The court seemed to have been discussing this matter before he took the exam, and his article was just a matter of chance.

It is probably because Chen Jin and the others were in a low position and received the news later, so they thought that his policy paper was the trigger for the discussion of changing rice cultivation to mulberry.

Although it could make him feel relieved, since Wei Guangde asked, he would not just go back.

Understanding the situation and writing a memorial can be regarded as Wei Guangde's first shot after entering officialdom.

"Master Yin, may I ask the imperial court if there is a way to add new silk?"

"Why do you ask?"

Yin Tai was very surprised and asked, stroking his beard.

"Students can't understand the Ministry of Industry's intention to massively increase silk production. Who will sell the increased silk? If they do this rashly, I am afraid that a large amount of silk will eventually accumulate in the warehouse, and a large number of merchants and workshop craftsmen will lose their livelihood. "

Wei Guangde explained.

"Do you have any ideas?"

After listening to Wei Guangde's words, Yin Tai was silent for a long time before speaking, "Since you know that the court is discussing this matter, you naturally know about the Shibo Division. Didn't you check the Shibo Division's books two days ago?"

"The students are indeed surprised by this. According to the decree of the Eighth Year of Jiajing, the Shipping Department is only responsible for receiving tribute from overseas vassals and is not allowed to engage in prospecting trade."

Wei Guangde said honestly.

"It was restored a few years ago. When the imperial court was anxious for money, a lot of the silk stockpiled in Nanjing and Hangzhou was sold through the Shipping Department. It has been doing this since then, but it was not stated clearly."

Yin Tai didn't think there was anything that couldn't be said. It was something that everyone in the court knew. Although he also knew that the Shishi Shipping Department was engaged in some kind of prospecting trade, but it could indeed turn silk into silver to solve the court's financial difficulties. It's a way.

"Those foreign countries admired the Chinese silk porcelain, so they always wanted to increase the number of products, so the Ministry of Industry made this proposal."

Yin Tai continued.

“How much silk can they buy?”

Wei Guangde asked curiously. Since the foreign businessmen have said it, they will naturally give an approximate quantity.

"In the past, we sold about 100,000 pieces of silk every year. They hope to increase it several times. According to the report from the Shipping Department, it is between 300,000 and 500,000 pieces. What the Ministry of Industry hopes is to collect this amount of silk. Only by increasing the production of raw silk can we increase the number of looms.”

Wei Guangde secretly thought that it was no wonder. It was almost as he had guessed. The imperial court had quietly started sea trade, but it had not been announced to the public.

In the Ming Dynasty, it seems that except for Zheng He's voyages to the West, there was no large-scale maritime trade with the outside world.

Yes, that means smuggling trade is not normal commodity trade.

Wei Guangde suddenly felt that the imperial court's financial difficulties seemed to be a good way to break the sea ban, and in fact they were already doing this.