I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 167 It’s done
During the court meeting, Yang Tinghe took the initiative to report Zhu Houxuan's request to operate the Changlu Salt Field. Many officials opposed this, even though Zhu Houxuan could pay an additional 100 million taels of silver in salt tax.

This was the silent effort of the salt merchants' interest groups behind the scenes. Although they were not optimistic about Zhu Houxun's management of the Changlu Salt Field, they were very concerned about the fact that Zhu Houxun wanted to enter the salt industry.

No one dares to underestimate Zhu Houchun, who is now at the peak of his career. It only took him five years to go from obscurity to build such a large industry. During these five years, he changed many industry rules and ecosystems, which makes people marvel at it while also feeling a little fearful.

There are quite a few people who want to see Zhu Houxuan fail in the salt industry, but they are more worried that Zhu Houxuan will become angry and destroy the existing salt industry rules after the failure. With Zhu Houxuan's power and status, he can easily do this.

Now the salt industry interests of the Ming Dynasty have been divided. If Zhu Houchun really violates the current salt industry rules, then with Zhu Houchun's methods, it is hard to say what kind of impact it will cause, so they don't want Zhu Houchun to enter the salt industry at all.

Therefore, Zhu Houxun's plan to operate the Changlu Salt Field was opposed by many officials. The officials who supported and opposed it quarreled in the court, but in the end no one could come to a conclusion.

This made Zhu Houzhao very dissatisfied, and he expressed his attitude and dissatisfaction directly in the court. However, he did not use the emperor's authority to force the matter through. His political wisdom was not low. Having been emperor for more than nine years, he knew that it was a stupid approach. If he forced something through, it would easily lead to someone secretly pulling his leg. If this matter failed, it would directly damage his authority.

He knew that more confrontations actually took place outside the court.

This time the court meeting ended in a bad mood.

After the matter of Zhu Houxun's operation of the Changlu Salt Field was brought up at the court meeting, the nature of the matter changed. After all, it was just a rumor before, but now it has become a reality, so various forces began to take action.

Privately, an envoy from the salt industry interest group found Zhu Houxuan and persuaded him to give up the idea of ​​running the Changlu Salt Field. As long as Zhu Houxuan gave up this idea, he would not have to do anything every year and would receive a tribute of 100,000 taels of silver.

To be honest, this amount of money was not small, but Zhu Houxun was not moved at all and did not even look at it, even though the envoy later offered 200,000 taels of silver.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao also began to investigate the forces behind the opponents. The first to cease their activities were the eunuchs. After all, they were the emperor's slaves, and all their power came from the emperor. The emperor has made his attitude clear, and you are still trying to trip him up. Do you think you want to die?

Then there are the royal family forces, who also have considerable interests in the salt industry. At this time, the advantage of Zhu Houxun's identity becomes apparent - Zhu Houxun is now the number one royal family member today and represents the interests of the royal family in some aspects. This is the consensus of most of the royal family members.

Facing the first person of the imperial clan, wouldn't everyone, as members of the imperial clan, even give him this little face? And the proposal proposed by Zhu Houxuan hasn't harmed the interests of the imperial clan in the salt industry?
Therefore, the royal family quickly expressed that they did not object to this matter.

As for the noble group, Zhu Houxuan had some friendship with them, and the nobles were not very strong in their words, so they just had to accept it with a pinch of their nose.

Then there is the civil service group, which has considerable interests in the salt industry. Salt merchants have done a lot of favors to honor the civil servants, and many civil servants' families also control some salt merchants.

However, no matter how powerful the salt interest groups were, they could not take care of all the civil servants. There were still many civil servants who had no interest in the salt interest groups. In addition, Zhu Houxuan took the initiative to say that he would pay an extra 100 million taels of silver every year, which made many civil servants very interested. Having money meant having political achievements. Even if they could not make any political achievements, it would be a good thing to reach out and touch the money and get some oil in the process of spending the 100 million taels of silver.

As for the salt merchants, they were originally the white gloves pushed to the front by various forces. The forces behind them were divided, so they naturally had no say.

The huge salt industry interest group was divided in this way. The most important thing was that Zhu Houxuan had not yet shown any signs of touching their fundamental interests, so they thought that opposition would be enough, but there was no need to overreact.

Therefore, at the second court meeting, there were very few people who stood up to oppose. Zhu Houzhao easily suppressed their voices of opposition and directly passed the matter.

To be honest, it is only because Zhu Houxun is now under the royal title that the boundary between the royal industry and the state-run industry of the Ming Dynasty is rather blurred. If it were not for this title, officials would first discuss whether Zhu Houxun is qualified to run the Changlu Salt Field.

As soon as the matter was approved, Zhu Houxuan immediately sent horse-drawn carriages to transport 130 million taels of silver to the Ministry of Revenue, or 260 million silver coins to be exact.

Zhu Houxun also brought a set of stamping equipment to the capital. All the savings he earned in the capital were minted into silver coins with a silver content of 75%. However, Zhu Houzhao's "Zhu Xiaotou" silver coin had not been designed yet, so the silver coins minted were still with a blue dragon pattern. As the issuance volume increased, this type of silver coin began to circulate among the people. Because of its exquisite casting and easy use, it was affectionately called "Dragon Yuan" by the people.

Zhu Houxuan's 260 million silver coins were intended to test the attitude of the Ministry of Revenue. As a result, the officials in the Ministry of Revenue accepted the silver coins after various discussions and instructions.

Perhaps the officials of the Ministry of Revenue did not think so much, but Zhu Houxuan understood the significance behind this matter. This meant that although the Ministry of Revenue did not officially recognize the legal tender status of the silver coins issued by the Ming Royal Bank, it had privately recognized the value of the currency issued by the Ming Royal Bank.

This attitude of the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Revenue will further increase the market recognition of silver coins, make the people of the Ming Dynasty more confident in silver coins, and make the value of silver coins more solid.

By the time all the dust settled, it was already late March, and the second batch of 3,000 Qizhou workers heading north had arrived in Tianjin.

A large number of ships from the Chen family, the Wu family and the Prince of Jing's Palace also took advantage of the monsoon to arrive in the Bohai Bay, and they brought a large number of supplies and tools.

The Prince Xing's Palace sent a team of more than one hundred people to the capital to pick up Concubine Shao to Anlu Prefecture. Along with the team came a letter from Prince Xing, in which Prince Xing expressed his excitement and gratitude in his heart, and thanked Zhu Houxuan profusely.

Zhu Houxuan, who was preparing to leave Beijing, postponed the date and went to the Forbidden City in person to pick up Concubine Shao and handed her over to the people of Prince Xing's Mansion. He also presented Concubine Shao with a four-wheeled carriage equipped with shock-absorbing springs and ball bearings.

(End of this chapter)