Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 154 Integrating Resources
Ma Wensheng’s core idea is to abandon Hami, which is fundamentally different from the idea proposed by Chen Ce.

Chen Ce did not intend to give up Hami, but only wanted Hami to be administered by the Turpan people. Restoring the tribute trade with the Turpan people was Chen Ce's core idea.

However, the Minister of War and Liu Jian had the same opinion on this point and still suggested stopping the tribute trade with the Turpan people.

They always felt that the people of Turpan had evil ambitions, and that making concessions to such a small foreign country would undermine the prestige of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houzhao had been eavesdropping outside the hall, and the eunuchs did not dare to stop him. He snorted, walked into the hall with his hands behind his back, pointed at Liu Jian and said, "You are a cabinet minister, how can you be so short-sighted?"

When Emperor Hongzhi saw Zhu Houzhao barge in at some point, he said unhappily, "Zhu Houzhao!"

At this moment, the six ministries of the cabinet realized that the suggestion from Emperor Hongzhi was probably from the prince.

Zhu Houzhao said: "I won't say anything about the Minister of War. He is incompetent. Do you, the cabinet minister, also have no competence?"

Ma Wensheng: “…”

He still remembers clearly the last time when the Crown Prince pointed his finger at Ma Wensheng and scolded him in a poem because Hami was conquered by the people of Turpan.

Now he dared not say anything. He could only watch with his eyes and nose, and pretend that he did not hear what the prince said.

Liu Jian smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, if you say that we can restore the tribute system with Hami, will the people of Turpan no longer covet the city on the northwestern border?"

Zhu Houzhao said confidently: "Yes!"

My little brother said it was like this, so it must be like this!

"The Turpan people have evil ambitions. If we give up Hami, and they invade the Gansu-Liang border, do we have to give up these two places as well?"

Zhu Houzhao retorted: "Hami is the only way for westward trade. Once the tribute system is established, they will have no reason to continue to invade the northwestern border of the Ming Dynasty. Not only will they not invade, but in order to keep their trade unimpeded, they will also help us resist the Tatars."

Emperor Hongzhi did not stop the conversation between Zhu Houzhao and Liu Jian. Instead, he was very happy that his son was not afraid to talk to this group of cabinet ministers.

Liu Jian pondered for a while before he bowed to Emperor Hongzhi and said, "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince is the foundation of the country and the future emperor."

"Although I do not agree with the Crown Prince's words, it may not be impossible to give it a try."

Without waiting for Emperor Hongzhi to speak, Liu Jian continued, "This is the consequence. I wonder if the emperor is mentally prepared."

"If the Turpan people betray us and continue to advance eastward, we will lose Hami and have to pay a higher price to defend Gansu, Liang and Guanxi Six Guards."

Liu Jian was indeed an old fox. He did not refute Zhu Houzhao, but agreed with him. He did not have any conflicts with the prince, but also informed Emperor Hongzhi of the consequences.

In other words, I have already told you, the Emperor, the consequences. If you want to accompany your son in making trouble, I will naturally support you. Governing a country is no small matter, and I hope that you, the father and son, will think clearly about the consequences.

Emperor Hongzhi closed his eyes and thought deeply. Suddenly he asked the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War, "How much money does the Ming Dynasty invest in military preparations and manpower in Hami every year?"

The Minister of Revenue weighed the pros and cons and gave a rough figure - 260,000 taels of silver.

Emperor Hongzhi hummed and said calmly, "I understand."

"Then do as the prince wishes. Ma Wensheng, send someone from your Ministry of War to contact the Turpan people."

"Three points. First, let Ahama live in Hami and manage Hami City on behalf of the Ming Dynasty."

"Second, withdraw the Han people from Hami and disperse them to Gansu and Liangzhou. I cannot take risks with the Han people." "Third, open Jiayuguan and allow the people of Turpan to report and enter the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute."

You will know if it works if you give it a try.

If someone else had suggested this, Emperor Hongzhi might have weighed the pros and cons, but he would try his son's suggestion no matter what. Even if he failed, it would be a lesson for his son in governing the country.

This is worth it.

……

Arrangements for the group of spies in the northwest must be made eventually.

There is little point in them continuing to lie dormant in the northwest, so Chen Ce needs to arrange a way out for them.

These spies are important resources for Chen Ce, and Chen Ce will not give up. But how can he support these spies in an honest way?
Chen Ce was sitting in the study room in the small courtyard of Huaihua Hutong, thinking.

Fu Yuan left himself a batch of business contracts, all of which were bookstore contracts. Originally, Fu Yuan wanted to compete with Chen Ce to open a second Shuntian Press.

Now Fu Yuan's plan has failed, but all these business contracts have been transferred to Chen Ce. What can be done with business contracts worth thousands of taels?
Continue to invest in the bookstore?

According to Wang Defa, bookstores in Shuntian Prefecture did not actually make much money. Fu Yuan acquired these bookstores simply to use the connections of these bookstore merchants to help him develop Shuntian newspaper industry.

Chen Ce would not build another Shuntian Press, so he planned to sell this batch of business contracts back at the original price.

Most of them were originally sold to the Fu family at a discount and at a loss. Chen Ce did not take advantage of them. He would repurchase them at the same price as he purchased them in the first place.

Most of the bookstore owners had the money to redeem their bookstore properties.

A few people who were defrauded of money had no money to redeem themselves, such as Yang Yuzhen.

During these few days, Chen Ce sold it for 6,700 taels of silver at the original price.

Adding the five thousand taels that Xu Jing had given him before, and leaving aside the fifteen hundred taels he had given to Zhu Houzhao, Chen Ce now had over ten thousand taels of silver in his hands.

This is not a small amount!
Chen Ce has already figured out what to do. Making money is secondary. The main point is to be able to support those spies in a legitimate way. They can be businessmen and workers in their free time, and be spies and agents in their busy time.

There is only one industry that can do this, and the answer is obvious: the post station.

The area covered by the post station is huge, and these spies are very loyal. It is most appropriate to let each of them be responsible for an area!
According to the date, Liu Hong should be returning from the northwest soon.

Chen Ce needed to build the blueprint of the post station in advance before Liu Hong came back. He planned to create a Ming Dynasty version of postal express, so that Liu Hong and his group of spies could be fully integrated into it, and the spies could cover more distant places and collect more useful information.

Chen Ce did not plan to let Zhu Houzhao get involved in this business. After all, that group of spies was too sensitive. It would be better for him to take full responsibility and let Liu Hong be in charge of the management.

Let’s start with the Gyeonggi region and then expand it little by little.

During the past half month, Chen Ce has been studying the business model of express delivery, such as website construction, route planning, pricing of commodity mailing, weight of each load, route distance, price, coverage area, personnel rewards and punishments and salary setting, rewards and punishments for lost express parcels, transportation tools, rewards and punishments for timeliness, etc.

For every seemingly insignificant thing, Chen Ce needs to consider it carefully and make revisions tirelessly.

Until one day in late February, a strange guest came to the courtyard in Huaihua Hutong, Cheng Minzheng, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites!
(End of this chapter)