Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 111 Bargaining
"Anyway, you handle this matter for us.

If you receive something afterwards, we won’t pursue it with you.”

Old Zhu feels so wronged.

He was clearly just thinking of using Yang Chen, a person who had no connection with the Ming Dynasty, as bait.

Who would have thought that this bait could actually be used to embezzle money!
Doesn’t he know that Zhu Yuanzhang hates corrupt people the most in his life?
"Your Majesty, please rest assured. I will definitely handle everything for you." Yang Chen took on this bait project with great confidence and asked about the details involved.

"By the way, Your Majesty, besides being granted the title of vassal king, can I make a request?"

"speak."

In fact, Old Zhu was unwilling to let Yang Chen speak.

But this guy has already put the words on his lips. If you don't let him say it, he will find a way to say it later.

Instead of leaving the bad mood for later, it is better to let Yang Chen express it all at once.

Who made him so unhappy now?

On the other hand, Yang Chen said solemnly:
“Your Majesty, you know that I run experiments in the mansion.

Currently, 70% of the experiment has been completed, and the remaining time is to perfect it.

Then I will develop more powerful weapons for Ming Dynasty.

By then, a mansion of this size would definitely not be enough.

Therefore, I would like Your Majesty to give me a county town as an experimental site.

The people in the county, including the officials, all obey my orders.

They must do whatever I want them to do. This area will become my experimental site.

No matter what I do in this land, the officials in the court are not allowed to ask about it. Only Your Majesty and the Crown Prince can contact me. "

Now, the rifled double-barreled shotguns and grenades have been manufactured, and the next step is to figure out how to make the assembly line of the arsenal.

To put it bluntly, it is to solve the problem of mass production.

However, the sandy land he transformed from the back garden of his mansion was simply not enough.

The noise of the explosion made life difficult for the people in the surrounding area, and he had known about this for a long time.

The people didn't say anything only because of his status.

But this does not mean that Yang Chen will completely ignore these people.

There were bursts of explosions from time to time, and those people would come to the door sooner or later.

His situation would then be quite bad.

And improve with the experiment.

The progress of those alchemists can only be described as rapid.

Whether it was sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid, they were able to produce both.

If these things get out, they can be fatal.

The situation in the mansion is complicated, and Yang Chen needs a larger territory to do these things.

However, his proposal soon made Lao Zhu feel something was wrong.

"You mean, you want to ask us for a piece of land? And then you can manage it yourself?

Yang Chen, do you know what you are talking about? "

An ordinary person actually wanted a piece of land and have absolute command over it.

In Zhu Yuanzhang's opinion, only the princes were qualified to do this.

More importantly, Yang Chen actually stated that he had the ability to govern and that court officials were not allowed to enter and check.

Only he and Zhu Biao could enter.

Even the princes of the Ming Dynasty did not have this right.

Everyone understood what he said, and Zhu Chong became even more courageous towards Yang Chen.

He didn't expect that this guy was not only good at talking, but also had such huge ambitions.

No matter how cruel he was, he would not dare to let the officials of the court refrain from taking action against him.

Yang Chen made this request.

“Of course I know what I’m talking about, and I originally didn’t intend to tell you, Your Majesty.

Now that the prince is here, I can tell him the reason directly. I think the prince will support me unconditionally.

But now it seems that the time is just right. Instead of having Your Majesty come to discuss it with me later, it is better to tell Your Majesty now so that we can talk it out clearly.

It will also save you trouble in the future, Your Majesty, don’t you think so? "

"Haha. According to what you said, shouldn't we thank you for saving us the trouble?"

"To some extent, that is true, but I do not need your Majesty's."

"Asshole! Yang Chen, you are too presumptuous! I really don't know what our emperor is for!

You are just a young boy, and you actually want to ask me for the treatment of a prince?
Check your own conscience and look in the mirror! What is wrong with you?"

Old Zhu was so angry at Yang Chen's request that he couldn't help laughing.

Point at the other person and start scolding him or her.

Words like outrageous, daring, rude, and ignorant of the seriousness of the situation were used.

After a while, it finally quieted down.

"Your Majesty? Are you thirsty? How about some tea before you continue to curse?"

"Brother Yang! What are you doing? Stop provoking our father and be quiet!"

Zhu Biao didn't expect that Yang Chen was so ignorant of the seriousness of the matter and continued to provoke his father. He even suspected that this guy had taken the wrong medicine today?
Why would you make such a request for no reason?
An area was planned for him, near the capital.

You should know that the prefectures around Nanjing city are almost all rich areas.

These places were awarded to ministers who had made contributions.

Even the names of the prefectures are still named after the titles of meritorious officials.

For example, Ningguo Mansion and Anqing Mansion, either they are meritorious officials or royal relatives.

Yang Chen wanted to gain regional ruling rights without any blood relationship or achievements.

It sounds like a joke no matter how you listen to it.

No wonder Lao Zhu was so angry.

After his son's persuasion, Old Zhu sat aside and gasped.

He now feels very helpless towards Yang Chen.

At this point, Lao Zhu also realized that he had dared to ask Yang Chen to kill him before.

But now, as Yang Chen was implicated more and more, he felt a little at a loss as to where to start.

This feeling made Lao Zhu very unhappy.

"I'll give you a chance. Tell me your real purpose in claiming this area.

All the good places near the capital have been awarded to those meritorious officials and our daughter and princess.

Unless you can convince me, you can't expect me to agree to your terms."

Old Zhu has already made a concession, so Yang Chen naturally knows that the situation can still be eased.

It's time to reveal your true purpose.

"That's right, Your Majesty. Actually, I don't have too many ideas. I just think that my mansion is too small.

Although this mansion is a luxurious mansion left by Shen Wansan, I have more and more people on my hands.

Every time some experiments are carried out, everyone in the mansion needs to be informed.

In the end, no one said anything, but everyone was still somewhat unhappy in their hearts.

Not to mention that the impact I have caused has prevented the people around me from living a normal life.

If it weren't for my different status, and if Your Majesty hadn't secretly arranged for the Jinyiwei and his guards to protect me, they would have been fine.

These people would have drowned me with their spit.

For this reason, I want to make this suggestion to Your Majesty. Give me a city so that I can do the experiment with peace of mind. And didn’t I mention the decision to distribute the tax to the land before?
I have noticed that there is no response to this matter so far. In this case, why not arrange for all tax policies to be tested locally in the place under my management?

It will only take half a year, or at most one or two years, to see whether the previous policy was better or the suggestions I gave were better.

At least the policy implementation process will not make Your Majesty feel terrified.

As for the cowpox epidemic, as long as some people were vaccinated with cowpox, it would become a living propaganda.

I believe that it won’t be long before all the people in the Ming Dynasty are willing to believe that cowpox can prevent smallpox.

It also saves the grassroots officials from having to talk to them one by one, which saves a lot of manpower and resources."

If Yang Chen had suggested asking for the territory just now, Lao Zhu would have felt that his power was being infringed upon and felt angry.

After hearing Yang Chen's detailed explanation of the benefits, Lao Zhu was actually tempted.

But he was very proud, and when he thought about how angry he was just now, he accepted it now.

I was so stubborn that I didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Everyone was silent for a moment, and he turned his gaze to Zhu Biao and asked tentatively.

"Biao'er? What do you think of this jerk's suggestion?"

Zhu Biao was also imagining everything Yang Chen said and came back to his senses.

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded and replied:

"In reply to your Majesty, I think Yang Chen's method is good.

It has its merits. The skill can save a lot of financial resources and can also make a place a testing ground for the future policies of the Ming Dynasty.

In this way, we can experiment here with any policy we want to implement.

The salary system for officials, which had been neglected due to being busy with other things, had not been implemented.

Now that we have Yang Chen's territory, we can also try to see how the performance appraisal and basic salary system for all officials work.

Once it is done, we can promote it nationwide in the shortest possible time.

With the experiment, these officials will have no excuse to refuse.

Anyone who disobeys will be picked out and given a good beating."

Old Zhu, who was already satisfied, became even more satisfied when he heard Zhu Biao say this.

The tone towards Yang Chen changed again.

"Okay, okay, Biao'er is right. Since Biao'er has agreed, then we have no objection.

As for the territory you want?

Have you ever had a favorite choice? "

Yang Chen had heard the conversation between the father and son. When asked by Lao Zhu, he naturally pointed out a county town without any surprise.

"If your majesty doesn't mind, I want Ningming County, which is a hundred miles away from the imperial city."

"Ningming County? This place sounds familiar?"

Old Zhu fell into deep thought, and this place sounded somewhat familiar to him.

While he was thinking, Zhu Chong suddenly had an idea and said carefully:

"Your Majesty, I know this place is located northeast of Nanjing City, about 120 miles away from Zhenjiang Prefecture.

It would take an hour at the slowest and less than half an hour at the fastest to arrive by horse.

There are nearly 50,000 civilians living here, and they rely on the Yangtze River for their livelihoods.

After Zhu Chong said this, everyone was very surprised that he could explain it so clearly.

"Second brother, you are amazing. You know this place so well."

Zhu Biao patted his brother on the shoulder and said with admiration.

On the other hand, Zhu Chong gave a somewhat modest explanation:
"Brother, you are too kind. The reason why I know something about this place is because one of the commanders of the three guards under my command is from here.

When I was in Shaanxi, he mentioned his hometown Ningming County many times, and how the people there suffered so much that they could barely survive if they had not relied on the waters of the Yangtze River tributaries.

I’m afraid these people simply can’t survive.”

"Why? I heard you say this place should be close to the Ming Dynasty. How can it be possible that the people can't survive?"

When Zhu heard that there were people living in the vicinity of his imperial city who could not survive, he could not help but get to the bottom of the matter.

If this were to spread, wouldn't it be a huge joke that people were starving to death under the emperor's feet?
Old Zhu, who is very concerned about his reputation, would never allow such a thing to happen to him.

"My Lord, according to my men, the reason is that there is too little arable land here.

It stands to reason that as long as there is flat land, people can farm as long as they are not lazy, but the feng shui here does not seem to be very good.

When watering the ground and sowing seeds, few of them could survive. After investigation, it was found that there were poisonous salt mines in the mountains that were causing the problem.

Every time it rains heavily, the poisonous salt mine water that washes down from the mountains kills the rice in the rice fields.

As a result, people had to move their farming areas to other lands, making it extremely difficult for most people to get rice.

Some people would rather cook fish and sell them in Zhenjiang Prefecture, but Zhenjiang Prefecture is close to the Yangtze River, and these fish and shrimp cannot be sold at a high price. "

After understanding the whole story, Lao Zhu couldn't understand why he wanted such a bad piece of land.

Yang Chen didn't care at all and said:
"Your Majesty, this place may not be a good place for others, but it is a good place for me.

This poisonous salt mine is of no use to you, but if you give me some time, I can turn this poisonous salt mine into edible fine salt."

Hearing this, Lao Zhu narrowed his eyes and said suspiciously:

"Boy? You said you can turn this mountain of poisonous salt ore into edible fine salt?"

Yang Chen nodded.

Old Zhu laughed and agreed to his conditions.

"Okay! Biao'er, Lao Er and Lao Si, did you three hear it? This guy said he can turn poisonous mineral salt into edible fine salt.

Let me confirm with you, is this fine salt the snowflake-white fine salt you made in the Shangshenjian?"

Yang Chen still nodded with confidence.

Seeing this, Lao Zhu agreed to let him handle Ningming County.

The only requirement was that he must complete the task assigned to him by the court within seven days.

Otherwise, Ningming County would not be under his jurisdiction.

Yang Chen naturally didn't care about this.

After arranging everything that needed to be said and prepared, and since his grandson was not around, Old Zhu got up and left.

Finally, only four young people were left in the attic.

Zhu Biao changed his seat and sat next to Yang Chen.

"Brother Yang? I'm afraid your purpose for wanting Ningming County is not that simple, right?"

"You know this as well?"

Yang Chen pretended to be surprised, but soon returned to his normal state of mind.

“It’s not simple, but it’s not complicated either.

Whatever I told your father just now was true, not a single lie.

However, I mainly hope to make great achievements in this county and build a new and unique world."

Then, Yang Chen explained his composition.

The general meaning is that he wants to use this county town with a population of 50,000 as a basis to see if he can create a society that can form a huge economic circle with a population of 50,000.

That's why he chose Ningming County, which is close to a tributary of the Yangtze River.

A dock can be built here, making it convenient for ships to enter the sea, not to mention that he needs to use water power to develop some technological products.

Fifty thousand people, no more, no less. As long as he can show them the benefits, these villagers are willing to follow him.

“But then again, I didn’t expect there to be a salt mine mountain in this place.

I was worried that I would need to ask you for money, but now it seems that I can make money on my own."

(End of this chapter)