The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 50: What is the dispute over the national foundation?

As the New Year approaches, the capital city is already covered in snow and the weather is freezing cold.

It was the Little Ice Age at that time, and it was extremely cold in the coldest months of winter.

The snow on the ground will freeze into solid ice overnight, and you will slip if you are not careful when walking on it.

The whistling cold wind made my hands and feet hurt, like being pricked by needles.

However, none of this can stop ordinary people from returning home to celebrate the New Year.

Every household, no matter whether they are rich or poor, will buy some New Year's goods and have a good New Year.

As the New Year approaches, the streets of the capital gradually become lively and the business of the shops on the streets is becoming increasingly booming.

Early in the morning at around noon, the Qianqing Palace became extremely lively.

Because the father-in-law Zhang Zhen and the head manager of Wansheng Trading Company Zhou Ganquan came together to give Wanli some money.

There were hundreds of carriages brought by the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and the square in front of the Qianqing Palace was almost full of them. The soldiers from the Beijing camp who were carrying the silver boxes back and forth almost filled up the corridors.

At this time, the money they earned could only be moved to the Qianqing Palace, because among the twenty-four offices in the inner palace, Wanli only controlled one, the Imperial Stables Office. The eunuchs in charge of seals in other government offices were either close confidants of Empress Dowager Li or those who were afraid of offending Empress Dowager Li.

If they deposited the money somewhere else, it would most likely be taken away by Empress Dowager Li and given to Prince Lu.

At this time, in the imperial study, Wanli was chatting enthusiastically with his father-in-law Zhang Zhen and Zhou Ganquan.

He asked with great interest, "Why did you send so much silver at once?"

This time, Zhang Zhen and Zhou Ganquan sent a lot of silver, hundreds of carts, which means millions of taels.

The father-in-law Zhang Zhen said excitedly: "Your Majesty, pig iron and wrought iron are selling like hot cakes now. I just need to send them to the place with a dock, and they will be snatched up quickly.

At present, the monthly output of pig iron in Luanzhou exceeds 50 million catties. Unfortunately, there are too few water wheels and forging workshops. We can only produce tens of thousands of catties of wrought iron per month, otherwise we can make more money.

The wrought iron we produce is genuine wrought iron. It has no artificial impurities and is forged clean. It can be used to make farm tools and is in great demand everywhere."

There are more than 50 million catties of pig iron, minus the 10 million catties that are forged into wrought iron, which makes 40 million catties. In fact, not much of it is needed to make weapons and equipment in the Summer Palace.

In other words, their current income from selling iron is roughly 450,000 taels per month, and various labor and costs will account for a maximum of 150,000 taels, leaving at least 300,000 taels of profit per month.

This is already very good.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "What did they do with the iron they bought? Have you asked anyone to investigate?"

The father-in-law Zhang Zhen nodded repeatedly and said, "This humble official has ordered people to investigate. Generally, those who buy iron use it to make ironware.

Now that the prices of farm tools have dropped, business is booming. Hammers, scissors and other iron tools that were rarely available before are now being bought by many people.

Another one is nails. Originally, people were reluctant to use them. Household items all used mortise and tenon structures, such as chairs, stools, tables, beds, etc., which would squeak after being used for a long time.

Nowadays, many people use iron nails when making household items, and there are also horse nails for building houses. A few of them weigh one pound. In the past, only a few of them were used on the main beams when building houses, but now they are used in places that need reinforcement.

As for the wheel axles, they used to be made of wood. If a horse-drawn carriage was used frequently to pull goods, they would have to be replaced soon, otherwise they would break. Now, many wheel axles are made of wrought iron."

Sure enough, once the price of iron becomes cheaper, it is used in more places.

Wanli said with satisfaction, "Well, that's good. Next year, we'll try to recruit more blacksmiths from other places and build water wheels and workshops all along the line from Luanzhou to the Luan River estuary, so as to produce as much wrought iron as possible."

Upon hearing this, the father-in-law Zhang Zhen nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Wanli thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Uncle, draft an edict to confer the title of Imperial Consort on Zhang Shunpin."

Oh, my precious daughter has really become a concubine!

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhen couldn't help but bow repeatedly and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty. I will definitely find a way to turn all the pig iron into wrought iron and sell it."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Mr. Zhou, how is the glass and mirror business going?"

Finally, it was my turn. Zhou Ganquan said carefully, "Your Majesty, nowadays, no matter how much glass and mirrors you make, you can sell them. Especially the glass, the size of a foot, fifty taels a piece, people are scrambling to buy them. I don't know why the rich people have so many.

The Summer Resort is completely overwhelmed right now. We can only produce about 300 pieces of glass and mirrors a day, which is not enough to sell. Several shops are often out of stock."

There are naturally many rich people in the capital, and if they confiscated all of their property, they could get at least 100 million taels.

Currently, only about 300 pieces of glass and mirrors are produced every day. At an average of 50 taels per piece, that's 15,000 taels. After deducting the cost, we can only make more than 300,000 taels a month. It's still a long way to go.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "How's the telescope going?"

Zhou Ganquan quickly explained: "The people I invited have arrived. We are working hard and will definitely be able to produce the samples after the New Year."

That's good.

Wanli said with satisfaction: "Well, that's good. Work hard. No matter how much glass and mirrors are produced in the future, this 10% profit will be yours."

That would be great!
If they make more molds next year, they may be able to earn over a million taels a month. A 10% profit would be 100,000 taels. They will make a fortune!

Zhou Ganquan bowed repeatedly and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

They were chatting enthusiastically when Li Xuancheng suddenly walked in with a complicated expression, holding an imperial edict.

Seeing this, Wanli couldn't help but ask curiously: "What's wrong?"

Li Xuancheng sighed and handed over the imperial edict in his hand.

When Wanli took the imperial edict, he found that there was also an imperial decree in the middle. Empress Dowager Li wanted to confer the title of Consort Wang Gong on the palace maid Wang!
This means that only if you agree to confer the title of Consort Wang as Consort Wang Gong will the cabinet agree to confer the title of Consort Zhang Shun as Imperial Consort.

Zhang Siwei still wanted to use Empress Dowager Li to fight him, and Empress Dowager Li most likely wanted to control the eldest prince and force him to be crowned as the crown prince!

There is something fishy about the dispute over the national capital.

Historically, he almost died in the 29th year of Wanli!

What would happen if he died?
Little Taichang will still become a puppet in the hands of Empress Dowager Li or those civil officials!
If he doesn't obey, these people will continue to change emperors!
This is no joke.

History is a clear proof that if Taichang and Tianqi did not obey, they would die!

Those civil servants keep saying that the crown prince is the foundation of the country and must be established. Are they really doing this for the good of the Ming Dynasty?
The big joke of slipping the world!

It can be said that the ruling system of the Ming Dynasty had collapsed in the late Wanli period.

In a feudal dynasty where imperial power is supreme, when the emperor is forced not to attend court, not to meet with people, not to approve, and not to speak, can it still be called a feudal dynasty?
This is like a company boss in the future who is so angry with the management that he refuses to go to work, doesn't care about anything in the company, doesn't meet anyone in the company, doesn't approve any contracts, doesn't set any strategies, and lets others do whatever they want.

When the boss needs money, he even has to send his cronies around the company to rob!

Can this still be called the boss’s company?

What those civil officials meant was that no matter what, the emperor had to listen to their decision on appointing a crown prince.

Even if the emperor is so angry that he refuses to attend court and does not care about anything after the crown prince is appointed, he must be appointed. It is better for them if there is no emperor.

Even if they kill the crown prince within a month of becoming emperor, he must still be enthroned!
The dispute over the foundation of the country is not about the foundation of the country. What those civil servants are fighting for is power, or the benefits brought by power.

They just wanted to undermine the imperial power and seize all the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

The reason why party struggles became more and more intense in the late Wanli period was that they were fighting for the cake. The emperor didn't care about it anymore. Whoever grabbed the big piece of cake of the Ming Dynasty would get the benefits!

He is much more rebellious now than he was in history. These guys probably wanted to change the emperor a long time ago.

As for how to replace him, it is actually not as good to replace Prince Lu as it is to replace Taichang, because Prince Lu is obviously a disobedient and spendthrift, and Taichang is not even one year old yet.

Next, those civil servants will probably force him to appoint a crown prince soon, and after that, all kinds of accidents will happen to him!
What to do now?

If Empress Dowager Li listened to Zhang Siwei and his gang, he would be in real danger.

(End of this chapter)