My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 253 Water Poisoning

[Zhang Juzheng entered the palace overnight to persuade the emperor, and his memorial requesting the establishment of a Jinghai patrol fleet to supervise the defense against Japanese pirates in Ryukyu was passed.]

The Ming Dynasty's naval fleet patrolled the Ryukyu Islands, intimidating the Japanese.

With the assistance of Wu Shaozu, the head of the Ryukyu Administration Bureau, the Ryukyu royal family gradually expelled the influence of Japan from Ryukyu.

The Ming Dynasty regained control of Ryukyu.

[National fortune +1.]

[Prestige +200.]

[Remaining Prestige: 830.]

Su Ze put down the [Portable Ming Dynasty] device. Such a big matter only added 1 point to the dynasty's lifespan.

Moreover, the fact that the court officials are now in favor of war, and that this will add 200 prestige points, shows that there are many moderate officials in the court who just dare not speak out in the case of the assassination plot against the emperor.

So after I submitted my petition, they agreed with me, and that's why my prestige increased by 200 points.

Su Ze couldn't help but sigh. Politics is never just a game of accounting; you always have to consider various issues. Sometimes, even if you know there's a cliff ahead, you can only be swept along and jump off.

Now is not the time to wage war against Japan. Being able to send a fleet to patrol and use the empty shell of the Ming Dynasty's navy to frighten the Japanese and cut off Japan's reach to Ryukyu is already a pretty good result.

On May 22, the Crystal Palace Expo assassination attempt case finally came to a verdict.

All the Japanese who broke into the Crystal Palace were executed, and their bodies were hung on the walls of the capital city as a warning.

Fu Shun, a senior official in the Ministry of Works, who bravely fought against the bandits, was commended and comforted by the emperor, and one of his sons was appointed as a centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The other officials and craftsmen from the Ministry of Works who fought alongside Fu Shun against the bandits were also rewarded.

The monks of Lengyan Temple who helped Fu Shun also received a reward from the emperor. Emperor Longqing personally wrote a couplet and bestowed it upon Lengyan Temple.

First line: Buddha sits in my heart, loyalty resides within.

The second line reads: "Incense burns on the throne of sages, its righteous spirit fills heaven and earth."

Su Ze felt that there was something strange about this couplet, as if it contained some kind of imperial decree to worship Buddha and love the country.

However, I heard that the monks of Lengyan Temple were very happy and held a grand ceremony to accept the couplet. They even hung it in gold leaf in front of the temple's main hall.

It is said that the monks of Lengyan Temple have become famous in the capital, so the temple hastily built a Garan Hall to enshrine Guan Yu, in order to echo the "loyalty and righteousness" in the couplet bestowed by the emperor.

As a result of this commotion, Lengyan Temple, which had previously barely managed to attract enough worshippers, quickly became one of the top temples in and around the capital, with people flocking to it during their holidays.

Su Ze couldn't help but sigh, "The abbot of Lengyan Temple is quite the businessman!"
Wow, monks are really rich!

However, where there are rewards, there are bound to be punishments.

The first to suffer was the imperial censor in charge of maintaining order outside the capital.

This unfortunate imperial censor had only recently taken office. He was appointed after the previous imperial censor, Chen Jing, was dismissed during the last grain price fluctuation.

Not long after taking office, he encountered such bad luck. As the person in charge of the security of the capital, this censor was transferred to a local area to serve as an inspector.

However, in terms of position, it wasn't too unfair, which shows the emperor's magnanimity.

Feng Bao, the chief eunuch in charge of the Eastern Depot, and Zhu Shitai, the newly appointed Duke of Cheng, who was in charge of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, were both fined half a year's salary.

The emperor issued an edict reprimanding the Eastern Depot, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the patrol battalion, instructing them to be more diligent in their duties to the emperor in the future.

Those who performed well during the interrogation received rewards from the emperor.

Mai Huasheng, the head of the Eastern Depot's Department of Punishments, was promoted to a higher rank. Jue, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, also appointed one of his sons as a centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Li Defu, the captain of the patrol battalion, was also granted silver.

Only then did this heinous case of deception come to an end.

The officials breathed a sigh of relief that the case could be resolved so quickly.

Cases involving the emperor, if not handled properly, can easily escalate into high-stakes political disputes.

Many cases in Ming Dynasty history started as minor cases, but the interrogators, for their own purposes, escalated them, eventually implicating higher-ups and transforming them from simple cases into political struggles.

Dealing with just a few people is already quite swift, and the fact that no high-ranking officials of the court were involved is the best possible outcome.

As for the Japanese man who was executed, whether they really intended to assassinate the emperor is no longer of concern to anyone.

Anyway, history books have already defined them.

Su Ze thought that hundreds of years from now, probably no one would doubt the nature of this case.
-
In June, during a day off, Su Ze held his son and sat in the pavilion to cool off.

This year, the capital city is hotter than usual, and Su Ze has become much lazier.

After trying to amuse their son, Zhao Lingxian, still worried about her husband taking care of the child, took their son away with a nanny.

Bored, Su Ze could only pick up the newspaper.

There wasn't much big news in the Yuefu Xinbao. The aftermath of the assassination attempt in May had already subsided. Nowadays, news in the Ming Dynasty has a lifespan of only a day, and being able to maintain its popularity for five days is considered to have a relatively long lifespan.

The assassination attempt on the emperor continued to be discussed until the end of the month because the news was so bizarre, combining elements such as "royal family," "Japanese pirates," "case," and "plot twist."

The first issue in June mainly featured economic content, which was quite so soporific.

The Shanxi civil service examination has begun, and the selection examination conducted by Lin Bingzheng, the provincial education commissioner of Shanxi, has been completed. The first batch of 400 students will come to the Imperial College in the capital to study for three months.

The Shanxi Provincial Administration Office has already begun discussing preparations for levying commercial taxes. Newspapers say that "the four classes of people in Shanxi are overjoyed and are eagerly waiting to pay their taxes."

Just take these kinds of reports with a grain of salt.

However, when Su Ze saw that the Fan family had invested in Shanxi coal mines, he understood why these businessmen were willing to pay taxes.

The issue of mining is a long-standing problem for the Ming Dynasty.

In earlier times, the mining tax issue, which evolved because of mining, was also considered a reason for the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

During this period, the biggest problem for Daming Mining was management.

In theory, all the mountains and mineral resources of the Ming Dynasty were state-owned, and private mining was illegal.

However, the government-run mines of the Ming Dynasty always ended up losing money.

While government-run mines were losing money, privately operated mines were making huge profits.

Of course, the losses of government-run mines were not solely due to the corruption of the eunuchs in charge of mining; they were also related to the backward technology, high management costs, and low work efficiency of government-run mines.

In short, government-run mines lose money while private mines make money, resulting in private mines everywhere.

For example, many soldiers in Qi Jiguang's central army were miners from private mines in Zhejiang. After being recruited and trained by Qi Jiguang, they quickly became combat-ready.

Illegal mining by private individuals continues despite repeated bans, and these individuals are referred to as "mining thieves."

During the reigns of Emperors Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli, there were numerous memorials from local officials regarding the problem of "mining thieves," which had become a major headache for the emperor.

As for the period after Wanli, people couldn't even get enough to eat, so no one cared about mining anymore.

In the original timeline, during the Wanli era, a notorious mining thief named Zhang Shouqing appeared in Shanxi.

Zhang Shouqing wielded immense power, even forming a marriage alliance with a regional prince. He commanded thousands of men to mine in the mountains, and local officials dared not interfere. In the end, it was the emperor who intervened, sending troops to besiege and suppress Zhang Shouqing.

However, the government troops were unable to capture the city after a prolonged siege. Zhang Shouqing then sent a message to the imperial court, saying that he was willing to pay taxes to the Ming Dynasty in exchange for permission to mine.

Of course, Zhang Shouqing was eventually wiped out.

However, from this perspective, mining can be profitable for private capital.

The Fan family of Datong are truly astute!
With the launch of energy-intensive projects such as ironworks, glass kilns, and lime kilns, coal prices began to rise.

The Fan family's decision to enter the mining industry at this time was quite wise.

Under the Four Classes of Morality theory, the attitude towards industry and commerce in this time and space has improved considerably.

It was clear that the Fan family of Datong had pulled some strings to make it a pilot project for private individuals to enter the mining industry. After all, they still held the status of imperial merchants, so it didn't necessarily violate the "ancestral law" of state-run mining.

If the Fan family can truly profit, then Shanxi merchants will see the benefits of investing in industry and mining, and will also try to invest in it.

The mining industry is the engine of heavy industry development. The earliest steam engines and trains were developed to meet the needs of the mining industry.

Steam engines and trains will drive further demand for mining and smelting, thus establishing a heavy industrial system.

The New Gentleman's Daily reported on the continuous heavy rains in the south.

Some time ago, The New Gentleman's Daily completed its transformation.

Originally following closely behind the Yuefu Xinbao and Xin Yuefu Bao, Xin Junzi Bao found itself with less and less room to survive.

Recently, the New Gentleman newspaper underwent reforms.

The main content changed from reporting news from the capital to reporting news from the south.

It is said that the New Gentleman's Daily established an editorial office in Suzhou, specifically to collect and report important news from the South.

This differentiated competition brought an increase in sales for The Gentleman's Daily.

There's no way around it; even with Su Ze's extraordinary abilities, the southeast, especially the Jiangnan region, remains the economic and cultural center of the Ming Dynasty.

Young scholars in the capital would imitate the dress of scholars from Jiangnan.

Scholars in the capital city also sought out the writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones used by scholars in the Jiangnan region, and books from the Jiangnan region were bestsellers in the capital.

Even without discussing these issues, a large portion of the officials in the Ming Dynasty's bureaucracy had ancestral roots in the southeastern region.

For example, Su Ze himself was from Suzhou Prefecture.

These officials also enjoy reading news from their hometowns in the newspapers.

The imperial court had already learned of the heavy rains in the south. Fortunately, since Lei Li joined the cabinet, the court had been strengthening the construction of dikes along the Yellow River, Huai River, and Yangtze River.

Huai Fu Wang Zhihuan even personally stationed himself in Fengyang, and this time there was no news of the ancestral tomb leaking.

However, the rain has already caused a disaster.

According to a report in the New Gentleman's Daily, an outbreak of "water poisoning disease" has occurred in many areas of Jiangnan.

According to the newspaper description, water intoxication disease is characterized by "chills and fever, infestation of the abdomen with worms, and an abdomen swollen like a drum."

Isn't this schistosomiasis?

Su Ze recalled that this disease had been rampant in the previous timeline for a long time, and it was only brought under control after the founding of the People's Republic of China when a health campaign was launched to call on the people to eliminate snails.

The outbreak of water poisoning occurred in the southeastern region that experienced continuous rainfall.

A large-scale outbreak has occurred in the Huaibei region, and the epidemic has begun to spread in the Taihu Lake basin.

Yingtian Governor Hai Rui has taken decisive measures, and the famous doctor Li Shizhen, who was traveling in the south, also stepped forward to help Hai Rui fight the epidemic.

Currently, Hai Rui is following Li Shizhen's advice and adopting the method of isolation: "Those who suffer from watery edema are moved to thatched huts on high ground, and can only return home after they have recovered."

Looking at this, Su Ze also sighed.

He didn't have a good solution for schistosomiasis.

A cure for schistosomiasis could only be found with the advancement of medicine in later generations.

Not to mention the Ming Dynasty at this time, even after the founding of the country in the previous life, there was a lack of medicine for treatment.

The best approach is to raise awareness of hygiene and carry out long-term snail eradication campaigns to suppress the spread of schistosomiasis.

The isolation methods used by Hai Rui and Li Shizhen were perhaps the best possible solution for that era.

This issue of the Commercial Daily introduces the sugarcane plantation owners who started developing in Penghu last year.

Su Ze hadn't expected that the sugarcane plantation would be so popular due to the huge profits.

Li Wenquan, the heir of the Marquis of Wuqing, landed in Tainan, a plain near the port of Tainan with fertile soil and water, ideal for growing sugarcane.

Su Ze remembered that this was Tainan City in later times, and also Chengtian Prefecture of Zheng Chenggong in the previous timeline. Before modern times, it had always been the seat of the Penghu government.

The nobles and relatives of the capital who followed Li Wenquan in doing business also opened plantations in Tainan, which also had a good port, making it convenient to purchase slaves from Southeast Asian natives.

Merchants from Fujian also recognized the value of developing Penghu. Led by ten major ship owners from Fujian, they landed in northern Penghu and selected an area where the sea and river meet at Mengjia River Port to begin development.

This is where the Keelung River flows into the sea. Su Ze remembered that this was the future administrative center of Penghu, Taipei City.

This is also a good place, where the river and the sea meet. The plantations on the riverbank can transport sugarcane to the port via the Keelung River, and the entire hinterland of the river and sea can be utilized.

In addition, there are Guangdong businessmen and overseas Chinese businessmen who have returned from Southeast Asia who are also actively developing Penghu.

The entire Penghu is a vibrant place where all things flourish.

This is normal; sugar and sugarcane wine are two high-profit products, so merchants will naturally flock to them.

Sugarcane cultivation is a labor-intensive industry, but it does not require high technology.

In Penghu, raw sugar can be transported back and refined into expensive white sugar.

And more immigrants are pouring in.

Li Wenquan, the eldest son of the Marquis of Wuqing, successfully planted cinchona trees in Penghu. After using cinchona bark extract to treat several sporadic cases of malaria, the most feared problem of miasma was solved.

So Li Wenquan recruited a group of brewing craftsmen and built a brewery in Tainan, directly using the by-products of raw sugar production to brew wine.

Sugarcane wine is now popular not only in the port of Zhigu, but also among sailors at sea.

Su Ze estimates that after this report is published, more businessmen will consider expanding into Penghu.

There was no way around it; the market in the Ming Dynasty was simply too vast.

The demand for sugar from such a small population in the previous era of Britain led to the establishment of sugarcane plantations all over the world.

The urban population of several cities in the Ming Dynasty now far exceeds that of England back then. The already booming demand for sugar will inevitably stimulate the emergence of more sugarcane plantations.

Su Ze then remembered the matter of Penghu. He pulled out a blank memorial and wrote:
Memorial Requesting the Relocation of the Penghu Patrol Inspectorate

(End of this chapter)