Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 63 Making an Example of a Rebel (Part 1)
Zhu Jue was speechless after reading the memorial.

Wei Zhongxian was truly insane.

This guy, in his eagerness to curry favor with his superiors, will seize anything he can get his hands on and rob people everywhere!
When members of the Dai princely clan gathered to seize him, this guy actually ordered the Beijing garrison to rush in and kill them indiscriminately!

However, this guy stumbled upon the perfect opportunity.

The fact that the young men of the Dai princely clan and their in-laws came to snatch people was probably instigated by the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou.

If Wei Zhongxian backs down and doesn't dare to take action, the number of able-bodied men gathered by the imperial clan will surely increase to the point that the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Beijing Garrison will be unable to withstand it.

When the Dai princes and their relatives are enraged, and are further instigated in secret, it will not be the Dai princes and their relatives who are killed, but the Jinyiwei and the soldiers of the Beijing Garrison.

If the imperial family of the Dai princes really killed the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the soldiers of the Beijing Garrison, then they would have no choice but to rebel.

Could an emperor tolerate the princes and members of the imperial family indiscriminately killing Jinyiwei and Jingbing soldiers?
That's absolutely impossible!

If they don't rebel then, they'll die anyway. Why don't the imperial family members and their in-laws of the Dai princes rebel?
Believe it or not, the imperial family of Dai actually had the guts to do that.

Whether they were capable of rebelling was another matter, but the members of the Dai princely clan were truly willing to rebel.

This is all because Zhu Gui, the first Prince of Dai, was a notorious tyrant during the Hongwu reign. Relying on Zhu Yuanzhang's favor, he committed all sorts of evil deeds and was extremely violent.

The Prince of Dai's lineage also inherited Zhu Gui's violent genes, and they would cause trouble and kill people at the drop of a hat.

During the Jiajing reign, members of the imperial family of the Dai princes rebelled!
At that time, the Dai-Shi Domain and the Kawafuku General, together with the Kawafuku Generals of several county princely mansions, the Maitreya sect, the Mongol prince, and others, were preparing to launch a rebellion.

However, these guys are really bizarre; their preparation method was to burn down all the pastures of the Datong border troops!
These guys probably wanted to deprive the warhorses of the Datong garrison's cavalry of grass, thus crippling the Datong garrison and making the Mongol prince's cavalry invincible. However, this method of uprising was too foolish, and they were exposed immediately. Before the Mongol prince's cavalry could even arrive, they were wiped out.

Therefore, the imperial family members of the Dai princely clan were capable of rebellion.

These guys don't care whether they can succeed in rebelling or not; they'll rebel if they're provoked!

The three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou may have been looking for this opportunity to incite the Dai princes to rebel and quell the rebellion.

If Wei Zhongxian did not decisively order Zhou Yuji to take action to suppress the situation, it could very well get out of control.

The minds of the imperial family members of the Dai Kingdom are full of violent genes!

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Send someone to convey my oral decree to Zhou Yuji, telling him to listen to Wei Zhongxian and kill anyone who dares to gather a crowd to cause trouble!"

Upon hearing this, Fang Zhenghua quickly bowed and took his leave.

Zhu Jue, however, was still a little worried and said, "Jian Dou, we don't know if we can keep the Dai Fan under control. You need to make preparations quickly. Let General Huang lead the remaining five thousand cavalrymen and be ready to rush to the Dai Fan to provide support at any time."

You also need to quickly select your 50,000 garrison troops. This could be a diversionary tactic; if those traitors take advantage of the garrison's absence to lure the Jurchens into the capital region, then we'll be in big trouble.”

Lu Xiang-sheng quickly cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant obeys the decree."

Zhu Jue's worries seemed a bit unnecessary. Although the Dai princes were notoriously cruel and tyrannical, they couldn't be fierce in front of the even more ruthless Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian was truly daring to kill. This guy didn't care about any imperial relatives or nobles. He dared to kill even imperial relatives and nobles, including the great-uncle of Emperor Tianqi. Let alone the members of the Dai princely family!

This fellow slaughtered without hesitation, frightening the Dai princes so much that they never dared to gather crowds to cause trouble and kidnap people again.

It seems the imperial family of Dai had run out of options and could only resort to appealing to family ties.

Following this, Prince Zhu Dingwei of Dai, along with Princes of Chuan, Lingqiu, Shanyin, and Xiangyuan, submitted a series of memorials accusing Wei Zhongxian of deceiving his master and requesting the current emperor to restrain Wei Zhongxian out of consideration for the blood ties of the Ming imperial family.

When Zhu Jue received the memorial, he merely sneered. He was not Zhu Youjian. Zhu Youjian might have considered blood ties, but he wouldn't care about that at all.

He wanted Wei Zhongxian to make an example of someone, and he was genuinely short of money, so he naturally wanted to fully support Wei Zhongxian's money-grabbing.

Another important point is that the Prince of Shanyin and the Prince of Xiangyuan of the Dai Kingdom had already moved to Puzhou during the Tianshun era of Emperor Yingzong. The Dai Kingdom's lineage had close ties with the three major powerful families in Puzhou.

This robbery of the imperial tax by the Dai princes must be inextricably linked to the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou. These guys had previously colluded with the Tatars to plot a rebellion, and now they're joining forces with traitors who betray the country. They deserve to be killed, but he can't be bothered to care.

He is busy.

Around 9 a.m. that day, he had just finished reviewing the memorials and was about to set off for the East City when Song Yingxing suddenly came running up, bowing with some excitement and saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

So happy?

Could it have been made on a lathe?
A lathe is a great tool; it can machine so many different parts.

For example, any round part in a steam engine, whether it is the outer or inner circle, can be machined. Once the lathe is developed, steam engines can be mass-produced. Once steam engines are mass-produced, other machine tools, including ships, can also be mass-produced. Therefore, the lathe is also known as the mother of industry.

If this thing is developed, the industry of the Ming Dynasty will develop rapidly.

Unexpectedly, Song Yingxing said awkwardly, "Your Majesty, the lathe will take some time to be made. I heard that the first high-temperature furnace at the glass factory has started producing glass, so I came to invite Your Majesty to take a look." Oh, so the glass factory has started producing glass.

He didn't know as much about the high-temperature furnace as Song Yingxing, so he didn't say anything. He didn't expect that this guy would make it quietly and even put it into production.

Glass is a wonderful thing; it can be used to make telescopes, mirrors, windows, glasses, bottles, and so on.

These things are still rare items nowadays, and they could be used to make a fortune by ripping off corrupt officials!
Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue said with great interest, "Let's go take a look."

Soon, the group set off on horseback, heading straight for the glass factory. They arrived at the glass factory in less than 15 minutes.

The glass factory's workshop was a large, open-plan building, about ten feet wide and a few feet high. It was very long, and there was a row of large chimneys on the roof. Generally speaking, there was a high-temperature furnace under each large chimney.

When they entered the factory, they saw that the old craftsmen had already fired a batch of glass. On the clay platform about a foot high next to the high-temperature furnace, there were ten molds lined up in a row, and the glass was cooling inside the molds.

When Zhu Jue saw the newly built high-temperature furnace, he was speechless. The furnace still looked like an inverted pot, but it was much larger than the original trial furnace, and the feeding and discharging areas had been improved.

Upon closer inspection of the mold, he realized it was a square crucible inlaid with copper sheets, and the glass inside the crucible was only about a foot square.

The furnace and molds were quite rudimentary, but at least they were able to mass-produce glass, and the cost was not high.

He looked up again and saw that there were ten high-temperature furnaces in the workshop. The glass factory had built ten such workshops, which meant that it could produce a thousand pieces of glass a day.

This output seems high, but it's actually not high at all, because the glass is too small. A single greenhouse would probably require hundreds of such pieces of glass!

He just watched without saying anything. If production is low, then raise the price.

Things are valued for their rarity, and rare items are always in high demand. Especially now, windows are covered with paper or cloth, which is not only troublesome but also doesn't keep the windows warm in winter or allow light to pass through. Any wealthy person would definitely replace them with glass.

He was pondering this when the glass in the mold had almost cooled down.

Song Yingxing quickly ordered someone to take it out and place it on the large table next to him for inspection. He examined it carefully.

Upon inspection, he was quite embarrassed. Several of the ten pieces of glass had impurities, and he didn't know if it was a problem with the furnace or the raw materials. A few pieces also had their edges not very neat because the copper sheet in the mold couldn't withstand the high temperature and deformed.

He could only chuckle awkwardly and rub his hands, saying, "Your Majesty, it seems this still needs improvement."

Zhu Jue asked quite bluntly, "How long will the improvements take?"

Song Yingxing estimated, "If we want to fix it without any problems, it will take at least ten days to half a month. If it's a problem with the furnace, then all the furnaces in these factories will have to be rebuilt, and it will probably take another month or so to fix them."

How much money have I lost over such a long period of time?

Zhu Jue stared at the glass on the table and pondered, "Don't rush to change it. It can actually be used like this. We can just use the ones with impurities in our own greenhouse. And the uneven edges aren't a big problem either. We can make window frames to cover them up so that others won't notice."

Window frame?

Song Yingxing asked with some surprise, "Your Majesty, do you mean we need to frame the window frames before we sell them?"

of course.

Zhu Jue nodded slowly and said, "We not only need to make window frames, but also high-grade woods such as sandalwood, nanmu, and ebony. We also need to carve them and inscribe the words 'Royal Crystal Window' on them. Only then can we command a high price. How much do you think such a large piece of crystal would cost?"

crystal?

This thing does indeed look like crystal.

The problem is, there's no crystal that big in the world.

Song Yingxing thought for a moment, then cautiously said, "If this were real crystal, selling it for a thousand taels a piece wouldn't be excessive. The problem is, this isn't real crystal; it's just porcelain glaze, costing only a few coins a piece. Your Majesty, what price do you think would be appropriate?"

Don't tell me this is porcelain glaze!

Zhu Jue carefully instructed, "You must make sure that all the old craftsmen who know the formula keep it a secret. Anyone who leaks the secret will be killed without mercy. As for the glass, sell it for ten taels of silver a piece after it is framed."

There's no way around it; wealthy people have many large houses, and they need to install countless panes of glass. If the price is too high, even wealthy people might be reluctant to use them.

The cost of this glass is only a few coins, and the cost of the wood for the window frame is at most a few hundred coins. You're selling it for ten taels, and you still say it's not expensive?

Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue then asked, "How long will it take to mount these window frames?"

Song Yingxing estimated, "Your Majesty, I will immediately have the old carpenter find the materials to make it. It should be ready for mounting today."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "Alright, I'll come back to check on it again tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)