Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 229: Good money may not be good, make it into an old jade seal!
that power.

Whoever occupies it owns it.

The atmosphere in the Government Hall was a little awkward, but the crackling sound of burning sandalwood did not make people feel depressed.

Li Chunfang didn't want the cabinet's struggle to be put in front of the Silijian, even though it was a well-known matter, so he said, "Ruzhen, what's going on with your family?"

Named.

Hu Zongxian's expression was obviously a little unnatural.

As for the others, they relied on their years of training to try their best to control their expressions and not laugh out loud.

"The people are still there, but the money is gone." Hu Zongxian replied helplessly.

This time.

Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, Li Chunfang, and Lu Fang could no longer control themselves and laughed out loud. The whole hall was filled with a happy atmosphere.

The Huizhou merchant group was destroyed.

As the financiers of the Huizhou merchants, the Hu family was able to save the lives of their clansmen only with the joint efforts of Hu Zongxian, the cabinet, and the emperor.

However, the Hu family had to sell off all their belongings and return the profits they received from the Huizhou merchants to the imperial court.

Hu Zongxian couldn't bear to see his clansmen suffer in poverty and hardship, and also in order to repay his family for their years of raising him, he asked his two sons, the eldest son Hu Guiqi and the second son Hu Songqi, to take out part of the silver they had earned from "doing business" before, one million taels of silver, and send it back to his hometown in Huizhou Prefecture and give it to the family to support their lives.

Before the implementation of the national policy of "surveying the land and distributing it equally to the people", Hu Zongxian wrote a letter back to Huizhou, instructing his family not to buy any land but to wait for it to be distributed.

Perhaps it is just as the saying goes, "Good words cannot persuade a damned person, and mercy without salvation will only kill him."

Somehow, the Hu family had colluded with Zhu Xi's descendants, and then bought up a large amount of land in Huizhou Prefecture.

The Hu family and the Zhu family, two families, bought up a total of 500,000 acres of land at the price of five taels of silver per acre, and also formed in-laws with each other.

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

Cheng refers to the two Chengs, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi.

And Zhu refers to Zhu Xi.

Zhu Xi is the only person who is not a direct disciple of Confucius but is enshrined in the Confucius Temple. He is listed among the Twelve Philosophers in the Dacheng Hall.

Although the Zhu family is not like the Kong family, with the title of Duke Yansheng to inherit from generation to generation, the Zhu family is still a prominent school of thought in the dynasty. Relying on the name of their ancestors and selling the letters left by their ancestors, the school has been passed down.

When the Huizhou merchants united with the Huizhou government to rebel, many members of the Zhu family signed the "petition" for money.

The Huizhou government and the Huizhou merchants even approached the Zhu family for this purpose, hoping to use a large sum of money and a promise to make the Zhu family write an "anti-Ming manifesto."

He promised that as long as the Zhu family was willing to write and speak out, they would be able to overthrow the Ming Dynasty in the future and would be able to sit on the throne of Duke Yansheng, with an inexhaustible supply of gold and silver.

However, although the Zhu family is greedy and stupid, they are not yet crazy.

After simply assessing the "slight gap" between the Ming Dynasty court and the Huizhou merchants, he decisively chose to refuse.

At that time, the best outcome for the Huizhou merchants was to flee overseas. Although the Zhu family also wanted to open their eyes to the world, they did not want to be like the Kong family, where they died and their family was wiped out.

Therefore, when the Huizhou Prefecture was hit by a major purge, the Zhu family returned the money they had obtained from the Huizhou merchants, and for Zhu Zi's sake, the Zhu family landed safely.

By the time the Southeast Army, Xiaoling Guard, Zhongdu Liaison Army and Jinyiwei had completed their repeated purges of rebels, Huizhou Prefecture was already in ruins.

The families in Huizhou prefecture and counties were either dead or disabled, except for the Hu and Zhu families.

"When there is no tiger in the mountain, the monkey becomes king."

The Hu family and the Zhu family chose to join forces and formed a marriage alliance. It can be said that they were the most powerful families in Huizhou Prefecture.

After reading Hu Zongxian's family letter and learning about the national policy of "surveying the land and distributing it equally to the people," the Hu and Zhu families thought it was an old trick used by the court to annex land.

First, the land was collected in the name of equal distribution, and then "the common people's land was divided into 30% and 70%, and the land of the gentry was returned in full."

So, when all the families and people in Huizhou Prefecture were selling their land at low prices, the Hu family took out all of the one million taels of silver, and the Zhu family sold some of Zhu Zi's letters, and also raised one and a half million taels of silver, and bought 500,000 acres of land.

After hearing about the heroic deeds of his family and in-laws' family, Hu Zongxian almost fainted on the spot.

While others are clearing the land, we are buying at the bottom.

When the national policy is implemented in Huizhou Prefecture, the Hu and Zhu families will inevitably suffer huge losses.

Hu Zongxian was regretting why he didn't purge the idiots in his family when the imperial court was cleaning up Huizhou Prefecture.

"Ruzhen, it will take at least a year to implement the national policy in Southern Zhili. Others may make a small profit, but the Hu and Zhu families will not lose money either, and they can still reap the benefits for a year." Zhang Juzheng comforted him.

In the Ming Dynasty, the fields would be surveyed and returned equally in each county, prefecture, and province. This would take a lot of time. In the spring of the following year, the Hu and Zhu families would still be able to plant the land and harvest crops for another year.

Two and a half million taels of silver have not been completely wasted.

However, Hu Zongxian did not feel comforted by this. To this day, the Ming Dynasty's restrictions on land for growing crops still exist.

In other words, the land was used to grow rice two hundred years ago, and it is still used to grow rice now.

The price of polished japonica rice this year is five cents of silver for one dou of rice. One dou of rice is twenty catties. With five taels of silver, if you plant one acre of land once, you must harvest two hundred catties of polished japonica rice to recover the original price of the land.

If we take into account the price of rice seedlings, the price of workers for planting rice, the price of workers for harvesting rice, and the price of workers for threshing rice, one acre of land must yield three stone of japonica rice in order to break even, or make a small profit.

With the bumper harvest, the rice fields barely broke even.

But what about the wheat fields? What about the sorghum fields? There were also some fields with various crops. The output of these crops was relatively low, and the Hu and Zhu families not only worked hard, but also lost money.

Farming like this is a waste of time!

Hu Zongxian could only hope that his clansmen would learn from this experience. If that didn't work, he would use the money from his two rebellious sons to supplement the family.

As for the Zhu family, they still had some wealth from their ancestors, so when they couldn't make ends meet, they could still sell some of Zhu Zi's letters and original poems for silver.

Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, and even Lu Fang all had some ideas. They were also interested in Zhu Zi's letters and original poems. They would be treasures passed down to later generations. When they were done with their duties, they would send people to Huizhou Prefecture to keep an eye on the Zhu family. If the Zhu family sold anything, they would buy it and leave it to their descendants.

Li Chunfang silently used a memorial to the emperor to suppress the unfinished copy of "The Great Learning" on his desk.

Things that Zhu Xi was still revising before his death.

Yangzhou Prefecture and Huizhou Prefecture both belong to Nanzhili. Although they are not close to each other, if you hear that there is good stuff there, you can still rush over.

The Li family spent over one million taels of silver on this book.

For literati, incompleteness does not necessarily mean low value. On the contrary, sometimes it means higher value.

The prime minister and deputy prime minister were still thinking about how to make a move, and their colleagues' hearts were still bleeding, and they didn't notice at all that the real good stuff had already been grabbed by him.

If he took it out at this time, it would probably incur public outrage, so Li Chunfang wanted to wait for an opportunity to show off his prowess in front of others.

The door of the Government Affairs Hall was suddenly pushed open.

The snowy wind instantly diluted the scent of sandalwood, and the flames in the furnace and the cauldron were swaying. The coldness passed through their bodies, and the thinly dressed elders couldn't help but shiver. They all looked towards the door of the hall at the same time and were stunned.

Chen Yiqin returned to the cabinet.

There was wind, frost and snow for many days.

It made a cabinet minister who was full of bookish air become full of "earthy" air.

The figure became even thinner, and the wrinkles on his face were piled up, as if they had been carved by an axe or a knife, making him look unfamiliar.

"Prime Minister, Second Prime Minister, Ruzhen, Zishi, and Eunuch Lu, how are you these days?" Chen Yiqin walked into the government hall and greeted them with a smile.

The voice, which was old and slightly harsh, was no longer as gentle as before.

When the divination was done, the door was closed again.

"it is good."

Zhang Juzheng responded on behalf of the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department, and added, "Thank you for your hard work."

The Cabinet has always been concerned about the difficulties in implementing the national policy of "surveying the land and distributing it equally to the people."

As a cabinet elder, Chen Yiqin could have enjoyed everything that a minister could enjoy, but he ran between the fields, measuring every inch of land in the Ming Dynasty with his footsteps.

Explain to the people who are unaware of the truth that if landlords and wealthy families are suppressed and refuse to comply with national policies, they will also be assassinated by the assassination soldiers of the same-level clans.

All the difficulties and dangers are beyond the understanding and experience of those who sit at the core of the cabinet.

Everyone says that they can empathize with others, but in this world, there is no true empathy.

Chen Yiqin brought along his two sons who had bright futures, as well as a dozen elders from the clan who were enjoying their retirement, and worked wholeheartedly for the imperial court, the emperor, the Ming Dynasty, and the people of the world.

Deserves the word "hard work" from anyone.

Chen Yiqin waved his hand, indicating that those were just some rough weather and nothing serious.

There were four stoves and two incense burners, and the fire was very powerful. Chen Yiqin took off his fox fur cloak and put it on his original table and chair.

I ran my hand over the table and didn't see much dust. It was obvious that the cabinet members cleaned it every day.

Li Chunfang poured a cup of tea for Chen Yiqin and asked with a smile, "Didn't you just arrive in Beijing tomorrow?"

After thanking him, Chen Yiqin took the tea, sipped it, and explained, "My whereabouts are under the responsibility of the Jinyiwei. The reported time and the real time will be slightly different for safety reasons."

One of the means to prevent assassination.

Imperial court officials, and even cabinet ministers, were not on the Jinyiwei's absolute trust list.

Therefore, the information received by the Cabinet, the Six Ministries, and other government offices in the capital are bound to contain some errors and omissions.

The officials in Beijing all thought that Chen Yiqin would return to the capital the next day, but at this time Chen Yiqin had already sat in the Cabinet's government affairs hall.

The four cabinet ministers Zhang, Gao, Hu, and Li as well as Lu Fang expressed their understanding. There was nothing they could do even if they didn't understand. They couldn't compete with the Jinyiwei, a group of guys who only obeyed the emperor's orders.

"I heard that I was asked to come back to identify the authenticity of the imperial seal. Where is it?" Chen Yiqin was used to the simple and rough way of doing things in the countryside. He rarely listened to meaningless greetings, or simply ignored them, and asked directly.

Zhang Juzheng was startled, but with his talent for multitasking, he subconsciously stood up and took out a seal wrapped in yellow silk from a brocade box behind him.

"It arrived two days ago, Yifu, can you take a look?"

Having said that, he handed over the imperial seal.

In front of everyone, Chen Yiqin shook out the yellow silk, which immediately caused a few cheers.

Let’s not talk about the authenticity for now, but the material of this jade seal is definitely not ordinary jade.

It is a piece of turquoise blue Lantian jade with a corner deliberately broken and then molded with gold. It is four inches square and has five dragons on the top. The front is engraved with eight seal characters "Received the Mandate from Heaven, May You Live Long and Prosper" and there are two inscriptions on the shoulder. The inscription on the right side matches the legend, so it is a truly good thing.

However, Chen Yiqin looks fake at first glance, and the reason is very simple: the carving is fine, but the materials are wrong.

The blue-green color of the Lantian jade that Qin Shihuang obtained was not so pure.

Chen's family records record that "the imperial seal was occasionally spotted with mixed colors, but skilled craftsmen used their skills to repair it, and the five-dragon knob can still be seen."

Furthermore, the gold used by Wang Mang of the Han Dynasty to fill the corners of the imperial seal was not so pure.

This is a matter of common sense. The metallurgical technology of the Han Dynasty cannot be compared with that of the Ming Dynasty two thousand years later. The gold of the Han Dynasty was very hard because it was mixed with other metals and stones.

This is why there is no record of the golden corner of the imperial seal being damaged or destroyed from the Han Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty.

As for the golden horn of the jade seal in his hand, if he used a little more force, he could scratch it with his fingernails.

It's not pure gold, but it's almost there.

If it had been passed down like this for two thousand years, the golden horn would have been badly worn and full of marks. How could it be so new?

There are many things in the world where bad money can drive out good money, and antiques are one of them.

Once those traces of time disappear, in the eyes of discerning people, it will be "new", "purely new" and "indisputably new".

If we just take the jade seal and tell all the civil and military officials that this is the imperial seal of Qin Shi Huang, although the officials will probably not object at the time, those inherited families like the Chen family may not know how to portray the Chen family and the emperor in their letters afterwards.

Your Majesty and the Chen family cannot possibly lose all their face. This thing cannot be taken out and must be "made old".

The Chen family happened to have the skill to make ancient seals look old, and among the elders of the Chen family who accompanied the delegation to Beijing this time, one of them happened to be a master of this craft.

Chen Yiqin wrapped the seal again with yellow silk, looked at Zhang Juzheng with a smile, and said, "Prime Minister, what are your expectations for me, my two sons, the eight ministers who are coming to Beijing, and the entire Chen family?"

Hear the words.

Zhang Juzheng's talent for multitasking was ineffective. He stood there in a daze, his thoughts stagnant, looking at Chen Yiqin in disbelief.

The same was true for Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang and Lu Fang. It was unexpected that this man with thick eyebrows and big eyes would learn to extort money after leaving Beijing.

Outlook?

Let me make it clear.

If there are any words, use them to praise me.

Chen Yiqin, Chen Yubei, and Chen Yujie, the three fathers and sons, the eight elders of the Chen family, and the entire Chen family.

Chen Yiqin asked for twelve letters of praise. In exchange, the Chen family would make the imperial seal look old and guarantee the jade seal.

As the "First Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty" who was destined to be remembered for generations, Zhang Juzheng was also a man who cared about his reputation.

If he really wrote twelve letters of praise for the Chen family and passed them down to later generations, how would people in later generations view him?

Can the descendants of Zhang Juzheng still hold their heads up high?
"Su Qing, grind ink for me!"

(End of this chapter)