Chapter 2 Talent
The past two months since arriving at Kaifeng Prefecture were the most difficult for Zhu Yinglong. Almost everything had to start from scratch. Zhu Yinglong rented out all his good land in Kaifeng, nearly a thousand mu, to commoners who didn't have any land or whose rent was too high, and provided them with farming tools and seeds. He also implemented unified management. In the first year, all grain harvested would go to the Xining Prince's estate, which would then distribute four dan of grain per adult and two dan per child annually. Each household would receive three to five taels of silver and three to five bolts of coarse cloth. This was the minimum for each subsequent year, but a twenty-year contract had to be signed. However, there was one condition - all children of tenant households between the ages of ten and eighteen would have to become slaves or servants in the Xining Prince's estate without any conditions. The news caused an uproar in Kaifeng Prefecture. Although the terms were harsh, at least they could get by and find shelter under the Xining Prince's wing. Many tenant households that had been working for the Zhou Wangfu compared their options and decided to switch to Zhu Yinglong's estate, as it seemed like a better deal despite being similar to selling themselves into slavery. In the end, over a thousand households with children were selected after careful screening and given seeds and tools for autumn planting. Those outside Kaifeng Prefecture would also be treated similarly, although they wouldn't receive any silver or cloth.
After the autumn broadcast, Yinglong Bieyuan built a wall and a glass workshop was forced to stop work. The reason is that there is no other, no silver, one penny can't afford heroes, Zhu Yinglong had to violate his principles once, let Shen Creek take more than 100 pieces of glassware that can be called art masterpieces to Beijing, Jinan, Yangzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and other prosperous cities. They got nearly two million taels of silver, and then they set up branches in these cities. Shen Creek also brought back some young people from his hometown in Wujiang County, including a few who had good business skills. Zhu Yinglong was very happy about this, as these Shen family members filled the gap in his commercial talent. However, to prevent the Shen family from becoming too powerful, although they were loyal to him at present, there was an example of their ancestor Shen Wanshan, and "the rabbit dies, the dog is cooked" was a lesson that the Shen family could not forget. It was hard to guarantee that they would not betray him in the future, so it was better to prevent this from happening beforehand. Therefore, Zhu Yinglong asked Tian Shuying to send a letter to summon his brother Tian Dian to Kaifeng, and let him be responsible for all business matters with Shen Creek.
From then on, only one or two glassware items would appear in each branch every month, with a few more in the capital city, four to five pieces. They were all claimed to be from overseas, but everyone knew that foreigners could produce such transparent things. However, Chinese people had different aesthetic views and didn't like those foreign things. Zhu Yinglong's ten wine cups were small and delicate, crystal clear, yet they sold for a high price. Tian Shuying's works were even more exquisite, practical, and perfect, so it was no wonder they could sell for a good price!
To avoid someone discovering this secret, Zhu Yinglong stipulated that goods would only be dispatched every six months. Anyway, he didn't want to make too much money from the glass, because he wasn't a real businessman, and he didn't want some wealthy people who were engaged in legitimate business to spend a lot of money to buy back something that was quite cheap afterwards. The money wouldn't be less, but it might not necessarily be a good thing for it to flow into his own hands, because Zhu Yinglong would eventually make public the technology for manufacturing glass. A country couldn't become powerful relying on one person's power and wisdom, whereas keeping the money in the hands of these wise people could possibly bring out a power that was even greater than the power integrated in his own hands. This was because he had carefully studied the history of late Ming, from Southern Song to now China had always been in the sprouting stage of capitalism, in the initial accumulation of capital, and it needed to bloom everywhere. Of course, maybe he was just worrying unnecessarily, but he firmly believed that industrial technological revolution, advanced scientific and technological development, if there wasn't a perfect social system to support it, guide it, then it would eventually be crippled by conservative old forces. This was why the Qing could destroy the Southern Ming and rule China for over 200 years, and why several hundred years of sprouting stage hadn't been able to develop into capitalism, because its social system was the feudal imperial system, and the idea of "the monarch's power being granted by heaven" had already taken deep root in people's minds. The feudal system had given a stable society that on the surface seemed quite prosperous, but from inside to outside it had all rotted away. So this was an entirely new topic, and the road Zhu Yinglong wanted to take was also an entirely new one. He had to feel his way across the river by touching the stones, think of something then bravely go do it, with terrifying political and military struggles in between.
Shen Creek finally saw Zhu Yinglong's business methods, and with a turn of his hand, he got over 2 million taels of silver. After deducting his own salary and the expenses for opening six new branches of Bogu Zhai, he made a net profit of over 1.5 million taels of silver. Of course, this money couldn't be obtained all at once, as it was sent from various places near and far, taking some time to arrive.
Here is the translation:
Now that the silver for "Shadow Dragon Villa" has been obtained, after Zhu Shadow Dragon worked hard for over ten days, he finally drew out all the architectural plans. As for the design of the buildings, it was all entrusted to Tian Shuying, who divided them into five major areas: residential, office, school, factory, and commercial entertainment. It's a bit like the prototype of a comprehensive university in later generations. Although scattered management has good secrecy, it is not convenient for management, and technical information is also difficult to block. Zhu Shadow Dragon's greatest adventure in his life was to bring everything together at once, just like building a castle in medieval Europe. I will build a castle outside the Kaifeng Prefecture City, with the intention of creating the first utopia in this time and space. After all, the royal family has privileges, and they can do whatever they want in their own villa. Who knows, maybe they'll even burn all their money on this, and Wei Zhongxian will be happy to scold them as "prodigal sons"!
In the Ming Dynasty, it was not unusual for a vassal king to have tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of followers, because he owned so much land and needed people to help him farm. After these people were gone, only a very small number of them remained, with several hundred to over a thousand being normal. As long as you didn't have ulterior motives and kept the numbers transparent, with only minor fluctuations up and down, it was fine. Moreover, some of these people were still officials in the imperial court, eating salaries provided by the imperial court, and they had surveillance tasks at hand. Therefore, Zhu Yinglong's methods were perfectly normal. The young prince Wei Zhongxian, who suddenly bought 180 mu of land, built houses, and enjoyed life, was the happiest to see this.
However, there is one thing that can't be hidden no matter what, and that is that this King of Letters is too rich. Many common people have already begun to gossip about it behind his back, and the surroundings of Shadow Dragon Villa seem to have more unfamiliar figures lurking around. Without a doubt, there are people who care about him and wonder how he got so much money. Zhu Shadow Dragon racked his brains trying to come up with an excuse to fool the likes of Cui Chengxiu in Kaifeng, but these people were all seasoned veterans of the eunuch party and were extremely cunning. They probably wouldn't believe any explanation that wasn't airtight. Ah, got it! Zhu Shadow Dragon's eyes lit up - Tian Shuying's father, aka his old father-in-law, was a wealthy merchant. If he could just bring him over, everything would be self-explanatory. It was only natural for the old man to support his son-in-law in building a villa, and that should dispel any suspicions from those who cared about him.
Kaifeng, New Letter Wang Fu, Small Study Room.
"Your Highness, a letter from the capital says that the Emperor was boating on the lake and fell into the water by accident. He caught a cold and has been ill for several days." Wang Chengen whispered in Zhu Yinglong's ear. Before leaving Beijing, Zhu Yinglong had instructed him to buy off some informants within the palace, and now they were finally coming in handy.
"How long ago was that?" Zhu Yinglong vaguely remembered this matter. After falling into the water and getting a fright, Tianqi Emperor's body suddenly deteriorated and he died of illness in less than two years.
"It's not long after the king left the capital, but the news was sealed within the palace. I also just received this message today." Wang Chengen seemed to have already known about the young king's ambition and said, "Your Majesty, are you..."
Zhu Yinglong stopped him from continuing, saying: "This matter is known to you and me, it must not be passed on to a third person's ears."
"I understand." Wang Chengen replied in surprise, looking at Zhu Yinglong.
The darkest moment in the history of the Ming Dynasty is about to arrive, and it has not changed much since I came to this time and space. Zhu Yinglong suddenly remembered Zhou Huai'an, who was looking for talent for himself, and he became a little impatient. The eunuch party had suspected that he was hiding a serious offender, and if another fake Xiong Tingbi was discovered, it would expose Zhou Huai'an. It wouldn't be difficult for the eunuchs to guess that there was someone behind him, but unfortunately, he didn't have any informants in the capital, and all the intelligence was obtained after the fact. This was a big oversight. It seemed that leaving Zhou Huai'an by his side was a huge mistake. This time, when he returned, he would still go to the capital, where there were no people who could transmit messages in a timely manner. He really didn't feel at ease.
It's been over a month since he arrived in Kaifeng, and all the plans have slowly unfolded. Zhu Yinglong is getting anxious, but there's no time to waste - he only has two years left. Within these two years, he needs to build a team that is completely loyal to him, while also finding a suitable way to govern the country for this era. The pressure on his shoulders is enormous, yet he finds joy in it. The possibility of transforming from an ordinary person to a ruler who can control the world gives him endless motivation.
Shen Creek was in charge of business matters, so the supervision of the construction of "Yinglong Villa" was pressed on Wang Fei Zhou Tingning's shoulders. Zhu Yinglong was busy with various work arrangements and was also planning to compile some math, physics, and chemistry books for future generations. After Song Yingxing and Xu Guangqi arrived, he would hand them over and gather the children of his own farming family together, letting Song Yingxing and Xu Guangqi teach them. Education should start from an early age, which is what Zhu Yinglong thought was most important to do.
In early November, Kaifeng had a heavy snowfall, and the construction of Yinglong Garden was forced to stop. All craftsmen switched to producing red bricks, cement, lime, and steel bars. It's too cold for outdoor construction in such weather. The principle of thermal expansion and contraction has been known since this era, but it hasn't formed a systematic theory yet, and it's scattered all over the place. Nobody realized that they should compile it together. Zhu Yinglong is doing just that now. Since he can't write traditional Chinese characters, everything was written in simplified Chinese. Then, Tian Shuying would copy them according to the character conversion table provided by Zhu, turning them into a book of traditional Chinese characters. Moreover, Zhu's teaching materials were mostly written in vernacular language, simple and easy to understand, making it suitable for children who had received some basic education.
Shi Kefa had almost become his half-apprentice and gunman, Zhu Yinglong felt that he was writing too slowly, so he changed to oral dictation, Shi Kefa recorded it, then proofread it himself, bound it into a book, and sent it to Zhu Yinglong's newly built lead movable-type printing factory for printing.
Zhu Yinglong's use of simplified characters was recognized by someone, and that person was Xiong Tingbi, who had changed his name. He first thought of the military use, now Houjin and Ming Dynasty are using traditional characters, they have never seen simplified characters before. If it is promoted in the military, unless a traitor informs, then this letter written in simplified characters will be intercepted by Houjin and they won't understand it. There's also Chinese pinyin, Xiong Tingbi suggested that Zhu Yinglong should not promote it for the time being, first use it in the military, select reliable people to pass on, and use it to transmit intelligence. Zhu Yinglong admired Xiong Tingbi's sensitive military insight, this is simply a password transmission of later generations! If we add Arabic numerals, any combination, each group represents a Chinese character, then if Houjin intercepts our intelligence, they will be stunned. Unfortunately, there was no telegraph machine, otherwise it would have been even more perfect. So Zhu Yinglong temporarily gave up the idea of promoting Chinese pinyin and Arabic numerals, and immediately let Xiong Tingbi conduct a trial, compiling a numerical password Chinese character correspondence table, and also prepared a backup set. This approach made Xiong Tingbi's eyes shine brightly, the surprises that Wang Ye gave him were really too many, seemingly casual words could give him many inspirations. Zhu Yinglong later established his own intelligence organization: Dark Shadow, currently mainly collecting information on Liaodong border defense and some dynamics in the capital city.
Zhu Yinglong had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of talented individuals, but he hadn't expected that Xiong Hu would return before Zhou Huan, accompanied by Sun Chengzong. Although his thinking was feudal, he was indeed one of the military strategists respected by Zhu Yinglong's later generations. During the campaign against Liaodong, he proposed the correct strategic guideline of "using Liaodong people to guard the land and using Liaodong land to support Liaodong people". Unfortunately, this policy wasn't consistently implemented, or else how could the Jin dynasty possibly occupy the Central Plains?
As everything was done in secret, Sun Chengzong and his family did not enter Kaifeng City, but instead took a detour by boat to Zhuxiantown, where they were temporarily accommodated at the Yinglong Villa. As soon as Zhu Yinglong received this news, he rushed over immediately.
When Sun Chengzong saw the still-living Xiong Tingyi, he was first stunned like a wooden chicken, then looked up at the sky and laughed loudly, with tears of joy streaming down his face. Zhu Yinglong asked Xiong Hu curiously, "How did you invite him over?" Xiong Hu replied somewhat embarrassedly, "I just told Uncle Sun that my father was still alive, and he couldn't wait to bring his family along with me."
Zhu Yinglong had an epiphany, and said, "Sometimes things are originally very simple, but you think they're complicated, and end up messing them up. But if you get to the point, like this time when Xiong Hu went to invite Sun Chengzong, he came with just one sentence, how simple."
"Your humble servant pays his respects to His Highness the King!" Sun Chengzong only then remembered Zhu Yinglong beside him and hastily knelt down.
"General Sun, please get up quickly, you've frightened your junior." Zhu Yinglong helped Sun Chengzong up while also sizing up this excellent military leader, whose temples had some gray hairs, hands were all calloused, and eyes still had unshed tears.
"Your Highness, your humble servant thanks Your Highness for saving a loyal subject." Sun Chengzong was so moved that he wanted to kneel down again before Zhu Yinglong.
"Lord Sun, don't thank me just yet, I have a purpose for letting General Xiong and his family go," said Zhu Yinglong.
"Your Highness, I understand your ambitions. Otherwise, I wouldn't have followed Rui Niang here." Sun Chengzong's eyes suddenly cleared, and he spoke seriously.
"Can Lord Sun lend me a helping hand?" Zhu Yinglong asked with great joy.
"Your Majesty, forgive me, I'm an old minister and fear that I won't be able to serve you in the future." Sun Chengzong said slowly.
"Lord Sun, this king..." Zhu Yinglong's face suddenly changed color, fortunately he was mentally prepared and didn't show an unpleasant expression.
"Your Majesty, please let the old minister finish speaking. Although I am no longer able to serve Your Majesty as a mounted guard, I still have some strength left and can hold this brush. The old man can write down his life's knowledge, hoping it will be of assistance to Your Majesty."
Zhu Yinglong's heart suddenly dropped a stone, thinking to himself, "I meant that all along, but not only do I want you to write it, I also want you to teach me." He revealed a smile and said, "Your Majesty has a request?"
"Please speak, Your Highness!"
"I want to establish a military academy, similar to an academy, I hope you can be the president of this military academy, writing books and explaining the way, how about it?"
"Is the prince's words true?" Sun Chengzong's old face suddenly flushed with excitement. For many years, military generals could only improve their military skills through their own exploration and learning from previous battles and books. None of them had ever lectured or taught. Sun Chengzong wrote books and gave lectures in the hope that he could leave something for future generations. Standing on a platform to teach and lecture was his lifelong dream, especially since it was about his beloved military affairs.
"This king has never lied to his own people!" Zhu Yinglong said solemnly.
"Your Highness?" Xiong Tingbi was also deeply moved.
"General Bear is the vice dean." Zhu Yinglong immediately gave him a tranquilizer.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Xiong Tingyi happily stepped aside.
"What about me?" Xiong Hu said unhappily.
"You, martial arts instructor!" Zhu Yinglong thought for a moment. Since it was a military academy, theory was important, but combat skills couldn't be neglected either. It just so happened that the status of women had improved in recent years, so he might as well take this opportunity to raise it even higher.
"Prince Wang, what about this little girl?" Xiong Tingbi seemed to have a stopping intention.
"This king has made up his mind, Linyang's martial arts skills are exceptional, she is the perfect candidate for a military academy instructor. I also plan to have Princess Ye enrolled in the military academy, she will be your first student!" Zhu Yinglong said seriously.
Sun Chengzong and Xiong Tingbi, two veteran generals on the battlefield, suddenly lost their smiles and replaced them with bitter ones. The princess was a student, they didn't dare to teach her. Sun Chengzong coughed a few times and stepped forward, saying: "Your Highness, this is Princess Ye?"
"One day as a teacher, lifelong as a father, Ye Wangfei, you should teach her whatever you want, she doesn't listen to anything, is willful and stubborn, if you can't manage her, come find me." Zhu Yinglong had made up his mind to let Ye Liangyi learn from the two famous generals on the battlefield. In later generations of the Republic, there were so many female generals, but his own wife only had a body of martial arts skills, staying at home was really a waste. Under the guidance of the two contemporary famous generals, if she still couldn't become accomplished, Zhu Yinglong could only treat her as an ornament.
