The Ming Dynasty’s Prodigal Son - Chapter 1321

[1321.Chapter 1254 emerges]

Suddenly Emperor Hongzhi missed Xiao Jing.

I had never cared about it before, but thinking about it afterwards, it seemed that not having Xiao Jing around would indeed be a lot of inconvenience.

As for Xiao Jing, he was a bit useless, but…

Emperor Hongzhi had a thought in his mind and said lightly: “Let Xiao Jing return to the capital.”

He ordered the eunuch beside him, and then looked at Fang Jifan and Zhu Houzhao .

Emperor Hongzhi said: “I heard that the price of silver has dropped a lot these days?”

Fang Jifan thought to himself, so many loans were issued out of thin air, and the stocks soared several times. To put it bluntly, things are still the same. But the price of things has increased. Can the price of silver not depreciate?

But there is no way.

Fang Jifan nodded: “It has increased a lot.”

Emperor Hongzhi said: “I am worried that it will affect the national economy and people’s livelihood. This is not a fun thing.”

Fang Jifan said with a smile: “Your Majesty, this appropriate drop in the price of silver is not good for the country. , is of great benefit. Think about it, ordinary people already spend a fortune on food, clothing, housing and transportation every month after receiving their salary. They are all people who have money in their hands. Rich people, the more money they have in their hands, the more they will lose if the price of silver drops. If they continue to hide the money, they will lose everything. Therefore, they have to take out the money or buy stocks. Or buy a mansion, or use it for trading. Isn’t buying stocks to support these listed companies? These companies get money from them, engage in commerce and production, hire a lot of people for their own needs, and create value. What else? What’s wrong?”

Emperor Hongzhi was stunned.

I bet all these things have something to do with stock trading.

Could it be that the falling silver price can still push up the stock price?

Emperor Hongzhi smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“I’m not worried about them, these rich households. I’m just worried that ordinary people will have a hard time. Over the past few years, the Zhenguo Mansion has temporarily solved the problem of food for the people. Of course, this must be attributed to the Tuntian Guards, but… the people are not either. It’s just limited to eating and drinking.”

After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao’s eyes lit up: “Father, don’t worry, I will solve the clothing problem of the people in the capital within one month.”

“Huh?” Emperor Hongzhi was stunned. Immediately, he became happy: “You never do anything serious, but you have such a big tone.”

Zhu Houzhao patted his chest: “I promise, the price of cloth in Beijing has been reduced by more than half. If my father The emperor doesn’t believe it, I… I have taken Fang Jifan’s head as security.”

Fang Jifan: “…”

Sad, how sad this is, Fang Jifan looked heartbroken, Your Highness, where is your conscience?

Emperor Hongzhi took a deep look at Zhu Houzhao: “It seems that you are going to issue a military order?”

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile: “I can sign it. Fang Jifan is my good brother. If he dies, I will definitely I’m very sad, let’s use him as a bet.”

Fang Jifan immediately said: “Your Majesty, His Royal Highness is just joking, but… I and His Royal Highness have indeed thought of a way to relieve the people’s difficulties.”

Seeing that Fang Jifan is like this .

Said that Emperor Hongzhi became curious.

Although Emperor Hongzhi loved money, it did not mean that he did not care about the suffering of the people.

This is the foundation of Ming Dynasty.

Recently, a royal official reported that prices have indeed skyrocketed. If this continues, how will the common people live?

First, land prices skyrocketed, and then, stock prices overflowed with countless wealth. Even though he knew that the stock market and mansions benefited the country and the people, Emperor Hongzhi had to pay attention.

Emperor Hongzhi took a deep look at the two of them: “One month?”

“One month!” Zhu Houzhao said happily.

Emperor Hongzhi nodded and said, “Very good, I’ll give you one month. If it’s done well, I won’t treat you badly.”

He then saw Zhu Houzhao and Fang Jifan off.

Emperor Hongzhi bowed his head, and the eunuch beside him poured tea for him.

Emperor Hongzhi said: “These two boys are usually so stingy, but today, they… pulled the hair out of their bodies.”

The eunuch didn’t know what to understand, and looked puzzled.

Emperor Hongzhi lamented: “Xiao Banban is already very unsmart, and you are even more stupid.”

………

Cabinet.

Your Majesty’s internal funds have been preserved.

Everyone in the cabinet breathed a sigh of relief.

Over the past year or so, especially after the emergence of the stock market, the cabinet has been really struggling.

As His Majesty said, the prices are indeed going to skyrocket. Of course… the drop in silver prices has indeed created more jobs for countless people, and this drop is still barely within the controllable range.

But… continuing like this is not an option.

At noon, Liu Jian and the other three were drinking tea during the cabinet rounds while discussing the changes that had taken place in Beijing.

They were like a group of boatmen driving a large ship to an unfamiliar sea, and they were somewhat confused about the direction.

Just as he was talking, a eunuch sent a note from His Majesty.

Liu Jian took the note, and when he saw it, he urged the cabinet to issue a decree as soon as possible to confer Wang Shouren’s title.

Liu Jian looked at the eunuch and nodded: “Tell your majesty, the old minister has told me to wait for the edict. After the edict is drafted, it will be sent to the Chief of Ceremonies tomorrow.”

The eunuch said with a smile: “Let Liu Gong worry about it.”

Liu Jian said with a smile.

Jian smiled slightly: “Your Majesty is in such high spirits and seems to be very happy.”

“That’s right.” The young eunuch said, “Your Majesty seems to be so happy today that I don’t know why, and your servant is also very happy for your Majesty. But… this servant is not ready to serve your Majesty.” Your Majesty scolded me for being stupid, and I was really frightened.”

Liu Jian thought: “Oh? Why is this?”

The young eunuch said, “His Royal Highness and the Duke of Qi made a bet with your Majesty .

The price of this cloth has dropped by nearly half.”

When Liu Jian heard this, he was immediately happy.

Li Dongyang and Xie Qian on the side looked at each other, their eyes also shining.

“Is this serious?” Liu Jian’s eyebrows danced with excitement.

“Yes.”

Liu Jian breathed out: “Haha, that makes sense, okay, okay.” After saying that, he stopped smiling and said, “Eunuch, please go back and resume your life.”

The eunuch was still confused.

Why is everyone smiling so happily?

Is it just because of a bet?

Confused, he nodded and left.

As soon as the eunuch left.

Liu Jian and the other three couldn’t help laughing.

“It’s not easy.” Liu Jian sighed with emotion: “It’s really not easy. Fang Jifan will also suffer losses sometimes.”

Xie Qian was also happy: “Yes, the cloth has fallen by nearly half. This bet is quite interesting, Prince.” Your Highness, you definitely won’t be able to spend much money. If you want to make the price of cloth drop, all you have to do is for Fang Jifan to use money to fill this hole. Let me calculate, how much money will it take to subsidize nearly half of the price of cloth?

” Beijing has a large population now, and now there are more people with salaries, and the demand for buying cloth has always been high. We really need to subsidize it for a long time. If we don’t have millions of taels of silver, I’m afraid that’s what it should be like. Clean it up, he has so much money, he hides it and doesn’t take out any of it, which is beneficial to the national economy and people’s livelihood. How can it be said? Your Majesty still has a way, make a bet, and he will give in obediently. Think about the past, and want to start from now on. He dug out some money from his hand…” At this point, Liu Jian couldn’t help but shake his head.

After Li Dongyang smiled, he frowned slightly: “Do you think… is it possible… that Fang Jifan and His Highness the Crown Prince have other ways?”

Liu Jian shook his head: “What else can be done? Come to think of it, this is the only way. I can pay for it.”

Actually, if you think about it carefully, it is indeed true. After two or three years of development, the price of cloth has indeed remained high. What’s more, now that winter is coming, people’s demand for heating items is extremely high, and almost all Everyone thinks that the price of this cloth will probably go up to another level.

Apart from Fang Jifan taking out his own money to subsidize the price of cloth, what else can he do? Even if His Majesty loses, this bet will be worth it.

“Let’s just wait and see. Let’s see how much money Fang Jifan has to spend to plug this hole.”

“Wonderful, wonderful.”

…

Coming out of the palace, Fang Jifan had a look of resentment on his face. looked at Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao felt guilty. The more guilty he felt, the more bluffing he shouted: “What are you looking at?”

Fang Jifan said: “Why would your Highness bet on my head?”

“Because we are friends, and I will never do it for you. Lose, this is a guarantee. Haven’t you always made bets like this before?”

“No.” Fang Jifan was confused: “It’s the same thing.

I learned it from you anyway.” His shoulder: “Okay, Lao Fang, don’t be pretentious anymore. Let’s think about how to increase the output of this cloth so that he will not always think that we are idle.”

Fang Jifan sighed: “Mr. Damn it, we are Fang Jifan…”

Zhu Houzhao patted him on the shoulder and said, “Stop being so verbose, go to the workshop.”

Fang Jifan didn’t want to go with him.

But if you think about it carefully, this bet has been made.

So I had to obey.

This is the first textile workshop in Xishan.

After several rounds of debugging, the recruited female workers have gradually begun to ‘enlighten’ themselves.

After understanding the characteristics of this machine, then it is time to arrange work stations and formulate production plans.

During the trial production period, there were some problems.

Fortunately, these problems were quickly solved by the craftsmen of the Steam Research Institute.

After Zhu Houzhao looked at some problems and solutions submitted by Wang Jinyuan who was personally guarding here, he looked up and said: “So, the cotton has been harvested almost, right?”

“It’s all collected, fully meeting the demand, not only in Hexi The cotton coming in, as well as the cotton harvested from Jiangnan, will be collected as much as is available on the market. Don’t worry, young master, villains are always reliable when doing things.”

Fang Jifan thought about it, others use money to do things. But Wang Jinyuan was doing things with his life. After all, if he was not careful, he might kill him. Thinking about it, it was still very safe to do things.

“Very good. Tomorrow, we will have another day of trial production, and the day after tomorrow, we will officially start production. Remember, the machine cannot be stopped, and it will work in three shifts.”

(End of this chapter)