My Daming New Empire

Page 593

To the south of the Nanjin River estuary is the Beiming Street Water Camp of the Fourth Fleet of the Navy established by the imperial court here.

This water village has a guard and horses, 600 soldiers, plus their family members and relatives, the population has reached nearly [-].

The water village has three first-class warships, 27 second-class warships, several cargo ships, more than a hundred messenger ships, and third-class warships.

They do not participate in the management of the Luzon Mansion, and only care about the safety of the sea routes from Luzon to Daming Fujian in the north, Sulu Kingdom in the south, and Malugu Kingdom in the south.

In the water village, there are not only the navy yamen, but also the transfer department of the internal prison, the customs, the transfer envoy of the imperial court, the promotion department and other yamen.

Today's royal courtyard is built on the east side of the water village, and the people here have also been transferred to the north side of the Nanjin River, forming a large county with more than 10 people on the north side of the Nanjin River.

Today's Beiming Street is called a street, but in fact it is no longer worthy of the name. According to the official documents of Ming Dynasty, it has been called Beiming Mansion of Lu Song Cheng Xuan Political Envoy.

In Jiangbei, the capital city of Beiming Mansion has no city walls, and all the common people live scattered on the side of the three vertical and three horizontal concrete roads built by the imperial court.

This is because on Luzon Island, there is no longer any force that can threaten the Beiming Mansion, and almost all the natives have joined Daming.

However, the imperial court still set up a defensive guard here, which is responsible for the security defense of the island. This guard belongs to the former military governor's mansion.

In addition to food, Daming can now obtain an annual income of no less than 10 taels of gold from the island, which is equivalent to a million taels of silver.

More than 1 people in the two military guards need to spend more than 50 taels of salary every year, plus other expenses, the annual expenditure does not exceed [-] taels.

Even if the salaries of officials at all levels of the government are added, the annual expenditure of the entire Luzon Road does not exceed one million taels.

Because the land and grain offset part of the salary, in fact, Daming now obtains a large amount of grain from Luzon every year, and can also obtain a net income of more than 50 taels from Luzon every year.

This has surpassed most of the state capitals in the northwest of Daming. In Daming, there are only a few wealthy state capitals, and the tax payment is higher than that of Luzon.

In the Ming Dynasty, the amount of taxes and grains was used as the division standard.More than 20 shi of grain is the upper house. Less than 20 and more than [-] is the central government, and less than [-] is the lower government.

Even if it is counted as a political envoy, Luzon can now be called a rich place within the sphere of influence of Ming Dynasty.

The Ministry of Officials wanted to formally raise the level of Luzon several times, sent a chief envoy here, and intentionally divided Luzon into different state capitals, but Zhu Di suppressed them all.

To become a formal chief envoy, not only the chief envoy must be dispatched, but also the governor and other prefects.

At that time, Xu Chai Lao was not the biggest official.

Although Zhu Di was not familiar with Xu Chai Lao who was a businessman and peddler, he knew that Nanyang's problems should not be rushed.If you want to swallow the huge Nanyang in one gulp, you will choke if you are not careful.

He wanted to go west with all his heart, and he also took this opportunity to go to Nanyang to see Luzon, the old port, and the star city built by his grandson.

Since Zhu Zhanji let Xu Chailao take charge of the whole of Luzon, now that he doesn't understand the situation there, he doesn't understand Xu Chailao's character, so he hastily suppressed it, and I'm afraid something will go wrong.

If Xu Chai Lao is worthy of great use, even if he is only fluent in literature and ink, he can be allowed to be the chief envoy even if he is not from a major.

If it is unbearable to use, it will be a big deal when the Ming Dynasty rises secretly, and transferring him to Yingtian Mansion as an official will also be regarded as rewarding him for his great contributions to Daming.

Of course, Xu Chai also heard some rumors. He knew very well that he was originally just a peddler fleeing famine, and now he was lucky to become the fourth-rank magistrate of Ming Dynasty.

He didn't have much resistance to the imperial court's appointment of other officials, but he was worried that the coming people would not be able to live in peace with the aborigines, which would damage the peace of Luzon.

On the contrary, the imperial court has always been windy but not rainy, and has not sent anyone. He is still a little strange.

This time Zhu Di was going to pass through Luzon on his westward expedition, and he also made every effort to prepare for the reception, wanting to leave a good impression in front of Zhu Di.

Hearing that there was an envoy, he became excited. The north wind will stop in April and May. If His Majesty is going to march this year, it should be in March.

Now that there is a messenger, I am afraid that there is no specific news.

He brought a group of entourages to the navy water village, and entered the main hall of the water village under the leadership of the guards.

In addition to the commander Xiang Kai in the hall, a beardless man of about 40 years old came out to meet him side by side.

Xiang Kai took the lead in cupping his fists and said, "Parent Xu, come, let me introduce you. This is the middle officer Cao Li, who is patrolling along the way by the order of the emperor."

The first time Cao Li saw Xu Chailao, if it wasn't for the official uniform he was wearing, he couldn't believe that this old man who looked like an old farmer was the magistrate who was valued by His Royal Highness and was in charge of a chief envoy.

Although he had known for a long time that Xu Chai was not from a high family background, he fled famine and went to Luzon in his early years, and then he gradually developed and became a force.

Xu Chai Lao in his mind should be a brave and reckless person, but he didn't expect to look like an old farmer.

But he didn't dare to underestimate him, being able to become a vassal won the attention of His Highness, and he, a middle official, is not something that can be despised casually.

He did not wait for Xu Chai Lao to salute, but took the lead in saluting: "Before coming, His Highness specifically confessed that Xu's parents are dedicated to serving the country and the people. Although our family is useless, we also admire good officials like Xu's parents the most. A salute."

Seeing Cao Li salute, Xu Chai also bowed quickly and said, "I dare not be praised by His Highness, I just did what I should do."

Cao Li smiled and said: "Such a sentence is the essence of being an official. Do what you should do. This is a sentence that His Highness often says. If all the officials of the Ming Dynasty are like this, the Emperor and His Highness can worry less."

After exchanging pleasantries, Xiang Kai introduced other people to each other, and then went back to sit down in the hall.

As soon as Xu Chailao sat down, Xiang Kai took two copies of the imperial edict with his own hands and presented them in front of Xu Chailao. "Parent Xu, please take a look at the imperial decree given to me by Your Majesty and Your Highness for the Navy, and we will talk again."

Cao Li nodded with a smile, and said: "After the matter is clear, let's go to Xu's parents' mansion. Your Majesty and His Highness also have a decree to pass down."

Although the imperial decree is just a simple order, it represents the emperor conveying the will on behalf of heaven.Therefore, there are complete rituals and procedures, and it is by no means just handing them to the other party casually.

The imperial decree that Zhu Di passed on to Xu Chai, even if Xu Chai came now, he could not give it directly to him, but he had to wait until he was in the government office, set up a case and burn incense before reading it.

Xu Chai Lao said his sin, and looked at the two imperial edicts.

Zhu Di's imperial decree is of course in a formal format, four or six parallel couples.Xu Chai Lao specially invited Confucian scholars to teach him in the past few years. Although he couldn't write, he still had no problem understanding the imperial decree.

The imperial decree mainly stated that Zhu Di had decided to go on an expedition in March, and Cao Li was ordered to make inspections along the way in advance, to pick up leftovers and make up for vacancies, and to order the various departments of the navy to cooperate.

Zhu Zhanji's order was not an imperial decree, but a military order issued in the name of the naval governor, ordering all ministries to eliminate pirates and protect the peace of the people.Cooperate with the angel's orders without affecting military affairs.

After reading the two edicts, Xu Chai Lao respectfully took back the edict and handed it over to Xiang Kai.

"I probably already know what I'm going to do, and I will try my best to make you feel free from any worries from the command post."

After speaking, he smiled and looked at Cao Li, waiting for him to speak.As an angel delivering a decree, the decree is only a superficial part, and what is more important is the information other than the decree.

They are isolated overseas and their information is blocked.To understand the situation of Daming, on the one hand, rely on the information brought by the cargo ship of the Internal Supervision and Transshipment Department, and on the other hand, rely on the people from Daming.

But more detailed information can only be known through them, the angels from the palace.

Although Xu Chai's appearance is not amazing, Cao Li dare not underestimate Xu Chai when he thinks of Zhu Zhanji's explanation when he came.So he didn't make a fool of himself, and immediately said: "The most sensational news in Ming Dynasty recently is two. One is that His Majesty directly ordered His Royal Highness to supervise the country, and His Royal Highness is currently undergoing diagnosis and treatment because of his poor health."

Hearing this news, Xu Chai was startled. He couldn't help but look at Xiang Kai, and then at the others. Seeing their calm faces, it was obvious that they already knew the news.

He wanted to say something to hide his shock, but he opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say.

Three years ago, he was favored by Zhu Zhanji and was directly awarded the fourth rank magistrate, becoming the lord of Luzon Island.

In the past two years, although both the navy and the army have set up military guards, they seldom interfere in local affairs, and they can restrain the soldiers from disturbing the people. This is all thanks to that Highness.