Chapter 1095: Success in the East and Success in the West (Eighty-Eight)

September was indeed an eventful month for the Han Kingdom. First, the establishment of the Supreme Court of the Han Kingdom and its subordinate courts made Jing Shou and others as busy as dogs. Finally, everything was in place, and the Supreme Court was officially established and successful. The former county governor Zhao Yong's case of judging the country was heard, and the courts at the lower level also took the lead in Langya, Hejian, Tianhe, Liaoxi and other places, which was considered to be on the right track.

If the creation of a new yamen by the Han Kingdom did not surprise people on the mainland, then the incident that occurred in Jicheng was even more eye-catching. After all, the Han Kingdom It is not uncommon to like to be unconventional. From Gao Yuan's rebellion to now, he has done too many things that have shocked the world, but this time the severe punishment of Cao Tianci, the director of the Supervisory Yuan, is really shocking. for surprise.

Who is Cao Tianci? Let’s not talk about the huge influence of the Cao family in the Han Dynasty. If Cao Tianci himself is the second most trusted person in the Han Dynasty, then there is no People dare to say that they are number one. But this time the punishment for Cao Tianci is unprecedentedly severe. Cao Tianci was punished to live in seclusion for three months, and the Supervisory Yuan was temporarily handed over to the Third Princess Ning Xin. If this is just scratching the surface, then Separating the General Judiciary Department from the Supervisory Yuan will effectively deprive Cao Tianci of a large part of his power.

The Military Justice Department separated from the Supervisory Yuan and established it as a new military court, which was directly managed by the Ministry of War. This meant that the Supervisory Yuan lost its right to speak in the military. This was a heavy blow to the Supervisory Yuan.

Everyone is speculating on the reason why King Gao Yuan of Han Dynasty made a thunderous attack this time, but the person involved said nothing, and those who knew the inside story kept their mouths shut. The reason was actually unknown to the outside world, except for some irrelevant rumors. Beyond speculation, it is far from the truth.

But as time went by, everyone finally saw some clues. After severely punishing Cao Tianci, the other two rewards made everyone finally understand.

Both Wu Kai and Cao Tiancheng were granted the title of Marquis.

In the Kingdom of Han Dynasty, the title of Hou was an honorary title and had no practical benefits. In other countries, when the title of Hou was granted, a corresponding fief would be given to the named Hou, but in the Han Dynasty, this was not the case. It is a kind of recognition of your past achievements, but there is no corresponding fief for you. In addition to the honor and lofty status of a person who is named a Marquis, he only gets an extra salary from the Ministry of Household Affairs. This is different from the Marquis of Qin and Chu. There is a big difference. In these two countries, those who are granted a title will be rewarded with a large piece of land as food.

But considering the policy of the Han Kingdom that strictly prohibited land annexation, this is understandable.

Based on the above situation, officials who were very sensitive to politics finally realized that the king was consciously suppressing the Fufeng clan because the two people who were granted the title this time were both from Fufeng County.

The meaning of cutting off part of the real power but giving two false titles is very clear.

According to the custom, the two people who were named Marquis should rush to Jicheng and pay tribute to King Gao Yuan of Han in person. Although the title of Marquis was empty in the Han Dynasty, they were rare in number and could only be encountered but not sought. a treatment.

The first person to rush back was Cao Tiancheng. Since the negotiation with the Qin State, Cao Tiancheng, as the head of the Four Seas Trade, the commercial backbone of the Han Kingdom, went to the Qin State to negotiate with the other party on trade matters, focusing on the Yong Dynasty controlled by the Qin State. The negotiations between the Qin Chamber of Commerce and the Yong-Qin Chamber of Commerce are an obstacle that cannot be bypassed for trade all over the world. If the goods of the Han Dynasty want to enter the Qin State, they must first reach a consensus with the Yong-Qin Chamber of Commerce. Cao Tiancheng is here, first, to negotiate with the other party, and secondly, It's poaching. The Yongqin Chamber of Commerce is not monolithic, and Gao Yuan believes that as long as he is a businessman, he will pursue profits. So under the temptation of huge profits from Sihai Trading, he is not afraid that some high-ranking people in the Yongqin Chamber of Commerce will not agree with him. In fact, Cao Tiancheng's trip to the Qin State was very fruitful, which laid a solid foundation for the large-scale influx of Han goods into the Qin State.

This was Gao Yuan's first step in destroying Qin's economy. Compared with Qin's current small workshop-style family production, the Han Dynasty has now begun factory-style cluster-style mass production, and a large amount of idle funds have entered the business system, causing With a series of technological innovations and the establishment of large-scale factories, the cost of various commodities has been further reduced, and the competition among factory owners in their own country has become more brutal. This makes them in urgent need of a new market to sell their products. Then, Qin became First choice.

First, the Qin State has now signed a peace agreement with the Han State, and the two sides have stopped fighting. Secondly, compared to the Han State, although the Qin State's territory is not as good as the current Han State, its population is far greater. If there are people, there will be consumption. , and the same goods produced in Qin are about twice as expensive as those produced in Han. Factory owners in the Han Dynasty believe that as long as they can successfully enter the Qin market, they can easily make a lot of profits.

The second choice is naturally the Chu State, but now the Chu State and the Han State are still at war. Products are sold to the Chu State, mostly through smuggling. The risks are extremely huge. If you don't do anything wrong, you will lose all your money. And the Chu State's larger market than the Qin State made the factory owners of the Han Dynasty salivate.

What excites Gao Yuan is that none of the people of Qin, whether it is their new king Ying Ying, their first loser Fan Sui, or their think tank Li Ru, have yet to realize that the open market will bring great impact to Qin's economy. In their view, the devastating blow that came was just a trivial matter. By the time they realized it, it was probably too late.

When Jicheng's punishment for Cao Tianci was announced, Cao Tiancheng had already returned to Yuyang from Qin State. After learning the news, he was shocked and ran around non-stop for more than ten days, eating, drinking and sleeping in the carriage. After solving the problem above, we finally returned to Jicheng as quickly as possible.

"This group of incompetent bastards actually used God's gift as a platform for their success." Sitting in the Lingxiao Pavilion, Cao Tiancheng became furious after listening to Gao Yuan's account of the matter. "I'm not done with them. We were there back then. When we were in Fufeng, we ate one meal without finishing the next meal, and even our buttocks were exposed. To say that we were not fully clothed was an understatement. Now we are five and six people alone, and we are still making such a fuss. Your Majesty, After I get home, see if I am not afraid of my God-given leg being broken."

"This matter is over!" Gao Yuan smiled and shook his head, "Tianci won't stay at home. I have other things for him to do. As for those of us in Fufeng, we hope to learn from this incident and don't If something goes wrong again, they should understand that my friendship for them has never changed from the beginning to the end. It is good for people to have the desire to move forward. This is not a problem, but the problem is that they must have the ability to match it. Ability, for example, Zheng Xiaoyang, seeing Meng Chong, Xu Yuan and others all become single-handed commanders, and as an old Fufeng man, he has always been a military commander, so it is understandable that he has some resentment in his heart. But am I at ease if I let him take charge of an army alone? If he is incompetent but sits in a high position, it will not only harm others, but also himself."

"The king is right, our Cao family is highly valued by the king. No matter what other people do, our Cao family can only follow the king's lead." Cao Tiancheng said loudly: "What does the king ask us to do? Let’s do whatever we want.”

"I know that." Gao Yuan said with a smile: "This time I named you Lord Marquis to reward you for your contribution to the Han Dynasty over the years. From the earliest time when you served as our logistics coordinator, to now you are the leader of the Four Seas The great shopkeeper of commerce and the busiest one in our Han Dynasty is you."

"Tiancheng has no other abilities, but he is somewhat talented in business." Cao Tiancheng said with a smile, "The busier I am, the happier I am. If I really have nothing to do, I will really die of boredom."

"Tiancheng, you should be over fifty this year, right?" Gao Yuan asked with a smile.

"Yes, it's already past fifty. It's already fifty-five. I was poor back then and was already in my early thirties when I married my wife. Now I'm already in my twenties." Cao Tiancheng nodded.

"You are not young anymore. If you run around outside again, outsiders will say that I don't care about you. So I have thought about it and prepared a major reorganization of Sihai Commerce. From now on, you will sit in Jicheng and only need to be in charge of the general manager. Just have a plate." Gao Yuan said with a smile: "Don't think too much, it's not that I'm worried about you trying to reduce your power, but with the development of the situation, it is indeed time for Sihai Trading to be reorganized."

"Tiancheng doesn't have any other ideas!" Cao Tiancheng shook his head and said, "What the king is worried about is that the current Sihai Trading business is so big and the scale is so huge that sometimes even I feel a little scared. Every link in it is If something goes wrong, it will affect the entire Han Kingdom, but Tiancheng has little talent and little knowledge, but he can't come up with a good solution."

"I am going to set up a new department, which is called the Ministry of Commerce. I want you to be the minister to manage the country's industry and commerce. And Sihai Commerce will also establish an industry association for each industry according to the differences among business experts. The association chooses a chairman, and the management of each industry in the future will be left to them themselves, while the Ministry of Commerce only needs to take charge and formulate a series of policies. Sihai Commerce is created by you. It is most appropriate for you to be in charge of this Ministry of Commerce."

"Establishing the Ministry of Commerce?" Cao Tiancheng pondered for a moment, "In the past, we were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Household Affairs, what about in the future?"

"I will reorganize the Ministry of Revenue into the Ministry of Finance, and you will no longer be under their jurisdiction. Of course, taxes from industry and commerce will naturally still be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance will no longer manage the business operations of the Ministry of Commerce." Gao Yuandao. "Give you greater rights and create more wealth for the Han Kingdom."

"Tiancheng will definitely do his best to do this well." Cao Tiancheng nodded vigorously.

"By the way, when you come back this time, you will not only have to worry about the establishment of the Ministry of Commerce, but also assist Wang Wudi in doing another thing." Gao Yuan said: "This matter is no small matter. Once it fails, it will really put us big men in trouble. A catastrophic disaster."

Cao Tiancheng was surprised, "I wonder what is going on?"

"Wang Wudi is planning to establish the Central Bank of the Kingdom of Han. In the future, the central bank will issue a unified paper currency. Yes, it is a banknote. However, now there are many kinds of banknotes in our country, as many as ten types. Wang Wudi We are preparing to unify the style of banknotes. From now on, only the currency issued by the Central Bank of the Han Kingdom will have the right to circulate. Other banknotes will be gradually cancelled. We wanted to do this before, but we were unable because we did not have enough gold and silver. It has been put on the agenda, but with the success of Kou Shuguang's voyage, we finally have enough gold and silver in our treasury, and this matter can finally be started. There is no problem with the credit of our Han Kingdom. With the national credit As a background, we will unify the currency and gradually cancel the function of copper coins and gold and silver as currency in the market. This is a huge matter. Wang Wudi has now organized a team of up to a hundred people to prepare for this matter. You Put a face inside, and with your experience in Sihai Trading over the years, you can effectively help them avoid many detours."

"I understand!" Cao Tiancheng nodded, "This is indeed a big deal. I will transfer some capable assistants who have experience or knowledge in this area to help do this. Your Majesty, do you still remember Mei Yipo?"

"I remember, Meihua's father, a good businessman." Gao Yuan smiled.

"This person told me some ideas about this before, also about the circulation of silver and money. This person can be reused."

"Oh, Mei Yipo also has this idea, not bad, you can ask him to come to Beijing and I will talk to him!" Gao Yuan was very interested. (To be continued)