Chapter 315: The First Step of the British Empire

This...

Liu Jin had always thought that smallpox was a natural disaster, and that Chuchun accidentally brought the smallpox virus into the palace, but he did not expect Zhu Youtang to suspect that it was a man-made disaster.

With this thought, he could not help but secretly observe Zhu Youtang.

Fortunately, he had not said anything he should not have said recently, and had not participated in such a conspiracy, so his position should still be preserved.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for not being able to answer this question. Judging from the results of the current investigation, both natural disasters and man-made disasters are possible, but I think: as long as the source of smallpox is found, everything will have rules and sources to follow, and the truth will be revealed at that time!" Song Cheng was not a person who liked to speculate randomly, and immediately pointed out the most critical point.

Source?

Although Zhu Youtang was not satisfied with this answer, Song Cheng undoubtedly provided a good idea. This matter can indeed find out the person behind the scenes by tracing the source.

Until now, he has always been in a passive situation, and even his life has been seriously threatened. Now it is indeed time to use this traceable infectious disease to turn the tables.

Zhu Youtang touched his chin, which only had a few stray hairs, and said decisively: "Even so, I will give you another three days to find the source of infection in the palace!"

"I accept the order!" Song Cheng felt the overwhelming pressure from the emperor, but still chose to face the challenge and bowed his hands.

Although there is no substantial evidence now, he has observed the spread of the epidemic in various parts of Beijing, especially the palace was the first place to discover the epidemic, and he also seriously suspected that the epidemic was a man-made disaster.

Such an unreasonable transmission route is more likely to be directed by someone, just like Huai En was inexplicably poisoned to death in the prison of the Northern Pacification Division.

Liu Jin watched Song Cheng leave, and couldn't help but silently turned his head to look at his own emperor. In the end, it was this black-faced young man who took it all.

Perhaps the emperor did not realize that he had already regarded the Shuntian prefect as a royal investigator.

Today is a cloudy day. Due to the epidemic prevention period, the entire West Garden seems very quiet, with only the shivering cold wind.

The cold wind blows from east to west, welcoming the team coming from the West Palace.

Zhu Youtang was sitting on the dragon chariot, feeling the cold wind of winter. When passing the Jin'ao Yu'er Bridge, he saw Yikexi and other concubines enjoying the scenery at the Tingchao Pavilion from a distance.

He did not abandon his concubines, but chose to take them to the West Garden to avoid the epidemic, but tried not to have direct contact. Empress Dowager Zhou and Queen Dowager Wang also arranged to leave the Forbidden City, and he sent them to Tang Ling's palace together.

It's just that the Forbidden City needs someone to control the overall situation. The queen insisted on staying in Kunning Palace, while Qingyue and Fan Jinling chose to accompany Chang Yourong to stay in the Forbidden City.

Zhu Youtang found that Yikexi saw him and was waving excitedly, so he smiled and raised his hand to respond.

Since the last time she lost two thousand cotton clothes to the Mongolian headquarters, this woman has not only become more proactive, but also obviously sticks to him more and more.

If it weren't for the extraordinary period, he would definitely let her experience his waist strength.

"Your Majesty, we're here!" Liu Jin commanded the dragon chariot to land, and then stepped forward to remind respectfully.

Zhu Youtang looked up at the Yangxin Palace in front of him, but he couldn't be happy.

The turmoil in southern Jiangxi the year before last, the Yellow River burst its dike last year, and the smallpox epidemic this year, even his own safety could not be guaranteed, which made him feel deeply exhausted.

But he knew in his heart that the territory of this empire was too vast, and it was a high probability event that some major disasters would occur every year. As for hoping for good weather and good harvests every year, it can only be in the world of novels. The real world must be laborious.

Zhu Youtang is not a person who complains about everything. After thinking about everything he has now, he adjusted his mood and began to deal with the current work.

Now the epidemic in the palace is under the investigation of Song Cheng, and the epidemic in Beijing is under the joint responsibility of the six ministries, so his eyes are immediately focused on overseas.

If an empire only wants to be glorious for hundreds of years, it is enough to be a tinker, but if it wants to become an empire on which the sun never sets, it can only seize overseas resources.

Although there are fewer gold and silver mines in the Ming Dynasty, the rulers of all dynasties cannot escape the fate of excessive currency issuance, which has caused the collapse of the dynasty's monetary credit.

Now the Ming Dynasty, let alone the Ming Baochao, which is like waste paper, even the copper coins issued by the official have changed from the initial one or two silver coins for one thousand copper coins to nearly two thousand.

Zhu Youtang naturally knows that gold and silver have no substantial value, but the currency system that the Ming Dynasty wants to rebuild will only force the people to rebel if it relies solely on imperial power, but it needs sufficient gold and silver support.

Compared with plundering gold and silver in China, mining gold and silver overseas is undoubtedly easier.

Now the Ming Dynasty is the only dominant country and the nominal suzerain, so it is not excessive to take some gold and silver mines overseas, and the reserves of gold and silver mines overseas are actually more considerable.

Although Luzon Island is barren, it has an amazing gold reserve, which is undoubtedly a good place to mine gold.

"To the Ministry of Personnel: Discuss the selection of the governor of Luzon and establish the governor's office on Luzon Island."

"To the Ministry of War: Discuss the selection of the commander of the Luzon garrison and establish the Nanyang Luzon Guard on Luzon Island."

"To the Ministry of Works, send capable officials to lead craftsmen to the south to build the Ming Luzon City at the selected place on Luzon Island!"

...

After Zhu Youtang made up his mind to obtain gold and silver, he immediately issued several decrees to various government offices, officially launching the plan for the Ming Dynasty to settle in Luzon.

Unlike the situation in later generations, the population of this era was restricted by food, so the population of Luzon Island was small and the forces were scattered everywhere.

Now depriving the title of King of Luzon of the Malani Kingdom is the first step, and the next step is naturally to enfeoff various forces, so that Luzon Island will form a situation of six countries standing side by side.

Although there is no problem with the overall strategy of the Ming Dynasty, the most important thing is the selection of people. Only the right people can make things more efficient.

After more than two years, and through his continuous observation and training, he now has some talents to use.

"Your servant Huang Pan greets His Majesty, long live the emperor!" Huang Pan hurried in from outside and knelt respectfully.

He was an old man in the East Palace. He did not perform well in the East Palace, but he was suddenly reused a few days before the emperor ascended the throne and became one of his early confidants.

Although he is loyal enough, his knowledge and talent are not outstanding. He was sent to the inner school for further study in the early days, and last year he followed Wei Ting to learn business.

After such a long period of training, he has become a manager who can take charge of his own affairs. At least recently he has managed the royal weaving factory in an orderly manner.

Zhu Youtang looked at the fair and fat young eunuch in front of him, and nodded slightly with great satisfaction: "Huang Pan, although you have only been with me for three years, I can feel your loyalty!"

"I am stupid, but fortunately your majesty does not abandon me. I am proud to serve your majesty!" Huang Pan's eyes were slightly red, and he immediately kowtowed solemnly to show his loyalty.

Zhu Youtang's eyes flashed with reluctance, but he still said according to the plan: "Today I want to establish a royal mining company, and this company will look for gold and silver mines in Nanyang and transport the mined gold and silver back to China. Wei Juan said that you have a business mind and are quite talented in management. In addition, you are loyal enough to me and the Ming Dynasty. I just don't know if you dare to take this job?"

"Your Majesty, I am willing to die for your Majesty, but..." Huang Pan immediately expressed his position, but seemed to be hesitant.

Zhu Youtang knew that people who really wanted to do things would have questions, and asked calmly: "What is it?"

"I am not shirking my responsibility, and I am also very willing to serve your Majesty, but there are more seas and less land in Nanyang. I am afraid that it will be difficult to find gold and silver mines, which will disappoint your Majesty!" Huang Pan had already understood the situation in Nanyang in the inner study hall, and immediately said with hesitation.

In his concept, the larger the land, the more likely it is to have gold and silver mines. This is a question of probability. On the contrary, Nanyang has more sea and less land. The middle part is a vast sea, and the east and south are islands.

That's why he felt that if he really wanted to find gold and silver mines, it would be better to go to the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and going to Nanyang seemed to be a mistake of missing the point.

Zhu Youtang had no intention of correcting Huang Pan's misconception that "more land means more gold", and said seriously: "You don't need to be afraid of not finding gold and silver mines. When I sorted out the royal collection last year, I actually had a great harvest. You only need to send craftsmen to search in a specific area of ​​Luzon Island. You are my confidant, I wonder if you dare to take this job and help me solve the problem of gold and silver?"

"I will definitely live up to your majesty's expectations and dig back all the gold and silver for your majesty and the Ming Dynasty!" Huang Pan's eyes were firm, and he expressed his attitude very affirmatively.

Zhu Youtang's mouth twitched slightly. Not to mention other places, the gold reserves of Luzon Island alone have ranked third in the world in later generations, even if Huang Pan gave it several lifetimes, he could not dig it all.

With Huang Pan taking over the job, the Royal Mining Company was officially established, and the overseas gold mining journey began.

Huang Pan had just left when a young eunuch reported through Liu Jin: "Doctor Cui is here!"

"Then let's get started!" Zhu Youtang's mouth corners slightly raised, and he said lightly.

Although smallpox is indeed an incurable disease in this era, who can let him have the memory of later generations?

The best way to deal with this infectious disease is to take the initiative to have indirect contact with mildly infected people, and actively infect through this human pox vaccination, so that your body can produce antibodies.

Although the ancestors of China did not understand the principles of immunology, they found through years of practice that anyone who had smallpox would not be infected with smallpox again.

In view of this, if you actively contract smallpox with mild symptoms, choose to actively add it if you can't beat it. This can effectively avoid the storm of smallpox, and the methods summarized are: smallpox clothing method, smallpox pulp method, dry seedling method and water seedling method, also commonly known as "human pox method".

Of course, the most effective is naturally Edward Jenner's cowpox to prevent smallpox.

Cowpox and smallpox can produce the same antibodies, and the human pox method has a 2% mortality rate, but human pox does not kill people, so actively infecting cowpox is the safest way.

Earlier, a large yellow cow with cowpox was successfully brought into the West Garden.

The sky was gloomy, and it looked like it was going to snow.

Due to the epidemic, the cabinet has now moved back to Wenyuan Pavilion.

As an investigation officer, Song Cheng was also temporarily assigned a duty room, but his face was very dark at this time, without a trace of expression on his face, and even his eyebrows were slightly frowned.

Now the matter is no longer a matter of one person and one family, but a matter of millions of people in the capital. Although he does not know how to treat it, he knows the importance of finding out the mastermind behind it.

However, the epidemic is getting worse and worse, and he can't afford to relax at all, so he left the West Garden and hurried to Donghuamen, intending to start the investigation again from Chuchun.

He still believed in his judgment that Chuchun was not the one who brought the virus back to the palace. Chuchun should have been infected in the palace.

"No?"

"No?"

"No?"

...

Song Cheng rechecked the palace maids and eunuchs that Chuchun had contact with through the records, and even found the eunuch who had sex with Chuchun, but still found nothing.

At this point, the investigation was deadlocked.

"Is it possible that Chuchun really got smallpox outside the palace?" Song Cheng stared at the list in his hand, and began to doubt himself.

Bang!

Song Cheng's eyes were still fixed on the list. He stretched out his hand to pick up the teacup, but the back of his hand accidentally spilled the hot tea, which made him avoid it immediately.

Just as he was busy trying to rescue the list, his eyes suddenly fell on a name that happened to be wet, and a light flashed in his mind.

Liu Ji walked out of his duty room and asked curiously when he saw Song Cheng leaving in a hurry: "Xuan'an, where are you going?"

Song Cheng seemed to have entered his own world. He completely ignored the cabinet assistant Liu Ji who called him from behind and hurriedly left along the courtyard road.

"Second Assistant, this man is really arrogant because of the favor of His Majesty!" The cabinet clerk accompanying Liu Ji looked at Song Cheng's back and said indignantly.

Liu Ji looked at Song Cheng who was leaving thoughtfully, turned his head and scolded: "Don't talk nonsense here, Song Cheng just concentrated on handling the case for His Majesty and didn't hear it. He is clearly a loyal minister!"

"Second Assistant is right!" The cabinet clerk knew that his flattery hit the horse's leg, and said unhappily immediately.

Liu Ji looked in the direction where Song Cheng disappeared again, and guessed uncertainly: "Broken?"

There are more than two hundred eunuchs and maids infected in the palace. This group of people were arranged for isolation, and all the personnel were arranged in the palace next to Donghua Gate.

If there are deaths, these people will be pulled out of Donghua Gate and the bodies will be burned directly.

There are people on duty outside the palace. Facing Song Cheng who asked to see Chuchun, he shook his head gently and said: "Sir Song, you are late, Chuchun just died!"

"Dead?" Song Cheng couldn't help but stared when he heard this.

The guard knew that Song Cheng was in charge of investigating the case, so he pointed to a corpse covered with white cloth in the yard and said: "Sir Song, the body is there!"

Song Cheng felt that the matter was too coincidental. He immediately put on a mask and pulled the shroud apart. He saw the maid Chuchun with a rash all over her face, but his eyes soon locked on the neck of the maid Chuchun.