Chapter 239 Li Dongyang Retires

Laiwu Iron Works.

Tang Hao once again gave Wang Wenbo and others instructions.

Then he left with thousands of kilograms of fine steel and hundreds of blacksmiths, returning to Qinghe Shipyard.

Looking at the back of this ferocious Zhongshan Marquis, Wang Wenbo fell into deep thought.

Wang Xianwen couldn't help but whispered: "Second uncle, why does the Marquis of Zhongshan stop us from reporting?"

"Report?" Wang Wenbo rolled his eyes at his nephew angrily, "Who are you going to report to? Li Shan, Minister of Industry, or Li Dongyang, Chief Assistant to the Cabinet?"

"I think you've lost your mind!"

Wang Wenbo cursed angrily: "First, we don't need to report it. Don't you understand the principle of making a fortune in silence?"

"If it is reported, the imperial court will definitely remove these blacksmiths. Then who will produce steel for us? Are you going to go to the f*cking ground to make iron and steel?"

After a pause, Wang Wenbo said thoughtfully.

"Although this kind of thing cannot be hidden, it will take at least a year and a half when the imperial court comes to inspect it. Do you know how much more money we can make, you damn fool!"

Wang Wenbo simply looked at the heads of the thirty-six families and reminded him coldly: "You have also seen it. In the past, it took at least two fucking days and two nights to burn a furnace of iron, and the finished product was just like that. , but now? In less than four hours, this blast furnace has produced tens of thousands of pounds of pig iron and thousands of pounds of fine steel!"

"What amazing profits are hidden here? Don't tell me that you are not interested, don't tell me that you don't want it!"

This question is actually very simple.

The imperial court did not know that they had made reforms, nor did they know that the output of the iron factory was so amazing at this moment.

Since the Marquis of Zhongshan asked them to conceal the truth from the court and not report it, then they would not report it.

Anyway, the imperial court's quota is only that small, and the extra they produce is gold and silver that they can buy and sell on their own!

Who would let go of this pile of gold and silver and become a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty?

With red eyes, Wang Wenbo scanned the entire audience, and in the end no one objected.

"Very well, you all are sensible."

"But in order to prevent the news from leaking out, these blacksmiths must also be comforted."

"Their wages will be increased tenfold from now on, and every piece of fine steel must be inspected strictly!"

"As soon as fine steel appears, collect it immediately and deliver it to Qinghe Shipyard on time and with high quality!"

"Don't challenge the patience of Marquis Zhongshan. Our family's great business cannot be compared with such a vicious maniac!"

How to compare?

If someone disagrees with you, they will kill your whole family!

As the head of a noble clan, family inheritance always comes first.

As the saying goes, "When a scholar encounters a soldier, there is no reason to explain." What's more, such a lawless and crazy murderer can be said to have directly controlled the lifeblood of these gentry family heads.

Therefore, it is indeed untouchable!

"But, Second Uncle, if the court investigates this matter afterwards, it will be a serious crime of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan!"

The corners of Wang Wenbo's mouth slowly raised, and he spread his hands innocently.

"What does this matter have to do with you, and what does it have to do with us?"

"The Marquis of Zhongshan is an imperial envoy sent by His Majesty the Emperor to Shandong. He has the power to act expediently and to control the local military and horses. Even you, the head of the Ministry of Industry, can only obey his orders!"

"Even if it's true, it was the Marquis of Zhongshan who asked you and me to conceal it, so even if the court finally pursues the case, the person who should be beheaded is the Marquis of Zhongshan, Tang Hao, and it has nothing to do with you or me!"

After hearing this, Wang Xianwen always felt that something was wrong, and he was ready to persuade him.

However, Wang Wenbo became impatient and reminded with red eyes: "The minimum guarantee of 10,000 kilograms of pig iron a day is at least 800 taels of snowflake silver. Including the price of hundreds of kilograms of fine steel, at least three hundred kilograms of pig iron a day. Thousand taels!”

"What? Don't you want it?"

Wang Xianwen was startled, and then his eyes turned red.

The price of Ming Dynasty pig iron is six cents of silver per catty, but it also includes a foot price of two cents, which is the transportation cost, so the market price is eight cents of silver per catty, which roughly calculates to nearly one thousand taels.

Including these expensive wrought iron and high-quality steel, three thousand taels is a conservative estimate, I am afraid it must be five thousand taels of silver!

In other words, the 50,000 taels of silver each family contributed could be earned back in less than ten days according to the current productivity of the Laiwu Iron Factory!

Of course, these fine steel must be sent to Qinghe Shipyard.

However, the astonishing profits are still hard to refuse!

What's this?

Mountains of gold and silver!

And it’s the kind that’s inexhaustible!

Who wouldn’t want the mountains of gold and silver placed in front of them?

"Second uncle, you must keep an eye on these blacksmiths!"

Wang Xianwen's sanity was eroded by greed, and he immediately proposed that the thirty-six families send servants to guard the Laiwu Iron Factory to keep an eye on the blacksmiths' labor to avoid leaking the news.

This move naturally won the unanimous approval of all the family heads, and they immediately took action without hesitation.

Not for anything else, just for these pieces of steel that are comparable to real gold and silver!

Here Tang Hao is riding his horse forward leisurely.

Zuo Yidao seemed to have thought of something, and said meaningfully: "Master Marquis, you deliberately did not let them report it, how clever you are!"

"Oh?" Tang Hao smiled, "Tell me about it?"

"First, by temporarily concealing the matter and reporting it, we can use these batches of fine steel to build a batch of high-quality firearms as soon as possible, and all of them will be handled by our people. Naturally, the civil servants and gentry in the court will not know about it. , and it’s impossible to cause harm from it.”

"Secondly, if these thirty-six families do what the Marquis said and concealed the matter and monopolized the huge amount of steel and resold it for profit, then they will undoubtedly die, even if these fools push the matter away. But who would believe it?"

Tang Hao laughed loudly when he heard this, looked at Zuo Yidao and joked: "You have stayed in Jinyiwei for a long time, so your mentality has become dark."

"I have no intention of cheating them, it's all up to their own choice."

Zuo Yidao also laughed when he heard this.

"It was precisely because the Marquis gave them a choice that they had the confidence not to report it and conceal the matter."

"But how do they know that as long as they dare to choose not to report it to the court out of greed, this matter will be a disaster for these thirty-six families!"

"Human nature is greedy and its desires are hard to satisfy!"

Tang Hao smiled and shook his head, "I just let them make their own choice without interfering too much."

"If they really choose to embezzle the country's interests at the expense of our country for this amazing benefit, then the next time I come back, I can kill them as a matter of course!"

After all, this is a bait thrown out by Tang Hao deliberately. It depends on whether these gentry can bite the hook.

"There is no way. Your Majesty is short of money. The training of the soldiers of the Beijing Army is a bottomless pit. No amount of money is too much. I am also short of money now and am involved in the mess of building a fleet and rebuilding the navy. This is also a mess. Bottomless pit.”

"So, instead of letting these damn civil servants and gentry swallow up these benefits, it is better to leave them in the hands of these thirty-six families first. When your majesty and I are short of money, we can just come and harvest them." ,convenient!"

Tang Hao said it so casually that Zuo Yidao's scalp went numb.

hiss……

Let the gentry help you and His Majesty the Emperor make money?

If you want it, then you will directly confiscate other people's homes and exterminate their clans?

My dear!

Isn't this act too ruthless?

It took me eight lifetimes of bad luck to get to know you, the Marquis of Zhongshan?

It is said that Jin Yiwei is cruel and ruthless in his actions. Isn't this stupid Marquis of Zhongshan more cold-blooded and ruthless than anyone else?

"Yidao, what are you thinking about?"

Tang Hao looked at Zuo Yidao with a half-smile.

The latter shuddered directly.

At this moment, a guard in royal robes hurried over.

"Marquis, sir, a secret report from the capital!"

Zuo Yidao took the secret report and handed it directly to Tang Hao.

After Tang Hao looked at it, a cold look appeared on his face.

"Li Dongyang has retired."

"But that Xiong Xiu returned to Beijing again and was promoted to the left minister of the Ministry of War!"

Xiong Xiu, a guard from Ningyuan, Huguang, was a Jinshi in the second year of Chenghua, and was promoted to the censor of Guizhou Road in the seventh year of Chenghua. He was upright and outspoken in the government, had knowledge of tools, and always kept the general outline and a little strict in his discussions.

In the thirteenth year of Hongzhi's reign, he was promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of War, and later transferred to the left minister of the Ministry of War. Liu Daxia, the minister of the Ministry of War, relied on him deeply and believed in him. In all important border affairs, he must confirm it with Xiong Xiu Shang.

During this period, due to the open and covert struggle between Liu Daxia, Li Dongyang and other Huguang Township Party members and Tianguan Ma Wensheng, Xiong Xiu was almost pushed out of the court by Ma Wensheng to serve as governor of Guangdong and Guangxi military affairs and governor. However, he always refused to take up the post on the grounds of illness.

It wasn't until Tang Hao teamed up with Zhu Houzhao to crazily suppress Liu Daxia, Li Dongyang and other Huguang Township Party members that Liu Daxia was forced to take the initiative to resign and become an official. Xiong Xiu was also kicked by Zhu Houzhao to become the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.

As a result, not long after that, Xiong Xiu came back and became his left minister of war.

Come to think of it, this is an exchange of interests!

"Li Dongyang has been reluctant to take up his official position, probably because he is afraid of being liquidated."

Zuo Yidao gave a reasonable guess and said in a deep voice: "The most famous people in the Huguang Township Party are none other than Li Dongyang, the cabinet scholar, Liu Daxia, the minister of the Ministry of War, Xiong Xiu, the left minister of the Ministry of War, and Yang Yiqing, the general secretary of the Trilateral Party! "

"Now Li Dongyang has used his career to gain the opportunity for Xiong Xiu to return to the central court. At least with Xiong Xiu in power, Li Dongyang is not afraid of being liquidated easily, and the Huguang Township Party also has the next leader!"

"Furthermore, the current Minister of War is Yang Yiqing. This person..."

Tang Hao waved his hand and said with a smile: "Don't worry about Yang Yiqing, this is just a smelly stone in a latrine - smelly and hard!"

"Li Dongyang thought that Xiong Xiu returned to the position of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, and that with Yang Yiqing, the Minister of War, in charge, their Huguang Township Party could return to the model of Liu Daxia and Xiong Xiu. But what Li Dongyang didn't know was that Yang Yiqing was Yang Yiqing. This I won’t give any face to my grandson!”

Tang Hao will never forget that when he got married, his grandson sent a rogue horse. It was so fucking disgusting!

"Master Hou, let's go now..."

"Ignore it!" Tang Hao threw the secret report directly to Zuo Yidao, "There is Yang Yiqing above Xiong Xiu's head. He can't make any waves!"

Zuo Yidao nodded in understanding.

At the same time, Li Dongyang’s mansion.

He was looking feebly at the two people in front of him, looking miserable and dying.

Even Yang Yiqing couldn't help sighing when he saw it.

"Xi Ya? Xi Ya!"

"Why are you doing this, Xi Ya?!"

"Wouldn't it be better to retire early and return home to recuperate?"

"Why do you have to do this?" Li Dongyang roared with a ferocious face: "Yang Yiqing, you are noble and great, you can stick to your original intention, but what about me, Li Dongyang?"

"I, Li Dongyang, have worked for the country all my life, my relatives have died one after another, and even I have become half-dead, but in the end, what did I, Li Dongyang, get?"

Li Dongyang shouted frantically: "I ask you, Yang Yiqing, what did I get?"

"The emperor wants to kill me as soon as possible, and the Marquis of Zhongshan continues to persecute the Huguang party members. Don't you see it?"

Yang Yiqing was stunned and closed his mouth silently.

What kind of situation would a former minister cause such deep resentment and murderous intent from His Majesty the Emperor?

He could not understand or accept it.

Li Dongyang seemed to have done nothing wrong in his life, it was nothing more than forming a clique for personal gain.

Did His Majesty the Emperor really want to do this?

"Ying Ning!"

Li Dongyang looked at Yang Yiqing with hope on his face.

"I don't ask you for anything, I just ask you to take care of Ru Ming and don't let him be abolished by Zhongshan Hou and His Majesty the Emperor. That's enough!"

Xiong Xiu's name is Ru Ming, and he was also at the scene.

But when he heard Li Dongyang's words, his heart sank to the bottom.

Because the Huguang Party is no longer as good as before, with Li Dongyang and Liu Daxia, two old ministers, forced to retire one after another, the only high-ranking people in the Huguang Party are Xiong Xiu and Yang Yiqing.

And Xiong Xiu is the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War, and Yang Yiqing is the minister of the Ministry of War who is in charge of the military affairs of the world. It seems that the Ministry of War has returned to the hands of the Huguang Party, just like when Liu Daxia was the minister.

But the problem lies with Yang Yiqing. He is stubborn and sticks to the rules. Yang Yiqing can't even be considered a member of the Huguang Party.

Even if Liu Daxia and Li Dongyang repeatedly recommend him, Yang Yiqing is still so unwilling to do corruption and bribery!

What an ungrateful bastard!

Xiong Xiu looked at Yang Yiqing unkindly, and the latter was immediately in an awkward situation.

On the one hand, it was the kindness of Li Dongyang and Liu Daxia, two classmates and friends, who recommended and supported him many times. On the other hand, it was Yang Yiqing who always adhered to his official duties and was not shaken by any personal feelings!

In the end, the righteousness of the family and the country still defeated personal feelings.

Yang Yiqing looked at Li Dongyang seriously, and then shook his head with difficulty.

"Xi Ya, I can't do it!"

"Can't do it?" Li Dongyang asked subconsciously, "Why can't you do it? Why do you have to stick to those damned..."

Before he finished speaking, Li Dongyang coughed violently, and there was a faint trace of blood in his palm.

"Forget it, Yang Yingning, go, go!"

Hearing this, Yang Yiqing shook his head bitterly and laughed, then got up and left.

Looking at his back, Xiong Xiu couldn't help but cursed angrily: "What a ungrateful bastard!"

"Back then, Yang Yiqing was recommended by Mr. Liu (Liu Daxia), so he was promoted to the Left Vice-Censor of the Censorate and served as the Governor of Shaanxi. It was also Mr. Liu who requested the court to appoint him, Yang Yiqing, as the General Manager of the Three Towns (Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu), and then promoted to the Right Censor and became the General Manager of the Three Borders!"

"Even his position as the Minister of War was achieved through your painstaking efforts, Mr. Li. However, Yang Yiqing turned a blind eye to such a favor of promotion. He is simply ungrateful to the extreme. These damn southwestern barbarians are not good people!"

Yang Yiqing's ancestral home is Yunnan, and he offended many people because of his integrity in office. Therefore, he is often scolded as a southwestern barbarian.

In this era, Huguang, Yunnan, Sichuan and other places are still barbaric in the eyes of court scholars.

Li Dongyang waved his hand weakly and leaned on the soft couch.

"Ruming, you have to remember one thing!"

"Yang Yiqing is Yang Yiqing. No matter what he is like, he will not do anything that harms the interests of the country. This is Yang Yingning!"

"So many years have passed. How can I and Shi Yong (Liu Daxia) not stick to our original intentions and be honest and upright? But step by step to the end, many things are not what we want. This Ming Dynasty is no longer the Ming Dynasty of the past!"

"Yang Yiqing can sit here. I have to say that this is what I admire most about him."

"But he..." Xiong Xiu couldn't help but retort.

Who doesn't want to be a good official with integrity? !

Who doesn't want to practice the political ambitions of studying hard in the past? !

But the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty itself is a big dye vat. Once people enter it, don't think about keeping any moral bottom line!

These officials and gentry, who is not taking bribes, who is clean under the ass?

Even if they want to be clean, the clans and families behind them will not let them be clean!

This is reality!

Why can you, Yang Yiqing, be as clean as water?

This is what Xiong Xiu really hates about Yang Yiqing!

When a flawless person appears in front of you, people will instinctively feel inferior and guilty!

"Ruming, let's not talk about Yang Yiqing!"

"In the future, the Huguang Party will be entrusted to you, and you are the leader of the Huguang Party!"

Li Dongyang looked at Xiong Xiu solemnly and made a request to the new leader of the Huguang Party.

"In the future, the Huguang Party must remember a principle, like this Yang Yiqing, to make His Majesty the Emperor trust us Huguang Party again, so that we have a chance to rise again!"

"Don't go against His Majesty, but obey His Majesty in everything. No matter what His Majesty wants you to do, you must obey. Do you understand?"

Li Dongyang sighed in a daze.

"If you don't do this, the Huguang Party will always be hated by His Majesty!"

"Don't forget, Your Majesty is still very young!"

Is Zhu Houzhao young?

He is only eighteen years old!

And he has just taken power!

If Zhu Houzhao is not allowed to reduce his disgust for the Huguang Party, then they will be in fear of being suppressed by His Majesty the Emperor for the rest of their lives!

Xiong Xiu also trembled and understood this terrible fact.

If the Huguang Party cannot find a way to eliminate this disgust, then they will live in this fear for the rest of their lives!

It makes people desperate!