"Zhang visited the prince, I haven't seen him for a long time, and the prince's holy family has become more and more prosperous." Zhang Jin saw Liu Hong coming gradually, and quickly got up and saluted.

It has only been less than a year, and the promotion from a marquis to a county king is unprecedented, coupled with the advice of the head of the family, Zhang Jin can't help but be imprudent.

"Haha! It's just barely a mess, compared with your master's happy life, this king is far behind! Oh yes, if this king remembers correctly, your name is Liu Jin, right? ”

Liu Hong gradually looked at this person familiarly, but it had been more than half a year since they last met, and he couldn't remember it clearly, because he felt that Liu Jin was very familiar, so he blurted out, who knew that the face of the middle-aged man in front of him changed as soon as he finished speaking.

"The contemptible person's surname is Zhang, and his name is Zhang Jin!" Zhang Jin suppressed the depression in his heart and said in a deep voice.

What Liu Jin? I confessed my mistake last time, how can I admit my mistake this time? Does Lao Tzu look so much like the dead eunuch who brought disaster to the country and the people?

As a guest of the Zheng Mansion, the earl and marquis of the Ming Dynasty If he dares to talk to him like this, he can make this person unable to eat and walk around, in Fujina, the Zheng family is the king.

But this is the capital, and he can't afford to mess with the people in front of him.

"Oh, this king's memory has always been bad, Brother Zhang, don't care, this time your master sent you from Fujian, so what's the matter?" Liu Hong gradually sat on the throne, and the two servants showed tea to the two of them.

"Back to the prince, the traitor Xu Yunzhen's family wanted to flee overseas through Fujian, but happened to be met by my master, and the thief gave 400,000 taels of silver tickets, intending to ask my master to escort him to escape.

But my lord was favored by the emperor, and he refused to do such unkind and unjust things, so he sent them to the capital with his life.

My lord also repeatedly explained that if you go to the capital, you must visit the prince to show the good of the family. Zhang Jin's words were calm, as if he was saying something insignificant.

"This king is still Nan Amber read the letter written by this king and repented, it turned out to be grateful for the emperor's grace, but this king underestimated your master." Liu Hong gradually bowed his hand to apologize, but his face was full of contempt.

Friendly with the family? Who is especially good with your old Zheng Tong's family?

Obviously, he was found by this king and didn't dare to disobey, but he still wanted to say that it was so high-sounding, the thickness of your old Zheng's face can catch up with the walls of the capital.

"I heard the eldest prince say that when he was in Nanjing, the eldest prince had a very happy conversation with the prince, and the eldest prince also praised the prince for having a ...... of time, "Zhang Jin couldn't hear Liu Hongji's ridicule, but he didn't know what the letter was about, so he could only continue to put it on.

"Don't talk about this useless nonsense, this king is very busy, why did your lord ask you to come to this king? Can you bring food? "Where does Liu Hongjian have time to play Tai Chi with this guy.

Now there is a severe drought in the north, and it is more serious than expected, there is a shortage of rice everywhere, and the rice in the south of the Yangtze River cannot be supplied at all.

"This ...... Don't hide it from the prince, now the South Seas are not peaceful, the Dutch and Franji people occupy Siam and Sulu, resulting in the Zheng family's business there being damaged, and the output of grain and rice has also dropped sharply. Zhang Jin bowed down and explained.

"So there's no food coming?" Liu Hong gradually glared at Zhang Jin, knowing that this guy was not telling the truth.

The two chatted for a few more words, and Zhang Jin took out a bulging envelope, saying that it was a little bit of the Zheng family's heart.

Yes, after a long time, he came to send silver to bribe him, Liu Hong gradually sneered in his heart.

Also, whether the Zheng family can make a fortune in Fujian safely and steadily, his attitude is very important.

Liu Hong gradually took it and took a general look, this Lao Zheng was really willing to give up, and he gave out 600,000 taels at a time.

And this Zhang Jin also stated that as long as the Zheng family saves, at least this amount of silver taels will be sent every year, in order to reassure Liu Hong, he also specifically said that this is what Zheng Sen meant.

Liu Hong gradually laughed and accepted it, if he didn't accept it, he didn't accept it, until he had to do it, now is not the time to fall out with the Zheng family.

Da Ming needs time, and Xiao Zheng also needs time.

After Zhang Jin left, Liu Hong gradually did not dare to delay, and immediately went to the palace, put the silver ticket on Chongzhen's table, and directly put Zheng Zhilong's dirty affairs on the table.

Although he is deeply trusted by Chongzhen, he still knows what silver can be collected and what silver cannot be collected.

This matter is a trivial matter to Chongzhen, if you don't say it, you really want people with ulterior motives to stab Chongzhen here, according to Uncle Chongzhen's temperament, who knows what he will think.

"Hehe, Youming has a heart, but since this silver was given to you by Zheng Zhilong, you accept it, I, there is no shortage of silver." Chongzhen was in a good mood, firstly, he was honest and happy with this courtier, and secondly, he was justified in what he said.

In fact, as early as yesterday, when the Zheng family offered prisoners, Chongzhen summoned the people of the Zheng family, and the Zheng family directly offered 1.8 million taels of silver, and the silver had already been put into the warehouse.

After Liu Hongjian led his troops to the south, tens of thousands of guards and thousands of relatives and servants died, plus Liu Hongji's threat, Lao Zheng was also worried.

The Daming Navy Division is not good, but neither is his Zheng family's army, if he is really expelled by the imperial court, that is what Lao Zheng does not want to see.

"Hehe, the minister is disrespectful." Chongzhen is rare to be generous, and of course Liu Hongjian will not be hypocritical.

"Youming, it seems that the matter of the sailor needs to be tightened, I heard that the newly built treasure shipyard of Tianjin has already started to build warships?" The experience of more than half a year has made Chongzhen rarely begin to care about the water master.

"Yes, Your Majesty, thanks to the strong support of the Ministry of Industry, most of the old shipwrights were mobilized from the south, such as today, Jinbao Shipyard is building four main warships at the same time, and their displacement is comparable to that of the Zheng family's main warships.

Moreover, the cannon firepower made by the ordnance is longer than the original Furlong cannon, and the minister is still researching with the ordnance institute recently, hoping to attach a layer of steel plate around the warship to make an ironclad battleship.

If this move can be done, the foundation of our Daming Water Master will come out. Speaking of sailors, Liu Hong is rarely serious.

The southern and northern wars for more than a year did not make Liu Hong gradually excited, and most of the time he was passive and had to fight.

But in the face of the ocean, Liu Hong's eyes can ignite sparks.

"Well, I can rest assured that I will leave this matter to you, what raw materials are needed and inform the Ministry of Household and Industry, if there are any difficulties, tell me." Chongzhen doesn't know anything about military affairs, let alone a sailor.

"What is this?" Chongzhen pointed to a wooden box on the table.

When Liu Hong gradually entered the hall just now, in addition to bringing the Zheng family's bribes, he also carried a wooden box.

"This is a gift from the minister to the emperor, a new gadget developed by our glass workshop, the emperor will definitely like it, you see!"

Liu Hong gradually put down the matter of the water master, opened the wooden box, took a pair of reading glasses from it and handed it to Chongzhen.

The two sides of the reading glasses are fixed with silver, and the temples are made of fine gold silk wood, and the woodwork is meticulously carved, and even the silver plating on both sides of the lens is also painted with lace.

Since I don't know how many degrees of farsightedness Chongzhen has, the ten pairs of glasses brought this time have different powers.

Chongzhen saw this thing for the first time, and he held it in his hand in confusion and watched it repeatedly, not knowing what it was for.

Liu Hong gradually smiled without saying a word, got up and walked behind Chongzhen and put his glasses on the bridge of Chongzhen's nose with his own hands.

"Ahh

Although the main hall of the Qianqing Palace has been replaced with glass, but in the end it is not as good as the daylight, and Chongzhen must first rush to the light to review the music on weekdays, and put the music far away to see the small Kai written by the Qing Dynasty officials.

But now that he is wearing this strange little thing, he has never seen things clearly, Chongzhen thought he had seen a ghost, he even saw the cyan stubble that gradually appeared on Liu Hong's chin, and he couldn't help but be startled.

Liu Hong gradually saw Uncle Chongzhen's embarrassment and sneered, and then explained to him the purpose of the glasses.

He brought a total of ten pairs of glasses, and originally wanted to choose one pair for the uncle, and let the uncle give the rest to the courtiers, so as to advertise his new products, but Chongzhen was willing to respond, and directly took all ten pairs of glasses into his pocket.

While letting Wang Erxi send his eyes into the inner treasury, he also swore his reasons.

What if it breaks?

At this time, the level of craftsmanship was limited, from lens polishing to the carving of frames and frames, all of which were handmade, and the output was extremely low.

What Chongzhen said is also true, the quality of the lenses at this time is not as good as that of later generations, and this thing will definitely be bad when it falls on the bluestone ground.

Liu Hong gradually had no choice, so he decided to go back and let the craftsmen make some more, so that they could be given to the courtiers for publicity.

"Youming, there is something I think about before and after, I guess I have to let you do it." Chongzhen took off his glasses and put them on the table for a while, as if he remembered something difficult.

But before and after the Ming Dynasty, it seems that only Liu Hongjian is really busy working alone, Chongzhen himself feels a little sorry for this kid, after all, according to his understanding of Liu Hongji, if he hadn't forced Liu Hongjian to work, it is estimated that this kid would not know where to be happy.

"The emperor has something to say bluntly, as a courtier, he should relieve your worries." Liu Hongjian is not ambiguous, now that the south and the north are peaceful, and the court has silver, what else can happen?

Is there anything that money can't solve?

The answer is, yes.

"The drought in the north continues, and since the locust plague last month, it has now spread to the mountains, and the rice grain in the south of the Yangtze River cannot be transported to the north for the time being.

Fortunately, the two places of Shanxi and Henan are okay, the canal has been connected to water, although this season's winter wheat is not able to catch up, but at least Henan still has the support of potatoes and sweet potatoes from Shanxi, but Shandong ......" Chongzhen sighed slightly when he said this.

I really don't know if Cang Tian deliberately punished Da Ming, or deliberately punished him.

In the eighteenth year of his reign, there was not a year in the north that there was no plague, and after the drought was over, the plague came again, and the plague came again.

"Now the mountains are full of hunger, the homeless people are ringing in all directions, and there is a trend of burning the prairie again, I wanted to go out of the Beijing camp to suppress the bandits, but I was worried that the Beijing camp soldiers were too heavy, and in previous years, the bandits were more and more, so that the people were not able to make a living."

Chongzhen has been afraid of these homeless people in the past few years, and he has been suppressing bandits for 18 years, at least 15 years, and he has been suppressing them back and forth, and the more he suppresses them, the more he suppresses them.

For more than ten years, Qin Bing, Tianxiong Army, Guan Ning Army, all ruthless people have done this errand, and none of them have done it, Chongzhen wants to think about it, and he has to count on Liu Hongjian for this matter.

"There are many loud horses in the mountains, alas, they are all caused by land annexation, Your Majesty!" The first half of Liu Hong's sentence is the truth, but he is a little insincere.

He knew in his heart that it was not the people of the mountains who were heavy-minded, they had food and drink, who liked to do that trick on the belt of their heads?

The Ming Dynasty lacks war horses and comes out of Ma Zheng, since the Chengzu period, Shandong is the main area of Ma Zheng, every family raises horses for the imperial court, but people can't eat enough, how can horses be raised.

The more the court punished, the more the people complained that everyone was going to starve to death, so they simply went to be a horse bandit, anyway, every family has a horse, and they come and go like the wind, and the guards of the court really can't do anything.

For hundreds of years, it has been making such a fuss, but the imperial court has not done anything, and the people of Shandong are still not well fed and clothed.

It was only when the turmoil between the north and the south was calmed down, and I originally thought that everyone could live in peace, but a major drought and locust plague made the people of Shandong take the old road.

"I have ordered the household department to give priority to measuring the acres of land in the rivers and mountains, and redistribute them to the people in the two places as soon as possible, but now it is far from quenching the thirst of the near.

Hubu reported that the fastest batch of rice grain in the south of the Yangtze River will not arrive in Shandong until a month later, and I hope that you will go to Shandong first to stabilize the situation, and you will not fall into the situation of the previous years. ”

Chongzhen's brows were furrowed, the people were hungry, and his own heart was uncomfortable.

"There is no food in the mountains, and there is no food in the court, so what can the ministers do even if they go? Kill the so-called bandits who have no food to eat? Although Liu Hongjian knew the difficulties in Chongzhen's heart, he was also very resistant in his heart.

They are all poor people who want to starve to death, and how many people will choose to starve to death in the face of starvation and snatching food, but on the basis of this, do you want to kill them?

Everyone has the right to live!

Chongzhen was speechless, he knew that this was indeed not a good errand.

The pro-soldiers, Tianxiong Army, and Guanning Army have a great reputation outside the Guan, but when they go to the interior to suppress bandits, there are still bad words about these armies in various places, no matter how awesome you are, no matter how awesome you are, if you go to the murderer's house, no one will think of your good.

"If the emperor allows the minister to collect rice and grain on the spot to help the people, the minister will go." Liu Hong gradually knew that Chongzhen had no way to open this mouth, so he had to open a condition.

Bandits don't rob the poor, the people don't have any property in the first place, as far as he knows, these horse thieves are all fighting the slogan of robbing the rich and helping the poor, and they do so.

Giving up the small family for everyone, the bandits did it, he Liu Hong gradually did it, there is only one creed, there is always nothing wrong with establishing a life for the people, even if he is infamous for a while, there will always be a day when he will become famous in the township.

"This ......" Chongzhen was speechless for a while, he didn't know what Liu Hong's idea was, his humerus wanted to carry forward the routine of robbing the rich and helping the poor.

This was the case in Shanxi, it was also the case in Shaanxi, and even the recent suppression of Xungui was the same.

"Well, you can do it!" Chongzhen didn't agree, but he didn't refuse either.

This matter is not very glorious in the end, and Xun Qi can say that it is his family matter after all.

But the gentry and landlords in Shandong didn't provoke the court, the court wanted to take back the land, and the people didn't resist, and Chongzhen himself said that whoever handed over the land was not to blame for his past mistakes.

Now, why do you want to take people under the knife again? What about the credibility of the imperial court?

"In that case, the minister will run." Liu Hong gradually had no choice but to deal with the matter.

Alas, it was supposed to be good to accompany his wife and children at home, Liu Hong gradually came out of the palace and sighed, people in the rivers and lakes, I can't help myself!