Chapter 80: The First Encounter with Literary Inquisition (Part 3)
Feng Yukuan led Huo Chong to a place where wheat straw was stored, and opened a pile of it, revealing a sack underneath. Huo Chong's second disciple Yang Wangfu stepped forward to inspect the goods.
Yang Wangfu is Yang Youfang's nephew and Qian Qing's cousin. Compared with his two relatives, Yang Wangfu lacks their ruthlessness and looks more like a scholar. After testing the sulfur, Yang Wangfu nodded to Huo Chong.
Feng Yukuan then took out another bottle, which looked small, but was very heavy in his hand. Huo Chong opened it and took a look. The silver liquid flowing inside did not need to be checked too much. Just the weight was enough to prove too much.
Yang Wangfu poured the mercury in the bottle into the prepared bottle, and then reported the amount. After hearing the number Yang Wangfu said, Feng Yukuan was a little surprised, "Master Huo, your disciple is not bad. Is he very accurate in measuring the amount?"
Huo Chong smiled but did not ask. This is not about whether the hand is accurate or not. Knowing the density of mercury and the determined volume, the result can be calculated by elementary school multiplication.
In this transaction, Huo Chong promised Feng Yukuan a 30% profit. Feng Yukuan took the money and asked Huo Chong privately, "Master Huo, why don't you buy some hand guns? Bai Siwen's asking price is not high. "
Huo Chong laughed and said, "If the government knew about this, it would be a big problem."
Feng Yukuan was amused by this, "Master Huo, you eat two dishes, but you still say this?"
As expected of a maritime businessman, he speaks so straightforwardly. Huo Chong was not unhappy at all, but felt that Feng Yukuan was worth continuing to cooperate with. People who do such business will have many risks, and a hand cannon may save their lives. But the hand cannon of this era is still a matchlock gun. If possible, Huo Chong would rather use a hand crossbow. At least the loading speed will be faster.
But this reminded Huo Chong, and when they parted, Huo Chong asked the Spanish merchant Oda Hideyoshi, "Captain, do you want to buy a musket?"
"Musketeer? Why should I buy a Qing musket?" Oda Hideyoshi asked with some disdain.
"Captain Oda, I know you Europeans have been fighting for hundreds of years. Countless skilled craftsmen have spent countless efforts in forging firearms. But we Chinese have a saying, 'one can polish jade with stones from other mountains.' Why don't you give it a try?"
Oda Hideyoshi couldn't help showing a look of wanting to see you off. "Since Lord Feng has this in mind, why not wait until next time?"
"Okay. I think so too." Huo Chong agreed.
After the two sides separated, Huo Chong continued his business. After the Chinese New Year, Huo Chong's shop became bustling. After all, he had been doing business for three years and it was not going bankrupt. Huo Chong's tax payment was really cheap, so the number of people participating in the planting of blessings more than doubled.
Seeing Huo Chong humming a little tune while looking at the account book, Qian Qing couldn't help but ask, "Master, why are you so happy?"
"I'm not happy, I miss it." Huo Chong sighed. The current situation makes Huo Chong feel like the past is coming back. In the past, the platform went through the difficult early stage and entered the current stable development period. Even without deliberate expansion, the existing reputation attracted a large number of people who requested to join.
People around even have to use connections to find the employees in Huo Chong's place who are responsible for planting blessings. The employees only need to communicate based on the training materials that have been summarized.
Qian Qing was a little puzzled, but didn't ask any more questions. As one of the most experienced department heads under Huo Chong, Qian Qing put the report in front of Huo Chong and said, "Master, this is the budget for the mine this year."
Huo Chong said nothing. He had coveted the iron ore in Zhangdian for a long time, and had conducted small-scale exploration and collection before. The iron ore here was hematite, which was iron oxide, of good quality. However, private mining was illegal, and Huo Chong was not brave enough to open a mine directly.
This is not the 21st century, but the Qing Dynasty. The officials come and go, and the replacement speed is faster than expected. In three years, there have been three county magistrates. God knows what these people will do.
After Qian Qing left, Huo Chong thought about it for a while, and finally stood up and ordered someone to push the cart to meet Magistrate Ma.
When Magistrate Ma heard that Huo Chong wanted to open a mine, he did not show any surprise. He just asked in confusion: "Brother Huo, do you know about the mining tax?"
"I know." Huo Chong said, waiting for Magistrate Ma to make trouble. Then Magistrate Ma said, "Since we know, the county will send someone to check on Brother Huo's mine. Once you pay the tax, Brother Huo can do whatever he wants."
He had made a lot of preparations before, and thought about all the possibilities he could think of. But Magistrate Ma's answer was still beyond Huo Chong's imagination. As a dog official of the Qing Dynasty, shouldn't he do what dog officials should do? For example, he put on an official air and made various requests from a superior position. Or he could decisively refuse and let Huo Chong find out through various channels how much the dog official wanted to make for himself.
But Magistrate Ma had said it so straightforwardly, Huo Chong could not say anything more. He thanked Magistrate Ma and gave him another ingot of 20 taels of silver. Magistrate Ma accepted it readily, which surprised Huo Chong even more.
But time waits for no one, Huo Chong can only take things one step at a time and start working after returning.
Magistrate Ma confirmed that Huo Chongzhen had opened an iron mine, and reported the matter to his superiors in a fair and impartial manner. The superiors were not surprised. According to the system of the Qing Dynasty, it was legal for gentry to open mines. As long as they were willing to pay taxes and not cause trouble, there would be no problem.
Of course, legality is just a term, and whether it is legal or not is up to the officials to judge. The officials' judgment standard has never been the Qing Dynasty law, but the person's background. At the moment when the background is unclear, no one is willing to discuss Huo Chong's affairs.
As a result, Huo Chong opened a mine and the government collected taxes. This legal matter was carried out normally, creating a rare case of legal mining in the Qing Dynasty.
This case was soon sent to the capital. At that time, the hottest topic in the capital was the imperial edict of Emperor Kangxi to erect a monument to commemorate the fact that General Wang Ping drove out the invading Junggar army and stabilized Tibet. The manuscript of the imperial inscription was drafted by Alanbu, a member of the imperial clan and the Duke of Fuguo.
In the capital, the rumor that His Majesty wanted to appoint the Fourteenth Prince as the Crown Prince had spread widely. Although officials in the capital knew that Kangxi would never appoint another Crown Prince, they did not dare to say this in the court . However, when they met privately, everyone talked about this matter.
As the saying goes, it is rare for a person to live to be seventy. This year is the fifty-ninth year of Emperor Kangxi, and Emperor Kangxi is already sixty-six years old.
Last year, Kangxi also wrote an edict, which was his quasi-last will. In this edict, Kangxi recalled his life up to now, expressed his views on his achievements, and expressed that he was very clear that he was an ordinary human being and there was nothing special about him.
At the end of the edict, Kangxi stated that this edict was a will announced in advance, and when he passed away, the content of the will would not exceed the scope of this edict.
Last year, in the 58th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, General Wang went on a western expedition. That year, Emperor Kangxi issued a will. For these officials, "The emperor has already determined the successor, so he is preparing a will" is simply a normal speculation.
The matter about Huo Chong was nothing compared to the current situation. The recipient of the letter did not think it was a big deal. Although there were not many reserve , they were not unique.
"Eighth Master, why don't you let Fourth Master know about this?" the counselor next to him said meaningfully.
"Why?" Mr. Ba was very puzzled.
The counselor answered as calmly as possible: "It was the Fourth Master who met Huo Chong first, but Huo Chong actually defected to the Fourteenth Master. I heard that the Fourth Master was very dissatisfied with Huo Chong."
