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Chapter 178: Liar

“Not salty enough!”

The little emperor was eating in front of the deck with chopsticks in one hand, his left sleeve was raised up to his shoulders, and he held the air-dried beef jerky in his hand and stared at the official document on the sail and said, "Did you get me the military rations, or did your military rations not be well made?"

When the beef jerky was put back on the plate, the young emperor looked worried about the country and the people: "When the Beiyang Phase I supply ship came back, he said that the flag army did not like sauce cakes. If you want to use beef jerky as the staple food, it should be saltier. Hasn't the medical school already studied it? There is salt in the sweat, and people's salt will have to be replenished after they run away."

"Last time, I couldn't stand it after running four miles with my armor. My body was sweating like a fight, and my heart was beating like a bath. I felt like I was about to die. I drank two cups of salt and sugar water before I could recover. My flag army was all over the world, and the bird gunners had to carry at least 36 kilograms. How much sweat would I have to sweat that day?"

Wang An said with a bow: "Grandpa, this beef jerky was ordered by the imperial court last year. This year, Qi Shuai was preparing for the war in Jizhen. The governor and the people outside the border were frightened and would not do it according to military rations. They would worry that the Tianjun had regular military rations and would go out to fight."

As he said that, Wang An narrowed his eyes and smiled so hard that he brought some pleasure that was rare in the Forbidden City, and said, "This is the first time in recent decades!"

The little emperor raised his head proudly and said, "That's natural!"

The imperial court was ripping with blood on nine sides, and the scars were everywhere. The most important thing was finance.

Jiajing is poor every year? Longqing is poor every year? What about Wanli years?

The little emperor was able to pat his chest and said: Grandpa has money!

Pride, he raised his hand and snored two bites of millet porridge. He pushed the bowl aside and looked at it. He felt a pity. He pinched the chopsticks and put the sea cucumbers tribute on the bottom of the bowl, put the sea cucumbers tribute on the Jinzhouwei under the bowl in his mouth. He pushed the bowl and picked up the pen and wrote it vaguely, "The dried meat is too hard, and the governors of Shunyi from the outside of the border and the governors of various ministries will not be allowed to pay tribute to meat. The country lacks cows and tribute cattle. The court folds the forage, silk, and pearls together... it is wrong."

The little emperor crossed out the cloth, silk and pearls, and thought for a long time with his brush in his hands, and then wrote: "Finely weave cotton cloth in various colors, put on the silk and satin of Suzhou and Hangzhou, and the price of overseas treasure pearls."

Wang An was a little confused about this operation. These names kept turning around in his head and asked subconsciously: "Your Majesty, what is the difference between this cloth and the woven cotton cloth?"

When the little emperor heard the words, he unconsciously raised his eyes and pursed his tongue. The mouth was fluffy, frowned, and looked at the brush in his hand angrily, and squirted out his breath with his nose, complaining: "I am afraid that the problem I have suffered when I was a child will not be cured. The separation is so great!"

Putting down the brush, Xiao Wanli raised his chin and asked, "How did the cloth come from?"

“Have a loom.”

"Well, now you have two pieces of cloth in front of you. One is the introduction of the loom, and the other is the woven cotton cloth woven by the seventh generation of Su's weaver. Which one do you think is more expensive?"

"It feels like the one behind it is more expensive?" Wang An's face was full of difficulties. He didn't know if the little emperor was not clear or what was going on. Anyway, he felt that the two pieces of cloth seemed to be no different: "I don't know why, it seems that the one behind it is more expensive."

“That’s right.”

"Cloth is still cloth, satin is still satin, pearls are still pearls. Besides, no joke, the cloth in the market is all from weaving households. The number of weaving households in the Ming Dynasty is the least. If it is not easy to count the eighth and nineth generations, they are all weaving households, but it sounds good. Do others like it more if one of them is the last two? Because it sounds good."

Wanli said as he turned the sail in front of him towards Wang An, pointed to a page of official documents clipped on the sailboat and asked him to look at it, saying, "The letter sent back by the ship supervisor in Nanzhili, Sulu's pearls are sold in Yangzhou, only thirty pieces a month, and the quality is not very good."

"But someone specifically introduced that this bead was collected by people from Sulu Kingdom Pearl Pond thousands of miles away in the twelfth lunar month. It was a treasure that the Sulu Palace had collected for decades. Only thirty pieces per month were circulated on the market. The remaining half of the beads were paid to me. People rushed to buy them. The cheapest one was worth fifty taels, which was actually eight or nine cents of silver."

Wang An frowned and asked Wanli carefully: "Your Majesty, Nanyang has not paid tribute to the palace for nearly a year, right? This, this..."

The little eunuch knew that Chen Mu loved money, but this method of using the emperor to deceive others was a serious crime.

The little emperor was distracted and waved his hand and said, "To be honest, half of the beads were indeed tributed to me. However, when Su Lu was just pacified, he paid thousands of tribute to me at one time, and he couldn't count them. The other half sold on the market. It didn't say that the pearls were picked up that month, nor did he say that the tribute to me was tribute to me every month."

And the most important thing is that Zhuchi Lake sounds so hard under the twelfth lunar month, but Sulu has no winter!

"Let me count, this month, there are 100 and 132 military weapons bureaus in the five provinces with a monthly output of more than 100 flintlock guns; there are 7, 8, 9, and 11 military weapons bureaus with a monthly output of more than 100 poles; the highest output is Xuan and Bei, and the Nanyang Guard Weapon Bureau is 1,140?"

Xiao Wanli also felt that the production of the Nanyang Guard Weapon Bureau was abnormal. In other places, such as Xuanfu, it only produced less than 2,000 shots a year last year. Because the iron ingots were not enough in Beiyang, it only had more than 700 shots last year. The Nanyang Guard Weapon Bureau was one year ahead of others in a month?

I also found the official document and looked carefully before I understood what was going on. After a long time, the Nanyang Guard Weapon Bureau only manages supervision and assembly. Other objects, even a small sight of the watch mountain, were made from other places.

South, North, Fujian, Guangdong, Xuanda can build more than 6,000 flintlock guns in January. This is a situation where flintlock bird guns are being built everywhere, but the Nanyang Guard Weapon Bureau can produce thousands of shots, leaving Xuanfu, the second-ranked one, apart. This manufacturing ability made the little emperor very pleased.

"You learn a little and count the statistics every month from now on, and calculate the output of the military weapons bureaus of the five provinces. Also, remove Xuanda and Zhejiang shipyards. They have all the guns and armors. They have done a good job of statistics to let me know the situation at a glance."

The little emperor said to Wang An, and turned the sail aside with satisfaction, saying, "There is another thing you have to do. Find a few honest, reliable, honest and dedicated people to go out to the palace for me and go to various places to buy five winter clothes. Forget it, I can't afford it... Let's first get 28,000 sets."

"Then take my oral orders and winter clothes to Xuanda, and the five guards in Wanquandushi will distribute the winter clothes on my behalf. Winter is coming, and I will send the domestic coins to reward the soldiers and let them guard the border with peace of mind."

"The winter clothes sent by the court dare to be greedy, and they cannot send them to my flag army. If you send someone to remember, you must send them to the flag army step by step. If outsiders are greedy, they will engage in military law. What do you mean by the military law of the Four Army Mansions? Yes, I think of the first offense, and leave a whole body."
Chapter completed!
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