novelonline Chapter 1940 9 Prince's Ambition
Chapter 1940 9 Prince's Ambition
Chapter 1940 The Ninth Prince's Ambition
The group arrived at Dongshan Island.
Last night, the guards had already checked the island thoroughly.
Military and civilians are prohibited from traveling along the route of the Holy Chariot today.
So when the group came over, the island was very quiet.
The group went to Dongshan Island and arrived at the orange orchard.
When the Fourth Prince saw the pond where the river clam seedlings were being raised, he understood why the Ninth Prince was immediately planning to build a pearl farm in Beihai.
As for the matter of pearl cultivation, it is not difficult to guess the tricks as long as you take a tour of the pearl farm and look up the notes that recorded the relevant things in the past.
The profit is too huge.
There is no guarantee that others will have the same thought.
Even if we don't dare to raise pearls in the south of the Yangtze River, we can't avoid it in other remote lakes and waters.
Some people may also think of Haizhu.
Kangxi had seen the plan of the pearl field in the ninth prince's foldout before, but he did not expect it to be so large.
Now, hundreds of thousands of river clam seedlings have been purchased, and there are more than ten acres of water along the water's edge, with clam ponds filled with cages.
Twenty percent of these had already been planted with pearl cores last autumn.
If it takes three years to cultivate, the annual pearl harvest can be measured in bushels.
Zhang Ying was well-read and praised the scene before him: "Master Jiu is very clever. When I was young, I also read the record of the Song Dynasty man Ye Jinyang's Buddha statue with pearl shells, but I just thought it was a wild history legend."
Kangxi snorted, "Instead of doing your job, you're wasting your time on these trivial matters."
The Ninth Prince and the Fourth Prince followed behind, and after hearing this, they couldn't help but murmur to the Fourth Prince, "Fourth Brother, you need to take this as a warning. When others praise our children in the future, we must not belittle them. Being too modest is deceitful."
Fourth elder brother: "..."
Ma Qi and Zhang Yushu, two of the current Grand Secretaries, were also in the imperial presence.
Since it only involves the prince, the grand secretaries in the court need to avoid suspicion.
Kangxi did not leave the two behind. He turned around and looked at them, saying, "What do you think of this pearl farm? Can it become a success? Do you have any good suggestions?"
Ma Qi pondered and said, "Since the emperor has approved it and the pearl farm is of such a large scale, nothing is impossible. However, there are many rivers and lakes in Jiangnan, and the pearl farm is just starting out. We need to prevent the secret pearl cultivation method from leaking out. I think it would be better for the emperor to grant Ninth Prince a favor and allow him to register in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In this way, it will become a government-run business, and if someone spy on it again, the government will be able to punish them."
Kangxi looked at Zhang Yushu again.
Zhang Yushu sighed inwardly.
Ma Qi could say these words, but he couldn't, otherwise he would offend the Ninth Prince.
He considered and said: "Not invading good farmland, but taking advantage of water resources is indeed a way to increase revenue. If it works, there is no need to stick to Taihu Lake alone."
Kangxi looked at Sang'e and Ding Zaobao again.
Sang E said, "I see that although the area is fenced off, there seems to be a shortage of people to work here. It's okay for now, but if we want to cultivate pearls, we must also be on guard against bandits coming to our door."
Ding Zaobao didn't expect that he would have room to speak, so he said with some restraint: "It involves secret techniques, so we have to be careful when using people, preferably people from the household."
Kangxi then looked at the Ninth Prince and said, "Have you all taken note of the suggestions made by the adults?"
The Ninth Prince nodded and said, "I've made a note of it, my son. However, merchants are driven by profit. Even if we keep it a secret for the past two years, once the pearls are grown and enter the market, they will attract attention. By then, I'm afraid we won't be able to stop others from growing pearls."
It is not a good idea to make special laws just for this purpose.
Not to mention anything else, the smuggling of salt has been banned in all dynasties, but for thousands of years, there has never been a shortage of smuggled salt dealers.
The same is true for this dynasty's ginseng ban.
With huge profits, some people are willing to take risks.
Kangxi raised his eyebrows and asked, "So how did you plan to deal with it?"
The Ninth Prince thought for a moment and said, "How about adding a pearl tax? The usual commercial tax is 15% or 10%. Pearls are expensive goods and cannot be taxed at the usual rate. We can add a 5% tax..."
Kangxi frowned and said, "Things are valuable because they are rare. As you said, the price of pearls will drop."
The Ninth Prince immediately said, "That's good too. The Ministry of Internal Affairs can then allocate a sum of money to buy large pearls and sell them at the customs to earn foreign silver."
Kangxi looked at the Fourth Prince and asked, "What do you think of what the Ninth Prince said?"
The Fourth Prince said, "In recent years, with the opening of the canal, more and more Western goods have been brought to the capital by water. Even ordinary bannermen who are better off wear Western pocket watches or use Southeast Asian snuff. The silver shortage in the imperial court is also partly due to the excessive amount of Western goods entering the Qing Dynasty..."
"There are all kinds of foreign goods coming in through the customs, but the goods going out are still silk, porcelain, and tea. There is no increase. If pearls and cashmere are added, the goods going out will increase, and the outflow of silver can be prevented..."
Kangxi listened and nodded, looking at the Fourth Prince with admiration in his eyes.
Only when I worked in the Ministry of Revenue did I realize that the imperial court had always been short of silver and copper.
From a small pearl field, they were able to think of curbing the silver shortage, which showed their long-term vision.
Kangxi looked at the Ninth Prince and said, "You spent over 100,000 taels of silver. Didn't you want to earn some private property for your son? If you don't ban it from the outside, you may not get your money back, and the price of pearls will plummet."
The Ninth Prince said, "As long as the royal family and nobles in the capital do not show up, the ordinary gentry will not dare to offend my son. At that time, it will be forbidden. If there is really a courageous one, my son will send someone to collect the silver for the 'secret technique'!"
Kangxi shook his head and said, "Zhang Ying also said it just now. There is no mention of it in the notes of the predecessors. How can you be so ashamed to say that it is your 'secret skill'?"
The Ninth Prince raised his head and said, "Who told me to take the lead? My son's pearl field came out, and then people outside followed suit. Isn't that spying on the secrets? I didn't ask them to close their place, but only asked them to collect a portion of silver. It's also my son's generosity."
"That's too overbearing. Be careful of criticism," said Kangxi.
The Ninth Prince said, "If others don't worry about offending the prince, then why should I worry about criticism? We can't reverse the hierarchy. If others lose their fear of the royal family, I will have to be restrained!"
He said this partly for Kangxi, but mostly for the ministers and nobles who were accompanying him.
He could tolerate profit-seeking merchants who would wait until pearls were on the market and then follow suit to set up pearl farms; but if those followers who had taken a peek at pearl farming today dared to lay their hands on them, he would pursue them to the end.
Kangxi snorted: "Arrogant..."
But he had no intention of scolding him any further.
The Fourth Prince looked at the people who were accompanying him today. In addition to the five civil officials, there were also two ministers in charge of the imperial guards.
They are all people who are highly valued by the emperor, and no one should lose the big picture due to greed.
That needs to be guarded against...
Instead, it was the local tyrant Li family in Suzhou...
Just for the welcoming ceremony in 1949 and this year, Li Xu borrowed more than 100,000 taels of official silver from the Ministry of Revenue.
Cao Yin, the Jiangning Weaving Supervisor, also had deficits.
On the contrary, Sun Wencheng, the Hangzhou weaving supervisor, had little experience. Even though he was also a weaving supervisor, he was not assigned the task of welcoming the emperor like Cao Yin and Li Xu.
Even though there were several hundred guards, it was not easy for the emperor to stay outside for too long.
After staying in the pearl field for half an hour, the emperor left Dongshan Island.
The Ninth Prince did not leave in a hurry, but took a step behind and instructed Sun Jin: "Think about the pearl Buddha statue that Lord Zhang just mentioned, and plant some Buddha amulets, mostly the foreign Buddha amulets..."
All Mongolians are religious.
It goes without saying that this pearl Buddha amulet will be in great demand once it comes out.
Sun Jin quickly responded, saying, "The most worshipped Buddha by foreign monks is Maitreya. I'll ask someone to prepare some Maitreya amulets."
The Ninth Prince added, "Try gold foil, sandalwood, or white jade. The more expensive, the better. Don't be afraid to spend money."
Sun Jin agreed.
The Fourth Prince was standing nearby and found it hilarious.
Before he even arrived at the Lifanyuan, he was already thinking about making money from Mongolia.
When the two brothers got on the carriage, the fourth prince said, "Didn't you say that public and private affairs should be clearly distinguished? Why are you mixing them up again? Be careful about the censors impeaching you..."
The Ninth Prince said, "It will take at least two years to cultivate pearls. By then, I will definitely not be in the Lifanyuan. With so many ministries and agencies, a year or two in one place is almost enough."
If you don't work for the Lifanyuan, there is no such thing as public or private.
The Fourth Prince looked at him and said, "When the ministry is done rotating, which government office do you want to go to?"
The Ninth Prince said, "I definitely won't go to the Ministry of War, because I don't understand. I won't go to the Ministry of Rites, because I don't want to understand. I won't go to the Ministry of Justice, because I have to look at the files all day long and think that no one is a good person. I won't go to the Ministry of Works, because they are always on missions away from home. When the Fifth Brother was in the Ministry of Works, he inspected the river works several times. I won't go to the Ministry of Revenue, because I feel uncomfortable looking at the silver, but I can't just ask for it casually..."
"The Lifanyuan is pretty good, but if I stay here, what will happen to my fifth brother? He is not smart to begin with, and he has many acquaintances in the Lifanyuan, so he dare not fool around easily. What if he fools around and makes mistakes in other government offices..."
"Any of the remaining nine small government offices will do. They have easy jobs and are just there to make up the numbers..."
At this point, the Ninth Prince smiled and said, "It would be great if it was the Imperial College and the Hanlin Academy's turn. I would then open an economics course there and train some economic talents..."