Steel Dynasty - Chapter 291

[Chapter 291 Glass Scam]

“Jin Ping Mei” finally ends with Aster running out of the main hall with a red face.

Of course, Xiao Ming didn’t talk about Jin Ping Mei because of some feudal ethical issues. He just took the opportunity to tell a dirty joke and take advantage of Zi Wan.

In fact, Xiao Ming is not in a hurry to change things like feudal ethics. The deep-rooted things can only boil the frog in warm water and take his time.

And the Renaissance in his eyes is not just a simple theater, which deliberately cannot bring about the results he expected.

His sudden interest in running a theater was also to increase Qingzhou’s entertainment projects and increase the government’s revenue, which was also part of urban construction.

Of course, he couldn’t state this purpose openly, because arty people would definitely poke his spine and despise him.

In his opinion, drama can help him spread some ideas among the people and the public, but the foundation of the Renaissance is still in Bowen College and education.

As long as the students of Bowen College accept his knowledge, the Renaissance will be half completed, because the Renaissance in the West is only reflected in high-level talents, from top to bottom.

Therefore, for Xiao Ming, drama is just a small card in his management of the fiefdom. The three most important issues now are commercial construction, popular education and military construction.

Leaving all the affairs of the troupe to Zi Wan, Xiao Ming concentrated on another weapon of war after the artillery – the flintlock gun.

Among the knowledge he mastered, in the 1430s, the first tubular metal firearms appeared in Europe. The muskets at this time were called fire portal guns, which were later called matchlock muskets. European history extends into the sixteenth century.

At this time, it was also the 16th century. The matchlock guns of this period were introduced to the Japanese country by the Portuguese in the 22nd year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, there has always been controversy about the origin of bird guns in the Ming Dynasty. One theory is that bird guns were created by themselves, the other is that they were introduced from Japan, and the other is that they were directly introduced from the West.

But in any case, since the sixteenth century, the world has basically entered the age of firearms, and by the mid-seventeenth century, flintlocks had become the mainstream.

As for the question of why Dayu had not been exposed to muskets, Xiao Ming had always been puzzled. According to normal trajectory, Dayu should have at least been exposed to muskets and artillery.

But the fact is that this concept does not seem to exist in Dayu. The only reason he can find is that Dayu does not pay much attention to the ocean, and the offshore waters of Dayu have now become a place where Japanese pirates are rampant, which further prevents the outside world from coming and going. .

In addition, Chang’an is inland, so if it came into contact with foreigners, it would be the kings of Wei and Chu who came into contact with them first.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ming frowned.

But no matter what, he can’t wait anymore. After the normalization of artillery production, the production of this flintlock gun must be put on the schedule, and there is not much time left for him.

One is to deal with the possible invasion of Japan in three years, and the other is to prepare to expel the barbarians in Youzhou before the invasion of Japan and drive the barbarians out of Shanhaiguan. In this way, he can avoid being attacked from both sides. , while also allowing the Musketeers to have actual combat experience.

Just as he was thinking about it, Zi Yuan, who had run out shyly just now, suddenly came back, “Your Highness, Liang Dahai is back.”

“He’s back? Let him in quickly.” Xiao Ming said excitedly.

At the beginning of winter last year, he sent Liang Dahai to the grassland to buy slaves. Now he doesn’t know how the harvest will be?

After a while, Liang Dahai, wearing a purple round-neck robe, walked in, “Your Highness, the official is back.”

“How was your harvest on the grassland this time?” Xiao Ming asked with a smile.

Liang Dahai said: “Just as His Highness expected, a lot of cattle and sheep froze to death on the grassland this year. In order to avoid starvation this year, many barbarian tribes secretly traded slaves with us. In the past few months, I have been here We have bought 12,000 strong slaves on the grassland, and please inspect them.”

“No, that’s great. I am short of manpower now,” Xiao Ming pondered, “give these slaves to Qian Dafu immediately.

Then he continued: “Liang Dahai, you also know that the census of Qingzhou has been released. I am really short of labor. The business of buying slaves on the grassland cannot be stopped. In addition, you have to open up another way to buy slaves, such as going

to

Dengzhou buys slaves from pirates.”

“Buy slaves from pirates!” Liang Dahai rolled his eyes and said with a smile, “Your Highness, this is a way, but dealing with these pirates requires real money, they are not like them. Like the barbarians, you can just give them some old food?”

“Everyone in Qingzhou is using money, and I don’t have any money to give you,” Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Liang Dahai showed a bitter look on his face, “Your Highness, aren’t you trying to make things difficult for me? Your Majesty has had experience in dealing with pirates in the past, and these desperadoes are not so easy to deceive.” “

Don’t worry yet. It’s not like I won’t give you anything. Let’s do this. It’s not too early today. You go back first and I will give you the things to buy slaves tomorrow.”

Liang Dahai hesitated for a moment, but nodded.

The next day, Xiao Ming directly informed Liang Dahai to go to the glass workshop. In the workshop, Xiao Ming pointed to a large wooden box and said to Liang Dahai: “Here, this is the money I gave you to buy a slave.”

Looking at it ,

Liang Dahai walked over to the big wooden box on the ground. When he opened the wooden box, he was stunned, “Your Highness, this… this… is too precious.”

At this time, the wooden box was full of Glass ball, this kind of glass ball is the simplest kind of green glass ball. This is the kind of glass ball that Xiao Ming used for carbon marbles when he was a child.

Grabbing a handful of glass balls, the glass balls made a pleasant sound when rubbed in his hands. Xiao Ming smiled and said: “It is because it is precious that I let you exchange it for slaves. It’s okay to use this.”

Xiao Ming naturally knew how much glass was worth. , mastered the glass craft, this box of glass beads is not worth a hundred taels of silver.

But now glass is a real luxury product in Great Chongqing. He believes that the Japanese pirates wandering overseas have not even seen glass balls of this kind of craftsmanship. Those pirates holding such glass balls will definitely regard them as treasures.

“No…no…problem.” Liang Dahai had already stuttered. This box of glass beads was simply a huge wealth.

Xiao Ming continued: “Be smarter. Not only can these glass beads be exchanged for slaves, but they can also be exchanged for some gold and silver with these pirates. I want them all.”

Liang Dahai also fought with pirates when he was selling slaves .

Jiao Dao knew that these glass balls would definitely drive the pirates crazy. He took a deep breath and said, “Your Highness, don’t worry. I will replace this box of glass with something of equal value.”

Xiao Ming nodded slightly. He nodded. The West once exchanged a few glass balls for a large area of Indian land. He could not lag behind. He must take advantage of the advantage he had.

(End of chapter)