Chapter 407: Kuafu Ascends to Heaven
Uncle Jiao left the capital and rushed to Shandong without stopping.
After arriving in Shandong, Uncle Jiao immediately followed the experience taught by Feng Bao and convened a meeting of local wealthy households to apportion the unexploited silver mine and require these wealthy households to pay the "mining" mining tax.
Naturally, these gentry landlords quit. They don’t know where the mine is yet, so they have to collect money from them. Everyone knows that even if there are silver mines in Shandong, they are all difficult to mine and there is no guarantee that they will be mined. Can get back the money.
To put it bluntly, Eunuch Jiao uses mining taxes to exploit local wealthy households.
Naturally, these people refused to agree.
Shandong is not a major imperial examination province in the traditional sense.
In the Ming Dynasty, the provinces of Southern Zhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian were the holy places for imperial examinations and produced the most Jinshi.
But Shandong, as the hometown of Confucius, also has a long tradition of officialdom.
It's just that scholars in Shandong are more pragmatic. They don't take the highly competitive tribute examinations and palace examinations, but become officials as soon as they pass the exam.
When people come to become officials, most of them, like Hai Rui, first serve as academic officials such as county xuejiaoyu, and then if they are evaluated well, they can wait for promotion to the level of chief registrar and county magistrate.
Nowadays, in the Ming Dynasty, there is a saying that Shandong County Prime Minister Ban Tianxia is because scholars in Shandong often become officials when they are promoted. They do not seek to be a high official, but just want to be able to enter the government.
There is no imperial examination super family in Shandong like the Wang family in Taicang, Jiangnan, with several imperial examinations in each subject, but almost all larger families have people who come to serve as officials.
These families united and began to impeach Eunuch Jiao in series.
But Eunuch Jiao is not economical either. As an eunuch, he is not a cabinet minister. In his opinion, ordinary people and officials are the same. The one he is loyal to is the emperor!
Moreover, since he was an eunuch, he naturally had no dealings with the scholar-bureaucrats. Even if he did not do bad things, the scholar-bureaucrats would not say good things about him.
These places are powerful and do bad things on a daily basis. They talk about benevolence, justice and morality, but secretly men steal and women prostitute!
Before entering the palace, Eunuch Jiao also had rich experience in low-level struggles. He recruited a large number of ruffians in Jinan City to form the tax collection team of Shandong Mine Supervisors.
He gave these ruffians positions, such as the mining tax ambassador of a certain county, and the mining tax director of a certain government. With the appointment of Shandong mining supervisor, these people immediately rushed to the homes of these gentry and landlords to ask for money.
At this time, Han Ji, the governor of Shandong, who petitioned the emperor to impose a mining tax, could no longer sit still.
It was he who submitted the memorial asking the emperor to open mines in Shandong. As it turned out, the emperor indeed sent people to open mines, but instead of asking officials from the Ministry of Industry to do it, he sent the eunuch Uncle Jiao.
Han Ji understood that if he didn't take some action, he would soon be labeled as an eunuch who was colluding with Eunuch Jiao. By then, the Shandong gentry would no longer target Eunuch Jiao, but even he, the governor of Shandong, would be impeached.
Han Ji immediately began to write a letter to the court, explaining Eunuch Jiao's crimes in Shandong, asking the emperor to remove Uncle Jiao and return the mining matter to the Ministry of Industry.
As Shandong's memorials came one after another, Gao Gong became even more dizzy.
Han Ji was his protégé, and he recommended him to the position of governor of Shandong. He was already doing very poorly in Shandong, and there were also Governor Chen Yiqin of Shandong and Wang Bengu, the commander of the three towns of the New Army that had annexed Jeju Prefecture. Constraints.
There were already many memorials for the three to impeach each other, but now there is another eunuch Jiao collecting mineral taxes in Shandong. The Shandong gentry is excited, and officials related to Shandong are frantically impeaching eunuch Jiao and Han Ji.
The whole of Shandong was in chaos. Gao Gong wrote to Emperor Longqing and agreed to Han Ji's request, asking the court to withdraw the mining supervisors and eunuchs and instead send officials from the Ministry of Industry to mine.
But Emperor Longqing, who always obeyed Gao Gongyan, was surprisingly persistent in this matter.
The legal basis for the emperor to move it out is also very simple, "My husband's mines are the wealth generated by heaven and earth, and they are the property of the emperor."
Since the ancestral law has said that all the mineral deposits in the world are the emperor's private property, then the emperor's own When domestic slaves and eunuchs go to mine, you civil servants are not qualified to beep.
As for the matter of Eunuch Jiao harming the people, I have already sent people to investigate, and we cannot listen to the one-sided words of Shandong civil servants.
After the emperor said this, the cabinet had no choice. Even Gao Gong, who had always been strong, could not force the emperor to recall the eunuchs.
Surrounding the issue of Shandong mine supervisors, the entire capital was in chaos.
While Ming court officials in the capital were fighting over mining in Shandong, a fast ship docked at Dagu Pier.
Gao Wuguan in the Daku Bastion led a group of soldiers onto the boat and carried a bunch of things off the boat.
"Brother Li, why are you here in person!"
Gao Wu watched a familiar figure and quickly stepped forward to catch his friend who had reunited after a long absence.
The visitor was none other than Li Yangong, the former prince of the Marquis of Linhuai, who returned to Nanjing from Guangxi. After completing officer training, he had been transferred to the Metropolitan Governor's Office as a logistics staff officer.
Now that Southeast has passed the start-up stage, all promotions have rules.
The promotion levels in the military are stricter. Although Li Yangong made contributions in the Guangxi War, if he wants to be further promoted to a lower-level officer, he still needs to train in the Nanjing General Staff Office for a period of time.
"Brother Gao, the Governor attaches great importance to the new equipment this time. I will stay here for a while to collect problems that arise during use."
Gao Wuguan asked: "Where is Danyun? Your last letter said that Danyun was pregnant. What should I do if you come to Dagu Danyun?"
Li Yanggong said with a smile: "Danyun has followed me to Nanjing and now lives in my father's village." "
Besides, I have only been in Dagu for a month. We can rush back by clipper boat when the time comes and it won’t delay the delivery date.”
Gao Wuguan said with a smile: “That’s good! Let’s go to the fortress. It’s just that you can’t drink in the army, so you can’t do the same as before. You are ready to take the wind and wash away the dust!"
Under the carrying of the soldiers, several large boxes were moved into the Daku Bastion.
When Southeast withdrew from the capital that day, it left a thousand people in the Daku Bastion and enough supplies and ammunition in the Bastion.
The Daku Bastion was backed by the Daku Pier and had sea support and supplies. Even if the Ming Dynasty surrounded the fortress, it would not be able to capture it.
In fact, during the six months that Gaowuguan was at Daku Fort, the Ming army never attacked once.
Although the Daku Bastion is still undergoing daily drills and test-firing artillery shells every now and then, the atmosphere in the entire Bastion is very relaxed.
Not far from the Daku Bastion, a commodity trading bazaar was formed.
Li Yangong climbed up the city wall of Dagu Bastion and could see the bustling Dagu Market with a telescope.
"I didn't expect the Dagu Market to be so prosperous?"
Li Yangong had heard of this market in the report he sent from the Dagu Bastion to the Southeast Governor's Mansion. Now he sees that the Tianjin City is even more prosperous than when they withdrew from Dagu. The market outside is even more prosperous.
Gao Wuguan said with a smile: "Dago Market is the largest southeast commodity trading market in the entire north. Businessmen from Shuntian Prefecture, Liaodong, Shanxi, and even the grasslands will come here to buy our southeast goods." Li Yangong was confused
. Asked: "Does Ming Ting not care?"
Gao Wuguan said: "I heard that my father was in charge of new affairs in the Ming Dynasty and was not allowed to import goods from the southeast. But I couldn't stand it. Everyone in the capital, from the dignitaries to the poor, knew that the goods from the southeast were good, such as Southeast Weaving. After passing through the newly established textile factory, the cloth became the goods of Mingting Xinwu Workshop and was sold."
Li Yanggong listened to Gao Wuguan's calm words and couldn't help but said: "Brother Gao, you As long as you report to the Metropolitan Governor's Office, you will be transferred back. The Metropolitan Governor will be upright and will not use your father-son relationship to alienate the emperor and ministers of the Ming Dynasty. You don't have to do it here." Gao Wuguan said:
" I made the report myself to stay, my father has his insistence, and I have mine."
Li Yangong had nothing to say to this stubborn father and son, and he returned to his mission. "This new equipment is very important. Although it has been tested several times in the southeast, there is no way to guarantee 100% safety." "
Brother Gao, please select a group of reliable soldiers from the Daku Bastion and come with me to test it. New equipment."
Gao Wujian nodded and said: "This is on me, Brother Li, can I participate in the test?"
Li Yangong said: "No, you are the logistics officer of Daku Bastion, I want to participate in this test in person. , I have to report to the Governor when I get back."
Gao Wuguan sighed and said, "Then I can only wait until next time."
The next day, a group of soldiers opened the box in the bastion, and a bunch of strange parts were found in Li Yangong's hands. Installed under the command of.
All he saw was a sphere sewn with thin sheepskin, which was pulled open by the soldiers on the city wall with ropes. Li Yangong installed the basket under the sphere and began to install the ignition device.
This is a hot air balloon!
After the last Battle of Taku, Su Ze realized the importance of investigation.
If the movements of Li Chengliang's cavalry could be detected earlier, there would not be such a brutal blocking battle.
Only then did Su Ze think of the powerful tool of a hot air balloon.
A balloon sewn with sheepskin and a heating device burning coke, this hot air balloon named "Kuafu Jiahao" is the world's first manned aircraft.
As the flames burned, the ball of the hot air balloon gradually expanded. The soldiers in Dagu City watched the hot air balloon start to float, and they all showed surprised expressions.
Flying, this is almost the most primitive dream of mankind!
The Gao Wuguan on the city wall watched Li Yangong and two soldiers sit in the basket, and the hot air balloon gradually began to take off.
"Kuafu Jiahao" has no power to fly and can only rise and fall, so it is fixed to the ground with long ropes.
Gradually, the basket of "Kuafu No. 1" floated, and Li Yangong immediately said: "Loosen the winch!"
When the mechanism controlling the winch was released, the hot air balloon slowly rose into the sky, and everyone in the Daku Fort raised his hand. At first, I watched Li Yangong and the others fly into the sky.
The soldiers riding the hot air balloon with Li Yangong were all brave soldiers selected by Gao Wuguan from the Daku Bastion.
But no matter how brave they were, the two soldiers couldn't help but tremble in their legs when the hot air balloon left the ground.
"Put down the sandbags."
Following Gao Wuguan's order, the soldiers put down the sandbags on both sides of the basket, and the hot air balloon climbed faster.
At this time, the lively Daku Market also noticed the movement on the Daku Bastion side. They saw a huge thing rising from the Daku Bastion.
The merchants who were trading at Daku Bastion raised their heads and watched in surprise as the huge ball flew into the sky.
What is this? Huge sky lantern?
Li Yangong was not as excited as flying in the hot air balloon. He carefully observed the wind vane, estimated the flight speed of the hot air balloon, and adjusted the flame size of the heater.
Li Yangong also participated in the previous tests of hot air balloon launches, but at that time the tests were conducted when the wind direction was stable.
Dagu is very close to the seaside, and the wind on the seaside is very strong. Li Yangong carefully controlled the hot air balloon and did not dare to let the hot air balloon rise too fast.
But even so, a gust of sea breeze blew over, and the hot air balloon was blown towards the Dagu market.
The capstan of the winch collapsed, and the rope was quickly released. Gao Wuguan rushed over and shouted:
"Catch!"
However, the rapidly rotating winch was beyond control, and several soldiers who stepped forward to try to stop the winch were thrown out. , the hot air balloon flew quickly towards the market.
Gao Wu looked around, rushed over, picked up an iron gun for practice, and inserted it directly into the high-speed rotating winch.
The winch finally stopped rotating, and the soldiers swarmed forward and grabbed the winch firmly.
Gao Wuguan picked up the telescope and saw that the hot air balloon had flown above the Dagu Market. He gritted his teeth and said,
"All armed, follow me out of the city to meet you!"
Li Yangong, who was on the hot air balloon at this time, experienced dozens of frightening seconds.
When the hot air balloon was pulled by the rope, he began to reduce the flame of the heater and controlled the hot air balloon to stabilize.
"Commander Li, what should we do next?"
Li Yangong quickly judged the situation and said, "There must be something wrong with the winch. There is no way to recover the hot air balloon from the Daku Bastion." "
Then what should we do?"
Another soldier was frightened. His face turned pale and he asked quickly.
Li Yangong said:
"Crash landing!"
"The following is the Dagu Market. Do you want to make an emergency landing here?" "
Land now and get weapons. If the Ming Dynasty finds us, the hot air balloon must be destroyed immediately!"
At this time, at the Dagu Market Outside, the businessmen watched the thing above their heads getting lower and lower, getting bigger and bigger. They watched the hot air balloon land towards the ground, and the businessmen fled in all directions.
Under Li Yangong's operation, the hot-air balloon finally landed safely. He and two soldiers climbed out from the basket of the hot-air balloon holding weapons.
"There are people!"
"The gods have descended to earth!"
"Isn't this the military uniform of the Southeast?"
"There are gods in the Southeast!"
"This is an immortal weapon!"
Just as the businessmen were talking about it, the soldiers rushed out from the Daku Fort. Gao Wuguan finally took over Li Yangong.
Without saying a word, Gao Wuguan commanded the soldiers to drag the heater and retreat towards the Daku Bastion, and finally dragged the hot air balloon back to the Daku Bastion.
However, the news of the emergency landing of the hot air balloon quickly spread from the Dagu market. There was a magic weapon in the southeast that could fly in the clouds and mist.
(End of chapter)