Chapter 102 The Mongols are here

October 28, 1591, early in the morning.

According to the lunar calendar, this day is September 12, the 19th year of Wanli. At this time, the weather in Beijing has turned cold. Especially in the empty square in front of Huangji Gate, a gust of north wind blows, and the cold air seems to be about to penetrate into the bone marrow.

Outside the Huangji Hall, the former chief minister of the cabinet, Shen Shixing, knelt on the cold stone slab. The cold wind made his hair and beard messy, but Shen Shixing didn't care about these. He just knelt on the ground, tears flowing everywhere, and he kept sobbing in his mouth, allowing tears to flow on his face: "Emperor, Emperor..."

In the square, the civil and military officials were watching the former cabinet minister with complicated expressions, and many people were talking in a low voice.

During these days, a series of major events occurred in Beijing. First, the Minister of Rites Xu Guo was condemned by Emperor Wanli for agreeing to establish the Eastern Palace, so he retired due to illness, and Luo Wanhua took over as the Minister of Rites. A few days later, the chief minister of the cabinet, Shen Shixing, was impeached, and he also retired from his position as the Minister of Rites. A trend suddenly set off in the Ming Dynasty officialdom.

From the sudden fall of the top of power, Shen Shixing's heart was imaginable. Today, he came to say goodbye to Emperor Wanli. After bidding farewell to Emperor Wanli from Dongnuan Pavilion, Shen Shixing could no longer control his emotions. He knelt on the ground and cried bitterly.

Wang Lin, the Minister of Revenue next to him, stepped forward and helped Shen Shixing up. He wanted to speak but stopped, and finally sighed. With Wang Lin's support, Shen Shixing took a last look at the layers of palaces with red walls and green tiles. His eyes were slightly red, and he finally was speechless and staggered away alone.

The cabinet era of Shen Shixing ended. At the age of fifty-seven, he was the prime minister for nine years. He had a generous government affairs and could accommodate people. He was known as the elder. He died in the 42nd year of Wanli, at the age of eighty. He was awarded the title of Grand Tutor and was posthumously named Wending, including "Cixiantang Collection", "Da Ming Huidian", "Shen Wending Gong Collection".

After Shen Shixing retired, Wang Jiaping, the left minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the Grand Secretary of the Dongge, was appointed as the chief minister of the cabinet and was appointed as the chief minister of the cabinet.

Within a few days, two cabinet ministers retired, one of them was the chief minister. This was undoubtedly a major earthquake for the Ming Dynasty officialdom, especially the Beijing officials. However, these things did not affect Huang Laifu of Wuzhai Fort at all. He is currently busy and having a lot of fun.

The Wuzhaibao University Hall, not far from the Wuzhaibao Grand Vegetable Garden, has been built, with a total of more than 1,500 students. More than 50 people were hired, including professors, academic officials, teachers, counselors, officials, Zhaifu, Shifu, and Mr. Huang Laifu as honorary president. This scale was huge and amazing in the Ming Dynasty. In the Wei School in Kelan Prefecture, there were only 132 students. After the news came out, it aroused a lot of discussion among scholars from all over the country. Overall, it was positively appreciated.

The buildings in Wuzhaibao University Hall are elegant, with blue bricks, green tiles and large wood, and are composed of multiple buildings. Most of the students are the local military households in Wuzhaibao, and there are also surrounding prefectures and counties. If there are children and teenagers of appropriate age, they can also be sent to Wuzhaibao University Hall to study.

The school started on November 1st, and the school was implemented in the middle school, unified clothing, and semi-military management, and divided into low, medium, high-age, dozens of classes. Since Wuzhai Fort is now full of financial resources, Huang Laifu did not charge any tuition fees. He could afford the school's annual expenses of thousands of taels of silver. Of course, this kind of free education can only be implemented in Wuzhai Fort.

In the university, in addition to teaching some traditional rituals, archery, books, and mathematics classes in the Ming Dynasty, there are also knowledge of agricultural technology, commerce, military, etc. Moreover, this kind of teaching is not just taught in books. Each class has its own vegetable field, farmland, orchard, etc. Children often have to teach some labor practice classes.

In Wuzhaibao University, in addition to literati who are well-read in poetry and books, there are also some old farmers, merchants and officers. Huang Laifu thought very clearly that among these students, only a few of them will be able to pass the imperial examination in the future, and most of them will have to digest them in Wuzhaibao themselves. Therefore, in daily teaching, we need to teach some practical and useful things.

However, this approach in the university has inevitably aroused some discussions among some literati. You said it would be fine to hire some old farmers in the school, but in ancient society, the status of farmers was still high. Even after many officials retired and returned home, they mostly built a few pieces of land, which was also a kind of elegance. But isn’t this the case when some merchants and soldiers come to the school?

However, the discussion is about the discussion. In Wuzhaibao, Huang Laifu is extremely authoritative. Although some literati are secretly talking about it behind their backs, the teaching in the school is finally done according to Huang Laifu's intention.

November 5, 1591.

On Dadong Street not far from the guerrilla mansion, the sound of firecrackers kept ringing. A money house on the street, Huang Laifu called it the Wuzhaibao Bank, was established.

In the current Ming Dynasty, Beijing City and Daming provinces have established Baoyuan Bureau and Baoquan Bureau, specializing in coin minting and issuing treasure banknotes. In major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Guangzhou, major merchants have established a large number of money houses and ticket houses, engaged in depositing, issuing banknotes, developing banknotes, and exchange businesses.

With the prosperity of Wuzhaibao's business, a large amount of money and silver transactions were made, and it was inevitable that a bank was built in the fort.

The word "Bank" for Huang Laifu's use of the word "bank" was not from later generations, but was used as early as the Tang Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, "Jin Bank" appeared in Suzhou. In the second year of Huiyou in the Northern Song Dynasty, when Cai Xiang was in charge of Fuzhou, he wrote "Sixteen Things in the People", which was the sixth of which was "bank to rush and blow the silver and sell many people to sue for the sale". This was the earliest time when the word "bank" appeared alone. In the first year of Jingding in the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a bank street in Nanjing, and the streets were very prosperous.

Huang Laifu named this money house Wuzhaibao Bank, which was also based on the meaning of his ancestors.

Huang Laifu has always valued money bags. The fundamental reason he established in Wuzhaibao is to have a field money bag and an army. Therefore, after the establishment of this bank, Huang Laifu was naturally the only boss, with the financial team leader Zhou Wendong as the shopkeeper, and Qu Yuanrui and other merchants betting on funds, serving as shareholders and jointly managing. After all, the connections, financial resources, and channel relationships of these merchants are all what Huang Laifu needs to rely on in the future.

Huang Laifu's ambition was that the Wuzhaibao Bank appeared on Wuzhaibao Dadong Street as a general account. In the future, he would open a large number of semicolons to various cities in the Ming Dynasty.

Walking into the Wuzhaibao Bank, it covers a wide area. The first entrance to the courtyard house is the counter, the account room, the second entrance is the employee's residence and the guest room. The third entrance is the second entrance is the second entrance, the flower hall is the flower hall downstairs, the warehouse and the residence of the servants on the upper floor, and the last entrance is the residence of VIPs and senior staff. There is a corridor on the west side that can be connected to the carriage, and there are stables and horse halls. The "anti-fake secret seal" model is hung on the wall of the account room, which is used for the use of passwords and anti-fake secret seals for silver notes. Secret secret seals are changed from time to time, usually for three months.

For the management of bank banks, Daming had a mature and strict method at this time. The banker entered the bank at the age of 15 and had an apprenticeship for three years without taking any penny. After three years, those who pass the moral character, abacus, calligraphy and other skills can be transferred to a regular basis and have a generous annual salary. As long as the bank's account documents, the salary will be even more generous. To reach a certain level of account rooms, you can also pay dividends every year.

At present, among many Shanxi merchants in Wuzhaibao, many families have experience in running money houses. With their franchise, the business can be quickly connected to the track, and Huang Laifu does not need to worry.

In Huang Laifu's plan, the current Wuzhaibao Bank is only operating deposits and withdrawals for the time being, but in the future it will also operate foreign exchange business. Similar to the Shanxi Piaohao in later generations, it has created a world in the Ming Dynasty's financial circle.

After the opening of Wuzhaibao Bank, Huang Laifu, a well-reputed and wealthy owner, was in front of him. Whether it was the big merchants and small vendors in Wuzhaibao, they were all extremely relieved. Everyone deposited their silver into Wuzhaibao Bank. Within a few days, the deposit amount reached a level that everyone in Taiyuan and other places envied.

At the same time, cement roads connecting Wuzhaibao City and Wuzhaibao, as well as major livestock farms, vegetable gardens, and orchards have also begun to be paved. Now, Wuzhaibao has widely used cement, and due to the frequent contact between major farms and the fort city, the dusty yellow earth roads are now unable to keep up with the development needs of Wuzhaibao, and the road repair is imminent.

If possible, the cement road connecting Wuzhai Fort and Kelan Prefecture, Wuzhai Fort, Shenchi Fort and Bajiao Fort also needs to be built, but this cost is too much, so I can only wait for it later.

According to the standard of running three horses side by side, in the current Ming Dynasty, the average construction cost of cement roads per kilometer is about 200 taels of silver. In Wuzhai Fort, there are about dozens of kilometers of roads to be repaired, and with various labor, it requires about tens of thousands of taels of silver. Although the court highly praised Huang Laifu's behavior of repairing bridges and roads, they did not have the money to take out. Only Huang Laifu could find a way himself.

November 10, 1591 AD.

A workshop outside Wuzhaibao opened and soap was started. This workshop was still the same rule, with Huang Laifu taking over a large share, and some businessmen joining the shares.

In the current Ming Dynasty, soap beans or pigs are generally used to clean. Soap beans are made with soap bean trees. Poria beans are used by wealthier people. They are mashed with the pancreas of cows, pigs, sheep, oil, and grind them into finely, and then cooked with flour and water. If you add some spices, you will have a stronger aroma after use. Of course, ordinary Ming people use soap beans to wash their hair and bathe.

The reason why Zhuling is only used by those wealthy people is because in the Ming Dynasty, there is less oil. However, Wuzhai Fort killed a large number of animals every day, so the fat of this animal will naturally not be lacking, and it can produce soap in large quantities.

On the 12th, Wuzhai Fort, Wuzhai Fort Military Weapons.

With a loud "Boom!", white smoke rose, and the pungent smell of gunpowder was shattered.

"good!"

Huang Laifu shouted, and the officers next to him also applauded.

At this time, the test shot at the shooting range outside the military weapon yard was a large musket made by military craftsmen. The scientific name is the gun lift, nicknamed "Nine-Headed Bird". It is very powerful. The ones used are lead bullets as thick as thumbs. If they hit the body, if they do not die, a huge blood disk hole will appear immediately.

This kind of gun is made of fine iron, which is 3 meters long and weighs 24 kilograms, which is nearly five times heavier than the 5 kilogram bird gun used by the Wuzhaibao bird gunners. Because it is too heavy, it is necessary to carry a triangle bracket and a rotating device when shooting.

This kind of gun lifting is powerful and even the chariots cannot resist at this time. In the current Ming army, there were some equipment, but because it was too heavy, it was inconvenient for the soldiers to carry it, and they did not use bird guns and three-eyed guns, so the soldiers did not like to use it and had been developing very slowly.

Yes, in the Jiubian Army Town of the Ming Dynasty, the people dealt with Mongolian troops wearing leather armor or leather robes. For these people, the 5-pound bird gun is more than enough, so there is no need to use any inconvenient gun lifting. Perhaps, this kind of gun lifting can only be useful when facing the heavy cavalry and heavy infantry of the Manchus in the future.

However, Huang Laifu knew that in the future, heavy smoothbore guns were the rule of development, so he still asked military craftsmen to make a batch of such gun-raising muskets.

In addition, Huang Laifu also intended to ask the military craftsmen to make some Western-style plate armor. In the current Ming Dynasty, this technology is not a problem, but after checking the relevant information in the notebook, Huang Laifu was a little hesitant.

As we know, these plate armors can easily deal with Western steel crossbows and arrows, but when they face the powerful crossbows and compound bows in the east, the serrated arrows and triangular arrows will be shot through as soon as they are shot over.

Moreover, it is inconvenient to wear plate armor and combat, and it is not convenient to deal with heavy blows from heavy rods and hammers. It cannot protect the groin and thighs, joints and necks, and these places are the most vulnerable to attack and fatal parts in battle. Speaking of which, China's scale armor has many advantages, strong buffering and hard enough, which is more complicated to make the battle.

Based on the concept of comparison, Huang Laifu still asked the Wuzhai Fort military craftsmen to try to make some plate armor and take a look.

December 20, 1591.

It has been the winter solstice, and even when winter comes, the weather is very cold, and the water of Qinglian River is still strong by thick ice. But Wuzhai Fort is still in full swing, reaching the climax of construction. The paving of various workshops and cement roads is full of people and a prosperous scenery.

However, affairs always exist as a whole. The development of the Wuzhai Fort this abnormal number will not cause some changes in the outside world. The increasingly wealthy Wuzhai Fort will not cause some people in the outside world to covet. Among these covetous people, there are internal ones, and of course, external ones...

...

The Guan River flows through the Yellow River west of the Bitou River, and there is a pass at the entrance. As the pass is opposite the Mongolian tribes in Hetao, in previous winters, the Mongolian cavalry would cross the river on the ice and enter Shanxi to seize the enemy.

Therefore, for winter defense, the Gulan soldiers in Pianguan were prepared and the generals stationed in Pianguan. A water pass was built at the pass of the river estuary, called Guanhekou, and one hundred generals were in charge of the defense. In previous years, every winter, every year, soldiers had to chisel ice to prevent Mongolia from smuggling.

However, after the Longqing peace talks, Shanxi Zhenji had not been exposed for many years, and the chiseling of ice was too hard. Over the years, the generals and soldiers stationed in the Pianguan have been relaxed for a long time when chiseling ice in the Pass River in winter.

On the morning of the 20th, the weather was very cold in the mouth of Guanhekou. The soldiers were huddled in the rooms inside the gate, drinking and gambling, and shouting. There were only three reluctant soldiers on duty, carrying the wind and shrank their heads, and no one was willing to look at the mouth of the river.

Suddenly, a soldier seemed to hear a strange sound, like the sound of countless horses stepping on the ice. He cursed and looked over there, his whole body was stunned. Suddenly, his shrill cry broke through the sky: "Tartars..."

...

One by one, the beacon smoke was ignited from hundreds of fire piers and enemy platforms, and the fires surged and undulated on the Qianli Defense Line of Shanxi Town.

With the sound of horse hooves like muffled thunder, tides of Mongolian cavalry swept over. They had clear goals and never stopped after passing dozens of military forts of various sizes, including Panguan, Yongxing Fort, Lougou Fort.

Thousands of horses galloped together, pointing straight to the Wuzhai Fort!

On December 20, 1591, more than 10,000 cavalrymen from the Ji'nang tribe of Mongolian invaded Shanxi Town. After the Longqing Peace Conference, the Ming and Mongolian soldiers rose again. In the original history, there was no invasion this time. Huang Laifu came to this world and the largest butterfly flapped his wings.
Chapter completed!