GBP Chapter 1193 Don't Easily Trust Officials from the Ningyang Clique
Chapter 1193 Don't Easily Trust Officials from the Ningyang Clique
As Jin'er poured tea for Yang Shaofeng, she said with a smile, "Husband, don't forget that whether it's our godfather, or the Duke of Han and the Marquis of Chengyi, they are all seasoned veterans who have been navigating the officialdom for many years. How could they be so easily manipulated?"
"The reason why my husband used to be able to torment them was because they had never seen my husband's methods or the new tricks he came up with."
"Especially in recent years, Mr. Xiang wrote 'On the Gentry' and 'Capital,' exposing the schemes and changes of aristocratic families, gentry, and maritime merchants over the past two thousand years. As long as my godfather and the Duke of Han can prescribe the right medicine, they are naturally not easy to fool."
Jin'er smiled and said, "If you want to mess with them again, either come up with something new that they've never seen or heard of before, or write another book similar to 'On the Gentry' and 'Capital' to divert their attention to these areas."
Yang Shaofeng sighed and said, "How could 'On the Gentry' and 'Capital' be so easy to write..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Yang Shaofeng sat up straight.
"On the Gentry" and "Capital" were certainly not easy to write.
However, if you want to mess with Old Deng, you can approach it from a completely different angle.
If it succeeds, it won't just be Lao Deng who suffers; even the black sesame dumplings will be tormented to the point of ecstasy.
As for Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen?
They could barely be considered as extras from the countryside.
Yang Shaofeng's expression changed repeatedly. Suddenly, he chuckled and grabbed Jin'er's hand, saying, "My wife is truly a virtuous helpmate to her husband."
Jin'er smiled, her face flushed, and said, "I won't tell my husband anymore. I'm going to check on how my baby is sleeping."
Watching Jin'er's departing figure, Yu'er simply smiled, picked up the teapot, poured tea for Yang Shaofeng, and said, "Husband, have you figured out how to torment our godfather and the others?"
Yang Shaofeng said confidently, "My wife, watch how your husband operates—if the plan is done properly, this time it won't just be your father-in-law and the Duke of Han who will be affected, but also His Highness the Crown Prince and the entire cabinet, as well as various ministries, directorates, temples, and academies. Few people will be able to escape."
……
Just as Yang Shaofeng was plotting how to torment Lao Deng and Heizhi Tangyuan, Wang Guangyang, who had been brought back by Emperor Zhu to serve as the Minister of Industry, was dealing with Chen Mo, the Minister of Railways, with a distressed expression.
"It's not as easy as you make it out to be."
"The steel needed to build steam locomotives and railway tracks cannot be smelted from just any iron ore or any workshop."
"And what you want isn't just a pound or two."
"My Ministry of Industry is currently overwhelmed with numerous issues. It would take me three to five months just to sort things out the situation within the Ministry of Industry. How could I possibly have time to attend to your Ministry of Railways?"
Wang Guangyang cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to Chen Mo and said, "Could you please have some pity on this old man? I'm getting on in years..."
Before Wang Guangyang could finish speaking, Chen Mo interrupted, "I came to see Minister Wang because I intend to help him solve his problems first—the Ministry of Industry needs planning and work, while the Ministry of Railways needs a lot of steel. We're in the same boat now, so helping you is helping myself."
Wang Guangyang did not believe Chen Mo's words at all.
The first rule of the Ming Dynasty court: Try not to provoke Yang the Madman.
The second rule of the Ming Dynasty court: Do not easily trust officials from the Ningyang faction; they are all scoundrels who sell people out and then expect others to count the money for them.
Chen Mo served as Yang Dianfeng's assistant in his early years and was the executive deputy magistrate of Ningyang County for six or seven years. Who would trust him?
Seeing Wang Guangyang's ambiguous smile, Chen Mo directly picked up a piece of white paper from the table, and without any politeness, picked up a pen and said while writing: "According to the current situation and needs of the Ming Dynasty, your Ministry of Industry should divide into departments such as the Light Industry Department, the Heavy Industry Department, and the Petrochemical Department."
"The Light Industry Department and the Petrochemical Department have nothing to do with the Ministry of Railways for the time being. You, Wang Guangyang, can think about it later."
"The focus is on the Heavy Industry Division."
"There should be a mining bureau, a metallurgical bureau, a resource allocation bureau, and a workshop management bureau here."
“The Mining Bureau is in charge of iron ore exploration and mining in various places, the Dispatch Bureau is responsible for dispatching ore to various workshops, the Metallurgical Bureau is in charge of the smelting situation in various workshops, and the Workshop Management Bureau is responsible for keeping an eye on those steel smelting workshops.”
"Anyway, that's roughly how it's divided. The specific subdivisions are up to you, Minister Wang, to decide."
"I need five million catties of steel next month, enough to make steam locomotives, carriages and rails."
Wang Guangyang was so angry at Chen Mo that he laughed.
Five million catties?
Do you know how much the total iron tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was last year?
Wang Guangyang said with a dark face, "The entire Ming Dynasty, including both good and bad steel, only amounted to 35 million catties at most. Of that, about 10 million catties were produced in Luan County. Of that, about one-third of the production was taken away by that old scoundrel Hu Weiyong, and the remaining third was sent to Beiping Prefecture. Only the last 3 million catties were allocated by the Ministry of Works."
"In other words, the total amount of steel that could actually be allocated by the Ministry of Works was less than 30 million catties."
"Now you're asking for one-sixth of the steel with just a few words, and all you want is the best steel!"
At this point, Wang Guangyang simply slumped into his chair and said, "If I can't get five million catties of good steel, how many catties of good steel can I get for this body of mine?"
Chen Mo said with exasperation, "Minister Wang, we should have a conscience—did I ask you for five million catties of steel for my own sake?"
"Besides, I just gave you some advice, so doesn't that count as helping you?"
"How about this, I'll write another letter to Dengzhou Prefecture and ask Zhou Jingxin to transfer a few people to you from the School of Metallurgy at Dengzhou University."
Wang Guangyang sat up straight, his eyes shining as he stared at Chen Mo and said, "Really?"
Chen Mo gritted his teeth and said, "Really!"
Wang Guangyang stroked his beard and waved his hand: "Ten men, and I'll get you two million catties of good steel at the beginning of next month."
Chen Mo sneered and said, "Five men, five million catties of good steel! If you, Minister Wang, want ten men, you'll have to offer at least a thousand catties of good steel in exchange!"
Just as Wang Guangyang was about to nod, he suddenly asked with suspicion, "Can you persuade Zhou Jingxin? Also, the situation in Dengzhou Prefecture is different from other places, especially Dengzhou University. If you want to get people from there, how will you explain it to the Prince Consort?"
Chen Mo smiled confidently and said, "The matter with the master is actually quite easy to resolve."