Chapter 42: Deceiving Heaven and Crossing the Sea (Part 1)

  After talking with Sun Chengzong, Yang Kaishan came back happily, covered in sweat and debt.

  As for the "Heavenly Deception" special operation of the wild boar skin, Yang Reform is not afraid now, there is plenty of time to solve this matter. Hou Jin has obtained those official tokens, seals and costumes for a long time. What needs to be used with "Heavenly Deception" has been used. As for using them within the pass, they are either in a state of secrecy or have not yet grasped the opportunity to make a fatal blow. If Wild Boar Skin enters the pass or a major battle occurs, it will have to wait until next year. More precisely, it was only after Mao Wenlong died that Wild Boar Skin dared to enter the pass and make a desperate attack. That is to say, unless Mao Wenlong dies immediately, there is no need to rush this matter. Of course, it's also possible that Wild Boar Skin is brain-damaged and acts impulsively.

  Yang's reform was mentioned by Sun Chongzong, and he didn't rush anymore. He also discussed the new army with Sun Chongzong. Since he had already figured it out thoroughly, he no longer rushed.

  They roughly discussed the organization, training time, training methods and combat tactics of the chariot camp. The conclusion is that first, a six-month infantry new army training will be conducted to master all the key points on the new soldier's manual, and pass the inspection, it's best to have actual combat test. Then select excellent personnel to form a chariot camp, building chariots doesn't need to be rushed, the Ministry of Works has craftsmen for this, as long as there is silver, they will build as many as you want, the quality is okay. As for the chariot camp in the Imperial Guard, both Yang and Sun think that it's useless to go there, at most some people who are worth cultivating and have technical experience can be selected to come over. As for those cannons and guns, these things need to be piled up with silver. Without silver, nothing can be done, Yang's reform without silver can only watch.

  It's still better to focus on technology and earn some money, it's more practical!

  Yang decided to reform and dream back to Baidu, check the data, more accurately, flip through some cross-years. See how the protagonists made their fortunes! Came up with a few that can be implemented relatively well at present.

  First of all, let's get the distiller going and make some high-proof liquor and ethanol. The high-proof liquor will be quite attractive to foreigners and can sell for a good price. The ethanol can be used as a disinfectant. However, it's a pity that during the late Ming dynasty, natural disasters occurred frequently, and every year was a disaster year. If I were to use grain to make wine for the Mongols, Yang Reform would think that I'm being a bit "ostentatious". If an ordinary person or non-emperor were to do this to get rich and accumulate silver, it would be a great idea. However, as the emperor, my identity dictates that doing so would be... how can I put it... a bit cruel? It's like cutting flesh from my own body to fill my own stomach. It's too disgusting. Although it's disgusting, it's the truth. Others can do it, but for me to do it is not quite suitable. This is only slightly better than selling grain to the enemy.

  This time Yang's reform almost got him shot, after some careful consideration, he decided to be more practical and do it first, worry about the food later. There was also the matter of setting up a salt farm. This thing is a common tactic used by many crossers, Yang didn't mind using it once. In ancient times, salt was boiled, which had low efficiency and poor quality. If new technology was used to dry salt, those southern salt merchants would probably all jump off buildings, who knows how much trouble they would cause, probably inciting the Ming dynasty's scholar-officials to fight to the death.

  Yang's reform was another wave of depression, should he intervene in this salt industry turmoil? If he intervened, it would likely be a life-and-death struggle with the salt merchants, who would use their annual millions of taels of salt tax to challenge him. This matter, either he didn't intervene, or if he did, it would be a thunderous and decisive move to control the national salt industry. Then, facing the elite's crazy counterattack. If he had any relaxation or mistake, not to mention being irreparably damaged, at least he would be severely injured, exhausted, and suffer losses in salt tax.

  Yang reformed himself and thought for a while. Although he had the Brocade Guards in his hands, the Brocade Guards also had a "drifting" problem and were becoming more and more disorganized. They didn't even notice that the wild boar skin was going to be smuggled next year, which could be said to have greatly reduced their combat effectiveness.

  If they are used to cut off the salt merchants, I don't know what the effect will be. It's easy to overthrow the salt merchants, but who will replace them? New salt merchants? Can it be guaranteed that they won't "float away"? At that time, those officials below will almost certainly make some places panic about salt shortages. If things go wrong, it may even lead to rebellion.

  This is really a headache, it's easy to want to take down the salt merchants, but unfortunately there is no team to replace them. I'm afraid that once the war with the salt merchants starts, many officials will be tempted to come out and profit from it. If things go wrong, the whole country will become chaotic, local officials will profit from it, and I'll be the target of public criticism. At that time, I won't even have a choice but to bow my head to the elites.

  To accomplish something. First, there must be an idea, then a plan of action, then an execution team, then follow the system and steps to execute, and finally success.

  I have my own ideas, cutting down the salt merchants is no problem with the Brocade Guards, but there's no one to execute it commercially. If I just cut down the original ones, the salt merchants might fight back, causing a national salt shortage, and I'll be forced into action. Being blackmailed by the elites isn't a good thing. To take down the salt merchants with lightning speed, I need my own execution team, including the Brocade Guards who will cut down the original salt merchants, and the commercial team that will replace them. Only then can I perfectly complete this task in an extremely short time, before those elites come to their senses. It'll be a fait accompli. If they want to oppose it, they won't know where to start. If they try to take advantage of the chaos or blackmail me, that's just asking for death.

  This matter is very suitable for the "Big Chess Party" to handle, with a tight layout, and one move will determine the outcome. It's not suitable for Yang Reform, this otaku, to handle. It's really too complicated. This is Yang Reform's realization.

  Yang Gaizhi thinks he should first find a business team that can operate well, and then talk about it. As for the Jin Yiwei side, Yang Gaizhi doesn't have much of a plan yet, so it seems like he needs to pay attention to the Jin Yiwei. He'll wait until both sides are ready before making his move.

  There are still many things that rely on the Brocade Guards, such as traveling far to find new crops, such as investigating the movements of wild boar skins, and such as cutting off salt merchants, all of which require their intervention. So, he still needs to go to the Brocade Guards to take a look. Yang Reform came to this conclusion again.

  ……

  "Your Majesty, Your Majesty. It's time to get up." Outside was the soft call of Wang Cheng'en. Inside, Yang Gao was lying on the bed, deep in thought, a night of dreams had brought him no solution, and now his forehead still hurt a bit, so he lay on the bed thinking for half a day about the salt merchant's problem. As a result, it was already late morning, but Yang Gao still showed no intention of getting out of bed.

  Yang Reform did not get out of bed and was told that there were many officials waiting for him in the Wenhua Hall today, so he got impatient and had someone come to urge him.

  "What's wrong? Big brother?"

  "Your Majesty, it's time to get up. The ministers have been waiting for a long time in the Wenhua Hall." Wang Chengen said softly.

  "Alas, a mistake." Yang reform scolded himself, yesterday he had instructed Wang Chengen to have all the ministers come to Wenhua Hall today to discuss matters, including the large number of missing official tokens and seal certificates from the Ming dynasty, and how to deal with the "deception of the heavenly court" by the wild boar skin. Since it was not a day for an imperial audience, they would hold their meeting in Wenhua Hall instead.

  He hurriedly got up, dressed and washed, preparing to attend a meeting.

  February 25th.

  Wenhua Hall

  Many officials have been waiting for a long time, last night the emperor sent word that everyone should come to the Wenhua Hall today to discuss important matters. However, now the sun is high and the emperor has not yet risen from bed, which makes many officials very unhappy.

  ……

  "The Emperor has arrived..." A eunuch's shout, the officials finally breathed a sigh of relief, the emperor had finally come, but no one knew what it was about, and they were all puzzled in their hearts.

  The middle of the Wenhua Hall was also placed with a huge "sand table" at some point, and those idle officials were also pointing and gesturing on the sand table. When they heard that the emperor had arrived, they immediately came out to line up in rows to welcome the emperor.

  ……

  "Long live our Emperor, long live, long live...!" The officials all bowed respectfully to the emperor and knocked their heads.

  "Get up, straighten your body." Yang Reform said again: "Today, the main hall has an additional 'sand table', all of you have seen it. Today's matter is also related to this 'sand table demonstration'..."

  Hehe, thank you everyone for your support. Today I received a text message from the editor, on October 10th, 2010, it was strongly recommended in the category channel. One step at a time! From being recommended in the secondary category to now being strongly recommended in the category, it's another footprint, and it can't be done without everyone's support. I'm thanking you all here as a homebody, those who have votes please cast a few to show your support! Thank you again.