A hint of hesitation flashed in Li Laosi's eyes.

In fact, he himself did not expect the situation to develop to today.

Unknowingly, he had become a traitor to the Ming Dynasty.

Just like sobering up from a drunken stupor, after hearing Hu Jima's words, Li Laosi began to feel a lot of regrets in his heart.

His contact with Hu Jima was actually with a beautiful woman from Annan, who was his fourth wife and now his most beloved concubine.

Whether it was her figure, appearance, or other aspects, he was fascinated by her.

Not long ago, he got off her.

Just thinking back on the changes in himself during this period, Li Laosi suddenly felt as if there was no way forward.

He knew better about the power of the Ming Dynasty than Hu Jima in front of him.

Not to mention the Ming Dynasty, even if it was His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he would have no chance of resisting.

Especially when he knew the power contained here, he became even more frightened.

The Heroes Chamber of Commerce is not a formal chamber of commerce. It has never tolerated any traitors and its methods are not merciful at all.

In the past, once any traitor appeared, involvement was secondary.

If a traitor is caught, it will not be as simple as death.

Zhu Ying was very clear about what kind of vicious and evil people his subordinates were, and there were ungrateful people everywhere.

It's unrealistic to expect others to work hard for you just to have a full meal.

In such a world, most people are indifferent to death.

Is there anything more frightening than death?

That is after death.

There are many small countries in the Western Regions, with many wizards, and many kinds of evil rituals, sacrifices, and offerings.

Of course, in Zhu Ying's eyes, these so-called wizards are nothing but big liars who pretend to be gods.

However, this did not affect Zhu Ying's ability to use his methods to intimidate his subordinates.

Whenever a traitor appeared, he would summon the wizards he had trained and use the most evil rituals to make the traitor die in the most horrific way.

Even after death, their souls will be imprisoned for eternity, never to be reborn, and will suffer torture for tens of thousands of years.

It is because of such ruthless means that the followers of the Qun Ying Chamber of Commerce feel fearful.

Before you betray, first think about the consequences for yourself.

"Is it too late for me to wake up now?"

This idea suddenly came to Li Laosi's mind.

When this thought came to my mind, I subconsciously looked at Hu Jima.

Now, only a few people know for sure that he has betrayed.

If I kill him tonight, I will go back and find a way to kill my brothers who have betrayed me.

Does that mean that no one will know about my betrayal anymore?

When he thought of this, a hint of ferocity flashed in Li Laosi's eyes.

There are only four or five people on the opposite side. With my martial arts skills, killing them is just a matter of a blink of an eye.

Then destroy the body and cover up all traces.

Naturally no one could notice.

Hu Jima naturally noticed the change in Li Laosi. He did not show any other emotions at the moment and just coughed lightly twice.

The coughing was very loud in the night, and when it ended, bursts of rustling sounds soon spread around.

Li Laosi was very familiar with it. It was the sound made by people hitting leaves and grass when they moved.

Judging from the noise, there were at least dozens of people lurking around.

'This old fox is really cautious.'

Li Laosi cursed inwardly, and the idea of ​​killing to silence the witness naturally faded away.

This means that I can only go down this path until the end.

After a brief thought, he said, "One hundred taels of gold, one thousand taels of silver, twenty war horses, and a large sea vessel."

"I'll need these the next day, after you break into the garrison."

"Can you?"

Li Laosi has already made up his mind that staying in Annan means waiting for death. Only by going to a farther place can he have a chance to survive.

And the distant place must be a place that even the Ming Dynasty cannot reach.

So he planned to sail westward by sea.

He has more than a dozen brothers under his command.

Bring enough firearms, muskets, and two sets of armor for each person.

A dozen cavalrymen had no worries at all even when facing hundreds of people.

Find a place and recruit some soldiers. Even if they are not very good, it is better than waiting to die here.

He didn't think that Hu Jima had any chance of winning against His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

After this, Annan will inevitably fall into the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

As long as I can run to a place where His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can't find me, I can live a good life.

Nor will he be caught by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Upon hearing this, Hu Jima said without hesitation: "Yes."

…

Zhu Ying didn't care too much about Annan's affairs.

Compared to the Ming Dynasty, this place is too small. With an army of 300,000 and two generals who are good at mountain warfare going to conquer it, the result can be imagined and there will not be any suspense.

Victory is just a matter of time.

At this time, bad news came from Chang'an.

The soil erosion in the Wei River is too serious and it has little bearing capacity for ships.

This means that many large ships cannot reach Chang'an via the Wei River.

Once the capital is moved to Chang'an, the population of Chang'an will definitely increase dramatically, and the entire economic center will shift along with the center of political power.

With the current encouragement of fertility and the confidence brought by high-yield crops, the population of Ming Dynasty is now increasing rapidly.

Although no effective statistics have been conducted yet, the number of newborns must be several times higher than before.

This means that once the capital is moved to Chang'an, within ten years it will most likely become a burden for millions of people.

Such a burden would have a huge impact on the entire Chang'an City, including its surrounding areas, if the transportation capacity of the Wei River was lost.

And because Chang'an had not served as the capital of any dynasty for a long time, it had become relatively decadent, and the cost of reviving it was relatively high.

In fact, Chang'an was chosen as the capital in later generations only because it was one vote lower than Beiping.

It can be seen that Chang'an is a place with profound significance for the Han people.

Zhu Yuanzhang naturally knew this news.

"It seems that the capital of our Ming Dynasty cannot be in Chang'an."

Zhu Yuanzhang still had some feelings for Chang'an, but from various angles, it was not an ideal location for the capital.

Then we can only consider other places.

The location of Kyoto can only be based in the Yangtze River Basin at present.

With the current vigorous development of the navy, especially with the dredging of canals by all parties, there must be a large amount of cargo stockpiling and transportation.

The consumption capacity of the capital is increasing day by day. In the absence of port transportation, it will have a great impact on economic development.

"Grandpa, building a new capital actually costs a lot of money. Why don't we expand Nanjing first?"

“Beiping is actually a good choice.”

"We are about to develop the black soil. If we make Beiping the capital, we will be able to protect it well."

Zhu Ying said in consultation.

The Nanjing Imperial Palace has bad feng shui, but its location is actually quite good.

It’s actually not a big problem if you spend some effort to renovate the places at the back that affect the feng shui.

Besides, the location of Beiping is also good.

Previously, as the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, it had been developed to a certain extent, but the economy is currently in a recession.

If the capital was moved to Beiping, it would not only be possible to better protect the Liaodong black soil, the granary, but also to rely on the Tianjin port to have great control over sea transportation.

Sea transportation is the main theme of future development.

It seems that Tianjin is more suitable to be the capital, but in fact it is not.

Whether from the perspective of politics, culture, economy, security or other aspects, Tianjin is not suitable to be the capital.

In terms of positioning, Tianjin is more suitable to serve as the 'moat' of Peking.

The current situation is stable. If the feng shui problem of the Nanjing court can be solved, there is no need to rush to move the capital.

Peking can be used as a backup option for early development and exploitation.

"My eldest grandson spread the news earlier. Now we two have given up Chang'an. Those merchants will suffer a lot of losses." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.

There was a gleam in his eyes, and it was obvious that he had some other ideas.

After being influenced by Zhu Ying for a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang already had a certain understanding of how to make money through speculation.

As for the current situation, the land price in Chang'an is constantly rising, and many large households in the south are also using various means to take advantage of loopholes to purchase land in Chang'an.

On the surface, it seems that the land price in Chang'an has not changed much because of Zhu Ying's intervention.

In fact, in secret, or in the ghost market, the price of land in Chang'an has long become high.

This thing is just like the scalpers in later generations. It has been sold out at normal prices long ago, and you can't buy it even if you have money.

If you really want to buy it, you can only trade secretly in the ghost market. The price has increased tenfold or even dozens of times.

After all, due to the decline of the capital, the price of Chang'an has always remained relatively low. Now it is suddenly revealed that Chang'an may become the next capital, so the price changes almost every hour.

"Grandson understands. Let's postpone the matter regarding the capital for a few months."

"For the land deeds that have been acquired here, my grandson will arrange some people to slowly sell them in the ghost market. When they are almost done, we will make public the cancellation of Chang'an Kyoto."

Zhu Ying said with a smile.

As the crown prince, whether to go to Kyoto or not is just a matter of a word.

At the political level, there is no need to consider the interests of businessmen.

Even if there is a big loss, it has nothing to do with Zhu Ying.

From the very beginning, it was strictly prohibited to speculate on housing prices in Chang'an. From a legal perspective, the actions of these southern real estate speculation groups were actually illegal, and the interests involved were not protected by the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

It's a waste of money if you lose money, and there is no place to seek justice.

In fact, the person who currently owns the most land deeds is Zhu Ying himself.

Who would complain about having too much money?

Even if we sell the shares of the mercenary guild, we will already get 1.8 billion coins, so a little more would not be too much.

Harvesting like this is not something that can be done often.

After harvesting one wave, if you want to harvest again, you have to wait for the leeks to grow again.

The sale of the Chang'an land deed can make about 7 or 8 million yuan, which is only a fraction compared to the 1.8 billion yuan. In fact, it is still a relatively large amount for the national treasury.

The current annual tax revenue, even when the economy is relatively good, is only around 50 million guan, which is quite a lot.

"In that case, let's repair our palace properly."

"Now that we are rich, we don't have to worry about some things. It doesn't matter if the project is a little big. As long as we can solve this problem, it's worth it."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, and then talked about the renovation of the Nanjing Imperial Palace.

Zhu Ying replied, "My grandson plans to publish an announcement in the capital's official newspaper in two months, after the land deed in Chang'an is sold, to offer a reward for talents who understand Feng Shui."

"The Imperial Astronomical Observatory will take the lead in holding a Feng Shui conference and summon all Feng Shui masters from all over the world to the capital to discuss and come up with a solution to the Feng Shui problem in the palace."

"Even if the whole back part is demolished and rebuilt, my grandson thinks it won't matter."

The issue of Feng Shui may sound a bit superstitious, but as an emperor, even Zhu Ying, who grew up with materialism, had to pay great attention to it.

After all, there are too many things that even later science cannot prove.

It just costs a little more money, but at least it can give you peace of mind, so it's worth it.

As the Ming Dynasty's economy developed and material needs gradually became more fulfilled, Zhu Ying also wanted to simultaneously develop spiritual and cultural civilization.

Among them, Feng Shui metaphysics has always been relatively mysterious, but in today's world, people are more respectful of it.

Zhu Ying thought it was a good idea to hold a Feng Shui conference that was unprecedented in previous and later dynasties.

Zhu Yuanzhang naturally agreed. At this age, he attached more importance to these things than before.

There are many talented people among the people, such as Liu Rixin, who is a talented person among the people.

The territory of the Ming Dynasty is so vast, who can say that there are no other talents emerging?

Although the Imperial Observatory has some inheritance, some things depend on the specific situation. It would not be surprising if a few masters emerged, even those who surpassed Liu Rixin.

Most people who study Feng Shui are indifferent to fame and fortune.

However, things like Feng Shui conferences, especially when hosted by the royal family, are definitely attractive enough for Feng Shui masters from various traditions.

Zhu Ying has already thought about it. When the time comes, there will be a competition for rankings. The top ten Feng Shui masters will not only be given titles but also generous rewards.

In fact, Feng Shui masters are generally very poor. There are not many Feng Shui masters who use the secrets of heaven to make money, and there are some taboos here.

For this conference, Zhu Ying plans to provide full round-trip accommodation and travel expenses for Feng Shui masters who are willing to attend.

If this is the case, it must be extremely grand.