Although Zhu Youxiao was not worried that his opium trade in the Ming Dynasty would not be effectively protected by force, he did not want to use military force to promote hegemony now.

Once the war is launched, conflicts will be more or less intense, causing some European countries to develop national sentiment, and thus boycott Ming's goods, which will affect the economic and trade between the two countries, and prevent the Ming Dynasty from getting huge returns in the short term after obtaining huge returns in the war.

At the same time, it is difficult to guarantee that these Western fans will not further stimulate the people who awaken their avant-garde thoughts, and then even learn from their mistakes and catch up, which will become a hidden danger to the Ming Dynasty in the future.

If you want to fight, it should be when the national wealth of these Europa powers is almost drained by themselves, that is, when the opium trade reaches saturation.

Of course, it is not impossible for anyone to predict when a war will occur due to the opium trade. After all, Zhu Youxiao is not a god.

The benefits of the opium trade are not only reflected in the improvement of national income, but also directly in the improvement of the quality of life of the Ming people of all classes. Wei Min'er, who is already a priest and a professor of poetry at Zhejiang Women's Normal School, just received a generous salary and was preparing to buy a villa by the West Lake in order to invite one or two friends to watch the snow in the pavilion in the middle of the lake in the future.

For their professors and officials like them, they are no longer as poor as professors and teachers in the prefectures and counties. They have no other benefits except for taking bribes from some college students. Now the salary of these professors under the new education system such as Wei Min'er and Zhang Dai can be compared with first-rank officials of the dynasty.

What's more, whether it is liberal arts or science and engineering, these so-called professors are all the best in this field. His Majesty now attaches importance to academic research, and these people are part-time jobs or undertake projects in society, so they also earn a lot of money in other aspects.

Because it was snowing this day, all major and middle schools had winter vacations, so Wei Min'er called a rickshaw to her villa in West Lake.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty had begun to popularize rickshaws. This kind of vehicle combining manpower and machinery is favored by the upper class in today's society, especially intellectuals who like to carry it. This way of travel makes them feel more stylish than riding a bicycle.

Zhang Dai also took a rickshaw to Wei Min'er's West Lake Villa at this time.

He is now the editor-in-chief of Daming Daily, holding the title of Right Minister of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing. He can be regarded as the top three royal literati under Zhu Youxiao. He is almost the loyal fans and verbal words of Zhu Youxiao in the academic world. A short article can best describe the prosperous era of the Apocalypse under Zhu Youxiao, and is more popular among literati than the records written by the historians of the Hanlin Academy.

Because he is famous in the academic community and is the steward of the official public opinion of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Dai is naturally not the original state in history that he would have fallen to the point where he was driven by two concubines and carried manure and irrigated. Now he is already more rich and prosperous than when he was young, and he loves beautiful maids in the sacrificial houses more than before.

Moreover, the urbanization process of the Ming Dynasty has accelerated, and urban housing prices have risen sharply. The rich have mostly built land to build houses, but no longer used land for people to rent. Zhang Dai also prefers to buy gardens and villas. Of course, it is not just him. The upper class of the entire society has become accustomed to buying houses from all over the world, speculating on land from east to west.

"Old Dong, it's going to be the New Year. Have you ever had all the New Year's goods in your family? How much money will you get this year?" Unlike Wei Min'er's temporary rickshaw, Zhang Dai, who was wearing the title of Minister, had a rickshaw driver in his family. Of course, he bought the rickshaw, and the rickshaw master was a slave of Dong Qichang's family. However, the Dong family was evil for His Majesty today, so the house was confiscated. This slave of Dong Qichang had to defect to Zhang Dai and pull the cart specifically for Zhang Dai.

Master Dong was full of energy and pulled Zhang Dai, who had already gained 200 kilograms, and was as light as a swallow on the bluestone pavement. He ran all the way without breathing and could answer Zhang Dai's question: "I'll do it all. My eldest son has done his job at Meisheng Company. Now he has been selected to be a deacon in Liverpool, England. He just sent back more than 40,000 silver dollars this year, saying that we were asking us to buy a few more properties, hehe."

"Yes, it turns out that your eldest son entered the training school of the Steamship Merchants Bank. He didn't expect to have such an errand in Meisheng Company. However, Meisheng Company is really profitable, and all the blood from the outer series is almost sucked by him." Zhang Dai, as the editor-in-chief of Daming Daily, has become accustomed to chatting with people from every class to collect materials, even his own driver.

As a senior official in the media field of the Ming Dynasty, he naturally knew what business Meisheng Company was doing. Now that he saw this, he had to think about writing a few articles to report on the Meisheng Company and then talk about the argument that the country is strong and the people are rich.

The policy questions set by Zhu Youxiao for this year's palace examination are also topics about the country's strength and people's prosperity. This coincides with Zhang Dai's editorial article in Daming Daily. Some people who are only obsessed with fame and fortune have since believed that Zhang Dai is good at guessing Your Majesty's thoughts and accurately foreseeing new subjects. Therefore, his editorials in Daming Daily attracted countless fans and attracted countless attention.

The sales of Daming Daily also ushered in a small climax again. Zhang Dai also used the trick and simply published a few books such as "Zhang Dai Review of the Palace Examinations in the Years", which were also sold well, and he made a lot of money in the moment.

Sun Chengzong is over 80 years old and has retired and retired and has been at home for two years. Now he will get up in the morning and sit under his own pear blossom stand to read subscribed newspapers and magazines. Sometimes he can't help but refute the words of praise from Daming Daily, but he will also angrily scold some radical words in private newspapers and magazines, which are too extreme. It is really necessary to scold them.

However, when he saw the newspapers and magazines that the Ming Dynasty was about to build the first railway and had successfully built the first thermal generator and some electric lights, he couldn't help but curiously want to ask his grandson who had entered a new school to study because he didn't love the Four Books and Five Classics. However, when he saw the pictures in the newspapers and magazines, he would still smile and say, "If you have the opportunity to go back to the capital and take a look with your own eyes."

In fact, the electrification of the Ming Dynasty at this time has indeed made great progress. In addition to the fact that Zhu Youxiao's gold finger gave scientific researchers a lot of cheapness, it also has something to do with Zhu Youxiao's willingness to spend money. It is difficult to win the Ming Dynasty's highest scientific and technological award without some impressive inventions, and human potential is always infinite. It is precisely because of this that it has laid the foreshadowing for the Ming Dynasty to welcome another industrial era.

Of course, many aspects are still immature, and it will be difficult to enter the electrical era directly without 20 or 30 years. What's more, with the further update of technology, the social and ideological levels will also change further. It is also a question whether the emperor Zhu Youxiao, can continue to be dictatorial.
Chapter completed!