The next day, the team continued to move south. Huai'an was more than 300 miles away from Yangzhou. It took eight days to arrive according to the itinerary.

Wen Tiren left, Hong Chengchou took over the position of marching general manager and arranged for people to inform the local governments along the way to prepare the local governments.

Although he would not stay in the local area, Zhu Youjian did not even receive local officials, but the team of tens of thousands of people consumed too much daily, and food, vegetables and other items needed to be supplied locally.

Yuyuan, Yangzhou, the garden of Hu Baiwan, a big salt merchant. Hu Baiwan was originally named Hu Yuanliang, a native of Huizhou. It is said that by selling salt, it is worth millions of taels of silver every year, so people in Yangzhou call him Hu Baiwan. From the Wanli period, the Hu family

After obtaining the "Wanben" issued by the imperial court, it established its status as a great salt merchant.

According to the Daming Salt Principle system, only by owning "woben" can one get from the Salt Transportation Department to engage in salt business. The so-called "woben" means the qualification and power to carry out salt. The court gave this qualification to the franchise.

A group of merchants. All those who own "woben" are big salt merchants. Without "woben", they cannot obtain salt intake. Other small and medium-sized salt merchants can only buy salt intake from big salt merchants who own "woben"

.The big salt merchants do nothing. They only rely on reselling salt to make huge profits every year, which is a huge profit! What is most enviable is that this "broken land" can be hereditary, that is, father and son can succeed one after another.

The Hu family made a fortune by using salt and became a wealthy man in Yangzhou. He built this yuyuan, which covers an area of ​​hundreds of acres, by the Slim West Lake outside Yangzhou City. There are mountains and waters in the garden, pavilions and towers, and the mountains are lush and upright.

, The Slender West Lake is rippling with smoke and waves, and the beauty of the scenery is the best in Yangzhou.

Hu Baiwan only needed to establish a good relationship with the Salt Transportation Department, and the money came rolling in, and he didn't have to do anything else. He drank in the garden all day long, and his life was very happy.

However, today, Hu Baiwan was irritable and extremely irritable. Even the beautiful concubine who was most favored by him was scolded and cried. Because he received the news that the emperor was coming to Yangzhou, he had a premonition that his life was about to end...

..

"Master, Mr. Lin and Mr. Zhou are visiting." The housekeeper hurriedly reported.

"Come on your behalf." Hu Baiwan said hurriedly.

Lin Wanpeng and Zhou Fengchun are both big salt merchants in Yangzhou City. Although their family business is not as big as Hu's family, they are almost the same. The most important thing is that the three merchants are all part of Hui merchants, and they naturally have close contacts on weekdays.

"Brother Hu knows the news that the emperor is coming?" After a few greetings, Lin Wanpeng went straight to the point.

Hu Baiwan sighed: "Of course I heard that, aren't this worried? Hey, Brother Zhou, you and the father-in-law are distant relatives. Can you find someone to clear the situation in front of the emperor?"

Zhou Fengchun shook his head and said with a bitter face: "Don't mention it, even the silk and satin shop in the capital was sent by His Majesty. My distant relative is considered the onion!"

Relying on being a distant relative of his father-in-law Zhou Kui, Zhou Fengchun was in Yangzhou and was very prosperous. The officials of the Salt Transport Department gave him some thin face. Of course, this thin face also has a silver bonus. But in front of the emperor, his distant relative of his father-in-law.

It's not enough to see the emperor at all, and it's not even qualified to meet the emperor.

"Why did this emperor have to go south? I heard that Henan was in chaos and hundreds of thousands of people rebelled, so the emperor was not afraid of losing the Central Plains? What was he trying to go south? Could it be for our salt merchants?

Come?" Hu Baiwan complained.

"Brother Hu, don't talk nonsense." Lin Wanpeng was startled, "We are just merchants. Although we have some money, how can we be worth the emperor's visit in person?"

"It's not worth it." Hu Baiwan nodded, "The two brothers come to me together. Do you have any ideas? You might as well tell me."

Lin Wanpeng glanced at Zhou Fengchun: "Brother Zhou, tell me."

Zhou Fengchun nodded: "Just just now, Brother Lin and I talked a little, and they all thought that the emperor could not come for our salt merchants, but should really go to Nanjing. What is the purpose of the emperor's southern tour? Naturally, I can't guess what the emperor's purpose is.

, I dare not make any guesses. The key is how to save our lives. For the sake of this, I think that only by using money to smash it can the emperor give up on his mind to deal with us."

"Silver?" Hu Baiwan was stunned for a moment, "The emperor is rich all over the world. Can he still use money to make His Majesty change his mind?"

"We are rich in all over the world?" Zhou Fengchun sneered, "Brother Hu doesn't know that the current emperor may be the poorest among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, and the one who likes the most."

Looking around, seeing that the Hu family's servants were far away, Zhou Fengchun whispered: "Last year when I went to Beijing to pay my respects to my father-in-law, my father-in-law told me personally that His Majesty's search for his silk shop was to make money, because

The treasury was no longer able to expose the blame, and the court did not even have the money to pay salaries to officials. The emperor had no choice but to set up a tax department and collect commercial taxes from shops in the capital. In order to shock everyone, he, his father-in-law, had a first attack."

Hu Baiwan took a deep breath, but unexpectedly the emperor became cruel and didn't even let his father-in-law go.

"Two brothers, although Your Majesty went south not for us, but our salt merchants are well-off, everyone knows that your Majesty may not let us go when he passes through Yangzhou. For the sake of this plan, he should take the initiative to offer silver. Your Majesty is happy and may he be happy.

Let us go." Zhou Fengchun said last.

"How much should you offer?" Hu Baiwan asked. If he could spend money to eliminate disasters, he would naturally be very happy.

"If you don't have less, it will not work. If you don't have too much, your Majesty will think that the salt merchant is too rich and it will be bad for you to have other thoughts. In my opinion, it is better to have one million taels. The three of us can make a big fortune, so other salt merchants can

If you give up a small head and get one million taels, it will be enough to make Your Majesty happy.” Lin Wanpeng said.

"I'm afraid that your Majesty will continue to attack us after he gets the sweetness." Hu Baiwan sighed.

"It shouldn't be. If we touch our salt merchants, the salt administration will be in chaos or even the Yangzhou will be in chaos. At present, the rebels in Henan and Jiangxi are rampant, and people are in chaos in Huguang, Shanxi and other places. The world is not peaceful. Your Majesty should not have the heart to deal with us.

.” Lin Wanpeng said confidently.

"Then will you know about this? "Hu Baiwan asked.

Lin Wanpeng shook his head: "No. Your Majesty doesn't move us, maybe he won't move the Salt Transportation Department. I heard that Your Majesty started a massacre in Shandong and cleaned up many officials. After arriving in Yangzhou, he might not let the Salt Transportation Department go. At this time, we should not let him go.

The Salt Transportation Department is too close."

"Okay, God bless you, bless us to escape this disaster. I am willing to pay 300,000 taels of silver!" Hu Baiwan said.

"I will also pay 300,000!" Lin Wanpeng said.

"My family is not as good as my two brothers, so I will pay 200,000 yuan." Zhou Fengchun said.
Chapter completed!