In the imperial study, Qin Hui was reporting the subscription status of Huizi to Emperor Zhao Gou, "Your Majesty, the first batch of nine wealthy businessmen subscribed for a total of 3.2 million guan of huizi, with an average of less than 400,000 guan per household."
Zhao Gou was forced to have no choice but to take advantage of these wealthy businessmen. Instead of letting these wealthy businessmen go to Jingzhao to spend a lot of money to buy land and donate the money to Chen Qing, it would be better to let them donate the money to support themselves.
army.
Of course, Zhao Gou still wanted to save some face. He couldn't do the robbery because it was the work of bandits. It was Qin Hui who thought of the Holy Will and came up with the idea of issuing Huizi to let these wealthy households subscribe to Huizi and exchange money for money.
!
These huizi are also currency recognized by the court, and they can be used for circulation. As for whether others will accept it or not, that is not Zhao Gou's consideration. They find ways to spend it on their own, but they really can't spend it. When the court becomes rich in the future,
Then redeem these huizi.
In fact, it is a disguised form of borrowing money. Of course, it is not the same thing. For the sake of face, Zhao Gou still promised that he would redeem all the huizi in the future when the government's finances are sufficient.
At least this looks better than the open robbery, and gives the wealthy businessmen some hope. At least they don't dare to escape anymore. If they dare to escape to Jingzhao, it means treason, and the court will no longer recognize the Huizi in their hands.
At this time, Zhao Gou suddenly realized that something was wrong. Wasn't the Zheng family in the first batch? The Zheng family only had 3.2 million yuan? He quickly asked: "The Zheng family is not in the first batch?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, there is no Zheng family!"
"Why?"
Zhao Gou was immediately dissatisfied. The Zheng family was a big family. He could subscribe for millions of dollars per household, but now there was no Zheng family. He asked angrily: "Why is there no Zheng family? Who is opening the Internet?"
"Your Majesty, no one is showing mercy. Zheng Tongquan ran away. His family and property were transferred away long ago. The transfer was completed last year."
"What about his land, houses and shops? Can these also be transferred?"
"All are sold, leaving only a ten-acre main house and a few warehouses on the dock outside the city. It is estimated that it is worth at most 200,000 yuan."
"boom!"
Zhao Gou smashed his fist on the table and gritted his teeth and said: "All property will be confiscated. Go and search all the cabinets in the city. Any property belonging to the Zheng family will be confiscated. In addition, Zheng Tongquan and his nephew will also be arrested if they return to Lin'an."
!”
"I obey the order!"
Zhao Gou walked to the window with his hands behind his back, thought for a moment and then said: "Although Zheng Tong's whole family has run away, there are still Wang Zhenbang family and Yu Wanfeng family. These two families also have hundreds of millions of assets, and there are also maritime merchants from Guangzhou and Fuzhou.
, order all the Plum Blossom Guards to dispatch, control all these maritime merchants, prevent them from escaping, and then subscribe to the guild one by one. Without tens of millions of dollars in income, I will not be satisfied."
Although the "Beijing News" did not report on the imperial court's forced issuance of Huizi to wealthy businessmen, the incident spread throughout the streets and alleys of Lin'an overnight. Almost everyone was talking about it, and almost all the people at the bottom were gloating about the misfortune.
We have long been displeased with this group of rich people, but people with insight are very worried that this kind of fishing will make the rich people turn to support Jingzhao.
At noon, Changfeng Tea House was extremely busy, with dozens of tea drinkers talking about the incident.
"I support what the court is doing. It is taking the wealth of wealthy businessmen without raising taxes. It is better to cry all the way than to cry as a family."
An old man gloated and said: "Those wealthy businessmen are all unkind because of their wealth. I have long disliked them. They deserve what they have today."
"Yu Weng, you can't say that. Others have accumulated wealth over generations. The imperial court is shameless and resorts to various ways to steal money. How can you still be applauded?"
"Yu Weng is right! Aren't the merchants of all dynasties fattening pigs? To fatten them, isn't it to slaughter them when needed? As the New Year is approaching, it is time to slaughter the pigs."
"If the court does this, isn't it afraid that all the rich people will run away? If all the rich people run away, who will hire us to do things?"
"If you have a lot of money, the court is not stupid. If the court doesn't touch the powerful officials, the big gentry, the big landowners, it will attack the businessmen. What's the impact?"
"The imperial court looks so ugly, just like a bandit!"
In the elegant room, Wang Mu asked: "Has Dongzhu Zheng left?"
Dong An nodded, "Wei Yanzong led his men to escort him last night, and it went smoothly. He will arrive at Dangtu tomorrow. Zheng Dong is mainly going to Jingzhao. It seems that His Highness King Yong has something to do with him."
Wang Mu went to Hu Yun, Hu Yun nodded and said with a smile: "Yesterday I received a letter from Yong Wang Ying, asking Dongzhu Zheng to go to Jingzhao when he has time. There must be something going on!"
"Did King Yong say anything else?"
"And iron money!"
Hu Yun pondered for a while and said: "King Yong is very concerned about iron money. He believes that iron money will eventually be enforced. King Yong wants us to pay close attention to iron money, especially to have a deep understanding of the bad effects brought by iron money. Brother Shaofu, "Beijing"
The newspaper has advantages in this regard and we should make good use of them.”
Wang Mu nodded, and Hu Yun said to Dong An: "The intelligence station must focus on understanding the intelligence of the imperial pig iron, which is related to the imperial armament development and the issuance of iron money."
Dong An immediately said: "I will arrange it!"
"Big shopkeeper, someone is looking for you!" a waiter shouted outside.
Dong An could only smile bitterly and said: "I'll go take a look. I guess the tea delivery person is here."
Dong An stood up and went out. Wang Mu said to Hu Yun again: "This time we underestimated the imperial court. This time the imperial court issued a meeting not for ordinary people, but for the purpose of legally plundering wealthy businessmen. Someone went to inquire about the news and said that the Plum Blossom Guards
Lock the wealthy businessmen in an empty house and torture their sons and grandsons next door, cutting off their ears, chopping off their fingers, etc. The torture was very miserable. In the end, these wealthy businessmen had to spend their money to pay for their lives, and their family fortunes for decades were basically wiped out.
Yes, Baoji Cabinet said that Meihuawei took away the gold and silver stored by six families in the warehouse last night."
Hu Yun said calmly: "This is actually to be expected. Why did hundreds of wealthy businessmen run away last year? They all felt that the court was going to attack them. They were all prophets, so they were able to escape and none of them ran away.
The wealthy businessmen all felt that the imperial court was not so shameless, but the facts proved that they had made the wrong bet."
"You are right. What the court did this time was so bad and had far-reaching consequences. They thought they would only attack wealthy businessmen, but as long as this kind of thing is done once, there will be a second time. Who knows whether it will be against big businessmen next time?
Landowners take action? I guess many local big landowners will also take precautions to transfer their property, and there is no need to go to Jingzhao, transfer to Yangzhou Prefecture in Jiangbei, transfer to Jiangnan West Road, the court will be beyond the reach of the government."
At this time, Dong An walked in and whispered: "A few wealthy businessmen came to me just now and wanted to ask me to escort their family and wealth to Yangzhou."
Hu Yun frowned and said, "We can let them deposit their money in Wanbao Counter Shop, and then issue a counter ticket to Yangzhou to withdraw the money. It won't be so troublesome!"
Dong An hesitated and said: "You can do this with copper coins, but not with gold, silver, jewelry and jade. They must be given away. Lao Hu, I have five hundred guan per person. Do you think I can accept this business?"
Hu Yun thought for a while and said with a smile: "I have promised to the court not to help wealthy businessmen transfer their wealth, but I can't give it away without a promise, so let's do it! Let them take the copper coins through the Wanbao Cabinet, and then let them give them gold, silver, jewelry, etc.
I don’t think I will have much with them myself, just a few big boxes, and then send them to Yangzhou, so as not to violate my promise to the court.”
“This is a good idea!”
Wang Mu said with a smile: "We are just giving away people, but we are not giving away property. It is the luggage they carry with them!"
Dong An breathed a sigh of relief and asked with a smile: "I understand, should I arrange it, or should we take a sea ship?"
Hu Yun nodded, "Still the old way, go to Xiaoshan County to get on the boat and take the sea route to Yangzhou."