Hu Yun quickly shook his head, "There is nothing wrong with me as a humble person. It's a matter of Yanshan Road."
Chen Qing smiled slightly and said, "What's the trouble?"
Hu Yun sighed and said: "That's it. Yanshan Road rented a house covering an area of three acres in Muren Lane, East Street, as a zouyuan. All the zouzouyuan of various states on Yanshan Road are concentrated in this house. Last night the landlord
He brought a group of people to force us out, so the landlord gave us three days to move out. Can His Highness lend an official house to Yanshan Road first?"
"Why is the landlord evicting you? Is the rent going to be raised?"
"No! He sold the house and someone else is moving in. Our lease term is also up, so we are very passive."
Chen Qing chuckled, "Okay, I'll go back and say hello to Mr. Jiang!"
Hu Yun stood up and said goodbye.
Chen Qing thought for a while and ordered Pei Wenjin: "Go quickly to invite Chiang Kai-shek to participate in political affairs, and by the way, invite Duke Zhou too!"
Pei Wenjin hurried away. The Jinzouyuan mentioned by Hu Yun was the office in Beijing. This is also an inevitable product of the centralized system and has existed since ancient times.
The Jinzouyuan was a bridge between the imperial court and the local government. If there were ultimatums from the local government, people would be sent to Beijing to deliver them to the Jinzouyuan, which would then hand them over to the relevant ministries and temples.
Most of the Jinzouyuan are concentrated in one place. For example, the Jinzouyuan in the Tang Dynasty was mainly concentrated in Chongrenfang. Jingzhao did not consider this at first, so all the Jinzouyuan in each state rented their own houses, and the Yongwang Mansion could not provide extra official offices.
give them.
But today Hu Yun mentioned that he was evicted by the landlord when he entered the memorial hall on Yanshan Road, which made Chen Qing think of a solution.
At this time, Jiang Yanxian and Zhou Kuan hurried to Chen Qing's new official room. When they entered, they clasped their fists and said with a smile: "Congratulations to Your Highness on the birth of your son!"
Chen Qing chuckled and said: "Your news is really amazing!"
"Of course, having a baby is a big deal for the princess!"
"Let's go! Let's go to the old official building and have a look, and then I'll treat you to lunch."
The two of them didn't ask any questions, and followed Chen Qing on the carriage to the old official residence. Not long after, the two carriages arrived at their old official residence, which was the former official residence of Prince Yong.
At this time, all the monasteries and temples had been moved away, leaving only boxes of documents in the warehouse. More than a thousand soldiers were cleaning the warehouse.
When I walked into the official room, it was completely empty, with nothing left.
"Has Mr. Jiang considered what to do here in the future?"
"The Inner Palace is still discussing it. Does His Highness have any ideas?"
Chen Qing nodded, then explained the request made by Hu Yun, and finally said: "We have never considered entering the memorial hall before, so that later the entrance halls were scattered throughout the city. On the one hand, it was very inconvenient.
, on the other hand, it also increases the burden on the states. It happens that these official offices are vacant, so we take this opportunity to solve the problem of entering the memorial hall in one fell swoop."
Jiang Yanxian smiled and said: "Previously, Political Affairs Minister Lu proposed to use these old official offices as a window for various ministries and temples to the outside world. Ordinary people do not need to enter Zhuque City to do business. However, entering the memorial hall is indeed a big problem. I support your highness's plan."
Zhou Kuan also smiled and said: "I also support entering the memorial hall. As for the window of the government office to the outside world, I think we can set up a tent in Zhuque Square. We don't need to enter Zhuque City and can get things done directly in the square."
Chen Qing smiled happily and said: "Let's go! Let's go have lunch and talk in detail over tea. We also need to find a temporary entrance to Yanshan Road, otherwise they will be chased into the street."
Jiang Yanxian smiled slightly and said: "There is a place, I will arrange it for them this afternoon!"
The three of them had lunch at Qingfeng Teahouse, and Cha Ji served them tea. Zhou Kuan smiled and said: "Your Highness, you don't know! There is also a Qingfeng Teahouse on Beida Street. The location is very good, right opposite Tianjin Bridge. From now on,
You can have a meal and drink tea there at noon.”
Chen Qing nodded, "I know, it was opened by the parents of one of my concubines, just like the Qingfeng Teahouse here."
The Qingfeng Tea House on Beidajie mentioned by Zhou Kuan was opened by Yao Mei's parents. To be precise, it was a joint venture with Lu Jin, with each party holding a half share.
At this time, the trade supervisor Zheng Tongquan came over to see him. Chen Qing quickly asked him to sit down and asked with a smile: "Why is Mr. Zheng here?"
"I'm meeting two old friends from Lin'an, drinking tea next door!"
"Who is it?"
"Your Highness should have heard that one is Wang Zhenbang and the other is Yu Wanfeng."
Chen Qing has really admired the famous names for a long time. The three large merchants in Lin'an, the Zheng Tongquan family, the Wang Zhenbang family and the Yu Wanfeng family, are all wealthy and powerful businessmen. Unexpectedly, they are all in Jingzhao.
Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "You might as well invite them to come and sit for a while!"
Zheng Tongquan was overjoyed and quickly invited two friends next door. Taking this opportunity, Chen Qing introduced Jiang Yanxian and Zhou Kuan in a low voice.
Not long after, Zheng Tongquan brought two people over and introduced them to Chen Qing. The two of them bowed respectfully and said: "Common people, please see His Highness King Yong, see Chiang Kai-shek for political affairs, and see Zhou Zhou for political affairs!"
Chen Qing saw that both of them were in their fifties or sixties. Wang Zhenbang was lean and had dark skin, while Yu Qingfeng had fairer skin and was a little fatter.
"You two don't have to be polite. Please sit down and drink tea. There is room for six people!"
Zhou Kuan asked Cha Ji to serve tea, and the three of them sat down. Chen Qing asked with a smile: "When did the two officials come to Jingzhao?"
Wang Zhenbang, who was older, leaned forward and said, "Your Highness, I just arrived yesterday!"
"Is this your first time here?"
Yu Qingfeng smiled and said: "Your Highness, you don't know. We came here three years ago and each bought a piece of land in Nancheng to build a house and some land for shops."
Chen Qing nodded. He could understand that with the shrewdness of these big businessmen, they should have taken action long ago. They probably bought a lot of land.
"How is the situation in Lin'an now? I heard that the imperial court is going to issue huizi to all merchants. Has it started yet?" Chen Qing asked again.
Wang Zhenbang sighed and said: "The opposition was so fierce that the imperial court had to give in and only issue huizi to 350 large merchants. But not only Lin'an, but also other prefectures, at most Pingjiang Prefecture and Guangzhou, each with eight
Ten companies are on the list, accounting for half of them. It is said that they will issue 20 million guanhuizi this time, and the average family is 70,000 to 80,000 guan. It is so cruel that it will basically rob the wealth of big businessmen."
"Are you two on the list?"
"Of course we can't run away, but we only have the house and a few shops left that cannot be moved. If the court wants it, just give it to them!"
Zhou Kuan sighed and said: "Killing the chicken to take the egg is a sign of national destruction!"
Chen Qing pondered for a while and said: "Can we collect 20 million yuan?"
Wang Zhenbang shook his head, "It's not the first time that someone can kill someone by surprise. The same thing has been done twice, and the news came out two months ago. It has been delayed for two months. Can the businessman not escape? I
It is estimated that half of the confiscated properties would be good, and many of them are houses and shops. The real estate in Lin'an cannot be sold at all. There are too many and no one is willing to take over. Once the court sells the confiscated properties, the housing prices in Lin'an will collapse.
The consequences are even more serious. How much money those powerful people spent to buy the land suddenly saw their property shrink dramatically. You can imagine their resentment towards the emperor and the court."
After everyone drank a cup of tea, Chen Qing said to them again: "You are all famous maritime merchants. Have you considered continuing to engage in overseas trade?"
The two looked at each other, and Yu Wanfeng sighed and said: "There are many experienced brothers in our family, and they are also considering going to Quanzhou to resume their old careers. However, our ten thousand ships have been forcibly requisitioned by the imperial court for several years, and they will not return them."
We are powerless!"
The expressions of the two people suddenly became a little unnatural. They just remembered that the more than one hundred thousand-stone sea-going ships owned by their two families were in the hands of King Yong opposite!
Chen Qing said calmly: "The spoils of war are generally not returned, but if you are willing to redeem them, I can promise that each of you will redeem twenty sea-going ships."