The faces of the merchants changed when they encountered the young prince who was not tall but clamored to see if the sword was sharp.
Everyone knew that the Ming Dynasty did not like merchants. Although the Ming Dynasty did not divide the people into three, six or nine classes like the Yuan Dynasty, the status of merchants at the official level was indeed the lowest in history.
At this time, the merchants in the south of the Yangtze River had become a little more mature, and they were far from being able to manipulate the imperial court as they would a few decades later.
Otherwise, Ru Taisu and Wei Guan would not have closed their shops and acted rogue to force merchants to "donate" as soon as they were short of food.
One side is a prince, and the other is a businessman. No one doubts that Zhu Su dares to keep his threats just verbal. Didn't you see that the prince is so careless and careless? Who dares to bet that the prince is a stupid young man who doesn't agree with his words?
Are you really going to draw your sword?
To sum up, of course, no one dared to reply "His sword is not bad at all". They also couldn't explain the question of whether their family members were good-for-nothings or monsters, so they just kept their heads down and acted like quails.
Even if he said clearly that "the master of the palace is young", Ma Yuanwai, a salt merchant who always said "the master of the palace does not know", remained silent at this time.
So... where did the Prince of Wu’s Palace Master get the precise amount of food stored by each family?
"Aren't you going to quibble? You can say that the number is purely false."
"If we do that, I don't have much sense of accomplishment."
Zhu Su naturally would not explain his source of information to them. Seeing that everyone was silent, he crossed his legs again and leaned on the back of the seat at the head. His eyes swept across the crowd, almost ignoring Zhu Su
Wherever they saw merchants, they would shrink back, for fear of being called out by Zhu Su.
It can be seen from this atmosphere that the data in each account book is accurate. What do you want us to quibble about?
Give you an excuse to scare the monkeys?
"It seems that everyone has acquiesced." Zhu Su sneered. "Now, he will ask us one more question."
"Who is willing to work with the imperial court on that shipping business?"
"If you are willing, you can bid with rice and grain. The amount of rice and grain donated will determine the size of the shipping space in the next month!"
"Then do you want to do business with us? Don't tell me that I am taking advantage of you?"
He was talking about plundering by clever means, but how could the merchants of Didong be so secretive? In his heart, the young prince wanted to plunder by clever means! He just wanted to care about the royal family's face and found a fig leaf!
So what about transporting military rations by sea? It has nothing to do with Yongxuan, and it doesn't matter the size of the cabin. Maybe there are so many people present, so there is only one cabin left?
Bu Nao and the others are also aware that the prince in front of them gives them the only chance to borrow Po Donglu! The county magistrate who has ruined his family and the governor who has destroyed his family, it is not difficult for the prince to destroy their nine tribes, let alone seize some of them.
Food! I am so anxious that I will tear off the skin. When the time comes, I will add a long sword to my neck, and the food depot at home will naturally allow the soldiers to take whatever they want!
Didn't you hear what he said? He begged to try the sword to see if it was sharp!
"Dongdong! The Shen family is willing to give another ten thousand dan to join the business of the east of the hall!"
To Zhu Su's expectation, the first person to appear was Shen Wang of the Shen family. Zhu Su was stunned and said with a smile: "Second Uncle Shen, didn't our Shen family donate 80,000 shi to the imperial court yesterday?"
"Why, our Shen family has a lot of food hidden? It's a very deep foundation." Zhu Su's eyes glowed with evil.
"How dare you deceive the master of the palace? All the grains of the Shen family have been sent to the mansion a long time ago." Shen Wang's fat face showed a half-flattery, half-bitter smile. Yesterday, I saw the grains one by one with my own eyes. Transporting it into the bottomless pit of the Suzhou Preparatory Warehouse, he and all the shopkeepers and managers were almost knocked out in distress.
But if the food is gone, it will be gone. We should consider how to better benefit the Shen family. At this time, the greatest benefit for the Shen family is to regain the trust of the king of Wu Wang. So Shen Wang continued He said: "Although the Shen family has no food, the affairs of the east of the palace naturally do not concern the Shen family."
"Dian Dong wants to start a shipping business. Is there any reason why the Shen family shouldn't support it?"
"Fortunately, the Shen family still has very little wealth. Selling off some of the family property and raising another ten thousand dan for the master of the palace is something that can only be done by gritting one's teeth."
"Everyone here, if anyone is willing to sell the Shen family 10,000 stones, the Shen family is willing to pay an additional 10% of the market price tomorrow to enhance the prestige of the palace!"
Speaking of the end, Shen Wang turned around and bought food on the spot, missing many of his colleagues behind him. Zhu Su was stunned by his operation, and Shen Nao's heart was already red. Is Shen Wang going to be like this again? Please forgive me for my hoarding.
Adding another 10% to Ru Ming's grain price is already the same as when grain prices were at their highest. Even if it were not the Shen family, such a purchase would still be exhausting. Not to mention if it was said in public, there would be no room for regret. ?
His gesture also shocked the faces of many businessmen. The Shen family was actually willing to pay such a price just to participate in some kind of shipping business with Ye Chang... No one knew that the Shen family had a relationship with the young prince before. Can he wear a pair of pants? With such a huge amount of money, will he know any external information?
Could it be that the shipping business really has unimaginable benefits?
"Dongdong! He, Zhao Yunyan, is willing to pay 85,000 dan of grain to get a seat on the sea transport!" Didong, the businessman with the Chinese character surnamed Zhao, stood up for the second time and shouted.
"To the east of the palace, he, Hong Benxiao, is willing to provide 40,000 dan of food!"
"Dongdong of the palace, he Shi Daoyuan..."
"Dongdong..."
The scene finally became heated. Whether the group of Shang Ji Wan really wanted to try investing, or whether they simply wanted to calm Zhu Su's anger, one by one they finally let go of their mouths that could not come in and out, and vomited out the stored grain. come out.
Zhu Su finally regained his smile, called Luo Guanzhong, who was acting as a scribe, and recorded the amount of money that the merchants were willing to invest on the spot. Since they dared to speak out, they were afraid that they would regret it. In the early Ming Dynasty, when the legal system was not strict, they hoarded money, but it was very difficult. There is really no law that can justifiably arrest them.
But if they dared to deceive Wang Jia in front of a large crowd, then even if Zhu Su went on a killing spree in anger, even if he refused to go to Yushitai, he would not be able to say anything.
As each merchant reported the amount and recorded it, General Luo Guanzhong handed the thick account book recording the amount of the merchants' "shareholding" into Zhu Su's lap.
Zhu Sucuo flipped through the data in the "Hu Zheng" account book and found that most of the merchants had "vomited" a large portion of the grain stored at home. Most of those merchants were not aware of current affairs and no one dared to take advantage of the locals. Identity, and then try to test yourself, then you will be a "strong dragon".
There are exceptions among them. Zhu Su looked at the particularly eye-catching "one hundred stones" and "two hundred and fifty stones" in the account book, and couldn't help but smile coldly in his heart. He thought there was no chance to scare the monkeys, but anyway,
There are some "chickens" jumping around hoping to die.
"Ma Fengsun... Ma Yanshang, please."
"I and several other salt merchants have donated one hundred and two hundred and fifty dan, are we trying to deal with this king?"
Zhu Su opened his mouth and said.
"How dare ordinary people deal with the master of the palace?" The horseman who had been waiting for a long time went out. "Really, the family really has no money left."
"If the master of the house had not really taken all the food away...not to mention how the shipping would be in the next month, the Ma family would have gone bankrupt in an instant!"
The salt merchant named Ma Fengsun kept begging for mercy with his legs crossed.