"Send me an order to immediately close down all types of shops in Nanjing that are driving up prices, and severely punish all profiteers who hoard..."
Following Zhu Hejian's order, the atmosphere in the Confucius Temple suddenly changed.
Prior to this, due to the news of the Nanjing Civil Uprising, the sages from all walks of life in Nanjing who were watching the debate in the Confucius Temple were extremely nervous, fearing that the civil uprising would harm their own interests.
But now after hearing Zhu Hejian's order to severely punish profiteers, everyone's nervousness dissipated in an instant, and quickly turned into another more intense emotion.
greedy!
The various shops in Nanjing can be roughly divided into two backgrounds: either they are businesses run by the franchised merchants of the "United Shipping Company", or they are businesses run by the major gentry families in the south of the Yangtze River.
However, due to the fact that Song Chengren, the head of the Song family, was placed under house arrest by Jin Yiwei, the Jin gentry forces protested against this atrocity of "factory guards oppressing good Jin gentry", and their various shops and businesses did not resume operations after the lifting of martial law in Nanjing.
From the outside world, this approach is obviously excusable.
Precisely because of this kind of protest action, it was of course impossible for the gentry’s shop industries to take advantage of the opportunity to drive up prices and hoard goods.
At this time, Zhu Hejian's order to close down shops and severely punish profiteers undoubtedly pointed the finger at those merchants who joined the "United Shipping Company".
This also means that "United Shipping Lines" will soon be in bad luck!
"United Shipping Company" has been recognized as a cornucopia of treasures since its establishment. It is no exaggeration to say that money is being made every day. All the franchise merchants are making a lot of money.
Now that the "United Shipping Company" is in trouble, does it mean that all forces have a chance to get a piece of the pie?
With the astonishing financial resources of "United Shipping Company", even if it is only a drop in the bucket, it is a huge wealth!
Therefore, it is no wonder that the wise men from all walks of life in Nanjing in the Confucius Temple could not help but feel greedy.
Even a noble scholar like He Lian, the headmaster of Nanjing Gongyuan, or an outsider like Master Daoyuan, the abbot of Qixia Temple, cannot escape the vulgarity at this moment.
After Zhu Hejian announced the order, he quickly noticed the change in the atmosphere in the Confucius Temple, and couldn't help but feel sarcastic in his heart.
It is a mockery of the profit-seeking sentient beings in front of us, a mockery of the "United Shipping Company" that once stood out in the forest and is about to be overthrown by everyone, and it is also a mockery of myself who is now unable to control herself and has become a chess piece.
Ever since he seized power from the Six Ministries of Nanjing, Zhu Hejian seemed to have the highest power in Nanjing. However, every time he promulgated a government decree, he always encountered various resistances during the implementation of the decree, and all parties would always neglect it intentionally or unintentionally.
Delay greatly reduced the effectiveness of Zhu Hejian's decrees.
But this time, Zhu Hejian can be completely sure that all forces will inevitably unleash unprecedented execution and enthusiasm to quickly complete their orders.
The reaction of all forces in the Confucius Temple completely confirmed Zhu Hejian's judgment.
"What His Highness the Seventh Prince said is reasonable. A larger-scale civil unrest is about to break out. At this time, we must cut the knot quickly! Those profiteers who create public dissatisfaction and drive up prices must be severely punished, especially Li's Grain Store
, it has disrupted market prices more than once over the years..."
The speaker obviously had an old grudge with a certain franchisee of "United Shipping Lines" and wanted to take the opportunity to retaliate.
"We, the Wu family, are willing to fully cooperate with His Highness the Seventh Prince. I will give my orders now to allow all the stores of the Wu family to resume business as soon as possible, sell all kinds of supplies at fair prices, and calm the grievances of the people as soon as possible... However, our Wu family is weak.
This contribution is just a drop in the bucket. You might as well hand over the sealed shops to my Wu family, I promise..."
The speaker was obviously very greedy and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to annex and expand.
"Your Highness clearly knows that the large number of profiteers in Nanjing is largely due to the ineffective restraint of Qian Lai, the Nanjing boss of the United Shipping Company. Therefore, in addition to severely punishing profiteers and suppressing prices, the current top priority should also be to select options for Nanjing merchants.
I am willing to recommend myself as a person who is capable of taking charge of the overall situation..."
As for the speaker, he was ambitious and wanted to seize the opportunity to gain power.
The atmosphere in the Confucius Temple that had been relatively quiet just now quickly became lively. The sages from all walks of life in Nanjing no longer cared about their image. They all shouted loudly and made constant noises. They only hoped that they could attract the attention of the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian and have the opportunity to share more benefits.
But Zhu Hejian is unwilling to pay attention to these people. He is just a puppet who stands in front of the stage and issues orders to attract Zhao Junchen's hatred. He must return to Zhanyuan as soon as possible to deal with the chaos there. He has no ability to satisfy the selfish desires of these people.
, and I am not in the mood to respond to the greed of these people.
Therefore, Zhu Hejian pretended not to hear the noise from the crowd, and just loudly announced that the public debate in the Confucius Temple was over immediately. He did not announce who would win between the Jin gentry forces and the Huangzhuang forces, and wanted to turn around and leave quickly.
However, before Zhu Hejian could take a step, Song Jicheng shouted loudly: "Your Highness, the Seventh Prince, wait a minute! The student has one more thing to do."
Zhu Hejian turned around impatiently and asked, "What else can I do?"
When he turned to ask, for a moment, Zhu Hejian finally took off his gentle and gentle mask, and his expression flashed with violence and ferocity like a hungry wolf in desperate situation.
Although his expression changed only for a moment, it still frightened Song Jicheng so much that he felt as if an evil beast was pouncing on him with its teeth and claws, and he couldn't help but take a step back.
But the next moment, Song Jicheng blinked hard, only to find that the scene just now seemed like an illusion. Although Zhu Hejian's expression was not happy, it was overall calm. How could there be any trace of ferocity and violence?
After calming down for a moment, Song Jicheng slowly said: "The student blocked His Highness mainly because of the matter of the student's grandfather... To this day, the student still firmly believes that his grandfather was just framed by a villain. There is absolutely no way that he could secretly interfere with military power, let alone
Maybe he has bad intentions for the imperial court. The student knows his grandfather best. His loyalty to the emperor can be seen from the sun and the moon! At this moment, the chaos in Nanjing continues, and there is a lack of a respected person to stand up and stabilize the hearts of all walks of life. The student privately
I think my grandfather is the most suitable candidate, so the student hopes that His Highness will make a decisive decision again, ignore the slanders of those villains, release him as soon as possible, and restore his innocence. When the time comes, my grandfather will also fully assist His Highness to stabilize the situation!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Under the current situation, Song Jicheng seems to be "pledging", but in fact Zhu Hejian still has no room for rejection.
After thinking for a moment, Zhu Hejian said in a deep voice: "I will rush to Zhanyuan now. I will also meet with Xi Ping, the Nanjing garrison eunuch, and then I will ask Xi Ping to release Senior Song immediately, and I will also meet with him
Xi Ping also publicly apologized to Senior Song, but...after Senior Song is released, can the gentry industries in Nanjing resume business as soon as possible to help the court maintain stable prices and public sentiment?"
Song Jicheng bowed and said with a smile: "Students promise that within half an hour, all the Jinshen industry stores in Nanjing will be open for business, and they will also sell all kinds of daily necessities at lower prices. They will definitely be in the shortest possible time."
Calm down the grievances of the people and eliminate this civil unrest."
"That's good!"
After saying that, Zhu Hejian took a deep look at Song Jicheng, then turned his head and met Zhou Shangjing, who was still calm in the audience, for a moment, then turned around and left again without hesitation, and hurried back to Zhanyuan with Lu De.
As for the specific implementation details of sealing down stores and severely punishing profiteers, Zhu Hejian ignored them all.
*
Just as Zhu Hejian left quickly, Zhou Shangjing, who was still sitting firmly in the front and center of the auditorium, turned to look at the Crown Prince and Grand Master Wang Baoren again, and said with a smile: "Master Wang, this time, I still won the bet!
"
In the early morning of the day before yesterday, Zhou Shangjing and Wang Baoren made a private bet.
Wang Baoren had declared at that time that Song Chengren, Zhou Shangjing's best friend, the core figure of the "Zhou Party", and the head of the Song family in Jiangnan, would definitely become a prisoner in the future, and Zhou Shangjing himself would be unable to protect him and would be helpless.
Zhou Shangjing responded directly at that time, saying that by tonight, Song Chengren would not only not be a prisoner, but would become the guest of the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, and Zhu Hejian would also take the initiative to bow his head to Song Chengren and admit his mistake.
Now it seems that Zhou Shangjing obviously won the bet.
At this time, Wang Baoren's face became even more ugly after hearing Zhou Shangjing's reminder.
After a long silence, Wang Baoren finally spoke slowly and said sarcastically: "I lost this bet because I had a high opinion of Zhou Shoufu! Before this, although I regarded Zhou Shoufu as my lifelong rival, I was always willing to admit Zhou Shoufu's
When you seek personal gain for yourself and your friends, you will also try your best to take into account the long-term peace and stability of the imperial court! But now it seems that I missed Zhou Shoufu! In order to force His Highness the Seventh Prince to make concessions, you did not hesitate to go to Nanjing like this
A civil unrest breaks out in a key town! Aren't you worried that the situation will get out of control?"
In fact, Zhou Shangjing is really not worried about the situation getting out of control, because this civil unrest was directed and staged by Zhou Shangjing from beginning to end. Those "rioters" who attacked the grain store to seize rice were actually servants and servants of the Song family.
Chang Gong, not many real Nanjing people were involved, and the Nanjing people who witnessed the incident were quickly controlled secretly by Zhou Shangjing, so the impact of this incident would not spread quickly.
However, Zhou Shangjing did not deliberately explain - it may be more beneficial to Zhou Shangjing to let Wang Baoren regard himself as an unscrupulous hypocrite.
Zhou Shangjing just changed the topic and asked again with a smile: "Since I won this bet, what kind of bonus do you want to give me, Master Wang?"
Wang Baoren's face became even uglier and he asked: "Oh? What kind of bonus do you want? Do you want me to surrender and follow you from now on? It's impossible with just a bet!"
Zhou Shangjing shook his head gently and said: "Of course it is not so harsh. I just want to take the opportunity to go to the river port outside Nanjing Beicheng to receive a distinguished guest for me! After seeing this distinguished guest, Master Wang should not ask him anything.
To reveal anything, just send him to me!"
"Dignified guest?" Wang Baoren's expression condensed: "There are very few people in the government and the public who can be called an honored guest by Zhou Shoufu. Who is this honored guest?"
Zhou Shangjing smiled mysteriously and said, "You will know who he is when you go to the north dock of the city!"
Seeing that Zhou Shangjing was deliberately showing off his mystery, Wang Baoren snorted coldly, did not ask further questions, and immediately wanted to get up and leave.
But at this time, Zhou Shangjing said again: "Master Wang, please listen to my warning again! I know that you want to use the power of the Seventh Prince to make a comeback, but you must think clearly at this time, what is the nature of our Majesty?
, you also know very well that before going through the series of events in Nanjing City, His Majesty had never doubted the true character of the Seventh Prince, and naturally he had high hopes. However, after the series of events in Nanjing City, His Majesty
After he is aware of all the doubts, will he still trust the Seventh Prince? And once our Majesty has doubts... Master Wang, you must not choose the wrong path!"
After hearing Zhou Shangjing's warning, Wang Baoren paused for a moment, then snorted again, and then left quickly.