After Zhao Junchen obtained the statement jointly issued by the seventh prince Zhu Hejian and the "United Shipping Company", he immediately announced the statement to the Nanjing government and the public without any delay.
With the power base of the Song family in Nanjing, it was natural that they received the news immediately.
After receiving the news, Song Chengren, the head of the Song family, did not realize the seriousness in time. Instead, he was greatly confused.
According to this announcement - from the day when Nanjing city is lifted from the ban, all Nanjing merchants who violate laws and disciplines will be immediately expelled from the 'United Shipping Company' and will not be allowed to participate in any business of the 'United Shipping Company' again within the next three years.
Business.
In this case, wouldn't it be possible that the first party to suffer losses due to this statement would be the franchise merchants of "United Shipping Lines"?
After all, under Zhou Shangjing's operation, these merchants' crimes of driving up prices and hoarding have long been concluded. Therefore, after this statement is issued, the franchise merchants of these "United Shipping Lines" will first be expelled immediately.
"United Shipping Company" will not be able to participate in all the business of "United Shipping Company" even within the next three years...
But these businessmen have always regarded Zhao Junchen as their backer, and even looked up to Zhao Junchen. But by doing this, wouldn't Zhao Junchen be cutting off his own help and tying himself up?
With such doubts, after hearing the news from their legitimate grandson Song Jicheng, Song Chengren and Song Jicheng's ancestors and grandsons immediately found Zhou Shangjing and reported the news to Zhou Shangjing.
Who would have thought that Zhou Shangjing, who had always been wise and calm, would change his face in a rare change after hearing this information. He immediately told Song Jicheng in a deep voice: "Jicheng, you immediately send people to all the gentry families."
Send the news and force them to stop all freight immediately, recall all caravans and cargo ships as soon as possible, and all businesses in Nanjing must keep a low profile as much as possible. Zhao Junchen must not be allowed to get caught at this time!"
After hearing Zhou Shangjing's instructions, Song Jicheng couldn't help but look confused and asked: "Zhou Shoufu, didn't you still want to give Zhao Junchen a blow yesterday?
According to your instructions, after the major gentry took over the industry of "United Shipping Company", they all accelerated the speed of annexation, moved various materials of "United Shipping Company" to their own warehouses, and destroyed all the materials of "United Shipping Company".
The accounts of the shop... In this way, even if Zhao Junchen has a way to regain the 'United Shipping Company' industry in the future, he can only regain some empty shells...
After receiving your orders, the various gentry have been actively taking action since last night, and have transferred supplies outside Nanjing. Now you have asked them to stop their actions immediately. Such orders are changed day by day, isn't it..."
Regarding Song Jicheng's doubts, Zhou Shangjing had no patience to explain, and his attitude was not as friendly as before. Instead, he glanced at Song Jicheng coldly and said in a cold voice: "Follow my instructions immediately! Time is urgent and opportunities are fleeting. This kind of
Do you still want me to waste my time just to answer your questions?"
Seeing Zhou Shangjing's attitude, Song Jicheng was immediately frightened. Naturally, he did not dare to pester him again and immediately turned around and left.
After watching his grandson Song Jicheng leave in a hurry, Song Chengren finally couldn't help but be confused and asked: "Brother Zhou, what is going on? Why are you so nervous?"
Zhou Shangjing's expression became more solemn and he said slowly: "I underestimated Zhao Junchen again. I didn't expect him to be so courageous! In order to hurt the enemy eight hundred, he actually took the initiative to hurt himself a thousand!
After the promulgation of this statement, the first victims were of course the franchise merchants of the "United Shipping Company", but if you think about it carefully, after Jiangnan Jinshen took over all the industries of the "United Shipping Company", now in Nanjing, "United Shipping Company"
The leaders of the shipping companies are no longer the former group of merchants, but have become the Jiangnan Jin gentry! Therefore, this statement seems to be a self-destructive help, but in fact it is directed at the various Jin gentry!"
After hearing this, Song Chengren quickly realized the seriousness of the situation, and his expression also changed slightly!
Following Zhou Shangjing's thinking, Song Chengren deduced: "So, after this statement is issued, Zhao Junchen can use this statement to take the opportunity to strictly investigate the business of each Jin gentry. Once the existence of various Jin gentry's businesses is found,
Wherever there is any violation of laws and disciplines, he can take advantage of the victory to pursue and kill them all! It is indeed a clever plan, but... how can it be so easy to catch the gentry?
The merchants of the "United Shipping Company" were severely punished yesterday for the crime of price gouging. It can be said that the lesson is not far away. After the gentry took the opportunity to take over the various industries of the "United Shipping Company", they all promised with patting their chests that they would definitely
To quell the rising prices in Nanjing as soon as possible. In fact, since the gentry took over the various businesses of the "United Shipping Company", the prices in Nanjing have indeed dropped rapidly, and the resentment among the people has also been quickly eliminated. Under such circumstances, Zhao Junchen is still in the egg
I'm afraid you won't be able to convince everyone if you find fault with me, right?"
Zhou Shangjing smiled bitterly and said: "Under normal circumstances, of course it is like this! But now, the situation is different... Probably because I feel that I don't have much time, and I am a little too eager to do things. After the negotiation with Zhao Junchen broke down yesterday,
Eager to give Zhao Junchen a blow, he ordered the gentry to act as quickly as possible to destroy the account books of the "United Shipping Company", remove the materials of the "United Shipping Company", and empty out the property of the "United Shipping Company"...
The gentry were naturally happy to obey orders. They started organizing cargo ships on a large scale last night, hoping to transfer all the huge assets of the "United Shipping Company" to their respective spheres of influence outside Nanjing. However, this decision of mine also played into Zhao's hands.
Junchen's plans, such as this large-scale freight operation, can easily be found! You should understand that in this world, no account can withstand strict scrutiny. As long as the official deliberately seeks trouble, it can always be solved.
Find the loopholes in the law and discipline!"
After hearing Zhou Shangjing's explanation, Song Chengren's expression became more serious.
However, after Song Chengren thought calmly for a moment, he raised the question again: "But... Zhao Junchen didn't have any power base in Nanjing not long after he first came to Nanjing. No matter how clever his plan was, he simply didn't have the strength to implement it.
A plan! Could it be that he could conjure a large number of troops out of thin air to search and detain the caravans and cargo ships of the major gentry families?"
Zhou Shangjing sneered: "Have you forgotten... Zhao Junchen has just arrived in Nanjing and has already subdued Liu Huaiyuan, the military official of Jiang Fang Camp, before he officially entered Nanjing? And one of the powers and responsibilities of Nanjing Jiang Fang Camp is to inspect smuggling.
!”
Song Chengren shook his head again and said: "The thousands of troops in Jiangfang camp alone are probably not enough!"
Zhou Shangjing snorted coldly: "But you still ignored another thing. This announcement was jointly issued by the 'United Shipping Company' and the Seventh Prince! Therefore, Zhao Junchen's plan may have won the Seventh Prince's support.
Recognition and cooperation! Indeed, the men and horses of Jiang Fang Camp alone are not enough, but what if we add the power of Nanjing to guard the Eunuch Mansion?"
"this……"
After hearing this, Song Chengren took a deep breath and his expression changed again!
After Zhou Shangjing frowned and thought for a moment, he asked, "Is there any latest news from Nanjing's eunuch Xi Cheng?"
Song Chengren said solemnly: "Speaking of which, there are indeed abnormalities in the actions of Nanjing's guarding the eunuch's mansion. Xi Cheng sent all his spies out and seems to be closely watching the changes in the situation in Nanjing, especially for our surveillance.
The intensity increased greatly..."
Speaking of this, Song Chengren's expression changed.
First, the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian and the "United Shipping Company" jointly issued a statement, and then the Nanjing Guards Eunuch Mansion was about to make a move...
Could it be that the seventh prince Zhu Hejian and the inner court forces represented by Xi have decided to support Zhao Junchen?
If Zhao Junchen joins forces with the inner court forces, then even if the "Zhou Party" has the full support of the Jin gentry forces, the pressure will increase greatly and they will no longer be able to secure victory.
"As expected!" Zhou Shangjing's gray brows furrowed tightly: "The forces in the inner court should not be underestimated. If this force ends up supporting Zhao Junchen, we must take full precautions! However, the position of the inner court forces is not yet certain, so we also
Don’t react too much…”
There is a term in later generations called "suspicious chain", which means that two forces that do not trust each other and do not communicate with each other will uncontrollably suspect each other, thinking that the other force may have ulterior motives and is trying to harm itself and eliminate itself.
, and because the two forces do not trust each other and do not communicate with each other, they cannot eliminate their doubts no matter what. They can only try their best to prevent the other party, suppress the other party, or even take the initiative to attack the other party, and this behavior only
It will further deepen the suspicion between both parties!
In this way, even if both sides had no intention of triggering a conflict at the beginning, the conflict was still inevitable.
Many wars since ancient times, including the outbreak of World War I and World War II in later generations, were largely fueled by chains of suspicion.
But now, Zhao Junchen has successfully trapped Zhou Shangjing into the vortex of the "chain of suspicion".
If the situation is not particularly tense, Zhou Shangjing will naturally not fall into the trap easily due to his sophisticated calculations. Before he actually takes action, he will first try to find out the true position of all parties.
But of course Zhao Junchen would not leave any time to Zhou Shangjing to give Zhou Shangjing a chance to find out the truth.
Just as Zhou Shangjing was thinking about how he should deal with the current situation, Song Jicheng, who had just left, came back again. After hurriedly entering the room, he hurriedly reported: "Something bad is going on! The student just received the news that in the north of Nanjing,
Outside the dock, Jiang Fangying suddenly took action and forcibly detained the cargo ships of various gentry families!"
…
PS: I slept all day today, so it’s still a small chapter. I will resume the update of the big chapter tomorrow.