In the eyes of the people of Lu'an Prefecture, after the imperial envoy Zhao Junchen came to Lu'an Prefecture, Lu'an Prefecture, which was already plagued by locust plagues, became even more chaotic.
First, Zhao Junchen was attacked with stones while inspecting the disaster area. The government arrested many people, but neither punished nor released them. They just kept them in jail, which made people panic.
Then, within a few days, all the squires and elders from all over Lu'an Prefecture received invitations from the government, saying that they had something to discuss. The attitude of the officials who delivered the letters was mostly polite, but their meaning was very clear, that is, they must go.
Not allowed to be absent. For a time, the people were speculating.
Almost at the same time, the monks, Taoists, magicians and witches in Lu'an Prefecture also received a post from Nai Nai Temple, saying that the Zhang family was going to host a "Five Religions Ventilation Meeting". Compared with the politeness of the government, Nai Nai Temple's
The person in charge, Zhang Daoquan, was very domineering - "If anyone dares not to come, then they will never be able to gain a foothold in Lu'an Mansion in the future" - these were Zhang Daoquan's original words.
Then, the garrison near Lu'an Prefecture began to mobilize frequently. Officials from Zuojin Prefecture gathered in Lu'an Prefecture. In addition to being panic-stricken, the people couldn't help but secretly guess, could something big happen in Lu'an Prefecture?
Finally, a well-informed person spread the news that the government was preparing to organize a large number of manpower to cull the locusts!!
It is said that this proposal was strongly advocated by imperial envoy Zhao Junchen and strongly supported by prefect Liu Changan. Although other officials expressed doubts, they were all suppressed by Liu Changan, who was always very talkative.
For a time, doubts, uneasiness, and hesitation began to spread among the people.
Are the government preparing to cull the locusts? What if the locust god takes revenge in the future?
The common people wanted to ask the nearby Zong Lao squires for countermeasures, but they were all invited away by the government. They wanted to go to the abbots of nearby temples for answers. Unfortunately, those monks, Taoists, magicians, and witches were also invited by Nainai Temple.
passed.
………
Zhao Junchen paid great attention to people's reactions, so he also learned about people's emotions through various channels.
But Zhao Junchen didn't care. In Zhao Junchen's opinion, even people's panic was a sign of vitality, which was better than the despair and even numbness he had seen a few days ago.
Three days have passed since Zhao Junchen inspected the disaster area. Elderly squires from all over Lu'an Prefecture have gathered at the Yamen, waiting for Zhao Junchen's summons, but Zhao Junchen is not in a hurry to meet them.
Because Zhao Junchen is preparing for more important things. It can even be said that the ultimate success of this disaster relief depends largely on this.
That was the meeting with Shanxi businessmen, to be precise, the meeting with Shanxi businessmen.
Yes, Zhao Junchen paid more attention to these Shanxi merchants than those old squires, and he must also pay attention to these famous Shanxi merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Not only because these merchants have a large amount of food hoarded in their hands, after Zhao Junchen extinguishes the locust plague, the food gap for the victims will need to be dealt with from these merchants, but also because Zhao Junchen wants to organize manpower in Lu'an Prefecture to extinguish the locust plague.
It would not be possible without the nod of support from these businessmen.
According to the general view of later generations, in ancient China, the merchants of the Song Dynasty were the richest, the freest and most energetic in doing business. Zhao Junchen did not deny this, but when it comes to status, power and influence,
In Zhao Junchen's view, through all dynasties, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty still took the lead.
How powerful were the merchants in the Ming Dynasty? Not to mention the famous Zhang Juzheng in history, Zhang Siwei and others became the chief ministers of the cabinet with the support of merchants. It also does not explain how many officials in the dynasty were inexplicably dismissed because they offended merchants.
Demotion, not to mention the conflict between the famous Donglin Party and Wei Zhongxian in history, is essentially a conflict between the emperor and businessmen. Just a record that Zhao Junchen saw in his previous life can easily tell the story.
This shows how powerful businessmen were in this era.
During the Jiajing period, there was a wealthy businessman named Zou Wang in Wuxi. After his old mother passed away, he set up a Feng Shui dojo. Because the pomp was so big and so many people came, the streets were blocked, and Zou Wang also had
In order to free up space, he demolished the house opposite Zou Mansion with a wave of his hand.
And that house was the hometown of Gu Shangshu (Note 1) at that time, and Gu Shangshu had just returned to Dingyou, Wuxi! Zou Wangming knew this, but he didn't take Gu Shangshu seriously at all!
Gu Shangshu was naturally angry, so he asked the Yamen to send people to arrest Zou Wang, but he got into big trouble.
On the day Zou Wang was imprisoned, merchants in Wuxi city went on strike one after another, and the prefect of Wuxi received threats one after another. With no choice but to release Zou Wang the next day.
However, the matter was far from over. Although the merchants resumed business, under Zou Wang's arrangement, in Wuxi City, Gu Shangshu's family could not spend any money on vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, cloth, or even needlework and paper.
You can't buy them at a high price. And Gu Shangshu's servants and maids will be bullied by local ruffians as long as they leave Gu's house. Gu Shangshu intended to ask the government officials to protect the Gu family, but the government officials took leave one after another claiming to be sick.
.
At the end of the day, Gu Shangshu and his family could no longer survive in Wuxi, so they had no choice but to leave.
A dignified minister, a second-rank official in the Ming Dynasty, could not even compete with a local wealthy businessman. This was the situation in the Ming Dynasty at that time.
There are many reasons for this situation, but in the final analysis, it can be summed up in one sentence - "Officials cannot compete with officials, and officials are controlled by businessmen"!!
Since the Song Dynasty, there has been a situation in China where "officials are not feudal, but officials are feudal." Officials are sent from outside, but officials are locals. Officials can only rely on officials to do things. However, the income of officials is extremely low, and most of them
It is necessary to accept "funding" from local businessmen. In this way, local businessmen became the bosses of the officials, and the officials became the associates of the local businessmen. Because of this, for most of the Ming Dynasty, the businessmen had the power to influence the local affairs.
political capabilities.
Zou Wang is just a local wealthy businessman in Wuxi who has such influence, not to mention the famous Shanxi merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Although Shanxi merchants have always been low-key, they are not like Hui merchants and Zhejiang merchants.
They are unscrupulous, but in terms of power, influence, status, and financial resources, they are higher and stronger than the Huizhou and Zhejiang merchants.
In this time and space, although the merchant power was suppressed due to Emperor Chongzhen's various reforms, and its influence was lower than in the history Zhao Junchen was familiar with, it still cannot be ignored.
Therefore, whether it was relieving victims or fighting locust plagues, Zhao Junchen thought of them immediately when making plans.
The invitations sent to the Shanxi merchants were not only the first ones sent out, but were also written by Zhao Junchen himself, which was quite polite.
Shanxi merchants also gave Zhao Junchen a lot of face, and Lu'an Mansion was the base camp of Shanxi merchants, so most of them came as quickly as possible.
Zhao Junchen met with them this time, firstly to relieve the shortage of food and grass, and secondly to get them to support Zhao Junchen's actions to extinguish the locust plague.
It is difficult to persuade those gentry and elders to support. Putting aside their own outdated ideas and the influence of the "Locust God Theory", these gentry and elders, although quite prestigious in the local area, are mostly landowners. After the locust plague, the common people
If they are displaced, they will be the biggest beneficiaries, so to a certain extent, although the locust plague will also cause losses to these squires and elders, they are still happy to see the results.
In fact, throughout the ages, after a major disaster, the landlord class has been most active in annexing land.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen planned to convince the Shanxi merchants first, and then work with the Shanxi merchants to put pressure on the gentry and elders. In this way, things would become much easier.
After all, Shanxi merchants have deep-rooted influence in Shanxi, and most of the gentry and elders are also dependent on them. As long as Shanxi merchants and Zhao Junchen work together, those gentry and elders will never dare to disobey.
Compared with those local elders who have a strong sense of land, Shanxi merchants, who are the most active thinkers in this era, are undoubtedly much easier to convince.
…
"Master, all the guests are here."
Just when Zhao Junchen was secretly thinking about his countermeasures after meeting with Shanxi merchants, Xu Qingyan entered Zhao Junchen's room and reported softly.
Zhao Junchen nodded, straightened his clothes, and then walked towards the living room with Xu Qingyan.
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Note 1: The story of Gu Shangshu and Zou Wang is often recorded in the unofficial biographies of the Ming Dynasty, but Gu Shangshu's name is nowhere to be found, so the bug is simply called Gu Shangshu. Please forgive me.