In the end, after a series of calculations and frame-ups, Huang Yourong arrested a total of eleven smugglers who were hostile to the "United Shipping Lines".
Then, Huang Yourong stopped in time and rationally.
The vast majority of Huizhou and Zhejiang merchants make profits through smuggling, and basically all of them are unclean. But as the saying goes, "the law does not punish everyone", if Huang Yourong killed all the Huizhou and Zhejiang merchants who participated in smuggling and resisted the "United Shipping Lines"
, the entire commercial activities in South Zhili will be completely paralyzed, and the Ming Dynasty will also experience a certain degree of turmoil. Huang Yourong naturally does not dare to bear such a responsibility.
Therefore, Huang Yourong only selectively arrested the 11 smugglers with the strongest financial resources and the greatest influence, which was not enough to shake the commercial activities of South Zhili. However, after searching the homes of these 11 smugglers and questioning them, it was enough to make Huang Yourong
Make a lot of money.
As for the remaining smugglers, they can wait until the "United Shipping Line" is in stable operation and then slowly take care of it.
After arresting these smugglers, there was naturally a series of house raids. As an imperial envoy, Huang Yourong spared no effort and personally conducted the operations. In just over half a month, he once again traveled throughout Southern Zhili.
.
However, Huang Yourong's hardships were all worth it!
Through this series of house raids, Huang Yourong confiscated an astonishing amount of wealth!
The ready-made gold and silver alone amounts to more than 7.4 million taels!
In addition, the number and scale of the properties, treasures, shops, shipping companies, etc. in the hands of these smugglers was equally astonishing! After the sales, the amount of silver reached more than 12 million taels!
This is an extremely astonishing number!
You know, the annual income of the Ming Dynasty in recent years was only more than 20 million taels of silver! Everyone in the world said that all the merchants in Huizhou and Zhejiang were as rich as the rest of the country. Now, at a glance, there is absolutely no exaggeration.
In particular, the shipping companies of these smugglers are of immeasurable value! In total, they harvested 17 giant ships with a thousand stone, 213 large ships with more than 500 stone, and 521 medium-sized ships with more than 100 stone.
, as for the small boats under a hundred stones, there are countless, and there are also a large number of experienced sailors. To Zhao Junchen, the value of these boats and sailors is greater than gold and silver.
Naturally, it was impossible to hand over all of the twelve million taels of silver to the imperial court.
In fact, after careful consideration, Huang Yourong only planned to hand over more than six million taels of silver to the imperial court!
As for the remaining money, part of it needs to be used to manage the profits up and down and distribute the profit to the local gangsters; in addition, according to Zhao Junchen's original promise, the Hui-Zhejiang merchants of the "United Shipping Company" reported their merits, and some of them were also rewarded, most of them
They are some homestead shops, and the two parts together are worth about three million taels of silver.
Huang Yourong still divided the remaining silver between 30 and 70. He took 1 million taels for himself and gave 2 million taels to Zhao Junchen.
In this way, through two consecutive large-scale house raids, in just one and a half months, Huang Yourong gained a total of more than two million taels of silver, basically recovering the losses he had lost when he became an official, while Zhao Junchen's gains were still relatively small.
It has more than doubled, reaching nearly five million taels!
However, while Huang Yourong was staring at his huge harvest and couldn't help but rejoice, Li Chuanwen, Xiao Wenxuan and others had quietly bought all the auctioned shipyards at low prices and integrated them into one place to establish
"Zhao's Boat Company"!
Because he swallowed up eleven large-scale shipping companies in one go, even if he purchased them at a low price, it still cost Zhao Junchen nearly four million taels of silver! In addition, in order to maintain the operation of this large-scale shipping company, Zhao Junchen also
Another five hundred thousand taels of silver was invested, which can be said to have been a capital investment.
But any price is worth it. This shipyard has a total of seventeen giant ships with a thousand stone, 213 large ships with more than 500 stone, 521 medium-sized ships with more than 100 stone, and countless others.
With a small boat under a hundred stones and thousands of experienced sailors, it undoubtedly became the largest shipyard in the Ming Dynasty!
When "Zhao's Shipping Company" joined "United Shipping Company", it occupied a full fifth of the strength of "United Shipping Company". In addition, Zhao Junchen himself was the founder of "United Shipping Company".
He is also the supervisor of "United Shipping Company". It can be said that Zhao Junchen has the ability to determine the future destiny of this behemoth "United Shipping Company"!
Lin Yunpu, Bai Mingyu, Dai Fengfu and others were naturally dissatisfied with Zhao Junchen's behavior, but after all, Zhao Junchen did not explicitly interfere in the operation of "United Shipping Lines", and Feng Wenzhang, Zhang Jingyu, Jiang Xiaoquan, Kong Hua
Yan and other smuggling predators who were by no means inferior to them in strength were defeated by Huang Yourong, Zhao Junchen's spokesperson, so they dared to be angry but dared not speak out, and did not show their dissatisfaction. On the surface, the "United Shipping Company"
There is still a scene of unity.
In fact, after the "United Shipping Company" was officially put into operation, within just half a month, the shipping business of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and the Yangtze River Waterway has undergone earth-shaking changes!
Relying on its huge scale and preferential policies, "United Shipping Lines" almost instantly swallowed up nearly half of the shipping business in the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and Yangtze River Waterway, and it is still expanding rapidly!
It is foreseeable that the profits of the "United Shipping Company" will be extremely amazing in the future, and the imperial court's commercial tax revenue will also undergo a fundamental turnaround!
The most important thing is that after owning the gold mine of "Zhao's Shipbuilding", Zhao Junchen will no longer have to worry about money for a long time in the future!
After receiving the financial support of charging money, the progress of Zhao Junchen's various plans will definitely be further improved!
*
However, Zhao Junchen's layout plan in South Zhili this time is not just for the family property of some corrupt officials and to take the opportunity to establish "Zhao's Shipping Company"!
In fact, Zhao Junchen has two additional goals!
That is "Eight Kings Boat Line" and Nanjing Liubu!
When the "Eight Kings Ship Company" led Japanese pirates into southern Zhili, it caused a disaster. Even the city of Suzhou was almost attacked. In the end, Zhou Shangjing also lost his position as chief minister of the cabinet because he secretly protected his eldest grandson, Zhou Suhai, the prefect of Suzhou.
Location.
However, the background of the "Eight Kings Boat Trip" was too complicated, and even Emperor Deqing did not dare to deal with it easily.
But Zhao Junchen has been coveting "Eight Kings Boat Line" for a long time.
The reason why Zhao Junchen focused on the "Eight Kings Shipping Company" was not just because of the evil crimes of the "Eight Kings Shipping Company", but because Zhao Junchen discovered that the "Eight Kings Shipping Company" had been using military towns in various places to cover up his smuggling activities.
The town already has a certain degree of penetration, so if Zhao Junchen destroys the "Eight Kings Shipping Company", he can try to inherit the "Eight Kings Shipping Company"'s penetration into the major military towns, and he can also master many criminal evidence in the military towns.
, In this way, Zhao Junchen’s plan to infiltrate the army can make great progress!
As for the Six Ministries of Nanjing, especially the Nanjing Hubu, it is Zhao Junchen’s next target to expand his power!
Although the power and influence of the Nanjing Household Department is not as good as that of the Capital Household Department, it is still very important. It is responsible for collecting taxes and grains from southern Zhili and Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Huguang provinces. The taxes and grains paid by these four places accounted for almost all the taxes and grains in the Ming Dynasty.
Half is also responsible for water transportation, national salt diversion and collection, and the collection and management of national tax records.
Although all taxes and grain collected by the Nanjing Household Department will eventually be handed over to the Beijing Household Department, the existence of the Nanjing Household Department is still a great decentralization for Zhao Junchen. Now Zhao Junchen regards the Household Department as
How can you endure the prohibition?
Zhao Junchen has always believed that the current situation of money and grain in the national treasury is largely due to the existence of the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs! The Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs is responsible for the taxation of the richest places and industries in the Ming Dynasty, but the amount of money and food submitted to the national treasury every year is always
It's unsatisfactory.
If the Ministry of Household Affairs in Beijing can take over the power of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing, then Zhao Junchen, as the Minister of Household Affairs, can further control the money and finance of the Ming Dynasty, and his status can be further improved and stabilized. The benefits can be said to be numerous.
And this time, taking advantage of the opportunity of smuggling merchants being convicted and having their homes confiscated, it was a great opportunity for Zhao Junchen to take action against the "Eight Kings Shipping Company" and the Nanjing Household Department!
Therefore, as the action to punish the smuggling traders came to an end, Gu Quan, Li Chuanwen, Xiao Wenxuan and others quietly began the next phase of their plan.
Huang Yourong was busy searching homes during this period, and was only focused on calculating how much money he had earned, but he was completely unaware of the small actions of Gu Quan, Li Chuanwen, Xiao Wenxuan and others.
When Huang Yourong finally realized it belatedly, everything was a foregone conclusion!
*
On this day, Wang Baoren, the Minister of Civil Affairs in Nanjing, left Nanzhili and prepared to go to the capital to take over the official position of the Crown Prince.
As an imperial envoy, Huang Yourong saw Wang Baoren regaining the important position of Emperor Deqing, and he also had a good intention to see Wang Baoren off personally.
When Wang Baoren went to Beijing, he would also escort corrupt officials and profiteers such as Su Changjin and Feng Wenzhang to the capital, where they would undergo the final trial of the Sanfa Division.
By the way, although Huang Yourong had always wanted to kill Su Changjin secretly so that his corruption during the house raid would not be easily discovered, Zhao Junchen seemed to still have Su Changjin for other purposes and did not agree.
Because of Huang Yourong's suggestion, Su Changzhen temporarily saved his life and did not need to "die" suddenly on the way to Beijing.
Although Huang Yourong was dissatisfied with Zhao Junchen's decision, he did not resist Zhao Junchen's will in the end and just left everything to Zhao Junchen to handle.
However, Huang Yourong said that after seeing off Wang Baoren, Huang Yourong returned to his official residence in Suzhou. Before he had time to rest, he heard his subordinates coming to report the news, saying that it was the deputy imperial envoy Gu Quan who was asking for an audience. There was very important news that needed to be reported to Huang Yourong.