After a brief silence, businessman Wang Xianzhong finally couldn't bear it anymore. He took two steps forward and asked flatteringly:
"I wonder why your Majesty's summons and ministers are here?"
Now that they have spoken, there is no need for Zhu Youxiao to pretend.
He put down his teacup and replied:
"Datong Mansion has experienced so many things in the past few days, and it is no longer under the control of those powerful landlords and aristocratic families."
"It is inevitable that there will be turmoil, and most of the shops in the city have been sealed. Only a dozen of you are left."
"This is not okay. It will be okay for a few days. Once it lasts for a long time, it will affect the normal life of the people and economic development."
"My idea is that the shops will be left to you, and the tenants and land will also be left to you for the time being."
The wealthy businessmen were simply in disbelief. The emperor actually gave them such huge assets?
Several people wondered if they were dreaming and secretly pinched themselves.
It was only when I felt the pain that I realized it was real.
Seeing their excited expressions and eyes, Zhu Youxiao added:
"Don't think too much. I'm just leaving it to you to take care of temporarily. I'm not giving it to you as a reward."
After hearing these words, everyone realized that their happiness was in vain.
But this also let them know a piece of information. If the emperor wants to use these people to do things, it means that their lives will be safe and the future of the family will be saved.
It can be regarded as a blessing among misfortunes, after all, the young emperor in front of him is a murderer without blinking an eye.
The reason why the emperor asked them to do these things was simple: it was inconvenient.
It is impossible for the king of a country to go into business like them, right?
But soon they realized that it was not what they thought, the emperor actually wanted to do business.
But he still pushed them to the front as his representatives.
"I plan to form a chamber of commerce, called the Royal Chamber of Commerce. The nature of the chamber of commerce, as the name suggests, doesn't require me to waste any more words, right?"
"I understand."
Why don't they understand this? If they didn't understand, how could they be here today?
The emperor wiped out all the local wealthy families, and there were only a few powerful landlords, leaving only a group of poor people who had nothing to eat.
As a result, all business in Datong has almost stopped, and only a dozen of them are left.
Although Datong is not a wealthy place, it is still a place of great wealth. It is bordered by grassland to the north, Shaanxi to the west, and Beizhili to the east. Its geographical location is still one of the best.
Originally, they thought of sharing the fat meat together, but no one expected that the emperor also had such an idea.
And this is also the reason why Zhu Youxiao left many merchants behind. Although the merchants are cunning and treacherous and only interested in profit, it is very easy to deal with them.
There is no need for him, the emperor, to interfere. Just send any official with real power to bring them to death.
As the saying goes, the poor should not fight with the rich, and the rich should not fight with the officials.
Zhu Youxiao had already had the idea of forming a chamber of commerce, but he never had the time or the right people to implement it.
Agricultural people are the foundation of a country, but industry and commerce are the future and hope of a country.
How much money can you make a year by growing wheat and rice? Business is the way to go.
Business in the Ming Dynasty was still good, and the coastal areas even reached a developed level.
Historically, during the Chongzhen period, the North and the Central Plains were fought to the death, even to the point where they were completely uninhabited.
As for the southeastern provinces, they are like a paradise. Although they are not much better, the people's food and clothing problems are still barely manageable.
Not to mention those Hui merchants, salt merchants, Zhejiang merchants, etc., all of them are extremely rich.
Zhu Youxiao naturally wants to clean up all of these people, but unfortunately he is currently too busy and there are still a lot of things to deal with in the north.
Although the business in the north is far inferior to that in the south, it does not mean that they will give up if they don't need it.
And based on the current situation, in a sense, it is more important to control the business in the north than in the south.
As long as we control the commerce in the north, it is equivalent to strangling the Mongolians' seven-inch life gate. It can also be used to suppress the frontier generals who are willing to do so. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone.
Although he had robbed so many officials and wealthy families, and had a deposit of 60 to 70 million taels, the Ming Dynasty was still very poor, and the treasury was still empty.
If he hadn't distributed some benefits to the Ministry of Accounts every time, the national finances would have collapsed long ago with his current level of trouble.
Without money in the treasury, many things could not be done, such as conquering the slaves and completely wiping out the Mongolian tribes in the Northern Expedition to the grasslands.
A military operation of this scale requires countless money and food to pave the way. Without money and food, everything is empty talk.
Since it is now impossible to go on an expedition, we can only find another way to stabilize the Mongols and indirectly control them.
The Ming Dynasty and Mongolia fought back and forth for more than two hundred years, until the 29th year of Jiajing. Due to the issue of mutual trade, Anda Khan once again gathered the Mongolian army to fight.
After the Gengxu Rebellion and troops approaching Beijing, Emperor Jiajing was forced to promise to permanently open a mutual trade, which gave him a lot of benefits. The problem between Ming Dynasty and Mongolia was finally stabilized.
What is mutual trading? In the final analysis, it is not just business.
The Mongols are in urgent need of tea, grain, and salt in the pass.
In this case, he can think of ways to make a fuss about this.
Although the Monan grassland has become a mess, there are still dozens of Mongolian tribes such as Tumut in the northwest and Hetao areas.
There are also the Khalkha Alliance tribes in Mobei, etc. The Ming Dynasty has too many enemies.
It couldn't be solved in a short time, so he could only settle for the next best thing.
As long as the smuggling problem can be solved, our own Royal Chamber of Commerce will take over the trade with Mongolia.
Then the Mongols won't be able to make any big waves. They may not die of hunger or cold, but if they want to cause trouble, they don't have the strength.
Moreover, reforming and governing the country cannot be solved by killing. The emperor also has to follow the trend.
The emperor also needs people to support and support him. If there are no people to support and support the emperor, he will be just another Han Xian Emperor.
This is the so-called foundation. Why the authority of the founding emperors can be infinite is because their foundation is too deep and stable.
The generals, troops, nobles, and heroes are all absolute supporters of the emperor.
The succeeding kings did not have such a foundation, so they could only compromise with the civil servants. At this time, the civil servants were like intermediaries. The emperor gave them a price and entrusted them to do things.
The power of the civil servants is getting stronger and stronger, and the emperor's prestige and power are decreasing day by day. In the end, it naturally creates a situation where the civil servants group is too big to lose.
At this time, civil servants will use their power and connections to amass money crazily and seize land resources for themselves.
The annexation of land, the shortage of social resources, and the lack of food for the people have also emerged.