Zhu Gui finally met up with the people from Dai Wangfu who came to meet him.
However, he and Xu Miaoqing vacated all the stalls in half the street before leaving.
This was not only to satisfy Xu Miaoqing, Zhu Gui also sent people to contact the traders and explained their purpose of coming.
That is, Zhu Gui is willing to cooperate with them, build workshops for them and send workers. They only need to provide skills to get jobs that are several times their current income.
Moreover, they will also be the owners of this workshop. If the business grows in the future, they can even apply for loans from Datong Bank, which cooperates with Dai Wangfu, to expand production.
These small vendors thought it was a dream at first, but after the other party showed the sign of Daiwangfu, they finally realized that it was real.
There were people around who kept explaining everything to them.
It turns out that the recent frequent big actions of Prince Dai's Mansion have alarmed them, but those small businessmen who can gather in front of Prince Dai's Mansion at least have their own shops.
But these traders only have some simple skills and have not reached the threshold at all.
Unexpectedly, at the temple fair today, Dai Wang not only bought all their goods, but also wanted to cooperate with them.
This is simply pie in the sky.
Suddenly, countless small vendors who heard the news began to gather here.
In the end, the people in the palace had to choose the registration location at the teahouse that Zhu Gui had previously bought.
Unexpectedly, the registration period lasted for several days.
Zhu Guitong was quite surprised when he asked about this. He also sent many people to rotate the registration personnel.
Now, five shops on the busiest streets in the south of the city have reopened.
They sell products from other local stores, but the price is one-third lower than the original store, and they all come with free salt.
As soon as the store opened, there was a long queue in front of it.
At noon that day, Zhu Gui was preparing to enter the palace to see Zhu Yunwen, and went to the imperial study to look for blueprints of the treasure ship.
Unexpectedly, Xu Guogong arrived at Prince Dai's Mansion before him.
As soon as he entered the door, he called Zhu Gui: "Come here with me, I have something important to tell you."
The serious look on Xu Guogong's face made Zhu Gui realize that something had happened, and he quickly followed him to a remote room.
As soon as he entered the room, Xu Guogong said directly: "Your Majesty, your recent actions in Nanjing have been known to the Emperor."
"Didn't the emperor know this in the first place? Otherwise, he would not have given me an official position in the Ministry of Commerce and Weaving." Zhu Gui said very calmly.
Xu Guogong shook his head and said: "This is different. If, my lord, you were only interested in industry and commerce, the emperor might still turn a blind eye, but now your actions have touched the foundation of the Ming Dynasty."
"Ah? Guoben? It's not that serious, right? What did I do?" Zhu Gui was also shocked. This hat was really too big.
"Do you still give away salt in the shop?" Xu Guogong asked seriously.
"Yes, this is a means to promote the circulation of goods, and other merchants have agreed. They have all turned from sellers to middlemen."
Zhu Gui explained.
Xu Guogong sighed and said: "If it only concerns other businessmen, the emperor will not care. After all, being able to properly arrange businessmen will save the court from a major worry. However, Your Majesty, your actions have touched the salt tax."
ah."
"Salt tax?"
Zhu Gui was stunned for a moment, then patted his forehead and realized something.
Only then did he realize the seriousness of the matter.
Salt tax was an important revenue source for the imperial court, and at one time it even accounted for half of the Ming Dynasty's treasury's annual tax revenue.
Although his current actions have made Dai Wangfu a leader in Nanjing's business community in a short period of time, they may have also violated this rule invisibly.
That is, once ordinary people get cheaper channels to obtain salt, they will no longer buy official salt, which will have an important impact on the tax revenue of the imperial court.
And now even Duke Xu has come to see him personally. I'm afraid this matter has reached a serious level.
Sure enough, Xu Guogong went on to say: "A few days ago, several ministers from the six ministries reported to the court on this matter. Although they did not mention the king, the stakes involved all involve the king's current actions. Although the emperor
He didn't say anything on the surface, but I'm afraid he wouldn't ignore the Ming Dynasty just because he was the king."
Xu Guogong was right. If the person who made the mistake was Zhu Yunwen, then Zhu Yuanzhang would not hesitate to go against the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty.
But Zhu Guibu was not Zhu Yunwen, and his image in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind at this time had only changed slightly, not to the point where he could ignore the Ming Law for his sake.
Zhu Gui also realized the seriousness and immediately said: "The Duke's reminder was very timely. I already know the seriousness of this matter. I will go to the palace and explain it clearly to the emperor, and soon cancel the sale of complimentary salt."
means."
Zhu Gui immediately called his servants and asked him to inform various shops of his decision.
Xu Guogong nodded, but the worry on his face was only slightly reduced: "I am very pleased that the prince can realize the seriousness of this matter. Let's do this. I will enter the palace with the prince, no matter how things develop.
, I can’t just sit idly by and ignore it.”
Hearing this, Zhu Gui nodded and said, "Then I'll trouble the Duke."
He didn't know if it was the previous relationship that made Xu Guogong do such a thing, but now the other party obviously had more face in front of Zhu Yuanzhang than he did.
So the two of them prepared to ride into the palace in a carriage.
At this time, a soldier from the Prince's Palace who was responsible for registering the small vendors on North Street ran over and reported to Zhu Guihui: "Your Majesty, there is a small vendor who wants to see the Prince."
When Zhu Gui heard this, he couldn't help asking: "Who is it?"
"She is a veiled woman. She claims to have a skill that the prince will definitely use." The soldier replied.
"Technical? OK, you should take her to the palace first and wait, and then come see her when I come back from the palace."
Zhu Gui has always been thirsty for technical talents. Since the other party has said so, he is very willing to meet him. At worst, if the other party makes arrogant remarks, it will not be too late to drive him away.
At the moment, obviously the most important thing is to meet the emperor and resolve the 'misunderstanding'.
So Zhu Gui got on the carriage and hurried to the palace.
What he didn't know was that as soon as his carriage left the vicinity of Prince Dai's Mansion, a beautiful red figure appeared at a corner near Prince Dai's Mansion.
Zuo Erniang looked at the direction the carriage was leaving, with a look of unknown meaning in her eyes.