Through wireless telegraphy, I learned that Emperor Chongzhen had another idea and plan to borrow money.
In the conference room.
"Two million silver dollars, I want to borrow more this time."
Xu Yuan rapped his knuckles on the table, glanced around and said, "I wonder what you guys think?"
"Two million taels. The official tax collected by the Ming Dynasty in a year, apart from various kinds of goods, is only more than two million taels. It is equal to the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty in a year. This appetite is really not small."
"Although we in Xujiazhuang are rich, we have earned every penny through hard work without any cheating. Even if we want to make enough two million taels, it will take several months. The emperor wants to borrow it easily.
Walk."
"We borrowed 1 million last year, but we haven't repaid a penny yet. As the old saying goes, if we can't pay off old debts, we can't pay new debts. Can we repay the old debts first?"
"The first time was a debt of gratitude. This time I can borrow it, but I have to discuss the terms of the loan." said the housekeeper Zhao Jinde.
"The steward's words deeply touched my heart."
Xu Yuan glanced at Zhao Jinde with admiration and said: "Borrowing money is not a problem at all, but as much money as you lend, you have to attach as many conditions as you want, otherwise wouldn't we be taken advantage of? The repayment is far away, and there are countless people in the court.
They are so hostile and think about destroying our Xujiazhuang every day. This situation is absolutely intolerable!"
So Xu Yuan discussed with senior executives and sorted out five additional conditions:
First, all officials in the court must no longer be hostile to or slander Xujiazhuang. If an official always maliciously attacks Xujiazhuang, the emperor should dismiss him from office.
Second, the imperial court should declare that personal property is inviolable and Xujiazhuang's legitimate interests are protected by law and are sacred and inviolable.
Third, if Xujiazhuang’s interests are disrupted and harassed by evil forces, Xujiazhuang has the right to legitimate defense.
Fourth, approve the establishment of harbor guards in Xujiazhuang and allow Xujiazhuang to establish village guards.
Fifth, Xujiazhuang has the right to expand legally, but will pay taxes in accordance with the law and become a model law-abiding citizen.
These are the five items above.
As long as the imperial court agreed, and Emperor Zhu Youjian agreed, the contract was signed in black and white, and the jade seal was stamped, the loan of 2 million silver dollars would immediately be sent to the capital and sent to the emperor's inner treasure.
Moreover, the interest on this batch of loans is zero and there is no repayment period, which is similar to the nature of a favor debt.
The only additions are five additional clauses, and they are all legitimate and reasonable demands. They are not excessive at all. I believe it should not be difficult to agree to them.
…
soon.
Still through radio waves, Xujiazhuang's loan reply was placed on Zhu Youjian's desk in Chongzhen.
His eyes almost bulged out when he saw the five additional clauses, and his chest heaved violently.
He just wanted to borrow some money, but what he got in exchange was Xujiazhuang's provocation and humiliation.
Take a look at what these five clauses represent. Once you sign, you will either lose the authority of the emperor or seriously harm the interests of the country. But a mere merchant actually started to set rules for the court and negotiate terms with the emperor. Isn't this a humiliation?
Losing power and humiliating the country.
This is absolutely a loss of power and an insult to the country.
Faced with these terms, let alone signing them, it would be great if he could resist tearing them up.
He immediately called Fang Yizhi over and became so angry with him that the eunuchs and maids in the palace did not dare to come forward to serve him for fear of getting into trouble.
"Your Majesty, please calm down."
Fang Yizhi had no choice but to explain: "Xu Jiazhuang proposed these conditions not intentionally to humiliate Your Majesty, but to protect his own interests. Two million silver dollars is not a small number. Put yourself in his shoes. If Your Majesty, you are Xu Jiazhuang, you have to lend a lot of money to The court, at this time, the most priority thing to ensure is not whether the loan can be recovered, but to ensure its own safety. If the court refuses to admit the debt that day, or is found guilty of being imprisoned and the house is raided, their own safety cannot be guaranteed. Who would be willing to borrow the money? Give money to the court?”
"No one wants to be the second Shen Wansan, and how to avoid the worst situation is to sign a contract and use the contract to ensure your own safety. Otherwise, it will be a trivial matter not to get the money back, but it will end up confiscating the family and exterminating the clan. , I dare to ask Your Majesty, is Xujiazhuang really deliberately humiliating the court by taking such precautions, or is it simply to protect his own safety? Nowadays, hundreds of officials in the court are shouting about beating and killing Xujiazhuang every day, and there are countless impeachment memorials. This is so unfriendly. In this atmosphere, Xujiazhuang still needs to lend money, Your Majesty, what should Xujiazhuang do?"
Fang Yizhi asked.
"this……"
Zhu Youjian was stunned by the question, and what Fang Yizhi said seemed to make some sense.
If one's own safety cannot be guaranteed and the creditor's attitude is extremely unfriendly, it is normal not to borrow money. No one wants to become the second Shen Wansan.
You can only sign a contract as a guarantee - even if the contract is not abided by, at least it is written in black and white, and the person who breaks the contract will bear moral pressure and will not be unscrupulous.
If there is no contract as a guarantee, it is impossible to imagine.
After some explanations by Fang Yizhi, Chongzhen gradually admitted that the contract was indeed necessary and reasonable.
But the additional conditions put forward by Xujiazhuang are still too much.
"The imperial court can protect Xujiazhuang's private property and has the right to legitimate defense, but Xujiazhuang is not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the court officials! We cannot continue to expand externally, and we must disband private military forces. Otherwise, it is deliberate rebellion, and the imperial court will never ignore it!"
Chongzhen Zhu Youjian said forcefully.
That is to say.
Of the five additional conditions proposed by Xu Jiazhuang, he could only approve two and firmly reject the other three!
The news spread back to Xujiazhuang.
After another heated discussion, Xu Yuan made some concessions and reduced the five additional clauses to three:
1. The imperial court protects the legitimate interests and property of Xujiazhuang.
Second, Xujiazhuang has the right to develop and grow as a matter of course, but it will pay taxes in accordance with the law.
Third, allow Xujiazhuang to have a certain ability to defend itself and ensure that it will not harm the Ming Dynasty.
Facing these three essences corresponds to the reasonable demands of "property rights", "right to development" and "right to self-defense".
It was also difficult for Chongzhen to accept and agree. The right to development was clearly the right to wantonly expand and annex land; the right to self-defense was nothing more than the right to demand for future rebellion. From his standpoint, all Xujiazhuang’s defense forces should To disband, it is enough to have the protection of the imperial court.
deadlock.
Negotiations between the two sides have reached a deadlock, with no one likely to make concessions.
The stalemate lasted until the end of May.
Fang Yizhi said helplessly: "What your Majesty needs most now is money, but he doesn't want to give up anything. There is no way in this world to only take advantage and not suffer losses. Since you want to get something, you have to give up something. If your Majesty is ambitious, We might as well borrow the money first, eliminate the bandits and establish slaves, solve all the long-standing abuses, and work hard to make the Ming Dynasty's treasury abundant and have enough silver. When the time comes, we can repay the loan from Xujiazhuang and take back those rights. Who in the world will accuse your majesty? Don’t mess with your priorities.”
After hearing this.
Chongzhen thought for a long time and finally nodded.
The current scope of Xujiazhuang's influence is only in Xinghua and Rugao counties. In the future, it will affect at most one state, which has always been a subordinate area. The spread speed is still relatively slow - after all, Xujiazhuang's main business is farming and business, not a rebellion.
The Ming Dynasty had thousands of prefectures and counties, countless lands, extremely destructive bandits roaming around, and foreign slaves looking eagerly at them. Compared with these problems, the threat to Xujiazhuang was indeed smaller, not to mention that Xujiazhuang had been paying taxes.
, never declared a rebellion, we must not get carried away and must clean up Xujiazhuang, we have made a mistake in the primary and secondary contradictions.
silver.
The most important thing now is to get enough money, otherwise no problem will be solved.
"Mi Zhi, what you said makes sense. I will give in a little and follow your policy."
Zhu Youjian made a compromise. In order to get the money, just sign the additional clauses. Sooner or later, he will make all these clauses invalid and get back his supreme rights. By then, the little Xujiazhuang, haha...
However, on June 3, the "Loan Deed" was about to be signed and sealed.
I don’t know what happened, maybe because the confidentiality measures in the palace were not tight enough, the news that the emperor borrowed money again actually spread, and became known to civil officials and nobles. The specific contents of the "Loan Contract" were also leaked, causing civil and military disputes.
The officials were in an uproar.
Then countless ministers grabbed the ground with their heads and tried their best to persuade them, or they knelt down outside the palace gate and banged their heads on the ground. They all demanded that the loan be cancelled, and they must not sign.
He even came up with an alternative plan, saying that Jiangnan merchants were willing to raise 3 million taels and lend it to the court, plus an annual salt tax of one million taels. The only condition was to send troops to destroy Xujiazhuang and never allow the demon merchants to continue causing trouble.
The country harms the people!
Facing the crazy opposition from both the government and the public, Chongzhen wavered again.
Fang Yizhi suggested that both parties should borrow money and sign a "Loan Contract" with the same content. In this way, the court could borrow 5 million taels and the salt tax would remain unchanged. Wouldn't it be nice?
"Wonderful, wonderful, I'll borrow from both sides, sign the contract, let Jiangnan merchants fight with Xujiazhuang, and I will benefit!"
Chongzhen was very excited and decisively adopted Fang Yizhi's suggestion.
Pull.
Then there was another fight with the civil and military ministers. Chongzhen wanted to borrow money from both sides, but the ministers demanded that he could only choose one side and that Xujiazhuang must be destroyed.
From June to mid-July, there was no result. The money on both ends was not seen, but it was trapped in an endless war of words.
Just when Chongzhen Zhu Youjian felt impatient.
Suddenly, bad news came from outside the pass: the slave-building army had made a sudden move and was deploying troops to attack Dalinghe City. Zu Dashou, Zhang Chun and more than 30,000 soldiers and civilians were surrounded!