Chapter 164 The Doomsday of the Eight Great Families of Shanxi Merchants
The so-called Eight Families of Shanxi Merchants refer to the eight powerful and famous business families that developed in Datong, Taiyuan, Yuci, Zhangjiakou, Pingyang, Taigu, Jiexiu and other places in Shanxi.
They are the Fan family, the Taiyuan Wang family, the Jin family, the Pingyang Wang family, the Liang family, the Tian family, the Zhai family, and the Huang family.
As for what mistakes these eight major business families have committed and what heinous things they have done, I will not go into details here. Anyway, these people who have no country kin in their eyes, only money interests, have committed crimes that are enough to punish all nine of them!
Taking the entry of Jiannu into the Pass this time as an example, the reason why the initial advance was extremely rapid caught the Ming Dynasty off guard.
This is because the Great Wall passes such as Dushikou, Shangfangbao, Deshengbao, and Longmenkou were all opened with the help of these merchants.
The city of Datong was conquered by the Hou Jin Army in one day, which was also the result of the merchants in the city.
There is also the supply of logistical food and fodder for the Jin Army.
Provision of armor and weapons.
There is also the collection of intelligence from various places.
You can all see the shadow of the eight Shanxi merchants playing behind the scenes.
Just a few of the above.
Not to mention that they have transported large quantities of grain, iron tools, and medicinal materials to the grassland over the past many years, providing strong support and help for Hou Jin to get out of trouble and achieve its rise.
Just this time, as an internal traitor, he led the party, guided and helped the Jin army to enter the pass, resulting in the murder of nearly a million Ming people. It can be said that life was in ruins. The eight Shanxi merchants were unpardonable and must be thoroughly cleansed!
Perhaps many officials in the Ming Dynasty who are inextricably related to the Eight Shanxi Merchants will deliberately downplay and ignore this matter, hoping to deal with it in a low-key manner. It is best to let it go and let people focus on it.
Don't focus on these things, let alone conduct in-depth investigations, just stop here.
But Xujiazhuang will not let this matter go. Xujiazhuang's intelligence system has collected enough evidence during this period, obtained a lot of account books, and compiled a set of clear and credible data that can be called authoritative and irrefutable.
Conclusive evidence of guilt.
When this set of incriminating evidence was placed in front of Hong Chengchou, Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu, Qin Liangyu and other court generals.
Originally, they had doubts about Shi Yong's 'getting rich plan', and even expressed opposition and rejected it outright, but their attitudes soon changed.
He was so angry that he was shaking all over, his eyes were blood red, and he was filled with overwhelming anger.
Hong Chengchou said: "You bastards, these bastards should be killed, all of them should be killed! No one can be left alive."
Cao Wenzhao murmured: "The hundreds of thousands of soldiers who died in the wars in Liaodong over the years, the millions of poor people who were massacred in Liaodong, and the numerous civilians who were killed when Jiannu entered the pass twice, against such an enemy, a mortal enemy,
These merchants actually provided them with food, grass and weapons, took the initiative to open and close the door to welcome thieves, showed them the way, and used the flesh and blood of their compatriots to turn them into nourishment for their own growth...Kill, be sure to kill all these profiteers!"
The female general Qin Liangyu shed tears directly: "In the first year of Tianqi, my elder brother Bangping and his third brother Minping led 5,000 white soldiers to participate in the Battle of Liaoyang. They fought bloody battles by the Hun River and inflicted heavy losses on Houjin.
Three thousand white pole soldiers died in the battle, and the third brother Minping broke out, covered with wounds, but without any regrets. We thought that Hou Jin was a terrible foreign enemy. As long as they were defeated, the Ming border would be peaceful. But we did not expect that these
Profiteers, these profiteers..." The 60-year-old female general couldn't continue, covering her face and crying.
Zuo Liangyu clicked his tongue and said secretly: "Although I occasionally do things to kill good people and take credit for merit, I am not so crazy and crazy. We are fighting hard on the front line to kill the enemy, but these Shanxi businessmen are constantly giving gifts to the slaves."
Get rid of supplies and let Jiannu get stronger as he fights, it’s disgusting, hateful!”
The crowd was excited.
Faced with the conclusive evidence provided by Xujiazhuang, these court generals were all angry and shouted for murder.
Even Qin Liangyu, who had always been loyal to the court and never exceeded the rules, also agreed to join the project led by Xu Jiajun to make a fortune in Shanxi and was willing to participate.
The same is true for Hong Chengchou, Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu and others, who all share the same hatred.
but!
In order to completely win over the eight well-established Shanxi merchant families, it is not advisable to rely solely on the army headed by Xu Jiajun. It is not advisable to take unilateral actions. You must get the strongest endorsement and authorization. Otherwise, you will fall into a lot of passivity after the action.
, many officials in North Korea and China will definitely impeach and counterattack frantically.
So we have to bring the emperor into this project and make a fortune together with him.
So Qichunnian, the business representative, went to the palace again and wanted to ask to see the emperor.
"No, I don't want to see you!"
Chongzhen Zhu Youjian waved his hands irritably. Now he has a headache when he hears the name Qichunnian. He feels disgusted and repulsed. He never wants to see this bastard again.
"His Majesty!"
After a while, Wang Chengen came back and whispered in Zhu Youjian's ear: "Representative Qi said that this time he simply wanted to do a business with His Majesty. He said that as long as His Majesty nodded, the royal family could earn at least 3 million.
Two, and there is no need to sign any agreement or contract, which is equivalent to picking up a lot of money for nothing."
"Three million taels, this..."
Zhu Youjian's eyes lit up and he showed a money-obsessed expression. This was not a small sum of money.
But thinking of the anger he had suffered these days, the blockage in his heart, and the merciless criticism and slap in the face of that guy in the Jinluan Palace, Zhu Youjian still said angrily: "No, he is the one who knelt down to beg me this time.
I won’t see you either, let him find someone else to cooperate with!”
Zhu Youjian figured it out. Every time Qichunnian took the initiative to go to the palace to seek cooperation, in the end he was still asking for help, and he took advantage of Zhu Youjian's psychology of being short of money and urgently needing money, but this time he would not take the bait.
, you must make this guy anxious, and make him kneel down to beg you.
That's right.
Arrogant, although Chongzhen is almost a pauper at the moment and is very eager for money, but in front of this Qichun year, he must be arrogant to save his face.
But not for a while.
"His Majesty!"
Wang Chengen came back again, leaned into Zhu Youjian's ear and said: "Your Majesty, Representative Qi said that winter is coming soon, and the Chinese New Year will be here in more than two months. If Your Majesty is not willing to participate in this project, then only
You can wait until next year to do it, or the year after that, but how do you plan to spend this year?"
Snapped!
Zhu Youjian was immediately asked.
Yes, how should we spend this year?
Is it a fat year or a thin year?
In fact, at the end of August when his internal wealth was about to explode, Zhu Youjian had already made up his mind in advance that this year would be a good one.
For example, he should buy more bicycles, including one for himself, because he has learned how to ride a bicycle.
The price of a life-size glass mirror has been reduced to a thousand taels of silver each (the cost price is even lower), and each concubine in the harem must be equipped with one.
There are also phonographs, mechanical watches, woolen windbreakers, soaps, toilet paper, cans and other commodities. Some of them have to be purchased at the end of the year depending on the economic situation. Some of them are already used in daily life (such as soaps and toilet paper) and are impossible to get rid of, thus forming a
Not a small fixed expense.
As well as some expenses required to honor the elders, etc.
All in all, if the royal family wants to have a prosperous year this year, it will have to spend at least 500,000 silver dollars, and even one million silver dollars may not be enough.
But when Jiannu entered the customs, he became a pauper. With the little money and food left in his internal funds now, he could only live the same life as he did three or four years ago. Zhu Youjian felt that he could survive such a lean year.
, there’s no big problem, but are we still going to let the emperor’s sister-in-law, the queen, Concubine Tian, and Concubine Liu suffer together?
You must know that Prince Zhu Cihong has been begging for a long time, hoping to buy him a scooter with a cost of 300 silver dollars during the Chinese New Year. Zhu Youjian has already agreed. As a father, is he willing to see his son's extremely disappointed eyes?
No no no!
As a man and a father, Zhu Youjian never wants his family and loved ones to be disappointed in him.
This year’s plan remains unchanged, we must have a good year!
"Let Qichunnian come over and talk about the project he mentioned."
Zhu Youjian could only say.
…
Inside Dongnuan Pavilion.
Soon, Qichunnian, who was holding a thick stack of information in his hand, introduced the project of capturing the eight Shanxi merchants based on the contents of the information.
"Unscrupulous, shameless, and inhumane! They are all a bunch of beasts!"
"It's hard to tolerate the law of heaven, it's hard to tolerate the law of heaven!"
"Kill, kill the nine tribes, this gang of traitorous merchants will all be killed, no one will be spared!"
Zhu Youjian was angry.
What the eight Shanxi merchants did made him tremble with anger, his vision turned black, and he almost fainted from anger.
Then came the overwhelming hatred and murderous intent, wanting to kill these profiteers one by one and smash them into pieces.
"Your Majesty, just killing them with one knife will give them an advantage and make them happy. We have a plan here, which is to kill as little as possible, but demote the entire family of these eight profiteers into mining slaves for life.
Those who dig in the mines will never be forgiven for generations, and they must mine until they die, as a warning to other profiteers not to follow these scum as an example." Qichunnian said.
"Okay, let's do it, let's arrange it like this!" Zhu Youjian said without hesitation.
"But Your Majesty, the eight Shanxi merchant families have deep roots and a huge network of relationships. Officials in the court who come from Shanxi merchant families or are married to each other include Wang Bo, Zhang Yanyu, Fan Shizeng..."
Qichunnian named more than fifty names in a row, including some important ministers and famous officials, and then said: "Your Majesty, once we launch an attack, these court officials will definitely plead for mercy and complain, and even impeach and criticize, which will form a lot of public opinion.
With the energy of people like them, even if the evidence of the crimes of the eight Shanxi merchant families is made public by then, their voices may not be suppressed, not to mention that most of them are civil servants, and other civil servants are their allies."
"I will solve it!"
Zhu Youjian said with a murderous look: "Give me the list. If one of these people dares to jump out, I will dismiss one of them and send him to prison. Let's see how many people dare to jump out? Millions of soldiers and civilians in the Ming Dynasty were harmed by these eight profiteers.
You are displaced and exposed in the wilderness, and you still dare to protect and intercede, I will never let you go!"
Chongzhen's words can be completely believed. As a young emperor in his twenties, he was very radical in many aspects, and he could not tolerate the slightest bit of sand in his eyes. Sometimes he would kill ministers for minor errors of principle.
, many officials died in his hands in history.
"Okay! With your Majesty's words, we feel relieved. In addition, we ask your Majesty to keep it a secret so as not to alert others and cause the eight major merchants to transfer their assets."
"No problem." Zhu Youjian nodded.
…
October 18th.
On the western outskirts of the capital, where the Jin-eradicated coalition forces were stationed, inside the meeting tent.
Except for Shi Yong, the chief general of Xu Jiajun.
There were also sixteen court generals in the camp.
They are——
Hong Chengchou, Cao Wenzhao, Yang Yufan, Wang Hong, Deng Qi, Zuo Liangyu, Qin Liangyu, Wu Xiang, Zu Dabi, Wang Yinghui, Zuo Guangxian, Li Bei, Ai Wannian, Tang Jiuzhou, Chen Yongfu, Liu Zeqing.
Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces, and others were not present (because they did not want to get too involved with Xujiazhuang and deliberately distanced themselves).
Lu Xiangsheng of the Tianxiong Army was not present either, because there were too many seized materials and they are still being transported and he missed this operation.
Then screen out some armies with insufficient strength.
Only these sixteen generals are finally qualified to join this project. Divided by eight profiteer families, it is enough to use two armies to deal with one family. Xu Jiajun is responsible for organizing and commanding, and providing various resources.
But before taking action.
Everyone first decided on the plan to divide the spoils.
After a heated argument, a plan proposed by Xujiazhuang representative Zhang Xianglong was unanimously adopted.
The main contents are:
The sixteen armies of the imperial court participating in the project will mainly share the property of the eight Shanxi merchants, such as gold, silver, land, houses, population, workshops, etc. All will be converted into silver taels and then distributed to each army. The distribution principle to be followed is:
30% will be divided on site, and 70% will be turned over to the public treasury, and then distributed according to the merits of each army. Under the premise of ensuring fairness, those who contribute more will get more points, those who make more contributions will get more points, and those who are lucky will also get more points.
From the total seizure, 3 million taels will be given as a reward to the emperor.
Xujiazhuang will not participate in the division of these properties, but the mines, workshops and captive populations (mining slaves) in Shanxi will be handed over to Xujiazhuang, that is, only these three things are mines, workshops, and mining slaves.
It's just that the eight Shanxi merchants have generally been doing business for a hundred or two hundred years, and the accumulated property is conservatively estimated to be at least more than 20 million taels. Xujiazhuang is so generous that he doesn't even need a tael of silver.
Isn't this being taken advantage of or what?
Is there something wrong with your brain?
Of course Xujiazhuang will not engage in loss-making business, but for Xujiazhuang, the money falling into the hands of others is no different from falling into his own hands.
Because all kinds of goods in Xujiazhuang will be bought by people immediately. No matter how much money you have, after wandering around outside, you will eventually come back to Xujiazhuang. If Xujiazhuang loves to eat alone, he will greedily spend all the gold and silver.
If it is tightened up, the consumption cycle will be broken, and Xujiazhuang's business will plummet and fall into the Great Depression.
Therefore, from a financial perspective, the essence of Xujiazhuang's actions against the eight Shanxi merchants was to inject liquidity into the market, increase the sales of Xujiazhuang's goods, and promote economic prosperity - including borrowing money from Emperor Zhu Youjian.
Similar considerations.
Stop gossiping!
After the spoils division plan is determined in advance.
October 20th!
There are a total of seventeen armies, with an average of 5,000 people per army, that is, a total of 105,000 people of the "Allied Forces to Destroy the Profiteers". The troops are divided into two groups, and they quickly enter Shanxi from Juyong Pass and Zijin Pass, and then divide into eight groups.
Heading towards the respective hometowns of the eight Shanxi merchant families.
The end of the eight Shanxi merchant families is about to befall them.