Li Youli pondered for a long time under the porch of Jin's house, and was very troubled by the new problem he accidentally discovered. Before, he was excited about the opportunity to collect money to please the emperor, but he forgot that the Salt Transportation Secretary was better at this than him...
If there was a competition to raise silver, there was no way he could compete with the Salt Transportation Division. Most of the silver in Yangzhou city was in the hands of three hundred salt merchants, and the lifeblood of most salt merchants was in the hands of the Salt Transportation Division. Even if several giant merchants each
He is powerful, but he also has the same interests as the Salt Transportation Department. Therefore, at critical moments, the salt merchants must act based on the Salt Transportation Department's eyes. No matter how much he coerces or induces, he can't win over him.
After much deliberation, it is indeed an unsolvable problem to compare money with the Salt Transport Secretary. No matter how you calculate, it is impossible for the salt merchants to give up the Salt Transport Secretary's favor for Li You. That is simply seeking the skin of a tiger.
But fortunately, through various means, from destroying the Du family and adding sand to besieging the Salt Transportation Department to sow discord, from showing his background to promising the draft, the combination of kindness and power gradually subtly influenced the old world of Jin Wanwan, so that he was not helpless.
I also remembered that the He family was entrusted by the Salt Transportation Department to organize a large-scale poetry festival. To some extent, it was to continue to suppress their own momentum, which had "no future." When working in Yangzhou City, even if it has nothing to do with salt, the Salt Transportation Department
After all, there is still no way around it.
After struggling like this in Yangzhou City, Ding Yunshi is also a smart person, and he must have had doubts and guesses about his ultimate goal. It is reasonable for the Yanyun Division to be different from him in all aspects, especially now
This is what Ding Yunshi considers to be a "good opportunity".
Li You silently made a comparison in his mind. At present, his biggest advantage was only the time difference. Whether he knew the news of the emperor's southern tour in advance or the salt transport department's coincidental misjudgment of the situation, the response of the salt transport department lagged behind step by step.
Shoot. But this advantage can only last for more than ten days. If you want to write about it, you must hurry up...
The next day, another piece of shocking news broke out in Yangzhou city! Shocking news! However, since Li Fushi became an official in Yangzhou, the word shocking news has become less and less valuable.
A piece of sensational and shocking news breaks out every few days. This frequency has long tempered the gossip hearts of the city's onlookers to numbness. Fortunately, there are many kinds of shocking news and all kinds of tricks. It does not make people feel boring and keeps them going.
The number of subscriptions is stable and not declining, no, it is the number of listeners.
But this time, it was different, and there was a new trick - the imperial envoys, Lord Zhu from the Tianzi clan, and Lord Li from this city cordially received the outstanding representative of the salt industry at the mansion, and registered a millionaire businessman.
for encouragement and praise.
The reason is that that million-dollar person thought about what the emperor wanted and was worried about the emperor's urgent needs, so he generously donated a huge sum of money to sponsor the emperor's southern tour.
Keywords.The emperor’s southern tour.
If the common people just listen to the excitement and live their lives as they please, and they might be caught and suffer disaster, then the city's top richest people will really create a sensation.
Ever since the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty moved to the present capital, he has rarely made one or two southern tours in three hundred years. Is it possible that he is lucky enough to encounter this once in this life?
Knowing that this was deliberately released, the wealthy people still couldn't help but stir up the excitement. At least this news would not be false or a rumor. The imperial envoy and Li You did not have the guts to fabricate such a thing. And most of the imperial envoy should bear the responsibility.
Responsibility, so I deliberately let the wind out.
To a certain extent, when the business of the wealthy businessmen of the imperial dynasty reaches a certain level, such as the top twenty or thirty salt industry merchants in Yangzhou, their biggest worry is no longer not making money, but the fear of not being able to make money. There is no way to "serve the country".
After all, the salt industry tycoons who prospered after Jiashen were far away in Yangzhou, too far away from the capital, and even further away from the emperor who was above the ninth level. If there is a way to serve the country, and the opportunity arises to directly give gifts to the royal family, of course it is Don't miss this opportunity.
It is no exaggeration to say that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty visited the south to visit his ancestors once in a hundred years. If the ancestral mausoleum had not nearly collapsed in the flood this year, the emperor had to tour the south to pay homage to his ancestors and apologize. Those civil servants who only wanted to imprison the emperor in the Forbidden City had no reason to stop him. Southerners may never encounter the emperor's southern tour once in a few lifetimes.
After passing this village, there is no next store. As the saying goes, opportunities should not be missed, and they will never come back. This time, Jin Wanwan actually got the lead due to his well-informed information. It is really enviable to have a good son-in-law. But if you have the lead, you will have times. Even if you raise three or even millions of dollars, you won't be able to cover them all by yourself.
Perhaps we should worry about the example of the rich Shen Wansan showing off his wealth and being exterminated, but times have changed. It is no longer the era of Taizu when all wastes were flourishing and businessmen were extremely suppressed. The imperial court also ate up the fireworks of the world and also needed money to do things. of.
Besides, the Yangzhou salt merchants are different from Shen Wansan. They are not extremely wealthy people who sit on their golden mountains and have no use for the country or the people. They pay millions of salt taxes to the court every year, which is the largest single item of cash income for the court. There are also supporting forces in the DPRK and China, so it is unlikely that the DPRK will kill the goose that lays the goose to create panic.
Don't you see, Mr. Li and Jin Wanwan are both extremely smart people, how could they do stupid things? There must be benefits in it, so they are the first to do it.
With generations of wealth, there is endless money to be made in the salt industry. There must be some way to go to make people feel at ease. If the emperor gave a plaque to hang on the door, would Li You still dare to break down the door and arrest people for no reason? ?Do you still dare!?
That night, a big salt merchant named Xu Changrui, who had a sharp eye and quick legs, sneaked into the county mansion and promised Mr. Zhu Fanghe a large sum of money.
However, he was beaten out by the imperial envoy with a club. After that, Zhu Qinchen left the city of Yangzhou and went to Slender West Lake in the northern suburbs to play in the water.
This incident became a joke in the salt business circle for a while, and everyone mocked Xu Yuanwai for his small cleverness but no great wisdom.
What does it mean that you, a businessman, directly approached the imperial envoy to send money? Do you want to show that the emperor came to you, a businessman, to beg for money? The more important the person is, the more he cares about this kind of face-saving. The attitude of the imperial envoy to leave the city on his own initiative is very clear.
At this time, of course, one should quietly wait for the call from the Yamen, and then "take the initiative" to donate the money, and then the Yamen officials will sign the report. This is the right way to achieve a win-win situation.
Sure enough, in the early morning of November 15th, all the top thirty salt industry merchants with the largest profits, except Jin Wanwan, received summons, ordering them to go to the Jiangdu County government office on the 16th to discuss matters.
It is obvious that this is a ticket sent by Master Li. It is also obvious that after Master Li blackmailed his father-in-law, he still felt that it was not enough and planned to continue blackmailing others.
Anyone with some sense can see through Lord Li's thoughts. He probably has lost the trust of the court, and although he has made great achievements, he reluctantly remains in office. However, his status is in jeopardy, so at the end of the road, he wants to collect some silver and donate it to the emperor. Invite favors and receive favors.
The twenty-nine people who received the summons are basically the richest people in Yangzhou City, and they are also the most powerful people in Yangzhou City besides the government.
When the hour came on the 16th, Li You came to the county government office. He counted the heads and found that there were only fifteen people, almost half of whom came. Everyone had different expressions, but they were all silent.
Mr. Li spoke harshly!
"The Emperor's visit to the south is a sign of peace and prosperity! We, our subjects, are lucky enough to meet at this time in our lives. We must do our best to welcome the Holy Lord!"
Everyone's expressions changed after hearing this, but they remained silent.
Mr. Li's voice is fierce!
"You, Gang Shang, are hereditary and it is time for you to serve the imperial court. How can you hesitate and be ungrateful and chill the hearts of knowledgeable people in the world!"
After hearing this, everyone's expressions were uniformly mocking, but they remained silent.
Mr. Li is so fierce and angry!
"It is of great benefit to the country, and it is also of great benefit to you. It can be said that everyone has something to gain! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, how can you not be tempted?"
After hearing this, everyone smiled, but remained silent.
After running out of words, Mr. Li was speechless. We couldn't arrest all these people, torture them and ask for money. He was a quasi-right fifth-grade official of the Ming Dynasty, not a bandit.
In fact, these fifteen big salt merchants came here specifically to see Mr. Li in embarrassment. After watching, they left the county government office with satisfaction.
But the faint sarcasm lingering at the corner of his mouth. Have you, Mr. Li, also begged us? Money may not always be able to communicate with gods. But when it happens, it can be fatal. If you don't burn incense on a regular basis, but worship the Buddha's feet temporarily, is there any use?
At the same time, I also want to laugh at Jin Wanwan, the old fool who was deceived. It is not worth it to donate 500,000 yuan for this matter, and it is even more unworthy to donate 500,000 yuan for this son-in-law.
After Mr. Li's fundraising campaign was defeated, the Salt Transport Department took action decisively. Every official was aware of the opportunities contained in it. Naturally, Ding Yunshi would not let go of this opportunity to hit Li You in a clear contrast. Why not
for?
On November 17, more than 20 leading figures in the Lianghuai Salt Industry gathered in the lobby of the Salt Transportation Department. It was completely different from the joke-like scene at the Jiangdu County Government yesterday. It could be said that the guests and hosts gathered together to laugh.
Have fun.
The only ones who are really enthusiastic about donating are these big salt merchants. They often spend tens of thousands of taels, so they can naturally show their faces. For the other two to three hundred small and medium-sized salt merchants, donating hundreds or thousands of taels is of little use, and it is impossible for the emperor to do so.
The Qian'er 800 taels of silver came into my eyes, so I didn't waste any effort.
Seeing the crowd of people in the hall, even the calm-natured Ding Yunshi could not help but think proudly that Li You could only be the initiator in wooing Jin Wanwan. Even if he spent all his wealth, he could not compare with these twenty people.
Do multiple people work together?
So what if Zhu Qinqi and Li You have a good relationship? After hearing his report last night, he expressed encouragement and appreciation to himself. In front of the emperor, this time he still has to rely on hard currency to speak!
Master Li, who instigated his father-in-law to dig into his pockets and planned to win a big fortune in front of the emperor, must have been unhappy with this situation. But Zhu Qin was under great pressure to raise money, and Li You had no choice but to stare blankly if he couldn't control the salt merchants!
Most of the people watching the excitement had the same idea as Ding Yunshi, and they couldn't help but sigh that although Mr. Li's reputation, talent, and achievements are all in vain, they are not easy to use in front of money this time.
Silver is really a magical thing, something extraordinary, something that even the tyrannical and defiant Lord Li has no choice but to be defeated!
Only one person felt that this scene seemed familiar, that was Mr. Zhuang from the county government.
I remember that when he was an old official in the Suzhou Prefecture, Li You, who was then a promotion official, deliberately summoned the major grain merchants who were hoarding money and locked them up to forcefully lower prices when there was a grain shortage. As a result, they were all ganged up on.
This time, the grain merchants were summoned instead of the salt merchants. The results after the summons were almost the same...
But Master Zhuang doesn’t know what will happen next.