New Shun 1730

"It's good to know. Let me say one more thing: Go back and tell those people behind you, tell them, just say what I said."

This was the first time since the lobbyist came here that he saw Liu Yu looking so serious, which was completely different from before. He quickly said: "Please speak, my lord, and I will definitely convey it to you."

"Yes. Tell them that money that comes too easily is never theirs. Let them understand that they are just managing money for the court. If the court allows them to have money, they can have money; if the court does not want them to have money, They don’t have the money, and there are plenty of people who can replace them.”

"If you understand this truth, don't have too many complaints, let alone any complaints. If you have grievances and you really have the guts, then don't do it."

Normally, these words would sound a bit scary.

But at this juncture, these words reassure lobbyists.

"Don't worry, my lord, you know these truths even if you don't say them. The villain will definitely pass these words back without any basis. In addition, what other instructions does the lord have?"

Liu Yu waved his hand and said: "There is nothing else, nothing to do. As long as you understand the reason, you will know everything. This year's water transport reform, the old salt road will be rebuilt. Millions of water transport workers are already troublesome enough. Your Majesty will do your best." Against all odds... If you have some discernment, you should know whether it is time to 'offer auspiciousness' or to 'offer auspicious signs'. ”

“I don’t want anything like ‘swamped goods to be replenished’ or ‘shipwrecked and lost salt’ to happen again this year.”

The lobbyist was even more delighted and kept saying: "It's clear! It's clear!"

I thought that this statement made it very clear. It seemed that His Majesty was really just here to ask for money. Come to think of it, there are so many changes this year, both in water transportation and in the Huaihe River. How can we have so much energy to do other things at the same time?

Since it is said that the abolition of the canal was done by His Majesty against all opinions, if something goes wrong with the salt policy at this time, wouldn't that be a slap in the emperor's face?

Besides, isn't there a big hat belonging to Duke Xingguo? I'm afraid that Duke Xingguo only wants the reform and stability of water transportation now, and the rest is negotiable and compromiseable. This water transport not only transports rice, but also transports salt, which is a big deal.

Even if we sell out and replenish shipments, we shouldn’t have to do it this year. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future.

It seems that this can be regarded as a kind of 'contract' given by the above - the emperor guarantees that the salt policy will not be changed, and you salt merchants will give you money and guarantee that nothing will happen in the next two years. What others say is, "Look, once the canal is changed, even the salt will be lost." Something happened."

For such a major matter, the more serious it is, the safer it will be. Lobbyists know this well.

Liu Yu didn't say anything more, and knocked on the "snack" box again, indicating that the lobbyist could leave.

After the lobbyist left, Liu Yu called to the people outside: "Go and invite General Shi."

After a while, Shi Shiyong came in, without asking what Liu Yu said to those people. He just glanced at the snack box Liu Yu pointed at, and couldn't help but smile.

Liu Yu didn't say anything about what happened just now, he just said: "How is Brother Shi's investigation of the private salt matter?"

Now that Shi Shiyong understood what Liu Yu meant by targeted investigation, he smiled and said: "There are a lot of investigations, and the more we investigate, the more complicated we become. We found that some people in the army, especially those who originally inspected water transportation, were The person the Duke is looking for has nothing to do with these people. I have also checked a lot of private salt dealers, and I have some clues here."

"After further investigation, we also found that there are some business tyrants in salt fields and shipping ports in various places. There are even some fierce dealers who lead a team to directly break into the card. And the business tyrants in the salt ports in various places are also brave in numbers. He is ruthless and bullies the market in private, which is very arrogant.”

"Normally, these people should not be controlled by us, but they are deeply rooted in the local area. If we don't care, it will be really difficult to handle."

"Since the prince wants to turn a gangster into a businessman, the private salt dealers can stay put. But can these business tyrants stay still?"

This is a private job, and the Boy's Army doesn't actually care about these things of bullying and dominating the market, but since they want to cooperate with the salt policy reform, they have to take care of this matter.

Liu Yu thought for a while and said: "Don't be anxious, continue to stare, continue to investigate. Remember, don't be anxious. Stay calm first and talk about it later. As for the private salt dealers, find a few confidants who are reliable... Well, I pretended to be a kidnapper and arrested a few of the confidants of the illegal salt dealers and escorted them over secretly. Don’t show your official identity.”

Shi Shiyong knew at a glance that he wanted to master the sales network of the following private salt dealers and see how far it went.

The reason here is also very simple. Private salt dealers are suppressed by the authorities, not because they are incompetent. If they can create a market of 100,000 yuan now, once they are allowed to become a regular business and turn their business into a business, then they will definitely be able to quadruple or five times the amount.

"Okay, I will pick some good people to do it. Don't worry, Lord, we have cast the net everywhere before, and people from all religions and nine schools know it. They went to the White Mountains and Black Waters, squatted with Edo Japanese pirates, and Annan Korea also It’s all possible, there’s nothing difficult about it.”

Liu Yu smiled, stood up and pushed the snack boxes: "I still have something to trouble Brother Shi. In addition to some money notes given by His Majesty before, the amount is not small. I will send some people to Songjiang Mansion." . The faster the better, please be careful on the road...it’s full of money, not Ku Ping’s silver coins, tens of thousands per box, so be careful.”

Banknotes were still a new thing these days. Only big merchants with strong capital and business capital could issue convertible banknotes. No one in Dashun had such business power before. Those who engage in fur business, lend money in Mongolia, and sell tea to Rakshasa are still a few years away from having such abundant capital.

Shi Shiyong was also surprised to see that such a small wooden box could hold tens of thousands of taels of silver. He stretched out his hand to weigh it, and laughed twice, saying, "Who would have thought that there were tens of thousands of taels in it? All right, I'll go pick someone now, and Duke, please seal the box with wax lacquer."

…………

When the news of the Huaibei salt administration reform was getting tighter, it seemed that it did not affect the business situation in Songjiang Prefecture. The only impact might be that the share price of the sea transportation rose again. The abolition of the canal means that the southern goods with the trade rights in the capital will be transported by sea instead of the canal in the future. Those who tried to operate the grain transport before will make a fortune.

Other than that, the rest seemed to be in order. Those who should receive the goods received the goods, and those who should prepare the Western goods before the monsoon arrived prepared the Western goods.

As usual, there were many carriages parked in the Songjiang Mansion of Duke Xingguo. Although the Duke of Xingguo is still on the north side of the Yellow River, and although Kang Budai, who was in charge before, is said to be in Luosha now, it does not prevent people from still managing various things here.

Although Zhao Yu of the previous dynasty came up with the allusion of "Songjiang prefect will come tomorrow" in order to change customs and habits, changing the habit of Songjiang Prefecture to sue.

But after Liu Yu began to influence Songjiang Prefecture, there was another wave of changing customs and habits in the opposite direction. The praised "coming tomorrow" is not Confucianism at all, but the set of hypocrisy.

So this reverse change of customs and habits is to encourage people to go to the government office to solve problems. Because the times are developing, as a commercially developed area, if there is still a "coming tomorrow" set, there will be no tomorrow.

Even so, in addition to various new government offices, there are many things that require official status but are coordinated in an unofficial capacity.

This kind of thing is naturally centered on the Songjiang Prefecture villa of the Duke of Xingguo.

The guests who came today are already accustomed to this style. They sat in a large room, with a small compartment next to it, and a curtain hung in front of the compartment. The people inside were talking to them about things.

They were not talking in the government hall, and there would definitely be no curtains or women in the government hall, so naturally they were all talking about business.

After the usual polite words, the merchants who came today were busy being modest and said that they were all small businesses.

Tian Zhenyi behind the curtain smiled and said, "You are modest."

"Now there is a saying in Jiangsu and Zhejiang that the Gao family manages life and the Xue family manages death. Who doesn't know it?"

The merchants surnamed Gao and Xue hurriedly said that they dared not, but they were still happy about this evaluation.

The Xue family was a sea merchant. After the Dashun went to Southeast Asia, they seized the business opportunity and took the lead in establishing a trading company specializing in Southeast Asia and Liaodong.

They originally did business in Southeast Asia. After the integration, they took advantage of the Dashun's going to Southeast Asia and the equity integration. In a few years, they beat the other individual merchants in the same industry.

The reason why the outside world says that "the Xue family is in charge of death" is related to the trade products of the trading company led by the Xue family.

In January and February, the Xue family bought tin blocks from Banga and other places in Southeast Asia.

They were transported to Shaoxing, Hangzhou and other places.

Shaoxing was known as the "half-city of tin" at this time, and it almost monopolized the tinfoil industry in the country with Shaoxing as the center.

China is a country that attaches great importance to ancestor worship. With the monetization of silver in the Ming Dynasty, those tinfoil ingots that look like "silver ingots" quickly became popular.

Obviously, this custom also started in the Ming Dynasty, just like the custom of having a denomination on the top of the ghost money must have been popular after the popularity of paper money.

Paper money looks like Kong Fangxiong, but how worthless is Kong Fangxiong now? How many Kong Fangxiong can a "silver ingot" exchange for? These days are not the time of paper money. The amount cannot be written on the ghost money, so that the Tiandi Bank is like the "Zimbabwe Bank", so naturally "silver ingots" are rampant.

Tin from Banga and other places in Nanyang was transported to Zhejiang and shipped before the Mid-Autumn Festival on July 15.

In June, the Xue family's merchant ship loaded tin foil and went to Liaodong.

In Liaodong, they waited until August 15, when the soybeans were harvested, and then transported soybeans from Liaodong to Songjiang Prefecture.

Then they went to Zhejiang to fill up tin foil and went to Nanyang, facing the consumption of tin foil for the Nanyang Chinese to worship their ancestors during the Chinese New Year. The number of Nanyang Chinese was increasing, and they left their hometowns, so they burned more tin foil during the Chinese New Year.

Because they wanted to tell their ancestors and parents: We left our hometowns and your graves to make money. Look, I burn some silver ingots for you, burn them hard, so that you don't suffer over there.

After the Chinese New Year, they went to Banga to load tin blocks and returned to Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

According to folklore, the Wheel King of Hell, who is in charge of "distinguishing good from evil, determining grades, and sending people to reincarnate", must be the hardest hit area of ​​"bribery and bribery" because of the scope of his power. For example, the eldest king of the Ten Hells, Qin Guangwang, has greater power and responsibility, but he is in charge of the Book of Life and Death, which is not easy to bribe, and he is not dead yet, so how can he spend money to bribe him?

So the Wheel King of Hell, who is in charge of judging good and evil and reincarnating, is the place where money is spent.

According to the story, the surname of the Wheel King of Hell is Xue.

And the Xue family specializes in this kind of business, so they jokingly say that "the Xue family is in charge of death."

As for the Gao family's management of birth, the birth here is not because of the surname of Gao Yuanshuai, the nine-day Xilin Jinque supervisor, who was born in a golden basin and sent children.

The birth here actually refers to "Zhuazhou".

The company led by the Gao family mainly deals in many sundries such as needles and thread, pearl hairpins, pens and ink, rattles, and small flower shoes.

The Gao family supplies grocery stores in Nanyang, Liaodong and other places.

Middle-class families have to hold a one-year-old celebration for their children. These strange things can be bought in various grocery stores. When asked about the quality of the goods, they all say that the goods are from the Gao family, so they gradually gained such a reputation.

The Xue and Gao families are just ordinary people among the group of people who came today.

They modestly said that they were small businesses. In fact, compared with other wealthy merchants, they only monopolized the tin foil, tin blocks, and daily necessities in the coastal areas of the country and Southeast Asia. It can only be regarded as a "small" business.

In addition to the Xue and Gao families, the other merchants invited to the banquet today are also in a similar situation: they are the winners of the new era. Relying on opportunities such as going to Southeast Asia, joint-stock system, and conquering Japan, they quickly defeated merchants in other places, and relied on strong financing, navigation and other advantages to complete the monopoly of certain commodities.

But there are not many types of monopolies, and most of them are small corners that "those real wealthy merchants don't look down on."

Their common feature is that they have shops and warehouses everywhere, and many people from all walks of life know them.

They are all new classes, with weak foundations before, and they have risen up with the times.

They all want to do bigger business, but they have no way to do it.

In Liaodong, Jingji, Nanyang and other places, they have initially established business networks.

They are big businessmen, but not very big; but to say they are small businessmen is a lie.