The Struggle History of the Fourteenth Qing Dynasty

After this group of big salt merchants went back, they first asked their subordinate salt merchants to pick up the goods to free up the warehouse, and the other was the issue of returning funds.

The second is to squeeze and shrink the family property, and spend more funds to eat that batch of fine salt.

Three days later, they brought a lot of silver and gold bills, as well as copper coins, which were no longer a penny of silver.

Kangxi took the money, and then sent someone to withdraw the cash.

There is a lot of silver in Jiangnan, and what they want are all the big silver coins of 50 taels of silver.

However, only Liancheng Bank can have such a large amount of silver deposits.

The current business of the Four Seas Bank is mainly in Mongolia and several other countries, which is a bit like a foreign-related bank.

The Liancheng Bank is open all over the world. Kangxi sent people to pick up the money and transport it to the capital. Liancheng Bank is indeed very reputable. They don't have that much cash, so they exchanged half of the banknotes for Kangxi's people, and then gave the banknotes They exchanged the bills of the capital's main bank for free, and they can exchange them when they return to Beijing without charging any fees.

Only then was Kangxi satisfied.

The Fourteenth Master did not make a move this time. Many people outside are buying properties sold by salt merchants. The properties they sell are all profitable, but their business is the salt industry, so if they want to keep their property, they have to retain their leadership in the salt industry.

Cao Yong was stuck at this point, and they had to sell the property to raise money and continue to eat the sea salt.

Once the fine salt of sea salt is sold to other salt merchants, their status will be lost. Who will eat coarse salt when they have fine salt?

People are not stupid.

The Fourteenth Master took his two younger brothers every day, wandering east and west, surrounded by 50 or [-] people, and wandering around the city again, so there was no danger, but life was very happy.

Cao Yong continued to operate there, but it didn't take the Fourteenth Lord to come forward. Cao Yong forced this group of big salt merchants to go bankrupt.

Kangxi seized [-] million taels of silver and [-] million taels of gold.

Looking at the money, Kangxi's heart beat fast: "It's the first time I've seen so much money at this age."

"Sir, too." Fourteenth Master jumped up and down beside him: "In the future, the household department will not be short of money, and disaster relief will not be afraid. Wherever Huang Ama wants to be exempted from tax, he can exempt from tax."

Never worry about money again.

"Where can you exempt from taxes casually? Let me tell you the truth. Sometimes, the imperial court exempts the localities from taxes, but the local officials cheat and conceal it. It is inevitable. The taxes collected are all corrupted by them." Kangxi said "That's why I generally offer exemptions, but not full exemptions. They are afraid of people going to check taxes, so naturally they don't dare to embezzle more. I... can only do this."

"Huang Ama, it will get better in the future, but to be honest, the salaries of the officials are indeed too low. I have asked all the ministers about it. The money is not enough, so they have no choice but to embezzle and accept bribes." The Fourteenth Master said: "Why don't you give the officials a little more salary?"

"Fourteen, you really don't feel pain in your back when you stand and talk. Do you know how many officials there were in the Qing Dynasty from top to bottom? Even if I gave everyone ten taels of silver, how many taels would I have to spend in a month? After a year, That's an astonishing amount!" Kangxi sighed: "What's more, officials who have real jobs cost a lot of money, and vain jobs are simply taking salary and not working for me! Officials also cry poorly to others, but those who can afford the imperial examinations for scholars There are no poor families, but relatively speaking, they are not as rich as the children of officials and eunuchs, but they are much richer than ordinary people."

Fourteen thought for a while: "I have an immature idea. I remember reading a travel book before. I don't remember where it was. It said that the court there also had the same confusion. Later, because of corruption, It became a trend, and the country was in chaos in the end, and then the imperial court there thought of a way, called high salary to support honesty."

In fact, this is a later policy.

But is it appropriate to say it now?

"High salary to support honesty?" Kangxi was really moved: "However, there are so many officials, I can't afford it!"

His concubines don't have high salaries, let alone the officials. Besides, the salaries of the officials are not low. Unfortunately, the expenses of the officials are too high.

"Can you not raise the wages of those with false positions, but can you raise some for those with real positions!" The Fourteenth Master suggested: "You have given enough salary, if they are still corrupt, then there is nothing to say, just cut it off without explaining! "

Kangxi really didn't think about it that way, he always thought about treating people equally, civil servants have ice and carbon respect, military officers can eat nothing;

In fact, the real-time officials in the world only account for one-third of all officials.

The remaining one-third are vacant positions, and the other third are hereditary and irreplaceable positions, the kind with a little bit of power but not much.

There are also various loose grades.

In fact, in addition to their official positions, officials also have scattered ranks, which are the kind of honorary titles.

For example, Li Guangdi, who was born in the Imperial Academy, is now the right servant of the Ministry of War, and part-time governor of Zhili.

A bachelor is the highest level of civil servants, and his name is to assist the emperor in handling government affairs. In the early Qing Dynasty, there was a political discussion office to control his power, which shows Li Guangdi's ability. Kangxi also loved this Lord Li very much.

But Wenyuange University Bachelor is a first-rank official position;

The right servant of the Ministry of War is the official position of the second rank;

The official position of Zhili governor is Cong Yipin.

He can receive three official salaries in the household department.

In fact, if you do the math, it’s a lot of money.

But with Li Guangdi's status, this amount of money is really nothing.

Shishi didn't know how the officials received their salaries, but he knew that some officials were starved to death while others were exhausted.

Especially the Hanlins in the Hanlin Academy, that is really a breeze in their sleeves.

Only one meal of meat can be eaten in a month, poor ones, all of them are thin and thin, and they are said to be a "noble" yamen, in the eyes of Fourteenth Master, it is a poor yamen.

"Huang Amana, think about it carefully, my son is leaving!" The Fourteenth Master belongs to the kind, who proposes an idea, and then lets Kangxi think about it. Kangxi, after thinking about it, directs people to do it.

This is equivalent to the type of setting fire and running!

Poor Kangxi thought about it for a long time, and suddenly realized that every time Fourteen stabbed Lou Zi and asked him, Huang Ama, to wipe his ass.

Can't help feeling angry.

But then laughed again.

Fourteenth, this kid has a good brain, but he doesn't like to seize power, and he loves money but gets it in a proper way.

He knew that in those fourteen stores, the leftovers from the day were not wasted. Those that could be sold were sold, and those that could not be sold were made into buns and the like, and distributed to the poor.

As for the beggars in Beijing, as long as they have hands and feet, Fourteen will take them in and give them a subsistence job. The children will be taken care of by special people, and they have household registration. They will be taught to read and write. , and some daily skills.

When there were refugees, his fourteenth sons always used the banner of the royal family to cook porridge for these refugees, and even hired them to work.

Fourteen's heart is the softest among all the sons.

The fourteenth master with the softest heart is doing something that is not soft-hearted.

He was in the kitchen, forcing a trembling cook: "Hurry up and teach me how to do it!"

"Master, this is you... what are you going to do? It's not easy to learn." The cook said with a trembling voice, "We all learned it after a long time, not to mention, you don't look like a cook. "

"I just need to learn how to do it, and let the chef handle the rest of the ingredients!" Master Fourteen waved his paw: "Hurry up, hurry up!"

The cook had no choice but to teach the fourteenth master how to do it. Seeing the fourteenth master holding a knife and cooking seriously, the cook felt that the fourteenth master was not unreasonable, but he was a little impatient.

When the Fourteenth Master was tossing the cook, Cao Yong was also tossing the salt merchants.

The funds of the big salt merchants are about to bottom out, but the salt merchants in their hands still have money in their hands. As the salt merchants in the middle, they also want to stand out, but the pressure from the top is too hard. Never had a chance.

But Cao Yong sent someone to secretly contact them and provide them with fine salt at the same price as those big salt merchants!

Those who have money but don't make money are bastards!

Salt merchants don't pay attention to the spirit of contract at all. They are not like those big salt merchants who control the source of the salt industry and raise prices when they want to. They are just middlemen.

If the big salt merchants are first-tier distributors, they are second-tier.

Now that there is a chance to get a first-level salt price, who wouldn't be tempted!

The salt industry is so big, and everyone in the circle knows that the big salt merchants seem to have encountered something and started to go bankrupt.

However, where there is salt, there is a future, and salt has no shelf life!

It's no problem to put it away for two or three years. Unlike grain merchants, the grain of grain merchants will become stale grain the next year if they cannot be sold in one year, and their price will drop.

Not salt, it just raises the price!

Cao Yong secretly contacted those salt merchants here, and the big salt merchants didn't know it yet.

However, their eyes have been drawn to one thing, and that is Kangxi's Longevity Festival.

Kangxi toured the south during the first month of the lunar year. As soon as he went out, he went straight to Guangzhou, then Fujian, and finally brought people back to Jiangning Weaving Mansion, which is Nanjing.

At the same time, in March, Kangxi's Longevity Festival.

Kangxi celebrated the Longevity Festival outside, but not here!It was the Longevity Festival in Suzhou and Hangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River.

So much so that the whole Jinling was covered in red, and Cao Yin was even more beaming and ordered people to gather together. He is not afraid of debts now, and his son is supported by the Fourteenth Master, and the Fourteenth Master is so capable!

Since the separation, his life has become easier, his wife has more smiles on her face, both daughters are well married, his son married a manchurian noble woman, and is pregnant, and he will definitely have children in the future When Cao Yin played against Kangxi alone, he expressed that he wanted to retire and play with his grandchildren. He was originally a middle-aged son, and his wife’s health was not good. Now his health is actually not very good. It's not the cultivation of Thanksgiving Long Live, but I actually wanted to retire a long time ago.

"If you retire, let's retire and let your son take your place." Kangxi thought for a while: "Take good care of your body and serve your nanny."

Kangxi still called Caosun's "nanny".

Cao Yin breathed a sigh of relief: "Slave, thank you Lord Long En!"

Kangxi had a dinner with him, and talked about some things, and the laughter spread out again and again. Many people guessed, what kind of happy event is this?Long live the laughter is loud enough.

On the second day, Cao Yin opened with vigor and vigor, and the Longevity Day of the Long Live Lord will be celebrated with excitement!

Even, the Fourteenth Lord found Cao Yong and asked him to auction off the birthday quota for the Wanshou Festival with those wealthy businessmen.

"How to auction this thing?" Cao Yong was still too young.

"My lord remembers that there are one hundred common people's seats, right?"

"Yes, but..." Cao Yong hesitated: "I heard from the servant's father that this is a banquet prepared for some old folks."

"How many old folks can there be? One hundred seats, one seat for ten people, one hundred is 1000 people, and five hundred places is enough. The old folks are divided, and not everyone can come. Yes, those who need someone to support and serve them, what are they doing here? There are not enough people to serve them, so divide half of the one hundred tables and change them to squire seats, and then [-] tables will be vacant among the squire seats For those salt merchants, whoever pays more money will get the quota, and the money will be used to subsidize the expenses of this Longevity Festival. Whoever dares to sue you will be in trouble." The fourteenth master shook his head: "Jiangnan There are many rich merchants, and they all have money!"

Cao Yong thought for a while: "This is not very good, it is better to add five more seats and fifty seats, so as not to be said by others, which will damage Long Wei, the Long Live Lord."

Fourteen pursed his lips: "Whatever, the quota will be auctioned anyway."

"Don't worry about this, the place here is huge, where can't we fit five tables and ten tables?" Cao Yongxin followed Fourteen, and he has learned badly. He used to hate salt merchants, because they wanted That little salt tax made Cao Yin feel sad, otherwise Cao Yin would not have been so exhausted.

Now, he is making things difficult for them and avenging his father!

Cao Yong didn't have a good impression of rich businessmen. There are many wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan, but all of them are very stingy, and those who can pay taxes on time will be run off by them.

As a result, Jiangnan's tax money is always calculated and calculated, but the imperial court can't be cruel to Jiangnan. The problems left over from history and some ethnic hatreds will take time to heal slowly, alas!

The next day, Cao Yong went to Zuixian Tower again, and now everyone is used to it. As soon as Cao Yong went to Zuixian Tower, the salt merchants went without notice.

As soon as they heard that there were [-] places for birthday celebrations on the Wanshou Festival that could be auctioned off, and the highest bid would win, the salt merchants became worried, their family had no money!

However, when the other wealthy merchants learned about it, they were very active, and finally they could stop watching the salt merchants show off.

Catch up with the big salt merchants who have no money!

But they are rich!

Even without staying overnight, Cao Yong received a lot of posts from people at the door, expressing their willingness to pay high prices to buy places.

Even a family does not only buy one, but ten or eight.

They even prepared silver, and some even prepared gold directly.