Chapter 299 Dealing with Shanxi Merchants
Qi Zhong looked at Jiabao, the leader of the Dorote tribe, and pointed to the vast sea: "You can go back to the grassland, then just jump off and swim back!"
When Jiabao heard what Qi Zhong said, he felt deeply humiliated, because his Mongolian warriors were naturally unparalleled in riding horses, but they couldn't swim at all. Now they couldn't stand firm even on the boat, and they were even dizzy. , let alone swim back. If you want to swim back, you may have drowned or been buried in the belly of the fish.
Jiabao had to pull out his knife and threaten Qi Zhong: "Master Qi, if you don't turn this boat around and transport us back to the grassland, I will kill you!"
The Ming army behind Qi Chong also quickly raised their muskets.
But at this time, a wave suddenly hit and the ship shook violently. Naval officer Qi Chong and the Ming army behind him were still standing steadily on the bow, while Jiabao and several Mongolians behind him fell to the ground. He fell on the board of the boat and stood up again after the sea calmed down.
Seeing this, Qi Chong couldn't help but smile: "Uncle Kanzhou, you can't even stand firm now, how can you threaten me? Just go to the cabin and stay there. We will enter the area where the waves are more violent later. If your people are overturned, I will not save you.”
Immediately afterwards, Qi Zhong stopped talking to Jiabao.
……
In the area of what is now San Francisco on the American continent, Manduda, the leader of Ordos, and Shun Chenghou of the present Ming Dynasty finally landed after months of bumps. Looking at this unfamiliar continent, he just wanted to find a land route back to himself. The grasslands of yesteryear.
Now he hates Ming Dynasty extremely!
Manduda wished he could kill the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao who deceived him!
Because Zhu Houzhao told him to give him a pasture that was like spring all year round, and then he believed it out of simplicity. At the same time, he was also impressed by the military power of the Ming Dynasty, and took his tribe on the road of migration.
But he didn't expect that he and his tribe would embark on a road of no return. Months of life at sea cost him a lot of tribesmen, but he couldn't do anything to the Ming army because they only vomited on the ship. Dizzy or so weak that you can't even lift a knife.
The moment he set foot on the mainland, Manduda was naturally extremely excited. He took out his war horse from the cabin. He vowed that after he regained his strength, he would lead his tribe to find a way back to the grassland on land.
But what Manduda didn't know was that he had no chance to return to the Eurasian continent now, unless he could go north to what is now Alaska during the ice and then find a way to cross the Bering Strait.
But for Manduda, who was not good at crossing the sea, this was obviously impossible.
However, Manduda did not know these terrible realities. Now he only stubbornly wanted to find a way back to the grassland, which also led to him galloping around on this continent for the next few decades. .
certainly.
For Mantuda, he was just looking for a way home, but for Spanish colonists and Indians, these knights from the east were really the devils they feared.
Because the Mongolian cavalry in Manduda fully demonstrated their talent for looting on the American continent.
On this American continent, they did not have an army with advanced firearms like the Ming Army, nor did they have a strong castle. Even the Spanish colonists were caught off guard in front of them.
……
"Didn't the imperial court demote Xia Yan because of the sharp drop in stock prices?"
Fan Yonghe, the big boss of Shanxi Commercial Bank, looked at Yang Feng in surprise. Yang Feng nodded: "Meng Butang means that officials like Sun Sui were too straightforward and eager to impeach. Your Majesty is not someone who can be easily impeached." A person who is led by a person. ”
Fan Yonghe got up and walked a few steps with some annoyance, and suddenly asked Yang Feng: "Tell me, what does our emperor really want? Does Xia Yan know that he offended so many officials and gentry in Nanyang's crackdown on smuggling?" If he doesn't replace Xia Yan, the officials and gentry will replace him as the emperor."
After hearing this, Yang Feng couldn't help being shocked and replied: "Master, be careful! You and I can't guess the emperor's thoughts, but I have another thing here that I want you to know."
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Fan Yonghe motioned for Yang Feng to speak.
then.
Yang Feng then said: "Huadang did not take Kaiping City, and has withdrawn its troops, and even apologized to the court. However, the court killed Huadang's apology envoy. According to businessmen in the north, now from Datong to Liaodong, people are flying every day There are a large number of guards crossing the border. It seems that the court is going to launch a large-scale conquest of the border town. "
Fan Yonghe turned around in surprise: "We told this Hua Dang everything from Xuanfu to Kaiping City, but this Hua Dang still couldn't get into Kaiping City. What do these Tatars do for food?"
"I don't know the specifics. I only heard that the children and grandchildren did indeed bring one hundred thousand Tatars, but the guns and artillery were not as powerful as the official army. In the end, the children and grandchildren had to give up attacking Kaiping City. But now His Majesty Long Yan is furious and wants to A large-scale expedition against the Mongolian tribes will naturally block trade and cut off the financial path of our Shanxi merchants! ”
After Yang Feng said that, Fan Yonghe couldn't help but sigh: "It's not a good thing that the imperial officers and soldiers are too strong!"
A few days later, Yang Feng found Fan Yonghe at the convening place: "Sir, something bad happened. Guangzhou brought back news that the stock prices of Shanxi Commercial Bank and Liaomeng Commercial Bank suddenly fell sharply, but the stock prices of other commercial banks suddenly rose sharply, and with the Lin was imprisoned The army seized it, and the Mongolian tribes were either killed or driven further north to the extremely cold places. As a result, the headquarters of the Liao-Meng Commercial Bank in Helin was also confiscated by the army, and the silver we distributed to Huadang was lost. Into the hands of the army!”
Fan Yonghe sat back on his chair directly after hearing this: "Except for our trading firm, everything else has started to rise sharply. It seems that the court has taken action. Please contact Mr. Chenobei from Dafo Langji immediately. We will go to Nanyang immediately. Hurry!"
Fan Yonghe realized that something was wrong, and he had to run away before the court caught evidence that he had violated the law.
However, at this time, a group of Jinyi guards had surrounded Fan Yonghe's mansion, and Hao Yun, Qianhu of Jinyiwei, also brought Qie Nobei to Fan Yonghe: "The Fan Yonghe you mentioned is him."
Chenobei, who was already tied up with iron chains, nodded: "It's him, it's him!"
Fan Yonghe was horrified at this time. He did not expect that Jin Yiwei had already caught Chenobei first. He could guess that Jin Yiwei must have discovered the matter of selling people of the Ming Dynasty. In a moment of panic, he waved his hands and said: "No, it's not me. , I don’t even know you, how can you, a Westerner, be such a mouthful!”
Hao Yun, a member of Qianhu of Jin Yiwei, smiled coldly: "Fan, do you think your sophistry will be useful now? Qie Nuobei, you can pretend not to know him, but you always know Qian Rong."
Qian Rong?
Who is Qian Rong?
Fan Yonghe has secretly sold several groups of people from the Ming Dynasty since he started manipulating the stock market. Naturally, he can't remember who Qian Rong is.
Hao Yun still smiled lightly: "It doesn't matter if you can't remember, there are always documents."
Saying that, Hao Yun waved his hand: "Search for me!"
After Hao Yun finished speaking, a group of imperial guards rushed over. At this time, Yang Feng hurriedly stopped him: "What are you doing? Our master is the big owner of Shanxi Trading Company!"
Click!
Hao Yun chopped off Yang Feng's right arm with a knife: "If you interfere with law enforcement, I will kill you with one knife. Believe it or not!"
"Ah!"
Yang Feng was screaming in pain at this time. He never expected that the Jin Yiwei men would cut off his hand directly.
Youdao is a scholar who encounters soldiers. You can't explain it clearly. Even if Yang Feng and his boss Fan Yonghe are people who are good at calculation and even take into account the interests of the country, in front of the Jin Yiwei who only uses swords to ask questions, he still can't explain it. There is no ability to turn things around.
The knife that Hao Yun slashed at Yang Feng and the bloody arm that fell to the ground also frightened Fan Yonghe. Fan Yonghe immediately leaked hot urine, soaking the hem of his robe.
After a while, the Jin Yiwei responsible for the search carried out a box of documents. One of the Jin Yiwei replied to Hao Yun: "Sir, these are documents proving that this person is selling the people of the Ming Dynasty. This is Qian Rong's contract. .”
Hao Yun took Qian Rong's contract from the Jinyiwei's hand and looked at it, and couldn't help but laugh: "He is indeed a profiteer! He dares to do this kind of business, forcing his family to die, and even selling him off! What a real businessman. Wolf heart and dog lung! Take it away!”
Fan Yonghe lowered his head.
……
A few months later, Zhu Houzhao also received an investigation report from Guangdong and Guangxi about the previous stock plunge. After learning that it was a group of Shanxi merchants from Shanxi Commercial Bank and Liaomeng Commercial Bank who were causing trouble and were also suspected of human trafficking, he couldn't help but look confused. Leng, replied directly:
"All the properties of the Jin merchants involved in this case were confiscated, all the people involved were executed, and the family was sent to Mobei to build cement roads and serve for more than fifty years!"
After knowing this, Zhao Jian, the Minister of Dali Temple, couldn't help but advise: "Your Majesty, is this too harsh? After all, they are only suspected of trafficking in their own people. As for manipulating the stock market, it cannot be said to be a crime after all."
"The compatriots who dare to harm their families and sell them to others are enough to show that these people do not regard their own people as human beings. In this case, why should our own people treat them as human beings? Since they do not respect the human rights of the people of the Ming Dynasty, So the people of Ming Dynasty There is no need to respect their human rights. Their property rights, life rights, and freedom rights have been completely deprived! They don’t even have the right to commit suicide. The man named Fan Yonghe is the chief culprit and should be punished directly to set an example!”
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Zhu Houzhao knew that he must punish them more harshly now, because he knew that with the development of capitalism in the Ming Dynasty, if he did not use harsh punishments to deal with these Shanxi merchants, there would definitely be more profiteers in the future regardless of the interests of the country for their own interests. , and then put the entire country and nation into a dangerous situation of destruction. Historically, Shanxi merchants did this in the late Ming Dynasty.
……
But Fan Yonghe now regrets that he forgot the majesty of the court and only pursued his own interests. Obviously, it was too late for him to regret it now. The cold knife had already cut into his chest, and the tearing pain instantly swept through every neuron in his body, causing him to scream in pain, and the cold winter wind The blow came over, exacerbating his pain.
"Spare your life! Spare your life! I was wrong! I shouldn't have trafficked my own people, I shouldn't have collaborated with the enemy and betrayed my country, I shouldn't have manipulated the stock market! I have money, and I am willing to donate all my family property to forgive my sin! Woohoo!" < br>
Fan Yonghe screamed miserably, but no one would answer him at this time. However, he was not alone. There was also a traitor named Jiang Han and Hua Dang, two Tatars named Jiang Han who were tortured with him. Sub-leader.
Before Jiang Han, Hua Dang, and Bao's children and grandchildren were executed, Zhu Houzhao met with these three people once.
Because these three people were captured by the Guards from the Horqin tribe. When they were escorted back to the capital, Zhu Houzhao, who was also returning to the capital, learned that the Guards had arrested these three people, so he stopped by to see them.
When Hua Dang, Bao Ersun, and Jiang Han were escorted in front of Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzhao only asked: "Which of you is Hua Dang?"
At this time, an older Tatar couldn't help but hold his head high and said: "I am Hua Dang, His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Hua Dang apologizes to you again. I hope you will forgive me. I am willing to continue to be a minister of the Ming Dynasty!"
"Forgive? Why should I forgive you? What qualifications do you have to ask me to forgive you? Drag it on and impose the death penalty!"
Zhu Houzhao said and looked at his children and grandchildren: "Who are you?"
"He is Hua Dang's son, his descendants," Guo Rong on the side replied.
Zhu Houzhao nodded: "Take him down too and impose the death penalty!"
At this time, when there was only one traitor, Jiang Han, in front of Zhu Houzhao, Jiang Han began to cry: "Your Majesty, please forgive me! I have no choice but to go out to do business, but I never wanted to be robbed by these Tatars." , I wanted to stick to my integrity, but I couldn't stand the threats and inducements of these Tatars, so I had to surrender and become a thief!"
Zhu Houzhao knew that there were many Han compatriots in the Ming Dynasty who had always been tough-talking and soft-hearted, and even for their own benefit, they did not hesitate to instigate the entire foreign race outside the Great Wall to destroy their country. Now this Jiang Han was naturally just one of them. Of course, Zhu Houzhao did not expose this Jiang Han. , just said:
"Since you have succumbed to being a thief, it means that you are still a Tatar lackey, do you think you are or are you not?"
"Your Majesty! I have no choice but to imitate Su Wu, but I never expected that the Tatars are extremely cunning. I have no choice but to do so!"
Jiang Han cried bitterly.
But Zhu Houzhao just shouted: "Answer me, have you surrendered or become a Tatar lackey?!"
Seeing that Zhu Houzhao kept asking this, Jiang Han couldn't escape for a while, so he could only nodded: "Yes! But Chen is really..."
Before Jiang Han finished speaking, Zhu Houzhao just smiled coldly and ordered: "Since he was forced to surrender, but he did surrender, then I will give him a chance, give him a knife, and let him commit suicide to apologize. ! ”
After Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, Jiang Han couldn't help but be shocked. He kept shaking his head. He didn't want to die at all. He didn't expect that he would suffer so miserably and that the emperor would not forgive him.
"Your Majesty, I have no power to tie a chicken. I can't cut off my own head by myself! I am willing to use my hair as my head. I just ask your Majesty to spare my life!"
Jiang Han hurriedly begged for mercy.
Zhu Houzhao also didn't expect Jiang Han to be so weak, so he only said: "Since you have no power to tie a chicken, then take him down and give him the death penalty. There will be specialized executioners who will pick off the cartilage on his body one by one." Come down!”
When Jiang Han heard this, he was so frightened that he burst into tears: "Your Majesty, please spare my life! Please spare my life!"
Zhu Houzhao naturally ignored him.
……
At this time, on the execution ground, Fan Yonghe, Hua Dang, Bao Zisun, Jiang Han and others were all screaming miserably.
But Zhu Houzhao, who was in the Royal West Garden at this time, naturally could not hear these miserable sounds. As an emperor, he was destined to be stained with the blood of many evil people in his life.
Zhu Houzhao also felt helpless about this. He was sometimes distressed about why there was no effective way to curb people's greed and maintain basic respect between people.
For example, these Shanxi merchants are understandable as merchants in doing business and making profits. It is understandable even if they take advantage of the court's loopholes to manipulate the stock market and make a fortune, but why do they buy their compatriots who have lost their families and become slaves to Westerners, and many of them are even their own? Relatives and children.
There are also these Tatars, especially Tatar leaders like Huadang. Because they have been loyal to the Ming Dynasty for a long time, they have the richest grassland given to them by the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, because they are close to the border towns of the Ming Dynasty, they can completely rely on the border trade with the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. The grassland given to them allows them to live a subsistence life.
But he was still greedy and wanted to plunder the Ming Dynasty, and even ignored the lives of his own people to the point of using them as cannon fodder.
How cheap is human life in the eyes of people in this era.
Zhu Houzhao had to admit that when the people were not enlightened, the people were indifferent to other people's right to life and could ignore the lives of others for their own interests.
Because of this, Zhu Houzhao can only use severe punishments to warn everyone. Indifference to other people's lives will be punished the most severely. Zhu Houzhao wants everyone to know that sometimes it is not just you who will harm others. When you are harmed, the pain you suffer is no less than that of the person you harmed.
Zhu Houzhao knew that even if he was the emperor, he could not make people be kind in a short time. As the ruler of the empire, he had to spend more energy on maintaining the justice and development and progress of the empire, and persuade people to be kind. Such good things need to be done by those responsible for education and ideological dissemination.
In November of the 19th year of Zhengde, Hu Ding, the governor of Fengyang, reported that floods occurred in Huai, Yang, Lu, Feng, Chu, Xu and other prefectures after droughts, resulting in countless farmland being flooded. Zhu Houzhao approved the cabinet to allow the Ministry of Household Affairs to exempt At the same time, these state capitals urgently allocated 150,000 shi of grain and 300,000 shi each of sweet potatoes and potatoes for relief.
Various disasters have occurred in China since ancient times, and Zhu Houzhao is now governing the Ming Empire as well. In the 19th year of Zhengde, there have been two major droughts and floods in the entire empire, and both occurred in southern Zhili.
But fortunately, after the introduction of sweet potatoes and the opening of countless cultivated fields abroad, the Ming Dynasty's food supply has increased a lot, and even if such droughts and floods occur, it can calmly deal with it.
However, the problem that Zhu Houzhao had to face was that frequent natural disasters not only affected Ming Dynasty's agricultural production, but also affected Ming Dynasty's treasury revenue.
Zhu Houzhao had to speed up the change of the Ming Empire's reliance on agricultural production.
But in fact, after the Ming Dynasty industrialized, the empire became more and more dependent on agriculture.
Especially after the 19th year of Zhengde, due to Huadang's provocation, the Ming Dynasty increased the number of troops in the north, and even continued to increase the number of troops. However, as the climate began to turn colder, the supply of troops in the north outside the Great Wall required a large amount. of food.
However, the southern part of the empire, which has more arable land and higher output, is becoming more and more industrialized, and the proportion of agriculture is getting lower and lower. Therefore, this requires the Ming Dynasty to develop further south to obtain more arable land and produce more food.
"Now South Zhili is exempted from taxes, Jiangxi Ji'an and other prefectures are also exempted from taxes due to disasters, and Huguang and other places are also exempted from taxes due to floods and droughts. If we only focus on the two Beijing and fourteen provinces (multiple Hetao), then We will not be able to raise more food revenue this year, we must look to other areas! ”
Zhu Houzhao presided over an imperial meeting. The Privy Council of the Guards, cabinet ministers, and ministers of various ministries were all present. At the imperial meeting, Zhu Houzhao only explained one thing at this time, that is, as the ruler of the Ming Dynasty, he could not Just limit your sights to the pass.
Within the Pass, Yunnan and Guizhou basically need food from Sichuan to supply it. The north can only be self-sufficient, and grain can only come from South Zhili, Huguang, Jiangxi and other places. The cultivated land area of Fujian and Guangxi is very small. Now South Zhili, Huguang, Jiangxi and other places have In the event of a disaster, if the empire's only food income relies solely on the customs, it will be equal to none this year, and it may even be a waste of food.
But now in fact, the empire does not eat all the grain, because the grain industry bureau can still accumulate and plunder millions of stones of grain and grass overseas and bring it to Beijing.
"What your Majesty said is absolutely true. Now the imperial court can no longer close the sea. Not only the customs revenue of hundreds of millions of silver dollars every year, but also the food imports. Without these food imports, I am afraid that every family will have to eat this year. Sweet potatoes and potatoes, not to mention the food needs for the northern troops, this requires us to open up more farmland overseas!" Zhang Cong, the second assistant to the cabinet, agreed.
"Now the Guards have built barbed wire fences and border walls to the Helin area, and will be extended in the future. The Ministry of War has recruited nearly 200,000 recruits from disaster-stricken areas. Naturally, these recruits will be sent to the north to continue to serve us. The Ming Dynasty opened up territory, but this also means that the demand for food will become larger and larger. To increase the food income of the Ming Dynasty, we must increase the territory in the south while opening up the northern territory!" Gui E, Minister of the Ministry of War, also agreed. .
Kang Hai, the chief minister of the cabinet, couldn't help but ask at this time: "Your Majesty, in this case, why do you think we don't stop using troops against the north, since it doesn't make much sense to use troops against the north."
"The chief minister does not know. If these victims do not enlist in the army and go to the north to open up territory for the Ming Dynasty, they will become thieves in their hometown. I have made calculations. Before the Zhengde Dynasty, whenever disasters broke out, even though there were The imperial court provides relief, but there must be thieves It appeared because people would inevitably become thieves once their farmland was flooded or drought-stricken and they had no land to plant. However, after the Zhengde Dynasty, the number of thieves decreased by more than 80% during major disasters, but the number of troops also increased sharply!
This is better than increasing the number of thieves. The increase in the number of troops is nothing more than an increase in military pay. The empire is not short of money now, but it lacks land for the people to cultivate. Increasing military pay will have little impact on the empire, but increasing the number of thieves will cause the internal collapse of the Ming Dynasty. . ”
What Gui E said made Zhu Houzhao and the officials present agreed. However, at this time, Xia Yan, who had been promoted to the third assistant of the cabinet, couldn't help but said:
"Your Majesty, speaking of the amount of cultivated land, I recently received a memorial from the father-in-law of Su Chen, Marquis of Liyang. The father-in-law begged your majesty to grant him more than 200 hectares of farmland for his future retirement. These nobles often asked the court for gifts. It can be said that the people have suffered greatly from this, and the court's income will also be greatly reduced. Therefore, your majesty should be careful about the request of these nobles to grant land. "
Zhu Houzhao also knew that it has always been common for nobles to request land grants. Not only nobles, but also vassal kings. These princes and nobles would obtain more and more cultivated land through land grants and donations, which would reduce the living space of the people. Now Zhu Houzhao also has to deal with this matter carefully.
"Since I have said that I will open up farmland overseas, in this case, I will find more than 200 hectares of land in southern America and give it to him! He can borrow money from the court, and then hire people to cultivate his land there!"
After Zhu Houzhao said this, other officials said that His Majesty was wise and could think of using such a method to deceive these nobles.
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(End of chapter)