Chapter 2100 Giving money to do things
After Wen Rensheng made these preparations, he began further actions.
That is to do business and accumulate funds.
If you have money, you will have food. If you have money, you will have armor. If you have armor, you will have Ding. If you have Ding, you will fight.
Military merit can only be accumulated after the war.
Only with military merit can one achieve generals and vassal towns.
The rulers of the Ming Dynasty generally did not allow officials to serve in their native places, in order to prevent local forces from becoming stronger.
However, the frontier fortress is an exception.
Because the Northern Barbarians, that is, the Mongols, often invaded, many generals had to be appointed by locals.
Then the rise of Donglu was the same.
Because outsiders are not familiar with the local geographical environment, they are provided with meat when they arrive.
Moreover, outsiders cannot stay in the local area for a long time. Morale will drop, soldiers will be homesick, and generals will also be homesick.
But in ancient times, the march was slow, and if the guest troops were stationed for a long time, they could not be rotated in time. If they could not be rotated, the guest troops would become locals over time.
Local people are familiar with local conditions and have stronger combat effectiveness.
In order to prevent foreign invaders, the imperial court had to make an exception and allow locals to serve as generals locally for a long time.
This is actually a replica of the rise of bandits in the Han Dynasty, which led to the rise of state herdsmen.
There were foreign invaders in the Ming Dynasty, and they could not be eradicated. There was no other way but to raise generals and let them guard the border walls for generations.
The imperial court had no choice but to keep the home of the general at the frontier fortress by default.
The lesser of two evils.
Of course, generals are also subject to various restrictions. Civilians control military affairs, and civilian governors and governors suppress generals.
Let them be submissive and silent in front of civil servants.
Why do they bow their heads like this: Because their logistics supplies are in the hands of the imperial court.
The land of the border wall is bitterly cold and the food output is scarce, so we have to rely on the imperial court to provide military rations.
Can't feed too many elite soldiers.
Without food, even if you want to rebel, you cannot become powerful.
The reason why Donglu became powerful is because they mastered the method of farming and reclamation, were able to produce their own grain, and then became stronger and stronger as they fought, turning Dingkou into their own strength.
The governor where Wen Rensheng lives now is specifically the governor of Yanghe.
The whole process was conducted by the governor of Yanghe, who was in charge of military affairs.
Of course, his position as governor will not be permanent, and he may be transferred to the south one day.
Because he is a civilian official and does not have a fixed foundation like the local military commanders.
In fact, military generals will also move towns, but this is relatively rare.
The main task Governor Wang faces now, the main military affairs, is the invasion of the Mongols.
The current Mongols were basically no longer a threat at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
One or two thousand servants can go deep into the grassland and defeat them.
The reason is also very simple. After a long period of horse trading and the spread of lamas, they have lost their fighting spirit and forgotten their fighting skills.
They were accustomed to guerrilla warfare on horseback and archery, but they did not dare to fight in formation.
Don't dare to launch a strong charge, don't dare to face the opponent's charge.
When he saw the enemy coming, he only dared to go around and fight.
The Mongolians conquered the world. Apart from the cavalry and archery in people's minds, in fact the most important force was heavy cavalry, which could break formations in field battles, rather than cavalry with soft bows that could only shoot light arrows. arrow.
That thing can't deal with heavy armored infantry, and it will only be at a disadvantage when facing the infantry's rifle fire.
The two sides shoot at each other, and the cavalry cannot take advantage and can only retreat. If the opponent has elite cavalry, they can be trapped and wiped out.
The Mongols now only use a large number of herdsmen and cavalry, relying on numbers to carry out assaults.
When the opponent is not wearing armor or forming a formation, use a riding bow to kill him.
Then rely on a small number of armored cavalry to win a battle.
In other words, ordinary soldiers who deal with beggars often choose to retreat and disperse when faced with servants.
Most servants have horses.
Because one of their important tasks is to protect the master's family from escaping when the battle is unfavorable.
How can we cover without a horse?
In this case, the Mongols were fine with some unarmored soldiers, but against an elite formation, they would be defeated.
Especially when facing the charge of elite cavalry with double armor, they had no choice but to break up.
If they collapse, they will be killed from behind.
Not to mention the powerful Jurchens, they couldn't even defeat the servants of the Ming Dynasty generals.
Now Wen Rensheng is looking for merchants in the city.
He is a scholar after all, so of course he cannot do business himself.
Must find an agent to help him make money.
Following the typical current model, the front is the businessman and the shopkeeper, and the back is the powerful owner.
He asked Li Da, Li Er and Li San, the three newly adopted sons, to go to the city to collect business information.
What kind of business do they do, who is behind it, how many goods they can sell every day, how much profit they make every day, find out as much as possible.
For this reason, Wen Rensheng also found a poor old shopkeeper who had retired to teach them how to read and calculate accounts every night.
This is not some technology that is ahead of its time.
So they can remember it.
At least you should know how much a number like ten hundred thousand is.
Not long after, Wen Rensheng’s agent came to the door.
One evening, the concierge, Li Da’s father, sent a greeting card and gift list.
Wen Rensheng took a look and found that the owner of the post was a merchant in the city.
But the gift list was very generous, totaling 5,000 taels of silver.
This is the initial effect, there will be more to come.
Why are so many sent?
This amount is enough to impress Mr. Ge and do something alone.
Of course, the premise is that you have a channel to give it to Mr. Ge. Mr. Ge will not accept everyone’s money.
Accepting your money means that you have almost the same status as Mr. Ge.
And if no one else would give this money, why would they give it to him?
Wen Rensheng quickly figured out the whole story.
Needless to say, this merchant was selected as the person in charge of imperial court purchase.
What is Hemai?
This was a cruel plunder of the merchant class by the imperial court.
When the imperial court needed to buy some goods, it told the merchants that they would take out the money and ask the merchants to prepare the goods and then buy them.
Sounds good, right?
Make money while lying down, underwriting goods.
It would be too naive to think so.
It is said that the merchants should prepare it. If you think about it, how could the court give you the money for free?
If I can give you one thousand taels of goods for ten thousand taels, that is absolutely conscientious.
More is not given a cent.
You also need to prepare all the goods within a limited time.
Not only that, you have to pay an additional bribe.
Otherwise, the officials can torment you repeatedly in the name of substandard goods.
In short, as long as you know which merchant sells and buys, prepare your family to escape. If you can't escape, just commit suicide.
Or just find a strong backer quickly.
But how can we do it temporarily?
No one dares to accept the money given away, because choosing you means that there is an official force that will take over you.
How is it possible that if you don't make a relationship at ordinary times, then think about it again when things happen?
There is no way out. Wen Rensheng knew very well that even in later generations, there were many bankruptcies due to arrears for project payments.
Originally, they were all in a free family with wealth of 20 million or 10 million, but because they couldn’t control it and thought they could do it, they ended up being unlucky.
But the good thing about future generations is that those who wish take the bait.
If you feel you can't bear the risk, if you don't do it, no one can force you to take it.
This is not the case these days. If I choose you, if you don’t accept it, you are disobedient and just wait for the house to be ransacked.
There are countless small businesses that have gone bankrupt.
Just because business taxes are low does not mean that the business environment is good.
Exactly the worst.
Because the court cannot accept it, but the officials will have 9 ways to accept you.
So when Wen Rensheng saw the gift from this merchant, he understood what was going on.
If others don’t answer, he will.
If others dare not do it, he will do it.
So Wen Rensheng asked Li Da's father to call this man in.
He received the man in the side room.
After all, it is a merchant, so it cannot be in the main room or study room.
The person who came was a middle-aged man in his 40s with a sad face.
The look in his eyes is still a little clever, but at this time it is full of heaviness.
As soon as he came in, he immediately knelt down to Wen Rensheng and kowtowed heavily.
"The villain Xie Changgeng has met Mr. Li."
"Okay, please get up. I understand your thoughts for giving such an expensive gift." Wen Rensheng said directly.
"Thank you for your understanding. If you can pass this test, I am willing to give all my property to you." Xie Changgeng got up cautiously, lowered his head, not daring to look at Wen Rensheng.
"I know what you want. You want to avoid having to buy it."
"You are wise, I beg you to help me."
"Oh, then do you know who ordered your home?"
"Reporting to your lord, it's Mr. Hu, a sixth-grade veteran of the Qing Military Department in the city." Xie Changgeng answered cautiously.
"Oh, then why did he choose you? Just let it happen?" Wen Rensheng asked.
"This, the villain dare not lie. The villain's previous backer was Mr. Zheng, the county magistrate in the city. However, Mr. Zheng was impeached and resigned by Wu Xun. The villain has not found a new backer for a while." Xie Changgeng carefully said replied.
“Very good, what kind of business are you doing?”
"The little one is in the grain store business. There is a store in the east market and a store in the west market in the city."
"How do you usually collect and sell grain?"
"Report to your lord, little one. When people collect grain, they have to pay the two taxes in summer and autumn. Households need money to pay taxes, so they collect grains and refined grains at low prices, and then sell grains at high prices during the lean period between spring and summer. In short, they buy low and sell high. This business must be backed by an official."
Wen Rensheng nodded: "Your business is good, but how much food can you harvest every year?"
" You can collect 10,000 taels of grain every year and earn about 2,000 taels of silver. That is to say, you can earn 2 taels of silver from one stone, of which 1,000 taels will be given to Zheng Zhixian, and around 500 taels will be distributed. The villain has worked hard for a year, but he can only save three or four hundred taels. "Hard-earned money." Xie Changgeng looked sad, "If the adult can help the villain pass the test, the villain is willing to give all the money to the adult."
"Okay, if you don't make money, how can you care? Don't say such things in my place from now on." Wen Rensheng shook his head.
Xie Changgeng quickly knelt down and kowtowed.
He immediately realized that although the boy in front of him was young, he was very resourceful and could judge people with great accuracy.
It is indeed the same as the recent rumors.
No wonder Governor Yi Zhong may really be able to pass the test this time.
"Then how rich is your family now?" Wen Rensheng asked, staring at him.
“I dare not deceive you. The younger generation has been engaged in this business for 40 years, and the total wealth of the family is 20,000 taels of land and houses.”
“Twenty thousand taels, and I have no backer. No wonder someone wants to eat you." Wen Rensheng nodded.
Xie Changgeng only kowtowed on the ground, and Wen Rensheng did not let him get up this time.
"I also understand. I have accepted your gift. I will protect your shop from now on. I will give you a letter. You can take it and show it to Mr. Hu and tell him that I am here. There will be a banquet at Taibai Tower. If he doesn't come to my dinner, you can come see me again," Wen Rensheng said calmly.
As he spoke, he wrote a post.
“Thank you, sir.” Xie Changgeng kowtowed again.
Wen Rensheng quickly wrote a letter and asked Xie Changgeng to take it back.
The content is very simple, just treat the other party to a meal.
One day later.
Xie Changgeng came back with a frustrated look.
"Reporting to your lord, Sir Hu said that he was feeling cold and could not come to your banquet." Xie Changgeng still accompanied him and said carefully.
“Hmph, it’s just as I expected.”
Wen Rensheng has figured out the factions of officials in the city in the past few days.
In other words, we have figured out the interest groups.
This is a characteristic of the late Ming Dynasty.
Pengbi is an adulterer.
Behind this Hu experience is Wu Xunjian.
He and Wu Xunjian were Jinshi in the same year.
This is a very hard relationship.
If there is anyone in the local area who can deny face to the governor, it is the governor.
Compared to the governor, the rank of the governor is only seventh grade, or even lower, but he is more trusted by the court.
Because the governor has gradually become a local official.
The inspector is still an official sent by the court and only serves for one year.
He truly represents the court.
It is also responsible for supervising local officials, including the governor himself.
This is the principle of the system of large and small.
The rank is small, but the supervisory weight is high. He cannot do anything, but he can deceive people.
This makes many officers unlucky.
It can also ensure that if there are rebels among officials, they can be discovered in time.
However, they could not deal with the land-based households, those who had strong local influence, such as Jiangmen chieftains.
They can only deal with mobile officials.
Officials without foundation.
That’s why Hu’s experience gives him such confidence and he doesn’t give himself face.
Of course Wen Rensheng also understood that he had just entered the scene and had not done anything big yet.
Outsiders don’t know how well they can recognize people.
It is this reason that causes them not to care about themselves.
Well, let the other person take a good look at your energy.
Since we can only use the skills of this era, Wen Rensheng naturally uses the methods of this era.
Then Wen Rensheng called his three adopted sons, Li Da, Li Er and Li San.
"I will teach you something today."
"Go and talk more and hook up with the family members of that Inspector Wu. I will give you money. Your purpose is to find out what he is doing illegally."
After Wen Rensheng finished speaking, he took out another 50 taels of silver, which was a huge sum of money.
"Sir, this money should come from the villain." Xie Changgeng said quickly.
"Okay, you've already given me a huge sum of 5,000 taels, how can I ask you to give it again? I just give money to do things here, and I will never owe anything." Wen Rensheng wanted to stand up for his character. .
Otherwise, even if someone wants to repay the favor in the future, they won’t dare.
If I give you money and you don’t do anything, who will pay you back in the future?
Unless you rob it.
But if you grab it once or twice, if you do it too often, firstly, it will be inefficient, and secondly, you will eventually end up like Yang Zhi and Li Kui.
That is to say, the eunuchs are not afraid of this, but some eunuchs were beaten to death when they were extorting money, and there were more than one or two.
(End of this chapter)