Chapter 190 Plotting to Rebellion
Liu Bei glanced at Wan Ze and replied: "This order is indeed issued by our state, but it is the proposal of Zhang Zibu. At present, the state is in short supply. He had to expand his financial resources. Since Emperor Wu, the salt and iron interests were taken back to the state. Shizong used this to increase military expenditures, and finally sealed the wolf in Xu, opened up the Western Region, and drove the Xiongnu away from Mobei. "
Wan Ze glanced at Liu Zhi, King of the East China Sea, who nodded slightly to him, so he tentatively said: "Uncle Fang doesn't know, this dynasty has been letting go of restrictions since our ancestors. , to benefit the people, to open up salt and iron to benefit the world, and the court uses it to rest and thrive. Now that Fang Bo has changed his mind, isn't he worried about provoking a civil uprising? "
Liu Bei said seriously: "A civil uprising? How do you say this?"
Wan Ze bit the bullet and explained: "There are tens of thousands of salt workers in Qu County, and they have always made a living by boiling salt. Their livelihood is affected. Moreover, many salt merchants in Qu County are not ignorant of etiquette, and they are willing to travel for you. "
Having said this, Wan Ze clapped his hands.
Dozens of palace servants were divided into dozens of groups and walked in carrying dozens of boxes.
After they put the box down, Wan Ze coughed lightly.
The next moment, the servants opened all the boxes, revealing a lot of money inside.
Most of the boxes contain five baht and very valuable Su (white silk) and Lian (fine silk). There are even two boxes containing gold and silver cakes.
China is a country short of silver. Most of the silver in later generations was imported from overseas and produced in the southwest.
Therefore, the value of silver cakes during the Eastern Han Dynasty was also very high, much higher than the price of silver in later generations. It basically maintained an exchange rate of five to one to three to one with gold, and a pound of silver was worth 2,000 to 3,500. Money is five baht.
However, silver at this time was not a currency, but an important decoration, a precious material used to make various jewelry and equipment.
Liu Bei's eyes swept over these things, and after a brief mental estimate, he roughly calculated that the total value of these things was between 20 million and 30 million yuan.
“Please see, my envoy, these are gifts given to you by the salt merchants.”
Seeing that Liu Bei's eyes seemed to be attracted by the wealth, Wanze felt more confident: "Your Majesty, the salt merchants asked me to give them a message. If your Majesty can agree to let them continue to manage the salt industry, starting from this year From now on, they will hand over this amount of property to the envoy's house every year."
Liu Bei almost laughed out loud after hearing Wan Ze's words.
Bribery in this era is so simple and crude, without as many twists and turns as in later generations. Even clan lords and kings like the King of Donghai are willing to go directly and act as brokers for bribers.
Therefore, what Liu Bei was mocking was not the behavior of King Donghai and Wanze, but the salt merchants for treating themselves as fools.
The eldest son of my family has personally settled an account for himself.
The main salt-producing area in the East China Sea is Qu County, with an annual output of approximately 200,000 shi.
This amount seems large, but the table salt of today is not the refined salt of later generations. The salt contains straw poles, sawdust, sand, and even pebbles.
But this does not affect the price of salt.
Take the Wang family as an example, they retail for three thousand yuan per stone.
This price is only for ordinary people. If it is sold to powerful people, it is normal to get a discount of 20% or even 40%.
If the trade between prefectures and counties is like what Liu Bei and his son discussed with Liu Xian of Jingzhou, the price can even be reduced to less than 1,500 yuan.
Based on an average price of two thousand baht, Donghai’s annual salt profit can reach 450 million and a half baht, and the cost is only a few tens of millions.
You must know that the head tax, house tax, property tax and many other heavy taxes in Xuzhou can really fall into Liu Bei's hands, only one to two hundred and five baht a year.
The annual net profit of these salt tycoons should be more than 300 million yuan. Although this money is not exclusive to them, this number is also extremely exaggerated.
This salt profit is almost twice the total revenue of the state government, but now the salt tycoons and salt merchants actually think that they can spend it by allocating 20 to 30 million yuan to themselves every year. This is treating themselves as What's up?
Moreover, Liu Feng also gave Liu Bei a guarantee that if the entire Xuzhou salt industry could be nationalized, Liu Feng could increase production capacity on a large scale and improve the quality of Xuzhou salt. By then, marketing the world would not be a problem, and the salt profit would probably still be there. To grow explosively.
It’s ridiculous that these people think they can buy themselves off by throwing a meaty bone. These so-called gifts are like a slap on Liu Bei’s face.
Fortunately, Liu Bei showed no emotion or anger. After Wan Ze finished speaking, he said in the expectant eyes of the other party: "Salt industry takes back the state capital. This is a joint decision of the state capital. , it cannot be decided by one person. Moreover, the price of salt is so high now that the people are miserable and often can only eat light food. "
"This, this... . ”
Wan Ze didn’t expect Liu Bei to refuse. This is a total of thirty million dollars.
King Liu Zhi of the East China Sea was also shocked. He stared at Liu Bei closely, and Liu Wan, the eldest son beside Liu Zhi, couldn't help but interjected: "Your Majesty, the price of salt has risen because the world is in chaos, wars are rampant, and chaos is everywhere. Where is it now?" Is there anything that hasn’t increased yet? Remember ten years ago, corn cost just over 100 yuan per stone, but now it has increased to more than 200 yuan. Can you still prohibit farmers from farming? Then the price of food has not risen to the sky? "
This Liu Wan is Liu Zhi's eldest son, and he will not be able to take the title of King of the East China Sea in the future.
In the original history, it was his younger brother who inherited the title of King of Donghai, and Liu Wan himself was sent by Liu Zhi to Chang'an to meet Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty in the fourth year of Chuping.
As a result, he was conferred the title of Marquis of Wenyang by Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, and was also worshiped as the Prime Minister of Pingyuan.
Theoretically speaking, he is the Pingyuan Prime Minister who is truly appointed and removed by the central court. This is completely different from Liu Bei's situation of privately appointing and accepting Prime Minister Chen Ji. He has the highest legal rationality. This is a good thing to rob Liu Bei. official position.
Fortunately, Liu Wan could not really go to Pingyuan to take office. After returning from Chang'an, he returned to Tancheng and continued to live there. The official position of Pingyuan Prime Minister was automatically given up, but his title of Marquis of Wenyang was still there, and he had two thousand shi of qualifications. , speaking at this time is not considered rude.
Liu Bei naturally heard the sarcasm in the other party's words, but he was not angry. Instead, he explained seriously: "The price of food has risen because there are more people and less food, and there is not enough food. But the annual salt production in the East China Sea Two hundred thousand shi, not to mention supplying the entire Xuzhou, may not be enough even if we include the needs of Yan, Yu, and Jingzhou. Under such circumstances, the price of salt remains high. Is it a natural disaster or a man-made disaster? "< br>
Liu Wan was immediately speechless.
Liu Bei took advantage of the situation and stood up, bowed his hands towards Liu Zhi, King of the East China Sea, and explained: "There is no shortage of salt in the state now. I will send my second brother Yunchang to lead two thousand troops to Qu County to govern. Salt. The magistrate of Qu County, Liu Gong, has no moral integrity and is incompetent. He openly resisted the state order and resisted the state government. He has been dismissed. After the Qu County salt merchants are rectified, they will continue to produce salt. The king does not need to worry. "
After saying these words, Liu Bei bowed his hands to everyone present: "I am very grateful to the king for your hospitality today. However, the state capital still has official business to attend to, so I will leave first."
After saying that, he left immediately without looking at Donghai King's reaction.
Wan Ze wanted to stop them, but looking at the fierce-looking Guan and Zhang, his calves felt a little weak. It was already difficult to avoid them even from a distance, and he still dared to get closer.
After Liu Bei left, the King of East China Sea snorted coldly, stood up, rolled up his sleeves, and turned to leave.
His two sons and Wan Ze hurried after him.
“This Liu Xuande is so unreasonable, ignorant of good and evil, and extremely rude.”
As soon as he entered the study, Liu Wan shouted to Liu Zhi: "I have long heard that Liu Shijun is a veteran from the North. When I saw him today, it turned out to be true."
Wan Ze also followed suit and said: " Such a generous gift can't change his mind. I think Liu Shijun is really going to start the salt industry. Your Majesty, I have to make preparations early."
Liu Zhi was sitting with a dark face and his eyelids slightly drooped. , covering his eyes so that others could not see what he was thinking.
Liu Wan wanted to say something else, but heard Liu Zhi whisper: "Okay."
As soon as Liu Zhi spoke, Liu Wan immediately became quiet, and Wan Ze The bent waist got a little lower.
According to the Han family system, the Fu was dispatched by the central government, and its essential job was to serve the princes and kings and manage their palaces, and the second was to monitor the princes and kings on behalf of the central government and restrain their behavior. .
Because the status of Guofu continued to decline, his restraint on the princes and kings naturally became weaker and weaker. Especially when you encounter a king like the King of Donghai who will bring his master to make a fortune, the intensity of surveillance becomes negative.
In just the past seven or eight years, Wanze has accumulated millions of dollars in property in the Donghai Palace just by relying on the profits shared by the salt merchants.
The money does not need to be stolen or robbed, nor does it need to bully men and women. He does not even need to do anything. As long as he doesn't see anything, the money will flow into his house continuously.
How can Wanze control this?
Liu Zhi thought for a while and then said: "Send a message to Qu County, saying that Liu Xuande is determined to rectify the salt industry, and has also dismissed Liu Gong from the position of county magistrate, and will send Guan Yu to lead troops there. Let's They have already prepared."
Wan Ze responded, and it was natural for them to report the news.
Liu Zhi paused for a while and continued: "Tell them that I have done everything I can do, and let them do what they want."
Wan Ze raised his head in disbelief, and then It drooped down again. This King of the East China Sea is really as slippery as a loach. He has eaten tens of millions of filial piety and left immediately. I am afraid that the Yanhao gang in Qu County will be pissed to death by him.
Just as Wan Ze thought, when the news reached Qu County, Gan Zhen, Wang Yu, Zheng Wang and others were almost blown away.
So many years of worship in exchange for such news?
"What do you think we should do now?"
Zheng Wang spoke first. He stared at Wang Yu and Gan Zhen fiercely, as if he wanted to eat each other. But in fact, the object of his anger was not the two people sitting in front of him.
Gan Zhen was a little frightened by Zheng Wang. This man named Zheng was very good at fighting. He also had hundreds of desperadoes under his command. Otherwise, he would not be able to get a share of the pie in Qu County.
Being stared at so fiercely by the other party made Gan Zhen very uncomfortable.
"What can we do? Didn't we already discuss it before?"
Gan Zhen took a deep breath and tried to calm down: "Since Liu Bei wants to cut off our financial path, then we always Can’t we just sit back and wait for death?”
According to their previous agreement, the salt merchants in Qu County can muster three to four thousand armed forces, of which more than half are elite soldiers and desperadoes. .
As long as Qu County can be controlled immediately, with the population of nearly 30,000 people in Qu County, at least four to five thousand more strong men can be recruited.
The walls of Qu County are tall and the food is abundant, enough to separate one side from another.
The King of East China Sea has figured out Liu Bei’s old foundation. Even though the opponent has an army of 40,000 to 50,000 people, in fact the main force is outside.
Guangling has more than ten thousand, Langya has four to five thousand, as well as Rencheng, Lu and Pei.
There are only 10,000 troops in Xiapi City, and they are the troops that have just returned from fighting to rest.
Liu Bei could only mobilize a few thousand men at a time.
According to the plan of the salt tycoons, at least 10,000 people can guard Qu City.
Sun Tzu said that if you are ten, you are to surround it, if you are five, you are attacking, and if you are twice as many, you are fighting.
As long as the salt tycoons defend the city and never go out to fight, even if they give a discount, how can Liu Bei break the city without bringing 30 to 50,000 men?
Not to mention that they also sent people to contact Guangling Xuezhou and Donglai Guancheng for help.
These two are pirate tycoons, with tens of thousands of people gathered from thousands of households, including tens of thousands of young men alone.
If they are willing to come to help Qu County, why should they be afraid of Liu Xuande, an old man?
Wang Yu slapped the table and said fiercely: "What my uncle said is true. If we don't take action, won't we just sit and wait for death? The world is in chaos right now. We have money, food and people, so why should we be afraid of the soldiers from the North? You guys can sit here, but we can’t?”
“It’s hard to see how heroic Brother Gan and Nephew Wang are.”
Zheng Wang laughed loudly and said, "Okay! After Liu Bei is killed, you and I can also be governors."
The three of them discussed it and decided to rebel before Guan Yu arrived.
"Liu Gong is no longer trustworthy. Even if Liu Bei does not remove Liu Gong, without the instructions from King Donghai and King Langya, Liu Gong will not continue to favor me."
Gan Zhen said: " During the operation, someone must first occupy the county government and control Liu Gong. The county magistrate's seal can also come in handy."
Zheng Wang nodded: "Okay, now that we have come to this. "Everyone, please stop covering up. It's time to explain clearly how much power you can exert, right?"
Wang Yu glanced at Gan Zhen, and after getting a hint from the other party, he said: " Our Wang family can provide 600 soldiers, plus 600 salt soldiers. The manpower is already in place. The soldiers are in the city and the salt soldiers are at the seaside five miles outside the city. They can enter the city at any time."
< br>After Wang Yu finished speaking, he stared at Zheng Wang.
Zheng Wang understood what the other party meant and showed his trump card openly: "I have five hundred clan soldiers and five hundred salt men. They are all good men who can fight and kill. Each of them has red hands. In addition, I The eldest brother Guan Ju also agreed and personally brought eight hundred experts to help, but we have to share the gift money equally."
Guan Ju is a relative of Donglai Guan Cheng and one of the backbones of the Guan Cheng Group. Being able to pull him here will not only greatly enhance one's own strength, but will also be more conducive to pulling the pipe to bear the water.
Therefore, Gan Zhen and Wang Yu agreed to Zheng Wang's last request.
Anyway, they did not pay for this money. When the time comes, the showdown will be on the heads of the small and wealthy salt merchants below.
What Liu Bei wants to cut off this time is the jobs of the entire Qu County salt merchants, not just the affairs of Gan, Wang, Zheng and other great salt merchants. The little salt tycoons and salt merchants below are also bleeding.
Zheng Wang looked at Gan Zhen expectantly and asked, "Brother Gan is the first family in Qu County. How many people do you have?"
Hearing the word "first family" made Gan Zhen feel itchy. However, he still said modestly: "Who doesn't know that the first family is the Mi family? How can our Gan family be worthy of it?"
"Mi family?"
Zheng Wang laughed loudly. He got up, and finally said with a ferocious face: "This time, we will destroy the Mi family first. By then, won't we be the number one family in Chengqu County, Brother Gan?"
Gan Zhen also laughed, and the Mi family knew that Knowing that Liu Bei wants to cut off the roots of salt tycoons like them, but still insists on siding with the other party, no wonder they are ruthless.
"Our Gan family sent out four hundred soldiers and six hundred salt soldiers."
As soon as Gan Zhen's words came out, Wang Yu and Zheng Wang were immediately disappointed.
In their opinion, Gan Zhen, as the first family in Qu County, only has so much strength?
Whether the Gan family is deliberately hiding their secrets or they really have just that little power, this is not good news.
Gan Zhen saw the dissatisfaction and contempt of Wang Yu and Zheng Wang, and sneered: "Soldiers are more valuable than more elites. To be honest, I have four hundred troops, and everyone is wearing armor. And fifty pairs of armor.”
"What, fifty pairs of armor!?"
Wang Yu and Zheng Wang were both frightened by Gan Zhen.
These fifty pairs of armors are really scary. If they had been released ten years ago, they would have been enough to kill the Gan family more than ten times.
It’s not that Wang Yu and Zheng Wang don’t have iron armor in their hands, but they only have single digit armor. They have tried their best to buy it in the past two years, all together.
The Gan family is really ruthless.
But immediately, Wang Yu and Zheng Wang became excited.
Gan Zhen is now an ally. The stronger he is, the stronger everyone is, right?
"In this way, our three families alone will have 3,200 soldiers. Together with other families in the city, 5,000 people will be more than enough."
Zheng Wangyue said He became more and more excited: "There are also those fifty pairs of iron armor. Once used, they are really invincible."
"Don't be careless. The Mi family is not easy to mess with. The iron camp outside Qu County is The Mi family’s property.”
Gan Zhen poured cold water on his face with a solemn expression: "I have collected more than fifty sets of iron armor over the years. The Mi family is sitting in the iron camp, so will there be no iron armor? Even though it had to be handed over to the court in previous years, in the past two years, the Mi family has still handed over it to the court. No one has paid, but how much has been paid, who knows?”
Gan Zhen’s words made Wang Yu and Zheng Wang sober up, and it was indeed what the other party said.
In addition, there is indeed not much official force in Qu County. The dozens of county officials and servants are simply negligible, and they are no match for them at all.
But the power of the Mi family in the city cannot be underestimated.
Even if Mi Zhu and Mi Fang took away some of their family members when they went out, Gan Zhen estimated that the Mi family still had at least five or six hundred members in the city who were well-equipped and experienced.
When necessary, the Mi family's child servants can be mobilized at any time, and two to three thousand people can be easily armed.
So this operation must be done quickly and slowly, and the Mi family must not be given time to react.
(End of this chapter)