"Scaremongering? Don't you know better? You are a businessman!"
Hu Yunqing shook his head and took a sip of wine. This wise brother lived a very good life. "Near Liaodong, the land is barren. It can be said that the land is vast and sparsely populated! But have you ever thought about Nurhaci, Huang Taiji and the others fighting? Why is there never a shortage of military rations? Do we just rely on Horqin Mongolia? People don’t have to live anymore? "
"Furthermore, the Jiannu Jurchens are a nomadic people. They are only good at riding and shooting, and they do very little farming! Can they make iron tools? There is a shortage of salt and iron! But they have weapons, iron tools, and even artillery and firearms! What's more, Why?"
"Moreover, how can a single nomadic tribe get so much money and food for soldiers and horses? Can't you see the difference?"
It was completely helped by those Shanxi merchants!
"Yes, is it because of Shanxi merchants?"
Hearing this, Chongzhen couldn't help but shudder and raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
"It's because of these guys that while doing business with the Jian Nu, they also provide them with soldiers, horses, money, food, and blood! The Ming Dynasty has been plagued by disasters, but the Jian Nu have become bigger and stronger!"
Hu Yunqing gritted his teeth and shouted, "You don't really think you can become stronger just by relying on them, do you?"
"Do you think where did the gold and silver that Huang Taiji, Nurhaci and the others took every time they went south to plunder? What could they buy if they really took it back to them?"
"Didn't we take everything back and sell it to Shanxi merchants? Let me tell you, the Hong family's business can be so big, and the Qiao family's salt and iron are all Huang Taiji and the others are willing to take care of!"
"There are very few iron ores in Liaodong, but Jiannu has artillery! Can they make it themselves? What a joke!"
These remarks were like a thunderbolt, and Chongzhen almost fell to the ground!
He suppressed the anger in his heart, picked up the glass with trembling hands and drank the wine in one gulp.
"I can tell you that the number of slaves now is nearly ten times greater than during the Shenzong period! But the price of food there is only one-fifth of what it was in the Ming Dynasty!"
Hu Yunqing stood up, looked at the sky outside the window, and said coldly, "And the most hateful thing is that Shanxi merchants are probably still hoarding goods! They also want to raise the price of food! What do you think? Are they short of silver? No!"
"A large part of the reason why they do this is just to seek greater interests! And for these interests, they even ignore the safety of the country and the lives and deaths of the people!"
"For these big families, it no longer matters who is really in power! Because they can influence the government and even the life and death of officials!"
"This is why they sold information to Huang Taiji! Because it no longer matters who sits in that seat!"
As soon as these words were spoken, it was like thunder on the ground!
Chongzhen's face instantly turned pale, and his body couldn't help but tremble.
He never expected that things would be like this! If that's the case, these people deserve to be killed!
After all, the throne cannot be lost easily.
Thinking of this, he thought about the time a few years ago when his cousin talked about what happened more than ten years later, and he felt scared again.
"Do you think these profiteers should be killed?"
Hu Yunqing sat down in his seat, stretched out and asked, "Let's not talk about anything else for now, collaborating with the enemy and treason, this is not an exaggeration to punish the nine tribes!"
Seeing that Xiandi didn't speak, he slowly spoke again, "Over the years, the wealth they have accumulated from their transactions with Jiannu alone is probably more than 50 million! These big families in Jin Knocking on the bones of the people and sucking their marrow! Once outside the customs, they make huge amounts of money! Aren't these people hateful?"
"As long as these big families are uprooted, not only will the money be able to fill the national treasury!"
"Besides, without these collaborators and treasonous traitors, Liaodong would have no internal agents and would not be able to support the bandits in their own right. Wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?"
As soon as these words came out, Chongzhen's eyes widened.
Good guy, fifty million taels of silver! How many years of revenue is this equivalent to the national treasury? A good deal indeed.
Besides, since these people are unkind, don't blame them for being unjust.
"Yes, that's right!"
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but stand up, "These guys are the worms of the country, we must deal with them all!"
"No, what are you excited about?"
Although Hu Yunqing was a little drunk, he was conscious and could not help but roll his eyes when he saw Brother Xian standing up.
"Get rid of thieves for the country! These people are so hateful!"
Chongzhen couldn't help but slapped the table and said sternly, "We must let them know how powerful we are!"
"What are you yelling about?"
Hu Yunqing poured a glass of wine angrily and said, "Let's not talk about anything else. The Shanxi merchants are so powerful, what can you solve with just one sentence? Besides, you are not the emperor! You can confiscate all their homes. ? Sit down, sit down, what are you in a hurry for?"
Only then did Chongzhen realize that he couldn't reveal his identity now, so he sat down reluctantly.
Then he couldn't help but said doubtfully, "Cousin, since you have said so much, if the emperor knew about it, wouldn't it be easy to deal with it? Why do you say that Shanxi merchants are difficult to deal with?"
"That's the genius of them."
Hu Yunqing sat up straight with a serious face, picked up his chopsticks and pointed at the dishes on the table and said, "After these guys took the money, they didn't think about enjoying themselves! Instead, they spent the money on the court!" "
"The entire Shanxi merchants have a network of relationships. These networks are not only in the court, but even throughout the entire Ming Dynasty! Do you think they sent the salt, iron, tea and horses to the outside of the customs and checked them at all levels, but why no news came out? Isn't that an explanation? , there are their people in the entire Ming Dynasty?”
"These people include cabinet officials, six ministries and nine ministers, and even commander-in-chiefs and generals from various places! Such a large network of connections can be solved with just a few words from you and me? It is simply a fantasy!"
In this official relationship, the most taboo thing is that you are with me, and I am with you! And the most powerful thing is here, one move can affect the whole body! Offending Shanxi merchants is equivalent to offending the entire Ming Dynasty officials!
"My cousin is right."
Chongzhen nodded, and then picked up the wine glass with a solemn expression.
When he was dealing with Cao Yu, he was also trying to avoid the enemy.
"Then please tell me, cousin, what should we do?"
He wanted to drink and go away but couldn't suppress the anxiety in his heart, so he couldn't help but ask again.
"What's the point of telling you?"
Hu Yunqing rolled his eyes, gnawed on the chicken feet and said, "If the emperor is not determined, no matter how much I say, why not die sooner?"
"The Shanxi merchants are so powerful, what else is there to say? Why don't we just take action?"
Chongzhen believed that he still had that confidence.
