Due to the geographical environment, Shanxi has more mountains and less land, and its agriculture is not very good, but its commerce is very developed. In addition, Shanxi is close to the border and the Great Wall. Due to the continuous wars and conflicts with Mongolia since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, merchants have often been there since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Responsible for part of the procurement and trafficking of military supplies.
This was the earliest strategy Lao Zhu made at that time. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, another reason why he did this was that Lao Zhu planned to take advantage of merchants. While using merchants to do things, he was also prepared to continuously cut off merchants. Leeks to make up for the lack of military spending.
The local government also had such considerations. In order to solve the tax shortage, it provided considerable support to merchants. Coupled with military needs, it also provided many policy conveniences to merchants. This is how Kaizhongfa came about.
Judging from this historical reason, merchants in Shanxi are inextricably linked to the local government and even the military, especially those large merchants, who have such connections behind them.
Liu Shancheng is such a big merchant. The Liu family has been operating in Pingyang for many years, counting several generations.
The Liu family was just an ordinary merchant at first, and it was during the Jiajing period that they made their fortune.
In the 29th year of Jiajing, Anda Khan led his army to invade Datong, and Qiu Luan, who bribed Yan Songzi Yan Shifan and became the commander-in-chief of Xuanda, was frightened and helpless. He tried to bribe Anda Khan with a heavy sum of money to persuade the invaders to stop invading Datong.
At that time, the head of the Liu family seized this opportunity and took the initiative to help Qiu Luan raise funds and donated most of the family's assets, thus establishing a relationship.
In order to reward the Liu family for helping the Liu family in times of crisis, Anda Khan moved to Gubeikou and entered Tongzhou to force Jiajing to trade tribute. Jiajing ordered Qiu Luan to preside over the opening of the horse market. With the emperor's decree, Qiu Luan reciprocated and opened the horse market. The actual operations were left to the head of the Liu family, while acquiescing to the convenience of mutual market transactions between the Liu family and Mongolia.
Although the actual existence of this horse market was short, it was ordered to be closed by Jiajing shortly after due to lack of success.
However, the Liu family took this opportunity to not only open up channels in the officialdom, but also establish relations with the Mongolians in the north. Relying on the apparent mutual trade and actual border trade smuggling, in just a few years, the Liu family The home inflated like a balloon.
After Qiu Luan's death, the Liu family made other connections. After decades of hard work, it became a well-known large merchant in Pingyang Prefecture from a small merchant at the beginning.
Although the current Liu family is not as glorious as the earliest Liu family, and Liu Shancheng, the head of the Liu family, does not have the courage and vision of his ancestors, as a conservative, Liu Shancheng is still qualified, and the Liu family is still the leader of the entire Shanxi One of the big businessmen.
The Liu family has been operating in Shanxi for many years and has deep roots. It has many connections with the government, the military and even other parties. The Liu family is not an ordinary merchant. Such a large merchant cannot be touched by ordinary clans, let alone low-level clans like them. Even if the prefect of Pingyang wants to touch the Liu family, he has to think carefully.
Just now Zhu Shenzui drew a thousand taels of cake for the three of them. The cake was so big that the honest Zhu Minlu almost passed it with excitement. But when they heard that Zhu Shenzui's target was the Liu Shancheng Liu family, the three people's hearts suddenly sank again, and they all looked sad for a while.
"Haha, why are you all like this? Are you scared when you hear Liu Shancheng?" Looking at their appearance, Zhu Shenzui asked with a smile.
"Afraid of me! Will my noble clan be afraid of Liu Shancheng? Who is Liu Shancheng? Isn't he just a merchant?" Zhu Qiuqi said with a frown on his neck, but after saying this, he felt a little guilty and said: "But uncle Master, although our clan has a noble status, you also know what is going on. Liu Shancheng is fine, but if he is touched and other people are involved, it may be a bit troublesome."
"Xiao Shiba's words are reasonable. Liu Shancheng has nothing to fear. But after all, the Liu family has been in business for many years and has connections in the local and border areas. Once it gets into big trouble, it will be big trouble." Zhu Minfeng said with the same worry.
Zhu Minxi hesitated, looking hesitant. He had been so excited about the two hundred and fifty taels just now, but now that he had come to his senses and heard that the target was Liu Shancheng, he was sweating profusely on his front feet and poured cold water on his back feet.
He is an honest man, but being honest does not mean that he is stupid.
Of course, Zhu Minlu is aware of Liu Shancheng's status and wealth in Pingyang, and also understands that there are intricate relationships behind the Liu family. If he wants to influence Liu Shancheng, he will definitely run into the relationships behind the Liu family. Just relying on the low success rate of several low-level clans, Pitiful.
But at the same time, Zhu Minzhu was still thinking about his illusory two hundred and fifty taels of silver. He knew very well how big the Liu family's property was. As Zhu Shenzui said just now, a mere one thousand taels of the Liu family's fortune was worth tens of millions. It's nothing at all. If you can really succeed, let alone get two hundred and fifty, it's possible to get several two hundred and fifty.
The combination of risks and benefits made Zhu Minzhu very entangled in his heart. He was worried that something would go wrong by attacking Liu Shancheng, but he was also reluctant to part with the two hundred and fifty promised by Zhu Shenzui. For a moment, he clenched his hands and his face changed.
"There is no risk, where is the profit? Do you want to lie at home and wait for the pie to fall from the sky? Do you think it is possible?" Seeing that the three of them had the idea of retreating, Zhu Shenzui sneered: "Now this is the case Are you living a comfortable life? Are you eating one meal but not the next, watching your children cry from hunger? Are you looking for someone to apologize for the famine?"
"Clan clan? Haha, it sounds nice, and the rank is not low, but others don't know what the clan is like, but you guys don't understand? We were born into the clan, and our surname is Zhu as soon as we open our eyes. This is not what God has arranged. You can choose, but you still have a chance. How can you live like this for the rest of your life? Maybe there will be a famine that day and the whole family will starve to death. This kind of thing has happened before. Why should others eat delicacies from the mountains and seas every day? Why? He has a lot of money? Why do those big headscarves and Qiu Ba show off their power and have a house full of wives and concubines? "
"Let's not talk about those people in turbans and Qiu Ba, let's talk about the local mining and tax supervisors sent by the emperor. These eggless guys are still domestic slaves of our Zhu family. But how are these domestic slaves living? How much money have been made privately? Don’t you know?”
"Two hundred and fifty taels? Haha, Old Five, Old Five, I almost sent you away with just two hundred and fifty taels of silver, but you know that such a small amount of money may be just a meal in the eyes of those house slaves. Money? Don’t say that, even if it’s only two thousand five hundred taels, or even twenty-five thousand taels, what does it mean?”
"Looking at the Ming Dynasty, this is the world of our Zhu family, but in the end, what benefits did our clans end up with? Speaking of which, our lineage is still the direct son of Emperor Taizu, but what about now? We want money but no money. If there is no food, we can’t do this or that. Even leaving the city is restricted. I’ve had enough of this miserable life, haven’t you guys had enough? Don’t you want to give it a try?”
"There has always been no shortage of courageous people in the world, but it has reached this point. If you don't fight, you have no chance. If you try, it might be possible. Besides, as long as you do too much, just by virtue of our status as a clan, What can it do to us?"
The last sentence was so decisive and deafening that Zhu Minfeng, Zhu Minlu, Zhu Qiuqi's uncle and nephew's expressions changed for a moment, and their hearts were filled with excitement.
With a "pop" sound, Zhu Qiuqi raised his hand and slapped the table, gritting his teeth and said: "Uncle is right, why are you hesitating now that we have reached this point? I have had enough of this kind of life, and now the salary owed by the court is getting more and more. The more we have, the more we continue like this, we will have to drink from the northwest wind."
"This world belongs to our Lao Zhu family. Why can even our slaves enjoy delicious food and drink spicy food? We also have a lot of money in our hands? On the contrary, what kind of life are we, the clan, living like this? Yesterday at the General's Mansion Everyone at the banquet saw it, and several clans fought over a chicken leg. If everyone hadn't been living a difficult life, how could they do such a shameless thing?"
Zhu Qiuqi's words made brothers Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minxu feel the same way. They thought of the dinner scene yesterday and also thought of the situation at home.
What Zhu Shenzui said was correct at all, and the clan heard it well, but his life was not as good as that of ordinary people. And I know my family’s situation very well, especially Zhu Minxi’s family, whose life is almost unsustainable now. Winter has come, and if there is no more income, almost everything the family can sell will be sold. Maybe they can barely survive this year. But what about next year?
It is not that there are no people in the clan who have died of starvation, there are several that they know of. When he thought that his own family might end up like this, his heart felt like a knife.
It is true that he is an honest man, but being an honest man does not mean that Zhu Minchu is willing to live such a life. If a person is in a hurry, he can do anything. So what if he goes all out to survive?
Besides, Zhu Shenzui's words spoke to his heart, that is, as long as they don't do too much, what can they do to them based on their clan status? At worst, he would be demoted to the common people and open a clan, so what? He, Zhu Minlu, wishes he could become an ordinary citizen. At least ordinary people can be more free. Even if they go to farm or find a hard job in Pingyang Mansion, they can still barely support their family. It's better than losing money. Are you going to starve to death in the name of a clan?
If we had to settle for the next best thing, even if the emperor was furious and sent his entire family to Fengyang to be raised in captivity, it wouldn't be a bad idea. At least he wouldn't have to worry about having no food to eat in the future. Thinking of this, Zhu Minlu's eyes suddenly lit up, followed by Zhu Qiuqi's second statement.
Zhu Minfeng didn't hesitate for long, he quickly figured it out, gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement.
Damn it! If you give it a try, your bicycle will turn into a motorcycle; if you work hard, the loess will turn into gold. The three poor clansmen, who had nothing to eat, made up their minds.
