The soy sauce owner who opened a restaurant and soy sauce garden was named Huang Jiang, whose courtesy name was Shiren. He was a native of Xinhui County, Guangzhou Prefecture. I followed my parents to Beijing to do business and stayed in Beijing for more than ten years. He is not old, only twenty-four or five years old. He is very tall, has a fair complexion, and has an angular face with Chinese characters. Judging from his appearance, he does not look like a Lingnan person at all.
Su Laomi, who runs a grain store, is from South Zhili. His ancestral home is Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture. He has settled in Beijing for two generations and has been running a grain store business. The "business name" Su Laomi originally belonged to his father, and is now inherited by him. His age seems to be that of Huang Jiang, both twenty-four and five years old. His name is Su Sheng, also known as Shengzhi. He is of medium height, slightly fat, and has a round face that is always full of smiles.
These two businessmen are just ordinary people in Beijing. They are not big businessmen, their business is not too small, and they have no background. They are just the kind of businessmen who do business in a down-to-earth manner. There are hundreds to hundreds of people like them in the whole city of Beijing. But good luck happened to them both!
The two businessmen were led into Jiale Hall by Huang Dabao. Because they knew they were going to see the prince, they were a little nervous and walked into the hall with their heads lowered. After Huang Dabao told them to stop, they immediately knelt down and kowtowed.
"The grassroots Huangjiang bows to the prince's thousand years old..." Soy Sauce Huang spoke in Cantonese Mandarin.
"The ordinary people are resurrected, let's bow to the thousand-year-old master." Su Laomi can speak standard Beijing Mandarin.
"Raise your head, stand up and speak." Zhu Cihong ordered.
"The common people dare not..."
"The common people don't dare to..."
"Why is there so much nonsense?" Zhu Cixiang said in a serious tone, "Get up and talk!"
Huang Dabao helped by saying: "Qiantai Master tells you to get up, just get up!"
The two businessmen stood up tremblingly, not daring to look directly at Zhu Cixiang. They still lowered their heads and looked honest.
"Did Huang Dabao tell you?" Zhu Cixiang asked.
"I told you." Soy Sauce Huang, who comes from Guangdong, often interacts with the eunuchs in the palace and is not as cautious as Su Laomi. "The prince wants to promote common people to become royal merchants."
"They are imperial merchants," Zhu Cixiang smiled, "they are businessmen who work for me...and I never let people do things for free. If you abandon your family business in Beijing and follow me, I will compensate you. The whole family will give you compensation." Is twenty thousand taels of silver enough?"
"That's enough, that's enough," Su Sheng waved his hand quickly, "How can the common people's property in Beijing be worth twenty thousand taels? It's not even worth ten thousand taels!"
Huang Jiang also said: "The property of ordinary people in Beijing is not worth ten thousand taels..."
Zhu Cixiang smiled and said: "Quite honest... Not bad! Businessmen should be sincere and sincerity-based, so that this business can grow bigger!"
However, I still want to give your family twenty thousand taels of silver. It’s not that I have too much money and no place to spend it, but that if you want to be a good businessman for the royal family, you must have capital. These 40,000 taels are the capital given to you.
Do you know what a royal merchant does? "
"The common people don't know."
"The common people don't know either..."
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "He manages money for me and buys and sells supplies for me... When I escorted out of Beijing, the original Huangzhuang and Huangdian were gone, and this and that warehouse in the Household Department no longer existed. I have to rely on you two royal merchants to buy it. This business can make more money than you opening a restaurant, a soy sauce garden, or a grain store in Beijing!"
The two merchants were overjoyed when they heard this. They didn't know how big the business of this imperial merchant was. If they knew how big the business was, they wouldn't be able to laugh anymore! But I am always happy to follow the prince and leave Beijing, a place of right and wrong.
There is no other way to welcome King Chuang or anything like that. Although the two of them are not big businessmen, they are not paupers looking forward to Li Zicheng coming to Juntian. It would be great if they could run away. Moreover, Zhu Cixiang promised to give each of them 20,000 taels to compensate for their losses.
"The common people are willing to do their best for the Crown Prince!"
"The common people are willing to follow the Crown Prince..."
Hearing the two businessmen's statements, Zhu Cixiang smiled and nodded: "Letting you come is my own decision and has nothing to do with anyone else." He pointed at Huang Dabao and his tone became serious, "It has nothing to do with him! So you guys Don't give bribes to anyone, including him! He is my most trusted eunuch, but you are also my most trusted businessmen.
So you and Huang Dabao are equals, and you are both from this palace! As long as you keep this in mind, you can continue to be your royal merchant!
Huang Dabao, remember, don’t ask them for money...or else you won’t get a good deal! "
Huang Dabao and the two businessmen quickly responded in unison: "We have all remembered it..."
"Okay," Zhu Cixiang nodded, "Then I will explain the rules of accounting, cashiering, treasury management, auditing, and purchasing in the Imperial Accounting Room. You all listen carefully..."
Zhu Cixiang's choice of these two royal merchants was of course carefully considered.
He not only needs someone to help manage the money, but also needs someone to help spend the money. In the future, he will also need someone to help collect the money.
In Zhu Cixiang's view, those responsible for managing, spending, and collecting money can only be businessmen! Because the ability of civil servants and chamberlains to manage, spend, and collect money has been proven to be very low.
Moreover, civil servants and chamberlains cannot do business on their own. Do they have to go through businessmen?
In this case, why doesn't Zhu Cixiang deal with the businessmen directly? This matter can't stop him... In his previous life, he worked hard in the financial industry, which has the most profiteers. Compared with those profiteers in later generations, the businessmen of the Ming Dynasty were not treacherous at all. They were all honest. What a good businessman!
In addition, Zhu Cixiang could not fully control the two systems of chamberlain and civil servants. This is Emperor Chongzhen. Can he dare to say that he has a firm grasp on the courtiers?
Therefore, it is the best choice to build an imperial merchant system outside the system of courtiers and internal servants, and then use them to manage, spend and collect money.
At least a new system is relatively efficient at the beginning.
…
When Zhu Cihong was explaining to two businessmen and Huang Dabao how to manage money, accounts, and purchases. Outside the Meridian Gate, several important ministers who were waiting to go to court also gathered in the doorway and discussed how to help Emperor Chongzhen beat Prince Zhu.
"Since we have millions of taels of silver and 20,000 brave men, why mention Nan Xing? Mr. Wei Ge, just take a look at it today! I must have messed up Nan Xing's affairs..."
The person who was beating his chest to assure Wei Zaode, the great scholar of Zhongji Palace, that he would destroy Nan Xing's proposal was a civil servant in his forties, with a dark face, a dignified appearance, and an upright look on his face. This man's name was Guang Shiheng, and he was appointed to the military service. During the previous proposal to move southward and the prince's proposal to supervise Nanjing, he took the lead in opposing the proposal, which messed up the matter.
Because he blocked the southward migration twice, Guang Shiheng has now become a representative figure in the court who dares to rebuke the direct ministers. His reputation has greatly increased. Many people have compared him with the reputation of presiding over the capital to fight against the Mongols after the Tumubao Incident. Chen and Yu Qian were compared.
If Beijing is really lucky to hold on this time, then Guang Shiheng will rise to great heights, and it is no longer a matter of course to join the cabinet and become the boss of Guangge.
So at this time, of course he must take a clear-cut stand against relocation to the south!
Li Banghua glared at Guang Shiheng, who was impatient, and said coldly: "This time, Dong Palace is urging the southward move. Do you still dare to impeach Dong Palace? Do you want to provoke a dispute over the country?"
After being defeated by Li Banghua, Guang Shiheng was speechless for a moment. It was the ministers who proposed moving south and the prince moving south. Of course, Guang Siheng can be impeached. But this time it was the Crown Prince who advocated moving south. How dare he scold the Crown Prince? Then Li Banghua, the censor of Zuodu, will impeach him and shake the country...
Wei Zaode twirled his beard, shook his head and said, "The East Palace is moving south. As ministers, it's hard for us to object!"
Guang Shiheng's face turned pale when he heard this. Wei Zaode and his former chief assistant Chen Yan were opposed to moving south. Why did they change their minds now? It seems that Mr. Wei Ge is also a traitor!
Li Banghua agreed: "Yes, the responsibility for moving south lies with the East Palace...Why should we ministers meddle in other people's business?"
Wei Zaode added: "Donggong cannot impeach, but Wu Xiang can! Why don't we go to Wu Xiang today and sue him for being a prostitute?"
