What troubles Wu Sangui the most now is not Dorgon, nor Li Zicheng, nor Zhu Cixiang who is far away in the southeast, but the pauper warriors everywhere in Gansu, Shaanxi and Ningxia.
Gansu, Shaanxi, and Ningxia have always been important military towns of the Ming Dynasty. There are military towns all over the place. The only state capitals under civilian governance are Xi'an, Yan'an, Qingyang, Pingliang, Fengxiang, Gongchang, Hanzhong, and Lintao. And these eight prefectures There are also many health clinics on the site. What's even worse is that among the eight prefectures, the four relatively wealthy prefectures of Xi'an, Yan'an, Fengxiang, and Hanzhong are also controlled by the Dashun Army (Daxi Army).
Wu Sangui could not get his hands on the land that originally belonged to the Weisuo Army Town - those group of Gansu and Shaanxi warriors were just eating from this land! If they really want to move that bit of land, why don't they fight with Wu Sangui?
The land in the four prefectures of Qingyang, Pingliang, Gongchang, and Lintao was distributed to the Guanning military households who followed Wu Sangui.
Wu Sangui himself left behind the salt fields of Huamachi and the cities of Ningxia Acropolis, Lanzhou City, and Pingliang Fucheng. This small amount of land was struggling to support the Xiwang Mansion of Nuoda. It was not enough. In the past two years, Wu Sangui had only a little I put a little of my own savings into it... This King of Pingxi and the owner of the green flag of the Qing Dynasty actually suffered a loss!
What's even more frightening is that Wu Sangui's cash flow is drying up! The warehouse of his palace is almost empty and there are no rats left. What should I do?
"Your Majesty, General Liu Shen has arrived with Shopkeeper Jia."
When Wu Sangui was worrying about Ping Xiwang's losses in the Xiwang Mansion (formerly Prince Qing's Mansion) in the Acropolis of Ningxia, his confidant Liu Sheng and Jiabusi, one of the nine imperial merchants, arrived together.
Liu Sheng had already served as a commander-in-chief before, but he was demoted for "making a mistake in picking up customers" and was assigned a hard job, escorting Sony and Zu Zepu into Qinghai-Tibet, while selling silk, porcelain, tea and salt—— Now Wu Sangui was also in despair. He no longer had a bully like Chongzhen to give his Guan Ningjun money to spend, and there was not enough land to collect rent and taxes, so he had to do everything possible to find ways to make money. Trading with the Heshuote Khanate in Qinghai and the Yeerqiang Han Kingdom in the Western Regions became a way of making money for Wu Sangui. He could not make much money, but it was better than nothing.
Among the four major commodities Wu Sangui used to trade with the Kashote Khanate and Yeerqiang Khanate, silk, porcelain and tea (green salt was available in Ningxia) had to be purchased through the shopkeeper Jiabusjia among the nine imperial merchants. . It was said to be a purchase, but Wu Sangui couldn't come up with the capital, so he had to pay for it on credit. Among the nine imperial merchants, only Jiabus was willing to give credit to Wu Sangui, so Jiabus established many business houses on Wu Sangui's territory. He also set up a "Northwest Headquarters" in the Acropolis of Ningxia. Last autumn, he brought silk, porcelain and tea shipped by sea to Ningxia. After giving the things to Wu Sangui on credit, he waited for the spring to settle the accounts and then shipped them. Some specialties from Tibet and the Western Regions are sold in Beijing.
And Liu Sheng only returned yesterday. Jiabus must have gotten the news and was urging the bill early in the morning. This was because he was afraid that Wu Sangui would have no money to pay...Wu Sangui would shed tears just thinking about it. I was originally a Duke and uncle of the Ming Dynasty, but I couldn't be extremely rich in Nanjing? Even accepting a bribe would cost up to 100,000 to 80,000 yuan. A profiteer of the level of Steve Jobs is not qualified to pay bribes, let alone to demand accounts!
But now that Wu Sangui is extremely poor, he doesn't dare to offend the financial backer, Shopkeeper Jia Da. Moreover, Wu Sangui also knows the relationship between Shopkeeper Jia Da and Nan Ming... and he must not offend him. , so he had no choice but to stand at the door of the hall in person to greet the head shopkeeper Jabs.
Jabs came hand in hand with Liu Sheng, who looked ugly. Seeing Liu Sheng's expression, Wu Sangui's heart sank - how could this happen? Could it be that the business is in trouble?
"Your Majesty, Liu Sheng, pays my respects to the prince."
"Jabs, the common man, pays his respects to the prince."
When Liu Sheng and Jabs saw Wu Sangui standing outside the hall to greet him, they hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed. This was not the etiquette of the Qing Dynasty, but the way of kowtowing in the Ming Dynasty.
"Please get up quickly, Mr. Jia, you are my God of Wealth, why are you kneeling! I still owe you money! How can a creditor kneel to a debtor?"
Wu Sangui ignored Liu Sheng and hurried to help Jabs - he was now a creditor! Wu Sangui doesn’t know if he has the money to pay back? And he didn't dare to stab the creditor with the knife in his hand, because now he could only rely on Boss Jia to make some income. Without Jabs, he wouldn't even be a debt slave!
Wu Sangui invited Jiabus into the hall, and Liu Sheng followed him in, holding a ledger in his hand. Seeing Wu Sangui and Jabs sitting down separately, he handed over the account book with a smile on his face.
"Your Majesty, this is the account book of my subordinates who traveled to Qinghai and Tibet to sell silk, tea, porcelain and salt. Please take a look at it..."
"Don't look at it. I have a headache now when I see the account book. Please tell me the number!" Wu Sangui didn't have such thoughts. He waved his hand and said, "Did you lose or make a profit?"
"Replying to the prince," Liu Sheng smiled apologetically, "This subordinate is really not good at doing business, and business in Qinghai-Tibet is really not easy to do..."
"That's a loss!" There were beads of sweat on Wu Sangui's big forehead.
"No loss, no loss..." Liu Sheng stammered. He was indeed not a businessman. He was originally a scholar from Shaanxi Province. He only studied to collect rent and did not know how to do business.
"Earned? How much?"
"It's not that I've made a profit, it's just that I haven't calculated it yet." Liu Sheng shook his head, "My subordinates brought back a thousand fine Western horses, two thousand yak skins, two thousand Tibetan sheep skins, and a thousand Tibetan antelope skins... ..”
It turned out that Liu Sheng's business trip was a barter, and he exchanged silk, porcelain, tea, salt and other people for horses and animal skins. He himself did not know whether he made any money.
No one can do this business well!
Wu Sangui also had a headache when he heard that, so he had to look at Jiabus, "Mr. Jia, you are a businessman, how much do you think these things are worth?"
Jabs didn't understand either. He was a fake businessman. He was Qianhu Lin Yihu from Jinyiweibei Town. He was a dog agent. How could he really do business?
But Jabs is a fool, otherwise he wouldn't be allowed to be the "Ninth Imperial Businessman." After all, he served as an attaché of the mission after the Battle of Shanhaiguan and showed his face in front of Dorgon. He was also involved in tricking Hong Chengchou to death! Although many officials from the Qing Dynasty had seen him, he was still not recognized by anyone because of his clever mouth and the ability to disguise himself with makeup!
"My lord, I don't know how much it's worth," said Jabs, who has been working as a Shanxi merchant for more than a year. His Shanxi dialect is becoming more and more authentic, and it also sounds more and more like the old pits of Shanxi. " Isn't this the first time I've done business in Qinghai-Tibet? But it doesn't matter, I can't let the prince lose money. General Liu Shen also worked hard on this trip, so he collected the goods Liu Shen brought from Qinghai-Tibet, and then gave Five thousand taels of silver will not let him work in vain."
Wu Sangui breathed out, he finally made money this time.
Jabs added: "We will take the goods brought by General Liu Shen to Beijing and Tianjin in equal amounts and sell them. If we make some profit, we will share it with the prince. What do you think, prince?"
When Wu Sangui heard this, he grinned and said, "Mr. Jia is so kind. I thank you."
As he spoke, Jabs took out a book from his sleeve pocket and handed it over with a smile: "Your Majesty, there is a strange book here. It was brought by Cao Min's friend from the south of the Yangtze River. After reading it, Cao Min thought it might be of use to the prince. , thus bringing Ningxia."
"Really?" Wu Sangui quickly winked at Liu Sheng. Liu Sheng went up to take the book, and then handed it to Wu Sangui respectfully.
Wu Sangui took the book and took a look. There were three big characters on the cover: "Feudal Theory", and small characters on the side: "Written by Ji Kun of Yangzhou".
"Ji Kun?" Wu Sangui asked, "Who is he?"
Liu Sheng said: "He is a military official of Yangzhou Guard, and now he is appointed as the Zuo Ban Supervisory Censor."
Wu Sangui said: "He is a censor...then what does his book say?"
Jabs said with a smile: "It teaches people how to engage in feudalism."
