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There is a saying that everyone knows: "Money can make the devil grind the mill".
This proverb originated in the Tang Dynasty and has been passed down for thousands of years. It has been passed down by word of mouth and is still talked about and regarded as a classic. This is enough to show that this proverb is thorough, insightful and profound. People's hearts.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen never dared to underestimate the power of money. What's more, Zhao Junchen himself started his career by relying on the two skills of "making money" and "spreading money."
Because of this, Zhao Junchen did not dare to underestimate the influence of Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants, because these wealthy businessmen were all extremely wealthy and controlled the power of money.
Therefore, when Zhao Junchen was providing disaster relief in Lu'an Prefecture, he offered the Shanxi merchants the hot topic of "Sichuan Salt Rectification" just to win over the Shanxi merchant group.
However, handing over Sichuan Salt to Shanxi Merchants for development certainly made the Shanxi Merchants Group have a great impression of Zhao Junchen - during this period, the Shanxi Merchants Group has spared no effort in supporting Zhao Junchen - but it also offended Zhao Junchen Hui-Zhejiang merchant gang, so Zhao Junchen came to Jiangnan this time with the same intention of appeasing and winning over the Hui-Zhejiang merchant gang.
However, if you want to appease and win over the Hui-Zhe merchant gang, you must give some long-term and huge benefits to the Hui-Zhe merchant gang, so that the interests of both parties can be gradually combined.
Originally, Zhao Junchen planned to hand over the glass manufacturing technology and Jenny spinning machine to the Huizhou and Zhejiang merchant gangs - these two technologies are the only money-making technologies left in Zhao Junchen's memory - but after detailed investigation, Zhao Junchen discovered that the glass Although the profits are huge, the members of the Huizhou-Zhejiang Merchant Gang are all extremely wealthy, but they may not notice it. Even if this technology is given to the Hui-Zhejiang Merchant Gang, it may not be able to make up for the losses of the Hui-Zhejiang Merchant Gang. , let alone improve the relationship between the two parties.
As for the Spinning Jenny, it was indeed successfully manufactured. However, as an iconic product of the Industrial Revolution, the Spinning Jenny was once popularized on a large scale. There will inevitably be many drastic social changes. Now is a critical time for Zhao Junchen's plans. The social changes and various variables brought about by the Jenny Spinning Machine may affect one of Zhao Junchen's plans. Although Zhao Junchen made repeated calculations, he could not guarantee that everything was under control, so the Jenny spinning machine that he finally built was shelved by Zhao Junchen.
Just, this way. Zhao Junchen also lost the means to win over the Huizhou and Zhejiang merchant gangs.
Fortunately, Zhao Junchen was planning to use the "Commercial Tax Reform" to frame Prince Zhu Heyu. According to Prince Zhu Heyu's unyielding character, naive and simple ideas, and poor ability to do things, after the southern tour was over, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty The tax situation will definitely become extremely chaotic under Zhu Heyu's rectification. At that time, Zhu Heyu will certainly be unlucky, but Zhao Junchen, as the Minister of Household Affairs, also needs to clean up the mess of commercial tax reform.
and. It is conceivable that although Zhu Heyu's commercial tax reform plan will eventually fail, the corrupt situation of the Ming Dynasty's commercial tax will definitely be exposed. By that time, whether it is to rectify the commercial tax or to protect the prince Zhu Heyu's reputation and commercial tax reform will definitely continue, and Emperor Deqing will definitely hand over this task to Zhao Junchen!
Zhao Junchen is different from Zhu Heyu. Zhao Junchen lacks the consciousness and courage to "despite tens of thousands of people, I will go." Although the current situation of business and taxation in the Ming Dynasty is extremely corrupt. But all aspects of interests were involved, and there were countless worms taking advantage of it to make profits. Zhao Junchen did not dare to offend the public, so Zhao Junchen planned to start a new business. Avoiding the difficult problem of commercial tax reform, as well as the Ming Dynasty's excessive taxes and rampant smuggling, we instead established a large-scale shipping company with an official background, and gave this shipyard some tax-free policies to allow this company to The domestic shipping companies monopolized the business of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Yangtze River waterway, making smuggling unprofitable. In this way, the business tax situation of the Ming Dynasty will naturally return to normal.
However, in order to achieve this goal, the scale of this shipyard must be very large. The imperial court's current national treasury banknotes are only a drop in the bucket and will never be enough, so Zhao Junchen thought of the help of Huizhou and Zhejiang merchants. Those smuggling fleets - once these fleets are combined, they will definitely be of extremely large scale, which can at least meet the initial needs of this shipping company.
At the same time, Zhao Junchen was also looking for a way to win over the Huizhou and Zhejiang merchant gangs, so he came up with the idea of joining the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Huizhou and Zhejiang merchant gangs to establish a shipping company and monopolize shipping together. The merchant gang also rectified the business tax of the Ming Dynasty, which was a good thing that killed two birds with one stone!
Therefore, today's conversation between Zhao Junchen and Lin Yunpu and others took place.
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Thinking back on his plan, Zhao Junchen shook his head slightly, feeling that there was still a long way to go and now was just the beginning of trouble.
However, compared with the future benefits, all the efforts are worth it.
"Qing Yan."
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Junchen suddenly called out.
"Master, what are your orders?"
Xu Qingyan, who was standing behind Zhao Junchen, took a step forward and asked Zhao Junchen.
Zhao Junchen glanced at Xu Qingyan and asked, "If I remember correctly, you have always had private contacts with those Shanxi merchants, right?"
Xu Qingyan chuckled and said: "Yes, those Shanxi merchants have given me many benefits these days, and they have also asked me for news about you, young master. However, although I have taken their benefits, I have no intention of doing anything for them. I have always been Fooling them."
Zhao Junchen also smiled and said: "When you take people's money, you should do things for them. Let's do this. You will reveal the details of today's conversation between me and Lin Yunpu to those Shanxi merchants, and let those Shanxi merchants know that they are on you. My money is not in vain!"
Xu Qingyan was slightly stunned, but in an instant he understood what Zhao Junchen meant. He gave a thumbs up and said, "Young Master is smart. After Shanxi merchants obtained the development rights of Sichuan Salt, they only gave us half of the benefits. Now Hui and Zhejiang In order to fight for the development rights of Sichuan Salt, the merchant gang planned to use a full 10% of the profits to buy the young master. In the end, the young master refused. After this news was known to those Shanxi merchants, they not only admired the young master for your credibility, but they would also be deeply impressed by it. If we feel the pressure, then I’m afraid we will have to give us some more benefits.”
Zhao Junchen shook his head and said: "This is not only to put pressure on Shanxi merchants, but also to put pressure on Huizhou and Zhejiang merchants! Once the Shanxi Merchant Group knows that I plan to monopolize the shipping business of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, it will inevitably become interested, and They will definitely compete with the Huizhou and Zhejiang merchant gangs. In this way, the Huizhou and Zhejiang merchant gangs will feel some pressure. Only then will they be efficient when doing things and will ask for help from us. Only then will we be able to take the initiative and seek the greatest benefits for ourselves. Benefit!"
"That's it!" After hearing Zhao Junchen's explanation, Xu Qingyan suddenly realized and nodded repeatedly.
Zhao Junchen thought for a moment and then added: "Also, do you remember those people we met in Xuzhou? They are Cao Wenbin, the minister of household affairs in Nanjing, Wu Youzhen, the boss of Rongfa Shipping Company, and Wu Rongde, the young master's family. During this time, you sent people to keep an eye on them, I want to know all their movements... In the future, my cooperation with the Hui-Zhejiang Merchant Gang, the three of them will be of great use!"
"yes."
Xu Qingyan agreed again.
While Zhao Junchen and Xu Qingyan were talking, Xiao Wenxuan suddenly hurried into the hall and reported to Zhao Junchen: "Your Majesty, your Majesty has sent someone to announce the decree."
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…(To be continued.)
