Sun Zhisu felt speechless after hearing this, and therefore looked at Zhu Ciwei: "The eldest son of the emperor, do you think?"
Zhu Ciwei also looked at Qi Maozong with a cold face: "You are responsible. Can you bear this responsibility? Even if you are cut into pieces, it will be difficult to offset the losses you have caused to the Ming Dynasty!"
"Detain him! Wait for strict action. Report the matter to the Political Affairs Hall and let His Majesty know."
Zhu Ciwei then ordered.
Zhu Youxiao originally planned to rectify various emerging social problems internally after the cause of global unification was completed.
But now, because Ming has gained a lot of wealth from Europe, which is enough to support the empire's various large-scale engineering construction and management expenditures, he also takes advantage of his ability to travel around the world in advance, in order to make decisions on corresponding issues as soon as possible. response.
Now, when he realized that the phenomenon of profiteers illegally making profits was getting more and more serious, and had even affected the imperial army, he decisively ordered to allocate forces to establish a Quality Supervision Department to conduct stricter inspections of goods and projects around the world.
Of course, the basis of all this is also because technology has advanced a lot now. Radio can realize rapid information transmission, so that many crimes can be punished quickly, without requiring a large amount of manpower to execute, causing incorrect information transmission, or being punished. People intercept or even tamper with it midway.
This time in the military ration case, Chen Shikai and other officials involved in the case were arrested first, and then the people involved in the case were arrested.
As a result, because the umbrella was caught first, the grain merchants who sold moldy grain to the Ministry of War were unable to obtain the corresponding information in advance and failed to prepare for escape in advance.
"Mr. Xi, should we continue to mix in half the moldy food this time?"
Zhao Hanwen, one of the grain merchants who joined the Shaw's Grain Store franchise, was still asking about his age in the mansion because he didn't know that the person above them had been arrested.
"That's right. Can you add a little more to this moldy grain this time? Then you can make a lot more out of the ten thousand shi of grain."
A grain dealer named Yan Zhengzi also suggested adding more.
After hearing this, Sao Ling laughed: "Old Yan, you are really greedy! This is army rations!"
"It's natural that this businessman wants to make more profit. Besides, it's a benefit for everyone to earn together. Aren't those people above willing to take more? Anyway, it's not us who eat the moldy food."
Yan Zhengzi asked, "You guys think so, right?"
"yes!"
The other grain merchants are echoing this.
After hearing this, Sao Ling said: "That's what I said, but it can't be too much. This time it can't exceed 50%. Otherwise, the higher-ups won't cover it up for us, right?"
"Dongchang is handling the case!"
At this time, the official school of Dongchang broke in.
One of them, Dongchang Dajue named Zhou Yushu, directly ordered: "The first brigade will seize the warehouse, and the second brigade will arrest people!"
"yes!"
"Step aside!"
Not long after, noisy footsteps and shouts and curses came from outside.
The grain merchants such as Shao Ling were shocked when they heard this.
"What's going on? The court found out? But why didn't we hear about it?"
Zhao Hanwen said.
"You bastards still want to hear the news in advance, and you don't even think about what era it is now. Before arresting you, the people above who can give you tips have been arrested long ago!"
Zhou Yushu personally brought people in at this time and started talking with a smile.
"This, this, how could this happen? How did you find out?"
Yan Zhengzi asked.
"A bunch of stupid pigs!"
Zhou Yushu cursed first and then said: "Have you never thought about the consequences of the sins you have committed? That's right, I don't have any ideas and stupidity, and I can't do such a thing!"
"May I ask, how will the court deal with us?"
At this time, Shao Ling asked calmly, and then asked: "In addition, will we still be allowed to do business? But if we don't do this business, what will happen to the more than 100,000 farmers who cooperate with us to sell grain? ? There are also tens of thousands of employees under us who collect, manage and transport grain. What about their food and clothing? In addition, we pay a lot of business taxes to the court every year and we are not allowed to do business. How can we contribute to the court in the future? Make a contribution?”
"If you don't know, ask the emperor yourself!"
Zhou Yushu replied and asked people to escort Shao Ling and others away.
…
"Your Majesty, some courtiers requested that the court only impose fines on merchants suspected of false propaganda and substandard quality, instead of imposing criminal liability. The reason is that it must be considered that the main tax type of the court and local government agencies is commercial tax. In addition, most people also need to work in their industries. Therefore, the imperial court cannot affect the national treasury and vassal revenue by being too strict on product quality and project quality. I also ask your majesty to advise how to vote."
Here, Emperor Zhu Youxiao of Tianqi, his assistant minister Du Yinxi reported to him the opinions of some courtiers after the operation to arrest counterfeiting and profiteers began.
After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao said: "Just because commercial tax is the main tax type, we must pay more attention to business order and cannot tolerate any falsehood or deception!"
"Always be strict!"
Zhu Youxiao first said these four words, and then said: "Tell the advisory council that in the drafting of new quality supervision regulations, anyone suspected of fraud and false propaganda will be deemed guilty! First of all, no matter how serious it is, they will not be allowed to Starting from him, he is not allowed to do business or serve as an official within three generations. In addition, anyone who makes forgeries or passes off substandard goods will have their homes confiscated by me, so severely that they will lose all their property!"
"As for me, depending on the seriousness of the case, anyone who causes other people's health to be affected, even if it causes chronic diseases, will be put to death! Immediate execution! And paraded in the streets, the most prosperous commercial streets in each city for a day! Anyone suspected of colluding with profiteers Bureaucrats, get the same treatment as them, and the crime will be increased by one degree, and the execution will be changed to halving! If there is no health impact, but only property damage, then exile! But there must also be a public demonstration process;"
"In addition, managers of their industries who fail to report or leave their jobs because they know that there are false propaganda, counterfeit goods or shoddy products in the place where they are employed shall also be regarded as accomplices and shall be prohibited from doing business in this life and shall be prohibited from doing business in this life. The punishment for becoming an official!"
Du Yinxi was shocked after hearing this: "Your Majesty, is this too strict? Will it completely anger merchants all over the world? And there will be a market strike?"
"It's not strict! There are so many people in the world who want to make money, and I don't believe that there are no people who want to do business seriously! If a businessman really wants to go on strike because of this, it only means that he is a fool, and he might as well go on strike! "
Zhu Youxiao replied.
"Please, please, I will never cheat again next time, I won't cheat anymore, don't close my factory! Don't stop me from doing business, woo woo!"
"I was wrong! I was really wrong! I shouldn't just be greedy for profit and forget the word credibility. Please don't stop me from doing business for three generations. In this case, the accumulation of business in this generation will be in vain. , woo woo!”
"I promise, I really promise, even if there is a ghost holding my hand in the future, asking me to make lies, and asking me to cheat and deceive, I will not dare to do it again. I will be a good person, I will be a good person! "
Because Zhu Youxiao promulgated the strictest order to regulate business order, many merchants who were found to have committed fraud and had quality problems were arrested, and their properties were confiscated.
Naturally, many merchants kept crying and begging for this reason.
At this time, Qi Maozong cried out in pain because he knew the result of his trial.
And Xing Ling was no exception. He didn't expect that he would be beheaded because of this, so he couldn't help but said: "Why, why are you so cruel!"
Zhao Hanwen even cried bitterly and shouted: "My Zhao family's family business has been confiscated for several generations just because it was mixed with some moldy grains. We will lose everything and be unable to do business for three generations. Ugh!"
Yan Zhengzi also shook his head and said: "I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I really don't want to die!"
But no matter how much they don't understand, they have to accept this result.
"Kill them!"
"Bah! They're a bunch of bastards who only know how to make profits and have no feelings for their compatriots. Damn it!"
"Profiteer! National thief! Beast who will never be reincarnated in the next life!"
The profiteers Qi Maozong, Shao Ling, and Zhao Hanwendeng were scolded by many people passing by after they were hung in public on the busiest commercial street in their city.
Many people even complained directly to them.
And now they were completely like zombies, and they didn't say anything more.
Qi Maozong just giggled.
Accompanying them in this treatment were officials like Chen Shikai who actively or passively colluded with them.
This group of people were all beheaded one after another.
Of course, what Zhu Youxiao did did greatly shock the merchant class and the bureaucratic class.
They had to admit that even at this age, His Majesty the Emperor was still so decisive and ruthless.
But what they have to admit is that because of the popularization of radio technology and the advancement of various sciences and technologies, once they do something stupid, they can suffer a devastating blow in a short period of time, even if they secretly There are many forces involved, from central government offices to local government offices, from the army to the court, but with a secret order from the emperor, you can be blocked without knowing it.
"We need a free and relaxed business environment. It can't be like what it is now, with spies running rampant, eye spies, and more inspection and quarantine checkpoints than government offices. There is a sense of distrust in our products! How can we make money by doing this?"
"At least it won't be as easy to make huge profits as it used to be. I'm afraid we should really focus on technology research and development, employee encouragement, and social responsibility to increase our competitiveness!"
"We cannot let the court control us like this. We have to find a way to get the court to relax its control over us instead of becoming more and more strict."
Some big businessmen also started discussing this matter.
At this time, a businessman named Du Rizhang suggested:
"In my opinion, it is better to pay the major newspapers and periodicals to build momentum and let them criticize the current too harsh governance method and speak for us businessmen. In addition, we can also pay the officials to speak for us. We can also organize The merchants went on strike and created a momentum in newspapers and periodicals. As long as the momentum is built up, we will not be afraid that our merchants will not be able to do so today."
"This is a way! Everyone doesn't like money. I am a bookseller and am friends with many scholars in universities. I ask them to speak for us and write articles. At most, it costs some money! As long as we continue to preach for a long time, we will naturally Who doesn’t want to be less controlled by the court if it produces results, and who doesn’t like freedom.”
Mo Lixun, who, like Du Rizhang, is mainly engaged in the pirated book business, also echoed.
"That's right, just like no one likes their parents to control them every day, no one wants the court to control them in every way! We should support more newspapers and periodicals that are willing to publish more affirmative opinions for advocating freedom, advocating independence, and advocating self-views. and literati. This will help us businessmen make money. Instead of letting the official newspapers and periodicals talk about Datong, Han compatriots, and national interests every day!"
Du Rizhang also agreed.
So, next, at the beginning, Zhu Youxiao and his court severely cracked down on profiteers, and those who expressed different opinions were some freelance writers who published personal articles in major newspapers.
These people first criticized the rough behavior of Dongchang, the Quality Supervision Department, and Jinyiwei in the process of law enforcement, and then frankly defended the profiteers, saying that there is nothing wrong with businessmen making profits. As for fake and shoddy products, it is just a definition of the court itself. That’s all. Buying these products should be regarded as a voluntarily accepted buying and selling behavior. If you feel that you have been cheated or don’t like it, you can not buy it next time, but you cannot punish the other party because of that. If so, it is an act that violates the spirit of the contract.
In addition, these people also used various economic factors to analyze that a free and tolerant business environment is conducive to business prosperity, and said that direct and rough treatment by the court would affect the employment environment and increase social panic.
There are even many newspapers and periodicals that are actually advocating for strikes in various places, proving the power of the business community.
For a time, more and more merchants actually expressed their intention to go on strike in major newspapers and periodicals.
In the end, they actually agreed that next month would be a strike month.
"What should we do, Yuan Fu? More and more big businesses have decided that next month will be a strike month. It's time to think of a solution. Otherwise, what if it results in a significant reduction in tax revenue and a large number of people becoming unemployed?"
Cabinet minister Fang Yuegong even approached Wen Tiren about this matter and spoke anxiously.
Wen Tiren said very calmly: "What are you afraid of? The sky will not fall! Just report this matter to His Majesty truthfully."
"Are you really not worried?"
"do not worry!"
…
"Your Majesty, ministers from the central and local governments are calling us one after another, asking for countermeasures. They say that more and more businesses are threatening to go on strike. Do you think we should take countermeasures?"
Du Yinxi came here to ask Zhu Youxiao.
After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao smiled and said: "What countermeasures should be taken? Compromise with them and mean that they will not strictly pursue the crimes of fraud, deception and abduction?"
Du Yinxi replied: "If this is not the case, will it really have an impact on the country?"
"No! Just wait and see, I don't believe it. There is no businessman in this world who doesn't want to make money."
Zhu Youxiao said.
