"It's good now. Our salt is completely smashed in our hands."
Li Xianshi said something.
Ye Shanzong also followed: "Yes, if you sell it now, let alone sell it, or give it away for free, it will definitely be regarded as salt of unknown origin and will be strictly investigated by the government."
"It can be said that this decree is directed at us salt merchants!"
"This means that the salt in our hands cannot be sold or given away except for our own consumption!"
Fan Shanjun said a few words with veins popping out at this time.
Ahem!
Afterwards, Fan Shanjun coughed violently a few times, vomited out a mouthful of blood, grinned and said with a sad smile: "He is indeed the emperor who holds the power alone. Whoever he wants to make money can make money, and whoever he doesn't want to make money can make money." , no one can make money!"
"Then what should we do? I have hoarded a lot of salt this time. I also borrowed a lot of money from Daming Bank specifically for this purpose and mortgaged all my family property!"
"Me too, I can't let the whole family only eat salt every day, right?"
"Yeah, let's think of a solution quickly! So much salt has become salt of unknown origin. It can't be sold or given away. You have to spend money every day to prevent moisture and theft. Sooner or later, your family's wealth will be ruined!"
The salt merchants were all confused, like ants on a hot pot.
At this time, Cao Youke, a salt merchant, said: "Let me tell you, we shouldn't have gone against the imperial court in the first place, and we shouldn't have wanted to give the emperor power and prevent him from coming to Yangzhou! Now it seems that our arms are not as thick as our thighs after all. Yes, people are really ruthless and have really ruined this piece of salt, and we have no way to deal with it."
"That's right!"
"I heard from my brother that the interest-free loan that the emperor lent to the common people to open a grocery store and sell salt still used our money. We asked the court to steal the money obtained by the Han, Li, and Ling families. We scraped together the money. Eight million silver dollars.”
"Moreover, in order to prevent people from not buying salt after borrowing interest-free loans, but instead squandering it or using it for other purposes, which would affect the sales of salt, the imperial court specially issued only silver dollar coupons when issuing loans!"
"In this way, because only government-run salt shops accept silver dollar coupons, other merchants do not accept silver dollar coupons because they are worried about it, so people can only buy salt to sell after getting interest-free loans, which also makes many people Grocery stores popped up overnight.”
"According to the Ministry of Revenue, this is also a pilot project to re-promote banknotes. They used the eight million silver dollars as stacking capital (reserves) and issued silver dollar coupons specifically for the purchase of salt. After going around and around, the eight million silver dollars were used as stacking capital (reserves). Millions of silver dollars have been sitting in the court's warehouse, but with a pile of paper, many ordinary people have been able to make a living by opening grocery stores, and a lot of copied salt has entered the homes of ordinary people."
"What a handiwork!"
"I'm afraid only Zhang Juzheng's party members Wang Guoguang and the finance students taught in the ruling school can do it! They took our silver coins, smashed our pot, and added a lot of livelihood to the people. In the end, the court itself only spent a bunch of printing Beautiful Chu paper.”
"Our benevolent emperor and his favored ministers who love the people are really good at governing the world!"
Li Xianshi smiled bitterly as he spoke.
Keng!
"It's too much!"
Ye Shanzong couldn't help but dropped a cup of tea on the coffee table to the ground and drank sternly.
Then, he looked at the other salt merchants and said dejectedly: "I have never been so aggrieved in my life! I thought that with eight million silver dollars I could dismiss the court like a beggar, but they just Use these eight million to dig up our roots!”
"Submit it."
"We are now like fish on a sticky plate. If we really want the court to investigate the salt of unknown origin and deceive the world that the salt is sold out, we will definitely be severely punished if found out. If we are not found out, we will be dead."
"Now I can only ask His Majesty to show mercy and give us a way to survive for the sake of our descendants."
Fan Shanjun spoke at this time.
"How to ask for it?"
Li Xianshi asked.
Fan Shanjun said: "Give him back the face your Majesty lost little by little, find a way to get him to come to Yangzhou, and beg him to come to Yangzhou!"
Said.
Fan Shanjun continued to say with a frustrated face: "To be specific, the loan money must be paid back to Daming Bank in full. Even if the family property is mortgaged and sold, the property must be repaid; after all, everyone in the world is now the emperor of the dynasty. Even if you have a strong army and strong horses, you can't even escape with money, so you can only do this;"
"In addition, if you still have money in your hand, you should immediately do good deeds, build bridges and pave roads, help the widowed and lonely, donate money to schools, hospitals, and disaster victims, until His Majesty is satisfied. He knew that Yangzhou salt merchants all cared about the people of the country and were actively repaying the emperor's favor and the people's sentiments;"
"We must also strictly control our children. Those who are guilty or not punished must be reported to the official. Let Your Majesty know that we salt merchants are all upright and not partial!"
"In this way, His Majesty may be moved and feel that we have really surrendered. In the name of our many righteous deeds, he will give us an opportunity to make salt and sell it overseas."
After Fan Shanjun said this, the salt merchants all fell silent.
Even the salt merchant Cao Youke, who was the first to say that he had surrendered to the imperial court, hesitated: "This..."
"What time has it been!"
"I still can't bear it!"
"Mr. Fan is right, we have no other way out!"
Another salt merchant, Xu Weihe, made an urgent suggestion at this time.
Li Xianshi was also very hesitant at this time and said: "By doing this, it is indeed possible that His Majesty will be more generous and give us an opportunity to make salt for the market overseas. As long as we are allowed to make salt for the market overseas, then the salt in our hands will , it can be made into salt from overseas salt farms and then sold, but in this case, you have to leave Yangzhou and go overseas, and you have to work hard to find salt farms."
"Otherwise, what else can we do?"
"It all depends on whether they are willing to give you this opportunity. But now that the government-run salt industry has only occupied the domestic salt fields and cannot afford to mine overseas, you are willing to let us go!"
Fan Shanjun said with a wry smile.
"rational!"
"That's all."
Li Xian nodded.
"Yeah, what else can we do?"
"Just continue to give up money to apologize to the emperor."
"If I had known this, I should have honestly spent the eight million silver dollars on entertaining the emperor, and collected the money to build a palace for him."
The salt merchants started talking one after another.
Only.
Ye Shanzong shed tears at this time and said: "I can't do it, I can't do it. In order to survive, I have to flatter him so much. I don't think my ancestor Ben Qing Gong (Ye Qi) could have made Xiaomiao accept his words and finally honor him." He is the crown prince's Taibao! But now, I can't even ask the emperor to pay eight million silver dollars to give my salt merchant dignity. I am far worse than my ancestors!"
After Ye Shanzong said that, he left here with a dejected expression.
And that night.
Ye Shanzong chose to hang himself from a beam.
He really couldn't spend money to make Zhu Yijun happy.
In his mind, it was always the emperor's bureaucrats who coaxed salt merchants like them, and there was no reason for them, the salt merchants, to coax the emperor's bureaucrats.
The next day.
News spread in Yangzhou city that Ye Shanzong, a great salt merchant, had committed suicide.
The salt merchant Li Xianshi was approached by Jin Yiwei the next day, saying that he, his brother Li Yongfang and his in-law Zhang Bing, the Marquis of Longping, had communicated with Zaohu and would be arrested.
Fan Shanjun and other big salt merchants were still insisting, insisting on waiting for the emperor to give them some mercy.
Therefore, people like Fan Shanjun began to really engage in public welfare and charity, and they also paid back all the money they owed to Daming Bank honestly.
For this reason, Fan Shanjun and other salt merchants also donated money to the Yangzhou government office, so that the Yangzhou government government could renovate Yangzhou City and make the streets of Yangzhou city more prosperous. They also asked Yangzhou officials to report to the emperor and ask them to allow them to contribute funds. Build a palace for the emperor.
The Yangzhou salt merchants were naturally subduing themselves by doing this, expressing their welcome to the emperor this time.
However, as mentioned before, today’s Ming Dynasty is not as civilized as it will be three or four hundred years from now.
After the Emperor does not need you, the salt merchant, to make money for him and support his army, and has abandoned you, the other forces will not only scold the fallen dog, but also follow the wishes of the court through the media, scold you as simple as a few words, and then complain to the Emperor. Show good will, but will directly end up eating people.
"Your Majesty cannot be allowed to know that these salt merchants have relented, and we cannot even give these salt merchants a chance to relent and show their favor."
"Tell Shen Yin County that the salt merchants' show of goodwill is nothing more than seeking an opportunity to move to overseas salt production markets to regenerate salt. After all, the court estimates that it will not be able to expand overseas salt fields for a while, but the court does not have the energy yet. It means that apart from him, the Lianghuai salt merchant, there is no other merchant in the world who does not have this energy!"
"Isn't it just investing money to make salt overseas and paying taxes to the court every year? This kind of thing cannot be done by Lianghuai salt merchants who no longer pay attention to the court. What's more, overseas is not as good as domestic, and there are too many variables. If it’s big, it’s even more important to let loyal merchants go.”
Suzhou.
After Shen Shixing took office, he still paid attention to the affairs of the court. At this time, he wrote a letter to Shen Yiguan, who was involved in rectifying the salt policy, and hinted that Shen Yiguan should not give the salt merchants a chance to be let go by the emperor.
After Shen Guanyi received Shen Shixing's letter, he naturally understood what Shen Shixing meant.
He knows that the so-called does not mean that other merchants do not have this energy. The implication is that his Shen family can also be his Shen family, and the merchants behind them can also pay for the emperor to make and sell salt overseas. There is no need to treat such Give the salt merchant a big piece of the cake.
In other words, there is no shortage of businessmen in the world who can serve the imperial court.
The reason is easy to find, they are more loyal than salt merchants.
After all, what the salt merchants did already seemed very disloyal, so it naturally made them appear more loyal.
Shen Guan is not a good person either.
Therefore, Shen Yiguan soon informed Zhu Yijun that when he seized the salt field, he found evidence of many salt merchants purchasing Western firearms and raising armored servants.
At the same time, Shen Guangyuan used the salt merchant Fan Shanjun and others to ask him to intercede with the emperor, and the emperor gave him the right to act expediently, and summoned Fan Shanjun and other salt merchants to the Grand Canal outside Yangzhou City. (End of chapter)
