"...Cao Min thanks the Holy Grace!"
Many businessmen were so moved that they burst into tears because of the precious clothes they had received. In order to collect one million taels of silver, they were almost going bankrupt.
This time, the hard work was finally in vain. It was equivalent to spending a large sum of money to buy an amulet given by the emperor. The lives of the whole family were guaranteed. As long as they had this treasure, they were no longer lowly merchants.
Although the style of the Confucian shirt is similar to those on the market, the texture is made of top-quality silk. Every stitch and every stitch is crafted with craftsmanship. It is by no means comparable to the stuff in the store.
Especially the four words "Prince's Imperial Gift", although small in size, are extremely dazzling, as dazzling as four gems inlaid on the chest.
A certain prince stretched out his little hand and said calmly: "No courtesy! Since ancient times, among the five categories of scholars, farmers, workers, merchants, and soldiers, merchants ranked second only to soldiers. But what I want to say is, A country is unstable without farmers, a country without soldiers is not strong, and a country without merchants is not rich. The reason why the Western barbarians were able to travel thousands of miles to invade the Holy Land of the East was because of their superiority in ships and artillery, and this advantage was due to the merchants Pushing behind the scenes, the Western Yi countries quickly became rich and their military power developed rapidly. And our dynasty was determined not to lag behind the Western Yi. As early as the time of Emperor Taizu, we attached great importance to merchants and gave them strong support. To this day , although some merchants are just trying to do business, most merchants are still loyal and available. You are all business elites from all walks of life. Otherwise, after purchasing Zijin Bonds, you will definitely not be able to spend so much silver to buy "Overseas Jinshan" ' shares. Some people may doubt whether the 'Overseas Golden Mountain' exists. I can responsibly tell you that the 'Overseas Golden Mountain' is located on a certain island in Nanyang. This is where I sent Zhen Haibo Zheng Zhilong to regain Dongfan. One of the reasons. After that, I will send the Royal Fleet to regain Luzon and then invade the hinterland of Nanyang. The 'overseas gold mountains' can be mined. If it is slow, it will take ten years. If it is quick, it can be done in five years. . Merchants who purchase shares of "Overseas Jinshan" for less than 5,000 taels per year can enjoy priority in purchasing shares of the railway company. In the future, the grassland and Liaodong markets will naturally have share rights. Merchants who purchase shares of "Overseas Jinshan" for 5,000 taels per year For merchants with more than 10,000 taels and less than 10,000 taels, I will ask the court to take care of them, such as military supplies orders. Merchants who purchase more than 10,000 taels of "Overseas Jinshan" shares every year will be regarded as my strategic partners in the merchant's industry from now on. Yes. What is a 'strategic partner'? That is, if there is a good thing or something that makes money, I will give priority to you. For example, when purchasing food, I will give priority to the Yu family, and so on. Moreover, any business related to food, I will also take care of the Yu family. From now on, the Yu family’s business will not be limited to grain trading. As for how to not be rigid, I will tell you later."
Since many people in this group of merchants have taken it seriously and classified themselves, the purchase amount is divided into one thousand taels, two thousand taels, five thousand taels, ten thousand taels, and twenty thousand taels.
A certain prince took advantage of the situation and divided those who wanted to be a fan into three categories. The first category was strategic partners, his brainless fans who almost went bankrupt in order to get a fan. These people would naturally get the best treatment.
The second category is priority partners, who are considered die-hard fans. Although he would not go bankrupt, he was still willing to spend five thousand taels of silver every year to honor a certain prince. It was considered a decent gift and he could participate in the military supplies business.
The third category is business partners. There is no prefix of "strategic" and "priority". "Business" means ordinary, but the description is not so straightforward, which saves them face.
After listening to the prince's words, all the businessmen began to make calculations in their hearts.
The guy who had spent more than ten thousand taels of silver was naturally elated, and he was so happy that he almost continued to kowtow to thank the saint.
The money spent was really worth it. Even the Shanxi merchants who had taken refuge in Donglu before did not take advantage of them as much as they did.
The imperial court's annual military orders total no less than five million taels of silver. The prince's opening of the golden mouth means that they have a share of it.
It doesn’t take much, just 50,000 taels of silver, which accounts for 1%. Together with other inputs, it is enough to support the renewal of the "Overseas Jinshan" project in the future.
The stingy guys in the past regretted their actions. Some people didn't have money, but decided to just deal with the little prince.
Unexpectedly, the little prince used another strange move, which surprised them so much that they were caught off guard and lost any chance to make amends.
All merchants, regardless of industry, were classified as third class by the prince.
All fools know that the highest first-class earns the most, but it’s not that easy to move up.
The deal is done, it's too late to say anything now.
What's more, who dares to speak easily, this is the East Palace!
No matter how articulate they usually are, in the East Palace, these merchants had no choice but to kneel down and listen to the holy edict. A certain prince continued: "I know that you have paid back taxes before and purchased a lot of purple gold bonds. Today I need to make enough Buy shares. I know how to balance a bowl of water, and have sent someone to calculate the total of the three items. However, I have spoken beforehand. Paying back taxes is your obligation and it is your duty to evade taxes. The consequences of tax evasion, you Once you know it all, I don't need to elaborate. Some people think that the Zijin bonds occupy a large amount of silver, so they can't buy the shares of "Overseas Jinshan". This is easy to handle. I will send someone to buy the Zijin bonds that you and others bought. All the bond shares will be converted into shares of "Overseas Jinshan", and there will be no difference of one tael. Add the two items together, and you will get 4 million taels to purchase 10% of the shares for a period of two years. The remaining silver taels will be returned to you. You can just renew it from the year after next. Is this palace benevolent enough? Even if someone buys the shares of "Overseas Jinshan" for a small amount, as long as the total of the three items reaches the top fifty, I will also grant you Give me one piece of clothing, and the items you already have will not be accumulated.”
Don’t you want to buy it?
This is so easy to solve!
I am so kind-hearted, why don’t I just take the initiative to transfer the money to you?
Now you have to buy it whether you want it or not.
However, there is still a two-year buffer period, and you can just renew after that.
In this way, a certain prince could exclusively own 50% of the shares of the "Overseas Jinshan" project, and the remaining part would be owned by the household department, and the boss, Zheng, and the merchants in the capital would each own 10%.
After it is confirmed, a certain prince will be able to harvest gold, silver, and copper worth at least 500 million taels of gold from this project alone, and he will become the world's number one tycoon in one fell swoop.
What does it feel like?
Even in my dreams, I can laugh like a pig~!
Of course, there is another prerequisite, which is to defeat the Dutch first and then the Spanish.
Only in this way can the absolute safety of maritime transportation lines be ensured.
Once these two families knew that the ships sailing from New Guinea to the mainland of the Ming Dynasty were treasure ships, it would be strange if they did not start robbing them.
The Spaniards had had enough of the English pirates, and they would definitely copy the tactics of the island natives to the Southeast Asia and plunder the merchant ships of the Ming Empire.
Even if there are warships responsible for escorting, the opponent will do whatever they want with the advantage of the giant ships and cannons.
After all, after grabbing a ship of treasure, the entire crew can retire directly...
Although the amount of silver sold for the shares in the "Overseas Jinshan" project was a little less, two million taels less than expected, it is still quite good to be able to harvest five million taels of silver every year in the future.
Ten years is 50 million taels of silver. There is absolutely no problem in raising the private armed force of the East Palace Guards. It is also enough to purchase a large number of airships and tanks.
In fact, a certain prince planned to use this money to support the East Palace Guards, which were regarded as the empire's new elite troops. Without four to five million taels of silver a year, they would definitely not be able to do so.
A certain prince was always willing to spend money on his direct generals. Zhou Yuji used 3,000 men to resist Li Zicheng's 300,000 or 400,000 horses at Ningwuguan in central Shanxi Province.
Although Ningwuguan was breached in the end, this courage and determination to fight one against a hundred is certainly worthy of praise and can be regarded as a model of glory despite defeat.
If Zhou Yuji were given 30,000 troops, well-trained and well-equipped, his combat power would naturally be extraordinary. It would also be the target of a certain prince's reliance after Huang Degong's Yongwei Battalion went south with his father.
At present, there are barely three "pillars of the country" that can resist the invasion of braids in the northern battlefield. One of them is the White Army, with a size of about 20,000 to 30,000. The second is the old and new Qin army, which together can number 60,000.
The third is the East Palace Guards. The three elite teams total about 112,000 people. It may not be possible to fight alone, but with the capital as their back, it is absolutely no problem to stay together as a group to keep warm.
Among them, the Baigan Army is the most adept at fighting, the Qin Army has the largest number of troops, and the East Palace Guard has the best equipment. It can be said that each has its own advantages. It depends on whether the advantages can complement each other.
Both the Baigan Army and the Qin Army have been fighting in the south recently. Whether they can severely defeat the rogue bandits as soon as possible and go north for reinforcements after autumn is still a big question.
However, even if these two troops came to King Qin, according to the imperial edict of a certain prince, the tactics of the Ming army in the Jifu area were still shrinking.
If the field troops are crippled by braids at this time, how can they counterattack Liaodong in the future?
Quantitative advantage is also based on a certain quality. Quantity alone will result in a ragtag group of people with no hope of winning.
A bunch of small sampans put together are not an aircraft carrier, but a large sampan that can collapse at a touch.
"Your Highness, the calculation is complete!"
Li Jizhou, the eunuch of the East Palace Bingbi, was in charge of accounting. He had many smart young eunuchs who knew arithmetic. After learning the new addition and subtraction, they could calculate very quickly and accurately with the abacus.
"Hmm~! Okay!"
A certain prince glanced through the neatly compiled list and began to make some calculations in his mind.
There are two copies, one written in Chinese characters and the other written in numbers.
The copy with Chinese characters is circulated to many merchants. After everyone checks the amount and has no objection, you can use everyone's bill to sign and fingerprint.
Among the top 50 people who spent money, 21 were merchants who did not get imperial clothes. Now it was just enough for them to make up for it, so as not to slander a certain prince.
"There are millions of people in the capital, 100,000 soldiers, and tens of thousands of people in the imperial city. These are the target audiences for your services. The entire Jifu region requires at least 4 million shi for food and silk cloth every year. , porcelain and iron, salt and sugar, wine and meat and other commodities are useless. I have converted the purple bonds you purchased into shares of "Overseas Jinshan" in the hope that you can serve the imperial court and live up to the divine grace. However, among you Some people still persist in their stubbornness and transport supplies out of the customs without authorization to nourish the Eastern captives. What crime should they be guilty of?"
Nowadays, spies sent by factory guards are stationed at all important border gates, and many spies have opened buying and selling shops at the border gates to collect intelligence.
Therefore, most of the actions of the merchants in the capital are under the control of a certain prince. If bulk goods are shipped out of customs, there is a high probability that they will not be able to escape the surveillance of "artificial cameras".
"Meng He, Xu Hang, Zhang Lin, Hao Pengcheng, Yang Delu, Wang Yuanqi, Lu Guangyou, Jiang Nanfeng, Lu Baixu, Chang Rui! You have done such a thing as to be content with me, and you think that I don't know about it? After the Shanxi Shang Dynasty, That’s right! You think that if you use money to perfunctory me, I will tolerate and condone you to do whatever you want? What kind of sin is it to pass through Donglu, and you want to test the law with your own body?"
The main reason why the trafficking of goods out of the customs is repeatedly banned is that Donglu's price is very high, which makes some merchants in the customs unable to resist.
One stone of grain in the capital is worth two taels of silver. The purchase price of Huangtai chicken can reach three taels per stone, or even higher. The same is true for other commodities.
Even if part of the payment for goods is not paid in cash, the total price will be offset by ginseng, mink, deer antlers and other goods that are abundant outside the customs. Anyway, the merchants will not make their trip in vain.
Speaking of which, Huangtaiji is very good at doing business, so he can understand the psychological activities of merchants in the pass and adopt effective methods to fish.
In just this month, according to incomplete statistics from factory security spies deployed in various border towns, about one hundred thousand taels of goods worth secretly left the customs, with only one destination.
There is no need to transport the goods all the way to Shenyang, just transport the goods to the Daling River east of Jinzhou. Now that we are out of Jinzhou, a dozen miles to the east is the Donglu controlled area.
There are Huang Taiji's confidants who are responsible for receiving the goods and settling the bill. Usually, the money and goods can be settled on the same day. From there, it was transported to Yizhou City, the largest nearby stronghold, and then transported to Shenyang in batches.
If the wind is tight, Huangtaiji can even send people to pick up the goods outside the customs, as long as the merchants can transport the goods out of the customs.
Where can I find such a good next home?
Therefore, the merchants in the pass are almost rushing one after another!
"Come here! Capture these thieves for me!"
The prince gave an order, and the feudal lords standing at the edge of the courtyard rushed forward like wolves and tigers, dragging out the merchants whose names were called one by one, with only one destination, and that was the imperial edict. prison.
"Your Highness, please spare my life~!"
"Your Highness, you are wronged~!"
"Your Highness, have mercy~!"
These people were so scared that their legs were weak and they had no strength to run away, but no one would take the initiative to confess. Once they confessed, the whole family would have their heads and skinned.
"Unjustly accused? How ridiculous! If I had to say it, I should have said it. If I hadn't been so merciful, you would have been dead! We sent a large amount of supplies to Donglu, and kept saying that we were unjustly accused. I'm afraid everyone The world is what shameless people say!"
The wealth of these people will be enriched and sent to Taicang, the principal criminal will be scalped by the owl, the accomplices will all be sent to Shandong to mine, and the female prisoners of appropriate age will be sent to the Jiaofang Division.
"By the way, when these rip-off thieves are made into lanterns, I will give them to law-abiding merchants. First, they can illuminate them, and secondly, they can illuminate their aspirations!"
What a certain prince said was both considerate and scary, killing two birds with one stone.
