In October of the seventh year of Tianqi, Fan Yongdou and Wang Dengku, who had just returned to Shanxi, hurriedly summoned other Shanxi merchant families to prepare materials for this transaction.
Since there were a lot of supplies, especially grain, needed to establish slaves, the price of grain increased by 30% in just ten days.
In order to obtain enough food, Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku and others even set their sights on the Qiming Chamber of Commerce, hoping to obtain a large amount of food from the Qiming Chamber of Commerce.
The unusual behavior of the Shanxi merchants naturally attracted the attention of the secret guards. Because the relationship network of the Shanxi merchants had not been sorted out yet, the secret guards could only observe quietly.
Until Fan Wencheng was sold out by Huang Taiji and the details of their transaction with Jiannu were revealed.
Then Zhu Youjian planned to make a fortune from it.
However, in order to prevent the people below from being unable to eat due to changes in food prices, Zhu Youjian still strictly ordered the Qiming Chamber of Commerce's major food sales points to impose purchase restrictions and not to increase prices at will.
In November of the seventh year of Titianqi, the price of grain in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan and other places soared to 1.5 taels of silver per stone.
However, Qiming Chamber of Commerce still offers 1 tael of silver per stone. However, you need to purchase it based on your household registration.
They even help those who are unable to work from time to time.
For this reason, Qiming Chamber of Commerce is a truly conscientious businessman in the eyes of ordinary people. It is deeply trusted by the people at the bottom of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan and other places.
The soaring grain prices made the landowners extremely happy, and they took the opportunity to sell grain to these Shanxi merchants.
Just when Shanxi merchants were about to become extremely happy, a letter from Fan Wencheng completely threw Fan Yongdou into the ice cellar.
"Su Polu, you are so damn cruel. You are not afraid of hiding five million stones of food." After a long pause, Fan Wencheng cursed loudly.
Five million stones of grain, according to the current market price, is 7.5 million taels of silver. Plus the cost of road consumption and transportation, the price is no more than 9 million taels of silver.
Even if the eight major Shanxi merchants share the burden, each of them will have to pay at least 1.125 million taels. And those businessmen are not fools. If they continue to purchase, the price of food may continue to rise.
By then each family may pay more.
But it won't work if you don't give it. Su Polu has the evidence of his transaction with Jiannu. If he doesn't give it to the other party, he will directly hand it over to the emperor. The good days of the eight Shanxi merchants will be over.
Not to mention other things, this time's "two million shi of grain, one hundred thousand bolts of cloth, and 10,000 kilograms of tea" alone was enough for the new emperor to chop the heads of eight families ten times.
House seemingly endless rain. Finally, eight people, Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa, took the time to gather together. Before the results were discussed, Lu Xiangsheng came to Shanxi to take office.
Later, the general soldiers from Datong, Taiyuan, and Zhangjiakou were mobilized, and the new general soldiers were not at all from the eight major Shanxi merchants.
As soon as Lu Xiangsheng took office, he received evidence of corruption from dozens of Taiyuan officials before he came to recruit troops.
Lu Xiangsheng was also very aggressive. After accepting the evidence and confirming that it was correct, he immediately led the 1,000 guards donated by His Majesty to the homes of those corrupt officials.
Then he immediately made a decision and directly dragged these corrupt officials to the vegetable market to prove their identity and beheaded them on the spot.
Suddenly, Lu Qingtian's reputation spread throughout Taiyuan.
In the following period, Lu Xiangsheng received information about corrupt officials every day. In just 7 days, Lu Xiangsheng beheaded more than 300 officials and collected 3 million taels of stolen money. 100,000 shi of food.
Suddenly, all officials in Shanxi were in danger, fearing that Lu Xiangsheng would kill him at home.
Lu Qingtian's reputation quickly spread throughout Shanxi with the help of caring people. .
Lu Xiangsheng had just issued a notice to recruit soldiers, and more than 30,000 people signed up in less than two days.
After the selection process, Lu Xiangsheng left 20,000 people. Formed the Tianxiong Army.
In order to solve the three-rate problem as soon as possible and reduce the burden on the people.
Coupled with the sufficient supply of money and food, it took less than a month for the 20,000 Tianxiong Army to become impressive.
....
The appearance of Lu Xiangsheng completely disrupted the layout of Shanxi merchants in Shanxi. Many of the corrupt officials who were beheaded had shady secrets with Shanxi merchants.
The newly appointed officials, for the sake of their own heads, did not dare to have much contact with Fan Yongdou and others, which led to Fan Yongdou and others having to rely on the market to solve the problem.
Just when Fan Wencheng was at a loss, a person in charge of the Qiming Chamber of Commerce took the initiative to ask to see Fan Wencheng.
After a period of negotiation, both parties were satisfied.
Subsequently, under the guidance of Fan Wencheng, all the 1.5 million shi of grain purchased by these Shanxi merchants in Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places were handed over to the Qiming Chamber of Commerce, and the Qiming Chamber of Commerce delivered the same grain to Shanxi merchants in Tianjin.
Even though it was just an exchange between the two parties, in the current cheating transportation environment, it greatly relieved the pressure on both parties.
What made Fan Wencheng even more happy was that people from the Qiming Chamber of Commerce also helped them contact some wealthy landowners in the south. Fan Wencheng and the others successfully raised 5 million shi of food.
The grain was finally sent to Lushun, Gaizhou and other places with the help of the Qiming Chamber of Commerce.
In order not to be punished by the nine tribes, these Shanxi merchants could not help but lose Houjin as their financial owner, and they also lost 9 million taels of silver. It can be said to be extremely unlucky.
But compared to the evil they had committed, this punishment could only be regarded as an appetizer.
If it weren't for the drought in Shaanxi, a large amount of food and grass would be urgently needed.
If it is too difficult to deduct food from those landlords and wealthy people,
In addition, the relationship network of Shanxi merchants is not completely clear yet.
Zhu Youjian would not let the other party go so easily.
.....
After learning from Lu Qingtian, Sun Chuanting could be said to have earned the nickname Sun King of Hell.
As soon as I arrived in Shaanxi and my buttocks were still hot, news of the Weibei Civil War came.
Weibei has suffered serious disasters in recent years. Although Emperor Tianqi issued orders to reduce taxes and provide disaster relief, it was still under the control of a group of corrupt officials. , although taxes have been reduced, the money and food for disaster relief have been embezzled.
As the disaster became more and more serious, coupled with the epidemic, many people died.
October 7th year of Tianqi.
Baishui farmers Wang Er, Zhong Guangdao and others gathered hundreds of victims and planted flags to revolt in Baishui County.
The first battle was in Chengcheng, which was severely famine-stricken.
Wang Erdang led the crowd into the county seat and killed Zhang Douyao, the county magistrate. After opening a warehouse to help the people, they retreated to the north of Luohe River in Baishui County, fearing that the army would be surrounded.
In the north of Luohe, more and more hungry people followed the army, and their momentum grew. They then moved to various parts of Weibei, attacking cities and seizing strongholds, killing evil officials everywhere, defeating the rich and helping the poor, and they were deeply supported by the people.
After Sun Chuanting took office, Wang Er's power became established. He even defeated the government troops many times.
In order to deal with the bandits as soon as possible, Sun Chuanting hurriedly led the officers and soldiers to quell the chaos.
Seeing the tragic images of the victims along the way, he turned his anger on those officials. Before he had a fight with Wang Er, no fewer than five county magistrates died at his hands. Those families with a bad reputation were also beaten by Sun Chuanting.
Sun Chuanting gave most of the money and food he gained from killing corrupt officials and beating up wealthy families to the victims.
It is because of such actions.
Before the army could engage in battle with Wang Erming, Wang Er led the rebel army to surrender.
Sun Chuanting was happy and happily accepted the other party's surrender.
He also wrote to Emperor Chongzhen to absolve Wang Er.
