"Your Majesty is here!"
A loud shout rang out, and all the merchants and gentry who entered the courtyard immediately knelt down.
As the body knelt down, there was also a fearful heart.
"Everyone, Xuanfu may be about to start a war soon!"
The nearly a hundred caravan leaders and gentry who were kneeling were a little confused. Didn't you start this inner war?
We don’t have to go to the battlefield in a big war. What do you mean by telling us this?
Before everyone could finish complaining, Chongzhen continued: "I announced the plan to reward the enemy with silver in the school grounds this morning. Just now, Hou Xiu, the Minister of War, and Han Huang, the assistant minister of the cabinet, settled the accounts.
At present, there is still a shortfall of five million taels of silver. You are all proficient businessmen. Do you have a solution? "
Everyone was stunned again, and then they reacted and called out, "Hey guys, you've been waiting here!"
But then I thought it was wrong. If Tumut and other tribes attacked, they would have the natural barrier of the Great Wall and some fortresses and passes, and they would have to use the strength of the entire clan to support a hundred thousand troops.
Sending too many troops will easily leave the nest empty, and you have to be careful to prevent other tribes from stealing chickens.
Although the Xuanfu sergeant is now in full swing, the other party is a cavalry, and the strength of the two parties is there.
Ming Dynasty can kill 30,000 opponents, which is probably the highest level.
An average of ten taels of silver per enemy leader is only 300,000 taels. A little more would kill several thousand-level generals. Five hundred thousand taels is enough. How did you calculate five million taels?
Isn't this obviously asking for money from them?
The right way is that the poor should not fight with the rich, and the rich should not fight with the power.
Today, the emperor asked them to go to the school grounds to establish his authority. It is time for a good harvest.
But how much should be given is a question. If you give too much, you will feel distressed. If you give less, the emperor will be unhappy and you will be doomed.
Everyone is deep in thought, but they are actually trying to see if there is anyone who stands out so they can use it as a reference.
After waiting for a moment, the more than a hundred people kneeling were silent.
Chongzhen sneered: "Here we come, take out the direct descendants of the Cheng family and the Qin family in Xuanfu Town, behead them, confiscate their homes, and send the rest to Datong to dig coal for ten years."
"Your Majesty, I am willing to pay two hundred thousand taels, Your Majesty, please show mercy!"
"Your Majesty, our Qin family is willing to contribute five hundred thousand taels of silver!"
Everyone was shocked, and the heads of the two families immediately exclaimed.
Chongzhen did not respond, but just waved his hand. Several sergeants rushed into the crowd, grabbed the heads of the two families and rushed outside.
Then, a member of the Imperial Guard Baihu led a hundred soldiers and rushed towards the two mansions.
"Your Majesty, Yang Qingyun, leader of the Shandong Yang Family Firm, has donated five hundred thousand taels of silver on behalf of the Yang Family Firm.
This time, the grassroots will personally send the money to Xuanfu or Beijing City within a month. "
When everyone was frightened, an old man's voice sounded, and he offered five hundred thousand taels of silver.
Everyone calls me fuck me!
Yang Qingyun felt very bitter. His Yang family was doing business upright, but the five hundred thousand was money to buy his life.
"Yang Qingyun, raise your head!"
When Chongzhen called his name, Yang Qingyun could only raise his head helplessly and looked at Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, forgive me. The common people did not know that you were your Majesty at that time.
Your unbridled speech offends Long Yan, please forgive me for being disrespectful to the common people! "
"How could I blame you? Speaking of which, I still want to thank you.
If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have known there were so many tricks in the caravan, trade market, and military town! "
Listening to Chongzhen's words, Yang Qingyun's mouth was filled with bitterness and he wanted to slap himself a few times.
This is a trap for themselves, and it is also a trap for other caravans. In the future, their caravan will be suppressed by other caravans.
But Chongzhen's words sounded like thunder in the ears of the caravan leaders and gentry. Their expressions changed dramatically again, and the panic in their hearts deepened.
Most of them had a look of despair on their faces.
"Just step aside and wait!"
After Chongzhen finished speaking, he stopped talking, as if the hundreds of people in front of him didn't exist.
After another moment, a person said: "Your Majesty, the war in Xuanfu is tense, and the soldiers have sacrificed their lives for the country. Common man Wang Daocheng is willing to donate 300,000 taels on behalf of the Wang family business to boost the military's prestige!"
With Yang Qingyun and Wang Daocheng taking the lead, other businesses and aristocratic families stepped forward to donate.
In the middle, they pulled the leaders of the two caravans out and beheaded them, and sent people to the caravan headquarters to completely seal them off and ransack their homes.
It took a full two-quarters of an hour for more than a hundred people to report the amount of silver they had donated.
The lowest was 20,000 taels, the highest was 500,000 taels, totaling more than 7 million taels. Not counting the four houses that were confiscated, it was estimated to be as many as thousands of taels.
After looking at it, Chongzhen said a few words, and more than thirty small caravans were exempted from donation.
There is no private work involved, so it would be unreasonable to force them to donate.
Although he was not Chongzhen in history, he was about to lose his country, so he couldn't bear to go and ransack his house.
But we won’t use this method to get businessmen to donate money. The bottom line is still there.
The four companies that were killed were Wang Chengyin's partners, using the name of the caravan to pass on information and also obtain some prohibited supplies.
"Everyone in the caravan, listen to me. If you want to do business, do it well. If I find out that you are carrying private goods again, you won't just have to pay a fine. You will confiscate your home and kill the nine tribes. Do you understand?"
After a group of businessmen responded submissively, Chongzhen looked at the wealthy merchants and gentry in Xuanfu Town.
"Hand over all the business taxes you have privately increased ten times over the past ten years, and I will forgive the past.
Do business honestly, otherwise the Cheng family and the Qin family will be your role models!
Don't play tricks with me. I have already asked people to thoroughly check the general ledger of the Xuanfu General Affairs Department.
If you don't get it right, I won't give you a second chance. If you don't want to give it up, I'll take it myself! "
All the gentry and merchants in Xuanfu Town looked as if they were mourning for their heirs. According to this arrangement, they would go bankrupt in one day.
"Let's all go, Yang Qingyun stays!"
After everyone saluted, they stood up and slowly retreated outside.
"Leader Yang, don't be so restrained, show off the same momentum you used to call me a young man two days ago!"
As soon as Chongzhen finished speaking, there was a burst of popping, ouch, and coughing sounds.
Several merchants and gentry who retreated to the entrance of the courtyard suddenly lost their legs and fell to the ground, their eyes full of weirdness and shock.
But after seeing Chongzhen's gaze, he immediately kowtowed again, got up and ran away, as if Chongzhen's gaze was a savage beast.
Although he ran fast, he was fierce towards Yang Qingyun in his heart.
After a while, the courtyard became quiet. Chongzhen and Yang Qingyun entered the lobby. At this moment, there was no one else in the lobby except Du Yinxi.
"Leader Yang, do you think I left you alone?"
Yang Qingyun put away his bitter expression and turned serious: "Your Majesty, I guess it's because the Yang family's caravan didn't have anyone hiding anything!"
"Then tell me why I didn't kill those caravans and the wealthy merchants and gentry in the city?"
This time Yang Qingyun did not answer immediately, but pondered for a moment before speaking softly: "Your Majesty needs them to stabilize the mutual market. Stable mutual trade will ensure peace on the border.
Youdao means constant wars and constant trade.
Although they donated a lot of money this time, it is nothing to a huge business, and they will not give up because of the huge profits from the mutual market.
Common people can be sure that when the limelight is over, the smuggling and concealment will continue, and there will be policies from above and countermeasures from below. "
Chongzhen was very satisfied with Yang Qingyun's answer and said softly: "Is there any way to avoid this kind of entanglement?"
