"Back to Your Majesty, on Wang Chengyin's side, the heads of the eight families don't know the specific situation. They just know that they will be accommodated. You may need to ask King Jin for details!"
"As for why the King of Jin got involved with the Eight Families, there are several reasons. The needs of the Jiannu and Mongolian tribes are relatively large, and the efficiency of scattered procurement is too low.
The King of Jin owns a large amount of land, minerals, etc., and the grain, salt, iron, etc. produced also need to be sold.
Secondly, although the King of Jin is a vassal king and cannot interfere in the government affairs, the government has been unstable in recent years and he has no energy to restrain the kings.
There are still many ministers who have secretly supported the Jin Palace for so many years, and they can still speak well in Taiyuan and other places.
With the help of the power of the Jin Palace, it was easier for them to operate. The two parties hit it off immediately, and each family gave 10% of the net profit. "
"A few days ago, Fan Yongdou and others entered the Jin Palace. It was mainly because Tumut was contacting surrounding tribes to unite against Chahar Lindan Khan who was moving westward. He needed a large amount of grain, grass, salt, tea, etc., and offered a price of three taels of silver per stone.
The King of Jin demanded five taels of silver and one stone, and threatened to buy it if he wanted to, or sell it to Lin Danhan and Jiannu if he didn't. "
Hearing this price and the request of the King of Jin, Chongzhen remembered the words of later generations, and the capital of the calculation would shed tears after hearing this.
After complaining, Chongzhen said: "First, let's talk about the specific quantity of materials smuggled by the eight companies, and report them item by item."
Li Ruolian heard Chongzhen's question and took out another booklet from the box.
"One item of food and grass: the Fan family's 1.32 million shi, which is equivalent to 1.62 million taels of silver.
The Jin family has 1.13 million shi, which is equivalent to 930,000 taels of silver..."
"Your Majesty, the eight families sell a total of 7.93 million shi of grain, which is equivalent to 6.83 million taels of silver. The reason for the price deviation is because the types of grain transported by each family and the price of purchased grain are different each year."
Chongzhen's eyes became more murderous.
Although he knew the situation of these families, but when he heard the summary of food and grass, the anger in his heart soared into the sky.
7.93 million stones, equivalent to 1.2 billion catties, what a huge figure.
Last year's disaster in Shaanxi caused many people to starve to death and even cannibalism occurred.
In order to provide disaster relief, he used various calculations and shows to get two million taels of silver to purchase food.
Based on one pound of food per person, this amount of food is enough to feed eight million people in Shaanxi for a month and a half.
It is enough to feed more than 100,000 soldiers in Liaodong for seven or eight years, and the soldiers in the entire Jiubian area can also be fed for one and a half years. With so much food, how can deserters and rebels appear?
"You really deserve to be killed!"
After Chongzhen settled the accounts, he suppressed his anger and said bitterly, and then said: "You continue to retaliate!"
"One item of cloth: Fan family's 33,000 pieces, equivalent to 18,000 taels of silver... equivalent to 290,000 taels of silver."
"Salt item: 460,000 jins from the Wang family in Xinzhou, equivalent to 190,000 taels of silver, and the Jin family from Datong..."
"One item of tea..."
…
"Your Majesty, the value of the prohibited materials from the eight families to Jiannu and Mongolian tribes is equivalent to thirty-nine million taels of silver."
After Li Ruolian finished his report, he presented the account book to Chongzhen with both hands.
Chongzhen looked through it briefly, and finally looked at the summary and put it aside.
This is only the sales price, it does not go directly to the warehouse, but also includes various losses, management, family expenses, etc.
He now wants to know how much the eight families are worth now. This is the most important purpose of this northwest inspection.
"Report on the eight families' property again!"
Li Ruolian took out another account book from the box: "Your Majesty, because some of the eight families have done decentralized processing, we can only make a rough estimate based on the values provided by them. The specific information will only be known after counting."
"Jiexiu Fan Family: 2.36 million taels of silver in hand, 179 restaurants and shops of various types, 1,100 hectares of fertile land, 368 antiques, calligraphy and paintings of various types, and 150,000 grains Stone, the total is estimated to be 6.3 million taels of silver!"
"The Jin family in Datong: 2.8 million taels of silver in hand, 203 restaurants and shops of various types...the total estimated silver is 7.6 million taels!"
"Xinzhou Wang Family:..."
…
"The eight companies have a total of 26 million taels of cash, more than 2,100 restaurants and shops of various types, and 12,000 hectares of fertile land.
There are more than 3,000 pieces of various antiques, calligraphy and paintings, 1.4 million shi of grain in stock, and a total estimated of 52.55 million taels of silver. "
Li Ruolian had already seen the summarized data an hour ago, and was so shocked that he was speechless.
At this moment, I repeated it again, and my voice was still a little awkward.
Although Hou Lian on the side is the Minister of the Ministry of War, when he heard so much property, his whole body was trembling slightly, but his eyes were full of excitement.
He is the Minister of the Ministry of War, and is in charge of all affairs related to the military affairs of the Ming Dynasty. The corruption and corruption of the Ming Dynasty's military affairs have been seen during this period, and they are rotten to the bone.
On the one hand, it is the inaction of the court and generals, and more importantly, the issue of military pay. They don’t have enough to eat. How do you want me to train?
Even if you don't give me military pay, I will put my head in my trousers and work for you?
As for the honor of soldiers, go to the special mother. They are also human beings and have to support their families. If they don’t have money, there is no need to talk about it.
Now that there is so much money, coupled with the military and political rectification that is about to begin, building a strong and iron army is just around the corner.
Du Yinxi's whole person fell into a sluggish state. After all, he was just a young man with a bright mind and had not experienced many trials and hardships.
The look of the two people was naturally in Chongzhen's eyes, but he didn't think much about it, but looked at the booklet of eight families' properties that Li Ruolian handed over.
Each of the eight companies has its own tendencies, but they are basically asset-light.
Fertile land is the favorite of all gentry and wealthy businessmen. As long as fertile land exists, it can continuously produce food and turn it into income.
But the opposite is true for these eight families. The largest one only has more than 2,000 hectares, which is less than some wealthy businessmen in Xi'an.
But it's understandable. After all, what they did was too dangerous. If one day they were exposed, it would be wise to take the money and leave.
You cannot take away fixed assets such as fertile farmland, but you can only make others cheaper.
If it weren't for the purpose of hiding people's eyes, it is estimated that those restaurants, shops and fertile land would not be purchased.
Seeing that Chongzhen was silent for a long time, Li Ruolian thought there was something wrong with the account books, and said cautiously: "Your Majesty, is there something wrong with the account books?"
He knew very well that the eight families had liaisons with Jiannu and Mongolian tribes, but the emperor informed them to investigate thoroughly.
That means that the emperor may also control an organization similar to the Jinyiwei, which is even more mysterious than the Jinyiwei.
Perhaps the emperor made an estimate of the eight families' wealth, but what he found now is less than he estimated.
If this is the case, it means that the Jinyiwei who investigated the case have done something wrong. The Eight Families have committed such a serious crime that killed the Nine Clans, and there are still people who dare to reach out. Under the fury of thunder, then...
Thinking of this, Li Ruolian shuddered.
After being awakened by Li Ruolian's voice, Chongzhen shook his head.
The exact amount of property owned by the eight major locust merchants is unclear from later records, and the eight merchants only began to lose control completely after the second year of Chongzhen, and they have only made more money since then.
There are sporadic records of the Fan family in history. It is said that in the forty-eighth year of Qianlong's reign, the Fan family was confiscated and their final assets were more than eight million taels.
Including what the Qing court borrowed, the Fan family's total wealth is 13 to 4 million taels. Based on this estimate, the figures copied now are about the same.
Now that I have just arrived in the midfield, I have more than 60 million taels, which is already pretty good.
"Speed up the inventory and verification, and also notify Sun Chuanting to dispatch the Yulin Guards to Taiyuan and Datong City to escort all the property back to Beijing City."
"I obey the decree!"
Li Ruolian breathed a sigh of relief and secretly remembered that when this was finished, he would issue strict orders to monitor the Jin Yiwei below who were involved in this matter.
Chongzhen put the account book on the table, stood up and walked under the eaves, staring at the eight people on the ground.
"How many people are there in their eight families and nine clans?"
