Li Rusong felt very sad when he heard that Zhang Juzheng asked him to donate his Liaodong shop, which was now making a fortune. These shops and business relationships are either controlled by relatives of the Li family, or they are shared by merchants who can share wealth with the Li family.
The main business of Li Chengliang's family is to engage in ginseng and fur business through Fushun mutual trading and smuggling. Li Chengliang took advantage of the military strength of the Jurchen tribes who relied on him to give priority to the high-quality old ginseng and furs from the Jurchens and Tatars in exchange for cotton, tea, salt and other common items in the Central Plains, making huge profits.
Northeastern wild ginseng is a life-saving medicinal material in traditional Chinese medicine. The demand for ginseng in the Central Plains is simply endless, and the trading profits are astonishing. Why did Li Chengliang gain the favor of the Manchu officials? Raised with profits from ginseng trading!
Now that the court has given the count a salary that honors his ancestors, it is nothing compared to the ginseng and fur trade. These shops are golden rice bowls that future generations will never be able to finish. Zhang Juzheng asked him to hand them over. Li Chengliang was a little puzzled for a moment, and he really couldn't accept it.
Although Li Chengliang accounted for the majority of the trade in ginseng and fur, others were also involved. Civil servants and generals close to Jiliao, such as Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang, also set up shops in Fushun to engage in such transactions, but there was no Li family. Just big. Li Chengliang said in his heart, should I hand it over, or should all these people hand it over? How much do you hand over? To what extent is it exposed?
In addition to ginseng and fur, there is another treasure in the Northeast. The channel is temporarily exclusive to the Li family, and Li Chengliang has kept it secret. This treasure is the "Dongzhu" which the Jurchens call "Tana".
During the Han Dynasty, Chinese natural pearls were divided into two categories. One category was seawater pearls produced in Hepu, Guangxi, which were called southern pearls; the other category was freshwater pearls from Mudanjiang, Huntongjiang, Jingbo Lake and other places, which were historically known as northern pearls. , also known as Dongzhu.
The collection of Dongzhu is very difficult. You need to go into the biting cold water in March and April to fish for clams and select pearls. You may not be able to find a jewel-grade one among a thousand river mussels. Emperor Qianlong of the original time and space once lamented: "It is difficult to find a rare treasure."
Because the East Pearl is large, full, round and crystal-clear, and can emit colorful luster, it has been the top rare treasure in jewelry throughout the ages, and its price far exceeds that of the South Pearl.
During the Jin, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, the desire for Dongzhu among dignitaries grew day by day, and there are endless records of Jurchen pearl fishing throughout history.
At the end of the Jin Dynasty, in order to negotiate peace with Mongolia, the Emperor of the Jin Kingdom presented the Eastern Pearl in the palace to Genghis Khan. The "Tian Khan" was dazzled for a while; , donated a large number of Dongzhu, and won the Wanli Emperor Mao reward.
Why is the Haixi Jurchen King's Palace more prosperous than Wang Gao's life? She was extravagant and extravagant. Compared with the Jianzhou tribe, the Haixi Jurchens' combat effectiveness was like the fifth scum of the war. But why did Wang Gao dare not attack Wangtai for many years and only dared to unite the Jianzhou tribes?
Because Wangtai's general backstage was Li Chengliang, Wangtai's Hada Department used the materials Li Chengliang transported to do large-scale trading of Dongzhu and sables. Therefore, he sat firmly on Diaoyutai in Liaodong and watched the storm unfold with a smile. No one dared to take his ideas.
Wangtai used this agent status to even implicitly become the middleman between the Jurchens and the imperial court.
The year before last, that is, in the sixth year of Longqing's reign, Fushun Prefect Jia Ruyi changed the rules of horse trading without authorization, which aroused Wang Gao's dissatisfaction and was later interrogated by the court. Wang Tai immediately presided over a ceremony of killing cattle and establishing an alliance, and the three parties reiterated the horse market trading regulations.
At that time, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and others could not tolerate this. Of course, it was because Emperor Longqing was seriously ill and did not dare to raise troops. In the final analysis, Wang Tai's face was given to him by Li Chengliang behind his back.
...
Zhu Yijun, who knew that the affairs in Liaodong were extremely big, had long regarded Li Chengliang as the top priority of Jinyiwei's monitoring. Jinyiwei had already formed a thick special report on the truth about the Li family's control over the ginseng, fur and Dongzhu transactions.
One time when he and Zhang Juzheng were discussing the military situation in Liaodong, he took out a big Eastern pearl and said to Zhang Juzheng: "This is the Eastern Pearl given by Mrs. Dingguo to the Queen Mother for viewing. It is said that this pearl is worth a hundred taels. - Mr. Do you know who is standing behind the shop selling dongzhu in the capital?"
At that time, Zhang Juzheng thought it was Tan Lun, Minister of War, or Liu Yingjie who was responsible, and he was so frightened that his heart fluttered. Zhu Yijun did not let him guess, and said directly: "The Jin Yiwei made a lot of inquiries and found out that this was the transaction of General Li of Liaodong - it is a big taboo for the border generals to have financial resources. Liaodong affairs must be considered carefully and comprehensively, not only To deal with Donglu, we must consider these things together."
...
Although the relationship between Zhang Juzheng and Li Chengliang is not as close as that between Qi Jiguang, it is not bad due to Li Chengliang's deliberate flattery. It is known that the emperor has opinions about Li Chengliang, and today's conversation was held out of love for Li Chengliang's talent and normal relationship.
At this moment, seeing Li Chengliang frowning and getting into a long exam, Zhang Juzheng said in his heart: "It's true that people die for money and birds die for food. He can't look away from such a simple thing." He felt a little funny and a little alarmed. Feeling a little sad again.
With a slight cough, Zhang Juzheng said: "Uncle Ning Yuan hasn't settled the account yet? The emperor hopes that every minister will be a pure minister. If he can't do it, at least the military generals should be pure ministers. Mr. Li will never feel that the court knows about you Now that we have financial resources in Liaodong, I will let you continue to command the army."
Li Chengliang subconsciously retorted: "What the Prime Minister said is true, but the few shops in our house are just to supplement the family income and maintain some dignity. Who can use this money to support the army? Wouldn't that be taken advantage of? Haha."
He laughed twice, but when he saw that there was no smile on Zhang Juzheng's face, he quickly stopped laughing. He said to Zhang Juzheng: "Since the prime minister has given instructions, Cheng Liang will just do it. Without the body of the general soldier, he will have no title, and no matter how good the business is, he will not be able to keep it. Cheng Liang understands this."
When Zhang Juzheng saw what he said, he snorted coldly and said, "Uncle Ning Yuan! I may be talking too much today! Do you think someone is deceiving you?"
Li Chengliang thought to himself that my two sons have come to the capital as hostages. Why should the emperor be worried? Can the emperor like my business? I don’t know which big shot in the capital has taken a fancy to you and forced you to come out to defraud me.
What kind of person is Zhang Juzheng? Seeing Li Chengliang's expression with helplessness and some understanding of himself, he thought to himself that only today did he realize that this person is so greedy. I didn't want to care about him and let him fend for himself, but then I remembered that the emperor's Liaodong strategic plan really needed Li Chengliang's close cooperation.
Zhang Juzheng's mind turned and he immediately made a decision. He pretended to be furious, slapped the table and sneered: "General Li, you use Haixi, Hezhe and other ministries to collect Dongzhu for you and sell it, making an annual profit of no less than three hundred thousand taels - do you think the emperor has nothing to do with this?" Don’t you know, Gu? Since you are so evasive, and you are still thinking about marrying a wife and celebrating the New Year, that’s it for today. I won’t send you the truth, so please do as you please!”
This sentence was like a thunderbolt, which made Li Chengliang burnt on the outside and tender on the inside. In shock, he knelt down again and stammered: "Master Xiang...Master Xiang...don't be upset, Cheng Liang knows he was wrong!"
Zhang Juzheng finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his guard was broken, and secretly wiped his sweat. He thought to himself: The emperor's strategic plans are wonderful, but they all need me to implement them and clear the obstacles - don't forget to become prime minister, I will be exhausted first.
...
