Guangdong, Guangzhou.

This is a very wide area of the house, the width of the house door is several zhang, wearing silk and satin, a luxurious businessman is pouring in in an endless stream at the moment, and there is a horizontal plaque hanging on the door of the house.

"Guangdong Chamber of Commerce."

This is the base camp of Cantonese businessmen, a place where hundreds of millions of wealth are controlled and there is no poverty.

And not far from the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce, there is a construction site, which is tinkling non-stop at the moment, more than 1,000 masons are busy working in a building about three zhang high, which is the construction site, and it is also the new headquarters of the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce is being repaired.

Three zhang high, people who don't know, still think that the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce is building a watchtower castle, but the construction period has not yet reached half, and the estimated height is nine zhang nine.

Therefore, when the Guangzhou government yamen learned about it, it said that it would not approve this construction procedure.

Good guy, the city tower is only a few feet high, you are taller than two city walls, you can't rebel if you want to garrison troops?

Fortunately, the energy of the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce is great, and the government does not approve it, so people directly find the political envoy and tell the reason.

It turned out that after seeing the new bridge, this group of businessmen in Guangdong turned away from their minds and began to study how to build a high-rise building to save the land occupied area to the greatest extent.

This idea was strongly supported by Zeng Wenji, the political envoy of Zuobu in Guangdong, who also said so.

"The Guangdong Chamber of Commerce has always been the standard-bearer of our reform in Guangdong, land reform is also reform, building high-rise buildings can save a lot of land occupied area, this is a good thing, if feasible, this official will also build a new Guangdong political envoy Yamen, the province of the yamen are moved into the new office building, and even consider building some six or seven storey houses, the people will be moved into it."

With the support of the province, the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce immediately began to do it, and a headquarters building covering an area of 15 acres was started in Guangzhou.

"Everyone is here."

Above the main hall, Zheng Duo, the president of the Cantonese businessmen, looked around, and after making sure that there were no absent members, he said solemnly: "I invite you to gather here today for a big event, a big event that turns the world upside down. ”

Shaking?

The big guy was shocked, what's the matter, are you planning to lead the big guy to rebel?

Zheng Duo didn't give everyone time to wonder, but said directly: "Two days ago, Senator Zhao of the Guangdong Political Envoy Department came to me, hoping to borrow 500 sea ships from my Guangdong Chamber of Commerce, saying that he was going to India, and I couldn't get it out of my own house, so I came to you, first, to make up this number, and second, I also hope that everyone knows about this matter." ”

Guangdong political envoy borrowed 500 sea vessels?

Everyone's unnatural eyebrows are tightly locked, Cantonese businessmen have always had a clear mind in terms of economy, and they have a very keen sense of business, just from Zheng Duo's explanation, they all smell an unusual taste.

"Not only our chambers of commerce in Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang, but most of the sea ships have been borrowed by the imperial court."

Zheng Duo picked up the tea bowl and drank slowly, his eyelids drooping slightly: "How many things are there in India, and the imperial court needs to start borrowing boats from us to load them." ”

The hall was silent, and everyone was guessing and estimating.

"Last year, the imperial court reported victory in India, and this year I borrowed a boat, which should be to pull the loot."

A well-informed person opened his mouth first, which immediately caused a lot of gossip.

"The imperial court is going to collect war spoils, what impact does this have on us, the imperial court will borrow a boat if it wants to, and the rent will be charged a little less, and it should also support the imperial court."

Zheng Duo did not respond, but looked to his right, where there was still a person sitting.

"Liangsheng, your cousin works in the Guangdong Federation of Industry and Commerce, so don't hide it, tell the big guys what the imperial court is doing in India this time."

The man who had been called a good student cleared his throat and waited for the hall to be quiet before speaking.

"You can tell the specific situation in India and how much tax the imperial court is prepared to collect in India."

"I don't know."

Jin Liangsheng smiled slightly, stretched out his hand and stroked a seven.

"Seven taxes one?"

The voice of chirping sounded: "That's really not low, we are only thirty taxes one, seven taxes one, more than four times higher than our endowment." ”

Although he lamented the heavy taxes in India, he still couldn't solve the confusion in his heart, after all, the imperial court collected taxes in India, what does it have to do with these merchants, and it is impossible to give them the endowments they collect.

Jin Liangsheng shook his head, and then said with a solemn expression: "It's not seven taxes and one, but ten taxes and seven." ”

"Smack!"

The crisp sound of the tea bowl falling to the ground and shattering sounded one after another, followed by a shock.

"How much? Seven out of ten? ”

Grow 100 catties of grain and pay 70 catties, this ratio can only occur when the tenant farmers hired by the farmer will appear, the imperial court has turned the whole people of India into serfs, what about those yeoman farmers and semi-cultivators who own land?

"Now you know what the court is doing when the sea ships are seconded?"

Jin Liangsheng stood up and paced slowly step by step.

"I heard that the treasury of various Indian states has been sealed, and the grain and mineral savings owned by the former North Delhi Sultanate now belong to our Ming Dynasty, and it is estimated that thousands of sea ships transferred by the imperial court will have to pull more than a dozen back and forth to load them all back."

Speaking of this, Jin Liangsheng turned around violently, and said, "If such a large amount of grain is transported in every year, you can imagine the consequences." ”

No one is a fool, and a businessman is not a fool.

When Jin Liangsheng said this, everyone gasped.

"The price of grain, the price of land!"

India has more than 40 million people, and the cultivated area is not much less than that of the Ming Dynasty, and it has a unique and vast area of the Ganges Plain, plus seventy percent of the ultra-high grain tax, it is no exaggeration to say that only one India can definitely achieve half of the Ming people!

In addition to the two major grain delivery producing areas of Jiaozhi and Siam, it seems that the Ming Dynasty does not grow land in China, and there is no shortage of food to eat?

"Therefore, before the people in China know the news, we need to sell the grain and land as soon as possible."

Zheng Duo took over Jin Liangsheng's words at this time.

"An earth-shaking revolution has begun, and if we make a mistake in the next step, it is very likely that the wealth accumulated by generations of hard work will be overturned.

We Cantonese businessmen have always been of one heart and strive to work together, so after Liangsheng and I learned the news, we immediately summoned you to report the matter, because we didn't want any one to make a big mistake. ”

"Having said that, in a hurry, where can the Siamese rice of dozens of warehouses in my business be sold, and the more than 20,000 acres of land, who wants to take over?"

A rice merchant was about to cry when he got up, and his face was unstoppably sweating.

"yes, yes."

Many merchants with private fields began to scratch their ears and cheeks, and such a shocking message came, which shocked them all.

At this moment, Zheng Duo pondered for a moment and then spoke.

"I have a solution, but I don't know if you are willing to do it."

"Ouch, my president, my humble brother, just say it, brothers' lives are all on those lands and grains."

In the midst of the sorrow, Zheng Duo looked at everyone and said in a deep voice: "Burn the granary!" ”

In the main hall, there was silence.

Since ancient times, it has been unheard of to take the initiative to set fire to grain.

"Even if you burn the grain, if you sell the grain at a higher price, you will violate the law of the country, and you will be killed."

The rice merchant thought that Zheng Duo was planning to hoard Juqi and engage in hunger marketing, and his head shook like a rattle.

What are you kidding, the price of grain is low, it is nothing more than a heavy loss of family wealth, but by burning grain to sell at a higher price, it is to put your head under the ghost knife, and the family property will be confiscated, and the family will not even be able to settle for the rest of their lives.

"Grain is burned only to stimulate the sale of grain, not to increase the price."

Zheng Duo explained: "Now peddling, you are selling at a reduced price, we businessmen who have the ability to eat will not buy, and the common people can't eat the millions of stones stored in your warehouse for daily use, so you are at least eighty percent of the loss, and now you burn half of it, and let out the rumors that there is a shortage of food, and the price of grain in Guangdong is likely to rise after the winter, stimulating the people to buy quickly at the current price, and the profit may not be able to equal the half you burn, but it can make up for thirty percent."

In this way, your losses will be at most 20%, and you will choose 20% compared to 80%. And as long as it doesn't increase the price and peddle it, it's not a violation of national law, is it? ”

The lesser of two evils.

No one knows how much grain there is in India, and no one knows what to do with such a large amount of grain brought back by the imperial court, the official warehouses in several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River will definitely not be able to hold it, and the wine will not be used up, and the grain will be exposed to the sky, or it will be all destroyed in a short time, and no one dares to guarantee that the imperial court will not directly put this batch of grain into the market free of charge.

Once that time comes, the major grain merchants will inevitably be all finished.

"That's it, that's it."

The rice merchants, you look at me, I look at you, their hearts began to quickly calculate, and finally they really felt that this was the best way at the moment, so they stomped their feet and gritted their teeth to admit it.

Soon after a group of businessmen from the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce stayed up all night to discuss countermeasures, granaries across Guangdong ran out of water and ignited monstrous fires.

This fire directly burned Yan Zhen directly into the palace, and the former grain chief of Zhejiang ran into the palace overnight to ask to see Zhu Yunwen.

"He came in the middle of the night to find out what I was doing."

Zhu Yunwen was woken up in a deep sleep, and his mood was a little bad and waved his hand: "I fell asleep, let him talk about something tomorrow morning." ”

The little eunuch who was waiting bowed down to lead the order to leave, and after a short time, a deafening bell rang outside the Qianqing Gate.

Yan Zhenzhi, who was so bold, dared to ring the bell late at night!

"It's the other way around."

Zhu Yunwen was a little pale, but it can also be seen that it must be a great national event, so he had to endure his tiredness, get up and dress, and send someone to summon Yan Zhen in, and the latter's first sentence made Zhu Yunwen's face change greatly.

"Your Majesty, the catastrophe of the subversion of the universe is just around the corner."