In the Zhangjia Compound of Taiyuan Mansion in Shanxi Province, it has just rained, and the sun can't wait to show its face, and the green tiles on the roof have been dry, only the ground still leaves a piece of water.

Zhang Jingyi walked quickly to the pavilion in the backyard, saw her father who was tasting tea, and said loudly: "Father, I got a letter of introduction issued by Master Li!" ”

Zhang Jingyi, his face showed an unconcealable excitement, after several generations of hard work, their Zhang family is now one of the top five commercial houses in Shanxi Province, since he learned that he was going to select the imperial merchants, he was ambitious, and wanted to win the name of the imperial merchants for the Zhang family.

After a while, after motioning for his son to sit down, he took the letter of recommendation handed by his son, read it carefully, and saw the autograph of Li Ming, the governor of Shanxi, and showed an indescribable smile on his face.

"What is Li Ming's attitude towards you?" Zhang Chengxin asked lightly.

"Lord Li's attitude towards his son is very good, and our Zhang family has a good chance of being selected, so let's prepare well!" Zhang Jingyi replied with a restrained smile.

Zhang Chengxin continued to ask, "How much money did you spend on this letter of recommendation?" ”

"It cost five thousand taels!" Zhang Jingyi replied that the silver ticket was given 3,000 taels, and the rest of the gifts added up to 2,000 taels.

"In the past, we didn't have 10,000 taels to see Master Li, and it was difficult to even see his face, let alone have a good face for us, you only spent 5,000 taels this time, not only did you get a letter of recommendation from him, but he also treated you well, do you understand the reason?" Zhang Chengxin asked.

"I think as he said, we are very likely to be selected to become imperial merchants!" Zhang Jingyi groaned that with this change in Li Ming's attitude, he wanted his family to become an imperial merchant more and more.

Zhang Chengxin shook his head lightly, but said, "Maybe!" ”

Then he asked, "Why did your court re-elect the imperial merchants?" ”

Zhang Jingyi had thought about this question many times, so she said without thinking: "Father also knows that those imperial businessmen have long been gone, and now they are just hanging the name of imperial businessmen, presumably the imperial court also wants to choose a more powerful family to act as imperial businessmen." ”

Zhang Cheng was noncommittal, and continued to ask: "Why is there such a fanfare for the public selection? ”

"Presumably, it is to cast a wide net, collect more fish, and choose the best from it!" Zhang Jingyi replied.

"Huh!" Zhang Chengxin sneered and said, "What do you think of the registration fee on this?" ”

Zhang Jingyi frowned and said: "Father means that the purpose of the imperial court to hold this conference is not pure, and he wants to let us donate money?" ”

Now that I think about it, there is indeed such a possibility, so many businessmen in the country, the imperial court only charges registration fees, I am afraid that it can collect millions of taels, or even tens of millions of taels, not to mention that so many businessmen enter Beijing, travel expenses, and the cost of going to Beijing, and the taxes related to the imperial court will also increase significantly, and I shudder when I think of this.

"Although it is not hit, it is not far away, in my opinion, the reason why the imperial court has published a post with great fanfare this time is to sell the brand of the imperial merchant at a good price!" Zhang Chengxin said with a solemn face.

Zhang Jingyi nodded, agreed with her father's judgment, and then said with some doubts: "But why does the imperial court charge the registration fee based on the recommendation letter?" ”

If there was no letter of recommendation, the merchants would have to pay 1,000 taels to participate in all of them, and the imperial court would have received more.

Zhang Cheng asked rhetorically: "You only need to pay a 1,000 taels of registration fee to participate, why do you have to get this recommendation letter?" ”

"With the recommendation of the governor's yamen, wouldn't it be more proof of our family's strength!" Zhang Jingyi said without thinking.

Immediately thinking of the question his father asked at the beginning, as well as Lord Li's attitude towards himself, he suddenly woke up and said: "My son understands, no wonder both the provincial government yamen and the state government yamen are working so hard to publicize this matter, and also encourage everyone to go to Beijing to try their luck, it turns out that they can justifiably receive benefits!" ”

Zhang Chengxin sneered: "I thought that if I didn't have 10,000 taels of silver, how could I see Lord Li and them, but now you only spent 5,000 taels this time to get his handwritten recommendation letter, and everyone is still happy to do it, hehe, the court is really a master who formulated this policy!" ”

The reason why Li Ming and others didn't care much about the amount of money this time was that there were many people who came to ask for letters of recommendation, and second, they realized the intentions of the imperial court, so they tried their best to promote this matter, and the more people who ran for the election, the more they earned.

If someone can really be elected, it will also be a political achievement, so the people of the yamen will inevitably show some smiles to powerful businessmen.

And the provincial government, the state government, and the county government can issue a letter of introduction, even if there is no letter of introduction, you can participate, which not only makes the government at all levels form a competitive relationship, but also divides the businessmen into few levels, so that the businessmen also have a comparison mentality, the higher the level of the recommendation letter, the more it can prove its financial resources or strength.

After Zhang Jingyi came to her senses, she also sighed: "The person who planned this matter is really powerful!" ”

"This is just the beginning, presumably the drama in Beijing will be more exciting, I am now curious about who is planning this conference, and this registration form, it is really amazing, I guess many people will be attracted by this registration form." Zhang Cheng sighed heartily, eager to see who designed this registration form.

Since receiving the registration form, he has been studying the above content, the more he researches, the more curious he becomes, if he really fills in the above one by one, not only can he straighten out his own business, but also summarize his business career, and the imperial court can basically know the national business information.

Zhang Jingyi nodded and said: "Father's is good, and after my son saw it at the time, he also felt this way!" ”

After thinking for a while, Zhang Cheng said sincerely: "This time you go to the capital first, and then I will also go to Beijing!" ”

Although Zhang Jingyi was a little surprised, she also understood her old man's thoughts and wanted to go to the meeting in person to meet the person who planned this matter.

"In addition, after you issue Li Ming's letter of recommendation, remember to pay the registration fee of 1,000 taels, exactly one centimeter, and don't let people know!" Zhang Cheng explained with a serious face.

Zhang Jingyi thought for a moment and couldn't understand her father's work, but saw that her father had no intention of explaining, so she had to understand it herself.

"You prepare more goods to cross the capital, this time the merchants in the capital gather, even if you can't choose the imperial merchants, you can make more friends!" Zhang Chengxin continued to explain.

"My son knows!" Zhang Jingyi said thoughtfully.

Hunan Province, Yuezhou Prefecture, Pingjiang County.

Li Yi has been conscientious and conscientious since he became an official, and he wants to make some achievements.

After the official document on the selection of imperial merchants nationwide was issued, he has been in charge of this matter, especially after receiving Ge Yin's letter, knowing that Lu Jing was involved in this matter, he was more serious, and these merchants who have been carefully screening powerful businessmen in the county, issuing letters of introduction for them, and encouraging them to try it in Beijing.

Seeing that the businessman who had received a letter of recommendation from the state government a few times ago came to the county government to ask for a letter of recommendation, he was a little puzzled, and found the county honorable Min Li and asked: "My subordinates remember that this person has already received a letter of recommendation from the state government, why did he come to us for a letter of recommendation?" ”

"Hehe, this person is just thinking of being smart, maybe thinking that two letters of recommendation are more safe!" Min Li said with a smile and did not explain the real reason to Li Yi.

This person dared to go directly to the state capital by crossing the county office, and he really thought that he was eating dry food, and he just did a little trick, so he asked him to come back obediently and ask for a letter of recommendation from himself.

"It's a good thing if we can have an imperial businessman!" Li Yi didn't mock that person when he heard this, but sincerely hoped that he could be elected Zheng

When Min Li heard Li Yi's unrealistic thoughts, he just smiled and sent him out, but he secretly laughed at Li Yi in his heart for being too pedantic, not letting go of benefits, and even took the initiative to refuse to issue letters of recommendation for some businessmen.

In the eyes of those wealthy businessmen, whether it is the registration fee of 500 taels or 1,000 taels is not worth mentioning to them, but in order to get a letter of recommendation from the province or the state capital, they have to pay far more than 1,000 taels of silver.

But they still have to go to the state government to issue a letter of recommendation, because the letter of recommendation represents their own strength, and second, they can use it to establish contact with the state capital.

Yamen from all over the country also understood these business ideas, so how could everyone give up this opportunity to make a fortune, and the two sides hit it off.

Min Li laughed at Li Yi at the same time, but also extremely envious of his family background, if he was out of the official family, he would never fall into the same way as him, he would stay in the capital and do everything possible to climb up.