Yangzhou City in late autumn and September, although the autumn breeze is bleak, the leaves are fluttering. But the streets and alleys are still full of comments, and Xiao Sheng's voice is good. This cultural city with a history of more than 2,000 years, since ancient times, because it is close to the East China Sea, the coast is mostly tidal flats, which is very suitable for drying salt and boiling salt, so Yangzhou has become a distribution center for salt merchants. In the Ming Dynasty, the two Huai capital transfer envoys set up a yamen in Yangzhou, which attracted Hui merchants to live here, and promoted the prosperity of Yangzhou City.

The ancestral home of the Lu family in Yangzhou is Langxi County, Xuancheng, Anhui Province, and the ancestors have been doing business in Huai'an Mansion in Nanzhili for several generations.

Later, when he heard that grain was exchanged for salt to make money, he also followed the example of other salt merchants, transporting grain to the border gates, and then exchanging salt to sell salt to make a profit. However, with the increasing corruption of the ruling class, some royal families, nobles, and eunuchs saw that salt was profitable, and they tried every means to ask for salt and then resold it to salt merchants. In this way, the profit margins of salt merchants were compressed, and gradually became unprofitable.

So small businessmen like the Lu family have been operating tepidly for generations. In the fifth year of Hongzhi, Ye Qi, who was still the head of the household at the time, in order to reverse the situation of lack of border salary, Emperor Hongzhi reformed the salt administration and changed the "nano salt" to "silver salt". The so-called silver salt means that the merchants no longer need to transport grain to the border in exchange for salt. Instead, he went to the Yamen of the Salt Division and paid a certain amount of silver taels in exchange for salt. After the implementation of this move, the finances of the imperial court were greatly improved, and the situation of lack of border salaries was also reversed.

It was also at this time that Lu Jie, the then head of the Lu family, somehow got into a relationship with Yue Bingqian, the director of the Huai'an branch of the two Huai Du salt envoys. Since then, the Lu family has begun to develop, and in just five or six years, it has become one of the top ten salt merchants in Yangzhou.

Lu Jie is about 40 years old and has three sons and one daughter. Among them, the eldest son Lu Shaowen has become an adult, studied for a few years, and after spending money to donate an epiphyta, he has been helping his father take care of his business, and the other children are still studying.

Lu Shaowen did not get any piece of land in Hejia Town during his trip to Juzhou, but also put on 100,000 taels of silver, but he just smashed a mirror and listened to it. After the anger subsided and the mood calmed down, he felt that this move was a blatant enemy of the Zhou family, the He family, and the Liang family in Juzhou. A failed trip to Juzhou not only achieved nothing, but also made many enemies, which was too reckless.

Not only that, but the 100,000 taels of silver were wasted, which still made him feel distressed.

After Lu Shaowen came back from Juzhou, he told his father in detail about the bidding for the land. His father Lu Jie touched the long beard on his chin, his small eyes rolled wildly, and he thought for a moment and said: "Shaowen, I think you were tricked by them, the Liu family in Jinan Mansion is not a wealthy family in Shandong, how can he have such strength to compete with our family?" Behind this, there must be the He family or the Zhou family making trouble. ”

Lu Shaowen said angrily: "I felt this way at that time, but there was no evidence, so I could only do it." What's even more infuriating is that a small Zhizhou Yanai is also arrogant and rude to me. When I arrived at the state office, Liang Zhizhou didn't see me. His son also laid the score in front of me, and when I went to visit him, he didn't even have a sip of tea. ”

"You were rude to others first, and they treated you like this, right?" Lu Jie asked, he knew his son's temperament very well.

In recent years, their Lu family has become one of the top ten salt merchants in Yangzhou, and their wealth is endless. In Yangzhou City, the Lu family sneezed, and the city had to catch a cold for three days, and the prefect had to greet them with a smile when the Lu family saw them, and they were flattered, not to mention the son-in-law of the six Zhizhou families in Sanzhou. If Lu Shaowen hadn't bought back the mirror king because of that face-saving, he wouldn't have deigned to visit Liang Yuesong.

"Hmph, I'm going to visit him, that's to look up to him. He will look good in the future! Lu Shaowen said hatefully.

"Shaowen, if you throw away 100,000 taels of silver, you will throw it away, our family doesn't care about that bit of silver, but you didn't do it properly when you smashed the mirror on the street. I'm afraid that this matter will spread throughout the two capitals and thirteen provinces in less than a month, and if it reaches the ears of the household department or the emperor, it will not be a good thing for our Lu family. As the saying goes, people are afraid of being famous, and pigs are afraid of being strong. Our Lu family has accumulated so much wealth in the past few years, and many people are jealous of the present. If there is an eventful imperial history to participate in a book, although the saint will not do anything to us, but the saint is thrifty today, knowing that you act like this, it will definitely cause the saint's disgust, and then it will be very bad. "It's still Lu Jie's old plan, and he has already thought of this layer.

"What are you afraid of, I fell on my own, I didn't steal or rob. What can the emperor do if he knows? Lu Shaowen said unconvinced. In fact, he also thinks of this meaning in his heart now, but his personality is due to his temperament, and he is unwilling to give in in front of anyone.

"Nonsense! Do you think it would be a good thing to show off like this? If the people in the court are worried, we can't keep any wealth in our family, and if we don't get it, we will cause death! In the future, you should keep a low profile and not be so reckless. Lu Jie said.

Lu Shaowen listened to his father's words, and said impatiently: "I know, you are afraid of this and that." Shall we forget it this time? This loss was in vain? ”

"Of course, you can't just leave it at that, but you can't be reckless. The art of war has a cloud, 'know the enemy, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles', and now the first thing to do is to inquire about the background of the He family, the Zhou family, and Liang Zhizhou, and then make plans. ”

"The He family doesn't need to inquire, I have heard about it in Juzhou for a long time, at the beginning of the year, the He family was so poor that they couldn't even pay taxes and grain, I don't know where the He family got the soap recipe, made soap and sold it, and then it developed step by step. There are rumors that the He family kid had a strange dream, so he had these wonderful ideas. Therefore, the He family does not have any background in the imperial court, so there is no need to worry at all. Lu Shaowen said contemptuously.

Lu Jie said sternly to his son: "The He family is not to worry, but I heard that the Zhou family and the He family have been married, the Zhou family is one of the few big merchants in Shandong, and its power should not be underestimated. You are not allowed to cause trouble in the meantime, and everything will be clarified later. ”

"Yes, it's all up to my father." Lu Shaowen had no choice but to bow his head and say.

A few days later, the family sent to Shandong to inquire about the news came back to report: "Master, young master, the villain has gone to Juzhou to inquire clearly." The boss of the Liu family who competed with the young master last time was Liu Banghuai, the father-in-law of Zhou Xuhai of the Zhou family. This person is a small and small merchant in Jinan Prefecture, mainly engaged in the salt and grain business, and has also relied on the Zhou family to do department store business in recent years. The Liu family's business is mainly in Jinan City, and there are no shops or semicolons in other places. It is said that all the assets of the Liu family add up to less than 100,000 taels of silver, so it is impossible for the Liu family to take out more than 100,000 taels of silver to buy a piece of land. ”

"I said, it turned out that the Zhou family was making trouble behind his back." Lu Shaowen said first.

"Well, that's pretty much what I guessed. What else do you have any news about? ”

"Liang Wensheng's official reputation in Juzhou is not bad, this person just came to Juzhou to take office, the richest man in Juzhou Qi family overthrown, and then with the help of the Zhou family and the He family, taking advantage of the opportunity of soap hot & sales, huge profits, with soap rationing from all over Shandong to buy a large amount of grain, which stabilized the grain shortage in Juzhou. I heard from the people that this person was popular and ruthless. He was good at collecting bandits and catching thieves, and was famous for this when he was in Henan, so he was transferred to Juzhou. The villain also heard that he had just exterminated a group of bandits in the territory a month ago......"

Lu Jie said impatiently: "I didn't ask you to inquire about this. Did you find out what kind of court background and family background he had? ”

"I also heard about some of these small ones, but they were just some hearsay, and there was no official confirmation of them. I heard that Liang Wensheng was born in an ordinary peasant family in Chaoyi, Shaanxi, and has no big family background. Chenghua ten years in the lift, after a few exams did not take the Jinshi, then went to Henan to become a yamen officer, and later was appreciated by the then Ministry of Officials Shang Wang Shu, then promoted to Henan Yanjin County magistrate. This person was diligent and fair in his tenure as the magistrate of the county, built a school palace in Yanjin County, arrested bandits, and was deeply loved by the local people. Later, the official was promoted to a level and transferred to the governor of Juzhou, and as soon as he took office this year, he had close contacts with the Zhou family and the He family, and the construction of the city in Hejia Town was carried out with the support of Liang Wensheng. I heard that in order to help Hejia Town build a city, the state government recruited 50,000 people to drive it. ”

"So as long as Liang Wensheng falls, this city in Hejia Town can't be repaired?" Lu Shaowen asked the family.

"It can't be said that it can't be repaired, after all, now the He family and the Zhou family have gained a lot of silver from auctioning the land, and with this silver, they will definitely be able to repair it." The guy replied.

"Didn't the state government and the imperial court pull out the silver to Hejiazhen?" Lu Jie asked again.

The family shook his head and replied, "No." The state government only requisitioned 50,000 people. ”

"What about the Zhou family, how is the situation of the Zhou family?" Lu Shaowen then asked.

"The Zhou family was originally in Qingzhou Mansion and was the richest man in Qingzhou Mansion. I built a house in Hejia Town this summer, and I often live in Hejia Town......" replied the family.

"What a lot of nonsense you have! Focus on the background and business of the Zhou family. Lu Shaowen interrupted him impatiently.

"Yes, young master. The Zhou family has a lot of business, focusing on department stores, but also dealing in grain, cloth, salt, and I heard that they are now involved in many industries such as printing and mining. I don't know much about the background of the Zhou family, but I only know that the son of the Zhou family works in the household department and is a jinshi in the ninth year of Hongzhi. ”

When Lu Jie heard that the Zhou family also ran a salt business, his little eyes flashed, and he asked the family: "Is the Zhou family's salt business big?" Where do you sell to? ”

"Their salt business is not big, and the small one only deals in Juzhou. Listening to the people of Juzhou, it turned out that the salt business in Juzhou was only run by the Qi family, and after the Qi family had an accident, the government gave the salt business to the Zhou family. The man replied.

Lu Jie heard Jia Ding say this, twisted his beard with his hands, and couldn't help but think of a past incident eight years ago. Gradually, an idea of putting the Zhou family and even Liang Zhizhou in danger formed in his mind......

(End of chapter)

The little people of the Ming Dynasty

The little people of the Ming Dynasty

Still looking for "Ming Little People" for free?

Baidu direct search: "easy" is very simple!

( = )