Besides, Jia Ke has been too busy to touch the ground during this time. Since the emperor has made the first move, Jia Ke has also counterattacked, and the generals of the nine sides have begun to collect taxes, Jia Ke kills two birds with one stone, that is, the soldiers at the border pass have food and salary, and they can use the power of the merchant gang to put pressure on the emperor.

And now the merchant gangs in various places have also moved as Jia Ke wants.

On this day, the most famous restaurant in Beijing - the only one, the leaders of the three major merchant gangs have arrived.

Among them, the Jin merchants were headed by George Yong of the Qiao family, the Hui merchants were headed by Bao Shufang, and the salt merchants were headed by Wang Yinggeng.

These three are the leaders of the three major merchant gangs, and they can even be said to be the leaders of the three major merchant gangs. The decisions made by the three of them can affect the direction of the three major merchant gangs.

The reason for today's meeting between these three people is that in the past few days, the army has been somewhat disobedient to its commands, and has set up cards at various important traffic intersections to collect taxes, which has seriously affected business and trade exchanges. As a result, these people can be said to be struggling, and they have to face difficulties from the army every step they take.

When the three lords came to the private room, they sat down at their tables, and then all kinds of delicacies were put on the table, and finally the three of them waved their servants back.

Seeing that there were only three of them left in the private room, George Yong said, "What do you two think about the movements in various places during this time?" ”

Wang Yinggeng is the leader of the salt merchants, if you want to say wealth, now the salt merchants claim to control 1/4 of the world's wealth. Therefore, this Wang Yinggeng is full of confidence when he speaks.

"These Qiu Ba people don't know the rules too much, so we should mobilize people to make them unable to eat and walk around."

Bao Shufang was the oldest, so he thought about things the most, and at this time he spoke, "Nephew Wang Xian, don't be impatient, it's not that point yet." Once we move like this, the net will be broken, can you still change all the commanders in the world? ”

George Yong nodded after hearing this, "Mr. Bao is right, it's just a little bad now." Let's not act rashly. ”

Wang Yinggeng was the youngest and experienced the least, and he was a little unimpressed after listening to the words of the two of them, "What are your concerns?" As long as it is issued by the imperial court, can these people still dare to disobey? ”

After Bao Shufang listened, she shook her head with some disdain and stopped talking.

George Yong, as the leader of these merchant gangs, has to mention him a few words now, otherwise something really happens, and both of them will have losses.

"Brother Wang, the situation is a little bad now, I think it's time for the court to re-elect people."

After hearing this, Wang Yinggeng couldn't help but be dumbfounded, you must know that every change of dynasty is a major reshuffle of wealth. When the Taizu of this dynasty got up, it was their salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River who supported them, so that they had the infinite wealth of the founding of the country for so many years, surpassing the Jin merchants and Hui merchants to become the first in the world, if there was turmoil this time, the final result is not easy to say.

Bao Shufang also saw the instability of the imperial court, nodded after listening to George Yong's words, and then said: "Nephew Qiao Xian is right, let's not do too much this time." It is good to wait and see what happens, that is, to lose some money, and once there is a change in the court in the future, we will not become the first birds. ”

George Yong nodded in agreement on the surface, but in fact, he was also a little jealous of these two people in his heart. This time, they are merchants, but they have already suppressed the treasure. Perhaps because of the proximity to the water, the Jin merchants now have contacts with the Xuanfu Town Jiedu Envoy, and have openly and secretly funded a lot of silver money and military supplies. It can be said that the treasure has been pressed on Jia Ke.

But Qiao Zhiyong didn't want to share his secret with the two, because if this matter was not done well, he would be wiped out. But if Jia Ke succeeds, their Jin merchants will continue to become the leaders of the world's merchant gangs, and even be able to share the interests of the salt merchants, you must know that the Jin merchants have long coveted the wealth of the salt merchants.

After all, Wang Yinggeng is the leader of the Shang Gang, and after thinking about it, he calmed down, "In this case, let's not worry about these Qiu Ba this time." Let's let people go to the fold, let the emperor make up for the food and salary owed, so that these Qiu Ba have nothing to say, and finally we will dredge up the relationship and let these people go back to the camp. ”

After listening to this, Bao Shufang touched his beard and said with a smile: "Nephew Wang Xian is right this time, let's wait and see." When they are almost in the fight, wouldn't it be foolproof that we are betting on it. ”

Wang Yinggeng kept nodding on the surface, but in fact, he thought in his heart that the Salt Gang and the imperial court would prosper together, and both would be lost. If the court is in difficulty, they donate a few million taels of silver to let the court tide over the difficulties.

So these three people have three ideas, that is, they don't know what the final outcome will be.

Within a few days, the news of the gathering of the three of them was sent to Xia Shouzhong, Xia Shouzhong did not dare to slack off after getting the news, and summarized the news of Jia Ke in the past two days, and then took it together and went straight to the Yangxin Palace to report to the emperor.

Xia Shouzhong took a few documents and cautiously entered the Dongnuan Pavilion. The emperor's temper has been very bad in the past few days, all because Jia Ke has strongly suppressed the courtiers and suppressed the remarks that are unfavorable to him?

Jia Ke's strength made many ministers in the court start to wait and see, and this is the first time that I don't know how many times. Every time the emperor had just gained a slight advantage, Jia Ke immediately counterattacked, causing the courtiers who had leaned on the emperor to sway from side to side again.

This time it was the same, the emperor had just reduced the salaries of Jia Ke's troops, and as soon as the courtiers below made a fuss, Jia Ke used strong means to suppress all these reactions, and even several of the emperor's followers were sent by Jia Ge to the South China Sea to fish.

And during this period of time, the emperor didn't have any way to Jia Ke, so he could only deal with it like this.

Xia Shouzhong quietly came to the emperor's imperial case with the document, and then said softly: "Long live Lord, this is the information of all the adults in the court in the past few days, as well as the news of the gathering of the three business gang leaders, and then there is Jia Ke's movements in the past few days. ”

The emperor glanced at Xia Shouzhong expressionlessly, that Xia Shouzhong was far worse than Dai Quan, it turned out that when the Emperor Taishang let Dai Quan take charge of the secret guard, all kinds of information had never been wrong, and the intelligence was very accurate compared to Jia Ke.

Now he has got the last hole card of the Emperor Taishang - the dark guard, but this Xia Shou is loyal to the useless, since he took the secret guard, the efficiency of the dark guard has greatly decreased. For Jia Ke, he is completely in a blind spot.

The emperor took the documents expressionlessly and looked at them carefully, the most important of which was about Jia Ke's situation. But this time Xia Shouzhong didn't give him any surprises, it was still some trivial things. Although there is a lot of information about Jia Ke, it is all inconsequential.

So the emperor threw Jia Ke's information aside and continued to look at the others. For other ministers, this information is very detailed.

Among them, there are three major merchant gangs, each of which sent representatives to hold a meeting in the capital, in addition to the content is not exhaustive, but the intention of the three major merchant gangs can be roughly guessed. Once the emperor can be regarded as offending the three dozen merchant gangs.

These three merchant gangs have lasted for several dynasties, and no matter how the dynasties change, these merchant gangs have never wavered. Mainly because the imperial court also needs them to communicate between the north and the south, and communicate with each other.

One is that the forces controlled by the three major merchant gangs are very strong, and Emperor Taizu relied on the power of the Jianghuai Salt Gang to stand out in the competition for the world.

Therefore, the emperor did not dare to take lightly the reaction of these three major merchant gangs, but the emperor's control over the border passes was indeed somewhat weakened now. Because of the rise of Jia Ke, the generals at the border pass saw the ladder of their promotion. Many people now openly and secretly regard Jia Ke as their spokesperson in the court.

Because of this, the emperor did not dare to act rashly, and the emperor thought that his control over the three major battalions in the capital was not under Jia Ke. After all, these three battalions have been in the capital for nearly a hundred years, and none of the generals are inextricably linked with the royal family.

But it was precisely because he couldn't figure out the attitude of the generals from all over the world that he kept Jia Ke alone and didn't dare to act. And this time, the military salary of Jia Ke's troops was deducted, and it also meant to give the border generals a little color. Let them know that without the support of the imperial court, they will not be able to support even a single soldier.

Unexpectedly, Jia Ke's family began to collect taxes at the border gates, and this annual income can completely make up for the lack of money and food given to them by the imperial court.

In addition to Jia Ke, other border generals also began to follow suit, and collected taxes everywhere at the border gates. Moreover, this trend had spread to the interior, and the local army had begun to set up cards in various garrisons to collect taxes, and all passing merchants had to pay them a sum of money, which made the emperor even more worried, and he even felt a sense of fear.

The way for the imperial court to control these generals is to control their money and food, if these generals have money and food, then will they still be loyal to the court?

And now these three major merchant gangs have begun to stir up trouble in the imperial court again, and it seems that they can't bear these generals anymore. wants to use the power of the imperial court, and the imperial court will make up for the money and food, so that these Qiu Ba can quickly return to their camps and stop coming out to make trouble.

The emperor read all this information, then thought about it again, and then asked Xia Shouzhong next to him, "Do you think I should stop this kind of indiscriminate collection of tolls by the armies in various places?" ”

To be honest, when it comes to trust, the emperor trusts Xia Shouzhong next to him the most, and even those in the court who think they are the emperor's henchmen are only regarded by the emperor as pawns and tools.

When Xia Shouzhong heard the emperor ask, he was immediately startled. You must know that Emperor Taizu once issued a holy decree: the harem concubines, eunuchs and politicians should be decided.

Xia Shouzhong immediately knelt on the ground and said to the emperor tremblingly: "Long live Lord, the slave is just the emperor's dog, how can the slave speak in these major court affairs." ”

"You're different from others, and if I tell you to say it, I'll just say it, and I'm a little undecided now?" The emperor's meaning is already very clear, and now the emperor is a little undecided, and he doesn't know whether to make a holy decree or not to stop the indiscriminate actions of various armies.

Emperor Xia Shouzhong is indeed a little embarrassed, as a eunuch who raised the emperor since he was a child, in the absence of descendants, in fact, he has long regarded the emperor as his junior.

Now seeing the emperor's sincere inquiry, he plucked up his courage and said: "I think the emperor is embarrassed, mainly because he is afraid that these generals from all over the country will not listen to the dispatch of the imperial court after they have money and food, and finally become a warlord. ”

Xia Shouzhong's sentence is talking about the emperor's heart, the emperor is now impressed by Xia Shouzhong, Xia Shouzhong is really not good at handling intelligence, but he is scheming about these intrigues in the court.

Xia Shouzhong saw that the emperor kept nodding his head, and he was also relieved, so he let go of his courage and said: "Now that the Lord of Long Live has reached a dilemma, he must make a choice, whether he is worried about the warlord separating the territory, or worried about Jia Ke's plot to usurp the throne?" The lesser of two harms, the other problem is slowly being solved, this is the long-term solution. ”

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