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Zhou Shangjing's advice did give Zhao Junchen a wake-up call, that is, as his status changes, his environment will also change!

From now on, not only Emperor Deqing, Zhou Shangjing, Shen Changmao and other core figures of the court will pay more attention to themselves, even those middle and low-level officials in the court will never let go of their every move.

Prior to this, Zhao Junchen only attached importance to the former, but somewhat ignored the latter.

However, Emperor Deqing, Zhou Shangjing, Shen Changmao and others, although they are powerful and powerful, there are only a few people after all, and their temperament, methods, habits, etc. are already well known to Zhao Junchen, and they seem to be full of threats, but Zhao Junchen can also face them calmly.

As for those middle and low-level court officials, although they have low power and limited influence, they are also numerous and ubiquitous, and Zhao Junchen cannot fully control their positions, motives, and attitudes.

In this regard, Zhou Shangjing is indeed experienced and old-fashioned, and Zhao Junchen is also very grateful to Zhou Shangjing for his reminders and advice.

However, gratitude is grateful, but whether the two will cooperate in the future, and what level of cooperation will reach, Zhao Junchen will only decide according to his own interests.

Before, Zhao Junchen vaguely agreed to the cooperation between the two, but in fact, it was just a preliminary intention, and then Zhao Junchen had to make a specific decision according to Zhou Shangjing's sincerity and the changes in the situation in the imperial court.

*

It's just that. After getting Zhou Shangjing's reminder, Zhao Junchen also completely lost his leisure and leisure. The mind became more and more cautious, and in the next few days. Zhao Junchen locked himself in his room, and repeatedly deliberated and revised his future plans with his staff.

Of course, Zhao Junchen claimed to the outside world that he was ordered to study the rectification of commercial taxes, and to hand over a specific feasible plan to Emperor Deqing after returning to Beijing, so he also confidently rejected the requests of those political speculators for his visit and the temptations of various forces to him.

Today, Zhao Junchen's staff team has begun to take shape, Xiao Wenxuan, Su Xiqing, Li Lun and others can be said to have their own strengths, Niu Fude, Ouyang Bo, Li Chuanwen and others are even more experienced and can stand alone. And after a detailed investigation, Zhao Junchen has now initially trusted them. He also informed them of his plan for the rectification of commercial taxes, and with their supplements and advisers, Zhao Junchen did find many loopholes in his plan under the collective discussion.

In fact, when the staff learned that Zhao Junchen was about to be in charge of the business tax rectification, they all burst out with great enthusiasm, even more active than Zhao Junchen himself - after all, as Zhao Junchen's staff, their interests and Zhao Junchen's interests have converged. If Zhao Junchen's power increases, their status will also rise, and they can get many benefits, so they will also do their best to assist Zhao Junchen. Without the slightest slack.

In this way, between repeated discussions, deliberations and revisions, five days passed quickly.

During this period. The Southern Patrol fleet is still moving forward at full speed, and it has come to the territory of Zaozhuang, Shandong!

*

When Emperor Deqing went south. The Yellow River was in a period of flatness, so the Southern Patrol fleet went to Nanzhili through the Xuzhou Channel.

But when Emperor Deqing returned to Beijing. Because the Yellow River has gradually entered the rising water period, in order to prevent flooding, the Xuzhou channel has now been completely blocked and closed, and the southern patrol fleet has changed its route, and after entering the territory of Shandong, it has changed to the east from the mouth of Weishan Lake, passing through Hanzhuang, Taierzhuang and other places, and finally arrived in Pizhou, and then returned to the capital along the original road.

This section of the canal is one of the most significant political achievements in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and it is called the "Lu Canal".

In fact, the "Luo Canal" has very significant significance and benefits, which not only ensures the transportation of water, reduces the flooding of the Yellow River, but also drives the economic prosperity of Taierzhuang and other places.

Of course, after the opening of the "Lu Canal", it also caused the gradual decline of Xuzhou and other places.

In Zhao Junchen's plan to rectify commercial taxes, Taierzhuang is a very important strategic place, so after the Southern Patrol Fleet came to Taierzhuang, Zhao Junchen finally left his room, planning to take advantage of the temporary rest of the Southern Patrol Fleet to conduct a detailed investigation of the current situation of Taierzhuang.

However, after Zhao Junchen was ready, he was just about to go to Taierzhuang, but suddenly received a greeting post.

During this period of time, Zhao Junchen is about to be responsible for the rectification of commercial taxes, which can be described as hot and has attracted the attention of tens of thousands of people, and the daily greetings received are not 100 or 80 copies, and the people who want to ask to see Zhao Junchen can be said to have different identities, both officials and giants, both nobles and Hongru, but they are all rejected by Zhao Junchen for a reason.

Now, everything is not ready, and it is not the time to meet these people.

But after seeing this post, Zhao Junchen temporarily changed his mind.

This greeting sticker is to invite Zhao Junchen to the banquet to meet, the names of the people who signed the payment are dense, roughly calculated that there are more than 20 people, but the three people led by Zhao Junchen have had a relationship, respectively, Dai Fengfu, the big boss of Maosheng Commercial Bank, Bai Mingyu, the big boss of Darong Shipping Bank, and Lin Yunpu, the president of the Salt Merchants Association, these three people are the leaders of the Huizhejiang Merchant Gang, and can largely represent the will of the Huishang Group.

In addition to these three people, the other signatories are also powerful figures in the Huizhejiang Business Gang.

It seems that nearly half of the powerful figures of the Huishang Group have gathered in Taierzhuang, and they are specially here for Zhao Junchen!

Zhao Junchen was not surprised by this.

The Hui merchant group relied on smuggling to make huge profits, and when the news spread that the prince Zhu and Yu were going to rectify the commercial tax and crack down on smuggling to the south of the Yangtze River, these people naturally couldn't sit still - every time the imperial court rectified the commercial tax and cracked down on smuggling, it meant that a large number of Hui merchants were going to be unlucky, not only the wealth that they had accumulated so hard would be confiscated, but they and their clansmen would also lose their lives!

As mentioned above, the essence of the Huizhejiang Merchant Gang is different from that of the Jin Shang Group, they seem to have unlimited scenery, but in fact they are just "fat pigs" deliberately raised by the imperial court! Usually, the imperial court tolerates their smuggling, just to let the "fat pigs" raise fat, and when the "fat pigs" are fat enough, it is the time for the court to start slaughtering!

Therefore, after getting the news that the imperial court is about to rectify commercial taxes and crack down on smuggling, how can these Hui merchants still sit still?

At the same time, there were also smart people among the Hui merchants, and they also expected that Zhao Junchen would eventually be responsible for the rectification of commercial taxes, so they naturally hurried to Taierzhuang, wanting to take the opportunity to find out Zhao Junchen's attitude.

The strength of the Huishang Group is very strong, both financial resources and influence should not be underestimated, and Zhao Junchen has adopted an attitude towards them.

At the beginning, when he was in Yangzhou, Zhao Junchen and Dai Fengfu, Bai Mingyu, and Lin Yunpu met, and put forward the intention of cooperation, that is, the household department and the Huizhou and Zhejiang merchants jointly established a large-scale shipping company, which was provided by the imperial court with preferential policies, and the Huizhou and Zhejiang merchants provided manpower, financial resources and ships, and then relied on the strong strength and policy advantages of this shipping company to completely monopolize the shipping business of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and the Yangtze River waterway.

In fact, this proposal is also an important part of Zhao Junchen's plan to rectify the commercial tax.

At that time, after hearing Zhao Junchen's proposal, Dai Fengfu, Bai Mingyu, and Lin Yunpu all became interested to a certain extent, and said that they would give Zhao Junchen an answer after going back to discuss.

However, until Emperor Deqing finished his southern tour, Zhao Junchen still did not wait for their reply.

Obviously, the Hui Zhejiang Merchant Gang was hesitant about Zhao Junchen's proposal.

What their concerns were, Zhao Junchen could also guess a rough idea.

First of all, Zhao Junchen was just a household secretary, and his authority and influence were insufficient, and there was no guarantee for the smooth implementation of this proposal.

Second, through the smuggling business, the Hui merchants have gained enough profits that they do not need to take risks to start anew.

In the end, they are businessmen, Zhao Junchen is a politician, businessmen and politicians have been inseparable since ancient times, and they do not trust Zhao Junchen.

But now, the situation has changed suddenly, the imperial court wants to rectify the commercial tax and suppress smuggling, and their net worth is in crisis, but Zhao Junchen has enough power after he is in charge of the rectification of the commercial tax......

In this way, the Hui and Zhejiang businessmen had to seriously consider Zhao Junchen's proposal.

Now, they hurried to Taierzhuang to meet with Zhao Junchen, in addition to testing Zhao Junchen's attitude, I am afraid it was also for Zhao Junchen's original proposal.

*

After Zhao Junchen received the post, he secretly thought for a moment, and soon guessed the change in the mentality of the Huizhejiang Merchants Gang and the specific purpose of their request to see him.

So, after Zhao Junchen pondered for a while, he suddenly smiled: "Although I really want to dry them and make them more eager, but since they have arrived in Taierzhuang in a hurry, I can't suppress their enthusiasm too much, otherwise it will only make them have different ideas...... In that case, let's meet them, and speaking of which, it's time to have a showdown with them! ”

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…… (To be continued.) )