Just before Chinese New Year's Eve, Zhu Cixi received a report from Wen Anzhi that the Chengdu giant merchant Han Yuanfang had betrayed the enemy and openly sold grain to the Qing army in Hanzhong.

The Son of Heaven couldn't help but be furious.

The ban on selling grain to the Manchus was repeatedly ordered by him. Unexpectedly, there are still people who dare to take risks to cross the thunder pool.

At first, Zhu Cihong only thought that the personal ethics of the Jin merchants were relatively low, and he couldn't resist the temptation to cooperate with the Manchus.

Now it seems that it is not just a problem of Jin Shang.

In this era, the concept of the merchant family and the state was very weak, and everything was for profit.

The ancients said that there is no business and no traitor, and it is not unreasonable for businessmen to pursue profits.

It's just that at such a critical moment, when the whole Ming Dynasty was blockading grain to the Manchus, Han Yuanfang secretly sold grain to the Manchus, which made Zhu Cihong feel unbearable.

Naturally, there is no problem in killing one won party, but Zhu Cihong is afraid that there will be a second or third won party.

What if this kind of person can't be killed one after another?

Zhu Cihong asked himself if he was worthy of the world, so which link went wrong?

The Ming Dynasty's collection of commercial taxes is not heavy. Although it is a slight increase from the previous tax system of 30 taxes and 1 tax, it is far from being unaffordable.

Zhu Cihong believes that there is no problem with the tax system.

It can only be said that the benefits and temptations given by the Manchu Qing are too great.

The Manchus are now afraid that only money is left.

The wealth accumulated over the years of grabbing the west is huge, and it is indeed a clever move to use this wealth to buy black-hearted merchants.

Zhu Cihong also understood that it was impossible to completely prevent merchants from selling grain to the Manchus.

From the perspective of human nature, there will always be people who take risks for the sake of profit.

What he had to consider was how to supervise it and minimize the impact of this personal behavior on Daming.

In this regard, Zhu Cihong cannot be said to be experienced, but can only be said to have crossed the river by feeling the stones.

Zhu Cihong summoned Lu Zhenfei into the palace for this reason, and the two of them discussed countermeasures together.

After all, the power of an individual is limited, even the Son of Heaven is no exception.

After Lu Zhenfei entered the palace, he was shocked when he heard Zhu Cihong talk about Han Yuan's collaboration with the enemy and treason.

He frowned for a moment.

Merchants are different from scholars and generals, and they themselves do not do things for the imperial court.

Naturally, the imperial court's supervision of them could not be as good as that of the military generals. This gives some people who have a heart to take advantage of it.

"Your Majesty, there is something that the minister does not know whether to say or not."

Lu Zhenfei hesitated for a moment and then said.

"But it doesn't hurt to say this."

Zhu Cihong waved his hand.

"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, I am afraid that this problem cannot be solved by killing."

Lu Zhenfei paused and said: "Back then, Daming and I answered that there was no quarrel over the issue of mutual markets, and some people still went to the grassland to exchange salt and tea for tartar skins and horses. It can be seen that it is the evil thoughts in the human heart that cause this. ”

Zhu Cihong frowned and said, "I didn't say that I would only rely on killing to solve this problem. But according to Ben Bing, is there no solution to this matter? ”

"Of course not."

Lu Zhenfei hurriedly said: "The merchant is for profit. But what if the imperial court could give them greater benefits? ”

Zhu Cihong felt a little interesting, so he nodded and said, "Go on." ”

"Does Your Majesty remember Zheng Zhilong? Just two years ago, Zheng Zhilong in Fujian Province had almost a monopoly on all maritime trade. All maritime merchants who want to do maritime trade must pay taxes to Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong can earn more than 10 million taels of silver a year just by collecting taxes. ”

Lu Zhenfei paused and continued: "What did Your Majesty do later?" His Majesty, in the name of the Huangming Trade Chamber of Commerce, won over those maritime merchants who were dissatisfied with Zheng Zhilong, and gradually snatched the share of the maritime trade. ”

"Yes, but what does this have to do with the merchants?"

Zhu Cihong asked.

"Although there is no direct relationship between the two, the essence is the same."

Lu Zhenfei said without hesitation: "Zheng Zhilong can give benefits to maritime merchants, so maritime merchants are willing to pay taxes to Zheng Zhilong." Later, His Majesty was able to give them greater benefits, so they were willing to get rid of Zheng Zhilong and follow His Majesty..."

Lu Zhenfei said with deep emotion: "It's the same with businessmen. They believed that the East Captives could bring them greater benefits, so they did not hesitate to take risks. ”

Seeing that the Son of Heaven was deep in thought, Lu Zhenfei continued: "Let me give you an example. When the Ming Dynasty used the legal salt system in Kaizhong, the merchants rushed to transport grain to the border in order to obtain salt. Transporting grain itself is not profitable, but they thus obtain salt guides, as long as they take the salt to the designated salt pond to extract salt, and sell it to make a lot of money. ”

"So what this soldier means is to let me use my interests to entrap these merchants?"

Zhu Cihong said suddenly.

"No, the minister means to ask His Majesty to give grace and power."

Lu Zhenfei said eloquently: "If you only give grace, the businessman will feel that His Majesty is kind and can be bullied, and he may not really do things for Daming." It is hoped that they will also secretly take prisoners and sell grain to the eastern captives. If only the authority is established, the merchants will feel that His Majesty is mean and unkind, and they will also be taken prisoner out of revenge. Only by combining grace and power can it be truly used by the imperial court. ”

"How do you do it with grace?"

Zhu Cihong asked.

What he wants is not a general truth, but a method that can be put into practice.

"Your Majesty, this is an opportunity. His Majesty ordered someone to copy the Han Yuan side and the Yi clan is Liwei. But this can only deter the group for a while, and if you want to completely control them, you have to show grace. His Majesty might as well follow the example of the Kaizhong Law of that year, allowing merchants to transport grain to various military camps in the Ming Dynasty, and then grant them special privileges. This privilege does not necessarily mean selling salt, but also a qualification to join the Imperial Chamber of Commerce. ”

As soon as Lu Zhenfei finished speaking, Zhu Cihong had a feeling that his eyes lit up.

This is a novel statement.

Today's salt trafficking system is completely different from that of the past, and the opening of the Chinese law has existed in name only.

It was not so easy for the imperial court to restore the salt introduction system.

However, it is not difficult to control businessmen with reference to the salt introduction system of the Kaizhong Law.

Why do merchants sell salt? Isn't it because you sell salt to make money?

And what is the most profitable thing to do now? Sea trade, of course.

After the fall of Zheng Zhilong, the imperial court had taken over all maritime trade matters.

If they want to go to sea, the merchants must register with the Huangming Trade Chamber of Commerce founded by Zhu Cihong.

Only licensed merchants are eligible to go to sea for maritime trade.

When the Huangming Chamber of Commerce was first established, in order to attract businessmen to join in order to fight against the powerful Zheng Zhilong, there was no threshold.

But this time and that time.

Now the imperial court occupies all the share of maritime trade, and the merchants have no choice but to choose to join the Huangming Trade Chamber of Commerce.

Now those who want to join the Huangming Trade Chamber of Commerce have broken through, but the number of places is limited, and naturally it is impossible for all of them to qualify.

It would have been a good idea for the imperial court to take advantage of this to allow the merchants to transport grain to various military camps and towns to avoid selling it to the Manchus.

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