“…… At that time, in order to ensure the supply of military supplies, the Beiyang Chamber of Commerce set up rice shops in Siam, Champa and other places, because these rice shops are semi-official, so they were called "official banks" ......

Standing in front of His Majesty, Pan Renyuan, who was the Minister of Gui State, was secretly thinking about His Majesty's thoughts in his heart while explaining the past of the "Rice Merchants and Official Merchants".

"Before His Majesty ascended to the pole, the "official bank" guaranteed the annual supply of 6 million stone Nanyang rice, and after the ascension to the pole, before the capital was moved, it was precisely because of the existence of the Nanyang official bank that the supply of 6 million stone rice grain and 4 million stone military grain in Beijing was guaranteed......"

When Pan Renyuan mentioned these pasts, Zhu Mingzhong only nodded slightly, of course he knew what "Nanyang rice" meant to Jiangbei in those years, not only military rations, but also one of the most important sources of military spending for the loyal and righteous army, at that time, the government could get a profit of 7 yuan of silver per stone of rice, and a profit of more than 4 million taels per year, which supported the operation of the loyal and righteous army. Before and after the relocation of the capital, the annual profit of the imperial court from Nanyang rice was also maintained at about five million taels. This money was undoubtedly an extremely important income for the government at that time. Even now, the tariff income of Nanyang rice is still as high as 10 million taels.

“…… After His Majesty sealed the kings in Nanyang, the countries in order to transport and sell rice in the national dynasty, so there were many rice merchants similar to the "official line", that is, the "rice merchant official line", which was roughly divided into three categories, one is the old "official line", because after the government withdrew from the Xingqian, many of the old government offices were mostly changed to commercial offices, and the other is the rice bank founded by various countries to promote the export of rice grain to the Ming Dynasty, and most of its shareholders are officials and dignitaries. There is also a group of traditional rice merchants, because Nanyang is different from the national dynasty, so in the past 20 years, the rice merchant official has become the dominant rice trade in the national dynasty through the control of purchase, transportation and sales, and even if the rice merchant official bank leaves, it is almost difficult to transport Nanyang rice to the national dynasty. ”

"It's hard to get to the country?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, when Zhuxia was in the country, the country was just established, the cause was difficult, there were not many ships in the country, and I needed to buy materials from the country, at that time most of the ships were in the hands of rice merchants, while transporting rice to the country, and then transporting the goods of the country to Zhuxia, so, over time, the rice merchants also became shippers, they not only mastered the purchase and sale of rice, but also mastered the transportation, just like in Gui, the four major shippers in Gui are rice merchants, they own 70% of the ships in Gui, and the rest of the ships are either small or not suitable for transporting riceIt is relatively difficult for other rice merchants to transport goods, and they can often only rely on the ships of the national dynasty to take the goods when they return, so the scale naturally cannot be compared with the official bank......"

Referring to the monopoly of the rice merchants on the transportation industry, Pan Renyuan's tone was full of helplessness, in order to let the king go smoothly, it was he who came forward to choose a suitable family for the king, through the marriage with the merchants, so that Gui Guo obtained a lot of capital and business support, which is also the foundation of Gui Guo's country. But now, those merchants have more control over Gui than he imagined.

"If I'm not mistaken, Liang Tianyou seems to be in Guiguo......"

Looking at Pan Renyuan, Zhu Mingzhong asked rhetorically.

"Back then, Liang Tianyou contributed a lot to Guiguo, and Princess Gui was his daughter, right?"

Seeing His Majesty suddenly mention Liang Tianyou, Pan Renyuan's heart couldn't help but have another thought.

"Could it be that Your Majesty is dissatisfied with the Liang family?"

Although it was Pan Renyuan who came forward to negotiate with Liang Tianyou about the king's family affairs, he didn't expect that the Liang family's growth had even reached the point of posing a threat to the Gui State, which was absolutely unacceptable, so he tended to suppress the treatment of the Liang family, and even the issue of "rice merchants and officials", but how to suppress it?

Over the past few years, Pan Renyuan has been looking for the right opportunity, and now, is it an opportunity?

Speculating in his heart, Pan Renyuan said cautiously.

"Your Majesty, the Liang family started in Qinghe, is from the dragon heroes, when the Gui country was first built, thanks to the Liang family many, the Gui country rice and grain trade, although there are Liang, Xu, Li, Lu four family control, but the Liang family monopolizes more than half, there are no less than 300 large and small sea ships under its door, can be called the first wealthy family in Gui, in Gui has always had "Zhu Jiaguo eats Liang family grain" saying......"

"Zhu Jiaguo eats Liang's grain"!

It seems like a simple sentence, but it has multiple understandings. fell into Zhu Mingzhong's ears, only let him sneer, and then said.

"A good Zhu family eats the grain of the Liang family, and this grain is grown by their Liang family?"

His Majesty's reaction fell on Pan Renyuan's ears, and he immediately understood that His Majesty was going to attack the Liang family, so he hurriedly said.

"Your Majesty, although the Liang family has no less than 200,000 acres of fertile land, the Gui Kingdom transports no less than 8 million stones of rice and grain to Daming every year, and at least half of these grains are purchased and shipped by the Liang family's rice shop.

"Nanyang is ripe, the world is full".

Since the day when the first ship of Nanyang rice arrived in Haizhou during the Yongli period, the old little-known term "Nanyang rice" has been closely associated with the Ming Dynasty, especially the Ming Dynasty after Xingqian.

Before Xingqian, a large number of "Nanyang rice" was sold because Siam, Champa and other places in Nanyang were rich in rice, and after Xingqian, the influx of a large number of immigrants, especially the division of Zhuxia, all countries listed rice planting as a priority, which also contributed to the transportation of a large amount of rice to the Ming Dynasty, and in this process, the "official line" system created in the early days has also been developed.

And Liang Tianyou, the former president of the Beiyang Chamber of Commerce of the Ming Dynasty, is the founder of the "rice merchant official line" system, as the father-in-law of the king of Gui, twenty years ago, he married his daughter to King Gui, after becoming the princess of Gui, the Liang family's business focus was transferred to Guiguo.

In the past 20 years, as the "Huai'an Jun", Liang Tianyou's influence in Gui is unparalleled, even the Minister Pan Renyuan can not be compared with it, the reason is because Liang Tianyou controls the financial power of Gui - most of Gui's "rice merchant official lines" are under the name of the Liang family, the Liang family not only controls the official line of Gui, but also controls the shipping of Gui, which is also the foundation of ensuring the status of the Liang family.

For the Liang family, this may be the return of their investment in King Gui back then. It's just that the Liang family's sitting in Guiguo is not acceptable to ministers like Pan Renyuan, and even in his opinion, the Liang family has threatened the rule of the king.

Therefore, when he felt His Majesty's dissatisfaction, originally because of Gui Guo's dependence on the Liang family and the detachment of the Liang family's status, Pan Renyuan could only carefully bury his dissatisfaction in his heart, and immediately found an ally, and he almost immediately pointed the finger at the Liang family.

"Your Majesty, twelve years ago, the Nanyang Rice Merchant Guild was established led by the Liang family, on the surface the guild was organized by the rice merchants themselves, but in fact, it was Liang Tianyou who lobbied the monarchs of various countries and agreed to form a guild, so as to achieve the purpose of controlling the price of rice, these ten years, especially in the last six years, the price of Nanyang rice is not the fundamental output, but according to the profits of the guild, they suppress the price of rice internally, and raise the price of rice externally, which is also the reason why Nanyang rice has become more and more expensive in the past two years......"

Looking at His Majesty, Pan Renyuan said again.

"Your Majesty, Liang Tianyou once said that "in addition to rice and grain, there is no goods to be exported in Nanyang, and Zhuxia is barren, so you can only stand on your own if you have to trade rice and grain and get the silver of the country......

As Pan Renyuan spoke, Zhu Mingzhong's expression became more and more cold, his eyes narrowed into thin slits, and he stared silently ahead.

"But who is it that the silver of the dynasty has subsidized? The people didn't get it, the government didn't get it, and it all fell into the hands of the rice merchants. ”

Almost at the moment when Pan Renyuan's words fell, Zhu Mingzhong said coldly.

"In your opinion, should this matter be dealt with as such?"

How to deal with this matter?

At this time, Pan Renyuan was a little puzzled, he heard from His Majesty's words, His Majesty was not going to deal with the Liang family. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said that.

But who is Your Majesty going to deal with?

Just as he was thinking about it, he heard His Majesty say indignantly there.

"When Nanyang set up a rice merchant industry and tried to manipulate prices, do you really think I don't know? But I thought that Zhuxia was poor, and the dynasty should subsidize it to benefit the people, which was my original intention, but for so many years, it was beneficial to the people...... I want him to give it to the dogs! ”

After scolding angrily, Zhu Mingzhong asked coldly again.

"Pan Renyuan, you told me that you are the Minister of Gui, have you seen this for so many years? Have you seen how greedy those people are, how little by little they really damage the world and enrich individuals, you tell me! ”

Staring at Pan Renyuan, Zhu Mingzhong snorted coldly.

"You're just staring at this? Is it just that kind of cold eye? ”

The sudden reprimand made Pan Renyuan stunned, and in addition to being stunned, he hurriedly defended himself.

"Your Majesty, ministers and ministers have also had hardships over the years, after all, Liang Tianyou is ......"

"It's the important minister of Gui, the pillar of the country, and the abbot of the country, right?"

Standing up and staring at Pan Renyuan, Zhu Mingzhong sneered.

"You people, one by one, are all thinking about the preservation of the Enlightened One, you tell me, even now, what do you think? You still only think about King Gui's world, not the people! ”

"Your Majesty, Your Minister......"

Without waiting for Pan Renyuan to speak, Zhu Mingzhong walked out and said as he walked.

"Gu cheap hurt the peasants, that is in the Ming Dynasty, here, I tell you, when the time comes, it will hurt the world! After a long time, you will lose the world! ”

On the way to the conference room, too many thoughts appeared in his mind, more in the course of studying history, the process of colonial independence in modern history, especially the process of colonial independence in South America.

What led to the uprising of the so-called "nym-borns"?

What caused the colonial elites to turn away from their mother country?

The Fathers of Independence in South America were all local elites, and so were their supporters. Logically speaking, according to their status in the colony, they themselves should be the basis of the mother country's rule in the colony, and even this is what the mother country recognizes, wants, and in fact, their ancestors have the same status. It was their ancestors who established the colonial dominance of Spain in the region, and perhaps, the native-born whites were discriminated against in some way, but for the vast majority of the time, the native-born whites were dominant in the region. In the end, however, it was these people who overthrew Spanish rule.

Are they for power?

Discrimination, power.

What is certain is that the rebellion of the native-born whites was the root cause of the collapse of Spanish colonial rule in South America...... It looks more like a joke, a group of vested interests in colonial rule going against colonial rule.

Is it a joke?

The sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor, and on the way to the conference room, Zhu Mingzhong saw the young officers on both sides of the corridor, and it could be seen from their military uniform badges that they were from Zhuxia, although their identities were different, but it was certain that they all had a common identity in each country without exception.

The "Guoren" were the basis of the rule of the Xia Dynasty, and most of their parents were Wang Wei, and the mothers of many of them were likely to be Turen, and they were the first generation of Xia people who grew up in Nanyang, just like the "native-born whites" of South America. They and their descendants will reign at the base of the Xia.

But how long can this foundation last?

A hundred years? Two hundred years? Or longer?

Perhaps in two hundred years, their descendants will be like South America in another time and space, like the local "native whites", and among them will be born characters like San Martín and Bolívar, who will hold high the banner of righteousness and overthrow the rule of Zhuxia.

Perhaps, Zhuxia will also be recognized as "colonial rule".

What caused all this?

What makes Chinese people alienated?

The sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor, as the conference room got closer and closer, Zhu Mingzhong's mood became heavier and heavier, if it wasn't for an accidental accident, he wouldn't have known that such a problem had happened in Nanyang, was this problem serious?

Very serious!

It has threatened the rule of Zhuxia in the South Seas!

In fact, for Nanyang Zhuxia, Zhu Mingzhong does not have much family affection at all, after all, they are only the nominal "clan", and they were thrown to Nanyang, on the one hand, to let the Ming Dynasty get rid of the burden of the clan, and on the other hand, it is based on the need to spread Chinese civilization, once upon a time, all this was Zhu Mingzhong's pride, but now, in the face of the sudden reality, Zhu Mingzhong suddenly realized a point. Some problems, if you sit back and watch him happen, one day it will not only be shaken by the rule of Zhuxia, but even the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

It is not known whether characters like San Martín and Bolívar will be born here, but one day, there will inevitably be a second Li Zicheng!