In Suzhou Yamen Garden, Zuo Guangdou and Han Yi, who had changed their clothes, met with the heads of the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce, accompanied by the prefect. Although the leaders of these chambers of commerce are not too afraid of the prefect, they are still a little frightened by Zuo Guangdou and Han Yi, especially when the gangsters detain Han Yi's head of dung, which makes them tremble even more.

"Fellow villagers, His Majesty the Emperor heard that Suzhou was boycotted, Long Yan didn't like it, and now he sent the officials to inquire at this time, but he didn't expect to be splashed with dung just after entering the city, is your place so hospitable? These things are the confessions of those people, now let's take a look, whether there is anything wronged, whether there is anything that is not fully written, let's take a look, after reading it, we are nagging. Zuo Guangdou said in a stern voice, and then threw the confessions of those pimples in front of the people in the Chamber of Commerce.

How dare the people of these chambers of commerce look through these confessions, and they knelt down and asked for their guilt again and again, "I hope that the lord will forgive the sin, but the people are confused, they have misunderstood the meaning of the master, and the small people are willing to be punished, please raise your noble hand." ”

Zuo Guangdou asked, "Who of you is the president and vice president of the Chamber of Commerce?" Can you make decisions on behalf of everyone? ”

Although they were all afraid of death, they may have discussed it before they came, as long as they didn't pursue all the people, it was still okay to send a few top cylinders, so as soon as Zuo Guangdou's voice fell, five people stood up. These five people are ready to go to righteousness generously, Zuo Guangdou thought to himself.

"Are the five of you willing to take responsibility for the Suzhou strike? In other words, even if you die, are the five of you willing to take the place of the others? Zuo Guangdou looked at these five people coldly.

"Yes, as long as the adults don't hold others accountable, the five of us are willing to accept all the punishments of the adults." These five people have the courage to sacrifice their lives for everyone.

"Good, good, good. Then let me ask you, why are you boycotting, is it for the country or for the people? Is it for everyone or for your own Suzhou Chamber of Commerce? Zuo Guangdou's voice was still cold.

"We are fighting for the interests of all the people of Suzhou, and the behavior of Niu Jinxing's 'Daming Royal Trading Company' has seriously hindered the interests of the people of Suzhou. For generations, the Ming Dynasty has paid attention to officials not competing with the people for profit, Niu Jinxing's 'Ming Royal Trading Firm' overbearing terms seriously violated this principle, forcing our chamber of commerce members to have no way out, so we had to take the approach of boycotting the market to fight for the interests of the people of Suzhou. The five of them still insisted in unison that it was for the benefit of the people of Suzhou.

"Then let me ask you, since the opening of Niu Jinxing's 'Daming Royal Trading Firm' in Suzhou, have the prices in Suzhou City risen? Are the people of Suzhou buying less things? Did the people of Suzhou City go to the Yamen to sue Niu Jinxing 'Daming Royal Trading Company' for bullying the people and forcing them to buy and sell? Zuo Guangdou asked three times in a row.

"These are not true, but we have suffered huge losses because of this, and the interests of the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce are not harmed by the interests of the people. We are also the people of Suzhou City! "Five people are quibbling.

"You guys? Can your Suzhou Chamber of Commerce represent all the people in Suzhou? Has your strike affected the normal life of the people in Suzhou? Are the people willing to do this? Zuo Guangdou asked again.

"This, this ......." The five stammered a little.

"You are just doing nothing for your own interests, what do you keep saying for the benefit of the people of Suzhou City? For the benefit of the people of Suzhou, we should think about what the people think, so that they can live more comfortably and conveniently, and see what you do? What about the people of Suzhou? Not only are you not allowed to strike the market yourself, but you are also not allowed to operate in the shops that cooperate with the 'Daming Royal Trading Company', so that the people can buy goods outside the city, is this for the people or for yourselves? You call this rape of public opinion, have you let the dogs eat your benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, and faith? And the five of you, do you think it's okay to have the five of you for this matter? You're wrong, whoever it is? No matter how many people? As long as the interests of the common people are violated, they must be punished. Come on, put all these people in the little garden, and let the tigers go. Zuo Guangdou was furious and shouted loudly.

Immediately rushed in from the yamen more than 100 brocade guards, this time it was not the Praetorian Guard, and the heads of the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce at the scene were locked in the small garden, and then more than a dozen tigers were released.

The businessmen of the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce didn't expect Zuo Guangdou to change his face when he said that he would change his face, and he originally thought that there would be no big guy if there were five people in the top tank, who knew that this Zuo Daren would actually feed them to the tiger.

These merchants, who are usually pampered, came over as soon as they saw the tiger rushing at them, and they all opened their mouths wide and their eyes were shining. The timid one pulled his pants at that time, and shouted hoarsely to spare his life, and for a while the ghost cried and howled, which was earth-shattering. For about half an hour, almost all the merchants were paralyzed with fright, and the tiger roared a step away from them, begging for mercy and help.

When these people were almost half dead of fright, Zuo Guangdou ordered someone to release them. Of course, Zuo Guangdou didn't want to feed these people to the tiger, in that case, Zuo Guangdou would become the target of public criticism, no matter how well he did things in Suzhou, Zhu Youxiao had to kill him under pressure, which is called tyranny. Zuo Guangdou wants to scare and scare these pampered, selfish, and lawless businessmen. In fact, this idea was not thought of by Zuo Guangdou himself, it was thought up by Luo Sigong's Jinyi Wei Baihu, these tigers were borrowed from the circus that played acrobatics.

"Guys, is there anything you don't need to sit down?" Han Yiyin asked with a smile, this old guy was relieved for a while, looking at this group of businessmen whose crotch was drenched.

Ignoring the stench, Zuo Guangdou took advantage of the situation and began to teach these merchants: "Everyone, were you scared just now? Do you know what it means to feel helpless? Let me tell you, last year the Ming Dynasty died two emperors in a row, this year Liaodong Jurchen committed the border, now Sichuan extravagant Chongming rebellion, the Ming Dynasty is ethereal, but also thanks to the wisdom of our emperor, God's grace, to create guns and sharp weapons, this is a great victory in Liaodong, the southwest of the fierce advance. But have you thought about it, these all need money, the internal money is almost exhausted, and the household is almost dried up, but my emperor is unwilling to add a penny to the ordinary people, he is thrifty, the emperor is married, how much does it cost in the past dynasties, and now my emperor only accepts one queen and two concubines to extend the country, and you have several wives and concubines. In order not to give to the people, our emperor made great efforts to manufacture appliances for the benefit of the people, increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and serve the country and the people. And what have you done, last year, the border cotton clothes were filled with reed wool, Niu Jinxing paid taxes for the country's business, and in order to fill the treasury, you made it difficult in every way. You have already experienced the scene of the tiger just now, but have you ever seen a female * rider who is a hundred times more fierce than these tigers just now? It was they that our Ming soldiers were facing. Many officers and soldiers in the Battle of Sarhu were in this helpless state, and they were not as lucky as you, and they all died in battle. If it were not for the wise manufacture of guns and sharp weapons by our emperor, you would not face tigers in the future, but Jurchens who were a hundred times more fierce than them, who would rob you of your property, rape your wives and daughters, kill your relatives, burn down your homes, and make you slaves inferior to pigs and dogs. Can you all understand what I'm saying? ”

Before Zuo Guangdou finished speaking, the crowd was already crying, one by one, like mourning, full of remorse, scolding himself for being wolf-hearted and dog-hearted, lud-blinded, and wealth-obsessed.

Everyone cried and demanded in unison: "Please punish your lordship, we will be willing to work together with the 'Daming Royal Trading Company' from now on to pay taxes for the country, gather wealth for the country, and contribute to the country." ”

"Well, in that case, I'll give you an idea. Our emperor and gods, in order to build the foundation of eternal life, want to popularize the literacy of the whole people, everyone reads, and understands things. Suffering from lack of money, it is only in the planning stage, and has not yet been implemented, it is recommended that you build a school, it is best to build a primary school in every village, and then build a senior school in every county, not only to teach the four books and five classics, but also to teach all kinds of practical knowledge and skills, maybe you have heard, my emperor has established a technical school this year, called "Daming Technical School", this school was built in Beijing, the principal is the current long live Lord, and the future from there are all protégés of the Son of Heaven, If any of the schools you funded and established go to school there in the future, then they will also be protégés of the Son of Heaven in the future. My emperor also said that there are seventy-two lines in the world, the line is the champion, the former pre-Qin era of a hundred schools of thought contended, a hundred flowers blooming is the real prosperous age, a flower alone is not a scene, the garden is full of spring is spring. In the future, both scholars, farmers, industrialists, and businessmen will be equal, and no matter what they do, as long as they can contribute to the country, they will have a good way out. ”

Zuo Guangdou has been following Zhu Youxiao for a long time, and he knows many of Zhu Youxiao's concepts and ideas very well, and this time he solved the Suzhou incident very well. In the ensuing time, the business of the entire Jiangnan "Ming Royal Trading Company" developed rapidly, and Jiangnan really became the largest tax source of the Ming Dynasty, accumulating the initial original capital for Zhu Youxiao's industrial development.