Since a hundred years ago, the rise of the Silk Road on the water, and the West trade is becoming more and more frequent, Xia Shenzong period, the imperial court in Ningbo, Quanzhou and Guangzhou set up three major treaty ports, because the imperial court leased Xiamen to the Portuguese as a storage place, Quanzhou in the three major treaty ports of the position is particularly prominent, has become the largest port in the East.

In the process of the rise of Quanzhou in the past century, the eight major merchants in Quanzhou City are not always the eight who sit in this hall.

Only the Zheng family in Jiangnan has always been ranked among the eight majors, and the other seven are feng shui in turn, which will change every few years.

Over the past 100 years, the Jin merchants, Hui merchants, Lu merchants, Guangdong merchants and other provincial business giants have always been worried about the location of these eight gold mountains and silver seas.

The reason why Pu Shougeng was able to become the head of the eight major merchants as a foreign businessman was because more than ten years ago, he obtained a large amount of money by using scarce materials from the West, and invested in Shi Mijian, a powerful minister of Daxia at that time, and obtained the key position of Quanzhou City.

As a green fanatic, Pu Shougeng will naturally not be constrained by Confucian morality and make the most of the treacherous nature of human nature.

In the past ten years, he led the other seven maritime merchants more than once and fiercely repelled the sniping attacks from the Jin merchants, Guangdong merchants, Lu merchants and other big lords.

On several occasions, he even spared no expense to help the other seven families.

Helped them through one difficult time after another.

Then lead the eight families to continue to develop and grow their strength, and eventually become eight behemoths.

It is precisely by relying on the help of real interests that Pu Shougeng has become a leading figure in the entire Quanzhou City and even the entire Jiangnan, and is recognized as a masterpiece in the world.

Although the eight merchant families were not among the four major families in the south of the Yangtze River, it was only because the imperial court deliberately restricted the entry of these eight families into the imperial examination and forbade these eight maritime merchants from entering the official path.

But in terms of strength, these eight families are by no means under the four major families in Jiangnan.

Although the Eight Sea Merchants family will not enter the office, they continue to cultivate their power in the officialdom through marriage, funding, etc.

The entire Jiangnan is woven into a big net by these eight families.

And Quanzhou, as the base camp, has been operated into an iron bucket array by these eight!

But if there is a little wind and grass, it cannot be hidden from their ears and eyes.

Today, the change in the camp of the Quanzhou Township Army took less than half an hour, and it was all known to the eight families.

Although it was a rainy day at dawn, what happened in the township army camp was not known for the time being.

But what happened in the Zhizhou Yamen, the eight families knew almost the same.

Naturally, they all know about Gan Tang's feat of using the golden cicada to recover the Quanzhou Township Army in one fell swoop.

This is also the direct reason for the gathering of their eight salt industry giants.

As part of the maritime forces, the 2,000 capable warriors recruited in Pu Shou Geng were withdrawn to the sea, and the remaining forces were actually not very strong.

However, it was this force that many bigwigs didn't even want to look at at directly, but at this moment, it suddenly became extremely dangerous.

Because the dirty and smelly work that the township army used to do in the past is now very likely to become direct evidence of the death of many big forces without a place to bury!

Among them, there are eight sea merchants.

"I thought that the king of Xiangyang was only a teenager, although he was in a high position, he was just relying on the shadow of his ancestors and family, but I didn't expect it......"

An old man with gray hair said with a solemn face.

The person who spoke was named Du Ming, and he had a granddaughter who married the middle of the court and was a concubine.

Another maritime merchant, Li Zhou, said: "You can't underestimate this, his ancestors have been the pillars of the Great Xia for several generations, and his power in the Great Xia army is intertwined, and his grandfather is a former official and a scholar, and he enjoys a high reputation among the ministers. Although he is a teenager, he should not be underestimated! ”

"Alas, the one in the palace is really a person who can use people, and it is really embarrassing to find such a tricky character to make a knife, and the hedgehog makes it difficult for both civil and military forces to start."

"Whoever dares to move the King of Xiangyang directly, even if he really kills him, it will be rare to have a good death, but it will usher in a catastrophe of extermination."

"There is also the queen mother, a powerful figure as the backing, if this person in the palace is really angry, who can bear it? Even if we don't care, do we still want the sound of the door? ”

The person who complains endlessly, named Wang Yue, is the head of the Wang family, looks very rich, wears a foreign suit, and always smiles on weekdays, a bit like the God of Wealth, and has excellent popularity.

However, his words made the atmosphere in the hall more and more solidified.

Then no one spoke.

How to deal with a person who has his own defensive aura and is not invaded by civil and military forces?

Du Ming said earnestly: "My nephew, having said that, Quanzhou officialdom and society have been idle all these years, and they have more or less done some disgraceful things for us. Among them, there is a ...... for us to get rid of our rivals."

"Uncle Shi!"

Pu Shougeng warned in a deep voice: "We merchants from all over the world have never had direct contact with those people, and we will not contact such people. We are innocent businessmen, businessmen who have been praised by the emperor and today. No one can pour dirty water on us just by relying on petty slanderous words.

Over the years, we have built bridges and roads, and provided relief to the victims, which is recognized by the world as a kind family, and is the 'righteous business of the country' written by the emperor himself.

Don't forget this at any time. ”

Although Du Ming is old, in the face of Pu Shougeng, who is a few rounds younger, he has never relied on the old and sold the old, but nodded thoughtfully and said: "The nephew is reasonable, and his words are reasonable. ”

Pu Shougeng's face was more relaxed, and he smiled: "You guys came in such a panic, I thought something big had happened...... Of course, this is not a small matter, but it is not so popular. It's not us who should be most anxious now. How many people rely on those Qiu Ba to earn some dirty silver to survive, and thirty percent of the prostitutes and underground-money houses in Quanzhou City are touched by those bastards, not to mention those black gambling houses and human markets.

Hearing Pu Shougeng's words, everyone's faces became more and more light.

A tall and thin middle-aged man said with a smile: "Master Pu is worthy of being the head of my eight sea merchants, with you, our hearts are much more down-to-earth." ”

This person is Sun Liang, the head of the Sun family, a merchant of the Eight Seas, and he has always acted femininely, but he seems to be more sincere at the moment.

After Pu Shougeng thanked him, he paused and said: "Originally, Pu was going to be a host today, and it was rare to invite all my colleagues to get together." I just want you to go back and clean up some hands, it's better to wait for this matter to pass, and then Pu will be the host, please be sure to appreciate your face. ”

When the other seven people heard this, they all got up and said "polite" with a smile, and then left without too much politeness.

They do have a lot of tails that need to be cut off early......

After they left, Pu Shougeng put away his smiling face, summoned a confidant, and commanded in a deep voice: "Immediately send someone to rush to Haojing, tell the people in the north about today's events, and let him launch an offensive at sea as soon as possible, use all his strength to cooperate with Koizumi Ichiro, intercept passing merchant ships, and Pu Mou will also come to surround Wei to save Zhao!" ”

Fuzhou Mansion on Fujian Road, Fujian pacification envoy Yadong Chaofang.

The appeasement made Dong Li's face gloomy as water, and the transfer made Rong Hao also look unhappy.

These two people are the highest-ranking officials on Fujian Road.

There are only a handful of things that can make the two of them so angry in Fujian.

Rong Hao, as Dong Li's deputy, saw that Dong Li had not spoken, so he sighed and said: "Originally, the Queen Mother wanted to send a person with a subtle identity to break the situation, and the King of Xiangyang is a good candidate. Coupled with the relationship between him and Jia Ru, it is easier for him to break the situation than for us to bite hard.

The Queen Mother was even more calculated, letting him go south alone, and should have conspired with us, but she didn't expect him to find his own way, and he gathered up the military power in Quanzhou, so that we had no chance to meddle and control.

At this point, what to do, please show me. ”

Dong Li still didn't speak, Rong Hao pondered for a while, and said slowly: "Since the people have rectified the army, it is not easy for us to control him and let him be used by us." But......

If he does not do it, the court will not allow him.

Let's wait and see......"

"Wait and see?"

Dong Li said in a deep voice: "How long will it take?" Now that the state affairs are difficult, Wang Mingzhi is dismissed, and the political affairs hall is controlled by Jia Ru, dealing with Pu Shougeng, but a few families in Jiangnan want to meddle in the increasingly prosperous maritime trade. We have all received the favor of Gan Fugong, so do you just watch him plunge into it.

Seventy percent of the wealth of Daxia is due to this, and if there is a trace of turmoil, the society will be unstable.

The best result of this incident is that it deters corrupt officials, the state increases taxes, and cannot go on a killing spree, and in this situation, the north may launch another southern expedition at any time.

We can't purge the officials, and we are only reprimanded.

If the land of taxation is unstable, we will wait for the heads to land!

Under the rat trap, the hands and feet are tied, so that our feudal ministers are like waste.

How to meditate? ”

Rong Hao sighed when he heard this, he wanted to cut the flesh from his body, and he had to be afraid of chaos, how difficult was it?

The Empress Dowager and the cabinet were inconsiderate, which put them in a difficult situation.

Dong Li frowned and said: "Do we understand these, the King of Xiangyang may not understand, what kind of idea did Taishi Jia have!" What idea did the queen mother's relatives have! One is just a thunderstorm and a small raindrop, so as to deter it, so as to intervene in the marine business, and the other is afraid that the other party will become bigger, and he also wants to beat Pu Shougeng, so as to take the opportunity to win it over. ”

Rong Hao smiled and said, "My lord, the original intention of King Xiangyang to go south will not change because of yesterday's events. We know this, and both sides in Beijing also know it. The Gan family is a very shrewd young man, the queen mother and the princess let him go out of Beijing as a messenger, only the right to rectify the township army and suppress bandits, and the right to investigate corrupt officials, but not the right to judge, so he still doesn't understand, and I don't need to bother with it.

But since we are pressed for time, we are afraid that he will be unstable, so we might as well do the opposite.

If the mountain doesn't come, I can go to the mountain.

Why don't we take the opportunity to give it a hand and strengthen its prestige?

Dong Li's eyes lit up when he heard this.

On the second day, in the Quanzhou Zhizhou Mansion, Han Tao was dealing with the case of Yuan Zhizhou and Shen Yan who were both killed, when he heard a loud gong and drum sound from the entrance of the alley, and another clerk reported in a sharp voice:

"Appease Dong Li, and transfer Lord Rong Hao to arrive!"

Everyone's faces changed when they heard this, and the prince really guessed it.

Han Tao was overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered the state officials to follow him to greet him. After coming to the entrance of the alley, looking at the banner at the entrance of the alley, he turned around and smiled at the officials under him: "Since I left Beijing half a month ago, today will finally end." Your hard work is high. ”

came to Dong Li's sedan chair, held a letter in both hands, and handed it to Dong Li.

Dong Li was slightly stunned, opened the letter, read it for a while, and then handed the letter to Rong Hao, and when Rong Hao finished reading it, both sides saw the shock in each other's eyes!

"The young man of the Gan family actually left, and he still underestimated him!"