The middle-aged man looked at the young man with a smile, pointed to himself and said, "Who am I?" I am Li Zhongxing, the head of the Li family of the four Jin merchants, why should I get involved with them, a group of things that don't want to die. ”

"You say, who are the salt merchants in the world now?" Li Zhongxing shook his chair and said to his son Li Xi beside him.

Although Li Xi is young, he is not stupid, he has been doing business with his father since he was a child, and he grew up in a family like Jin Shang, he naturally knows all about this. After a moment of silence, Li Xi was stabilizing his emotions.

He knew that he had just done something wrong, and he didn't rush to answer his father's question.

Li Zhongxing looked at his son and nodded with satisfaction, although he was still a little frizzy, but he was still young, and it was understandable, he was not like this when he was young. It's good to be able to think.

"Dad, do you think something is wrong with this time?" Li Xi looked at Li Zhongxing and asked hesitantly.

Without answering his son's question, Li Zhongxing said with a smile: "Although there are many salt farms in Daming, the most salt is still produced by Lianghuai, so the imperial court will set up two Huai salt transportation envoys in Yangzhou." ”

"The prosperity of Yangzhou today is all because this yamen is in Yangzhou, and Yangzhou has become a place of great wealth in the world."

"Among the salt merchants in Yangzhou, people from two places have become the best among them, one is our Jin merchants, and the other is their Hui merchants." Li Zhongxing said this, with a smug look on his face.

"Lianghuai produces salt, salt is transported to the border town, at this time the Hui merchants take advantage, they are in Lianghuai, can organize people to transport grain for salt, and then go back to change salt. We are Jin merchants, close to the border towns, and we can grow grain in the border towns to exchange for salt. ”

"So although they all say Yangzhou salt merchants, in fact, Yangzhou salt merchants are not Yangzhou people, but Hui merchants and Jin merchants."

Li Xi listened very carefully, although he had also followed his father in business before, but this was the first time he had heard his father talk about these things. Obviously, these are some unknown and deep-seated things.

"Everyone worked hard when they started, and then gradually life got better, and they didn't have to transport grain, they just spent money to buy and sell."

"But you will buy it, and others will buy it, but you just pull the salt out of the salt works and sell it everywhere, and there is a profit from the illegal salt fishing, and the profit of salt is too great. Everyone will think about taking a kick, isn't that what those nobles are. ”

"They occupy the nest, and we will pay for it, but this money should probably be earned or earned, but it is the people and the court who lose money."

"But that's how everyone comes, everyone does it, what are you afraid of?" Li Zhongxing smiled self-deprecatingly: "But there are also people who are afraid!" Not every salt merchant is a fool, so what if you have more money? When people want to kill you, you can only obediently stick your head out. ”

"How is Shen Wansan? It's not the end of a family being ruined and family property confiscated. ”

Turning his head to look at his son, Li Zhongxing said with a smile: "So our Li family will have a family motto, which is a family motto left by the ancestors of our Li family when they entered the industry to make salt, seven words "businessmen are rich and noble." ”

"For so many years, your father and I have always been like this, which is why our Li family is often questioned that we are in the four major families of the Jin merchants, but what about it? It's just a name. It's the four Jin merchants, we are still the Li family, not the four Jin merchants, we are still the Li family. ”

Li Xi listened quietly, and his body subconsciously sat up straight.

"Everyone has money, no one wants to end up with Shen Wansan one day, so let's find a way!" Li Zhongxing said self-deprecatingly: "It's just that Jin Shang and Hui Shang think of different methods. ”

"Hui Shang thinks that we have money, so use the money to open the way, bribe officials, befriend honorable nobles, and promise money. Money is not good, and then you can buy a good one, so you can raise it yourself, so Yangzhou thin horses are popular all over the world. ”

"Later, they felt that this was still not safe, and the nobles and officials would turn their faces."

So he began to sponsor scholars, marry promising young people, make a name for the respected scholars, and help them build academies. In a word, consolidate your position and let the court have its own people. ”

This was the first time Li Xi had heard his father talk about these things, and he used to look down on those Hui merchants because of these.

I always feel that those Hui merchants will not do anything except enjoy, play with women, and be vassal. Now after listening to his father's statement, Li Xi finally understands that things are not as simple as they seem!

"What about our Jin merchants? Of course, you can't sit still! Li Zhongxing said with a smile: "But our Jin merchants don't learn from them." ”

"People say that we are Jin Shang buckle, and they also ask us to buckle Lao Xi, but we are different from what they believe in. At that time, there were no Jin Shang four families, and everyone did the same business. ”

"But everyone is afraid! The more money there is, the more unconfident this heart becomes. ”

"Everyone thinks that there are people in the DPRK, and everyone says that there are people in the DPRK who are good officials, and we are also good businessmen in the DPRK. In addition, if you are a businessman, you will be looked down upon all your life, and you have to be a master and still study. ”

"So everyone asked Mr. to read to the children of the family."

"Why did the current four Jin merchants become the four Jin merchants? It's not because the business is doing well, it's because the people in the family are doing well. Originally, it was not easy to rank first, but since Zhang Siwei entered the cabinet, this Zhang family has been the first. ”

"Now that I have become the first assistant of the cabinet, this Zhang family is even more incredible."

"The Wang family, who is ranked second, the trilateral governor Wang Chonggu, not to mention that the county officials are not as good as the current management, they are the trilateral governors, and they are in charge of this acre and three points of land, and the Wang family's business will be smaller? It's just that Wang Chonggu is a scholar, and he has been slightly inferior to the Zhang family in the past two years. ”

"The third in line is the Fan family, among our four families, although the Fan family has no big members in the court, but in Shanxi and Shaanxi, among the local officials, the Fan family has the most children and is strong."

Glancing at his son, Li Zhongxing said with a smile: "Speaking of this, do you think that the name of our Li family, the four Jin merchants, is a bit empty?" Is it really like what people say is to get into the four families of Jin Shang? ”

Looking at his son's appearance, Li Zhongxing smiled: "Our Li family's family motto, businessmen are not rich and noble, what's wrong with the last one?" ”

"This time the Hejian Mansion smuggling salt case seems to be just a smuggling salt case, but there are still a lot of smart people, you see those Hui businessmen are scared, they ran to the capital in a hurry, and they called us too."

"What's the use? Now that I think I'm in a hurry, why did I go earlier? ”

Li Xi pondered for a moment, then turned his head to look at his father and asked, "Dad, what is the court going to do this time?" ”

"You ask me, who do I ask?" Li Zhongxing said angrily: "Even the Zhang family doesn't know, how can we know, if you look at the Zhang family, it's not a fuss at all, and the group of Hui businessmen is willing to make a fuss, so let them make a fuss." ”

"Instead of rambling around, it's better to wait and see what happens!" Li Zhongxing said to Li Xi: "Have you found the way you are looking these days?" ”

"Dad, I've found it, the child has already known Zhang Xun, and he has been familiar with him in the past few days, and the money is about the same, and he has agreed to introduce Zhang Whale to the child." Li Xi nodded and spoke.

Li Zhongxing said with a smile: "That's good, don't follow those Hui merchants to fool around, let's do it according to our own methods." ”

"The child understands!" Li Xi nodded, and said respectfully: "The child must not disappoint his father." ”

Although the affairs of the Warat people have caused a lot of turmoil, what the court and the court are most looking forward to is the matter of the Qian family in Hejian, and there are too many people involved in this matter. The key is that the direction of this matter will involve a lot of people.

The same is true for the cabinet, everyone is waiting for the emperor's approval of this matter, but what people didn't expect was that Zhu Yijun called Xungui into the palace.

From the prince to the marquis, and then to the uncle, Zhu Yijun called these people to the palace, as well as other royal relatives, Wu Qingbo Li Wei, and the queen's father Yongnian Bo Wang Wei. This is also hot now, who doesn't know that the emperor is very fond of the queen.

The nobles didn't care about it at first, but after entering the palace, everyone found that it was different, because the emperor called them to the main hall of the Qianqing Palace.

I didn't think it was so formal, but now it seems that it's very formal.

The British Gong Zhang Rong stood at the front, but he hugged his shoulders and closed his eyes, as if he was asleep. By his side, Xu Wenbi, the Duke of Dingguo, was also rejecting thousands of miles away at this time, and the meaning was obvious, don't come to me.

It's a bit inexplicable, but everyone knows that something is going to happen.

At this time, everyone saw Xininghou walking in from behind, many people were just eye-catching, everyone naturally knew about Xininghou, and now that he appeared here, it was definitely not a good sign.

"The emperor has arrived!" With Zhang Whale's shout, Zhu Yijun turned out from behind the huge screen.

The nobles hurriedly knelt on the ground and said loudly: "Participate in the emperor, long live my emperor!" ”

"Everyone, Aiqing, get even!" Zhu Yijun said with a smile: "I haven't talked to you Aiqing since I was in power, and today I took advantage of everyone's leisure to talk to you." Everyone doesn't have to be restrained, those present are either the nobles of the Ming Dynasty or the relatives of the Ming Dynasty, there is nothing that cannot be said. ”

"Originally, I didn't expect everyone's life to be difficult, until this private salt case."

Hearing Zhu Yijun mention the case of illicit salt, everyone was taken aback, obviously the emperor's estimation is not a good thing.

"After everyone is a hero of the Ming Dynasty, they are all people who have contributed to the Ming Dynasty, I originally thought that everyone could live a good life, after all, the royal family gave everyone a hereditary title, a generation of princes, how can I live a good life, I didn't expect everyone's life to be so miserable, I also lived!"