It was fortunate and unfortunate to be a merchant in the Ming Dynasty, saying that they were lucky because the imperial court didn't care much about these civilians who were lower than the peasants, and after Wanli, it was because of the convenience of the Donglin Party, and they didn't even have to pay taxes. said that they were unfortunate because of the low status of merchants in the Ming Dynasty, no matter how rich you are, you can't buy respect, and once the court sees you unpleasantly, they will copy your house every minute, and there is no place to talk about reason.

Shen Wansan is good enough, the top ten rich businessmen in history, rich and rival the country, when Nanjing built the capital, one-third of the city wall was built by him with donation. As a result, because he wanted to reward the three armies with money, he angered Zhu Yuanzhang, and he was directly sent to Yunnan and died in a foreign land.

It can be said that Shen Wansan didn't make any mistakes, but he was sent to the army because he didn't fit Zhu Yuanzhang's taste, Fan Yongdou and they were the enemy, and they collaborated with the enemy and betrayed the country, even if they were punished by the nine clans, it was a matter of course.

Therefore, Chang Wei and Fan Yongdou and others in the side hall are all pale and frightened, you look at me, I look at you, and there is only one confidence conveyed, that is: despair.

After almost a tea time, a loud singing finally came from outside: "The emperor has arrived." ”

Everyone hurriedly knelt on the ground and shouted in unison: "Long live my emperor, long live, long live." ”

After shouting, they didn't dare to raise their heads, so they just lay on the ground, quietly waiting for the verdict to be announced.

Zhu Cijiong looked at this group of profiteers kneeling on the ground, he really wanted to drag them all out and cut them down, without the help of these people, where would Houjin get so much food to feed an army of more than 100,000 people, how could they have such sophisticated weapons and equipment, Jurchen, a tribe that had just broken away from the primitive society, could fight the Ming Dynasty and didn't even dare to go out of the city, these people are simply talents!

Thinking of talents, Zhu Cijiong had to suppress the anger in his heart, these people have no bottom line in business, but they are all successful businessmen, the so-called no treachery and no business, if you want to be honest and conformist, then you don't have to wear the pants that you are waiting to lose. Being a businessman sometimes does have to be a little treacherous, but this treacherous traitor is not a traitor, they have already overdone it, and I must help them find the bottom line back in order to be used by me.

How can we help them get the bottom line back? It's very simple, grace and power, uh, in layman's terms: threats and intimidation.

After Zhu Cijiong sat on the dragon chair, he directly turned his face and asked coldly: "What have you done, you know it in your heart, right?" ”

They naturally knew in their hearts what they had done, and they didn't dare to quibble in front of the emperor, otherwise there would be another crime of bullying the king, so they all said in unison: "The grass people know the guilt." ”

Zhu Cijiong let out a nonchalant "um", and then picked up the book on the long table and looked at it.

This is called dismounting, and it is naturally not possible to use such a cliché thing as killing a powerful stick in the palace, so you can only punish you for kneeling, and let them kneel for half an hour first.

The group of Jin merchants at the bottom were frightened by Zhu Cijiong's question, and they were almost scattered, and they really found him because of the traitor to the enemy, and now everyone only asks the emperor to be gracious, drag them out and cut them down, don't trouble your family, Zhulian Nine Clans!

However, a quarter of an hour has passed, and the emperor has not even ordered someone to drag them out and cut them down, and there is even a quiet sound of turning the book, not even a word, is it reading their crimes?

These people are even more scared in their hearts, they have done too many things to collaborate with the enemy and betray the country, any one is enough to punish the nine clans, and cold sweat broke out on everyone's foreheads, and some of them have begun to tremble.

Waiting was always painful, and after another quarter of an hour, the Jin merchants all felt as if they had died once, and they all lay there like corpses, lifeless.

At this time, Chongzheng Emperor Zhu Cijiong finally spoke, and he said slowly: "Reading that God has the virtue of a good life, I will give you a chance now, there is a list here, you can take a look first." ”

With that, he gestured to the eunuch who was waiting next to him, and the eunuch hurriedly picked up a pile of ledger-like things on the long table, and gave each of them a copy.

When everyone heard that there was still a chance to live, they regained a little bit of vitality, and they respectfully took the list and lay on the ground to look carefully.

Why is there only a little bit of life to be restored? Because there is a state called being alive is more uncomfortable than dead, they are not sure whether the emperor really wants to let them go or wants them to live more uncomfortable than dead, so they only regained a little vitality.

They originally thought it was a list for them to return the stolen goods, and they were ready to go bankrupt, but when they looked at the content on the list, they broke out in a cold sweat even more, and it turned out to be all antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and jewelry! The cheapest ones are thousands of taels, tens of thousands of taels, hundreds of thousands of taels abound, this is not ten or eight pieces, nor one or two hundred, but a thick list, they can't afford to buy so many antiques, calligraphy and paintings and jewelry even if they are all sold! The emperor really wants them to live more than dead!

Zhu Cijiong just flipped through it at random, and was also frightened by the things recorded on it, these are all copied by the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, there were surprisingly many corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty, and the emperors of the past dynasties were not good at stubble, and they confiscated the family property of many corrupt officials.

Not to mention, there are 3201 volumes of calligraphy and painting collected by Yan Song, the first assistant of the Jiajing Dynasty, what Gu Kaizhi, Wang Xizhi, Yu Shinan, Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing, Huaisu, Yan Liben, Wang Wei, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, Ouyang Xiu, Zhao Mengzhao, Tang Bohu, Wu Daozi, Zhang Zeduan, Wen Zhengming, Zhao Mengjian, Qiu Ying and other famous masters have everything, Zhang Zeduan's "Qingming Riverside Map" is one of Yan Song's 3201 collections, how much is it worth!

Everyone lay on the ground and turned over for more than an hour, and finally finished flipping, Zhu Cijiong asked patiently: "How much do you say these things are worth?" ”

When everyone heard this, they felt bitter in their hearts, and sure enough, they really wanted to say to the emperor: "You better drag us out and cut us down, all the assets of all the Jin merchants together can't afford these things!" There's no such indiscriminate apportionment, is there? ”

Of course, no one dared to reply like this, Chang Wei, who was kneeling on the left, said tremblingly: "If you go back to the emperor, the value of these antiques, calligraphy and paintings and jewelry is really immeasurable, if you insist on saying a price, the grass people think that it is worth at least 10,000 taels of silver." ”

10,000,000 taels, that's 100 million, Zhu Cijiong didn't expect that these things could be sold for so much money in ancient times, he nodded with satisfaction, and looked at Fan Yongdou on the right.

Fan Yongdou saw that the emperor had come over, so he had to reply stubbornly: "If you go back to the emperor, these things are estimated to be sold for more than 10,000 taels in the Taiping period, but now the world is in chaos, antiques can't be sold at all, and jewelry can only be sold to Nanzhili to accompany the capital, and this calligraphy and painting can be sold in the capital." ”

Zhu Cijiong nodded with satisfaction, an expert is an expert, and he has thought of this thing wherever he goes.

He continued to say slowly: "Well, then estimate it at 90 million taels......

When Chang Wei, Fan Yongdou and the others heard this, their faces immediately turned to ashes, they could still take out nine million taels, nine million taels, and they couldn't take it out even if they killed them!

Zhu Cijiong took a breath, and then said: "I want to set up a firm, the total assets are 10,000 taels, these antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and jewelry are 90 million taels of shares, accounting for 90 percent, you nine are responsible for the specific operation, give you half of it, Jinyiwei and Dongchang are responsible for assisting and supervising, accounting for half of it, what do you think?" ”

Now Chang Wei and Fan Yongdou are dumbfounded, and they are still half of the shares, only 4.5 million taels, this is not like they want their lives!

Chang Wei asked a little uncertainly: "Your Majesty, do you mean that you want us to take these antiques, calligraphy and paintings and jewelry to do business?" ”

Zhu Cijiong nodded when he heard this: "Yes, just let you use these things to do business, you know what the silver ticket is, right?" ”

They naturally know what the silver ticket is, these days, as long as the assets are 100,000 taels, the silver ticket has become an indispensable thing, you can't always carry tons of money to do business, no.

As soon as he talked about things related to doing business, these people came to life completely, and Fan Yongdou then asked: "Your Majesty, do you mean to set up a business that can issue silver tickets?" ”

Zhu Cijiong nodded again when he heard this: "Yes, I want to establish such a business, but it is not a petty fight like you, it can only be exchanged in the capital and Shanxi, I want to establish a branch in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and my silver ticket must be used all over the country!" ”

This has always been a dream of Jin merchants, and this dream was not realized until the establishment of the Qing Dynasty and they became imperial merchants. But now it's different, Chongzheng Emperor Zhu Cijiong helped them realize this dream in advance, but it was the emperor who led instead of the Jin merchants.

No one doubts that Zhu Cijiong can build a semicolon all over the country, in this era of the supremacy of imperial power, what others can't do in a lifetime, for the emperor only needs a dictation to do.

What a great feat it is to connect the world! No one has ever achieved it in history, and now it is going to be realized in their hands, everyone was excited, Fan Yongdou asked with a flushed face: "Your Majesty, do you want to connect the world?" ”

Seeing their excited looks, Zhu Cijiong couldn't help frowning, these profiteers, traitors, if I didn't value your talents, could I easily let you go?

The reason why Zhu Cijiong decided to use them was also a helpless move, as an emperor nominally can do whatever he wants, but everything has a degree, he can't recruit all the rich businessmen in the country for no reason, force them to join the shares, and serve themselves, that is to force them to rebel!

These people are different, they have committed the great crime of the Nine Clans, as long as they don't destroy their entire clan and let them do anything, they don't dare to resist, this biggest pain in his hands, I am not afraid that they will be disobedient.

Of course, it's not enough to scratch a sore foot, but also to grab some hostages in hand to be foolproof, Zhu Cijiong coughed, and said hypocritically: "Well, in the future, you don't want to do anything about collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country, do things for me well, I won't treat you badly." Your rebellion, Huang Taiji is estimated to be crazy, your children and grandchildren will be in danger, send them all to the capital, I send Jinyi guards to protect day and night, to ensure that nothing happens to them. ”

It is said that protection is actually surveillance, these people know in their hearts that they have committed a big crime of punishing the nine clans, and the emperor is already thankful that he can let them go, and now they are still reused to establish a business name and connect the world, and it is also appropriate to send their children and grandchildren to the capital as hostages, only in this way can the emperor rest assured that they can do things.