Huizhou is known as one of the most beautiful places in China.

In addition to the well-known Yellow Mountain, there are also rich Hui merchants.

It was once said that because Huizhou was so barren that adult men went out to do business. Because of business, because of benevolence, because of unity, they are all rich.

This set of theories of deceiving ghosts has been circulating everywhere since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty and has been passed down for many years, until Zhu Pingjin's previous life. Huizhou has become Wenzhou again, and many versions have been renovated.

But there are many poor places in China, and there are many men who go out to work in groups, so why don't those places produce a climatic merchant gang?

In fact, all the Shang gangs that came into being in the Ming Dynasty were related to the policies of the imperial court.

The rise of maritime merchants in Fujian and Zhejiang was because the imperial court banned the sea, so maritime merchants could obtain high profits from smuggling;

The rise of the Shanxi Jin merchants was due to the smuggling of border trade with the Mongols and the Tatars, which also made huge profits.

The rise of the Hui merchants was related to another policy of the imperial court, that is, the monopoly of salt.

Huizhou has little land, so it does business; Because of business, he transported the timber, tea and the four treasures of the study room that were abundant in Huizhou, and brought in the grain and salt that he needed; Because of the transportation of salt, a circle of contacts was formed among the court officials in charge of salt; Because they have connections, they are attached to the elites and become the white gloves of the elites in the economic field under their jurisdiction; Because they have to deal with more powerful officials, they are eager to assimilate into the official culture; Because they are anxious to integrate, they let their children read; The children have studied books, passed the examination to raise people, become jinshi, become officials, and can form a Hui gang in the officialdom to help their families earn more money.

By attaching to rights and exploiting policy gaps through rent-seeking of rights, this is the logical chain of the rise of Huizhou businessmen.

At a glance, it's very simple, there is no mysterious culture.

The sea ban is fully lifted, and maritime merchants cannot get rich overnight; The imperial court cracked down on smuggling, and sooner or later the Jin merchants were wiped out; The monopoly of the salt industry will be completely abolished, and it is impossible for micro-businesses to dominate the two Huai. Wait for the British Empire to come to China with foreign guns and cannons. Hui merchants could neither resist it nor corrode it, so they had to be completely finished. Many years later, he learned from Xie Lingyun again and developed tourism.

Zhu Pingjin and his family are working hard in Shudi, and they also have such rights dependents.

Zhu Pingjin engaged in smuggling in Yazhou, and less than a year later, Hong Qihui reported to his wife that Yazhou businessmen had formed a small Yazhou business group. This group is a staunch supporter of the Shu Palace.

Hong Qihui's words said the first half, but did not say the second half.

What is the second half? That is, his Hong family, Fu Yuanxiu's family, and Liu Daozhen's family are all leaders of this Yashang group. The gentry, who had opposed them and turned back in time, were also members of this group.

His wife blew the wind on Zhu Pingjian's pillow and said why Liu Daozhen was in a hurry to take Lushan County and Linguan? Isn't it Lushan County and Linguan that control the Linguan Road of the Ancient Tea Horse Road and block the financial road of Yashang Group?

His wife also said that since this Yashang group is an accessory of Zhu Pingjin's rights, there is no need to move it. Since the right is rented out, a little rent must be collected back. Yazhou fully supports the Shu Wangfu, which is the best rent paid by this group. If you want to weaken this group in the future, you only need to open a few more border trade outlets: for example, the Silkworm Cliff Pass in Dujiangyan, the Baishui Pass in Long'an Mansion, and so on.

Zhu Pingjin retorted to his wife and said, isn't the fastest way to collect rent be to play mahjong and have a family raider?

……

The Hui merchant group, which was once glorious in the Ming and Qing dynasties, died out with the decline of the Qing Empire and the invasion of Western powers. However, the first time the Huishang Group showed its weak original form was in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen.

The Chongzhen court was short of salaries, and the salt merchants tried their best to fish. Hui Shang held a large amount of waste paper-like salt, wanting to cry without tears.

To add insult to injury, those who went out to work could not earn their money back, and their families suffered another disaster.

Affected by the Xiaoice Period, from the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Huizhou suffered a three-year drought. The red land is thousands of miles, and the mountains and trees are scorched. There is a shortage of food in the local area, so it can be brought in from other places. However, this catastrophe is not a disaster in one region of Huizhou, but a catastrophe in the entire south of the Yangtze River and north of the Yangtze River.

Suzhou, a place of humanities on the same level as Hangzhou, has also encountered a once-in-a-century famine. In addition to Suzhou, Songjiang was the hardest hit area. In addition, almost all of the prefectures in Jiangnan are not spared.

The main transportation channel in Huizhou is the Xin'an River, the river is still the same, and the grain ships in Hangzhou can go directly to Tunxi. However, although the situation in Zhejiang is better than that of Nanzhili, how much grain can be transferred to Huizhou with a Zhejiang province that is too busy to take care of itself? Even if it is transferred, it is also a place like Suzhou and Songjiang that is relatively close, and it will never be reluctant to seek far.

Huizhou, the back garden of Nanjing, suddenly became a forgotten corner.

The grain price of more than five taels for three consecutive years instantly sucked up the wealth accumulated in Huizhou for 300 years. She is like a once wide dilapidated house, revealing the weakness of its heritage.

……

After the defeat of Xinyang, Zhang Xianzhong avoided the main direction of attack of Zuo Liangyu's department, entered Anhui to the east, and relied on the Ying and Huoshan mountains at the junction of Anhui, Henan, and Huguang provinces, that is, the Dabie Mountains, and the time and time coincided with the Fifth Battalion of the Revolution Zuo, which had been fighting in this area for a long time, and seriously threatened Luzhou, Anqing and other prefectures in Nanzhili.

Nanzhili was the first capital region of the Ming Dynasty, equipped with a large number of guards, and the overall military strength was not weaker than that of Huguang. In order to exterminate the thieves, the officers and troops who can fight in Nanzhili have gone into battle, and recently Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo have been chasing the thieves, and there are victories and defeats from time to time.

The tug-of-war between officials and thieves and the Jiangdong disaster are the first-hand materials of the current situation that Qiu Zigong has mastered. After repeated thoughts, he personally wrote a secret letter to Zhu Pingjin on the ship.

The Jiangdong region was not only the foundation of the imperial court's taxes, but also the main supply place for the officials and troops of the Southern Zhili. In Suzhou and Songjiang alone, the grain tax is as high as 2.5 million and 960,000 stones, forming the famous "Jiangnan Heavy Tax Zone". Now that there is a great drought in Zhejiang, the imperial court still refuses to reduce or reduce taxes, even if it does not cause chaos, the combat effectiveness of the official army of Nanzhili will inevitably be severely defeated. Therefore, his prediction of the future of the Jiangdong region is that "the north of the Yangtze River is in turmoil, and the south of the Yangtze River is in small turmoil".

Although pessimistic about the future of Jiangdong, Qiu Zigong also believes that Zhejiang, which is rich and has a sudden natural disaster, will inevitably recover in a few years, and the speed of recovery is much faster than that of the Central Plains, and even faster than that of Sichuan. Therefore, if Zhu Pingjin wants to win the world, he must not sit idly by and watch the major cities in the south and north of the Yangtze River being taken away by thieves or Tartars and becoming the base for their army expansion. Even if the Shu army can't hold these areas for a long time in the future, it should go back and forth with them and fight for them repeatedly.

At this time, Qiu Zigong clearly reminded Zhu Pingjin from the perspective of a scholar that the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty in history were all in the unfavorable situation of the Central Plains, relying on the wealth of the south of the Yangtze River, and finally stabilized their foothold.

And Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, first used Huaisi to determine the south of the Yangtze River, and then the Northern Expedition successfully determined the world.

As a final conclusion, he made a famous suggestion to Zhu Pingjian: "Divide the river and rule".

After receiving his letter, Zhu Pingjin approved a sentence with a quill pen and forwarded it to a number of confidants and ministers for circulation.

Zhu Pingjin's sentence is: "Guarding the river must guard Huai!" Anshu will be Anhan! ”

……

In this letter, Qiu Zigong also used what he saw and heard to demonstrate Zhu Pingjin's strategic vision of "distributing Buren" in Jiangdong.

Qiu Zigong believes that Sichuan is "like the bottom of a pot" and can easily be blocked by the outside world. If the thieves or Tartars encompass the world, Sichuan will be unable to resist the power of the whole world with the power of a province.

Therefore, we should focus on the control of the Yangtze River waterway, focus on the construction of the Yangtze River water division, and look for a few key cities outside the Three Gorges that can be held for a long time. For example, Huguang, Yiling, Jingzhou, Yueyang, Wuchang, Hukou or Jiujiang in Jiangxi.

Qiu Zigong Road, occupied Yiling, and controlled the entrance and exit of the Three Gorges; occupied Jingzhou, and blocked Changde; occupied Yueyang, and held Dongting Lake and Xiangjiang; Occupying Wuchang threatened Xiangyang on the Han River; Occupy Hukou and Jiujiang, you can peek into the whole Jiangxi with the Ganjiang River.

These key cities are built on water, and they can be won by water divisions; abundant in food to feed enough people; The city is large and strong, and can be heavily armed to control important areas.

Qiu Zigong suggested that Zhu Pingjin immediately proceed to take Yiling. Yiling is the outlet of the Three Gorges, a Nanjin Pass that towers over the middle of the river, threatening all ships entering and leaving the river. If it is not captured in time, Sichuan is in danger of being drowned at the bottom of the pot.

Regarding the idea of dealing with the victims, Qiu Zigong believes that these hundreds of thousands of victims are not a burden to Sichuan, but a precious wealth, and they are "the wealth of the world."

He talked about three reasons: people's hearts, physical fitness, and the proportion of Ding Zhuang.

These victims have traveled thousands of miles to read the sorrows of the world, and if they are timely and gracious, they will be able to make them grateful to Dade; People who can walk to the river have excellent physical fitness, because those with poor health have long been eliminated on the road; Ding Zhuang has a surprisingly high proportion, about one in three to four people.

If all these victims are relocated to Shu, although it will cause great pressure on the food supply of Shu in the short term, after a year or two, when they open up the wasteland to grow food, then it will continue to bring more benefits to Shu.

In addition to cultivating wasteland, this group of victims is also a huge source of soldiers. He estimated that there were at least more than 100,000 Ding Zhuang. If "one of the three signatures is a soldier, you can get 30,000 soldiers in a moment." Teach the battle array, and you can get several strong armies in October. To make it gallop south of the Yangtze River, who can be its leader? ”

Such a rich amount of human resources, if Shu does not take it, the officials and soldiers will take it, and it will become a trouble in the future; If it is coerced by thieves, it will endanger the future of the world.

In the end, Qiu Zigong reminded Zhu Pingjin with the 5,000-stone ship he saw.

"If you want to restore the ancestral business of the Zhu family, you need not to forget that Meng Yuan won the world on horseback, and Taizu won the world with a boat!"

He once again suggested that Zhu Pingjin "if you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools", train sailor talents early, build a large-scale shipyard, and build a large-scale and sophisticated sailor warship.

Qiu Zigong sent this secret letter and immediately asked to see Zheng Eryang, the governor of Anhui, and promised him to transport all the victims. However, in addition to being responsible for transporting the victims to Yiling, the government also had to give him 10 large ships of more than 2,000 stones, so that he would have enough ships to transport the victims back to Shu. Otherwise, these victims will stay in Yiling, and they will definitely bring disaster to Jingzhou. At that time, there was a disturbance in Huguang, and both the Shu Wangfu and the Governor Zheng could not afford to benefit.

Uncle Shu's generous response overjoyed Governor Zheng, who was anxious about the refugee issue. He immediately agreed to Qiu Zigong's request, and even gave him dozens of more than 500 to 3,000 stone double boats. In fact, what the governor was most worried about was that the Ying and Huo thieves would go down the mountain and coerce these victims into thieves. In that case, Luzhou and Anqing will inevitably be in flames and devastated.

But Zheng Eryang has never been to Sichuan. He did not know that a ship of more than a thousand stones would absolutely not be able to pass through the Three Gorges Shoal during the dry season in winter. Qiu Zigong brought a 2,000-stone ship, and the purpose was never to pull away the displaced people.

Leaving people to deal with the affairs of the victims, Qiu Zigong continued his journey and arrived in Nanjing with Huang Jin and Yu Jie's official ships.

Nanjing, the "land of gold dust of the Six Dynasties", is Qiu Zigong's main destination.

Although Nanjing does not have a feudal domain, it has a large number of founding dignitaries and civil and military officials, so a high-grade and background money bank is to be opened; The collection of taxes by the Nanjing Household Department on behalf of the Beijing Household Department is related to the realization of the financial plan of Zhu Pingjian, the son of Shu Shizi, so the relevant heavyweight officials must meet with them.

Qiu Zigong stayed in Nanjing for more than ten days, and through the introduction of Huang Jin, he met with the officials of the Nanjing Military Department and the Household Department, and invited several relatives and eunuchs who would inevitably have to deal with them in the future to drink flower wine, among which the heavyweights included Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, Liu Kongzhao, the sincerity of the Bo, Liu Kongzhao, the Xin (Xin) Chengbo, Zhao Zhilong, the Cheng Anbo, Guo Zuoyong, and the Nanjing Town Guard Eunuch Han Zanzhou and others, sent some special products unearthed in Shudi, and also bought a few beauties to give away.

After gaining the support of the officialdom and the favor of the people in Nanjing, Qiu Zigong left Nanjing to Zhenjiang by car, and continued southward through Suzhou to Hangzhou, the end of the canal.

The purpose of his visit to Hangzhou was to come to the famous West Lake to relax himself; The second is to fulfill Zhu Pingxin's entrustment to him, through contact with Jiangnan celebrities, to promote the benevolence of the Shu Palace, and to find a suitable "point".

Qiu Zigong was busy with social affairs in Nanjing, while Yu Jie opened the way with an official ship and took important affairs entrusted by Zhu Pingjin and supplies such as soap and food to Suzhou.

In Nanjing, each stone of grain is 228 yuan, and 20,000 stone of grain is sold out in one day; In Suzhou, 20,000 stone of grain was sold out in an hour, and each stone of grain was three taels and two dollars.

In the end, the remaining more than 10,000 stone of grain followed Yu Jie's official ship north through the canal, and they were to be sold in the area between Xuzhou and Yanzhou. The price of grain in Shandong has been as high as 7 to 15 taels, and thousands of people die of hunger and freeze every day.

But compared to Henan, the epicenter of the disaster, Shandong is a paradise. In some parts of Henan, even if there are mountains of gold and silver, they cannot be exchanged for a handful of rice and grain.