Although the façade outside the Shandong Hall is a magnificent three-story pavilion, after passing the attic, there is a quiet courtyard inside.

The lobby of the main house in the middle is where the businessmen meet, different from other home decorations, the furniture in the lobby is not the Taishi chair, but a brown leather sofa, the sofa is very thick and stocky, and the exposed structure of the armrest skeleton is not wood, but marble!

At this time, the lobby was already full of big businessmen dressed in luxurious clothes and wearing hats, although the sofa was very soft and comfortable, but the big businessmen were all sitting on pins and needles, and their fat buttocks kept moving around, and their eyes were looking in the direction of the door.

"Everyone, don't be impatient, the military officials will definitely come."

There are two sofas in the main seat of the north of the lobby, and a middle-aged member on the sofa on the right is more determined to comfort everyone.

On the couch on the left, the seats are empty.

"President Qian, it's the New Year soon, if the military officials don't come today, then we have to take advantage of the New Year's greetings to come to the door to talk about things." One person said in a hurry.

Sitting on the sofa on the right is the president of the Bianjing branch of the Shandong Chamber of Commerce, the largest rice and grain merchant in Bianjing.

"Don't worry......"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chairman Qian's eyes suddenly lit up when he looked at the door, and then he immediately got up and strode forward.

"Speaking of Cao Cao Cao and Cao Cao, aren't the big officials coming!"

When everyone heard this, they turned around, and sure enough, they saw Wu Zhi walking into the lobby with Brother Yun and Jiang Jing.

"Haha! You've been waiting for a long time, but I'm not Cao Cao who would rather be the world's people! Wu Zhi laughed.

The speaker has no intention, but the listener has the intention. At this juncture, everyone listened to Wu Zhi say such things, and suddenly felt a lot more at ease, and the military officials said that if they don't live up to us, they will definitely not fail us, and it seems that there is still room for maneuver in the matter of increasing commercial taxes.

Everyone got up to greet them, and President Qian and several branch presidents bowed down and said, "Meet the military officials, Mr. Yun, Mr. Jiang, I can be regarded as looking forward to you!" After speaking, he introduced Wu Zhi to a few big-bellied members around him and said: "These are representatives of businessmen from Shanxi, Jiangnan, Sichuan and other places, and today's meeting is related to my Great Song Dynasty business luck, so all business colleagues are very concerned." ”

Wu Zhi politely hugged his fists and said a few words to the businessmen one by one.

After the development and growth of the Shandong Chamber of Commerce, Shanxi, Sichuan, Jiangnan and other places have learned to establish their own regional chambers of commerce, but those chambers of commerce are very small in scale and have limited role, and businessmen from all over the country still respect the Shandong Chamber of Commerce.

In fact, now the Shandong Chamber of Commerce is no longer limited to the Shandong region, the entire northern part of the Great Song Dynasty and the four prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River have branches of the Shandong Chamber of Commerce, and some people in the Chamber of Commerce have suggested to Wu Zhi countless times to change the name of the Shandong Chamber of Commerce to the Great Song Chamber of Commerce, so that Wu Zhi is the president of the Great Song Chamber of Commerce.

However, these suggestions were shelved by Wu Zhi, because although the business circles in Shandong and the north have now been integrated, Zhu Mian's family still has a lot of minions in the business community, and before getting rid of Zhu Mian's power, Wu Zhi did not dare to accept businessmen from Shanxi, Sichuan, especially the Jiangnan region, to join the union for the time being.

"Wu Daguan, let's stop talking nonsense and talk about commercial taxes!"

The representatives of other regions obviously had opinions about Wu Zhi, and the tone of their speech was also very polite.

"Yes, please be seated."

Wu Zhi secretly smiled bitterly, but his face was very calm.

He knew the dissatisfaction in the hearts of those businessmen, which was no secret in the business circles of the Great Song Dynasty, everyone knew that it was because Wu Zhi offended Zhu Mian that Zhu Mian proposed to increase the business tax to retaliate against Wu Zhi, because Wu Zhi was the largest businessman in the Great Song Dynasty and the leader of the largest merchant group...... And the other businessmen felt that they were affected by Wu Zhi, so they naturally had a lot of criticism of Wu Zhi.

If Wu Zhi does not offend the powerful Zhu Mian, where will there be such a thing as a tax increase?

Indeed, the tax increase was caused by Wu Zhi, and the businessmen within the Chamber of Commerce shared the honor and disgrace with Wu Zhi, so they naturally did not dare to say much, and outsiders were not so polite.

"Great official, I have heard that the matter of the imperial court raising business taxes by three times has been determined on the Dongfu side, and there is nothing he can do about Uncle Murong Guo?" After everyone sat down in turn, Chairman Qian asked cautiously.

"This ......"

Wu Zhi paused and continued, "Uncle Murong Guo has indeed done his best! ”

"Great official!"

An anxious branch leader immediately stood up, realizing that he was out of shape, he said slowly: "It's about the life and death of all the businessmen of my Great Song Dynasty, everyone knows that you have a great relationship with Uncle Murong, so you can let him insist on opposing it again, he is what Uncle Guo and his ministers dare not do to him!" ”

"Yes! The commercial tax has been increased by three times, how can we businessmen live? You are always with the king, and you are deeply favored by Your Majesty, but you also advise Your Majesty! ”

"It's really not good, it's okay to ask the queen mother to blow the wind on Your Majesty's pillow! Raising so many business taxes is tantamount to killing chickens and eggs! ”

……………

As soon as the businessmen heard the helplessness in Wu Zhi's words, they expected that the matter had really been finalized as rumored, and they all immediately shouted bitterly to Wu Zhi.

Wu Zhi leisurely picked up the teacup and took a sip of hot tea, and then said in a meaningful and slow voice: "I won't hide it from you, the book on the matter of taking one-tenth of the commercial tax has been finalized, and the order will be issued to implement the national ......... at the beginning of the dynasty next year" Seeing everyone's ugly faces, Wu Zhi continued: "Also, Uncle Murong Guo will not take care of this matter, and I will not mention half a word in front of His Majesty." The queen has never asked about court affairs, so don't think about it. ”

Everyone in the hall was dumbfounded, although they had expected that things were not good, but when they heard Wu Zhi say it himself, and he was so resolute, they were puzzled for a while, and naturally they were all confused.

Seeing that everyone was stunned, Wu Zhi smiled and continued: "What you said just now is right, if Uncle Murong Guo insists, plus I persuade the official family, the matter of raising taxes may not be implemented." ”

"But ......"

"But what?!"

Wu Zhi was halfway through his words, and the representative of the Shanxi businessman below immediately couldn't sit still, blushed angrily, jumped into the hall and pointed at Wu Zhi's nose and said: "Wu Zhi, I'll make it clear to you today, the matter of increasing the commercial tax is all because of you, and you must be responsible for this matter!" ”

"You don't have the eyesight to see that you have offended Lord Zhu Mian, and all our businessmen have suffered losses with you, and you are still here to talk shamelessly, it is really shameless!" The merchant representative in Jiangnan also stood up and scolded.

"In short, you have to find a way to solve this matter of Wu Zhi!" The representative of the businessman in Sichuan was not so mean.

Wu Zhi on the first seat has already sunk his face, he has held a meeting in this Shandong Chamber of Commerce for so long, and no one has dared to jump out and interrupt him.

"You have been rude.........

Chairman Qian saw that Wu Zhi's face was not good, so he got up and said, in fact, he felt in his heart that in addition to being rude, the reason was right, what did the Wu officials think in their hearts, did he want to watch the businessmen suffer?

"Who dares to be presumptuous in my Shandong Chamber of Commerce?!"

At this moment, a vigorous angry shout came from outside the lobby, and everyone was startled by this sound, and Wu Zhi also raised his eyes to look outside.

"Lao Wang!"

After Wu Zhi saw the person who was coming, he immediately stood up.

"Lao Liu? Old Xiao! You're ......... so soon."

The person who came was none other than Wang Gang, Liu An and Xiao Rang, who were supposed to be on the way to Bianjing in Qingzhou, but they suddenly appeared here, and Wu Zhi and the Chamber of Commerce and others were surprised.

"Haha! I already knew that the big officials were going to come to the Chamber of Commerce for a meeting today, so we had to give up our baggage and hurry up! Liu An smiled briskly.

"Great official, it's been a long time!" Xiao Rang excitedly hugged Wu Zhi's fist.

"Brother, it seems that your meeting is not going well! Ha ha! Wang Gang said with a smile, his originally extremely delicate old face was full of dust.

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Wu Zhi hugged the three of them: "Some words haven't been said clearly, misunderstanding and misunderstanding........."

"President Wang, President Liu, and Manager Xiao, let's sit down and talk first!" President Qian said respectfully.

"Okay, sit down first."

Wang Gang, Liu An, and their group of Qingzhou businessmen are all people who have cadres and shares of the Great Song Bank, and they have a high status in the Chamber of Commerce. And Xiao Rang sat with Brother Yun Jiang Jing, and the position was also at the front.

After everyone sat down, Wu Zhi changed his cold face and said to the representatives who were still angry: "Although the commercial tax is caused by me, I Wu Zhi supports the tax increase, and I have supported it from beginning to end!" You can say in good conscience that even if the tax is increased by one-tenth, it will really make you unable to live? ”

"Huh! Okay, Wu Zhi, since you have made this clear, then we have nothing to say, you should explain this matter to the businessmen in your own Chamber of Commerce! ”

When the Jiangnan merchant representative heard Wu Zhi's explanation, he stopped staying, waved his sleeves, and then turned around and left angrily with several other representatives.

"Let's go!"

"No."

For these businessmen who don't know their background, even if they don't leave, Wu Zhi will find an excuse to take them away.

After the representatives left, the remaining members of the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce all looked at Wu Zhi directly.

"Big official, you just deliberately spoke to anger them, right?" A businessman asked cautiously.

"I'm telling the truth."

“……………”

Suddenly, all the businessmen present fell into a subtle silence, although they did not dare to openly question Wu Zhi, but the meaning of silence was obvious, Wu Zhi, as the president of the Chamber of Commerce, supported the government that harmed the interests of businessmen so much, and he always had to give an explanation.

"Wu Zhi, why do you want to support the imperial court to increase the commercial tax? That's Zhu Mian's way of dealing with you! The old man hurried over, just to discuss with you to solve this matter, the old man also has some connections in the court........." Wang Gang asked Wu Zhi with a lock of eyebrows.

"Lao Wang, don't worry! You still don't know about the big officials? The big official must have his plan to do this. Liu An was stunned and looked very open.

"Really, the Great Official?"

It's still Lao Liu who knows me. ”

Wu Zhi smiled, then raised his voice and said to everyone in the hall: "Everyone, everyone is a businessman, about the increase in commercial taxes, whether it will hurt our muscles and bones, everyone also knows it, not to mention hurting our muscles and bones, even if it hurts our businessmen's skin, it is not enough!" Therefore, the matter of increasing business taxes is a matter that benefits the country, and I am duty-bound to support it! ”

Wu Zhi's voice was powerful, and then he looked around at everyone, and everyone didn't dare to look at Wu Zhi.

"Our Great Song Dynasty commercial tax has always been the lowest in the world, even Liaoxia is not as good, I heard that the Western Persian countries, the commercial tax is as high as three or four tenths, and the merchants of the people are not starving to death?" After a pause, Wu Zhi continued: "As a businessman, you can't do it for your own selfishness everywhere, but you must also care about the Great Song Dynasty, the national fortune, and the increase in commercial taxes, we just make a little less money, but for my Great Song Dynasty, the treasury is full and the country is prosperous!" ”

Wu Zhi said that these high-sounding words were mainly the meaning of reprimand, and some of them even he didn't believe in himself, such as what about the full treasury, and how much money can really be used in the country? It's not about using the money of businessmen to enrich those corrupt officials.

There are many people below who have such thoughts, but under Wu Zhi's fierce guidance, they don't dare to ask.

There was a chill below, it seemed that Wu Zhi was embarrassed, and it seemed that he was silently protesting against Wu Zhi...... In short, seeing that the reprimand had an effect, Wu Zhi turned his head and nodded slightly to Wang Gang and the others to appease, then slowly got up and left his seat.

"Of course, although I support the imperial court to increase commercial taxes, it is also for everyone, and we businessmen have won a guarantee in the imperial court!"

Wu Zhi's method of speaking is called a slap to a sweet date, and sure enough, as soon as Wu Zhi's words fell, everyone below suddenly raised their heads, and their eyes lit up.

"We know that the martial arts officials will never pit us!"

"What is the guarantee?"

…………

(Starting next month, Coulee will resume daily double watching, please supervise and encourage!) ）

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