After looking at the sub-venues of the discussion group of businessmen from various provinces arranged by the Huitong Hall, Zhu Youzhen took a pencil and sketched out a few venues and said: "This morning, I first talked with businessmen from Shaanxi, northern Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Huguang provinces..."

Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty was a vast administrative region that included the four provinces of Shaanxi, northern Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu in later generations.

At Zhu Youzhen's suggestion, when the merchant representatives were summoned, Shaanxi was divided into two representative areas, Shaanxi and northern Shaanxi. Northern Shaanxi included the Ningxia region, while Shaanxi left the Gansu region.

Although the administrative jurisdiction of Shaanxi is very large, there are not many big merchants, and they are mainly concentrated in Xi'an and Hanzhong.

The merchants of Hanzhong mainly engaged in tea, while the merchants of Xi'an mainly followed the merchants of Shanxi to engage in salt, grain trade, and border trade.

Although it is divided into two parts, Shaanxi and northern Shaanxi, there is basically no difference in the questions raised by the merchant representatives of the two regions. According to the news from the Huitong Pavilion, the representatives of the merchants of the two places often held meetings together.

So Zhu Youzhen simply summoned the merchant representatives from the two places for a meeting, and the 40 merchant representatives plus the emperor's close attendants crowded a large room in the Huangzi Courtyard.

Tian Changhao, a tea merchant in Hanzhong, and Liu Zhao, a merchant in Xi'an, were the leaders of these representatives of merchants from Shaanxi and northern Shaanxi, and on behalf of these merchants, they made a statement to the emperor about the difficulties in doing business that they had summarized in the past few days, and then sat back in panic, waiting for Chongzhen's decision.

"I've read what you've written about the problems you've encountered in the trade, and I've heard your thoughts today.

I believe that many of the questions raised by the delegates are indeed a manifestation of the failure of the imperial court to fulfill its duties.

For example, the road has been in disrepair for many years, resulting in inconvenient transportation. Local thieves swarmed, caravans did not dare to go on the road unless they were assembled into large groups, and so on. These are the responsibilities of the imperial court, and the imperial court should manage them. ”

Hearing that the Emperor did not ignore their questions made the merchant representatives, who had always been vigilant and panicked, relax a little.

Liu Zhao even took the lead in kowtowing to Chongzhen and said, "The Holy Monarch is sympathetic to the suffering of our businessmen, it is really a blessing for our businessmen. We beg Your Majesty to be merciful and reduce the commercial tax of my Shaanxi people, so that my Shaanxi people can have something to eat. ”

The merchant representatives immediately followed suit, trying to get the emperor to exempt the Shaanxi merchants from taxes.

Zhu Youzhen glanced at the Shaanxi merchant representative who couldn't wait to put on his top hat, and said noncommittally: "Everyone get up, I am here to discuss issues with you, not to listen to your praises." ”

Liu Zhao secretly looked up to observe the emperor's expression, and when he saw that the emperor's face was a little gloomy, he immediately took the lead and stood back in his place.

After watching these merchant representatives obediently stand back in place, Zhu Youzhen's face looked a little better, and he continued to speak.

"Merchants are divided into merchants and merchants, and this merchant tax is also divided into customs duties and shop taxes. The commercial taxes levied by the Ming Dynasty have always been mainly tariffs, mainly concentrated on the Yangtze River and the canal waterway. However, the commercial tax in Shaanxi is mainly based on the shop tax, and the tariff is basically very small.

In the past few days, I have studied the people's livelihood in Shaanxi, and found that the main reason is that although Shaanxi is a vast area, the land is barren, and the people are not rich.

Shaanxi people can't even eat, so what other commercial activities can there be? In the past, the largest commercial activity in Shaanxi was the tea and horse exchange with the Mongolians.

But when Shaanxi was hit by the disaster, the Mongols on the steppe were also affected, and their cattle, sheep and horses were constantly dying, and there were not enough horses to trade with us.

And the main place of the Daming tea and horse market, one in Hezhou, the other in Datong, Hezhou is remote, the transportation cost is high, and it is subject to the competition of the Sichuan-Tibet tea and horse market. Datong is located in Shanxi, so the transportation is convenient, and the distance with the Mongolian departments is closer, and the transportation cost is lower.

Therefore, although Shaanxi is large, the power of Shaanxi merchants is very small. even had to rely on Shanxi merchants to support it. ”

Chongzhen's analysis made Shaanxi businessmen nod their heads in agreement, and they only felt more deeply about the increasingly difficult business environment in Shaanxi. In fact, many Shaanxi businessmen have moved their business activities to other provinces, and they have sensed the danger of the large number of displaced people in Shaanxi.

Tian Changhao felt the most painful about the decline of the tea and horse market, and after listening to the emperor's words, he couldn't help but say: "What Your Majesty said is very true, my Han tea and Sichuan tea have always been famous for their sweetness, and they also have an outstanding reputation outside the mouth.

However, the Huguang tea merchants used inferior tea as good tea, sold it to those merchants at a very low price, and even added fake tea to the tea leaves, which also damaged the reputation of our border merchants.

Xiaomin thought that in order to maintain the scale of the tea and horse trade, it was first necessary to prohibit the tea and horse trade of Huguang inferior tea, and only if those merchants restored their trust in our Daming tea merchants, they would come from afar to trade. ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded at Tian Changhao and said: "In the tea and horse trade, the trading activities should be strictly controlled, and those profiteers should not be allowed to harm the interests of legitimate businessmen.

But using the power of the imperial court to ban Huguang tea, I don't think it's good. Today, I can use the power of the imperial court to prohibit Huguang tea from entering the tea and horse trade, so you are not afraid, tomorrow I can use the power of the imperial court to prohibit Shaanxi tea from entering the tea and horse trade? ”

Tian Changhao was suddenly a little at a loss, and said with a smile: "We are all subjects loyal to Your Majesty, Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, why do you want to do this?" ”

Zhu Youzhen said calmly: "The Shaanxi tea merchants are my subjects, aren't the Huguang tea merchants my subjects?" If I ban Shaanxi tea, won't the Huguang tea merchants regard me as the son of the saint? ”

Tian Changhao's legs were weak, and he immediately knelt down and pleaded guilty to Chongzhen. After Zhu Youzhen waved his hand to let him get up, he glanced at the representatives of Shaanxi businessmen present before he spoke.

"Shaanxi is a big agricultural province, and most people rely on agriculture to eat, in other words, they rely on the sky to eat. However, in recent years, the weather has been abnormal, and with the exception of last year, there have been many disasters.

The ancients said that only three years of harvest can accumulate one year's grain. And the famine in Shaanxi these years has long exhausted the savings of the people of Shaanxi, if the next year, and then meet the days of the previous years, can the people of Shaanxi still live?

You should all be from Shaanxi, if Shaanxi is in turmoil, can your family and relatives still live happily? ”

The emperor's questioning made the merchant representatives present forget about the business tax, and aroused their worries about their families, although many of them were ready to move their families away from the remote county town, but it was obviously impossible to move the entire family away.

One is that the fields of the hometown cannot be abandoned, and the ancestral tomb cannot be abandoned. What's more, people leave their hometowns cheaply, and things leave their hometowns expensively. In this society of clan etiquette, it is impossible for outsiders not to be bullied.

It is not a last resort, few people will make this determination to move the entire clan to other places.

Liu Zhao looked at the expressions of his fellow villagers, gritted his teeth, and stepped forward again to bow to Chongzhen and said: "Shengming is no more than the Son of Heaven, Your Majesty cares so much about my Shaanxi people, I will obey Your Majesty's orders, and I only ask Your Majesty to save my Shaanxi people from fire and water." ”

The representatives of the businessmen present immediately followed Liu Zhao's pace and pleaded with Chongzhen one after another. This time, their pleas were more sincere.

Zhu Youzhen stood up and walked to the middle of the businessmen who bowed down to him. He paced and said, "You all expect me to save the Shaanxi people, but to be honest, I don't really have that much energy. The only thing that can really save the people of Shaanxi is you. ”

Zhu Youzhen's words made these businessmen confused, if even the emperor couldn't do it, how could they, the businessmen with a contemptuous status, do it.

Liu Zhao boldly asked: "Xiaomin is stupid, dare to ask Your Majesty what you mean by this?" If you can save your hometown fathers and elders, Xiaomin is willing to go bankrupt, but Xiaomin's family property is just a drop in the bucket for Shaanxi people. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at him and smiled and said, "Even if you count all your family property, it is just to save the Shaanxi people for a while." So don't worry, I am plotting against your possessions. ”

The emperor's words made the merchants finally completely relieved, they really wanted to do something for their hometown fathers, but they also wanted to let them go bankrupt to save the displaced people in Shaanxi, they were also grateful and insensitive.

Zhu Youzhen paced slowly in the aisle and said: "Farming is to eat by watching the sky, if you want to eat without looking at the sky, you have to overhaul the water conservancy.

Before the water conservancy facilities are functional, we must first provide relief to the people affected by the disaster. Or work for relief, by repairing roads to help people.

However, the construction of water conservancy, relief for the victims, and road repairs all cost a huge amount of money and food, but the treasury was empty and could not afford the cost.

So where does the money come from, the ancients said: The way of heaven is to make up for the deficiency when there is more loss. Seven or eight out of ten of my Ming fortunes are gathered in the southeast, and half of the commercial tax of Suzhou is worth the commercial tax of the whole of Shaanxi. As long as the commercial tax could be collected, the imperial court would be able to cover the cost.

The reason why the southeast is rich and the northwest is barren is not because the northwest region has to guard against the Mongols from time to time to go south. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Mongolia has broken through the border more than once, and each time Shaanxi and the northern region have been damaged, but the southeastern provinces have been unharmed again and again.

Why? Aren't we the ones who blocked the invasion of Hulu for them? Shaanxi has made such a huge contribution to the Ming Dynasty, shouldn't the merchants in the southeast pay taxes and help the people of Shaanxi build their homes? ”