Zheng Mingxuan was very hesitant in his heart.

As one of the top two giant businessmen in the entire Jiangnan, he still has the name of an imperial businessman, and his influence in Jiangnan, especially in the shopping malls of Lin'an and Jiankang, is actually far more than Jia Yidao's estimation of him.

Because of this, Zheng Mingxuan knew better what the youngest lord of Lin'an Mansion would face next, and what those giant businessmen were planning.

He naturally knew what Dao Dao Jia was looking for him today, after all, Shi Songzhi's appearance to entertain the famous grain merchant giant in Lin'an Mansion was not a secret in itself.

Zheng Mingxuan naturally couldn't tell Jia Yidao at this time, not only the giants of Lin'an Mansion, especially the grain merchants, but even the gentry of Jiankang Mansion and Qingyuan Mansion had already joined forces and were ready to make a big profit in this upcoming tide of displaced people.

The sense of smell of those famous grain merchants and landlords and gentry far exceeded Jia Nidao's expectations. As early as two months ago, those grain merchants had begun to secretly buy grain from the mansions of the wealthy gentry who had hoarded a large amount of grain in various places, and transported it to Lin'an City to hoard it.

Originally, there has been no movement in the imperial court, and the people who began to hoard food have been shaken, but the earthquake in Huizhou has made everyone like a chicken, not only did not sell the hoarded food in their hands, but stepped up the hoarding of more food, and even some people did not hesitate to borrow money to hoard food, just to make a big profit on the opportunities brought by this natural disaster.

As more and more people rush in and want a piece of the pie, even those grain merchants and tycoons have quietly reached an agreement, that is, anyone who dares to sell grain privately will be suppressed by everyone.

In such a situation, even Zheng Mingxuan had to think about whether he could bear the consequences if he promised Jia Yidao to help him prepare food.

On the one hand, there are famous giant businessmen and gentry in Lin'an Mansion and even Jiankang Mansion, among which there are many old guys who have cooperated with the Zheng family for many years, as well as competitors of the Zheng family, and there are also noble and wealthy gentry who even his Zheng family can't afford to provoke; On the other hand, it is Jia Nidao, who is no longer favored by insiders and is called a scapegoat and a flash in the pan, which is more important, Zheng Mingxuan feels that he has to think about it.

Choosing Jia Nidao means that you have to go against those previous opponents, with your previous partners, and even with those noble and wealthy gentlemen who are deeply hidden, and the input and output are obviously not in contrast.

Zheng Mingxuan's silence made Yu Ci, Zhou Tan, Yang Duo, Qin Shou and others sitting opposite him change color in unison.

Ordinary people may not be very clear about the rumors in the court, but now that they have been branded as Jia Nidao, how can they not know? This promotion, of course, is very risky, but for Jia Nidao and them, isn't it an opportunity?

Zhou Tan and Yang Duo didn't have to wade into this troubled water, but Jia Rudao really didn't have many trustworthy and usable manpower in his hands. Naturally, he set his eyes on these two classmates who have always been friendly to him.

Of course, Jia Rudao did not directly ask them for officials, but told him about his current situation, but mainly about risks. Is there an opportunity in it, if Zhou Tan and Yang Duo can't even see this, there is really no need to solicit it, right?

As for Qin Shou, apart from following Jia Yidao closely, does he have any other choice?

Zhou Tan agreed to enter Lin'an Mansion after thinking about a cup of tea, and Yang Duo was obviously not proportional to his body shape, or he was confused with his understanding, and he should take a bite, and even feared that Jia Yidao would regret it, but this was also in line with his character.

The four of them should be regarded as Jia Rudao's only team in the Great Song Dynasty. Of course, Sun Kui and Du Shuixian are also counted, but the official things can't help Jia Yidao in the slightest.

It is precisely because the four of them are the only team members of Jia Nidao now, so they are more aware of the dilemma that Jia Nidao is facing now, although they also know that Jia Nidao seems to have a lot of benefits from the emperor, but now that the Great Song Dynasty wants money and no money, food and no food, and even this level is not good, what is the use of those benefits that can be seen but not touched?

The rest of the grain merchants have also seen a lot these days, and they can't say that they have hit a wall, but what they get is often just a sentence that there is no grain in the warehouse. This seems to be more direct than hitting a wall, right?

Zheng Mingxuan is not a grain merchant, nor is he a pharmacist, but he is also the only giant businessman who can be regarded as having a trace of incense with Jia Nidao, if even Zheng Mingxuan is unwilling to help, then Jia Nidao's Lin'an Mansion Mansion and those of them who have just joined Jia Nidao's camp seem to be able to count down the dismissal investigation.

When the exiles enter the city, it should be the day when they go to prison.

However, even if Yu Ci and the others were already anxious, and Jia Nidao, who was the lord of the mansion, did not speak, it was not good for them to intervene at this time. In normal times, small businessmen naturally only have their share, but who makes them ask for help now?

Compared with the anxiety of Yu Ci and others, Jia Rudao didn't seem to see Zheng Mingxuan's hesitation at all, but behaved very leisurely, bowing his head from time to time to take a sip of tea, and didn't seem to be worried at all.

The huge lobby of Lin'an Mansion is quiet.

"Lord Fuzun forgives his sins, and the villain dared to ask, I don't know what the Zheng family can do for adults? The villain can provide all the food hoarded by the Zheng family to make wine to the adults, which is the only thing the Zheng family can do for the adults. ”

Zheng Mingxuan knew that Jia seemed to be waiting for his reply, whether he was satisfied or dissatisfied, and gritted his teeth.

In his mind, he really didn't have much place to help Jia Nidao, and if Jia Nidao insisted on letting him sacrifice the entire Zheng family, he would not agree anyway.

"Hehe, let's not talk about what Brother Zheng can do for me. Let me first tell you what this official can do for Brother Zheng. When Jia Rudao heard Zheng Mingxuan's words, his eyes flashed, and then he put the teacup that he had been holding for a long time on the desk, looked at Zheng Mingxuan and said slowly.

Zheng Mingxuan's reply was far beyond his imagination. He was also ready to return a set of conditions.

"First, the monopoly of salt and iron; second, the right of the municipal department to reduce or reduce taxes; Thirdly, there is a holy reward...... The favor of the officer. Of course, there's more to it than I can give. ”

Zheng Mingxuan's face changed instantly when he heard Jia Yidao's words.

The monopoly of salt and iron has been held by the prime minister or the household department since the abolition of the three divisions. The so-called monopoly of salt and iron naturally refers not only to salt and iron, but also to the goods produced in various places, including tea, which belong to the scope of salt and iron.

In the past, the merchants who were able to obtain the monopoly of salt and iron were basically fixed from decades ago, and all of them were controlled by the nobles of the DPRK and China. Even if the ordinary giant businessman is drooling, there is no way to do it. After all, salt and iron and other things are necessities of daily life, and the profits may be small, but they can't help but be large, not to mention, the profits of salt and iron are not small profits at all.

Jia Rudao was able to persuade the emperor and the household department to share part of the profit from the monopoly of salt and iron, maybe only a very small part, but it was enough to make Zheng Mingxuan's heart move.

"Dare to ask my lord, what is the power of the salt and iron franchise?"

"Two ways!" Jia Rudao stretched out two fingers.

In the Song Dynasty, the local administrative organs were divided by roads, with the government under the road and the county under the government. Therefore, this road is equivalent to one province and two roads in later generations, that is, the monopoly rights of two provinces.

"Phew!"

Even if he knew that the monopoly of Lu Dao still needed to pay silver taels to the imperial court before he could sell salt, iron and other things, especially salt, but the imperial court came out in two ways at once, which made Zheng Mingxuan gasp.

looked at Jia Yidao's eyes, but he couldn't help but change a little.

It is not surprising to Zheng Mingxuan that the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Household Department can promise to divide the power of the salt and iron franchise, and it is known that the current Prime Minister Qiao Xingjian basically can't interfere with the Household Department, and the son of Yu Tianxi, the head of the Household Department, is sitting opposite him, which is basically not much difficulty.

However, the important point of this matter is not in the household department, but in the nobles who originally held the power of the two salt and iron monopolies, and the person who can persuade them to give up the right to give up the two salt and iron monopolies can only be the current emperor.

With this discovery, Zheng Mingxuan knew that the rumors spread by the giant businessmen outside that the emperor intended to kill this Uncle Jia Guo were obviously too much water. If the emperor really wants to kill this Uncle Jia, it is obviously impossible to personally persuade those greedy nobles to hand over the right of this salt and iron monopoly.

"The right to tax incentives for the city? Forgive the villain for being stupid, and ask Lord Fuzun to solve his doubts. ”

Zheng Mingxuan didn't ask which two roads it was, no matter which two roads it was, Jia Rudao had obviously shown enough sincerity to him. After all, he hadn't heard Jia Yidao tell any of the grain merchant magnates he had met with about the right to monopolize salt and iron.

Thinking of this, Zheng Mingxuan couldn't help but be surprised, or maybe this young lord didn't say it, but had already said it, but they just didn't know what to do.

So, if someone has heard the same three conditions, is there already someone among those who are still swearing to others that they are advancing and retreating together? Or how many people have defected?

"The tax and tax rates of the municipal department have long been in place. After this disaster relief, the Holy Council will change the taxes of the cities and cities in the Song Dynasty, and Lin'an Mansion, Jiankang Mansion, Qingyuan Mansion and other important port areas will add new city shipping divisions. ”

Jia Rudao explained succinctly.

Everyone is a smart person, and that's enough.

Obviously, the city department is not only a change in tax collection, but also obviously the city department will add many branches, not like now, only in Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other places with the city department, such as Lin'an Mansion is just a symbol, Jiankang Mansion is not at all.

In this way, presumably in the future, when various cargo ships travel, the tax must increase by several points, right?

Zheng Mingxuan was not only not happy with the news, but was a little worried.

"Hehe, Brother Zheng doesn't have to worry. The new market department will only be more reasonable than the current market department, and will not collect taxes indiscriminately, let alone repeat taxes in various places. You can rest assured about this, as for what will happen, Brother Zheng will know at that time. ”

"The Emperor Shengming!"

Hearing Jia Yidao say this, Zheng Mingxuan didn't dare to say anything more even though he was still skeptical in his heart.

"So, what does Brother Zheng think?"

Jia Rudao naturally knew that Zheng Mingxuan was obviously very interested in the right of the salt and iron franchise, but he didn't believe much in the new city division, but this had nothing to do with him, he just needed to solve his troubles as soon as possible now.

These days, at the request of Jia Yidao, the Detective Department has deliberately strengthened Jiangnan East Road, especially Huizhou, Xinzhou, Hengzhou, and other state capitals that are most seriously drought, and are closest to Lin'an City.

Several large waves of displaced people are forming.

Although Shi Songzhi said that he went out of Beijing to suppress bandits, but Jia Rudao knew that the suppression of bandits was actually just Shi Songzhi's sideline, and it was Shi Songzhi's most important task to escort the grain, grass and weapons provided by Lin'an City to Meng Heng to support the Battle of Xiangyang.

Therefore, Shi Songzhi is basically unreliable, and it is even more impossible for him to give Meng Hui's military rations to those homeless people, and Jia Rudao is convinced of this. After all, the life or death of the exiles has nothing to do with him, but Meng Hui's battle of Xiangyang is fundamentally related to whether his Shi clan can gain a firm foothold in the court.

Since Shi Songzhi is unreliable, it seems that the only place where the displaced people can come is Lin'an City.

"My lord, if you need anything, just ask."

"Okay, Brother Zheng is really refreshing."

Jia Rudao high-fived, he had long expected that Zheng Mingxuan would promise to help him.

No merchant can refuse the **** of the salt and iron monopoly.

In fact, what Zheng Mingxuan didn't know was that Jia Yidao had only told him about these conditions. Of course, it is not that the benefits that Jia Yidao said are fake, on the contrary, the benefits he wants from Zhao Yun are far more than these.

Zhao Yun was hot-headed at that time and agreed to the strong recommendation of Qiao Xingjian and others, and in the next few days, after learning about the situation that Lin'an City was about to face, he was furious but there was no way, he couldn't just issue an edict to withdraw Jia Nidao.

I had to grit my teeth and let Qiao Xingjian pit this handful. These conditions were also provided by him in order to make up for Jia Yidao's psychological trauma.

Of course, these conditions are enough for Jia Yidao to buy any giant businessman, and he also believes that any grain merchant will immediately defect when he sees this condition. But it wasn't what he wanted, he obviously wanted more.

The reason why Zheng Mingxuan was able to hear these benefits was that his sentence of providing all the grain for brewing to Jia Yidao could be said to have played the biggest role. Otherwise, I'm afraid Jia Yidao still won't say these conditions.

With these benefits promised by Zhao Yun in hand, Jia Rudao was not worried at all that those greedy giant businessmen would refuse.

"The right to monopolize salt and iron on the two roads, if you want to come to Brother Zheng, you also know that Brother Zheng's family can't eat it. Therefore, I hope that Brother Zheng can contact some credible and reliable friends for his official to share the power of these two salt and iron monopolies. ”

"Yes, sir."

"I need Brother Zheng's trusted and reliable friends to be able to stock up on as much food, medicinal herbs, and other things as possible for my officials, if Brother Zheng has no objections, I will ask Gongming to contact Brother Zheng later. Of course, these grains, the saint and the official do not have much silver to pay Brother Zheng, and they need Brother Zheng and Brother Zheng's friends to pay in advance, and the value should be deducted from the right to monopolize salt and iron, what does Brother Zheng think? ”

"Villain, obey the orders of adults."

Looking at Qin Shou, who was holding his fists at him, Zheng Mingxuan bowed down and answered, and then said with some embarrassment: "My lord, most of the grain in Lin'an Mansion, including Jiankang Mansion and Qingyuan Mansion, has been hoarded by six or seven giant merchants such as the Qian family, the Song family, and the Du family, and the villain and others are afraid that they will not be able to buy too much food." ”

"Brother Zheng tries to hoard food as much as possible, if the food is not enough, everything that should be eaten such as bran can be hoarded in large quantities. However, eating bran can accumulate up to 30% of the total amount of food. ”

"Yes, sir!"

Although he didn't understand what to do with hoarding bran that could only be fed to pigs, Zheng Mingxuan obviously knew at this time that he had no choice but to obey orders.

At this time, he regretted it, not only Jia Yidao would not let him go, but first of all, he would not let him go, I am afraid that it was the one in the imperial city.

"I don't need Brother Zheng and Brother Zheng's friends who are willing to share the worries of the saint to do loss-making business. You don't need to compete with those who raise the price of grain, you just need to buy it secretly, everything is arranged by the official, and I promise that in addition to the previous benefits, this time you will make a lot of money! ”

The corners of Jia Rudao's mouth curled slightly, and he looked at Zheng Mingxuan and said with a smile.

This uncle's demagogic words are very good! Zheng Mingxuan secretly said in his heart: Thank God for not losing too much this time, and the bowl of money is full...... Zheng Mingxuan never thought about it.

It's just that seeing Jia Yidao so confident, he also has a little drum in his heart. But Jia didn't say anything, and he didn't dare to ask.

"Hehe, those who want to make a fortune from this natural disaster, if the official doesn't let them suffer well, how can they be worthy of the saint." Jia seemed to smile very much, gritting his teeth a little.

Zheng Mingxuan, who heard this, was shocked again. Obviously, this uncle is definitely not a vegetarian master, on the contrary, he is very resentful. You don't have to think about it, even if you don't let those who fall into the well hurt once this time, this uncle will not let them go after the end.

Being targeted by such a master, I'm afraid that no one will have a good time.

Zheng Mingxuan was suddenly a little glad that he had just been forced to make a choice. Naturally, he didn't know how lucky he was, but now he was just glad that only two or three months later, he knew how lucky he was.

"I only need my own people, so Brother Zheng must find some reliable friends. You will find out how right you and the choice you made today, and I think those friends of Brother Zheng will be grateful to you. ”

"Thank you for your support, the villain and others will live up to the trust of adults!"

"Ha Luha, that ...... I wish us a happy cooperation! ”

Jia Yidao looked at Zheng Mingxuan and blinked, and Da Lu said with a smile.

Yu Ci and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief until this moment, but the eyes that looked at Jia Yidao were different. The four of them have begun to pray for the rich businessmen who are still dreaming of making a fortune.