readx; In this inconspicuous courtyard, the people who secretly met were Zhu Youzhen, the Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming Empire, Zhu Cunqi, the concubine Li, and their old friend, Li Zicheng, the leader of the Shaanxi Shang Gang. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

And the Wuzhou Trading Company, which has recently caused a sensation in Beijing, is naturally also from the planning of Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Cunqi. The two had long expected that the appearance of the Wuzhou Trading Company would inevitably attract the attention of the major merchant gangs, and Li Zicheng would become Zhu Youzhen's "spy", which those big businessmen never expected.

Li Zicheng first told Zhu Youzhen about his participation in the banquet. Since the major merchant gangs had different ideas, and the coal shops did not threaten their existing business, the merchant gangs did not plan to immediately suppress the Wuzhou trading companies. However, the three major merchant gangs of Longyou, Luliang and Huizhou unanimously proposed that they should keep an eye on the movements of the Wuzhou trading companies, and once they intervened in other industries, the merchant gangs should make every effort to block them, and if necessary, they could also use their relations with the government to find ways to make the Wuzhou trading companies unable to do so.

Zhu Youzhen smiled coldly after hearing this: "As expected, in the face of new competitors, this group of businessmen is not thinking about how to actively deal with them by legal means, let alone improving their own business and service level, but only thinking about how to coerce their opponents so that they dare not compete with them." Such a business gang can no longer play a positive role, and it is completely a monopoly organization. But one thing they were right about was that I would never just open a coal shop. I'd like to see how they can stop the Wuzhou Trading Company! ”

"Long live the Lord, there is something unknown about the grass people." Li Zicheng smiled cautiously, "You are now the Son of Heaven and you are busy with government affairs, why do you still care about such trivial matters as doing business?" In addition, long live the power, what do you want these merchants to do, a holy decree is issued, they have to obey, why bother so much? ”

"You don't understand that." Zhu Youzhen said jokingly, "Doing business is not a trivial matter, but a major matter related to the national economy and people's livelihood. Since ancient times, China has valued agriculture and suppressed commerce, and regarded commerce as the 'last business', which may have been correct in the past. But needless to say, you have worked hard in the business world for many years, and naturally you know that now the industry and commerce in Jiangnan are very developed, and maritime trade has long been an open secret, the proportion of grain trade in the total volume of all goods transactions is decreasing, and the wealth in the hands of merchants is also increasing. Therefore, it is neither timely nor at all inappropriate to suppress business now. Now that the imperial court is spending huge amounts of money and is in financial difficulties, I asked Concubine Li to invest in the establishment of the Wuzhou Trading Company, which is simply to make money and get a piece of the pie from the business world. ”

"As for why we used such a secret method," Zhu Youzhen paused and said, "I am also forced to do so. At present, there is no unified method for the imperial court to collect taxes from merchants, and there are still many merchants who collude with officials, and these officials all speak to them, wanting them to pay taxes honestly like farmers, but I am afraid that it will not be so easy. In the past, the eunuchs in various towns were responsible for collecting commercial taxes, and rich places like Huzhou and Suzhou only collected a few hundred taels of silver a year, isn't this a joke? So I had no choice but to go beyond the line and let Concubine Li run the Wuzhou Trading Company for me. ”

Li Zicheng was already sweating profusely when he heard this, because the businessmen mentioned by Zhu Youzhen naturally included their Shaanxi merchant gang. For example, he Li Zicheng did not do anything less than bribing officials to pay less or exempt from paying taxes and silver, and now that Zhu Youzhen has pointed it out, how dare he pretend to be stupid, so he has to kowtow again and again to ask for guilt.

"Li Gongzi, please get up, you can't be blamed for this, it's blamed on the lack of a perfect system in the imperial court." Zhu Youzhen smiled and picked up Li Zicheng and said, "Also, if you say that I have a holy decree, the merchants will have to do what they want, and I will never do this." What I want to create is a commercial society with perfect rules and fair competition, where merchants only need to work honestly, operate legally, and pay taxes according to the rules, and the court will protect their property, rather than deprive them of it under false pretenses. Like you, the Shaanxi Merchant Gang, you have always been honest in doing business, and you never use those indiscriminate means, so when I became the king of the domain, I chose to cooperate with your gang. ”

Li Zicheng is so smart, how can he not hear that Zhu Youzhen still has the intention of cooperating with him, and hurriedly said: "Long live the master, but there are orders, the grass people and the Shaanxi merchant gang should obey the edict." ”

"I really want to use your help." Zhu Youzhen said slowly, "But now it is different from the past, I have become an emperor, and everything must be done from the overall situation and be impartial." If you do business according to my wishes, there may not be any benefits in the short term, and the cost will increase greatly. However, I will create a fair environment for your gang, whether it is the government or my peers, if they want to use other means than business to deal with your gang, I will also punish them unceremoniously. In other words, your gang has to rely entirely on its own ability to develop, what does Li Gongzi think? ”

"The grass people's lives were all saved by the Long Live Lord, even if the Long Live Lord makes the grass people bankrupt now, the grass people are willing!" Li Zicheng hurriedly said, "And as Banzai said, our Shaanxi businessmen are based on integrity, and what we are most afraid of is collusion between officials and businessmen." If there is really a chance to compete fairly, we may not be worse than Jin merchants, Hui merchants, and Zhejiang merchants! ”

Next, Zhu Cunqi, as the behind-the-scenes person in charge of the Wuzhou Chamber of Commerce, discussed specific cooperation matters with Li Zicheng.

First of all, Zhu Cunqi told Li Zicheng that although the government does not collect commercial tax, as a prerequisite for cooperation, all businesses of the Shaanxi merchant gang in Beijing must pay 5% of their sales every month, which is called "business tax"; After the annual closure of the accounts, 10% of the total profit is also paid, which is called "income tax". Not only the Shaanxi Merchant Gang, but also the Wuzhou Trading Company also had to pay these two sums, which was one of the main sources of internal silver envisioned by Zhu Youzhen.

Of course, the Shaanxi merchant gang did not pay this money in vain. Zhu Youzhen promised Li Zicheng that once an official or his peers extorted money from the Shaanxi Business Gang, Li Zicheng could directly report it to him, and he would take necessary measures to severely crack down on him; When Wuzhou Trading Company enters a certain industry, it will try to avoid head-on competition with Shaanxi Business Gang, and can cooperate if possible; When the two sides encounter unfair competition from other business gangs, they can act together to avoid being defeated by their peers.

And what made Li Zicheng most tempted was that the Wuzhou Trading Company could lend one million taels of silver to the Shaanxi Merchant Gang. As long as the Shaanxi Business Gang provides the same amount of collateral, this huge loan will be interest-free!

Compared with other major business gangs, Shaanxi business gangs are in a weak position, and a big reason is the lack of funds. With this million taels of silver, Li Zicheng will be greatly emboldened and do a few big businesses that make money, so he immediately agreed.

After sending Li Zicheng away, Zhu Cunqi said with a little worry: "Long live the purpose of setting up a trading company is to make money, but the interest-free loan is obviously a loss." Although the coal shop is small and profitable, it does not pay much tax now. Now that the money is spending faster, we still have to do some profitable business as soon as possible! ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said, "That's right." With the foreshadowing of the coal store, Wuzhou Trading Company can now attack! ”