New Book Collection: The Rise of Great Powers 1900

――――――――――――

The news of the defeat inevitably spread all over the world, Yang Chao did not try to block the news, but distributed the correct news to the world through the newspaper, telling everyone that the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion could protect everyone's safety, and Yang Jiajun would never let a Tartar enter the Jiangnan region.

But to no avail, the economy inevitably suffered, and prices of all kinds skyrocketed.

The Metropolitan Governor's Office has done its best to stabilize grain prices, and as long as food prices are stable and no one starves to death, there will be no chaos.

Fortunately, there are still 20 million quintals of grain in hand, and the irrational growth of grain will be curbed for a period of time, and the price of grain will be limited to the range of 221 quintals.

However, 20 million taels are useless, and it is indeed enough for one million people to eat for a few years as military rations, but the population under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Governor's Office is at least 80 million, and this grain is not enough for two months, so if you want to suppress the price of grain, you have to negotiate with major grain merchants.

The largest grain merchant in Jiangnan is already the Wang family, Wang Xiao and Yang Chao have always had a close relationship, but the Wang family did not start by Yang Chao's relationship, nor did they rely on Yang Chao's relationship to develop, they were originally a big grain merchant, a predator who operated grain, and Yang Chao just befriended him for safety.

Because of the back of Yang Chao, the Wang family does not have to worry about being suppressed by the imperial court, so although the market has been unstable in recent years, his family's grain business is thriving, there is no food supply in Huguang, the Jiangnan region can only produce and sell itself, and the Wang family just has an unparalleled business network in Jiangnan, their boats on the canal can be seen every day, and tens of thousands of boats give them the ability to deliver millions of loads of grain to any city within ten days.

Yang Chao urgently made an appointment with the Wang family, as long as the Wang family was willing to come forward to stabilize the price of grain. The market won't be chaotic.

This time, it was the Wang family who came forward to talk to Yang Chao in person. Of course, Wang Xiao was introduced in the middle.

It's just that Wang Xiao was a little depressed during this time. He helped the Wang family develop the salt industry, and opened a channel to buy salt directly from Haizhou by sea, and the salt business raised the Wang family to a new level, and it was already a well-deserved wealthy businessman in Jiangnan.

But after the success, Wang Xiao found that the family could suppress him, he didn't want to retire, he was young and enterprising, but the Wang family wanted him to go back to Nanjing to operate. Keep running that little grocery store.

After Wang Xiao returned to Nanjing, where was he in the mood to set up that small grocery store, but he indulged in wine all day long, lingering in the Qinhuai River every day, until he introduced his father this time, he never met Yang Chao.

Master Wang's name is Wang Yihe, he is very old, his hair is gray, his energy is not high, and even his eyes are a little cloudy. Exactly the appearance of an old man on the verge of death.

However, when Wang Yihe was young, he was also a character.

The ancestors of the Wang family were the transporters of the Yuan Dynasty. Later, when he came to the Ming Dynasty, it was still a small troop transport on the canal, and only three generations ago did the Wang family get rid of the restrictions of military households, and they did not know what method to use to gain a foothold in Hangzhou and become a merchant.

When it was passed on to Wang Yihe, his family already had thousands of acres of fertile land, eight shops, and dozens of boats.

But Wang Yi and his brothers broke up, Wang Yihe had a unique vision, he gave up the land property that everyone killed the red eye, and only needed the dozens of boats.

After the operation, is a can become a classic Chinese merchant development path, he colluded with the local Caoyun Yamen, resold the official warehouse grain, expanded the fleet, opened up shops, and then Wanli period, although the political stupid, but the economy is very stable in the Taiping season, Wang Yihe in Hangzhou, Suzhou, Yangzhou and Huai'an four major canal cities, established hundreds of grain shops, and set up thousands of boats, become a direct communication with the household, and Caoyun close relationship with the large business.

But the Caoyun business to this extent is over, Wang Yihe opened up other businesses, Nanjing's grocery store, it was at this time that opened, the purpose is to develop an east-west network outside the family's north-south business network, but unfortunately the peaceful years are over, and the various wars during the Chongzhen period have made this grocery store have not developed.

Of course, it also has something to do with the fact that Wang Yihe is already old at this time, and his energy and courage are not as good as before.

Wang Yihe was very frightened when he saw Yang Chao, but Yang Chao respected him very much and invited him to drink tea and serve some snacks.

Then he talked to him about the price of grain, and Wang Yihe agreed, saying that his family's grain could be lent to the government.

Then he told Wang Yihe about Wang Xiao, Yang Chao has always been very resistant to the Wang family's attitude towards employing people, Wang Xiao has made so many contributions, but in the end he was deprived of everything, and it is indeed very unacceptable in terms of human feelings, even this business philosophy is not quite right, Wang Xiao is such a talent, let it go in vain, it is not a way to operate.

Wang Yihe was very frustrated, he also felt that he couldn't stand Wang Xiao's concubine, but he had something unspeakable.

As a big family, the Wang family has complex internal relations, Wang Yihe's wife is a local family, the strength is huge, the three sons born to the wife have always been in the Wang family has been transcendent, and has long had the ambition to monopolize the family property, although the Ming law stipulates that no matter the concubine, they have equal inheritance rights, and the family property can be divided equally, and the woman can share half, but the Ming law has fallen into the mud in the hands of powerful people by the end of the Ming Dynasty, and you can pinch it as you want.

If she really competes with her son-in-law for property, Wang Xiao will not be able to fight for anything, and her life may be lost in the end.

Of course, the current Wang Xiao is not what it used to be, and he has a bad relationship with Yang Chao, but it is possible to suppress his sons-in-law.

But Wang Yihe didn't want to see his sons fighting for property, so he could only grieve Wang Xiao again and again, he knew that this son was very capable, even if he didn't have the family industry, he couldn't starve to death, so he handed over Nanjing, a grocery store with a lot of investment, to him, hoping that he could make a living from it.

And those sisters-in-law, all of them have the backing of the wealthy family, since they were young, they have been contaminated with the habits of the local wealthy families, and they don't like to do business, although they are under the banner of farming and reading heirlooms, but there is no hope for the imperial examination, and at most they will chant a few crooked poems and draw a few bad paintings.

But even so, Wang Yihe could only hand over most of the family property to these concubines, and could only give a little property to some concubines like Wang Xiao. Let them go out on their own. As for the main business of the Wang family. As long as those sisters-in-law are not too reckless, with the connections and power of the Wang family operating in the local area, they can see the wealth of the next hundred years.

Since the Han Dynasty, the government has implemented the Tui En Decree, abolishing the primogeniture inheritance system, when a wealthy family dies, many heirs divide the family property equally, often a rich man becomes a rich man, and a rich man becomes a middle rich. Year after year, China will not have the home of the super-rich.

It is difficult for China's family industry to last for hundreds of years, and industrial and commercial families like this, which have many shops and workshops, often divide the shops and operate them in a decentralized manner.

The famous Zhang Xiaoquan scissors, after Zhang Xiaoquan's death, were divided into many families, all of which used Zhang Xiaoquan's signboard, and his sister-in-law had to put his own unique logo on the scissors to show that he was authentic.

Yangzhou Salt Industry During the Wanli period, the Wang family in Huizhou once monopolized more than half of the salt sales. If it weren't for the fact that the Wang family was later devoted to studying and taking the imperial examination, the family property would have been divided into several families. Qiao Chengwang How could such a character become big in Yangzhou.

"Haha, Master Wang is too worried. Since you don't want to divide the production, why not divide the shares? ”

Yang Chao had already thought about this problem, so he immediately suggested.

"Split?"

Wang Yihe obviously did not have this awareness.

"That's right. The family property is not moved, it is divided into 100 shares and 1000 shares, and each family is divided into a few, and the family rules that leave a suicide note are not allowed to divide the property, but only the shares. In this way, the family business will not change for thousands of years, and the descendants of future generations will not only keep the industry but also live for future generations with only a few dividends from the shares. ”

Wang Yihe's cloudy eyes suddenly lit up, the concept of shares had appeared in the Ming Dynasty, otherwise there would be no talk of partnership in business, and the Jin merchants even appeared the concept of body shares in later generations.

But Wang Yihe soon dimmed again, and sighed: "What about establishing family rules? What about the unfilial piety and disrespect of future generations? The loser is more defeated than the rebel. ”

Among Wang Yihe's brothers, most of the family property was divided back then, and the fertile land that could be passed down to the world was not yet destroyed, and a few dilapidated families could not even afford to eat.

Yang Chao thought about it for a while, the law of the Ming Dynasty stipulates that the son has the right to share the same family property regardless of the eldest or younger, which is to prevent the wealthy family from becoming bigger, but this is really useful in the agricultural era, and the formation of the great princes is eliminated from above, and after the princes and kings of the Han Dynasty divide the land again and again, they will not be able to form a force against the central government, and there will be no Xiang Yu family and Cao Cao family in the Qin and Han Three Kingdoms era, and the big wealthy family with tens of thousands of children can rebel.

However, in the era of industry and commerce, after the wealth of generations was divided, especially the industries of shops and workshops, the accumulation of one generation collapsed in an instant, and then the future generations continued to accumulate, and it was impossible to form a large-scale industry at all.

Yang Chao said suddenly: "What if there is a legal guarantee." As long as Master Wang gives the will to the government to guarantee and sign a contract with all parties, the government will guarantee the contract for generations! ”

Wang Yihe was stunned for a moment, his eyes flickered, and after a long time, he suddenly knelt on the ground, old tears were in his eyes, he thought that Yang Chao had helped him to the extent of special legislation.

Yang Chao hurriedly helped him up: "This is not for your Wang family's surname, but for the sake of thousands of families in the world." ”

Yang Chao believes that as long as this huge family industry can last for one or two hundred years, it is basically impossible not to transition to industrial capital, and industrialization will definitely be promoted.

After reaching an agreement with the Wang family, they quickly communicated with other big grain merchants, and Yang Chao came forward, and these people did not dare not sell face, and they all said that they would not hoard Juqi.

Anyway, the soaring prices this time are completely caused by panic, and it is not really a shortage of grain, Zhejiang and Jiangxi are both heavy production areas, and Jiangnan is not completely dependent on Huguang to feed, and these three places together are not lost to Huguang.

So a month later, seeing that the situation is no different from before, it is not that the Dadu Governor's Office controls Jiangnan and other places, and the Qing army is surrounded by the periphery, and it has never been able to get in, so what is there to worry about, but it is just the old state a few years ago, so the price of grain has gradually stabilized, and other prices have also stabilized.

After spending a month to calm prices, and at the same time mobilizing troops, and stabilizing the northern defense line, many men and Xie Fei 200,000 troops were dispatched to the south and sent troops to Hunan. (To be continued......)