Li Jierong stood up and shouted: "Everyone, everyone, listen to what the old man said, if we swallow it like this again, I'm afraid that we won't even have a way to live in the future, so let's do something!" ”

"Doing things?" Everyone looked at Li Jierong with some doubts, and someone said: "President Li, didn't we send a petition to the prefect's yamen, and the only thing we can do now is to wait for news." ”

"Waiting for news?" Li Jierong sneered: "Do you think that if you wait, the government will automatically reduce the tax rate?" Don't you know who our King of Zhou is? ”

When saying the word "King Zhou", Li Jierong also specially accentuated his tone, and that disdain was faintly revealed.

Many people are not optimistic about Pang Gang's claim to be the king, including Li Jierong, the vice president of the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce, in Li Jierong's view, the president of the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce should have been himself in the first place, and Kong Wen, an outsider, became this position purely by his son-in-law.

Now that Pang Gang has proclaimed himself the king, how can the court agree, I am afraid that it will not be long before the counterinsurgency army will continue to spread, and Pang Gang, the "King of Zhou", is just a flash in the pan.

However, he was originally a businessman, and he didn't care much about who was sitting on the country, but this Pang Gang actually raised the tax rate to 20% from time to time, which is cutting their flesh, how can there be such a high tax rate since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, these days, some businessmen have found Li Jierong and asked him, the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, to come forward to make decisions for everyone, so there is this banquet tonight.

"President Li, you can say something, what to do, we will all listen to you." Someone shouted from below.

Li Jierong's eyes turned around on their faces a few times, and he said with a smile: "Is this what everyone means?" ”

"That's right! That's what we mean, if we continue like this, we won't have a way to live. ”

People are social and blindly obedient animals, in a specific environment, people's thinking is often provoked by some people with ulterior motives, just like today, all the businessmen are excited, have spoken out in support of Li Jierong.

Li Jierong shouted: "Okay, since you can afford the old man, then the old man will dare to be the master once, if the government does not agree to our conditions, we will immediately boycott the market!" ”

"Yes, strike!"

"By the way, we have to show the government, we are not soft persimmons that can be poked and pinched at will, we want to strike the market"

The so-called "strike" refers to the collective action of business operators to terminate commercial transactions in an irregular manner. In addition to being harmed by economic interests, strikes are often caused by political or social factors, but also by economic means.

In the history of China, the act of market boycott appeared very early. The Western Jin Dynasty Yanghu is upright and loyal, just and honest, when he died, people "do not mourn, boycott the market, and cry in the alleys", expressing grief and condolences for his death. In the Northern Song Dynasty Huizong Dynasty, Tong Guan Xuanfu Shaanxi, when the prices in Chang'an were expensive, Tong Guan had the intention to suppress prices, and the officials in charge of finance and economics were bent to meet the demand, stipulating that the market prices should be reduced by 40%, and the violators were severely punished, and the merchants were forced to boycott the market. Although there is a difference between active and passive, the strike expresses the efforts of business people to unite ordinary citizens to fight for the right to speak. Of course, the way ordinary citizens express their wishes is not limited to the strike itself, and it is recorded in the history books that they also used derivative behaviors such as stopping and inviting appeals, gathering crowds to make noise, scolding in the streets, and throwing rubble.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the proportion of industrialists, businessmen and ordinary citizens in the urban population structure continued to increase, their economic strength continued to increase, and their influence and role in social life were also constantly strengthened. The strength and awareness of the right to speak and participate, the more active participation in the construction of urban society, and the influence of political axe policies and decision-making, all indicate the gradual formation and rise of the class dominated by businessmen. In the Ming Dynasty, large and medium-sized cities repeatedly engaged in open and continuous strikes by urban residents whose interests were mainly handicraftsmen, small and medium-sized merchants, and the urban poor, which was a manifestation of the intensification of the contradictions between the government and the citizens, merchants and craftsmen during the period of social transition.

However, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the strike also became a major means for the gentry and merchant class to threaten the imperial court, because these gentry and businessmen all had a civil official group as the back-end, and it can be said that 80% of the officials in the world have more or less the shadow of businessmen behind them. Therefore, once the businessmen strike the market, the government's reaction is generally weak or even adopt a blind attitude, which also fuels the arrogance of the merchants, in order to fight for the right to speak, the strikes organized by the businessmen are becoming more frequent and intense, in the control and counter-control, but also gradually formed from the unorganized to the organized transformation of the struggle, from the no fixed interest group to the formation of the relevant interest group transformation model, it can be said that the strike at the end of the Ming Dynasty is a way for the businessmen to show their strength and show their existence to the imperial court, Now the sharp blade of the strike has been sacrificed by Li Jierong and the merchants.

After finalizing the general direction, Li Jierong and the other merchants discussed the offensive and defensive alliances and agreements, determined to give this bold King of Zhou a good look.

Just when the merchants were plotting in the Zuixian Building, in the Zhou Wangfu, which had only been freshly baked for more than a month, Pang Gang was sitting in the signing room with the lamp reading a book, probably tired of reading, Pang Gang put down the book in his hand and walked out of the signing room, and Shi Bowen, who had been standing at the door to guard, hurriedly saluted him.

Pang Gang waved his hand and asked, "Bowen, is there any news from the cold-eyed people?" ”

Shi Bowen shook his head and said, "Lord Qiyu, no one has reported yet." ”

"Hmm" Pang Gang nodded quietly, and was about to walk out.

Although Pang Gang does not have much experience in politics, he belongs to the type of crossing the river by feeling the stones, but from later generations, he is indispensable to an organization from film and television works or novels, that is, a spy organization, to put it bluntly, it is to inquire about the news.

Whether it is the Jinyiwei and Dongchang of the Ming Dynasty, or the military commanders, the central commanders, and the underground party of the Celestial Empire in later generations, they have all proved to people the fact that if you want to be the boss, you can't do it without an organization that acts as your eyes and ears. Therefore, Comrade Pang Gang, who had taken history as a mirror, ordered people to set up a cold-eyed spy organization after he planned to establish himself as the king.

Since this organization has just been established, today is the first task they have received since its establishment, that is, to monitor the movements of the merchants and gentry in Qingzhou City.

Pang Gang walked out of the signing room and was about to walk towards the backyard, when there was a sound of footsteps behind him, and a man dressed in black hurriedly walked towards him, this person walked up to Pang Gang and bowed down and said, "The villain sees the prince!" ”

Pang Gang raised his hand and said, "Get up, Gu Chen, have your people heard the news?" ”

It turned out that the person who came was Gu Chen, who was originally not accepted at night, because he was calm and careful, so he was transferred by Pang Gang to preside over the cold-eyed work, Gu Chen frowned and replied: "My lord, the situation is not good, the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, Li Jierong, has summoned hundreds of businessmen who are gathering in the Zuixian Mansion at the moment, and they are discussing preparations to boycott the market in order to coerce the adults to give up the tax increase." ”

"Strike?"

Pang Gang sneered, it seems that the methods of these businessmen have not changed much, and they are still the same old ways, do they think that the government will compromise after the strike?

A cold light flashed in Shi Bowen's eyes behind Pang Gang, and he said sharply: "Lord Wang, do you want to send people to arrest these businessmen?" ”

"Arrested? Why arrest? Pang Gang sneered: "I want to see what tricks they can come up with, don't worry about them, after all, it's not right to arrest them now, let them be arrogant for a few days, and when they start making trouble, it's not too late for us to catch them all."

Two days passed quickly, on the first day of September in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the market in Qingzhou suddenly surged, starting from the morning, most of the shops in Qingzhou City began to close, and all trading was announced. Affected by this, the people in Qingzhou City began to panic, and immediately set off a wave of panic buying, and by the afternoon before all the shops were closed, the price of rice had soared to five taels of silver and one stone, and the price of rice had risen fivefold.

Diseases will be contagious, people's panic will also be contagious, under the propaganda of countless well-intentioned people, in addition to the price of salt, the price of various goods such as cloth, tea, medicinal materials and other goods in Qingzhou City has also soared, and finally it has reached the point where there is no market.

By the afternoon, the strike in Qingzhou had reached **, and the people were already in a panic, and they were all asking what was going on in horror. Compared with the deserted market, there were groups of scholars, men, merchants, tenants, and others on the street, who lined up and walked towards the prefect's yamen, led by several scholars who shouted slogans against the government and the people's competition for profits, and demanded that the government cancel the newly formulated tax policy.

When these scholars and businessmen came to the yamen of the Qingzhou prefect, there were already hundreds of servants standing in front of the entire prefect's yamen, who held iron rulers and chains to form a human wall, looking at these people with wary faces.

But these people rushed up to the officials as if they had eaten the courage of an ambitious leopard, and shouted: "It is really not right to compete with the people for profit, two percent of the commercial tax has never been in ancient and modern times, and it is not tolerated by the heavens to expropriate tyranny!" ”

These crowds of scholars, men and businessmen continued to attack the human wall, and the officials did not receive orders and did not dare to really move, so soon the human wall formed by the officials was pushed back and retreated, almost in front of the gate of the prefect's yamen.

A head catcher was in a hurry, stood on the steps and shouted: "Listen, everyone, this is the prefect's yamen, you have to wait until you go forward, otherwise you will have to eat the prefect's board." ”

The headhunter's words seemed to have some effect, but someone in the crowd immediately shouted: "Don't be afraid, the law does not blame the public, they dare not do anything to us, if the prefect dares to be rude to us, I will go to the Zhou King's Mansion to shout grievances, I will see how he explains to the King of Zhou." ”

"Yes, if you don't give me an answer, I will shout injustice to King Zhou, and if it doesn't work, we will withdraw from Qingzhou and Shandong, and we will not do this business."

In the face of the surging emotions, the officials had no choice, at this time, the door of the prefect creaked open, and a middle-aged man with an elegant appearance and a red official uniform walked out, this person is the current Qingzhou prefect Wenrenjun.

Wen Renjun's elegant face was full of seriousness at the moment, and he also saw the situation outside, Wen Renjun had also seen merchants strike when he traveled around the Ming Dynasty before, so he didn't have the slightest good impression of these businessmen, in Wen Renjun's opinion, these businessmen would not do anything good except hoarding and raising prices.

Seeing Wen Renjun walk out, a person hidden in the crowd made a few hidden gestures to the people around him, and everyone understood, and slowly stopped attacking the human wall composed of all the officials, and stopped in front of the gate of the prefect's yamen.

Seeing that everyone had stopped advancing, Wen Renjun came to the front under the escort of more than a dozen officials, Wen Renjun said loudly: "Everyone, your requirements for this official are clear, but the tax increase is the decision of the king of Zhou, and it is not okay for everyone to do this, you"

"Nope"

As soon as Wen Renjun finished speaking, a voice rang out, "Lord Wen, we don't care how King Zhou sets the tax rate, but it is too much to collect a two-percent tax, how can we have a reason to collect a two-percent tax since the opening of the country?" Isn't this forcing us to jump into the river? ”

Wen Renjun's eyes froze, and he sneered: "Don't forget to come, everyone, this is no longer the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but the territory of the King of Zhou, and the King of Zhou has the final say on how to collect taxes here." If you are not satisfied, no one will force you to come. ”

Everyone couldn't help but be dumbfounded, Wen Renjun's meaning is very clear, that is, if you think that Qingzhou or even Shandong is not good for business, you can go to other places, don't you think that the tax rate here is high, and the rest of Daming is only one in thirty, you can go to the territory controlled by Daming, why do you have to rely on this?

"Grass, if you don't see that business is easy to do here, you beg Lao Tzu to come, Lao Tzu won't come."

After several years of development, Qingzhou and North Korea, Taiwan, and even the merchants of this place have contacts, and because of the strong Qingzhou sailors, the merchant ships have been guaranteed in safety, and Qingzhou, Dengzhou, Laizhou and other places are also prosperous, which also attracts more and more businessmen to do business.

After all, now the Ming Dynasty is in chaos, thieves, rogues are everywhere, looking around, only Shandong is the safest, and the business atmosphere is also the strongest, don't you see that people with such fierce faces are all Dingguo generals, well, no, they have been beaten to the ground by King Zhou?

Seeing that everyone was silent, Wen Renjun sneered and announced loudly: "For the sake of your first offense, King Zhou is lenient and orders the official to read an announcement to you." It is really unwise to wait for the market to strike, you must open the market before noon tomorrow, otherwise the government will not spare it, and the king of Zhou will definitely not ignore such harmful acts, now everyone is scattered! ”

Everyone looked at each other, don't look at them just now, but now that they see that Wen Renjun, the prefect, doesn't buy it, they really don't know what to do.

Slowly, the crowd gradually dispersed, one by one began to walk back, a few people who had been hiding in the middle of the crowd and were ready to provoke, although they were unwilling, but when they saw the officials who were always staring at the crowd, they didn't dare to blow up the thorns, for fear that they would be found out if they spoke out again, the government had no way to take everyone, but if they caught a few people like themselves, they had a way to clean themselves up, and they just did this thing by collecting people's money, and it was not worth it if they put their lives into it.

The first day of the strike was dispersed, and Wen Renjun also ordered the government to post notices everywhere on the streets, informing the merchants that the market must be opened the next day.

Still in the Drunken Immortal Building, Li Jierong was still cheering for the heavy merchants, and after being impassioned, he sighed tremblingly, "Have you ever remembered the disaster of commercial taxes during the Wanli Dynasty?" The old man still remembers it vividly. The sage also said that taking the wealth of the people is not the way to make money. The way to make money, to be born, to be thrifty, is only at both ends. The harm of the increase is not calculated by tax, but the harm of commercial tax is calculated. The increase in commercial taxes is to seize the wealth of the people, this move is angry and resentful, and my Shandong businessmen will never be able to say, and the withering of Shandong will be said to be waiting. ”

"Exactly, if the wind rises, I will have no way to survive for the merchants?"

Everyone spoke one after another, and some people even burst into tears, asking Li Jierong to come out to support justice and personally make a statement to King Zhou. But where would Li Jierong, the old fox, send himself to Pang Gang as a target, he hurriedly waved his hand and excused himself, just asking everyone to continue to carry out the strike to the end.

Everyone thought about it, anyway, things are already like this, if they don't continue to resist the pressure to strike the market, then the 20% tax will really accompany them for a lifetime, thinking of this, they just need to grit their teeth and continue to persevere, but they didn't expect that their every move upstairs had already been recorded and reported to someone.

When the cold-eyed person explained this matter to Pang Gang, Pang Gang sneered: "I don't know how to lift, since this is the case, then don't blame this king for being ruthless." ”

After speaking, Pang Gang stood up and shouted, "Someone! Passed on the general order of the king, ordering Wang Zhi to immediately lead the first army into the city immediately, and arrest all those illegal merchants who hoarded Juqi, if there is any resistance, there will be no forgiveness! ”

(To be continued)