In the spring of 1686, Li Shizhen, the governor of Guangdong, issued a proclamation in Guangzhou, declaring that anyone who was "well-paid" could be used as an "official merchant" to contract foreign trade as long as he paid a certain amount of silver every year. What Li Shizhen didn't expect was that this announcement would give birth to a richest man in the world for China in the years to come. Monopolizing the Qing Dynasty's maritime foreign trade, the Thirteen Lines of Guangzhou became a group of sudden riches.

The Thirteen Banks were the thirteen commercial houses licensed by the Qing government to engage in foreign trade, monopolizing the tea and silk trade and bulk trade. In the 22nd year of Qianlong, the Qing government issued a holy decree, Guangzhou became the only maritime foreign trade port in the country, known as 'a mouthful of commerce', the trade volume of import and export through the thirteen lines increased steadily, and as the days went by, the thirteen lines gradually evolved into a special organization, enjoying the privilege of monopolizing foreign trade, among these privileged compradors, especially the wealthy families of the four clans of Pan, Lu, Wu and Ye who made the most profits, so they developed into the four largest comprador classes in Guangzhou.

Guangzhou also became the center of foreign trade in the Qing Dynasty. They not only have foreign trade privileges, but also act as intermediaries in negotiations between the government and foreign merchants, and have the obligation to underwrite the taxes and salaries payable by foreign ships and cargoes, and to convey government decrees and manage foreign merchant ships to foreign merchants. Among them, the leaders are Wu Shaorong of Jardine and Lu Jiguang of Guangli Hong. However, these thirteen banks had already colluded with foreign businessmen to shield, shield, and protect opium smuggling, and instead became agents of foreign businessmen.

Wu Shaorong sighed: "What we businessmen are most afraid of is war, but now the Qing Dynasty is crumbling, riots are happening everywhere, there are Hongyang bandits in Sichuan, and there are short-haired rebellions in Jiangnan, and our Wu family has been extorted by the government for no less than three million taels over the years." In this way, there is only one way to dissolve the thirteen lines, what can you do? ”

Lu Jiguang, the head of Guangli Bank, is not worried. smiled at Wu Shaorong and said: "Who doesn't know that your Wu family is rich and rivals the country, I'm afraid that the current family property is no less than 30 million taels!" ”

"Thirty million taels!" The businessmen in the room all exclaimed. Although they knew that the Wu family had a lot of property, they never thought that it would be as big as 30 million taels.

Wu Shaorong hurriedly denied: "These are all real family businesses when my father was here, since my father passed away, my Wu family's industry has gradually moved overseas, and now the Wu family only has an empty shelf, which can't be compared with you." ”

When it comes to Wu Shaorong's father Wu Bingjian, the merchants of the Thirteen Lines are all lonely and silent, and Wu Bingjian is the god in their minds. It was he who pushed the Thirteen Elements to the top, and although they soon declined due to the Opium War, and they themselves died depressed, they still continued to believe in Wu Bingjian's style of acting.

Wu Shaorong continued: "Let's think of a way out, short-haired will be able to capture Guangdong in a few days, and it seems that the officers and soldiers will not be able to hold Guangzhou." ”

Lu Jiguang was very optimistic about the big man, and said: "Then let's send someone to contact Li Yunzhong?" These rebels rebelled only for the sake of greed, and as long as they took a fraction of the profits earned by the Thirteen Lines every year, it was enough for them to be satisfied. ”

Wu Shaorong has no objection to taking refuge in Li Yunzhong. But he is not in favor of drawing dividends every year: "People's greed is endless, when the government forced my family, the first time I opened my mouth, it was only 100,000 taels, and the second time it was only 300,000 taels." The third time it will cost two million taels! The Thirteen Lines still abide by neutrality, do not take sides, and try to transfer their industries out of Guangzhou. In that way, the shorthair goes into town. We can also take a break from the limelight on a foreigner warship. ”

"This is a good idea!" All the merchants nodded their heads in approval.

Nanjing upper study

"Weichen Wang Qinglu visited the emperor, may the emperor live long live, long live, long live!"

Li Yunzhong put down the fold. happily said: "Zichuan, you are back, can you have a harvest in northern Jiangsu?" ”

Wang Qinglu took out a notebook, bowed his head and replied: "Your Majesty, the salt merchants of Huaibei have promised to sever contact with the Qing army, and pay five million taels of salt tax to China every year, and the salt tax in the first half of this year has been escorted to Nanjing, with a total of 3.8 million taels of silver, of which one million taels is a congratulatory gift from the salt merchants to the emperor on his accession to the throne." ”

Five million taels! Li Yunzhong was surprised by these silvers, put down the folds, and exclaimed: "So much! These salt merchants are really local tyrants! Zichuan, give me a good introduction to the situation of the salt merchants. ”

Wang Qinglu thought about it for a while, and organized the language in his heart: "The salt law of the Qing court is basically to learn from the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty began to promulgate the salt law in order to raise military expenses, set up officials to manage, and levy a salt tax of one-twentieth on all merchants who sell salt.

In the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods, the imperial court asked the salt merchants to donate and reimburse, according to the statistics of the salt merchants, they donated 10 million taels in 50 years, and the salt merchants had no choice but to increase the price in the process of selling salt, and report more losses, and the salt tax was corrupted from then on. ”

Li Yunzhong shook his head and smiled: "I didn't expect to be so profitable by selling salt, these millions of taels can be regarded as the solution to my urgent need, the household department complained about the emptiness of the treasury several times, and asked for a commercial tax, but I made a promise to start collecting commercial tax next year." ”

Wang Qinglu instantly changed color, and admonished: "The emperor is too merciful to these profiteers, and they don't know how to donate when the treasury is empty, but instead lure the people to flee wantonly, causing the foundation of the country to be unstable, and the minister asks the emperor to set up 'Li Jin' to collect the tax of merchants, and according to the minister's estimate, he can get 90 million taels of silver every year!" ”

Cough cough cough, Li Yunzhong was stunned by this huge amount, and it took a while to react and ask: "What is this 'centijin', how can it be levied 90 million taels?" Then my big man no longer has to worry about running out of money to spend, how can there be such a good thing in the world, you tell me in detail, my staff officer! ”

Wang Qinglu's face became solemn: "This method was thought up by Yangzhou Shou General Qi Shan, who set up a bureau in Xuzhou to raise military salaries in Xiahe to persuade donations, and his mu donation was based on the amount of fertile land and the number of industrial fields, and the amount of silver was drawn according to the number of land, roughly ranging from 80 to 20 wen per mu. At the same time, the law of donation was implemented for rice merchants, and the rice merchants near Xuzhou were stipulated to donate 50 wen per stone per meter, so that Xuzhou and the southern provinces of Shandong could raise hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every month, which was more than enough to supply tens of thousands of troops in Xuzhou. ”

Hearing such tyranny in Xuzhou, Li Yunzhong sneered: "The people worked hard all day, and most of them were levied by Qishan, who will work hard in the long run, the people's grievances are boiling, and the Qing Dynasty has been decided. ”

Wang Qinglu worried: "If this policy is implemented, the strength of the Qing Dynasty will inevitably increase greatly, and there will be no need to worry about military salaries. ”

Li Yunzhong smiled frankly: "The Qing State treats the people cruelly, and I must treat the people with benevolence, so that the people of the world can understand who is really good to them." ”

Wang Qinglu said: "The emperor is merciful. ”

"You came just in time, I have something to discuss with you, Zhejiang has been decided, since Zuo Zongtang marched into Fujian, there has not been a new governor yet, who do you think is suitable?"

Wang Qinglu carefully lowered his head and thought for a while, and replied: "Chang Dachun, the head of the household department, is enough to take on this position, and he also has the experience of being in charge of the government, and his official reputation is very good. ”

Li Yunzhong still doesn't believe in these demotions: "Although Chang Dachun is good, he doesn't know how to be flexible, Zhejiang is an area where businessmen are active, and Chang Dachun has always been prejudiced against businessmen, I'm afraid it will backfire, think about who else is suitable?" ”

Wang Qinglu saw that the emperor's attitude was so resolute, and said tentatively: "Li Chunfa, the commander of the First Army, is a royal family, and he can serve as the governor of Zhejiang." ”

Li Yunzhong replied without thinking: "Li Chunfa's qualifications are too shallow, he is not so tactful as Li Xiucheng, he is only suitable for leading troops to fight, I am afraid that he is not able to govern Zhejiang, if you think about it again, I have a candidate in my heart, I don't know if you can guess." ”

What Wang Qinglu wanted to think about was not who could serve as the governor of Zhejiang, but Li Yunzhong's intentions, there were only a dozen people who could take on this position among the ministers of civil and military affairs in the Manchu Dynasty, and most of them still had heavy responsibilities and could not move lightly, why did the emperor still pick and choose?

"The minister is willing to take on this responsibility!" Looking at the emperor's smiling eyes, Wang Qinglu suddenly realized, finally understood what the emperor meant, and immediately recommended himself.

Li Yunzhong smiled heartily: "Ha Lu Ha...... Zichuan, although you are a little old-fashioned, but you know that the way is flexible, I can rest assured that you can go to Zhejiang, where not only businessmen are active, but also literati are gathered, and the rough people in Guangxi can't be managed, but Lu Jianying, Chang Dachun and other literati, I don't feel at ease, I think about it, only you are the most suitable. ”

Wang Qinglu didn't expect that he would be ranked as the governor so soon, Zhao Liewen won the trust of the emperor, and he was only a servant of the criminal department, his chest suddenly boiled with enthusiasm, and he still excused himself as usual and said: "Thank you for the emperor's trust, Zhejiang is a big province, and the minister has no experience, so I am afraid that he will be entrusted by the emperor." ”

Li Yunzhong straightened his face and pretended to be angry: "You doubt my vision? When you go to Zhejiang, remember six words, listen more, watch more, and think more. I have already transferred the First Army to Zhejiang to garrison, and there is no way out of chaos. ”

Seeing that the emperor's determination had been decided, Wang Qinglu thanked and said: "The minister is sincerely afraid, and he will do his best to serve the emperor." ”

Li Yunzhong picked up a pamphlet he wrote from the table and said solemnly: "This is the intelligence of the Western Europe, which analyzes the military, political, economic, and cultural affairs of Europe, and you go to Zhejiang to order people to publish it, so that the Chinese can know the situation in the world of the Daoist world, we are no longer the superior country of the Celestial Empire, and the foreigners can invade our country by just sending a few warships and thousands of soldiers and horses. ”

Wang Qinglu respectfully took the booklet, resisted the urge to read it, and thanked: "The minister retired." (To be continued......)

PS: For 8 consecutive days, 10,000 words are updated, asking for recommendation votes.