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A few days later.

In the yamen of the governor of Guangdong in Guangzhou, the lanterns are colorful, and the place that enters the eye is a fiery red and festive color. Today is the big day for the eldest son of Zhao Youheng, the governor of Guangdong, to marry.

When he was young, he and his wife Liu gave birth to several daughters in a row, until the eldest daughter got married, and Zhao Youheng was worthy of having a baby son. Now that his only son has finally married and started a family, Zhao Youheng feels that his life is a little more perfect.

Whether it was Shen Youlong, the governor of Zhaoqing and Guangzhou, or Shen Tingyang, the military preparation and prefect of Qiongzhou, they all sent people to send congratulatory gifts, among which Shen Tingyang was personally present. Officials of all sizes and wealthy businessmen in Guangzhou also gathered at the governor's yamen, and all kinds of Cheng Yi and celebration ceremonies lined up outside the door, making the Zhao family's housekeepers and servants busy and dizzy.

Officials crowded around the main hall or front hall, greeting and chatting with each other, while wealthy businessmen wandered around, admiring how Governor Zhao loved the people like a son, and at the same time taking advantage of this rare opportunity to privately exchange information about today's national conditions and business affairs.

Even though the transmission of news was slow in this era, the great changes in Luzon were brought back to Guangzhou by the maritime merchants, and the temporary severance of the trade routes worried many maritime merchants who specialized in running the Luzon routes. As for the military operations of Huamei Fanyi in Luzon, most of the maritime merchants in Guangzhou were secretive, except for a few surprising speculations, and did not discuss them publicly, as if they had never been born.

“…… Wang Jiahe, Qiongzhou, 20 pieces of Nanyang glazed fine ware, 10 jars of Nanyang refined coconut oil, 100 pieces of Nanyang flower dyed cotton silk, 60 bottles of Nanyang superb crystal red wine, 1,800 taels of snow silk silver......"

The largest squire and tyrant in Qiongzhou and even in the border of Guangzhou, also came, and a long list of gifts made the Guangzhou gentry present dumbfounded, and Zhao Youheng, who was greeting officials such as the Guangzhou coastal defense soldier Beidao, turned around, with a smile in his eyes.

"Brother-in-law!"

Before he had time to tidy up his sleeves and go out to greet him, he saw his wife Liu leading his brother-in-law Liu Yaoyu and another middle-aged man towards him with a smile.

The Wang family did not attend in person, but asked their son-in-law Liu Yaoyu to come as a representative. The relationship between Liu Yaoyu and Zhao Youheng is known to almost half of the two Guangzhou, so this kind of interpersonal contact is the most suitable means in the eyes of the Wang family, who have always been thoughtful.

"Your Excellency. Congratulations! Zhao Mingchuan also stood beside Liu Yaoyu with a smile at this time, and raised his hand to Zhao Youheng to salute.

"Brother-in-law, sister, this is a gift list from the South China Sea firm and the Oriental Union Group, please smile." After exchanging glances with his companions, Liu Yaoyu took out a bright red codex from his sleeve and gently handed it to Zhao Youheng.

"Mr. Zhao is polite." Zhao Youheng just glanced at it slightly. His hands trembled slightly, and then he quietly closed them again immediately, and sent them directly to his wife, and then politely returned the salute with a smile on his face.

"Hey, ninth brother, it's all my own family. These ceremonies are out of sight......"

Liu Shi also opened it casually and looked at it, and before the polite words in his mouth were finished, he was stunned.

There are not many gift items, but the numbers behind make Liu not calm, almost higher than the total value of all the gifts of all the guests present today, just the snow silk silver has as much as 10,000 taels!

……

The wedding ceremony lasted for almost an hour, until the lights came on. The newlyweds were sent into the cave room, and Zhao Youheng entertained many officials and gentry at a banquet to really enter the theme, and one by one they pushed the cups or took turns to toast Zhao Youheng to congratulate them.

After three rounds of drinking, seeing that the interest of the officials and gentry present had climbed to a high point, Zhao Youheng and Shen Tingyang glanced at each other, the former nodded slightly, and the latter slowly stood up.

"Dear colleagues and friends, the Governor and I have been ordered by the Emperor to guard the province of Guangdong. Now the wind and rain are smooth, and the people's hearts are stable, which can be described as a blessing from God. Today, when we are happy, we should pay tribute to the governor with a cup, celebrate the newlywed marriage of Zhao Xian's nephew, and thank Governor Zhao for loving the people like a son......"

Shen Tingyang deserves to be eloquent, a lot of polite words are said in a fanciful manner, and the officials and gentry at the scene all stood up and toasted.

Di Bao reported. A few months ago, the thieves flooded Kaifeng, and only more than 20,000 of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians remained...... The eastern captives broke through the border and plundered, the Lu domain fell, and the court was shaken...... For the sake of the thief. Inspector Sun was ordered to go out of Beijing, and he had recruited troops in Shaanxi to reorganize the army, and the local squires helped to donate money and food. ”

A lot of content has been transferred to today's national affairs, and the scene has gradually quieted down, and many officials and gentry have looked at each other, not knowing why Qiongzhou Bingbeidao suddenly said these things with great fanfare at this time.

"Although there is no chaos in the two vast places, the disaster has also been prosperous in recent years, and there are tens of thousands of homeless people living in the wilderness. The southern border and sea are important and cannot be underestimated, and this Fu was ordered to supervise the soldiers and horses of Guangdong, and wanted to follow the example of Sun Du, eliminate the old, weak and idle in the military camp towns in Guangdong, purchase Chinese military equipment, and prepare new battalions to relieve national worries. I hope that all fathers and elders will help you a lot. ”

Zhao Youheng also stood up at this time, looking around at the officials and gentry present, his expression was very strict.

Liangguang is far from having the sense of urgency that Shaanxi is close to the war-torn land, and the local gentry of Liangguang have long been accustomed to the pleasures of prosperity under prosperity, and it is almost more difficult to make them have a sense of crisis and consciousness than to ascend to the sky. Zhao Youheng admits that he doesn't have the vigorous and resolute courage of Sun Chuanting, so he can only take this opportunity to open his heart to the wealthy gentry of the two Guangzhous present.

According to Zhao Youheng's plan, including his own Fubiao battalion of 1,000 people, before the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), there were many empty shelves in Guangzhou, and many empty shelves and coastal defense Japanese battalions or guard military towns had to be reorganized, and a new town with at least 10,000 people was recruited and trained, of which 7,000 were assigned to the new battalion in Guangzhou and 3,000 to the new battalion in Qiongzhou.

Although Zhao Youheng holds the power to organize and train Guangdong soldiers and horses, these are all just obscenities on paper after all, and to reorganize a new Guangdong army that can be used, the annual cost of money and food is a huge amount.

After a rough calculation, the silver salary of the Guangdong New Army required by Chongzhen for 16 years alone, excluding the officers, would cost at least 150,000 taels of silver, and if you count the expenses of clothing, clothing, grain and grass, ordnance, pack horses, camp repairs, drills, etc., at least 300,000 taels will be added. Even if Emperor Chongzhen allowed Zhao Youheng to use many local miscellaneous classes in Guangzhou to raise money by himself because he had no money, this figure was not something that Zhao Youheng had the ability to dispose of.

The only way to achieve this goal was to obtain donations from the local gentry. In short, Zhao Youheng and Shen Tingyang plan to fight the autumn wind and gather the starting funds for the formation and training of the new army.

Look at me, I look at you, the officials and gentry of the two Cantons present all have different expressions, especially a few wealthy families in Guangzhou. is even more eyes slightly closed, looking drowsy.

"Ben Fushi just drank a few more glasses, and he was a little sleepy, so he was out of company for the time being." Zhao Youheng coughed slightly, his body shook a little, how could the old housekeeper who was observing his words not know what it meant, and hurriedly stepped forward to help him.

Zhao Youheng withdrew. The huge wedding banquet scene was silent.

"If you can solve this dilemma, this constitution and the governor should report to the imperial court, and they will not hesitate to reward ......"

Zhao Youheng is the governor of Guangdong, and the official face of the feudal officials cannot be worthless, and he can only stop talking to the point, so naturally he can't say too much about this kind of thing. The next thing all fell on Shen Tingyang. Seeing that most of the people were absent-minded, Shen Tingyang had to stand up again.

"Serving the imperial court and helping to recruit the army is the duty of our gentry and other gentry, who dares to sell fame and reputation and covet the court's reward? The old man is willing to offer 1,500 taels of silver to share the worries of the governor and the military commander! A wealthy merchant stood up and spoke generously.

"Protect the family and the people. How can we sit idly by? The villain didn't have much silver, so he donated 2,000 stones! Another grain merchant stood up, and he was even more serious.

Shen Tingyang saw that someone finally stood up to make a statement, and hurriedly instructed the little scribe next to him to spread out the pen and ink to record.

Come to the governor's yamen for a banquet, no matter how much you have to give some face. With one person, there will be more to get up, you say, I say. All sorts of miscellaneous donations poured out like water.

Report one, go one, and when the final person leaves the tea, the little scribe's pen is only two pieces of paper. Moreover, the people who reported the donation seemed to have the same heart, no matter the money, food, cloth, and silk, each family did not donate more than two thousand taels of silver. Write it down all the way, and the silver is no more than 10,000 taels. There are more than 30,000 stones of grain and rice, and there are a number of other sundries, and the gap is still a big difference.

When Shen Tingyang picked up the donation book for the last time, there were only two guests left in the banquet hall, Liu Yaoyu and Zhao Mingchuan. The two didn't say a word from the beginning, just coldly watched the guests leave one by one pretendingly.

"Lord Shen, about donating money to help the army, can I reply after I talk to my brother-in-law in person?" Seeing Shen Tingyang's lonely expression, Liu Yaoyu quickly stood up and saluted respectfully.

"The matter of donating salaries to help the army is not a forced apportionment, and the shopkeeper Liu does not have to be like this."

Shen Tingyang was no longer in the mood, so he just raised his hand sullenly and left silently with his subordinates.

"Brother Sicheng, what do you think is good...... Can I go meet my brother-in-law now and ask for more details? Liu Yaoyu saw his brother-in-law's colleagues like this, and he was also a little helpless.

"The imperial court distributed grain and salary, and the gentry closed their eyes and prevaricated, the appearance of national disasters in all dynasties and dynasties ......"

Without answering his friend directly, Zhao Mingchuan muttered in a voice that almost only he could hear.

……

On February 12, Zhao Mingchuan and Liu Yaoyu were still in Guangzhou, and a special meeting was held in the largest Nanhai restaurant in Qiongzhou, and basically all the shareholders of Nanhai firm were present.

Nanhai Restaurant belongs to the industry of Nanhai business, and it is also the most high-grade restaurant in the whole Qiongzhou, at this time it is close to the Lunar New Year, and it is busy for a year to take this opportunity to celebrate the harvest or thank the rich businessmen in the Nanhai Restaurant. But today, Nanhai Restaurant declined to order a meal, and the spacious main hall on the first floor was used as a venue for the shareholders' meeting.

Zhao Youheng, the governor of Guangdong, and Shen Tingyang, the prefect of Qiongzhou, set up a "donation to help the army" in Qiongzhou, which spread all over the streets and alleys of Qiongzhou two days earlier, and there was a tendency for the people to continue to disperse. Regarding Shen Tingyang's appearance to organize local squires to donate money, in addition to the generosity of the Ding'an Wang family, most of the official gentry in Qiongzhou also habitually had strong resistance in their hearts.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Lord Bingxian had a meeting with Zai Xia a month ago and talked about the recruitment of the new camp in Qiongzhou after the beginning of spring. I wonder what you think? Although they have had a unified understanding with the Ding'an Wang family, the Ding'an Huang family, who presided over the shareholders' meeting instead of Liu Yaoyu, still solicited opinions from all shareholders present in line with the principle of "democracy".

"Not to mention the new camp in Qiongzhou, at present, there are only various guards in Qiongzhou, and there is a lot of food and straw for soldiers and horses over the years, and it is still difficult for the imperial court to pay it, and we and other villagers are even more powerless. However, Lord Shen is the official of Qiongdi's parents, and this face still has to be given. "The first to stand up and express his opinion was a Danzhou coal merchant, who has a large stake in the South China Sea mining business.

"That's how much is it, although Huang Yuanwai said bluntly......"

A small shareholder is very good at observing words and feelings, knowing that Liu Yaoyu, who was not present, must have already had a plan with the Wang family and the Huang family, the two largest shareholders of Nanhai Firm, and he did not plan to contradict him at this time, but he didn't know the depths.

"There are two ways to donate this time. First, in the name of your own family, each of you donates individually; Second, the annual dividends of the Nanhai firm in the day after tomorrow can be reduced by 30% and donated together. Huang Yuan saw that there was no objection, so he put forward a plan that he had been thinking about for a long time.

This year, the net profit of Nanhai Firm has reached an all-time high, and the distributable year-end dividend is as high as 600,000 taels of silver, which can be distributed to 30,000 taels as much as 30,000 taels and as little as several thousand taels. If it is donated by 30%, then a major shareholder like the Ding'an Wang family may have to take tens of thousands of taels less at one time.

Naturally, major shareholders like to donate in their own names, and the amount is easy to control, and it is more or less their own good reputation. The minority shareholders will definitely choose the annual dividends of the Nanhai firm to donate the dividends, and they can get less out of it.

"Except for Huang Yuan, the local fathers and elders in Qiongzhou have the heart to serve the country with their fists, and it is not a good thing to forcibly deduct 30% of the dividends. In the old man's opinion, on the two laws together, each family set their own number, and the Nanhai firm divided into an adult profit, and sent it in rites. In the future, if it is reported to the imperial court, it will also make it easier for people to see. Hehe, this time let those gentry of Guangzhou Mansion know that my Qiongzhou businessmen have the heart to protect the country and serve the country! Although the old man in charge of the Wang family is already old, he still sits on the most conspicuous Taishi chair with a ruddy face and shakes his head.

"What Boss Wang said is true, then we will do it like this, and the dividend account book will be drawn up separately the day after tomorrow."

With the specific amendments put forward by the Wang family, several large investors with relatively high share ratios also responded. Minority shareholders are also happy to see that their contributions have been reduced.

Judging from the total amount of donations, the sum here will definitely be more than that of the Guangzhou gentry, but compared with the image of the Guangzhou gentry, the attitude of the Qiongzhou gentry present is not much worse.

Huang Yuanwai didn't plan to dwell too much, and immediately complied with the agreement reached privately with the Wang family, and decided the matter of the donation of the Qiongzhou gentry. As for whose children were selected to join the new camp in Qiongzhou as officials, I saw how much each family donated at that time.