The welcome ceremony on the wharf outside the gate was symbolic, and after the end, the eunuch Wang Jing continued to walk a few miles south and stayed in the Gusu Station outside the Xu Gate.

There are many post stations around Suzhou City, Gusu Station is one of the largest in scale, with the most manpower, the most complete facilities, and the highest grade, and there is no problem in entertaining VIPs.

After settling down, Wang Jing sat in the hall and waved off his left and right entourage, leaving only his godson Wang Chen to talk.

It is said that this Wang Chen was originally from Suzhou, and he was called by a small servant in a rich family, but he was handsome and smart, and he learned a lot of talents in blowing, playing, singing, chess, piano, calligraphy and painting, and was deeply loved by the owner. But he shouldn't be lustful, have an affair with his master's concubine, and be taken by his master.

However, the master did not want to publicize the scandal, and locked the king in the house, intending to starve to death. However, a little maid secretly released Wang Chen, and after that, Wang Chen was worried that he would be arrested by his master, so he absconded and fled to Beijing.

In Beijing, this prince had a special encounter and got acquainted with Wang Jing's father-in-law, who was arranged to be a handyman in Wuyingdian because of his good handwriting. Later, Wang Chen worshiped Wang Jing as his godfather, and Wang Jing asked the Son of Heaven for a favor and rewarded Wang Chen for being a thousand households in brocade clothes.

This time, Wang Jing was ordered to go to Jiangnan to procure, and remembering his godson's identity as a native of Suzhou, he brought Wang Chen with him, and sent Wang Chen to Suzhou Mansion first, of course, not only to arrange food, clothing, housing and transportation

After making sure that no one was eavesdropping on the left and right, Wang Jing asked Wang Chen: "What do you think of Suzhou Mansion?" I heard that he was also a character who contradicted Wang Zhi back then, I don't know what it is? ”

Wang Chen replied: "I took 500 yuan of treasure money with him before, but he didn't dare to say a hard word. And he gave five hundred taels of silver from the treasury. In my opinion, this prefect does not live up to its name. I definitely don't dare to collide with my godfather, don't worry! ”

Wang Jing asked again, "Have you seen Fang Yingwu, the minister of the Qin Mission?" What about this person? ”

Wang Chen thought for a while and replied, "I heard that Fang Qin sent him to go outside to enjoy the mountains and rivers. So I haven't seen him, but there are a lot of rumors about him.

The local officials and people in Suzhou did not like this person very much, and Fang Qincha himself did not seem to like the local officials and people in Suzhou very much, so he could be said to be disgusted with each other. According to my opinion, this Qincha still can't get rid of the youthful heart, and he has no sophistication when he was in Beijing, which may be because there is no one to guide him behind his back. ”

"Then don't worry about him, don't provoke him for now." Wang Jing began to talk about his own affairs, "I came to Jiangnan this time. The emperor gave 10,000 salt quotations and 10,000 treasure notes as the capital, and the first thing to do now is to convert these capital into silver taels.

As soon as you gather some silver, you will feel at ease when you have money in your hand; second, to establish a prestige, so that the officials and people of Jiangnan know that the Tao is powerful; Third, you can test the place and see how big your temperament is. ”

Wang Chen immediately agreed: "Godfather's thinking is far-reaching, and what he says is extremely true!" 10,000 Guan Bao banknotes must be exchanged for 10,000 taels of silver first, but if they are all handed over to the Suzhou government for exchange, it will be a little difficult.

Therefore, it is possible to send people to nearby Songjiang, Changzhou and other places to exchange. These places are all rich places in the south of the Yangtze River, and it is not a big problem to redeem a few thousand taels from the yamen everywhere. ”

Wang Jing nodded, "This is a very good discussion, and I will select people to release it when I turn around." ”

Wang Chen also suggested: "As for the ten thousand salt leads, there is no need to rely on the government. Suzhou has a dense local business travel, and the godfather can gather merchants on the spot to distribute the 10,000 salts. Forcing them to claim the purchase is!

For each salt lead, you have to pay at least one or two or a half dollars of silver to buy it. 10,000 taels of salt can be recovered from the merchant at least 15,000 taels of silver! ”

Wang Jing stroked his palm and smiled, "My son has thought it through. It seems that you really put your heart into it, and it is all up to your ideas, and the wealth of my father and son began because of this!

Of course, this is just the beginning, after redeeming this money, you can move on to the next step, then you have to search for big accounts ruthlessly. Therefore, during these times, it is necessary to appoint people to inquire about the news and see if there are any rich people and who have treasures and antiques.

If there are not enough people, then recruit another group from the local area. There are always people to do the business of killing heads, and it should not be difficult to find a group of people who are willing to work. ”

Wang Chen took out a list from his bosom and said with a little hesitation: "I have a list here, which is the list signed on the table when the local gentry and big families jointly wrote to the court a while ago. It's just that the place is disturbed too much, can the godfather bear it? ”

Wang Jinggonggong glanced at the list a few times, and then raised his head and replied indifferently: "You only need to understand one question, is the emperor's heart towards me, or towards the local tyrant?"

The capital given by the emperor is salt and treasure money, which are all printed by the court itself, and you can print as much as you want! It's not worth anything and it's not worth it at all, doesn't the emperor understand this?

But we're going to turn it into money, and we're going to make it ten times as much money! We are doing this for the emperor, and the emperor knows very well in his heart, besides, others dare to chase after the palace to retaliate? So what are we afraid of? ”

After Wang Jing finished teaching his godson, he raised the list in his hand again: "In addition, this list is far from enough, there can't be only so many big households in places like Suzhou Mansion, and we have to send more people to inquire!" The emperor likes rare treasures, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, all of which must be inquired! ”

"Yes!" Wang Chen bowed down and agreed, and saw that his godfather had a tired look on his face, probably because of the fatigue of the journey, so he took the initiative to say goodbye: "The boy's instructions are all in mind, so I will handle them one by one." ”

Wang Jing looked up sleepily, yawned, and waved his hand to let Wang Chen take care of himself.

Then everything went according to the discussion, and Wang Qianhu, the king's minister, took 7,000 treasure notes and sent them to the Suzhou government office, asking them to be exchanged for silver. Of the 7,000 treasure notes, only 5,000 were given by the Son of Heaven.

The other 2,000 guan was collected by Wang Qianhu from the market for three taels of silver, and of course, after the silver was exchanged from the government, it also belonged to Wang Qianhu himself.

The eunuch wanted to exchange the 7,000 guan treasure banknote into 7,000 taels of silver, but the Li Governor of Suzhou still didn't dare to make a hard cap. However, the government couldn't make up so much cash, so Li Zhifu had to sell some of the materials in the government warehouse, and borrowed a few more from the county government and familiar wealthy households, so that he could collect 7,000 taels and deliver it to Wang Qianhu.

In addition, 5,000 treasure banknotes were sent to Changzhou Mansion and Songjiang Mansion respectively, and cash was also exchanged. The move of procuring eunuchs was simply a robbery of the official treasury with open fire, and for a while, the yamen of Jiangnan Prefecture and County complained bitterly but could not do anything about it.

At the same time, the procuring eunuch issued an announcement summoning merchants to come and claim the salt. But there were few responders, or no one at all.

Among the various businesses, the salt industry is a business with a high technical content, and outsiders can't get involved in it at all. Most of the salt merchants gathered in Yangzhou, and there were no serious salt merchants in Suzhou at all, at most they were small retail merchants selling salt.

A layman, even if he claims the salt introduction and at the same time obtains a monopoly license from the procuring eunuch, so what?

First of all, we have to take the salt to the Huaibei salt-producing area to get salt, the layman doesn't know the doorway, and it will be hellish if he can get it, I'm afraid that I can't support the salt in line for a few years! Secondly, even if you can spend salt, shipping it to a designated sales area for sale is a problem.

Salt is different from other goods, it must be sold under the supervision of the government, and the final end of salt sales involves retail merchants, government agencies, and dental stores. Let me do it if I don't know how to do it, but I am afraid that the return of funds will be extremely slow, and the delay will also drag down the salt merchants.

Therefore, although there are many merchants in Suzhou Prefecture, no one is interested in salt at all, let alone stupid enough to claim salt at a high price - don't think about it, the purpose of purchasing eunuchs is to make money, and the salt introduction must be sold at a high price.

"It's been three days since the announcement was posted, and there's still no one?" Wang Jing, the eunuch of the procurement, sat under the shade of the tree, playing with the jade, and asked Wang Chen.

Wang Chen said: "There is indeed no one, and it seems that the merchants must be forced to claim the salt." You can choose one or two hundred at random, and force them to share the ten thousand salt leads. In this way, each family only costs a few dozen taels of silver, and it is easy to get it. ”

Wang Jing smiled, "Why do you choose so much?" You only need to find ten to claim the salt lead, whatever you want, but the number is ten! ”

Wang Chen was stunned, and asked hesitantly: "Ten thousand salt will be distributed to ten families to claim, and each family will have to take out at least more than 1,000 taels of silver." I'm afraid that most of the manpower has not been caught, and I can't get this money at all. ”

Wang Jing snorted angrily, raised his hand and smashed the jade stone at Wang Chen, and scolded: "What kind of fool are you doing? Do you still need me to teach you by hand? Whether others can give money to pay filial piety, is it something you and I should consider?

Whoever is instructed to come to the merchant who cannot produce the silver to claim the salt is to be asked to find the silver. If you can't find any more money, let him break his house! Let others see that the salt guide given by the emperor is so easy to receive? ”

Wang Chen didn't dare to hide, and his forehead was smashed out of a bag by jade, but he had to endure the pain and admit his mistake: "Godfather is angry, and his son knows that he is wrong, so let's do it!" ”

Wang Jing's expression softened slightly, and then he put on the posture of an elder and said: "When we run an errand for the emperor outside, we must carry out the two words ruthlessly, otherwise it is not enough to show our intentions!" What does it have to do with the lives and deaths of others? ”

Later, the procuring eunuch issued a list of ten merchants, ordering them to meet at Gusuyi two days later to discuss the matter of claiming Yanyin.

The merchants who were named all gasped, this is simply a disaster from the sky! Ten families share it, and each family averages 1,500 taels of silver, how many people can pay for such a huge amount of money?

The merchants who were not named were not glad that they were very hurtful. This procurement eunuch is not a good stubble, who knows if Lu Dao will point to himself tomorrow?

There was an uproar in the city again, and Suzhou Mansion has been really unfavorable in the past two years! Last year, there was a big flood, and this year I encountered two Qin chases!

The minister in front of him was still thundering and raining, and although the tone was very threatening, there had been no actual action so far; Who knew that there was a more ruthless one behind the road, and if he came up, he would cut the meat directly, without any disguise at all!

Forcing merchants to claim the indiscriminate salt of the imperial court at a high price, what is the difference between this and robbery? In comparison, the previous Qin Cha is more gentle. (To be continued......)

PS: This chapter took longer than expected, and the third is more to try to get it done before 12 o'clock, but it may be a little later, forgive me!