Guangzhou since the Tang and Song dynasties have the imperial court here to set up the city of the department, as the management of Guangzhou's foreign trade customs agencies, the Ming Jiajing Dynasty, has been born 36 merchants, in the early years of Wanli, the imperial court for the first time changed the tradition of governing Guangzhou with officials, and to the more popular 36 industries - 36 lines, to jointly manage Guangzhou.

This mode of management by business is almost the same as that of the non-governmental Foreign Trade and Economic Commission, which is not just a simple trading company, but is responsible for attracting investment, management, manipulation and other things, and almost has great power.

The 36 merchants had great trading rights in Guangzhou, and they controlled the import and export of goods while actively cooperating with the officials of the Guangzhou government.

In the Qing Dynasty, the 36 Lines evolved into the 13 Merchants as noted, that is, the predecessor of Wu Bingjian's time, and they would hold the Canton Fair in Guangzhou regularly every summer and winter.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Thirty-six Merchants controlled almost the entire window of foreign trade in the southern part of the Ming Dynasty.

The annual transaction amount reaches millions of taels of silver.

With such a large transaction volume, the benefits can be imagined, but it is a pity that the imperial court does not attach importance to commerce, and it is almost ignorant of the tariffs in Guangzhou.

After Mo Qian conquered Guangdong, the first thing he did was to take over the docks and ports of Guangzhou, and then to collect taxes.

Such a rude approach very obviously touched the interests of the 36 merchants in Guangzhou.

No matter who these people come to Guangzhou to take power, in their hearts, they feel that as long as they are officials, there is no one who is not corrupt.

However, this time, the 36 merchants encountered the Waterloo of Guangzhou, and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were thrown out, and none of the officials of the Guangzhou Customs dared to collect them.

Customs officials not only did not dare to collect money, but even told Mo Qian the news of their bribery.

Mo Qian was very satisfied with the behavior of these young officials of the customs, and he personally rewarded these officials who were not tempted by profits, and ordered troops to be sent to arrest these bribe-paying merchants.

All of a sudden, the prison in Guangzhou was overcrowded, and dozens of people were arrested every day.

The Guangzhou Commercial Bank suddenly had a huge repercussion, and some people were happy and some were worried.

I am worried that some people in my family have been arrested and put in prison, and I am happy that those small and medium-sized merchants who have no status in the Guangzhou commercial bank.

They had long wanted to hope that the thirty-six big merchants would be finished sooner, so that they could replace them as soon as possible.

Since King Mo didn't come to fruition, their dreams have really come true.

All the top business owners of the 36 banks were arrested and imprisoned, almost all of the foreign trade of the Guangzhou government came to a standstill, and the customs tax revenue was visibly decreasing every day.

The family members of the imprisoned owners of the 36 Lines began to campaign for these people, and they united in an attempt to coerce Mo Qian to release them, and threatened that if they were not released, then no one in Guangzhou would be able to do foreigners' business from now on.

Mo Qian was not afraid that they would be coerced, Mo Qian immediately ordered someone to call the small and medium-sized merchants below the 36 lines in Guangzhou to hold a meeting, at the meeting, Mo Qian intentionally or unintentionally revealed that he wanted these merchants of the 36 lines to be more active, replace those old merchants, and become big merchants in Guangzhou.

As soon as this meaning came out, the big bosses of the thirty-six lines couldn't sit still.

They paid a lot of money to buy off the jailers and find a way to bring a message to their families. Let them immediately go to King Mo and beg for mercy, promising that they will pay taxes according to the rules and regulations in the future and do business legally.

There is an old saying among the Chinese that the people do not fight with the officials.

This people are not only ordinary people who farm, but also merchants.

Merchants have not had a high status since ancient times, because they are profit-seeking by nature, and if their social status is too high, they will use their influence and financial resources to completely monopolize all walks of life.

Once a resource monopoly is formed, it will be a disaster for the people, don't believe you look at it six hundred years later.

As a later generation, Mo Qian knows very well that these businessmen are profit-seeking in their bones.

There are a few businessmen who will want to repay the society after making a fortune, even if the boss of Ma Da is living a luxurious life of an airplane and yacht after becoming the richest man in China, and he also uses a small amount of capital to pry out thousands of times the wealth, and does a profitable business since ancient times - usury, which is called a fart and a fart.

Mo Qian has no good impression of merchants, but he also knows that this society is inseparable from merchants, and without the existence of merchants, then goods from all over the world will not be effectively circulated, and the people will not be able to enjoy high-quality and low-cost goods.

Of course, all the prerequisites for a prosperous society are a good tax system and law-abiding businessmen who pay their taxes according to the rules.

If something goes wrong with the tax system, the merchants and the people will be overwhelmed.

If businessmen evade taxes for profit, the state and the government will have a fiscal shortfall because they cannot collect taxes.

Mo Qian only met some small and medium-sized merchants, and the big bosses of the thirty-six merchants couldn't sit still, and they all asked their families to ask to see Mo Qian, hoping that King Mo could give them a chance, and they were willing to pay taxes according to the rules and be a legitimate businessman.

But Mo Qian is not so easy to talk to, he dared to spend money to bribe his customs officers in the front, and he actually dared to threaten himself in the back, these grandsons, if they just begged for mercy and spared them, wouldn't it be too cheap for them.

Mo Qian very simply gave the thirty-six big bosses a condition, each of them paid a fine of 200,000 taels of silver, and did not let go of them without a word.

Two hundred thousand taels!

The big bosses instantly scolded Mo Qian in prison for being a street fighter!

"This guy is definitely a street fight!"

Mo Qiancai didn't care if they scolded him for hitting the street or not, anyway, he was an author of fighting the street in his previous life, but he didn't expect to be scolded for being a thief and being scolded for hitting the street.

The big bosses scolded and scolded, but 200,000 taels of silver could not be missing.

Some people who understand quickly saw the character of King Mo, this King Mo has such a strong personality, he must be the master who does what he says, if he does not pay this fine, I am afraid that people will be locked up for a lifetime.

It's nothing for a lifetime, but they may not be able to keep the top spot in the thirty-six lines.

For the sake of the future of each family, a few families couldn't help it, and secretly dragged the silver from their homes to the temporary yamen of the governor of Guangzhou Prefecture and paid the fine.

Mo Qian was refreshing, he did what he said, paid the money and released him.

The families paid the fines in the morning, and in the afternoon, they were released home.

When the rest of the people saw it, they also pulled the silver to pay the fine, and in just two days, Mo Qian collected 7.2 million taels, and the treasury was instantly filled.

Looking at the silver piled up in the provisional governor's yamen, Qian Dayou couldn't help but say: "Damn, this is faster than robbing money!" ”

"It's not something that happens every day."

Mo Qian used thunderous means to clean up the thirty-six merchants properly, after this incident, there are no more merchants in Guangzhou who dare to evade taxes, every household is honest in doing business, and will never dare to mess around.

However, the corruption of officialdom and businessmen in Guangzhou has not been completely swept away.

After seeing the intensity of the bribery offered by these merchants, Mo Qian began to worry about the ability of officials in Guangzhou to resist corruption.

Gu Quan is a knife, as long as you hold the knife in your hand, if you ask for it, it will take the initiative to send money to you.

The customs is in charge of Guangzhou's foreign trade, and if the customs officials do not have a strong ability to resist corruption, I am afraid that they will be thoroughly eaten by the local businessmen and eaten to death in two or three years.

In order to prevent these things from happening, Mo Qian decided to send a right-hand political envoy in Guangzhou to manage customs duties and customs officials.

Xiong Jingqi is Gong Chengkang's brother-in-law, one of them is in the army and the other is in the government.

Xiong Jingqi joined the rebels or Gong Chengkang as an introducer, although he was his brother-in-law, but Mo Qian did not give Xiong Jingqi any special treatment, but like everyone else, he started from the mayor of the town.

Xiong Jingqi admired Mo Qian's policy very much, he started as a town mayor in Gao'an Mansion, rose all the way, and became the prefect of Gao'an in just half a year.

Later, Mo Qian went north to Wuchang and took Jiujiang, in order to consolidate the rear, Mo Qian transferred Xiong Jingqi to the prefect of Jiujiang to help him guard the Yangtze River waterway.

Although Xiong Jingqi was born in Baguwen, his thinking is not dull at all, but he is still very good at doing things.

He was only three months in Jiujiang, and he quickly stabilized the situation in Jiujiang, and personally led the people to the embankment to fight the flood, and he was even more personally on the front line, Jiujiang achieved a bumper harvest that year, and the treasury was abundant.

This kind of capable official, of course Mo Qian likes it, this kind of official, he can rule the world with 10,000 days.

Mo Qian directly promoted Xiong Jingqi to be the political envoy of Jiangxi, and concurrently served as the director of the Jiangxi Inspection Department, and he held two positions.

Managing civil affairs with one hand and prisons with the other, Jiangxi is Mo Qian's hometown, and under Xiong Jingqi's governance, it is even more peaceful.

Xiong Jingqi is such a talent, of course Mo Qian wants to reuse him.

To govern Guangdong, Mo Qian's first thought was of this person.

He immediately summoned and set up the Guangdong Governor Yamen on the basis of the original Ming Guangdong, with Xiong Jingqi serving as the governor of Guangdong and concurrently serving as the director of the Guangdong Inspection Department.

The customs yamen set up by the Guangzhou Customs is directly under the direct management of the governor's yamen, and local officials have no right to intervene in customs affairs, and all customs affairs are managed by the governor of Guangdong.

Xiong Jingqi was summoned in Nanchang and immediately went south to Guangzhou non-stop.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, a letter came from Macao, and the arms ordered by Mo Qian finally arrived in Macao after traveling halfway around the world.

The Governor of Macau, Luo Lang, also sent someone to inform Mo Qian to go to Macao to pick up the goods.

When Mo Qian learned of the arrival of the munitions, he led 3,000 members of the firearms battalion to Macao in person.

In the port, Mo Qian saw a cargo full of sixty boats.

This group of ships carried not only the artillery and firearms ordered by Mo Qian, but also the 500 Portuguese naval and army soldiers who came with the ship on the orders of the King of Portugal.

According to Governor Luo's translation, these 500 soldiers were here to help Mo Qian's soldiers master the use of firearms.

Mo Qian instantly understood, these people were instructors sent to teach his soldiers.

With a wave of his hand, Mo Qian asked for all 500 people, and paid these soldiers double their salaries according to the treatment of Portugal.

The 500 soldiers who had come with the ship were not in a good mood, but when they heard that the Chinese governor was going to give them double their salaries, their emotions instantly became high, and they longed to help the governor fight tomorrow with their own guns.

Whether it is foreign or domestic, those who serve as soldiers understand one truth, that is, soldiers can only have a future if they make meritorious contributions on the battlefield.

A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier, and everyone who is a soldier understands this truth.

Mo Qian organized these 500 foreign devils into a foreign army, and hired more than a dozen Chinese translators who knew Portuguese in Macao.

Luo Lang also accompanied Mo Qian to get off the goods at the port, and personally inspected the goods for Mo Qian at one door.

The artillery had to be test-fired, and the muskets had to be test-fired, and each gun had fifty shells.

Mo Qian was very unhappy with this number, and he also said to Luo Lang: "Governor Luo, we are old friends, you also know these fifty shells, I only hit 30 cannons in Guangzhou, and 300 cannonballs in one day, these 50 cannonballs, one cannon is enough for me to fight for five days, how can this work?" ”

Luo Lang also heard this, and immediately felt a little embarrassed.

He touched his big nose and asked, "Your Excellency the Governor, this matter...."

"In this way, I don't want you to go back and transport shells to me, you give me a group of craftsmen who know how to make shells, and I will go back to the mainland and take them to build it myself."

Rolland also replied: "Your Excellency, I may not be able to fulfill this request. ”

"Why?"

"Because these cannons and shells are made in our country, there are no craftsmen in Macau who know how to make them."

"Then you can help me find it in your country, I don't need more, fifty is enough!"

Luo Lang also saw that he was so persistent, thinking that he was his big customer again, so he could only pinch his nose and agree: "Okay, no problem!" ”

After the two sides have communicated happily, all that remains is to pay.

Mo Qian happened to collect a large fine in Guangzhou, and he took out 850,000 taels of silver very boldly and handed it to Luo Langye.

Luo Lang also looked at the boxes and boxes of silver, and his mouth smiled crookedly.

He thought to himself that if he made such a big deal this time, the king would definitely grant him a duke when he returned, because he had brought benefits to the country and had become a powerful figure in China.

If nothing goes wrong in the future, southern China will be under the rule of His Excellency the Governor for decades to come.

The transaction was successfully completed, and Mo Qian returned north with five hundred foreign devil soldiers and a large number of artillery.

When I returned to Guangzhou, I happened to meet Xiong Jingqi from the arrival.

Mo Qian personally met with Xiong Jingqi and officially appointed him as the governor of Guangdong.

When Mo Qian handed over the seal of the governor of Guangdong to Xiong Jingqi, he said to him in a serious tone: "Governor Xiong, Guangzhou is the gateway of my China to the outside world, commerce and trade here are prosperous, there must be no chaos, tariffs must be tightened, and those merchants, you have to be careful, I don't want my governor of Guangdong to become the number one greed of our dynasty in the future." ”

When Xiong Jingqi heard this, he immediately raised his chest and said, "Don't worry, my lord, Jingqi will not be dishonored!" ”

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