Zhenjiang Chamber of Commerce.

Jiangnan Jiu everyone gathered together.

Although Lu Shiyuan is in charge of the nine big families, he doesn't like to take care of things very much.

First, he has a quiet temperament and a bit of Confucian businessmanship.

He had no intention of being a businessman in his life, but because of his businessmanship, he missed the imperial examination, so he had no choice but to inherit the billions of family fortunes in his family.

Second, there is no successor, and the current family business does not know who to be cheaper, so what's the use of tossing again?

Therefore, although the alliance was in the Zhenjiang Hall under the name of the Lu family, he, the leader, rarely spoke.

Lu Shiyuan was reluctant to speak, so naturally someone was willing to speak.

Zhang Tianyou in Suzhou was very active and active, slandering the Ming court and Zhu Yunxi on the other.

"Since Brother Lu doesn't want to speak, then I'll say a few words for Brother Lu on my behalf."

"Our Zhang family is considered a halfway monk, and it is not as good as your deep-rooted eight families."

"The reason why our Zhang family can get a piece of the fat meat of sea trade is all because of the love of your elders and uncles, so that our Zhang family can beg for a bite to eat at sea."

"Drinking water and thinking about the source, I, Zhang Tianyou, swear here, no matter which of you the court wants to deal with, my Zhang family will go to the soup and fight the fire and help each other!"

As soon as Zhang Tianyou's words came out, everyone's faces were a little moved.

In fact, the reason why they shared the Zhang family's pie was not for Zhang Tianyou's face, but for the face of Zhang Tianyou's father Zhang Shicheng.

Although Zhang Shicheng was born as a smuggler of salt, when he seized Jiangdong, he treated merchants and ordinary people well, and accumulated a lot of prestige among the people.

Therefore, after Zhu Yuanzhang exterminated Zhang Shicheng, the people of Jiangnan spontaneously protected the Zhang family and took good care of them.

Zhang Tianyou can also be regarded as hard-working, relying on the money and prestige accumulated by his father, he quickly opened up the situation in the Jiangnan business community and faintly became the first family in Jiangnan.

If you talk about financial resources alone, the Zhang family may already be above the Lu family. It's just that the Lu family inherited from the Song Dynasty, and has experienced a hundred years of the Yuan Dynasty, has been engaged in maritime trade for many years, and has a rich accumulation in maritime trade, so it is not that the rising star of the Zhang family can compare.

"Zhang Jiaxian's nephew's words make people listen to the ironing!"

"Zhu Yuanzhang is different from Ling Zun, 10,000 people who can't look down on us who walk the streets and alleys to do small business."

"It's just that we are not allowed to participate in the imperial examination, and we are not even allowed to wear the silk that we have woven by our own hands, how can there be such a reason in this world?"

Gu Yuanqing complained, and drank tea by himself, with a look of indignation on his face.

Other people also felt related to each other when they heard this, and they felt that it was really difficult to be a businessman in Daming.

thought that Zhu Yuanzhang would expel the Meng Yuan and restore China, so that these businessmen would not have to suffer from the exploitation of those corrupt officials and officials in the Yuan Dynasty, and they would finally be able to live a good life.

Which Cheng thought that Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor, and the suppression of their businessmen came one after another.

Banning them from participating in the imperial examination is tantamount to cutting off their official path and their thoughts.

However, this is more or less bearable, and what they can't bear the most is Zhu Yuanzhang's humiliation of them.

Zhu Yuanzhang ranked them at the end of the four people of Shinong Industry and Commerce, and stipulated that they could not wear silk, but only silk and cotton and linen. It was also stipulated that they had to wear small hats, and even the shoes they wore were regulated. ….

With such humiliation and suppression, who can not have a little resentment in their hearts?

If they are just not allowed to participate in the imperial examination, their status will be low, and what makes them even more unbearable is that their family wealth cannot be preserved.

Their predecessor, Old Man Shen Wansan, how much effort did he make for the Ming Dynasty and how much money did he pay?

Zhu Yuanzhang, a wolf-hearted thing, after becoming the emperor, not only did he not thank Old Man Shen for his generosity, but ordered someone to raid his home and send his entire family to Yunnan!

This incident completely chilled the hearts of Jiangnan businessmen, and made them determined to oppose the court and Zhu Yuanzhang.

Didn't you Zhu Yuanzhang look down on businessmen, then you don't want to receive a penny of taxes from Haimao.

With the joint efforts of Jiangnan businessmen, several cities and divisions opened by the Ming Dynasty were forced to close.

There is no other reason, because the maritime groups led by the Nine Great Families all conduct overseas trade through smuggling.

Not only did the city not receive a penny in taxes, but it also had to deal with harassment from small countries such as Java, Malaga, and the Ryukyus.

Every year, these small countries come to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute, sometimes with some coral, sometimes with some local products, and come to the Ming Dynasty to go around, and they can always get rich rewards.

Even a stingy emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang is embarrassed to stick a cold ass to other people's hot faces in the face of the "active surrender" of overseas vassal states.

Over time, Zhu Yuanzhang thought that this matter was too expensive, and stipulated that overseas vassal countries should always come to pay tribute, and changed it to once every few years.

Even so, Zhu Yuanzhang was still annoyed, so he simply closed the city and cut off the path for those small countries to come to Daming to fight the autumn wind.

After Gu Yuanqing finished complaining, the atmosphere in the hall was a little dull.

After a long while, Luo Guancheng, the current head of the Luo family, hesitated to speak.

"Zhu Yuanzhang is really too much for us businessmen, but the old man heard that the imperial grandson seems to be different......

"The emperor's grandson himself has been engaged in the way of merchants, opening bookstores, running workshops, and now opening a stock exchange, taking out the two most profitable chambers of commerce under his name, so that the businessmen of the Ming Dynasty can get a piece of the pie."

"It can be seen that the imperial grandson seems to be different from Zhu Yuanzhang, so he shouldn't be so repulsive to our businessmen, right?"

When the people in the hall heard this, they all showed thoughtful expressions.

Let them shout slogans and scold Zhu Yuanzhang behind closed doors. But let them pull the flag to rebel and fight against the Zhu Ming court, they are still very worried.

Otherwise, there would be no meeting, and you would have to hide in such an inconspicuous Zhenjiang Hall.

Therefore, when they heard Luo Guancheng's words, some people were a little moved.

Like Lu Shiyuan, they all planned to buy the shares of the Chamber of Commerce issued by the emperor's grandson. It's just that it can't be compared with Lu Shiyuan in terms of quantity, and each person buys a few thousand shares to play.

A few hundred thousand taels of silver is not a big deal for them, after all, the value of any shipload of goods can reach two or three hundred thousand taels.

Buying 3,000 shares is just a shipload of money.

But if they can see clearly through this matter the personality of the grandson of the Ming Emperor, it will be of great significance to them.

Just when the family masters were a little moved, Zhang Tianyou sneered and knocked on the table.

"Brothers, uncles and elders, do you really believe that the old Zhu family can give birth to any good seeds?" ….

"Then how old is Zhu Yunxi, he dares to go to the sea to kill the Japanese invaders, and he dares to go to the north to fight ***."

"Such a ruthless lord, if he becomes an emperor in the future, he will also be a reckless soldier and a person who rejoices in his achievements."

"Although the little nephew doesn't read much, he also knows how miserable the life of the people was during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and how difficult it was for the merchants to live."

"Do you want our Ming Dynasty to produce a Ming Wu Emperor?"

"This ......"

Hearing this, Luo Guancheng hesitated again and said.

"The emperor's grandson is fighting the Japanese and ***, these are all our great enemies in China, can you still kill the wrong one?"

As soon as Luo Guancheng's words came out, everyone sitting embarrassedly played with the bowl, even the good old man Lu Shiyuan couldn't help but come out to play the round.

"Luo Jiaxian's nephew is cautious!"

"At this point, Brother Zhang still has some sense."

When everyone heard Lu Shiyuan say this, their faces looked better.

In fact, among those of them who are engaged in maritime trade, which one does not deal with the Japanese invaders?

Even the strongest gang of pirates on the sea are their dogs!

Otherwise, why can those ronin warriors come to the Daming realm to shout and kill?

If it weren't for someone on land who answered them and pointed them in the direction of the blow, they would have lost themselves just by hurrying.

Although the Lu family did not raise Japanese pirates, they also had their own armed forces. It's just hidden deeper, hidden

Among the rivers in the south of the Yangtze River.

Relatively speaking, the Zhang family has the strongest maritime power.

Zhang Shicheng was defeated, and many of Zhang Shicheng's old troops fled to the sea and became pirates who robbed their homes and houses. By the way, he recruited a lot of ronin warriors, and he became the number one force in the Ming Sea Frontier.

It's just that since last year, Daming has formed a regular navy, which has made their lives not so easy, which made the Zhang family take the initiative to move closer to them.

Otherwise, with the strength of the Zhang family on the sea and on land, they would have been able to get rid of them and go it alone, so why discuss countermeasures with them?

After Zhang Tianyou finished speaking in Lu Shiyuan, he stood up excitedly and added.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what is Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude towards our businessmen, we should be able to see it over the years, right?"

"I advise you not to have illusions about Da Ming, and don't have illusions about the imperial grandson."

"The so-called stock exchange, in my opinion, is just trying to cheat businessmen out of money and satisfy the selfish desires of his Zhu family."

"Salt and iron are the official business of the imperial court, and a casual official document from the imperial court can turn the shares in our hands into waste paper!"

"Relatively speaking, coal is better, but whether to give us money or not, isn't it up to people to decide how much money to share?"

"Even if we have shares in our hands and people don't give us money, we still dare to go to the palace to find that Zhu Yunxi and ask for it!"

As soon as Zhang Tianyou's words came out, the people present became even more silent.

The people who originally wanted to buy hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to test the water also retreated in their hearts.

Although hundreds of thousands of taels of silver are not much, they are not blown by the wind, so let's save some if you can save them.

Luo Guancheng saw that what he said was completely denied, and he was a little unhappy in his heart.

"So what do we do now?"

"The imperial grandson is about to open in the city of Songjiang Mansion, let's engage in maritime business in the future, should we take the clear account of Songjiang Mansion, or continue to think like before......"....

Zhang Tianyou interrupted Luo Guancheng's words, and said with a sneer.

"Are you stupid!"

"Isn't it good for us to earn our own silver from white flowers, why should we let the court take a piece of the pie?"

"Besides, Zhu Yuanzhang's greed is obvious to all. I'm afraid that we will honestly pay our taxes, and in the end we will be targeted by the imperial court, and we will end up with a family raid!"

As soon as Zhang Tianyou's words came out, everyone's expressions were awe-inspiring. Originally, there were still some people who rode the wall, but they supported Zhang Tianyou one-sidedly and gave up the unrealistic illusions in their hearts.

Some people even looked at Shen Congxing, the head of the Shen family, and their eyes were full of regret.

If it weren't for the old man of the Shen family who was exterminated by Zhu Yuanzhang, the title of the richest man in Jiangnan would definitely not fall to the Lu family and the Zhang family.

Shen Congxing saw everyone looking at him, and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"You uncles and brothers don't need to look at me, I'm just a housekeeper, following your uncles and brothers to eat and feed the hundreds of people in the Shen family."

Shen Congxing said humbly, but no one dared to underestimate him.

Shen Wansan started from scratch and created a huge business empire, so powerful that the imperial power could be feared, and there must be a lot of hole cards in his hand.

Otherwise, the Shen family was all raided and distributed, why did it prosper again in just over ten years and become one of the nine families in Jiangnan?

The foundation laid by Old Man Shen back then, and the connections he made, made it no problem for the Shen family to prosper for another three generations!

Shen Congxing said after smiling self-deprecatingly.

"But I think Brother Zhang is reasonable, let's wait and see first, and don't rush to take the clear path of the city."

"In case the rich ...... is revealed"

"Isn't the fate of my Shen family miserable enough?"

When everyone heard Shen Congxing's words, their hearts all rose with the sadness of the rabbit and the fox.

But if the court gives him a way to live, who wants to be a thief?

They were also forced to do nothing!

Seeing that everyone had reached an agreement, Lu Shiyuan immediately got up and said.

"Since you don't fight

If we go to Songjiang City, then we will continue to trade according to the previous path."

"Let's talk about how much share you want this year, and let's study the specific strategy."

"Good!"

The next negotiations were not as united as they had just been, because every penny and every penny was money.

As for the group of businessmen, as long as they talk about money, they have no feelings to talk about.

As the saying goes, don't come out to do business if you talk about money.

When the nine masters of Zhenjiang Hall were studying this year's share of sea trade, Zhu Yunxi also encountered a problem.

The official in charge of the Songjiang City Shipping Division has written that since the beginning of this year, he has not recruited a decent maritime businessman.

Only one overseas businessman came to take refuge because he was forced to dock because of a storm.

And the purpose is very strong, hoping that the Ming court can help him repair merchant ships, so he is willing to trade in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yunxi was so angry when he saw this that he wanted to tear it up.

When did he become so humble and ask for overseas merchants to trade?

Shouldn't it be that Daming is carrying tea in one hand and porcelain in the other, and a ticket is in a hurry to beg to trade with Daming?

Yang Xinlu is revising the sin song, he has written several editions, but he always feels dissatisfied, feeling that it may annoy the old emperor, so he has been scribbling and correcting. ….

Seeing Zhu Yunxi's anger for no reason, he stretched out his head and glanced at it.

Although Yang Xinlu and the other two masters have the right to help Zhu Yunxi draft their opinions, not all of them have the right to read them.

For example, in terms of maritime affairs, they can only wait for Zhu Yunxi to settle down by himself.

Yang Xinlu glanced at it and saw that it was about the city's ship, so he couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Isn't it really strange that the imperial grandson is reluctant to come to my Daming City?"

"yes!"

"It's not scientific...... No, no, that's not reasonable!"

"Obviously, we are the imperial court, and it is the most cost-effective to buy from us, why don't you come to us?"

Yang Xinlu smiled even more mysteriously when he heard this.

"Weichen takes the liberty of asking, His Royal Highness, do you think the imperial court has tea, silk, or porcelain?"

"This ......"

Zhu Yunxi had never thought about this, he instinctively thought that these should be in the hands of the Ming court.

But since Yang Xinlu dared to ask like this, it must not be what he thought.

"Dare to ask Mr. Yang, who holds the silk, tea, and porcelain of our great name?"

Yang Xinlu stretched out his finger and dipped some tea and wrote a "nine" on the table.

"As far as the old man knows, the maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty has long been monopolized by the Nine Great Families."

"What's the matter?"

"The Nine Great Families are very old, and some can even be traced back to the Song Dynasty."

"The reason why the Song Dynasty was able to fight against the Jin Kingdom and the Meng Yuan Dynasty with a mere land south of the Yangtze River was because of the huge profits of maritime trade."

"Otherwise, just the continuous wars, New Year's coins, and the like will drag down the finances of the Song Dynasty."

Zhu Yunxi also attaches great importance to maritime trade and believes that the benefits of maritime trade are huge. However, he recently looked at the sea trade tax since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and the highest year was only 330,000 taels!

Don't say that Zhu Yuanzhang can't look down on this money, even Zhu Yunxi can't look down on it!

What he wants is 30 million taels a year!

Even if you don't have 30 million taels a year, you have to strive for 10 million taels.

No matter how little it is, it is an insult to the Ming Dynasty, the population of the Ming Dynasty is placed on the bright side, and there are nearly 10,000 people with household registration to check. Counting the fugitives, hidden households, and those who do not want to register in the border and poor areas, the population can reach more than 120 million.

Daming is a vast land with a large population, and it can't even complete the tax of 10 million taels of silver a year, which is a shame!

"Where's the money?"

"Why does the Southern Song Dynasty rely on this?

can fight with Jin Guo and Meng Yuan, and persist for so many years. When it comes to our Daming, it will cost more than 300,000 taels of silver a year?"

Yang Xinlu shook his head and smiled bitterly when he heard this.

"Actually, this is a long story, to put it simply, the people of Mengyuan are too stupid, they were fooled by the maritime merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, and the annual tax of three or two million taels of silver is over, and the rest is all the money made by the maritime merchants themselves."

"Think about it, the maritime merchants are used to doing the business of the Yuan Dynasty, can they stand up to our Ming system?"

When Zhu Yunxi heard this, he suddenly felt a sense of surprise.

"Got it!"

"You're talking about the Yuan Dynasty's tax system!"

"The Imperial Emperor is wise!"

Since the Yuan Dynasty learned the system of tax package in the Western Regions, it was widely used in all fields of the Ming Dynasty.

Mines can be packaged, commercial banks can be packaged, and even field taxes can be packaged.

In addition, there were many illiterate officials in the Yuan Dynasty, and the household registration management was a mess, and the accounts were not understood in the entire hundred years of the Great Yuan Dynasty.

In the most chaotic period of the later period, they even asked the people to write a few people on the door panel of their homes, and how many acres of land they had at home, so that they could collect taxes conveniently.

Therefore, the Ming maritime merchants, who have been active since the Song Dynasty, after a hundred years of extensive management in the Yuan Dynasty, could not withstand the system of Emperor Zhu.

Not to mention that Emperor Zhu will definitely collect taxes, even if Emperor Zhu does not collect taxes, they will not dare to go.

Because Emperor Zhu's reputation was so poor, he didn't even recognize the Danshu iron coupons issued by himself, and no one dared to take the risk.

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