Forbidden city.

In the Dongnuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, the rest of the people were all screened out, and Emperor Hongzhi sat behind the imperial case and listened to Xiao Jing's report.

"According to the slave maid's investigation, the emperor's paperweight and inkstone were given by His Royal Highness to Wansheng Yuan in Dongcheng, and he got 55,000 taels of silver, and the ransom was 70,000 taels."

Hearing the difference between the two of them by fifteen thousand taels, Zhu Youzhu couldn't sit still, and said with wide eyes: "This merchant in the capital is so black-hearted? Only this one out and one in, but made a profit of 15,000 taels? ”

As he spoke, his heart hurt and he couldn't help but be annoyed, mixed with jealousy, "Ha, I finally know why my Ming Taizu wants to suppress these businessmen. ”

Xiao Jing said cautiously: "Emperor, these names have always been like this, and they have always been so profitable, not to mention that this Wan Shengyuan is still the biggest name in Beijing, and it is said that many ministers in the court have some relationship with it."

"Is it collusion between officials and businessmen again?"

Slaves and maids don't dare to say that officials and businessmen collude, but there are some filial piety every year, which is also a common practice, but this Wansheng Yuan will give more."

"Huh"

A few mocking sneers appeared at the corners of Emperor Hongzhi's mouth, and they quickly disappeared.

Common practice?

Isn't that ice and carbon a common practice?

Oh, it's just accepting bribes in the name of the norm.

"Emperor, can you go to Wan Shengyuan's pawnshop to redeem the things?"

Hearing this, the corners of Zhu Youzhang's eyes twitched twice, and he also wanted to redeem it, after all, it was his beloved thing, and it had feelings after more than ten years.

But the problem is where did the silver come from, there are more than 100,000 taels left in the inner money, and so many people in the palace rely on this silver to support them.

Can you survive until the summer, take out 70,000 taels to redeem the inkstone and paperweight, how can so many people live.

What's more, when the ticket is not in his hand, there is still the interest of 15,000 taels.

Xiao Jing glanced at Emperor Hongzhi, and said cautiously: "If Dongchang and Jinyiwei are allowed to come forward, there will definitely be no need for a ticket, and there will be no interest, maybe even the redemption of silver."

Halfway through his words, Zhu Youzhu couldn't help but glare at him, "Jin Yiwei and Dongchang came forward, but you can think of it, is it because the matter is not big enough, or because the palace doesn't know about the things that the prince stole and pawned?" ”

"If the slave says the wrong thing, the slave should be punished"

Saying that, Xiao Jing gave himself a big fight, and was about to do another one, but was stopped by Emperor Hongzhi, "That's it, tell me where the pawn ticket was hidden by the prince." ”

“.”

Hearing this, Xiao Jing couldn't help but be silent, until Emperor Hongzhi was a little impatient, and then he spoke:

"According to what the slave and maid found out, on the night of the thing, the prince went to the mansion of the Bureau of Economics and Economics to wash the horse, and handed over the pawn ticket and silver deed to Xia Yuan.

“.”

Zhu Youzhu was also silent, and the picture of beating his son that night flashed in his mind, the rebel son was hung under the beam of the Ciqing Palace, and he beat him the back with a bamboo stick.

The purpose is nothing more than two, one is to make him have a long memory, and never again to steal, not even such thoughts;

The second is to let this kid tell the truth, don't deceive himself in front of his father.

But this rebel is very hard-mouthed, no matter how he beats, he refuses to tell the truth, and swears while crying hoarsely, saying that the pawn ticket and the silver deed are lost, but he promises to help him redeem things in the future.

In the end, he couldn't bear to fight any longer, threw the bamboo strip in his hand, turned around and left resentfully, and came to the conclusion that this rebel wanted money and didn't want to die.

outcome

Is it actually a partnership to do business, or is it with Xia Yuan?

After a while, Zhu Youzhu finally asked: "What kind of business do these two people do together, and they need more than 50,000 taels of silver?" ”

The slave maid did not know very well, but guessed that this business was probably related to sugar, and they bought a large piece of land near the river with silver at the Jingshi Dongbianmen more than ten miles east of the Tonghui River.

Many people were hired to build houses here, and many of the cheapest sugar prices were purchased in the market.

Moreover, I bought several shops in the capital, these shops are all large-scale, and they are all in the prosperous area of the capital, it should have cost a lot of money, and they also found someone to decorate it in it."

“.”

Zhu Youzhu fell into silence again, and he didn't know what to say for a while, doing a business suspected of being related to sugar?

If the two of them partnered to open a pawnshop, he would probably be able to understand, after all, with Fang Cai's understanding of pawnshop profiteering, he already knew that this pawnshop was a treacherous shop that made huge profits, but sugar could make money?

And this sugar is not made by themselves, but they are buying sugar on the market, what do these two people want to do, buy other people's sugar, and then sell it at a higher price?

Yes, the land purchased by the two of them is close to the canal, perhaps they want to use the convenience of Cao Yun to buy sugar from Jingshi, and then transport it to those where sugar is scarce

Thinking of this, Emperor Hongzhi really couldn't think about it, because the canal led to the south of the Yangtze River, although he lived in the deep palace for a long time, he also knew that sugarcane was not in the north, only in the south could be grown.

Every year, the sugar cane in the palace is offered from the south.

Sugar cane is needed to make sugar, which means that sugar is produced in the south.

Then the sugar produced will be transported from the south to Jingshi along the Caoyun, and the price will be raised to earn the difference.

But these two people.

Zhu Youzhu felt that his brain was a little confused, "Xiao Banban, what are they trying to do, could it be that they really want to resell sugar?" ”

"I don't know about this slave, but I don't think it's a resale of sugar, but it should be related to sugar, such as making pastries and other sweetness."

Speaking of which, Xiao Jing can't go on, if you want to make pastries, then why buy land, is it possible that you want to make pastries and then use a car to pull them to sell them in a shop in the capital?

This is purely a waste of time, buy a few shops, ask a few pastry chefs to do it in it, and sell it directly when it is done, and the sales can be better.

"Emperor, do you want to summon Xia Xima to the palace to ask?"

Zhu Youzhu couldn't help but groan when he heard this, he wanted to be an ostrich at this time, and he didn't want to summon Xia Yuan to the palace, for fear that he would learn that it was really a sugar business.

If this is the case, wouldn't it be equivalent to saying that more than 50,000 taels of silver have been wasted, and you will feel guilty when you think about it.

And Emperor Hongzhi has always been thrifty, and he is most distressed about the silver, especially during this time, he is even more distressed, and he does not dare to go to the inner house to check the silver deposits, and every time he looks at the silver and decreases a little, he closes his eyes and can't bear to look at it again.

Not to mention 50,000 taels, even 5,000 taels is enough for him to feel distressed for a while.

But after thinking about it, I felt that it was not necessarily a resale of sugar.

And it may not be possible to use up all the silver in these days, and maybe there will be left......

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhu suddenly said: "Hurry up and summon the prince and Xia Yuan into the palace together, be quick." ”

(End of chapter)