The monopoly of salt and iron had already spread throughout Great Qin, but at that time it was only aimed at the land of the old Qin, and the rest of the merchants felt that this matter would not fall on them.

But no one expected that how long had passed, and Ying Zheng's decree was promulgated, requiring all salt and iron merchants in Daqin to hand over their own industries and implement the policy of monopoly of salt and iron.

In order to allow these people to obey the order, Yingzheng also ordered the four major salt merchants of Great Qin to send people to Xianyang to discuss the matter.

For a while, all the businessmen commented on this matter, and hotly discussed how this matter would end.

After all, no one knows that it is impossible for those businessmen to easily hand over the "cornucopia" in their hands.

And the four major salt merchants of Great Qin, the Zi family, the Rong family, the Li family and the Miao family, also received this news.

The land of the old Qi is a holy land for salt production, and the Li family and the Miao family are both located in the land of Qi, in order to show fairness, these people gathered in Langya County to discuss how to deal with this matter.

At this moment, in a palatial courtyard, a group of people are sitting there, and some people have no sadness or joy on their faces, and they can't see their emotions.

Some people looked embarrassed and seemed to be very worried about the development of the matter.

Others seemed to be very calm, not caring about these things at all, and observing the situation of the rest of them with interest.

"A few of you, today is for discussion, why don't you say a word?"

It is Miao Yutang who speaks, he is the current ruler of the Miao family, although he is not very old, but his means are extremely high, since he took power, the business of the Miao family has become bigger and bigger.

This time, he also brought everyone here, just to unite others to fight against the decree of Great Qin this time.

After speaking, he stood up and looked at Rong Ming, who was sitting next to him.

"Master Rong, I heard that you have a lot of personal relations with the officials of Xianyang City, do you have any room to turn this matter around?"

Rong Ming, who was named, was even more embarrassed at the moment on his originally sad face.

He glanced at Miao Yutang and sighed deeply before saying, "This matter ...... I'm afraid it's a little difficult to do. ”

"There is news that the imperial court has made up its mind this time, and it is also His Majesty's close confidant Zhang Han who is in charge of this matter, this person has quite a means, and he has begun to investigate the forces of each family in the past few days."

"Summoning me to Xianyang this time is his proposal."

"Moreover, several officials who secretly communicated with me were all imprisoned in Xianyang Prison."

"I always feel that His Majesty seems to have discovered something, so he didn't dare to contact him again, and I don't know what the situation is in Xianyang City now."

Rong Ming didn't know about Zhao Gao's slander of the officials of the DPRK and China, but he only knew that some officials were imprisoned, just after someone told him about the monopoly of salt and iron.

Therefore, he thought of this, and when His Majesty's news came this time, he was even more sure of what he thought.

His eyes were full of worry, and he hesitated for a moment before saying, "I thought that this salt and iron monopoly was for me and other salt merchants. ”

Miao Yutang didn't believe his words very much, and even had some disdain in his eyes.

What he looks down on the most is a soft person like Rong Ming, since he is in business, he must be tougher and fight for him, otherwise the Miao family will not be able to be the head of the four major salt merchants.

But now looking at Rong Ming's appearance, he even has the intention to kick Rong Ming out of the four major salt merchants and rob him of his business!

However, this is only what he thinks about now, and he has not yet decided whether to do it or not.

After all, there is still a Great Qin decree here, so let's settle this matter first.

"In your opinion, do you want to give up the profitable business in your hands?"

"If you want me to say that the court just wants money, then each of our families will take out a part of the family property and hand it over to the court to solve the urgent needs of the current court and buy the business in hand."

"What do you think?"

No one spoke this time, after all, if the family property taken out is to be satisfactory to the court, it must be all the family property, or more than ninety percent of the family property.

But this is all their hard work, if they just hand it over, who would want to?

That's more painful than cutting meat!

Seeing that no one spoke, Miao Yutang continued: "I advise everyone, don't lose the big because of the small. ”

"The current state of affairs is unclear, and the imperial court only invited us to discuss, so the initiative is still in our hands."

"But if we enter Xianyang City, whether we want to or not, there must be a result in this matter, as for the result being good and bad, it's not up to us to decide."

"I invite you to come this time, just to discuss together and use your family property to report safety."

The meaning of his words is not very large, but it falls into the hearts of everyone.

No one wants to give up their own things, and this time they are willing to come here to discuss together, just to ask for a perfect solution.

But as it turned out, they were a little reluctant in their hearts.

After pondering for a moment, Rong Ming took the lead in speaking: "If you can use your family property, it would be good to exchange for a moment of peace." ”

"But I'm worried that the attitude of the imperial court is not clear now, if what they are trying to do is wrong, how should we deal with it?"

"Not for money?" Li Gaoyi, who was sitting there very calmly, also opened his mouth, he was not the head of the Li family, but he was the next head of the family.

This time, the Li family sent him here, firstly, to make friends with the merchants, and secondly, to test him.

If he can keep the Li family, then no one will have an opinion on him as the head of the family.

Otherwise, either the Li family will be defeated, or the position of the head of the family will be lost.

"Rong family master's words, does this court still want our lives?!"

"In my opinion, this is just a bluff by the imperial court."

"As we all know, today's Great Qin is different from the past, taxes have increased year after year, and there are more and more killings, which are becoming more and more frequent, and the people everywhere are complaining, and the imperial court has no choice but to hit the idea on the head of the merchants."

"Therefore, the imperial court just wants me to be afraid, and then like the master of the Miao family, I will break the fortune and avoid disasters in order to achieve their goals."

"And the business in the hands of the heads of the families is not just salt, I know that the head of the Miao family has hoarded a lot of grain and fields behind his back."

"If you give away the family property, this is also the means for the Miao family to save their lives, right?"

The expression on Miao Yutang's face did not change at all, and he did not feel any displeasure because of Li Gaoyi's words.

"Just to save my life, I think everyone here is the same."

"If you are tired today, the old nobles everywhere are ready to move, and it is only a matter of time before there is chaos in the world, don't you think so?"

As he spoke, he glanced at everyone present.

None of them refuted it, because they all saw through this essence, and all of them had their own little calculations.

Seeing them like this, Miao Yutang's face showed a presumptuous smile.

"You only think about how to keep your own industry, have you ever thought about why the imperial court has a monopoly on salt and iron?"

Rong Ming replied naturally: "For money." ”

"Not bad."

Miao Yutang nodded, and then said: "But the imperial court has always paid taxes, why do you want to use the money of merchants?" ”

Everyone was stunned, not understanding the meaning of his words.

After a while, Miao Yutang said, "This shows that the taxes are no longer enough for the imperial court's expenditure." ”

"Or rather, we can't collect any more money from taxes!"