Fenghou

Chapter 1419 Maritime Merchants
Chen Qingxiao asked, "A personal matter?"

Hu Yun shook his head hastily, "There is no problem with low-ranking individuals, it is a matter of Yanshan Road."

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said, "Tell me, what's the trouble?"

Hu Yun sighed and said: "That's right, Yanshan Road rented a house covering an area of ​​three acres in Muren Lane, East Street, as a courtyard. Bringing a group of people to force us out, so to speak, the landlord gave us three days to move out, can His Highness borrow an official residence for Yanshan Road first?"

"Why does the landlord want to drive you away? Is the rent going to be raised?"

"No! He sold the house, and someone else is going to move in. It just so happens that our lease is up, so we are very passive."

Chen Qing chuckled, "Okay, I'll say hello to Jiang Gong later!"

Hu Yun stood up and said goodbye.

Chen Qing thought for a while, and then told Pei Wenjin, "Go and invite Jiang Shenzheng, and invite Duke Zhou along the way!"

Pei Wenjin hurried over. What Hu Yun said was the Beijing Office, which is also an inevitable product of the centralized system and has existed since ancient times.

The Jinzuo Academy is a bridge between the imperial court and the local government. If there are ultimatums in the local area, people are sent to Beijing to send them to the Jinzuo Academy, and then they are handed over to the relevant ministries and temples by the Jinzuo Academy.

Most of the Jinzuoyuans are concentrated in one place. For example, the Jinzuoyuans in the Tang Dynasty were mainly concentrated in Chongrenfang. Jingzhao did not consider this area at first, so the Jinzuoyuans in each prefecture rented their own houses, and the Yongwang Mansion could not provide extra government offices. give them.

But today, when Hu Yun mentioned that Yanshan Road Jinzuoyuan was driven away by the landlord, Chen Qing thought of a solution.

At this time, Jiang Yanxian and Zhou Kuan hurried to Chen Qing's new official room, and when they entered the door, they clasped their fists together and laughed, "Congratulations, Your Highness, on the birth of your son!"

Chen Qing said with a chuckle, "Your news is really insane!"

"Of course, it's a big deal for the princess to have a baby!"

"Let's go! Let's go to the old official building, and then I will treat you to lunch."

The two didn't ask any more questions, and followed Chen Qing in a carriage to the old official building. After a while, the two carriages arrived at their old official building, which was the former official office of King Yong's Mansion.

At this time, all the temples have been moved away, leaving only boxes of documents left in the warehouse, and more than a thousand soldiers are cleaning the warehouse.

Walking into the official room, the inside is empty and nothing is left.

"Has Jiang Gong considered what to do here in the future?"

"The internal government hall is still discussing it for the time being, does your highness have an idea?"

Chen Qing nodded, then talked about Hu Yun's request, and finally said: "We didn't think about entering the Zouyuan before, so that later the Zouyuan was scattered all over the city. On the one hand, it is very inconvenient , On the other hand, it will also increase the burden on the states, just as these government offices are vacant, we will take this opportunity to solve the problem of entering the theater in one fell swoop."

Jiang Yanxian smiled and said: "Previously, Lu Shenzheng proposed to use these old government offices as a window for the temples to the outside world. Ordinary people don't need to enter Suzaku City to do business. However, entering the Zouyuan is indeed a big problem. I support your Highness's plan."

Zhou Kuan also smiled and said: "I also support entering the Zouyuan. As for the external window of the government office, I think it is completely possible to set up a tent on the Suzaku Square, and do not need to enter the Suzaku City, and get things done directly in the square."

Chen Qing said with a smile: "Let's go! Go to lunch, we will have a detailed talk over tea, and we need to find a temporary theater for Yanshan Road, otherwise they will be driven to the street."

Jiang Yan smiled slightly and said: "There are places, I will arrange for them in the afternoon!"

After the three of them had lunch at Qingfeng Teahouse, Cha Ji served them tea. Zhou Kuan smiled and said, "Your Highness, you don't know! There is also a Qingfeng Teahouse on North Street. The location is very good, just facing the Tianjin Bridge. You can eat and drink tea there at noon."

Chen Qing nodded, "I know, it was opened by my concubine's parents, which is the same as Qingfeng Teahouse here."

The Qingfeng Teahouse on North Street mentioned by Zhou Kuan was opened by Yao Mei's parents. To be precise, it was a joint venture with Lu Jin, with each party holding half of the shares.

At this time, Zheng Tongquan, the trade supervisor, came over to greet him. Chen Qing quickly asked him to sit down, and asked with a smile, "Why is Mr. Zheng here?"

"Beizhi is meeting two old friends from Lin'an, drinking tea next door!"

"Who is it?"

"Your Highness should have heard of it. One is Wang Zhenbang and the other is Yu Wanfeng."

Chen Qing has really admired his great name for a long time. The three big merchants in Lin'an, Zheng Tongquan's family, Wang Zhenbang's family and Yu Wanfeng's family, are all big businessmen with wealth beyond rivals. Unexpectedly, they are all in Jingzhao.

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said, "You might as well ask them to come and have a seat!"

Zheng Tongquan was overjoyed, and quickly invited two friends to the next door. Taking this opportunity, Chen Qing introduced Jiang Yanxian and Zhou Kuan in a low voice.

Not long after, Zheng Tongquan brought the two of them over and introduced them to Chen Qing. The two respectfully saluted and said, "Xiaomin, refer to His Royal Highness King Yong, refer to Jiang Shen's political affairs, and Zhou Shen's political affairs!"

Chen Qing saw that they were both in their 60s and [-]s. Wang Zhenbang was lean and dark-skinned, while Yu Qingfeng was a little fairer and a little fatter.

"You two don't need to be too polite, please sit down and drink tea, there are exactly six people here!"

Zhou Kuan ordered Cha Ji to serve tea, and the three of them sat down. Chen Qing asked with a smile, "When did you two come to Jingzhao?"

Wang Zhenbang was older, leaned forward and said, "Report to Your Highness, I just arrived yesterday!"

"Is it your first time here?"

Yu Qingfeng smiled and said: "Your Highness doesn't know, we came here three years ago, and each bought a piece of land in Nancheng to build a house, and also bought some land for shops."

Chen Qing nodded, he could understand that with the shrewdness of these big businessmen, they should have done it a long time ago, and they probably bought a lot of land.

"What's the situation in Lin'an now? I heard that the imperial court is going to issue meetings to all merchants, has it started yet?" Chen Qing asked again.

Wang Zhenbang sighed and said: "The opposition was too fierce, the imperial court had to give way, and only issued clubs to 350 large merchants, but not only Lin'an, but also other prefectures, most of them were Pingjiang Prefecture and Guangzhou, each with 2000 merchants. It is said that [-] million yuan will be issued this time, and the average family will be [-] to [-] yuan, which is too ruthless, basically plundering all the wealth of big businessmen."

"Are you two on the list?"

"Of course we can't escape, but we only have the house and a few shops left that cannot be transferred. If the imperial court wants it, just give it to them!"

Zhou Kuan sighed and said, "Killing the chicken and taking the eggs is a sign of the country's subjugation!"

Chen Qing pondered for a while and said, "Can you collect 2000 million guan?"

Wang Zhenbang shook his head, "It's not the first time that he was caught off guard. The same thing has been done twice, and the news spread two months ago. After two months, can the businessman not escape? I It is estimated that half of them can be forced to expropriate, and many of them are houses and shops. Lin'an real estate cannot be sold at all. There are too many, and no one is willing to take over. Once the imperial court sells the confiscated real estate, the housing prices in Lin'an will collapse. The consequences are even more serious, how much money the rich and powerful bought the land at the beginning, and their property has shrunk sharply, you can imagine their resentment towards the emperor and the court."

After everyone drank a cup of tea, Chen Qing said to them again: "You are all well-known maritime merchants, have you considered continuing to engage in overseas trade?"

The two looked at each other the same way, Yu Wanfeng sighed and said, "There are many experienced children in our family, and they all consider going to Quanzhou to resume their old careers, but our Wanshi sea boats have been confiscated by the imperial court for several years, and they will not return them." We are powerless!"

The expressions of the two suddenly became a little unnatural. They just remembered that more than 100 Wanshi sea ships of their two families are in the hands of the opposite King Yong!

Chen Qing said indifferently: "The spoils of war are generally not returned, but if you are willing to redeem them, I can promise each of you to redeem [-] sea-going ships."

(End of this chapter)