Daming: I, the emperor who trains the carpenter

Chapter 714 For the sake of driving!Merchants from all over the world

The Beijing-Tianjin Chidao is no longer repaired!
All of a sudden, the stock of Beijing-Tianjin Chidao plummeted, from a peak of [-] taels of silver, it fell all the way, and it fell by [-] taels of silver in just two or three days!

I don't know how many merchants' stocks have shrunk by half, and how many merchants are ashamed and dumbfounded.

And this is not the lowest point of Jingjin Chidao's stock, because just today, Jingjin Chidao's stock has fallen to two taels of silver, and it is about to fall back to the issue price.

The merchants who bought the shares of Beijing-Tianjin-Chidao in the first two days still made money, but the merchants who followed were all losses!

But even so, except for some anxious merchants who were eager to sell their stocks, the rest of the merchants, even those who had lost money, did not rush to sell the stocks of Jingjin Chidao, and they were still waiting to see the situation.

After all, this is the first stock issued by the imperial court, and it is also the first joint venture road built by the imperial court. The imperial court can't really ignore it, can it?

Now that the Beijing-Tianjin Chidao and the Yang family are making a fuss, is the court really not responding?

Not to mention these merchants, some smart people in the hundred officials felt that the atmosphere was not right. The current rhythm and public opinion were not right.

But those who can be officials in the capital of the imperial court, there are few simple ones, who judge the situation and adjust the rudder when they see the wind, and listen to all directions, and they will not ignore any disturbance.

After all, in this capital, among other things, if you hit a brick, you can get a lot of officials, a lot of fifth and sixth ranks, and half of the third and fourth ranks.

Therefore, paying attention to the direction of the wind is a very important skill. Only with this skill can you better secure your position in the environment of the capital.

Not to mention the capital and Tianjin right now, the whole of Beizhili is in a state of ups and downs because of the Beijing-Tianjin rush, and people are in panic. If there is nothing wrong with it, no one will believe it!

As the father-in-law of Daming Xinwang, a well-known businessman in Beizhili, Zhou Kui is very worried now.

Although it is said that Zhu Youjian was sent to labor reform, it has nothing to do with him. He is still a big businessman, a big landlord, and he also uses Zhu Youjian's name to borrow money to start his own business. Now this business is booming , He wants to get involved in almost any popular industry.

No, since he knew that the imperial court was going to build Chidao, he immediately opened a steel factory to buy iron ore and process steel.

However, he just spent a lot of money to buy iron ore, and he hasn't processed a few furnaces of steel yet.

The road is not repaired!
Where does this make him reason?

Without Chidao, what will he do with the so much iron ore he bought and subsequent iron ore orders?

Zhou Kuina, who was anxious and angry, was very uncomfortable. He was so anxious that he had sores in his mouth, and his mouth hurt badly.

But even so, he still refused to rest. He always sent people to watch the stock of Jingjin Chidao and the news of Chidao Yamen, and he also sent special personnel to investigate the affairs of Jingjin Chidao.

In fact, it is not only Zhou Kui who is sending people to investigate the matter of the Yang family and Jingjin Chidao, those chambers of commerce, big businessmen, big families who spent a lot of money to buy Jingjin Chidao stocks, and those chambers of commerce involved in the corresponding industries , People have been sent to investigate the situation of the Yang family and Tianjin.

With so many people coming to Tianjin to inquire about news, some situations are naturally exposed to everyone. For example, there are indeed people behind the Yang family, or even more than one person. For example, there is a child prodigy in the second room of the Yang family.
The sum of these things is enough for a caring person to take advantage of it.

And after Zhou Kui got the news, he hurriedly sent people to spread it, all for the stock of Beijing-Tianjin Chidao!
In short, he is currently putting a lot of money on the Jingjin Chidao. If the Jingjin Chidao is really not repaired, then he will have to pay most of his net worth!

This is absolutely intolerable to Zhou Kui, he has always been able to get in and out, and now if the Beijing-Tianjin Expressway stops, the money he loses every day is enough for him to hang himself [-] times a day.

In addition to Zhou Kui, merchants from Jiangnan, Shanxi merchants, Huai merchants, Lu merchants, Henan merchants, etc., are all working hard.

Invisibly, everyone is promoting the development of Beijing-Tianjin Chidao.

These businessmen have spent a lot of money to buy the stocks of Jingjin Chidao. They not only have the stocks of Jingjin Chidao in their hands, but also bought warehouses and shops on the road between Zhili and Tianjin, all in order to participate A fortune-making plan along the way.

Moreover, the imperial court is still building the road from Zhili to Taiyuan. Once these two roads are completed, coal and iron from Shanxi can reach Zhili and Tianjin continuously. What is this?
This is the way to get rich.

Right now, the Yang family and the people behind the Yang family are blocking the way for so many people to make a fortune. If it is just a few businessmen, they may swallow their anger and let it go. Lu merchants in Shandong, Su merchants and Huai merchants in Jiangnan, and Yu merchants in Henan and so on.

The people of the country all have local conditions, and merchants often have their own federations. For example, merchants in a prefecture have a prefectural-level federation, let alone merchants in a province. and fame.

Therefore, when merchants in a province exert their strength, the imperial court must pay attention to it.

Right now, it's not just one province, but merchants from several provinces, and merchants from the central plains and south of the Yangtze River, which are rich in money and food, are working together. Now the matter has been pushed to the extent Zhang Ruitu expected.

Merchants frequently sought pressure from the Chidao Yamen and the Commercial Yamen, not to mention the servants of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households, even the Ministry of Officials was contacted by the merchants, and Xu Guangqi, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, received many letters. Anyone looking for a relationship found Zhang Haogu.

That's right, if a general businessman can get in touch with a Yuanwailang in the Six Departments, a doctor is the best. To be able to get in touch with a servant, it has to be a merchant from a province. At the level of Shangshu, he is the second rank of the dynasty and the future cabinet minister. , then it is not easy for merchants in a province to contact.

As for Daming's first assistant, let alone, you can't even see it with ordinary people, how can you get in touch?
But businessmen also have a way. If they don't have the ability, they should find someone who is capable.

Lu merchants, Jin merchants, Huai merchants, and Su merchants approached Zhang Guoji, the father-in-law of Daming, and Zhou Kui, the father-in-law of King Xin. These are all characters who can meet Zhang Haogu.

And Zhang Guoji and Zhou Kui are also worrying about the Beijing-Tianjin rush.

Zhang Guoji went directly to his daughter, the Empress of Ming Dynasty, Zhang Yan; while Zhou Kui chose to ask Zhang Haogu to find a solution to the problem.

Zhang Ruitu and others who promoted this matter looked sideways at the power that merchants unleashed for profit, and Zhang Haogu was too aware of the power possessed by merchants.

Eastern capital is inherently deficient, but precisely because of these deficiencies, capital merchants will unite at all costs to hug their thighs. Compared with Western capital independence, Eastern capital will inevitably be connected with the government. This is for sure. Yes, it is also unstoppable.

Zhang Haogu is aware of the power possessed by businessmen, and also understands the nature of businessmen to seek profit.

However, Zhang Haogu is more aware that not all businessmen only know how to pursue profits. Businessmen often pay more attention to word-of-mouth and reputation. Businessmen also understand the righteousness of the nation and the world.

As long as the guidance is good, the merchants will walk on the path preset by Zhang Haogu. Zhang Haogu cannot guarantee that all merchants understand the righteousness of the nation, but he can guarantee that most merchants understand it, and that is enough.

Looking at the movements of all parties and pieces of information, Zhang Haogu took a sip of tea with a calm expression: "It's really lively because of this incident."

"Yuanfu, Prince Xin's Mansion sent an invitation."

Looking at the invitation in front of him, Zhang Haogu was immediately delighted: "What is Xin Wang's mansion, it's Zhou Kui, the father-in-law of Xin Wang, okay, I'll meet you when the time comes."

After leaving the cabinet in the evening, Zhang Haogu got into a carriage and went all the way to a restaurant on South Street, where Zhou Kui had been waiting for a long time.

"You're here, come in, come in."

Zhou Kui nodded and bowed, accompanied by a smiling face, and led Zhang Haogu to the private room on the third floor.

"What's the situation?" Zhang Haogu asked with a smile looking at the banquet prepared early.

Zhou Kui courteously invited Zhang Haogu to sit down, and poured tea and wine. He was extremely busy, and Zhang Haogu's eyelids twitched when he saw it: "There is no need for that, just tell me what you have to do. You are busy with work, look at it." It made me terrified.”

Only then did Zhou Kui sit down and laughed, "Yuanfu, it's about Beijing and Tianjin."

"Jingjin Chidao? What happened to Jingjin Chidao?" Zhang Haogu pretended not to know.

Seeing Zhang Haogu's appearance, Zhou Kui couldn't help but said: "Yuanfu, the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin Chi Road has stopped, you don't know about this?"

Looking at the teacup, Zhang Haogu prefers to drink tea compared to the fragrant and sweet wine. After taking a sip, Zhang Haogu slowly opened his mouth: "Oh, this matter, this Ministry of Works and The Chidao yamen has written a book for this pavilion."

"There are some problems in the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin Chi Road, which is normal."

Zhou Kui put on a bitter face: "The iron and steel factories here have been built, and the iron ore has also come in. Now the steel smelting has begun. Once the Beijing-Tianjin Expressway is shut down, there will be nowhere to sell my steel."

"And Yuanfu, right now it's not just me. Businessmen from Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Jiangnan and other places are all in a hurry. Everyone has stocks in Beijing-Tianjin-Chidao, as well as business along the way. With the stop of Beijing-Tianjin Chidao, our business cannot be done, and the business in the whole north will stop."

Zhang Haogu glanced at Zhou Kui, continued drinking tea on his own, waiting for Zhou Kui's next words.

Seeing that Zhang Haogu didn't respond, Zhou Kui continued: "Yuanfu, actually I invited you this time, it's really not my intention."

"I know," Zhang Haogu said, "as soon as the Beijing-Tianjin Expressway is shut down, you guys should be in a hurry. I heard that you have asked people in various ministries to help make peace, and even sent people to Tianjin to investigate the Yang family. ?”

Zhou Kui said quickly after hearing this: "Yuanfu, we didn't mess around, we just went to check the situation, and we don't know if we don't check, it's shocking if we check! The Yang family is very ambitious and intends to seek rebellion!"

"Intent to seek rebellion?" Zhang Haogu looked at Zhou Kui, "You can't talk nonsense."

Zhou Kui said: "Yuanfu, how dare I talk nonsense about this kind of thing? The Yang family claims that it is purple gas that enters the belly and is born with jade. What does this mean? I don't need to say more? Dissatisfied, want to plot rebellion and steal the country! There is also the son of the Yang family, whose name is Baoyu, and his character is Qingming."

"Qingming, Qingming, now that my Ming Dynasty is flourishing in the world, he is good. If I want Qingming, this is to clean up the world, and I am still popular in the Ming Dynasty, so he will use Qing, which is the same word as Manqing in Liaodong. Maybe it is the same as Liaodong. What collusion is there!"

Good guy, Zhang Haogu called him a good guy.

This word can be used to make a fuss, the literary prison of the Tianqi Dynasty?
These merchants really took great pains in order to hurry up and get rid of the Yang family.

Zhou Kui continued: "Furthermore, Yuanfu, this stall is divided into mu. Why is the equal distribution of land limited to farmland? The forest land and wasteland should also be included in it. The Yang family, relying on the fact that they have a hundred mu of forest land, dare to ask The court wants 30 taels of silver!"

"Could it be that the whole world belongs to the imperial court? Why does the Yang family dare to blackmail the imperial court? Today is the Yang family, but tomorrow there will be another Zhang family, a Li family, and a Wang family. Is this road still repaired?"

"In my opinion, the forest land, wasteland, and mountain land should all belong to the imperial court, and the local yamen should be responsible for the distribution, and hand them over to the common people and merchants for management. If the management is not proper, the imperial court should take it back, instead of blackmailing the imperial court by raising prices like the Yang family."

Listening to Zhou Kui's series of ideas, Zhang Haogu couldn't help laughing and said, "Isn't this your attention?"

Zhou Kui was not at all embarrassed: "This was proposed by Shanxi merchants, and I just spoke out on their behalf."

Zhang Haogu nodded: "Okay, I understand what you want to say, so that's it, I have to go back."

Zhou Kui said quickly after hearing this: "Yuanfu, I have prepared a table of banquets, you should eat something at least."

Zhang Haogu smiled and said: "You not only looked for me, did you?"

Zhou Kui was stunned, looking at Zhang Haogu's eyes, as if they could illuminate people's hearts, so scared that Zhou Kui immediately averted his eyes.

After returning to the residence, Zhang Haogu hadn't rested for a while, when the palace guards came: "Yuanfu, His Majesty summoned you."

Zhou Kui went to Zhang Haogu, and Zhang Guoji went to Zhang Yan. They said they were looking for Zhang Yan, but they actually told Zhu Youxiao about it in a different way.

Zhu Youxiao didn't pay much attention after knowing that the Beijing-Tianjin Chi Road was suspended. After all, it is normal for some problems to occur during the construction of the Chi Road, but when he asked about the recent folk rumors in the capital, Zhu Youxiao realized that something was wrong.

"Wei Banban, please give me a summary of the recent rumors and news about the capital, and I want to take a look."

Zhu Youxiao is the emperor who rules the world but lives deep in the palace. The emperor must have eyes and ears. Jinyiwei and Dongchang are the eyes and ears of the emperor.

Of course, Zhu Youxiao doesn't pay attention to folk rumors and anecdotes every day, and often reads them once every seven or eight days, or ten days, which is enough for Zhu Youxiao to grasp the situation of the people.

These days, he has devoted himself to researching new power machinery, and doesn't pay much attention to the rumors and rumors among the people.

This happened suddenly, and he quickly realized that this was not an ordinary situation, and there must be someone behind it.

Soon Eunuch Wei gathered the corresponding information and sent it to Zhu Youxiao. Looking at the information, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but sneered and said: "What is the background of this Yang family? How dare you ask for 30 Ten thousand taels of silver, is the imperial court’s money so easy to get?”

Eunuch Wei said: "Your Majesty, the Chidao Yamen has not approved money for the Yang family, and the Yang family is unwilling to lower the price. Right now, the Chidao Yamen and the Yang family are in a stalemate."

Zhu Youxiao realized: "That's why Chidao Yamen chose to suspend the construction of Beijing-Tianjin Chidao."

"Those merchants are impatient now, aren't they?"

Eunuch Wei said: "That's right, my lord. The big businessmen in Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan and other places who bought the shares of Beijing-Tianjin-Chidao are all crazy, and they are trying to find ways to restore their relationship as soon as possible. What about the construction progress of Jinchi Road?"

Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "I said that there have been so many rumors and rumors recently, and the head of the country has come to find them. It turns out that these businessmen can't sit still."

"That's right, with more than 700 million taels of silver, it's strange that these merchants can sit still."

"However, what is the situation of this Yang family? Where did they have the courage to ask for 30 taels of silver? What background do they have?"

Eunuch Wei said: "The Yang family was originally a family of officials, but later turned to do business. Now they are the first of the eight major merchants in Tianjin. They are involved in water transportation and salt imports, and their wealth is amazing. According to the files, they are related to the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs. The servant Yang Guangdou, but Yang Guangdou left the Tianjin Yang family early on to establish his own family, so it is not clear who the relationship behind the Yang family is."

Zhu Youxiao threw the information on the table: "A servant dares to meddle in Beijing and Tianjin. I don't believe this matter. Go check and see who is behind the Yang family."

"At the end of the day, I bought 50 taels of stocks. It rose to 400 million taels a few days ago, and now it has shrunk so much. I have to check it out."

"By the way, send me the detailed information of the Yang family, and then invite Master to see if Master knows about this matter."

In the Hall of Martial Heroes, Zhu Youxiao was leaning on a soft cushion with his sleeves in his sleeves. Opposite Zhu Youxiao, Zhang Haogu was frowning and staring at the chess game in front of him. I have to mention that Zhu Youxiao is really very smart. Super Zhang Haogu.

Seeing that Zhang Haogu has not settled for a long time, Zhu Youxiao smiled: "Hey, Master's chess skills are really good."

"Speaking of which, whether it's playing chess with other lovers or playing chess with those masters, they all try their best to give way to me, some of them are obvious, and some of them are not obvious, but I can always think about it afterwards. Are you serious about playing chess with me or letting me go?"

"Playing chess with those people is boring, but playing chess with Master is more interesting."

Zhang Haogu felt very helpless when he heard this: "It's because your Majesty can do it with all his strength when playing chess with the minister, so don't worry about the minister giving way to His Majesty?"

Zhu Youxiao laughed loudly and said, "When playing chess with Master, isn't it all because I let Master go?"

Zhang Haogu sighed: "I admit defeat, this chess skill is one, I really can't do it."

Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "One more round, one more round."

As a last resort, Zhang Haogu accompanied Zhu Youxiao to replay a game of chess. Now that the game was going on, Zhu Youxiao said: "The Beijing-Tianjin Expressway is closed, does master know?"

(End of this chapter)