Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 107

Chongzhen asked: "Lang'er, Jiong'er, have you already determined that Lu Zhenfei and Kang Wanwan have colluded?"

"Sure." Zhu Cijiong said without hesitation, "Lu Zhenfei first sold 9 taels of grain to Kang Wanwan at a price of 50 yuan a stone lower than the market price, and then at a price of 1.5 taels a stone that was significantly higher than the market price. If you buy back the 50 shi grains, if you say that there is no connection between them, I will not believe it."

At this time, Zhu Cihong suddenly said: "Father, my son understands."

"Brother, what do you understand?" Zhu Cijiong asked in a daze.

Zhu Cilang said: "Another prefecture in eight prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River has a fixed quota of 400 million shi for the grain sent to the capital every year. This year's grain was originally supposed to be released at the beginning of the year, but due to the thieves' capture of Henan, the water transportation was interrupted, and the first batch of 40 shi grain was stranded in the In Yangzhou, the remaining 360 million shi grains have not yet been released.”

"Later, the news of the capital's fall spread to the south of the Yangtze River, so there was no need to send grain to the capital."

"It just so happened that at this time, the frontier troops from the three towns of Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo were all fleeing to the state capitals in the north of the Yangtze River. In order to stabilize the three towns, the officials in Liudu headed by Shi Kefa decided to sell 400 million shi of grain and exchange it for discounts for rewards. Jun, this matter was told by Gao Hongtu, Shangshu of Nanjing Household Department, to Emperor Father, there should be no falsehood."

"The 360 million taels of silver is also what Gao Hongtu told his father himself."

"That is to say, the price of 9 qian per stone was jointly agreed upon by the officials of Liudu, not Lu Zhenfei's arbitrary decision."

"So at least at this moment, Kang Shaojing spent 45 taels of silver to buy 50 shi grains, which can be said to have solved the urgent need of the court. Not only is there no fault, but a great contribution!"

"Yes." Chongzhen praised, "The analysis makes sense."

Zhu Cijiong said unconvinced: "Then Lu Zhenfei bought back the grain at a price of 1.5 taels. Is there always a problem? And Kang Wanwan earned 30 taels of silver from the court after all, isn't it true?"

"Third brother, don't worry, let me analyze it slowly." Zhu Cihong smiled, and then said, "Lu Zhenfei bought Caoliang back from Kang Shaojing at a price of 1.5 taels. It seems to be a disadvantage, but it is not."

"It's not a loss, is it?" Zhu Cijiong said, "It's a big loss, okay."

"Actually, it's not a disadvantage." Zhu Cihong said, "Let the grain merchants transport the grain to Shanyang, and then buy the grain directly from the grain merchants at a price of 1.5 taels, and the final cost is 1.5 taels."

"But if we still follow the imperial court's plan, we can buy grain from various prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River."

"Even if you buy it at a par price of 1 tael, after removing the drift, the grain that is finally sent to Shanyang is only half a shi, which means that the actual price is 2 taels, which is even more expensive!"

"I believe that Lu Butang must have figured out the account, so he bought grain directly from the grain merchant."

"But I didn't expect that this move directly offended the officials in the south of the Yangtze River, because the officials in the eight prefectures and one state in the south of the Yangtze River had no chance to profit from it, so how could they not be annoyed? That's why so many censors impeached Lu Butang .”

"The more important thing is that Lu Zhenfei broke the rules." Chongzhen added, "He skipped the minister of the cabinet! That's why he was besieged by the censor, and it was Huang Jiarui who was cunning and threw this hot potato to Lu Zhenfei, he himself got out of the way, and Lu Zhenfei was also upright, he only wanted to deliver more grain to the front line, so he did what he wanted to do."

"But but, it is true that Kang Wanwan's blood earned 30 taels after all?" Zhu Cijiong was still a little unconvinced.

"But they are running a legitimate business, so what's wrong with making money?" Chongzhen said, "Jiong'er, you can't follow the example of Grandpa Taizu, because businessmen are jealous when they make a lot of money, and they are slaughtered as fat pigs."

"If you think businessmen are making more money and you want to limit them, it's okay to think so."

"But you can't use the power in your hands to plunder other people's property. This is called unruly."

"You forgot what my father said to you just yesterday? The superiors must learn to be in awe, the way of heaven, the rules, and use the power in their hands carefully." Chongzhen said, "It is easy to charge Kang Wanwanan with a crime, and he will be fined. His family resources can at least cover two months of military pay on the front line in Xuzhou, but that's not how things are done."

"If businessmen are operating legally, their property should be protected."

Speaking of this meal, Chongzhen said again: "What's more, the father pointed these merchants to contribute taxes."

"What? Ask businessmen to contribute taxes?" Zhu Cijiong said, "Father, you want to collect business taxes? Those civil servants should go crazy again. They will never agree to your business tax collection."

Chongzhen continued on his own: "Lang'er, Jiong'er, do you know how much the annual income of Chunxi in the Southern Song Dynasty was? More than [-] million guan! At a comparable price, it is equivalent to the current [-] million taels!"

"And how much is our Ming Dynasty's annual income? According to comparable prices, it's only [-] million taels at most!"

"The territory of the Southern Song Dynasty is similar to the current territory of the Ming Dynasty. Why is there such a difference in taxes?"

"One of the most important reasons is the prosperity of commerce in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the commercial tax contributed more than [-]% of the tax. That's why the father said that without agriculture, there is no stability, and without commerce, there is no wealth!"

"That's why I say that the legitimate interests of businessmen should also be protected."

"Just like the imperial court protects the civilians, farmers, and craftsmen."

"Scholars, farmers, businessmen, although their status is high or low, they are essentially the people of Ming Dynasty, so as a father, you should protect the interests of all the people."

While talking, Li Ruolian came back to the camp.

Chongzhen beckoned for Li Ruolian to come over, and asked, "Is everything settled?"

"It's all done." Li Ruolian said, "The 80 shi of grain gathered at the wharf of the Canal in Shanyang has all been bought, and will be sent to Xuzhou soon, and there is no need to transport troops. The grain merchants will be responsible for sending them to Xuzhou."

Chongzhen nodded, and said solemnly: "Li Ruolian, this matter is over, there should be no next time, you remember, you are not a civil servant, you are my retainer, commanded by Jin Yiwei!"

"Yes, I have made a note." Li Ruolian heaved a sigh of relief.

Watching Li Ruolian leave, Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong were a little confused, what's going on?

Why didn't the two of them understand the conversation between Father Huang and Li Ruolian just now?
Chongzhen patiently explained: "The civil official group has been in the officialdom for a long time, and it is far more vicious than you imagined. What they set up for Lu Zhenfei this time is a dead end. If they can't use my knife to kill Lu Zhenfei, They will probably try to create chaos, causing the grain ship to capsize, or even set fire to it, if Lu Zhenfei cannot raise food, he will still die."

Zhu Cihong went on to say: "But the emperor only asked Li Ruolian to send a word, and broke the deadlock!"

Chongzhen nodded and said: "In the final analysis, they first thought of breaking the rules, disregarding the lives and deaths of the twenty-eight town frontier soldiers and millions of refugees on the front line of Xuzhou, and only cared about initiating party disputes and repelling dissidents. This is not following the rules! They If you don't obey the rules first, don't blame me for not obeying the rules and creating a big prison!"

Zhu Cihong seemed to gain something from what he heard, but Zhu Cijiong was dumbfounded.

Behind a simple sentence, there is such a complicated confrontation hidden?
"Wang Daban." Chongzhen beckoned Wang Chengen to come over again, and said, "Go and inform Hu Guozhu to pull out the camp, we will go south overnight tonight!"

"The old slave leads the order." Wang Chengen turned around and left.

But Zhu Cihong said: "Father, don't you plan to see Lu Butang again?"

"It's gone." Chongzhen said, "Let him handle his business with peace of mind. The most important thing is to transport the grain to Xuzhou."

Pausing for a while, Chongzhen said again: "But Hong'er, you reminded me that Lu Zhenfei doesn't need to meet, but that Kang Wanwan is still worth meeting."

"Kang Wanwan?" Zhu Cijiong asked, "What did Father see him for?"

"Of course it is to build a good relationship." Chongzhen sighed and said, "Speaking of this, I have to mention the two pits that your grandpa grandpa dug back then. The image and reputation of the Zhu family in the hearts of businessmen is really not good."

……

Old Zhu's family has a really bad reputation among businessmen.

So after receiving Chongzhen's oral order, Kang Shaojing even handed over the will to the old servant. In the will, Kang Shaojing divided his property.

After the arrangements were made, Kang Shaojing changed into an old cloth and came to see Chongzhen.

Kang Shaojing originally thought that Chongzhen was looking for him to settle Caoliang's account, after all, he made a difference of 6 yuan.

However, what Kang Shaojing never expected was that after the audience, Chongzhen never mentioned the matter of Cao Liang, but instead chatted with him about business matters.

We chatted and talked about knives.

Chongzhen asked: "There is a Zhang Dagou scissors shop in Yangzhou City, has Kang Weng heard of it?"

"I've heard of it." Kang Shaojing said, "This is a shop specializing in scissors and kitchen knives. The quality of the knives is excellent, and the reputation in Yangzhou is also excellent."

Zhu Cijiong said: "Why did you choose such a name?"

Kang Shaojing said: "Because the owner's name is Zhang Dagou, he thought it was not elegant enough, so he changed it to Zhang Dagou."

"Zhang Dagou, Zhang Dagou, what's the difference between these two names?" Zhu Cijiong said with a smile, "They all have the same tune."

Chongzhen said: "But I heard that the quality of the kitchen knives made by Zhang Dagou's scissors shop is really good. When Gao Jie invaded Yangzhou, a bandit soldier once robbed the city wall, but was cut off by a cook with a kitchen knife from Zhang Dagou's scissors shop. Waist knife, is this true or false?"

"It's true, Caomin still recognizes that chef." Kang Shaojing, "It's a chef from Qingyutang. His knife skills are the best in Yangzhou, and he used the large kitchen knife at that time."

"It's really such a thing." Chongzhen said, "It seems that I have to go to this scissors shop when I have time."

After chatting with Chongzhen for a long time, Kang Shaojing's vigilance decreased, and he said casually: "Actually, it's nothing. The waist knives in Bingzhanju are made of ordinary wrought iron, and they have hardly been forged. Zhang Dagou's scissor shop There is no comparison between the refined iron used for the kitchen knife and the repeated forging dozens of times.”

(End of this chapter)