First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 617 The First Maritime Business Conference

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After hearing the news, the three of them felt heavy and hurried to the back office under the guidance of the guards.

Entering the courtyard, Yu Wenshiji's eyes narrowed and he saw five people lying on the ground, no sound at all.

The guards on the other side were holding three men in black and kneeling on the ground with knives. Li Youliang was sitting on the threshold with a panicked expression. Several guards with knives stood around in preparation.

"Chengye?" Li Youliang looked up and saw Li Changwen. He rushed forward and said, "Chengye, help me." However, the guards on the left and right held down his arms tightly, preventing him from moving.

"Chengye, save me, I am a member of the royal family, they have no right to deal with me," Li Youliang struggled and shouted, "Chengye, you are a member of the family, you must help me."

The corner of Li Changwen's mouth twitched. In the past, Li Youliang was arrogant and high-minded, and he always looked down upon him, a clan member of the Li family in Longxi.

After all, strictly speaking, Li Changwen is not close to the royal family. Although they both belong to the Li family in Longxi, they are actually very distantly related by blood. Li Youliang is a legitimate royal family member. He is the son of Li Yuan's sixth uncle, Li Yi. The two are both grandsons of Taizu Li Hu, and their relationship is quite close.

But now it seems that Li Youliang, the majestic prince of Changle County, is still alive today. Although Li Changwen stands on the side of Zongzheng Temple and wants to protect him, from a personal perspective, Li Changwen is in a happy mood. It is only because of Li Youliang's usually violent temper. It's unpopular.

Seeing Li Changwen turn his head and remain silent, Li Youliang's eyes widened, "Li Changwen! What do you mean? Do you dare to hand me over?"

Li Changwen shook his head and sighed. If Li Youliang hadn't been of a good background, he would have died countless times. With such a temperament and such a mind, he was really hopeless.

Yuwen Shiji didn't have the patience to watch Li Youliang act crazy anymore, "Li Youliang, do you recognize them?"

Li Youliang was frightened, so he just turned his face to one side and snorted coldly.

Yu Wenshiji nodded and walked towards the three survivors, "Who ordered you?"

The three of them raised their heads and remained silent.

"Cut off his left arm," Yu Wenshiji calmly ordered.

Hearing this, the imperial guards around him did not hesitate and drew their swords to kill him. Accompanied by heart-rending screams, the man rolled on the ground in pain and screamed, "Kill me, kill me...".

Yu Wenshiji came from troubled times and was not a benevolent person. Although he was not cruel and violent, his elder brother Yu Wenhuaji and his younger brother Yuwen Zhiji were the first-class evil people. Yu Wenshiji How can he be a person who is easy to get along with.

"You, Yuwen Shiji, you abuse lynching..." Li Youliang turned pale, pointed at Yuwen Shiji and threatened him tremblingly.

"The thief broke into the Governor's Mansion without permission and was executed. What is lynching?" Yu Wenshiji just smiled with his hands behind his hands, and then looked down at the man rolling on the ground, "right arm."

The guard paused, then stepped forward and swung his knife, followed by a piercing scream. The man's eyes were so painful that his eyes were split open. He rolled on the ground and struggled, then fainted.

The other two people were sweating and trembling all over.

Li Changwen and Li Changwen couldn't stand it anymore and turned around silently. Sun Fujia wanted to dissuade him. After all, he was so vicious and abused lynching, which was against the law. However, he had been in the judicial department for a long time and knew that this was the best way to extract a confession at the moment. Means, not to mention just some thieves who broke into the Governor's Mansion without permission.

One of them looked at the other, then at Li Youliang, and hurriedly lay on the ground and shouted: "Don't kill me, I'll recruit him. It's Sima. Deng Sima ordered us to rescue the king."

"Deng Sima?" Yu Wenshiji frowned, "Deng Xi, Sima of the state government?"

Yu Wenshiji had been in Guzang for a few days, and he had some impressions of the main officials of the Liangzhou Governor's Office, the Liangzhou Governor's Office, and the third-level government offices of Guzang County. Among the third-level government offices, only the Sima of the Governor's Office was surnamed Deng. , named Deng Xi.

Thinking of this, Yu Wenshi paused and looked at Li Youliang, "Deng Xi, if I remember correctly, he should be from Hedong."

Li Youliang glared at the person who confessed, his eyes full of viciousness, and said through gritted teeth: "You dog and rat, you won't survive either!"

After seeing this, Yu Wenshiji no longer had any doubts. After thinking for a long time, he walked up to Sun Fuga and the others and said, "You two, do you have any objections?"

"Dali Temple has no objection."

"Zongzheng Temple..." Li Changwen took a deep look at Li Youliang and said, "No objection."

"Li Changwen, this king will definitely make you regret it. If the clan jointly impeaches you, you will not last long." Li Youliang heard this and immediately stared and cursed.

"The horse bandits outside the Great Wall broke into the Governor's Mansion at night and wanted to do evil. They have all been killed." Yu Wenshiji turned his head and ordered.

The imperial guards took the order, stepped forward and raised their swords. The three of them died immediately on the spot.

Li Youliang was so frightened that he trembled. At this time, he realized that Yu Wenshiji really dared to kill people. He immediately panicked and said: "Yu Wenshiji, I want to meet the saint, yes, I want to see Li Shimin, I want to see the Supreme Emperor, I I am the grandson of Taizu, you cannot deal with me."

"Except Wu Xiaowei, the rest of the people have withdrawn from the houya. No one is allowed to come near. Anyone who disobeys the order will be killed." Yu Wenshiji ordered the surrounding forbidden troops. This group of forbidden troops was ordered to leave Beijing and completely obeyed Yuwen Shiji's dispatch. They immediately led the army. Resigned.

Only Captain Wu was left standing with a sword.

"Wu Xiaowei, put away the knife." Yu Wenshiji looked at Li Youliang with his hands behind his hands. "After all, he is a member of the royal family. Give him dignity and hang him."

Captain Wu paused after hearing this, then put away his knife and dragged Li Youliang into the room.

Yuwenshi and the three of them walked out of the back office immediately.

The next day, news came out from the Dudu Mansion: the Changle County Prince oppressed the people and did not obey the law. The imperial court sent Dali Temple, Zongzheng Temple and the Dudu Mansion to jointly investigate the case. However, after the Changle County Prince heard about the court's visit, he hanged himself in his residence out of fear of crime.

As soon as the news came out, Guzang City became completely noisy. People rushed to congratulate each other to celebrate the death of Li Youliang. This Changle County Prince had been in Liangzhou for several years and had done countless harm to the people. Now the evildoers are finally punished. It can be said to be a blessing to the people of Liangzhou.

When the urgent news reached Chang'an, Li Shimin said nothing, but issued an order to remove Li Youliang from the genealogy and let his son Li Yuanbin ascend the throne. Of course, he could no longer be the king of Changle County, but was demoted to become the Duke of Changle County. This is already a great kindness to the royal family.

According to the original trajectory, history records: "He had a violent temper... He was traveling overseas... The scholar thought it would be a change, so he hanged him."

Nowadays, Li Youliang's crime is not that serious. He is not accused of treason. It is only recorded: "Did not obey the law... hanged himself in fear of crime." This can be said to be a great deal of dignity.

Of course, this dignity is also relative. After all, for the court, this is the best result and does not have a bad impact. On the contrary, the people are more convinced of the court's laws. After all, this is a real prince who broke the law and is guilty of the same crime as the common people. .

Li Youliang, who is he? He is the prince of Changle County, the grandson of Taizu, the younger brother of the Supreme Emperor, and the brother of a saint. If he does not follow the law, he will be tried by the three departments. This is undoubtedly a great deterrent to those scholars, farmers, industrialists and merchants.

The Liangzhou incident did not cause any waves. In the end, the court won widespread praise from the people. Li Shimin was very satisfied with the result of the handling. This handling method was first implemented by Gao Chong to minimize the negative impact without being simple and rude. solution.Although it is a bit self-deceiving, its positive impact is undoubtedly very good. For example, if we wait for Li Yuan to rebel and then pacify him, or if Li Youliang waits for him to escape from trouble and defect to the Turks, then it will inevitably affect the country's prestige. In Gao Chong's words, , that would damage the credibility of the court.

After all, even your royal family is thinking of rebelling and defecting to the Turks. The bad impact is self-evident.

Li Youliang's death once caused a sensation in both the government and the public, but Gao Chong, who was far away in Lingnan, was completely unaware of it. Poor Gao Jinglue, he was busy with three things all day long, one was to eliminate crocodiles, the other was to train the navy, and the third was to build customs.

The governor of the governor, Shi Yang Shilue, also perfectly completed the task assigned to him by Gao Chong. Within a month, he summoned more than [-] large and small maritime merchants in Lingnan, the largest of which were wealthy families from various places.

For example, the Ning clan of Qinzhou, Ning Chun reported to the Jinglue Mansion, and he personally led twenty ships along the coast. The great chief of the Ning clan and the governor of Qinzhou even came to attend the meeting in person, and the other families did not dare to neglect.

The Mo family of Yuezhou, the Chen family of Leizhou, the Pang family of Baizhou, the Feng family of Gaozhou, the Chen family of Longzhou, the Tan family of Luozhou, the Wang family of Guangzhou, the Yang family of Chaozhou and other powerful chiefs from all over Lingnan, as well as the Jin family in Yunkai and Yunwu Mountains Dong, Luo Douliao and other wild officials from the mountains also took the initiative to come.

For a time, the city of Panyu was bustling with traffic, and prominent figures from all over Lingnan gathered together.

Upon seeing this, Gao Chong immediately ordered the city defense soldiers to strengthen patrols and severely punish those who encountered trouble.

Chiefs from all over the country came one after another, this was also due to the power of the Jinglue Mansion. To be precise, it was because they were afraid of Gao Chong, and very few dared to cause trouble.

When they saw the slogan of the Imperial Palace, the chiefs from all over the country were quite uneasy, "The First Maritime Business Conference?"

Chen Jiyuan looked up at the slogan, scratched his head and asked: "Ah, look at the momentum, there will be a second and third one later."

"Go in," Chen Longshu said thoughtfully, "The general will not harm us after all."

"That's true," Chen Jiyuan grinned, "Aye, you didn't see that when Jin Dong looked at us just now, we didn't dare to look at each other. I know, this is not only because of the memory gained from last time, but also awe. "Jing Lue Envoy."

"As long as you know," Chen Longshu nodded with satisfaction, "You have to know that those people are unruly and unruly. Without absolute strength, it is impossible for them to be convinced, so you need to be strong yourself when you are forging iron."

The father and son came forward together, "Mr. Chen from Longzhou, was ordered to come to the meeting." Chen Jiyuan presented the gift list with both hands.

The clerk in charge of the reception was also surprised. He hurriedly took it, unfolded it and read aloud: "The Chen family of Longzhou has donated ten sea-going ships, a hundred catties of sand gold, and fifty shipwrights."

Others were also amazed when they heard it, "What a big gesture."

Jin Kui, the chief of Jindong in the distance, looked gloomy when he saw this. He waved to the back and a follower stepped forward.

"Change the gift list," Jin Kui gritted his teeth and said, "One hundred catties of gold ingots."

The entourage was surprised. It was originally a hundred kilograms of alluvial gold. The alluvial gold has not been smelted and is not valuable. A hundred kilograms of alluvial gold can be extracted into dozens of kilograms of gold ingots. Now it is directly converted into a hundred kilograms of gold ingots, which is a thousand taels of gold. , worth a thousand dollars.

"Change!" Jin Kui glared and scolded, and then cursed: "Chen and Luo Dou can fawn over the manager, and so can we. I don't believe he doesn't like money."

Ten thousand guan is not a small amount. Even though Jintong produces alluvial gold, [-] guan is a lot of money. It is easy to say that a wealth of ten thousand guan is actually very rare. After all, it only costs [-] guan to fight rice in Lingnan. , it seems that Jin Kui is really ruthless and spends his money.

Not only Jin Dong, but also the chiefs from other places gritted their teeth after seeing the gift list they had prepared. After thinking about it, many of them gritted their teeth.

When the time came, everyone gathered in the front yard of the Jinglue Mansion.

There were more than 100 maritime merchants and more than [-] people attending the meeting, which could not be accommodated indoors. Tian Yangming used his wisdom to arrange the venue in the front yard and pulled up pieces of black gauze on the courtyard wall to block the sun.

On the high platform in front, there are only a few desks. It goes without saying that the main seat in the middle is the manager's seat.

Then there were not many other seats. After seeing the people sitting on them, the powerful chiefs from other states had nothing to say. Feng Zhidai, the eldest son of Feng Ang, the governor of Gaozhou, Ning Chun, the governor of Qinzhou, Chen Longshu, the governor of Longzhou and his son Chen Jiyuan and Shi Yang Shilue, the governor-general of Guangzhou, are all Lingnan giants, and they cannot afford to offend them.

Gao Chong came out of the back office and smiled knowingly when he saw the layout of Tian Yangming's venue, "It seems that Ziguang has really put his heart into it."

Tian Yangming grinned, "Leave the matter to me, and you can rest assured."

Gao Chong nodded and casually ordered: "Okay, I'll give you five thousand sets of crocodile skin this month. If I can't finish it, I'll slap you."

Tian Yangming's face turned bitter when he heard this, and all the officials burst into laughter upon seeing this.

Seeing Gao Chong come forward, hundreds of people in the venue stood up and bowed in confusion.

Gao Chong climbed onto the high platform, stretched out his hands and pressed down, and the whole place fell into silence.

"Everyone, I, Gao Chong, will hold the first Lingnan Maritime Business Conference today. I am very pleased that you all attended the meeting on time," Gao Chong said with a smile behind his hands.

Everyone in the field also responded with a flurry of responses.

"I am honored to be summoned by the General Manager."

"The Jinglue envoys are dedicated to benefiting Lingnan, which is really a blessing to the people of Lingnan."

Gao Chong stretched out his hand again, "Let me tell you another piece of good news. Everyone who comes today will be included in the Lingnan Maritime Merchant Association and will be protected by the government in the future. What is the Maritime Merchant Association? Please read this booklet."

After speaking, Gao Chong turned around and signaled that Gao Kan and other four young men quickly stepped down. Each of them handed out a pamphlet with the "Articles of Association of Lingnan Maritime Merchants Association" written on the cover.

After briefly reading it, everyone was vaguely looking forward to it. Some of the matters here were consistent with the notice from the Economic Affairs Office. For example, when members of the association go to sea, they will be protected by the government's navy, etc.

"Today's first general meeting will elect an honorary president of the association, one president, two vice-presidents, one director, four directors, etc." Gao Chong continued: "For specific responsibilities, please see the association The regulations will be explained in detail by Tian Mingfu, the Panyu County Magistrate and the head of the Municipal Shipping Department."

Tian Yangming, dressed in official robes, came to the stage to explain energetically. After half an hour, Tian Yangming finally explained clearly one by one the eighty details in the charter.

Everyone present, even the chiefs in the mountains, understood and began to hold elections.

Most of these maritime merchants were major wealthy chiefs. At this moment, their wildness broke out, and everyone wanted to fight for a seat.

There are a total of 58 maritime merchants, and there are only eight positions in the association. The competition is quite fierce.

But after all, status is judged by strength. Gao Chong drank tea by himself, smiling and saying nothing. After Tian Yangming, Pang Xiaojie, Chen Jiyuan and others took turns to host the show, after an hour of fighting, eight people were finally selected who were convinced by everyone.

(End of this chapter)