People live in the Ming Dynasty, evil spirits are soaring into the sky

Chapter 423: What kind of sparks will appear when two women appear on the same stage?
The two walked into the pavilion side by side, and the maids quickly came forward and laid out the tea and snacks one by one. The fragrance of tea filled the air, intertwined with the fresh air in the morning, making people feel relaxed and happy.

"Sister Feixue, you must have been tired from the long journey." Princess Ning'an personally poured a cup of hot tea for Guo Feixue and asked with concern.

Guo Feixue took the teacup and took a sip. Warmth instantly spread throughout her body. She smiled gratefully and said, "Thank you for your concern, Princess. Feixue is doing well. But I'm new here, so I still need your guidance."

Princess Ning An smiled slightly and said, "I don't deserve your advice, but I do know a thing or two about the customs and practices of Jiangnan. If you're interested, we can chat over tea."

The two of them sat down, and as the aroma of tea wafted in the air, the topic naturally turned to the upcoming road construction project.

"Sister Feixue, you have come all the way from the capital this time to help me and jointly promote this road construction plan, right?" Princess Ning'an asked straight to the point: "From your expression, it seems that you have something on your mind. Do you still have doubts about the road construction plan I proposed?

Guo Feixue pursed her lips slightly, a little hesitant: "Your Highness, Princess, to be honest, I am a little confused.

"This road construction has always been the responsibility of the imperial court. Now you want to use the power of Jiangnan merchants to join in the cause. I... I am worried that they may not be willing to buy it. After all, merchants pursue profits. How can they easily get involved in this seemingly unprofitable thing?"

Princess Ning'an raised her lips slightly, her eyes full of confidence: "Feixue, you underestimate the people in this world too much. Although merchants put profit first, they also know the truth that "if you want to be rich, build roads first."

Look, this area of ​​Jiangnan is crisscrossed with waterways and is originally a land of fish and rice. However, due to poor roads, the flow of goods is hindered. How many business opportunities have been lost?

The Duke wanted to take this opportunity of road construction not only to improve people's livelihood, but also to open up trade routes so that the products of Jiangnan could be circulated faster throughout the country and even overseas.

At that time, businessmen will flock to invest money because they know that this will be another opportunity to increase their wealth. "

Guo Feixue frowned slightly, thinking: "But... although what His Highness said makes sense, I'm afraid it will be difficult to implement in practice. Those big merchants are all very shrewd. How can they easily believe the promise of the court? What's more, building a road is very expensive and it is not something that can be done overnight. If something changes in the middle of the road, won't they lose all their money?
Princess Ning'an shook her head slightly, her eyes revealing an unquestionable determination: "Don't worry, since I have made this suggestion, I have naturally considered it carefully.

First of all, I will personally negotiate with the major chambers of commerce in Jiangnan, and promise to give them certain policy preferences and tax exemptions in the name of the court as a reward for their participation in road construction.

Secondly, I will set up a special supervisory agency to ensure that every penny is spent wisely and in an open and transparent manner so that businessmen can see our sincerity and determination.

Furthermore, road construction is not something that can be accomplished by one person alone; it requires the wisdom of many people.”

Guo Feixue's eyes gradually brightened, as if she was moved by Princess Ning'an's words.

"Your Highness is so far-sighted, Feixue admires you very much. However, there is still one thing I don't understand. Why are the Duke and Your Highness so persistent in building the road? Is there a deeper consideration behind this?"

Princess Ning'an sighed softly, her eyes became deep:

“Feixue, you know that although our dynasty seems strong, we are actually plagued by internal and external troubles.

There are powerful enemies eyeing the country covetously in the north, there are frequent sea disasters in the south, people's livelihood is declining, and the national treasury is empty.

Building roads is not only to promote commercial development, but also to strengthen internal connections within the country and improve the ability to deal with foreign enemies.

Just imagine, if our roads were unobstructed and military supplies could be quickly mobilized, why would the soldiers on the border have to worry about lack of food and pay?

Furthermore, as commerce prospers, tax revenues naturally increase, and the treasury is filled, which will enable us to better resist foreign aggression and ensure the eternal stability of our Ming dynasty."

Although Guo Feixue is young, she is not a particularly stupid person. Especially when she heard Princess Ning'an say that she was the most important person, she was a little confused.

I don't know what happened, but my original intention when I came here was to compete with Princess Ning'an.

Although Princess Ning'an praised her a lot now and also said that this matter might be presided over by her future husband, Duke Chen Han.

Originally, he should and must cooperate in this matter, but there is one thing he is very clear about, that is, whether he has the ability to do so.

If she had it, she would naturally stand up without hesitation.

After all, although he had cooperated with Sophia to complete several tasks in the capital, and together with Sophia, he managed the Daming Engineering College.

But when it comes down to it, she actually doesn't understand most of the things about Daming Engineering College.

Firstly, she was younger than Sophia, and secondly, she did not have the kind of education that Sophia had received in a real university.

Therefore, she was only responsible for managing the more ordinary matters and could not be considered a real manager. That was why she wanted to do something to let everyone know that she, the Saint of the White Lotus Sect, was not just there to do nothing.

So she agreed to bring these craftsmen from the Ming Engineering College to Jiangnan to cooperate with Princess Ning'an to build an upgraded official road for the court.

Of course she understood that this was a very important matter, but as soon as she arrived here, Princess Ning'an pulled her aside and told her that she had a great reputation in the southeast.

She was still a little confused, because to be honest, she was still relatively young when she was in Jiangnan.

Especially the things done in the past few years, in her eyes, were just things that people in the world should do.

After all, the White Lotus Sect originally belonged to the Jiangnan branch and wanted to make a breakthrough in the Jiangnan area.

If you want to be recognized by everyone in the world, you must have a good reputation among the people.

Because the real world of martial arts is not about fighting and killing, it is about real human relationships and worldly wisdom.

The people in the White Lotus Sect are not martial arts masters, they are all honest people.

It's just that sometimes they do some shady business, such as selling illegal salt.

Don’t think that selling illegal salt makes one a powerful person; that’s not the case.

Especially in the Jiangnan area, there have been many salt fields since ancient times because it is close to the sea.

Although the government also sells salt, there are actually many people who are going further and further down the road of selling private salt in places that are not visible.

Especially in the Jiangnan area, there is actually a tradition of selling private salt.

Not to mention Zhang Shicheng, who once fought with Zhu Yuanzhang for the world. He was born into a big salt merchant family and he sold contraband salt.

Apart from him, all the big businessmen in Jiangnan who really became big and powerful during the Ming Dynasty were related to the contraband salt trade.

One of the reforms that Chen Han wants to make now is to reform the salt law.

Because starting from the Hongzhi period, the Kaizhong Law established by Zhu Yuanzhang at the beginning of the founding of the country was changed from paying grain to paying silver.

Wars on the border have been ongoing, and combat effectiveness has declined sharply.

The reason is that merchants only need to transport grain to the border, exchange it for salt permits, and then they can go to the salt fields to pick up salt and sell it.

But since it became possible to exchange silver for salt permits from the imperial court, merchants in the north lost the opportunity to compete with merchants in the south.

Because these merchants in Jiangnan had backers in the officialdom, it was very convenient for them to exchange a very small amount of silver for a large amount of salt permits.

After they obtained the salt permits, they had the priority right to extract salt from the salt fields.

If that were all, the impact wouldn't be so bad.

The worst thing is that after these businessmen become rich, they bribe more officials to work in collusion with them.

After they obtained the eye shadow at a very low cost, they mixed a lot of private salt into the regular salt, resulting in a reduction in the salt tax of the court.

Tax deferral has always been an important source of tax revenue for the imperial court. Once it is reduced, various problems will arise.

For example, the salaries of officials could not be paid, the food and wages of soldiers at the border could not be provided, and there was no money to maintain various facilities.

If the government has no funds to maintain itself, corruption will form a vicious cycle.

In order to maintain the operation of the government, they had no choice but to increase taxes and squeeze money out of the people's teeth.

These funds, which should have been paid from the regular salt tax, were forced upon the people.

In this vicious cycle, corrupt officials enrich themselves.

Those merchants who sell illegal salt are fat and well-fed.

The people, who are already suffering, have to endure these unprovoked disasters for no reason.

But even so, the common people cannot live without salt, so the people of the underworld will naturally stand up to redress the grievances of the people.

Then the people in the underworld would spontaneously form salt gangs.

On the one hand, the Salt Gang was fighting against the imperial court. After all, after the imperial court took over the management of salt, it did not manage it well, but instead supported a group of corrupt officials and a bunch of fat and bloated businessmen.

In order to fight against this, after the salt gangs were established, they would find places to dry salt and then sell it to poor people at a lower price, and the surplus would flow into the market.

The reason why the original team did this was, on the one hand, out of the moral principles of the people of the underworld, to relieve the worries of the people.

On the other hand, expand your reputation and attract more people.

What role did the White Lotus Sect play in this?

A role similar to the Salt Gang.

Because they have many followers, they have local connections and can work on drying salt, and sell it to local people at a lower price, thus gaining a good reputation in the local area.

The reason why the government did not dare to confront them was naturally because the White Lotus Sect had a large number of people and strong power.

Moreover, the White Lotus Sect’s headquarters was originally in Shandong, and they had the support of the Confucius Mansion.

Of course, the Confucius family also benefited a lot from this incident.

But it is good for the people after all.

The reason why Guo Feixue was able to collect more than a dozen ships of grain from Shaoxing and Hangzhou was because the White Lotus Sect was rich.

Another reason was to expand the reputation of the White Lotus Sect's Jiangnan branch, and doing so was indeed very effective.

Even now, the people of Wenzhou Prefecture still praise the White Lotus Sect.

It is precisely because this incident has spread in Jiangnan that many officials and local businessmen are now trying to give face to the White Lotus Sect.

Princess Ning'an was extremely surprised when she heard about this.

Of course, she knew that Guo Feixue's visit to Jiangnan this time was definitely not intended to help her sincerely.

Instead, she simply wanted to compete with me. This was the girl's selfish motive.

Bringing people here is just a side job, competing with them is the real thing.

But Princess Ning'an is not someone who is so easy to get along with.

Although she knew that Guo Feixue came to Jiangnan just for fun and then to compete with her, she discovered the great value of Guo Feixue.

Guo Feixue is a very useful card. She has fame, connections, and face. Everything meets her ideal requirements, so naturally she needs to promote her well.

But Guo Feixue was a little confused at this time. She couldn't figure out what her sister Princess Ning'an was planning.

Princess Ning An didn't say any more nonsense, but went straight to the point: "Sister Feixue, I know your reputation in Jiangnan. Everyone gives you a thumbs up. If you come to Jiangnan to support me, who among the merchants in Jiangnan will not give you face?"

Guo Feixue now knew what Princess Ning'an was going to do. It turned out that she wanted her to support her.

He also had to use his reputation to help Princess Ning'an complete her cooperation with the businessmen and people in Jiangnan.

In fact, what Guo Feixue thought at the beginning was that it was a good idea for you to turn the tables. I originally came here to compete with you.

However, she soon understood the right and wrong. As Chen Han's woman, so did Princess Ning An.

So the two of them are not actually competitors, they are just jealous rivals.

But now that Princess Ning'an has followed Chen Han's instructions and set up a bank in Ningbo, she must develop business.

However, if you want to develop business, there is one very important thing, and that is you must repair the roads first.

Because many places are inaccessible, it is impossible to go there to do business, so most people cannot participate in business.

A good official road may seem to benefit businessmen, but it also benefits ordinary people.

Not to mention that it is more convenient for traveling, if there is an official road at your doorstep, if you have extra crops grown in your own fields, can't you sell them on the spot?

Let’s not talk about how much you can earn, but at least it’s better than relying solely on farming.

Over time, maybe you can live a better life.

Those who are more flexible in their thinking can open a small restaurant or inn at a relatively important transportation hub.

It not only makes life more convenient for businessmen coming and going, but also makes life better for their families.

These are all convenient.

The most important thing is that once a road is built, it brings convenience to information exchange.

Once information is not blocked, people's thinking will be more enlightened. Once it is more enlightened, it will be easier to do everything.

It is more convenient to receive national policies issued by the court;
It is more convenient for people to communicate with each other;
Business dealings are more convenient;
Cultural exchanges are also more convenient, etc.

So Guo Feixue understands this principle very well.

So he didn't try to compete, but he felt that he might not be able to do it.

So he asked back: "Sister, although I have some reputation in Jiangnan, it is only limited to the gangsters and the common people.

How can we let those who do big business and those who hold official positions know about this?

I'm afraid they may not give me this favor, and you will be put in an awkward position, which is really embarrassing."

At this point, Guo Feixue also wanted to help Princess Ning'an from the bottom of her heart, and she didn't have the slightest intention of competing...

(End of this chapter)