Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 65 Black Top Merchant
The earliest grain transportation system used in the Ming Dynasty was the grain chief system.

That is, a system was set up in each state and county to have grain chiefs responsible for collecting tax grain, and they would be responsible for handling the tasks of collecting and transporting grain.

However, with the rapid development of the Ming Dynasty and the increase in population, the grain chief system could not keep up with the needs of development, so the canal transport became the most important grain transportation channel of the Ming Dynasty.

And gradually developed and formed a complete water transport organization - the water transport army.

There were three main methods of grain transport in the Ming Dynasty, namely the branch transport method, the exchange transport method, and the long-distance transport method.

In particular, the long-distance transport method dominated the later grain transport. Farmers no longer participated in grain transportation, but had to pay the so-called crossing-the-river fee. This, to a certain extent, gave the state greater control over grain transport and increased taxation, but also reduced the burden on the people.

Of course, the Cao Army is currently controlled by the civil service group.

"Someone actually knew the information earlier than you?" Zhu Changgan looked at Li Ruolian, "Is this how you, the Jinyiwei and Yongweiying, blocked the news?"

The Jinyiwei and Yongweiying blocked all letters in and out of the capital early in the morning, but some information was still sent out.

It seems that the civil service group is indeed powerful.

"I, the guilty minister, deserve to die!" Li Ruolian lowered his head very low, not daring to say a word. They were indeed derelict in their duty.

"Forget it, get up!" Zhu Changgan hesitated for a moment, "The capital is so big, if they want to send the letter out, you can't completely stop them by surrounding them. Have you found out which stores they are?"

There is meaning in criticizing, but there is no meaning in criticizing too harshly.

Think about it a few days ago, Chongzhen’s palace was also leaky like a sieve, not to mention the control of the entire capital city, how could it be achieved in just a few days?
"Your Majesty, we have already found out that most of those shops are opened by Shanxi merchants in the capital."

Zhu Changgan's eyes turned cold, "Shanxi merchants? How dare they get involved in the government affairs of the imperial court?"

He tapped his fingers on the table. "They definitely wouldn't dare to do this alone. So, it seems that the civil servants want to make some noise through the Shanxi merchants?!"

"Find out all the relationships behind them."

……

Things turned out just as Zhu Changgan had expected. In the afternoon, there was a rumor in the capital that the grain had fallen into the water.

Soon after, many grain stores raised the price of grain, and the price quickly soared from one stone and five taels of silver to six taels, seven taels... and there was no sign of stopping.

Not only did some grain merchants take the opportunity to raise prices, but more of them simply hoarded the grain and did not sell it.

The people fell into great panic and prices continued to rise.

The people of the capital city were complaining and groaning bitterly.

There were even cases where people in the capital pretended to be refugees and ran to soup kitchens twenty miles away to eat porridge.

Zhu Changgan looked at the memorials brought by Li Ruolian. Listed at the front were several Shanxi merchant families including Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa.

"It's really them..."

The Eight Imperial Merchants of the Qing Dynasty!

The rise of Shanxi merchants can be attributed to the northern border defense of the Ming Dynasty.

In order to prevent the Mongol invasion, a large number of troops were stockpiled along the Great Wall. However, due to land annexation and soil barrenness, there was simply not enough food. In addition, as the number of recruits increased, military pay became a major problem.

The Ming Dynasty then summoned merchants to transport military grain to the border and gave them salt quotas. There were salt ponds in southern Shanxi, which made it very convenient to sell and obtain salt. As a result, they accumulated a large amount of capital and formed Shanxi merchants.

Hence, it is said that "Pingyang, Ze and Lu are the richest in the world, and one is not considered rich unless he has hundreds of thousands of dollars."

After Yongle, merchants operated their own farms in the north, and the Kaizhong Law, which was mainly implemented in Shanxi and Shanxi, led to the rapid rise of Shanxi merchants.

With the help of the capital accumulated through the Sino-French trade and the financial industry, he expanded his business to the Jiangnan area. His silk and cotton business was also booming and was transported to various places.

Later, the Shanxi merchant group took advantage of the civil service group and, under the operation of Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei, allowed the people of the Ming Dynasty to trade with other tribes, countries and regions such as Mongolia and Jurchen.

Shanxi merchants turned their business to foreign trade.

They smuggled large amounts of food, clothing, cooking utensils, metals and gunpowder banned by the Ming Dynasty to the Later Jin regime; they even included military and strategic intelligence needed for the Later Jin invasion of the Central Plains. In return, the Later Jin regime exchanged ginseng, deer antlers, animal skins and valuable items looted from the Central Plains. Among them, the Shanxi merchant Fan Yongdou was the most typical. Through transactions with the Later Jin regime, the Shanxi Fan family accumulated a lot of wealth and became the leader of Shanxi merchants.

Historically, after the Manchus entered the Central Plains, they were also rewarded according to their merits, given official titles and titles, and named the "Eight Imperial Merchants."

Take the Fan Yongdou family as an example. They are truly a model of profiteering and also a model of seeking death.

Not to mention that they have no regard for their country and the world, they can even abandon their fellow countrymen.

Fan Yongdou was from Jiexiu, Shanxi, which was a county under the jurisdiction of Fenzhou at that time.

After the fall of Datong, the Qing Dynasty launched a sweep of southern Shanxi, carrying out massacres in various places. This massacre was known as the Fenzhou Massacre, and about 400,000 people died in this incident. The Fan family felt no guilt at all and continued to make money crazily.

However, retribution finally came. The master of the Fan family was always on guard against them betraying him just as they had betrayed the Ming Dynasty, and finally found a reason to execute the entire family.

"Your Majesty, aren't these the companies you have been asking me to investigate? Do you want to start now?" Li Ruolian said gritting his teeth.

He had sent troops to Shanxi several times before because the emperor wanted to investigate the relationship between Shanxi merchants and the Datong general.

You wouldn't know if you didn't investigate. Once you investigated, you found that not only was the general of Datong promoted by the Shanxi merchants, but even the deputy generals, lieutenant generals, guerrilla generals, and thousand commanders below were almost all corrupted by the Shanxi merchants.

Their own children served as officials and generals at the border, and they had connections with the civil service group in the court. Not only that, many powerful people in the court made friends with them, and almost all of them took their money.

No wonder Shanxi merchants are so confident.

Zhu Changgan took a deep breath and said, "Send someone to check if there are other generals under their control besides this Datong general. Wait until everything is clear before taking action!"

"When it comes to abscesses, the worst thing to do is to just scrape the surface. Once you decide to do it, you have to remove it thoroughly to prevent future problems!"

……

"Wang Chengen, go and invite those merchants who came to the palace a few days ago, and tell them that I want to discuss a righteous action with them!" Zhu Changgan called Wang Chengen over and whispered a few words to him.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Wang Chengen understood and left quickly.

Among the merchants who came last time, most were from Anhui Province. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the salt industry system was changed from the "Kaizhong System" to the "Zhese System". The so-called "Zhese" meant that the operating rights of the salt industry were given to another group of merchants. They could use money to buy salt in the mainland and then transport it to various places to sell.

It was also because of this that the Huizhou merchants rose and confronted the Shanxi merchants.

But their disadvantage was that they had no one in the court, or the court was weak. Whether in the late Ming Dynasty or the early Qing Dynasty, the court favored Shanxi merchants and discriminated against Anhui merchants, and the advantages they gained in politics were far ahead.

"In times of crisis, I might as well try the methods of the red-topped businessman."

It is obviously not enough to just give people some handwritten letters from the emperor.

Zhu Changgan clenched his fingers after pondering for a moment, "As long as they make contributions to the court and assist the government, why not reward them with titles, official uniforms and hats?

A red-topped businessman is better than a black-topped businessman anyway."

Compared with the collusion between the civil service group and the Shanxi merchant group, which not only controlled the imperial court but also the economy of the Ming Dynasty, they used their power to seize wealth, made money out of nothing, and put all the wealth of the Ming Dynasty into their own pockets.

Rather than calling them “gray-top businessmen”, it would be more accurate to call them “black-top businessmen”.

Objectively speaking, let's discuss the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

The incompetent emperor; the factional struggles between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party; the Li Zicheng uprising; the overwhelmed common people; the defections of Zu Dashou, Wu Sangui, Shang Kexi, and Geng Jingzhong; Yuan Chonghuan's private killing of Mao Wenlong; Yuan Chonghuan's execution by Chongzhen... and so on. In terms of seniority, Shanxi merchants would definitely not be among the top few.

However, the treasonous behavior of Shanxi merchants actually created positive conditions for the Manchu Tartars to invade the Central Plains.

They are like a group of "rats" in the Ming Dynasty, crazy "big rats" who are poaching people.

Right now, they not only destroy homes and eat the flesh and blood of the Ming Dynasty, but also crawl onto the soles of feet and try to bite the ankles. Naturally... they must be stepped on to death!
……

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(End of this chapter)