Ming politicians

The two armies set off from Quanzhou, which caused a shock. Now that they came to Fujian and were about to conquer the whole of Fujian, the action lost its nature of secrecy. Moreover, Su Tiancheng believed that Huang Daozhou would definitely speak out, including those in Zhejiang. Liu Zongzhou from Shaoxing, these people will definitely prove their worth at such a critical moment.

However, the banner played by Su Tiancheng is to eliminate corrupt officials and bring peace to the common people.This slogan is a bit far-fetched, but it has some plausible meaning when it comes to the rescue of disaster victims in Shandong. Besides, the common people will not stand up to oppose it after hearing such a slogan. As for the scholar-bureaucrat class, Su Tiancheng's thoughts It has changed a long time ago. Since it wants to rule the world, the scholar-bureaucrat class must selectively recruit, not to accommodate all the scholar-bureaucrats from all over the Ming Dynasty.

When Xiong Zijian was in Quanzhou, he had disbanded all the guards in Quanzhou according to Su Tiancheng's request. It is said that doing so would have a great impact. After all, Quanzhou is close to the sea, and there are still many guards in name only. Talk about Yongning Guard, Chongwu Institute, Fuquan Institute, Jinmen Institute, and Zhenhai Guard connected to Zhangzhou Prefecture, etc., but when Zheng Zhilong was in Quanzhou, he had already started to integrate many guards. These guards obeyed the leadership of Zheng Zhilong , and also accepted Zheng Zhilong's silver. After Xiong Zijian came to Quanzhou, he accepted these clubs in a legitimate way, and carried out a thorough transformation of the guards. In fact, he abolished these guards and let his own soldiers take charge of these guards. As for Those guard commanders were all relieved of their duties.

The army moved very quickly.

The [-] troops led by Su Tiancheng still took warships, passing through Changle and Min counties via the Meihua station.Arrive directly at Fuzhou Fucheng.

Taking a warship was faster than land. Three days later, the army arrived at Meihua's station.

Fuzhou is the seat of the governor's office in Fujian Province, and it is also the place Su Tiancheng wants to win first, judging from the list provided by Xiong Zijian.There are the most rich people in Fujian, and these rich people and their guards are also the key targets of Jiangning Camp.

The other two people who need attention are Song Yihe, the governor of Fujian, and Qian Zhongxuan, the chief soldier.

This was a very strange battle, not even a formal battle. The officers and soldiers of the Jiangning Battalion were dressed in the military uniforms of Daming soldiers, and their weapons were imposing. The people along the way saw that it was the army of Daming.Moreover, Qiu didn't commit any crimes, so he didn't care at all. The guards in Fuzhou mainly included Zhendong Guard, Meihua Guard, Dinghai Guard, and Gutian Guard.

But Su Tiancheng's primary goal is to win Fuzhou Fucheng.This is the center of Fujian.

The number of sergeants guarding the Plum Blossom Institute was pitiful, especially after the Jiangningying Navy took control of the waters.As the Plum Blossom Institute for the prevention of marine police, there is nothing to do at all, and the officers naturally have to find ways to make money. Anyway, the navy is directly responsible for the safety of the sea, and they are happy to be free.

The soldiers of the Jiangning Battalion led by Su Tiancheng directly entered the Meihua Institute.Without fighting, the officers of the Plum Blossom Institute were paralyzed with fright, and there was no way they could resist.

The army didn't stop and set off directly.According to the itinerary of the march, Fuzhou Fucheng can be reached in three days.

It's a pity that things didn't change according to Su Tiancheng's idea. Those rich people in Changle were moved after hearing the news.

On the 16st of the first month of the 21th year of Chongzhen, the army came to Changle County.

According to Xiong Zijian's knowledge, Changle County is a very important place, where rich people and merchants are quite concentrated. This is also because of Changle County's special geographical location. This is the transit point between Fuzhou's capital city and the seaside, and it is very suitable for doing business. Yes, it can be directly connected to Fuzhou, and can also govern maritime trade.

Su Tiancheng had a different idea. He was not going to conquer Changle County for the time being. The army still had to go to Fuzhou Prefecture. First, take Fuzhou, and then start to pacify the forces in various places under the jurisdiction of Fuzhou Prefecture.

The army did not enter Changle County and was about to detour, but the merchants in Changle County sent representatives.

Su Tiancheng received a report, and there were a dozen people on the official road seeking to see him, claiming to be representatives of merchants in Changle County.After pondering for a while, Su Tiancheng decided to meet with the representatives of these merchants, at least to have some preliminary impressions of the upcoming opponents.

However, merchants were able to grasp the information and ask for an interview, which in itself left a very deep impression on Su Tiancheng. Generally speaking, after merchants and rich people get an army, they will try to avoid them. They think about how to protect their own interests, but they can't think of how to protect their own interests. Merchants from Changle County actually took the initiative to contact them. I don't know what kind of requirements these merchants have.

There were a total of 11 people who came to the front, all of them were above middle age, and most of them were white and fat. When they introduced themselves one by one, Su Tiancheng learned that most of these people were members of the chamber of commerce. The representatives sent out, Changle County, set up a chamber of commerce to govern the merchants in Fuzhou Prefecture. This chamber of commerce is an underground organization and has not been recognized by the government.

In other words, most of these people who came to meet or petition are managers in the chamber of commerce, not the merchants themselves, but they can represent the merchants.

Su Tiancheng was surprised for the first time, and he also noticed that when Xiong Zijian said that the merchants from all over Fujian are very powerful, he probably had some reservations. Chambers of commerce are nothing new, but specialized chambers of commerce, specialized management and coordinating personnel, this is what Su Tiancheng It was the first time Tiancheng saw that there were chambers of commerce in many places, but the presidents and other candidates of the chambers of commerce were all standard merchants who wanted to do business. Even when Su Tiancheng established the chamber of commerce in Jiangning County, the manager was also a part-timer. .

If commerce and trade have not developed to a certain level, or if the competition is not at the point of life and death, there is no need for special personnel to coordinate and manage. Just imagine, the shops do their own business, the strength is very clear, and there is no problem. , then there is no need to expend a lot of energy to coordinate.There are special personnel to manage and coordinate, which can only show that the merchants in Fujian are not simple, and the competition among them is extremely fierce.

However, Su Tiancheng would not be particularly surprised when such a situation occurred in Fujian. After all, the merchants here mainly rely on two means to make a fortune, one is smuggling at sea, and the other is selling smuggled salt. , all carry huge risks and profits, and it is impossible for the government to manage them effectively.

It seems that the specialized management and coordination of the chamber of commerce has shown that the merchants in Fujian have formed a unified understanding and strength.

This increases the difficulty of combat and extermination.

The imperial court did not realize the harm of smuggling, Su Tiancheng was very clear that maritime trade was now his financial lifeline, if these merchants in Fujian were allowed to smuggle unscrupulously, his interests would be greatly damaged.

No matter from which aspect, these merchants who rely on smuggling and selling smuggled salt to make a fortune must be eliminated, although it seems cruel to do so.

The attitude of the crowd was very good. When one of the representatives in their 40s spoke to Su Tiancheng, he was respectful, but the request they made made Su Tiancheng dumbfounded.

It turned out that these merchants had already thought of it. Su Tiancheng led the army to Fujian, probably to lead Fujian. There are quite a few merchants in Fujian doing business in Dengzhou and other places, and some even moved their entire families to Dengzhou and other places. There must be a connection between the merchants, so the merchants in Fujian are no strangers to Su Tiancheng, and they also know that the status of merchants in Dengzhou and other places is good.

It's a pity that the merchants in Fujian misunderstood it. The merchants in Dengzhou have a good status. That was the result of Su Tiancheng's request and a decision made by Su Tiancheng in accordance with the law of economic development. According to Tian Cheng's overall request.

A representative of the Changle Chamber of Commerce put forward a request for the Chamber of Commerce to be made public and directly manage merchants.

Such a request seems to be nothing, but how could Su Tiancheng not be aware of the tricks in it.

There are no rules, you can’t be successful, and you have to abide by the rules if you make any losses. If you manage the country according to your personal preferences, you will definitely encounter major problems. Since Su Tiancheng has decided to lead the world, he will definitely follow this rule. What he asked to do, if he agreed to the request of the Changle Chamber of Commerce, he would definitely be able to get the support of many merchants in a short period of time, but from the perspective of long-term development, business activities such as smuggling and selling private salt will flood all over Fujian At that time, those who can really control the government are probably these merchants, including the chamber of commerce, whose power must be greater than that of the government.

Businessmen are shrewd, but sometimes, shrewdness is not used in the right place. The personnel of these chambers of commerce represent many merchants in Fujian. They never thought that Su Tiancheng could develop so rapidly and establish such a huge fortune in more than ten years. If you can't keep up with the credit, how can it be possible.

This also determines the fate of the vast majority of merchants in Fujian.

Su Tiancheng didn't say much, and told the representatives of the Changle County Chamber of Commerce very bluntly that Jiangning Ying was here to inspect Fujian on behalf of the imperial court, and everything had to be done according to the rules. The government did not recognize the Chamber of Commerce before, and neither would Jiangning Ying.

When the chamber of commerce representative left, although he still had a smile on his face, he was very reluctant.

After the representatives of the chamber of commerce left, Su Tiancheng pondered for a while, and immediately arranged for Liu Tiehan to send out scouts to follow the representatives of the chamber of commerce and see what they would do after they returned to Changle County.

In Su Tiancheng's heart, an idea has already begun to emerge. I am afraid that the first thing he has to deal with is the merchants in Fujian. It is easy to say that these merchants are engaged in sea smuggling and smuggling of salt, which has harmed the interests of the imperial court. Plenty of reasons to teach them a lesson. (To be continued..)