Jinyi Town Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 26 Ding Wang, playing with the court in the palm of the stock

Lu Bing rubbed his hand, and then looked Ding Wang up and down: "You mean, you hired a large number of idlers and gamblers from inside and outside Beijing to keep an eye on the secretaries of the court officials. More than 800 officials were arrested. You got the shortcoming, so everyone is afraid of you, and do things for you?"

Ding Wang replied, "That's right."

Lu Bing said: "You stole only 20 taels of silver from the Ministry of Rites. With 20 taels of silver, can you get more than 5000 people to work for you?"

Ding Wang said, "Does Commander Lu know what snowballing is?"

Ding Wang poured beans out of the bamboo tube and told the truth one by one.

Three years ago, Ding Wang accidentally discovered that Wan Anliang, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, had stolen money from the Shenli treasury.He threatened Wan Anliang with this incident, and asked Wan Anliang to cover him, and together they stole money from the Shenli treasury.

In the first two months, Ding Wang stole a total of 8000 taels of Kuyin.Ding Wang is a very open-minded person, he likes to think about things, and he has the mind to infer other cases from one instance.

He thought: Even if Wan Anliang is a member of the third rank, and he is taken advantage of by this little soldier, he still has to obey me in a low voice?
What if we take advantage of more officials?

Ding Wang first took out 1 taels of silver, and recruited more than 40 idlers and gamblers, and asked them to spy on the guards of several officials from the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Household Affairs.

He took advantage of the disadvantages of these officials seeking flowers and friends, gathering to gamble and whoring.

He used this time as a threat to ask those officials to do a few small things for him.Of course, these few "little things" made Ding Wang's profit far exceed the investment of 1 taels of silver.

Ding Wang was overjoyed: This is a lucrative business!

With the money he earned, he recruited more informants and subordinates, followed the positions of more officials—to earn more money.Just like a snowball, there are more and more subordinates, and more and more officials are taken advantage of by him.

With the support of officials, Ding Wang's hands are getting longer and longer.Casinos, brothels, silk and satin, private salt and iron. . . . .Ding Wang dares to do any business, and the wealth he holds in his hands can almost be called tens of thousands!

Lu Bing interrupted Ding Wang's confession: "According to what you said, the richest man in Beijing should not be Ruihexiang's boss Yuan Chang'en—it's you!"

Ding Wang said proudly: "Yuan Changen's little money is nothing compared to me!"

Lu Bingdao: "Just tell me, how much money do you have?"

Ding Wang replied: "I don't have much cash in my hand, only five or six million taels. But my commercial banks, shops, and real estate in the two capitals and the thirteen provinces add up to a discount of no less than 600 million taels! Well, In fact, the combination of banks, commercial banks, and shops is only a small part of my family property. My greatest wealth is the more than 1000 officials who obey my orders! Since ancient times, there has been collusion between officials and businessmen. With the support of officials, the future will be There is endless wealth!"

Lu Bing was stunned: "Ding Wang, he is either the most treacherous person since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Or the first person who can brag after the founding of the Ming Dynasty! A family property of 500 million taels? You know that last year, two capitals and one thirteen How much is the total amount of tax paid to the state treasury by the province? It’s only 300 million taels. Excluding the huge expenses, the actual annual income of the treasury is only about 500 million taels. How can you accumulate 500 taels of wealth in three years? You can gather more money than the imperial treasury?"

Ding Wang said: "Commander Lu, I have fallen into the hands of the Jin Yiwei. What good is bragging for me? I am in business, and I only do a profiteering business with ten profits. For example, iron mines in Yunnan, copper mines in Guizhou... . . ”

Lu Bing shook his head: "You are talking too much. The imperial court has a mine ban. Except for the copper governor, anyone who touches the copper mine will be killed."

"How did Commander Lu forget? I have the support of more than 800 current officials. Mr. Xu, Secretary of the Yunnan-Guizhou Copper Administration, is one of these 800 people. Oh, I just gave an example. In addition to the copper mine business, my There are still dozens of businesses."

Lu Bing slapped the table: "Nonsense! Nonsense! You said just now that the idlers you hired were watching, and what they caught was the indiscretions of officials such as visiting brothels, drinking flower wine, and gathering together for gambling. Not a great sin. Are they worth risking your head for you?"

Ding Wang said: "Commander Lu has a good idea. Grab some insignificant and indiscreet things, and you can only coerce them to do a few small things that are easy to do. You can't make them do big things for me at the risk of losing their heads. So, I Be sure to know the major events that can cause them to lose their posts! My method is to let officials bite dogs! For example: He Baihu now knows a secret event about his colleague Zhao Fuqian—for example, Zhao Fuqian Commander Lu slept with your little wife. If He Baihu knows about this, you can come to me and tell me about it. I will give He Baihu 5000 taels of silver as a reward."

Lu Bing interrupted Ding Wang: "I understand what you mean. You use a lot of money as a bait to lure officials to report each other's big mistakes to you? You know the big mistakes they made, and you can control them Like riding an ox or a horse? Oh my god, haven’t you become the censor of Zuodu of the People’s Procuratorate?”

Ding Wang said proudly: "What is the Zuodu Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate? It's just a second-rank official. Among the more than 800 officials I have, there are no less than five or six of them!"

Lu Bingdao: "You are just a commoner. Those officials are all high-ranking and powerful. Aren't you afraid that they will silence you just to silence you?"

Ding Wang shook his head: "No. I let them do things for me, and it's not for nothing! Being an official for thousands of miles is only for money. For example, I have [-]% of the shares in the copper mine business in Yunnan, Mr. Xu, Secretary of General Administration of Yunnan and Guizhou. I get [-]% of the money, and he gets [-]%. He gets money for what he does, and he is afraid that I will expose his shortcomings, so he will naturally obey me."

Lu Bing smiled: "First use the weaknesses in your hands to blackmail the officials, and then promise the officials great benefits. One side is a slap, and the other side is sweet dates. The officials will naturally obey you. It's a good trick! You shouldn't To be a soldier in the warehouse - you should be the commander of the Jinyiwei."

Ding Wang shook his head: "Commander Jin Yiwei? If you ask me to do it, I won't do it! Commander Lu, I sent someone to investigate you a year ago!"

Lu Bingdao: "Oh? Could it be that you even got my shortcomings?"

Ding Wang shook his head: "No! Apart from your hands being stained with blood and the smell of blood, you have no shortcomings! Because you seem to be sincerely loyal to the emperor. The commander of Jinyiwei has an emperor on top of his head. .I control more than 800 officials as a commoner, but no one can control me. Therefore, it is better to be a commoner!"

Lu Bing asked: "Since you are the richest man in the world, why didn't Jin Yiwei pay attention to you in recent years?"

Ding Wang said: "Those who have achieved great things in ancient and modern times always put the first priority of finding a substitute. Have you heard of Yin Wanwan, the largest silk merchant in the south of the Yangtze River?"

Lu Bing nodded: "Yin Wanwan is the richest man in Nanzhili. Of course I have heard of him."

Ding Wang said: "Ninety percent of the business in Yin Wanwan's hands is mine! He is just a substitute I found in the Jiangnan business field! I have no fewer than twenty such substitutes!"

(End of this chapter)