Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 141 Network Collection 3
Su Bancheng didn't have a strong official background, and the reason why he was able to become the number one silk merchant in Suzhou was because of his vicious eyes.

Although he was sure that the little old man in front of him was not a real businessman, he didn't look like a charlatan either, and he always had a feeling that he couldn't tell.

The most important thing is, as the other party said: If it is not for buying salt, why bother to deposit a large amount of money in Jiangdu Qiansi in exchange for the ticket for this boarding?
If one had to use one word to describe this extraordinary old man in front of him, it would be two words: Weird.

"Besides Su, everyone's business style is different! Although this old man is new to the business, he is also afraid of being deceived. Observing first may not be worse than rushing to get things done!" Wang Yue is well versed in the art of war, and he will always turn his back on customers.

Su Bancheng really made some sense when he thought about it, and his purpose of doing business is nothing more than to expand his network so as to make the business bigger. Even if this person wants to cheat, he is also cheating the transshipment envoy of the two Huaihe Rivers. "Mr. Hu's words are reasonable, but I'm being rude. My humble Shen Baishi is from Suzhou. His ancestral business was originally a weaving business. Now he comes to Yangzhou to do business in salt. Please take care of him in the future!"

At this moment, there was a sudden commotion among the people here, and everyone turned their heads towards the door, and shock appeared on the faces of many people.

However, the last group of people had already boarded the ship, and the ship was slowly heading east, and those who appeared here were Li Zhiqing, the transshipment envoy of the two Huaihe Rivers, Yang Mingyuan, the magistrate of Yangzhou, and Zhang Huangshan, the inspector of salt and water in the two Huaihe Rivers.

In many people's expectations, it was only Li Zhiqing, the transfer envoy of the two Huaihe Rivers, who would come forward, but they did not expect that Li Zhiqing, Yang Mingyuan, the prefect of Yangzhou, and Zhang Huangshan, the inspector of salt and water in the two Huaihe Rivers, were already in the game.

Yang Mingyuan could say that, after all, the prefect of Yangzhou has every reason to get a piece of the pie, but many people did not expect that Zhang Huangshan, the iron-faced censor in charge of patrolling salt, was also a member of the interest group.

Now the Iron Triangle of Yangzhou City has really appeared here, followed by Gao Huan, the deputy envoy of the Huaihe River transfer, and the three branch chiefs under his jurisdiction. This lineup has undoubtedly shown them enough hard power.

"Master Li, you are unabated!"

"Prefect Yang, please take care of me in the future!"

"Zhang Yushi, you are young and promising, and your future is boundless!"

……

Facing the appearance of the Iron Triangle in Yangzhou City, some salt merchants with a little face came forward one after another, and greeted them very enthusiastically.

"Hehe... These people are really in a group, and it's hard to guarantee that their Yan Yin can mention Yan!" Su Bancheng suddenly realized when he saw the lively scene.

Although Wang Yue had always known that Yangzhou officials were colluding, but when he saw the three chief officials of the Yamen in Yangzhou appear here together, he realized that local corruption was far more serious than he imagined.

If they were above the court, or came under the banner of imperial envoys, who would have thought that all the non-commissioned officers who were familiar with the books of sages, and the disciples of sages who advocated Zhou etiquette and Confucianism, would conspire together to embezzle salt.

If there are only some black apples in Huguang's officialdom, then Yangzhou's officialdom is really "there may be two or three injustices for cutting them all, but there must be fish that slip through the net after cutting them all."

At this moment, he felt that it was necessary to ask His Majesty to open Enke every year, otherwise it would be difficult to find someone to fill the large number of vacancies suddenly vacated in Yangzhou.

"Everyone, I am Li Zhiqing, the transshipment envoy of the two Huaihe Rivers. The two next to me are Yang Zhifu and Zhang Yushi. In this Yangzhou boundary, other things may not be guaranteed, but your business will be smooth, and if you have any trivial matters, you can ask Yang." The magistrate can solve it!" Li Zhiqing stood with his head held high, and assured the salt merchants present.

The magistrate Yang can get a lot of share every time, so he stood up and said with a smile: "Master Li is right! As long as it is within the jurisdiction of this prefecture, as long as you come to this prefecture, you will definitely help us relieve your worries!"

This……

The new salt merchants present couldn't help but feel moved. They dared to buy Yanyin here, and they can walk sideways in Yangzhou in the future. These people are really kind.

"Everyone, I have prepared a banquet for today. Let's eat and sing here. The two adults and I will go up first!" Seeing that the effect had been achieved, Li Zhiqing said his farewell.

"Master Li, please go slowly!" All the salt merchants suddenly understood, and said respectfully.

Now that there are three giants endorsed, the matter of raising salt will undoubtedly be very smooth.As for doing business in Yangzhou in the future, with the Yangzhou Iron Triangle covering them, they can almost walk sideways.

The upper reaches of the Bianshui River is the Slender West Lake, but the sludge has not been cleaned up there yet, so it has already become a stinking lake.The ship sails east to the canal on the east, and then goes south along the canal to return to Yangzhou Grand Wharf.

The itinerary has been finalized in advance, and it is only necessary to complete this voyage around Yangzhou City from north to south, and the sales and introduction activity of increasing the salt extraction fee will be successfully concluded.

As for the imperial envoy who was ordered to investigate the case, I am afraid that he is still wandering around like a headless chicken in Taixing County at this time.

Gao Huan, deputy envoy of the transshipment envoy of the Huaihe River and Huaihe River, stayed here, and after greeting a group of familiar old salt merchants one by one, he gave an explanation in person.

Gao Huan is a little old man in his early 50s. At the beginning, Enyin was the supervisor of the son of the country, but he couldn't get a good reputation in the exam. Instead, he was awarded the seventh rank by the imperial court as a Zhongshu Sheren, and now he is the fifth rank. make.

In the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, although it is not important that the son inherits the father's career, Gao Heng's father is the former chief assistant Gao Gu, which is one of the reasons why Li Zhiqing dared to form a clique in Yangzhou City.

Facing the dozens of salt merchants present, Gao Heng seriously revealed the information: "Everyone may not know that, in order to encourage everyone to actively use silver to buy silver, the imperial court first clearly stipulated that the salt sold must be available in the same year. Get the salt, otherwise you will be punished by the transfer envoys! So as long as you buy these salts, our transfer envoys in both Huaihe Rivers and Huaihe Rivers will guarantee the delivery of the same year, and you pay the salt silver, which guarantees that you will arrive at the salt factory Cash at sight!"

They are using the power of exchanging salt in their hands to seek rent through the power of these salt merchants.I opened the door of convenience to these salt merchants, and these salt merchants gave them salt and silver, which can be described as happy.

"Master Gao, it is stipulated that the salt sold must be able to mention salt in the same year. Why do we not know about this?" A salt merchant immediately looked very puzzled after hearing this.

Deceit!
Wang Yue found that this group of people was really clever, but they just used a small asymmetry of information to play around with everyone.

If everyone knows that the Zheseyin sold has this special regulation, then once they buy this kind of salt normally, they don’t have to worry about not getting the salt at all, and they don’t even need to pay such a high salt raising fee.

It's just that now that they're on this ship, it's obviously the imperial court's pressure on the envoy's yamen of the transshipment department of the Huaihe River and Huaihe River, but it turns out to be Li Zhiqing's bargaining chip.

Now that there are clear regulations from the imperial court, and the green light and guarantee given by Li Zhiqing and his group, there is really no need to worry too much about not being able to mention salt.

Gao Heng smiled slightly, and then explained: "This matter was actually a small trick at the beginning, but after Mr. Li found out, he chose to omit this regulation every time Zhang Wen wrote. If you don't believe me, the official document of the court through the Ministry of Households is in the So, everyone can come forward and have a look.”

As he spoke, he displayed the official documents brought over from the imperial court, and on them were three official seals of the Department of Housekeeping, the Hall, and the Ministry.

"Member Hu, the household department really has such regulations!" Su Bancheng is a serious person, seeing that the household department's official documents really have such regulations, he can't help admiring the humanity of this group.

Wang Yue found out that he was actually a fan of the authorities. He thought they would write a letter of guarantee to each salt merchant, but it turned out to be a small loophole.

It's just from this matter that we can see that once an opportunity is caught, even if it's just a small loophole, they will take the opportunity to make a lot of money.

In fact, it's not that China doesn't have people who really know how to govern the country, but no matter how good the scriptures are spread to the bottom, these greedy officials can help you sing the scriptures wrongly with their eyes open.

Today's young emperor is ambitious, and I am afraid that he wants to implement a lot of reform measures that benefit the country and the people, but he must not be aware of this local problem.

In fact, the problem of China's governance has never been a problem of the high-level. The high-level has been trying to play the role of Qingliu. The main reason is that the place dominated by the civil service group has long been rotten.

"Master Gao, the imperial court only gives a relatively small amount of Yanyin to make color changes every year, and the most in the 16th year of Chenghua was [-] Yin. How can you release so many Yanyin at once this year?" Although the concerns about raising salt were dispelled Most of the time, but a new salt merchant raised another question.

The salt merchants present were already aware of this problem, and now the Lianghuai Yamen issued too many discounted salt quotas, and some people even suspected that he had made fake quotations.

Wang Yue also has a deep understanding of this problem. Like him, a salt merchant who has just entered the industry can get [-] yuan. Other old salt merchants must have more, but the impression is that the Imperial Household Department only stipulates that a small amount of folded salt is issued every year. lead.

Faced with this question, Gao Heng smiled mysteriously and said, "This matter involves another secret. Since it has nothing to do with our transaction, I have nothing to say! It's just that all the adults are here to protect you, and all the seals for you are covered. You are still worried about the seal of the transfer envoy in both Huaihe River and Huaihe River? No matter how courageous we are, we dare not forge fake seals, right?"

Wang Yue couldn't help feeling secretly disappointed. He thought that he would be able to learn the whole truth this time, but in the end he only learned that they took advantage of a small loophole.

"That's right, all of us have formal salts in our hands, what are we afraid of?"

"Anyway, it's like this every year, so hurry up and start subscribing for Yanyin!"

"Explain to them what to do so much, if you don't want to subscribe for Yanyin, get off the boat!"

……

The old salt merchants who were present had dealt with Li Zhiqing and other officials for many years, so they seemed to trust the organizer very much, and Dang even expressed their opinions impatiently.

"We participated for the first time, so we naturally want to ask for clarification! Since it is related to the secrets of your lords, it is not easy for us to find out. I have subscribed for all the salt!" The new salt merchant observed the reaction of the new salt merchant next to him. , Dang even made a statement.

The new salt merchants present also gradually dispelled their worries. Although the amount given by the transshipment envoy of the two Huaihe Rivers and Huaihe Rivers was abnormal, it was really impossible for them to give false quotations.

For them, the most important thing is always the smooth extraction of salt.

"I subscribed for all!"

"I'm more conservative and only accept half of the amount of salt!"

"Life and death depend on fate and wealth, I have subscribed for all of them!"

……

After listening to Gao Huan, the deputy envoy of Huaihe Capital Transshipment, the new salt merchant has gradually dispelled all his worries, and immediately expressed his opinion.

For a moment, the scene seemed joyous.

Faced with this situation, Wang Yue couldn't help feeling embarrassed.

He has a fake deposit ticket of 2 taels in his sleeve, and now he faces two choices: either continue to use the fake deposit ticket to buy salt, or reject the transaction.

It’s just that using fake deposit certificates is easy to be seen through, and refusing to trade will also make people suspicious. In fact, these are both risky choices.

The relative weight of two benefits should be the most important, and the relative power of two evils should be the least important.

Now as long as he arrives at the Yangzhou wharf smoothly, as long as the fake deposit ticket in his hand can continue to muddle through, then he can turn passive into active.

Before Wang Yue could make a statement, a new salt merchant next to him suddenly stood up and said, "What? Do you want to deduct [-]% as an information fee?"

"It's not a deduction, but [-]% of the amount has to be seized and left in Jiangdu Qiansi. If you don't spread the word, you can get a full refund after one year. You can't tell the truth!" Gao Heng seemed to be used to this situation, and even if he patiently explained.

The new salt merchant looked at the burly men around him, and made a statement: "In that case, I will subscribe for half of the amount!"

Gao Heng smiled slightly and asked the staff to help.

In fact, the operation of handling is not complicated, because only full payment is required to board the ship, and now it is at least half of the subscription.If you choose to subscribe in full, you don't need to refund the silver salt, but if you subscribe for half, you will get half of the silver taels.

"Mr. Hu, what do you say?" Gao Heng came to Wang Yue, but said with a slight smile.

Wang Yue didn't expect that there would be a deduction of money, but he still bit the bullet and said: "I have doubts about the authenticity of your Yanyin, so I don't subscribe!"

"Since this is the case, you should know our rules! [-]% will be withheld as a security deposit, and the full amount will be refunded after one year. Please take out your deposit ticket first and we will give you instructions!" Gao Heng looked at Wang in front of him. The more kind-faced he is, the more authentic he is with a smile.

Faced with this reasonable request, Wang Yue had no choice but to take out his fake deposit ticket, and then handed the fake deposit ticket to Gao Heng.

Gao Heng took the fake deposit check and glanced at it, but found nothing wrong with it, so he handed the deposit check to the accompanying clerk.

The scribes were already familiar with handling this matter, so they stamped "detain [-]%" on it.It's just that he was taken aback when he picked up the seal again. The seal he just stamped was inexplicably missing more than half of it, and then he looked at the bottom of his seal with some understanding.

Gao Heng was about to continue to personally greet Su Bancheng next to him, but he suddenly caught a glimpse of this scene, looked at Wang Yue with a smile on his face, and said, "Mr. Hu, what song are you going to sing?"

(End of this chapter)