Domineering Daming

Bumbutai in Hejian Mansion received the news quickly, and stood on the bow of the boat, looking in the direction of the capital indifferently.

She knows Huang Taiji too well. This is a person who is gentle on the surface but like a tiger in his heart. He works like a snake and likes to nibble away step by step.As for useless chess pieces, those who discard them will be extremely decisive.

She, the Horqin left behind, is a useless pawn!

"What kind of person is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty?"

Bumbutai talked to himself calmly, but he was extremely worried in his heart.

Horqin is already extremely weak, and she must persuade the Emperor of Ming Dynasty to protect Horqin and curb Lin Danhan's ambitions.However, the Emperor Daming always did things unexpectedly, can she speak up?

She no longer has any leverage!

Chapter 655

Two days later, Zhu Xu's fleet docked in Yangzhou and went straight to Jiangdu.

The prosperity of Yangzhou was well-known in the Ming Dynasty, especially in the south of the Yangtze River, comparable to Suzhou. As for Yingtianfu, Hangzhou is not as good as it is now.

Jiangdu is divided into inner and outer cities, the new city is far more prosperous than the old city, and there is a river passing through the city, known as "Little Qinhuai", it is the favorite place for romantic, talented and beautiful women to hang out.

Zhu Xu and Cao Bianjiao were wearing ordinary clothes and walking on the most prosperous street in Jiangdu.

People flowed like weaves, vehicles and goods intertwined, even the avenue where five horse-drawn carriages traveled together was once congested and difficult to move, and government servants were needed to guide them.

Zhu Xu waved a folding fan in his hand and said with a smile, "This place is busier than the capital."

Cao Huachun followed beside him, and replied, "Yes, Beizhili has not been peaceful for a long time, and the land is barren and there are few people. Jiangnan has been peaceful for more than 200 years, so it should be prosperous like this."

Zhu Xu nodded, and within a few steps, he could see a shop with the prefix "Hui", vegetables, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, everything.

Zhu Xu was delighted to see it. At present, Huitong Commercial Bank has a monopoly on salt and tea, which can bring nearly 2000 million taels of silver to the imperial court every year. Most of the contribution is also in the Jiangnan area.

While speaking, seven or eight people suddenly rushed towards Zhu Xu and the others, with sticks in their hands, and they were aggressive.

Cao Bianjiao's complexion changed slightly, he stepped forward fiercely, and waved his hands at the same time, the guards of the imperial guards also stepped forward quietly, touching his waist.

If this group of people act recklessly, they will be smashed into a sieve by short-handed muskets immediately.

"Smash it! Smash it hard!"

This group of people turned around suddenly not far from Zhu Xu, and rushed towards a salt shop.

"Wang Laoba, how dare you! Come here, beat me back, beat me hard!"

Seven or eight people rushed out of this salt shop and started fighting at the door of the shop.

"Fan, I'm going to smash your shop today! Hit me, beat me to death!" The person outside shouted, and rushed up with a big stick.

"Hey, I just guessed that they were going to fight again!"

"No, how many times is this this month, the seventh time?"

"Yeah, you said they kept fighting and didn't lower the price..."

"How do you want to lower the price of salt? If you go back to Tianqi for six years, you can cry..."

"Hey, I didn't say it's bad, it's still Jingzheng, Jingzheng..."

Zhu Xu watched a group of people wrestling desperately, and the group of people watched with great joy. He approached a middle-aged man and said, "Excuse me, what happened here?"

The uncle was watching with gusto. Hearing Zhu Xu's question, he turned his head and glanced at him, and said with a smile, "Little brother is from the north, right? We are all familiar with it. In Jiangdu, not the whole of Yangzhou It's all common, don't worry, no one can die..."

Zhu Xu became more and more strange when he heard it, and said, "Then what are they fighting?"

The middle-aged man was enjoying watching the play, so he explained to Zhu Xu: "It's not surprising that little brother came to Yangzhou for the first time, but it will take a long time to talk about this."

Zhu Xu immediately listened with all due respect.

The middle-aged man was even happier, and while looking at Quan Wuxing, he said: "They, one is the Shanshan Gang and the other is the Hui Gang. Before Tianqi, they were all engaged in private salt business. When the Chongzhen court changed the salt policy, they all They are 'salt merchants' specially approved by the imperial court, because the price of salt is low and others have no right to buy and sell, so these two gangs make more money..."

"A colleague is an enemy..." Zhu Xu mused to himself thoughtfully.

"You are wrong, little brother." As soon as Zhu Xu spoke, the uncle said with a smug expression: "'Jingzheng New Deal' includes the salt policy, and all the salt prices are the same all over the country. Anyone who dares to raise it If the price is lowered, the government will immediately come to take the person, so their prices are the same..."

Zhu Xu was slightly stunned, and said: "This is true, so what are they fighting for?"

The middle-aged man became more and more complacent. Seeing that several people had been knocked down and their heads were bleeding, he still said happily: "These two gangs are very powerful in Yangzhou. In the second year of Tianqi, the Shanshan Gang wrote to the court , I hope to be able to settle in Yangzhou, and my children can enroll in Yangzhou government schools. The court specially approved seven places, but Huizhou merchants originally belonged to Nanzhili, so their children have to return to their original places and cannot enroll in Yangzhou..."

Zhu Xu understood, and said, "So the Hui Gang has resentment against the Shanshan Gang, so take it out on them..."

"Little brother is wrong again..."

The uncle became more and more proud, and said: "Last year, the Hui Gang jointly signed a letter to the imperial court, requesting that all the children of salt merchants can enroll in Yangzhou. , You said, there are only so many places for admission, if Huizhou merchants can all get in, then how many of the seven Shanshaan gangs are left..."

Zhu Xu didn't dare to pretend to understand now, and said if he had realized something: "Then the government doesn't care? Let them continue like this?"

"Hey, that's the key." The middle-aged man smiled even more proudly, and said, "This Yangzhou magistrate is from Shanxi, and he is also from the Shanshan Gang. They all have scruples and have never agreed, which has aroused the dissatisfaction of the Hui Gang, so things are now in this situation..."

Zhu Xu pinched his chin, with a half smile on his face.

The Shanshan Gang, that is, two groups of people from Shanxi and Shaanxi, Shanxi is also called Shanyou, occupied a very special position in the economic structure of the late Ming Dynasty, although Zhu Xu once cleaned up Shanyou, cutting off their way to the north.But Shanyou’s years of accumulated experience and capital are still disdainful to the north and south of the Ming Dynasty. Coupled with the reform of the salt and tea policies, they quickly seized the opportunity and expanded rapidly in Yangzhou, Huai, An and other places.

Because they were grouped together from their hometown, they quickly gained a foothold in the two places and eroded the interests of other business gangs.

Among them, the most influential ones are Huizhou merchants. Huizhou merchants originated in Huizhou, which is the later Anhui Province. Now they belong to Nanzhili. , A strong counterattack, in Yangzhou, and even in the whole of Nanzhili, there is a tendency to fight against courtesy.

With the continuous expansion of the two gangs, political needs have also emerged.

This matter seems to be a commercial dispute between the two gangs, but it is actually a political wrestling. After all, it is the government that really decides everything at this time!

Zhu Xu roughly figured it out, and watched the two gangs fight.

Evenly matched, several people on both sides were injured, and in the end there were six people standing, facing each other in threes and threes.

Although everyone called it fierce, no one dared to kill him.

The government servants finally arrived, and the leading catcher snorted coldly, and said, "It's you again, come with me, and let your shopkeeper bring the money to fetch people!"

Both sides yelled at each other, obviously they were familiar with it, took the injured brother, and followed the official sent to the government step by step.

Zhu Xu watched, bid farewell to the enthusiastic uncle, and walked forward.While walking, I was thinking.

The so-called "Jingzheng Salt Administration" used to be called "Chongzhen Salt Administration" by the outside world, but now it is included in the "Jingzheng New Deal", so the name has been changed.

The method adopted by the "Jingzheng Salt Administration" is government-owned and private sales. The imperial government controls each salt field and is responsible for production. Then, through Huitong Commercial Bank, it is transferred to agents layer by layer, and then dispersed throughout the country, and sold to various grassroots shops.They are all packaged in the same way, with the same price, cross-supervision by various government agencies, and once they are found to be selling privately and raising the price, they will be seized immediately and the higher level will be held accountable.

In the absence of private salt, and the price of official salt is "close to the people", the chaos in salt administration has been basically eliminated, and it has become one of Zhu Xu's reliable and stable sources of "internal money".