New Shun 1730

A few days later, a group of wealthy merchants and officials waited anxiously outside the city of Songjiang Prefecture.

Excluding officials, merchants were far less concerned about whether the emperor would come to Songjiang Prefecture than Liu Yu's visit this time.

They sent people to pass on the news early. After learning that Liu Yu did not follow the imperial carriage from Qingjiangkou, but came directly to Songjiang Prefecture, the merchants immediately prepared.

They estimated that they were about to arrive, so they waited outside the city gate early in the morning.

A few servants ran from a distance and said that they were about to arrive, and gongs and drums sounded immediately behind them.

Merchants were naturally concerned about their interests.

Will the Western Trade Company succeed?

What does the court mean by the Nanyang trade?

These things are more concerning to them than the emperor's southern tour.

There were all kinds of rumors before. Some people were anxious and wanted to find out, but they found nothing after asking around.

Now the news has finally come, whether it is good or bad, it finally puts a stone off my heart, and it also saves many people from having trouble sleeping soundly for several months.

When Liu Yu arrived, after everyone finished congratulating him on being named Duke, Liu Yu said to the prefect of Songjiang who came to greet him: "I came here for official business."

"Since I am an official, I must put public affairs first and private affairs second."

"Your Majesty ordered me to supervise all business affairs. You and I don't have a direct superior-subordinate relationship."

"You have the Six Governments and Tianyou Palace to manage you. As for me, the Six Governments can't control me."

"But since you are supervising business, this official business must be done with these businessmen. I won't go to your place for this welcoming banquet. Although there are some things with you, they are not important."

The prefect of Songjiang also knew Liu Yu's style. When he saw Liu Yu say this, he knew that he was trying to reassure the anxious businessmen who had been waiting for these days, so he cooperated and said: "Since you are doing things for your Majesty, you must put public affairs first and private affairs second. Please do as you wish, Duke."

When Liu Yu said that there were still some things and that they were not important, he knew that Liu Yu was talking about the eleventh tax. I don't know if it succeeded or not.

I was not as nervous as these merchants.

It would be great if it worked, but it would be okay if it didn't.

After a few more words, the prefect of Songjiang left with his people.

The merchants were really delighted by Liu Yu's words.

Now everyone knows that the Duke of Xingguo is a big celebrity around the emperor.

Although it sounds like the tax supervisor and mining supervisor of the previous dynasty.

But after all, he is not a eunuch, but a military meritorious official.

The emperor asked such a military meritorious official to manage industry and commerce, which seems to be a success for the Western Trade Company.

Even if it is not a success or failure, the attitude of the court this time has refuted many rumors that have been circulated before.

It is a major signal that the most despicable merchant can be supervised by such a meritorious official instead of a eunuch.

Seeing this, several leaders prepared to invite Liu Yu to a banquet to welcome him, but Liu Yu asked directly: "Is the banquet ready?"

"Go back, Duke, it has been prepared a long time ago."

Liu Yu said: "There is no rush to eat. I will call out some people's names, and follow me to talk about some things first. Those whose names are not called, just go to the banquet and wait."

After that, he took out a booklet and called out the names of sixty or seventy people immediately.

These sixty-seven people are all famous wealthy merchants in recent years, and they are also the top group of merchants.

There is a very simple evaluation standard for whether a businessman is top: wealth.

After these names are called out, the remaining ones who are not called will inevitably feel disappointed, thinking that they are not qualified after all. In the words that Duke Xingguo often said before, this is called "not qualified to hold a small meeting, the smaller the meeting, the bigger the matter".

But there is no other emotion for this kind of thing. If you don't have enough wealth, you just don't have enough.

Some people were open-minded. They thought that although they were not qualified to hold a small meeting, they were better than those who were not qualified to attend the welcoming banquet.

Those whose names were called were secretly happy, thinking that they were "rich merchants" certified by the Duke of Xingguo.

If they were certified by the court, they might be afraid, thinking that they were certified fat pigs.

The reputation of the Duke of Xingguo for more than ten years was there, which was different from the concerns of the court certification.

These merchants had been dealing with Liu Yu for many years, and they knew some of Liu Yu's strange mentality and that Liu Yu didn't like to dawdle when he wanted to do things.

After responding, they hurriedly got on their carriages. These carriages were not luxurious in the eyes of the merchants, but they knew that Liu Yu's favorite style was more "weird", so they deliberately made it look very mechanical.

As for those who took sedan chairs, there was no one.

It was purely a matter of "what the superior likes, the subordinates must follow suit". Because everyone present knew that the current Nanyang Protector was Liu Yu's slave, but Liu Yu made him a man.

From this incident, some people understood what this meant. It has nothing to do with the West. Since ancient times, riding in a sedan chair has been regarded as a bad habit by some orthodox scholars.

Wang Jinggong once said, "Since ancient times, although the kings and nobles are not virtuous, they have never dared to replace animals with humans." Riding in a sedan chair is an unrighteous act of treating people as animals in traditional culture.

Since there are now stories and rumors about slaves becoming protectors, people who specialize in analyzing how to "follow the superiors' preferences" will certainly not be willing to ride in a sedan chair.

At least they will not ride in a sedan chair in front of Liu Yu, looking for trouble.

The special foreign trade environment of Dashun made these monkey-smart businessmen understand that foreign trade still depends on the court as a backing. If Xingguogong is unhappy, the opportunity to make a fortune will be gone.

Since Xingguogong does not like people riding in sedan chairs and has a rather strange aesthetic, it is natural to pretend, which is not difficult.

Not only sedan chairs, some people even deliberately bought old-style steam engines to put in the exquisite Jiangnan gardens.

Usually covered with something to avoid affecting the beauty, Liu Yu or when he went there, he could burn coal and smoke, or even use it to draw water out of boredom.

In addition to the large docks, the most old-style steam engines were in Songjiang Prefecture - but their significance was the same as the stone lions at the door and the rockery in the garden, just decorations.

Liu Yu was not unaware of this. He knew that this was the reason why the King of Chu wanted a thin waist and many people in the palace starved to death, but he was happy to do so. Even if it was pretending, it was better than not pretending.

Such a group of wealthy merchants who catered to their needs got on their carriages and soon arrived at a brick and stone building next to the banquet.

When everyone was there, Liu Yu got straight to the point.

"The matter of the Western Trade Company has been settled. Don't be too happy yet. It's not that there is any bad news, but you can be happy at the welcoming banquet later."

"There is another thing I want to tell you. In my opinion, it is also a good thing. I want to hear your opinions."

After these businessmen suppressed their excitement, they briefly talked about the matter of the imperial rice.

"This is the situation, and this is the matter. I haven't read much, but I know that Wang Jinggong created the Qingmiao Law because it was aimed at small farmers. Even now, and doubtful about the future, this kind of small loan is difficult to make, and it is often not repaid, and it is difficult to supervise."

"So, this kind of thing is different from a trading company."

"For a trading company, ten taels is not too little, and one million is not too much."

"But for things like the Caomi plantation, it is better to find a capable contractor. If something goes wrong, it is easy to manage; if nothing goes wrong, it is also easy to supervise."

"Sixty thousand taels, fifty thousand shi of rice per share. There is no small amount."

"So I didn't look for them at all, only for you first. Now you know the matter, tell me, what do you think?"

After hearing this, the dozens of people were all stunned for a while.

They were not scared.

But the news was a little too good, it seemed fake.

After a long time, Lin Yunwen, who was the first to know Liu Yu, asked: "Duke...this matter...this, maybe someone in the court doesn't know the price, but the Duke must know it. If you buy rice in Nanyang in large quantities, you can buy it with five cents of silver."

"The court gave a price of one tael or two cents...if it was someone else, we would naturally be happy. But how could the Duke not know the price? This...this..."

After a long time, nothing came out. What I thought in my heart was that I only heard about the court sucking blood, but when have I ever heard of the court bleeding?

Liu Yu laughed and said, "Nonsense, what's wrong with this? What's the difference between salt merchants and this? Since the court can have salt merchants, why can't it have rice merchants?"

"You think the court lost money, but the court still thinks it made money."

"Why are you pretending to be ignorant of human affairs? It's not like you don't know. 6 million shi of grain of rice a year, sank, lost, flooded, wasted, collected by the Dragon King, eaten by boatmen, etc., adding up to 30 to 50 million a year."

"Now that 6 million can be solved, of course the court has made money. The court is not a businessman, how can it only consider money?"

"Besides, doesn't the court have a consideration of going to Southeast Asia? Who asked you to buy? Ask you to run a plantation."

Even though these people trust Liu Yu, and see Liu Yu speak out the court's true purpose, they still feel a little unreal.

"Duke, we also know that Nanyang has three or four crops a year. Java is also fertile. Didn't Fu Guang do plantations there before?"

"The court... Doesn't the court use this money to cultivate the land? It seems that this is more economical? How can such a good thing fall on our heads?"

Liu Yu laughed.

"Cultivate the land?"

"Let me talk to you about Wang Jinggong's Qingmiao Law. You say, is it normal for private loans to be sold to repay debts?"

These people nodded without thinking.

What's abnormal about this?

Selling children and daughters is nothing. There are people who sell their wives to repay debts.

Liu Yu said again: "What if the court releases the Qingmiao Law and can't repay the money. The court forces the people to sell their children and daughters, and the court goes to tear down houses and grab land. Is this normal? Can the world accept it?"

"Uh..."

Just one sentence made everyone silent.

"What can the government-run reclamation be like? Doesn't the government know it? The previous dynasty set up military households, but in the end, they became a group of beggars."

"Learn from history, learn from history. The Song Dynasty must have learned from the history of the Tang Dynasty, and this dynasty has learned from the history of the previous Ming Dynasty."

"When the people revolt, they will rebel against the government!"

"It will be very different if it is handed over to you. You are too harsh, and they just hate you. The government can still mediate. After all, the government is good, you are bad, and they are against you, not the government, right?"

"You just mentioned Lian Fuguang, and Lian Fuguang knows the most about Nanyang. Why did the government let the Guiyi Army submit to the government when it came to the slave workers in the sugar factory?"

"If the sugar factory was run by the government, then what they did would still be Guiyi. Zhongyi Hall would have been renamed Juyi Hall long ago!"