The Founding of the Red Chamber

Lin Jing originally thought that he could do this himself.The outside of the customs is their foundation, so it is better for Tu Xiaosan to sit in the town in person, but in the end, Tu Xiaosan insisted on being with him, so he had to leave everything outside the customs to the little cow, Tu Xiaosi. And Princess Daiqing.Governor Shi was responsible for the Dragon City matter, and he sent Duan Tianyu there, and Governor Shi's beloved son, Shi Shilang, was also taken away by Lin Jing.Since Governor Shi married his daughter to Duan Tianyu, he has officially joined the gang.Governor Shi was not worried, but he was worried that the court would find out about the affairs outside the customs. Governor Shi first discussed this matter with his son-in-law. Duan Tianyu said, "If the court finds out, it will be nothing more than a military encounter." Governor Shi was very frightened.

When Governor Shi and Tu Lin talked about this matter, what shocked Governor Shi was that Tu Lin and Tu Lin's answer was exactly the same as Duan Tianyu's.

Lin Jing and Governor Shi said, "Whether it's giving gifts or what, if you can't turn against the court or not for now. If you really can't, you must defend Longcheng."

Governor Shi nodded frightenedly. Lin Jing saw that he was quite frightened, and comforted him, "Don't worry, the affairs inside the imperial court are too busy at the moment. There are already poor people outside the customs, and there are many bandits. So caring."

After all, Governor Shi is also a veteran politician in the imperial court, knowing that Lin Jing's words are right, this side feels a little relieved.

Lin Jing and the others went south, not just for nothing.Going south this time is also to start a business.

It is not another business, but mainly salt smuggling.

Nowadays, it is becoming more and more difficult for the common people to eat salt. Since Chen Qibao came to the throne, he has been trying his best to govern. However, looking at Chen Qibao's attitude towards the queen of Jinling who was conscripted by the army outside the pass, one can know that Chen Qibao is a man.Lin Jing was born in a wealthy family in the government. He used to study and said that when Taizu opened his dynasty, the price of salt was only [-] Wen a Dou, but now it can't afford [-] Wen. This shows the life of the common people now.Of course, the price of salt is expensive nowadays, so there are advantages and no disadvantages for private salt.

However, from the price of salt, we can see the ruling of the current imperial court.

Lin Jingtu Xiaosan outside the pass already had a route to smuggle salt into the pass, but the route to Shanhaiguan is a map outside the pass, and the inside of Shanhaiguan is their territory.In this way, the private salt outside the pass is nothing more than a wholesale for the private salt dealers inside the pass. Although the profit is there, it is not as big as imagined.Today, there are 10,000+ private soldiers outside the customs. It is not a problem in a short time to raise these soldiers and only rely on resources outside the customs and private salt profits.However, if the two want to go further, they must have a larger financial support.

As soon as Lin Jing made a calculation, he focused on the private salt route in the pass.

There is a reason for Lin Jing to follow this route.

First, Xu and Wei two Shanxi merchants opened a branch outside the customs, and the Anhui merchants and Jianghuai salt merchants also went outside the customs. The news of the merchants could not be more well-informed.Chen Dong's family of Huizhou merchants' bank was particularly envious of the profits of Shanxi merchants smuggled with the barbarians in the northwest, but they didn't know that the business of Shanxi merchants was not easy now.Since Guan Tingyu was stationed in Bianzhou, he has closed the field of discussion with the barbarians. If it is another general, Shanxi merchants can pave the way with money, and they can also pave a smuggling road.In the end, he met General Guan who was not in the mood for oil and salt.Therefore, in recent years, it has been difficult for Shanxi merchants to smuggle.

The salt merchant bank, as the name suggests, is led by a group of Jianghuai salt merchants.

Press down, the world is the richest, although the salt merchants are not as good as the Shanxi merchants, they are still counted.Especially now, the price of salt is high.Whoever is poor, the salt merchants will not be poor either.

However, speaking of this, the salt merchants also complained again and again.Not to mention others, Huo Dongjia of the salt merchant bank said, "Although the price of salt is high, most of our salt merchants are married to the imperial court. Not to mention others, when Grandpa Taizu founded the country, salt was only 150 yuan One bucket, our life is better than today. Today, the price of salt is [-] yuan a bucket, and the common people scold the salt merchants for being black-hearted, so it can be calculated. In addition to the base price of imported salt, there are also freight, salt Taxes, border crossing fees, these are visible expenses, plus the up and down management, out of two hundred cash, [-] cash is this kind of throwing fee, which fell into our hands, it seems that fifty cash is a lot, but The clerks and shopkeepers in our shop also have to eat. How many of them are really making profits? Besides, things are expensive and money is cheap. When I was young, a bucket of rice cost only ten yuan, but now thirty yuan is no longer worth it. In the past two years, there have been frequent catastrophes in the south of the Yangtze River, ah, it’s all tears.” Huo Dong’s plump double chins were shaking with pain.

Lin Jing said, "Oh, your family is also the leader of the world's merchants, and you all complain like this, making it even harder for other small merchants to survive."

"Let me say this, my lord, you may not believe it. As your lord said, there are small merchants and hawkers. Where are there small merchants and hawkers now? They are small merchants and hawkers in the city. If there is no relative in the yamen who is on duty, the business It is impossible to do it. Not to mention others, there is no business in a small place, and the people still can’t eat enough, who is still spending money outside. If it is a richer place, such as our Yangzhou City, there are restaurants and shops, and there are only yamen The people in the past can overwhelm you." Huo Dong's family said, "Hey, Yangzhou City is like this, let alone the counties and townships below."

"That's right." Chen Dongjia of the Huishang Bank also said, "In the past few years, there were constant droughts and floods in the south of the Yangtze River, and many people died of starvation. In the past, girls in their teens would have to pay more than ten taels of silver no matter what. Son, don’t talk about money, just sell half a bag of grain. Hey, it’s hard.”

The Jin merchants, Xu Wei, and Xu Wei are both big families in the north, and they don't know much about Jiangnan. Xu Dongjia said, "Previously, the King of Jinling rebelled and made a lot of noise, but I heard that the imperial court often went to Jiangnan to save money and food."

Huo Dong's family whispered, "This is what our own people said. The imperial court paid a lot of money, but the imperial household department issued 100 million silver, and there were only 50 left before leaving Beijing. When we arrived in the south of the Yangtze River, the governor In prefectures and counties, officials of all sizes peeled off layers of skins, and 10 taels could be used on the victims. That would be good. If the people had no way out, how could the King of Jinling respond to everyone?"'

Huo Dong's family glanced at Chen Dong's family of Huizhou merchants, and said, "There is a disaster in the south of the Yangtze River, and you two big salt merchants in the two lakes have made a lot of money."

"To put it lightly, if the price of grain is [-] to [-]% higher than in previous years, the profit of the grain merchant is indeed not small. But if the price of grain is doubled, no matter how much money it makes, it will be the money to kill off children and grandchildren. Although our Huo family also has Grain and grass business, but during the catastrophe in the south of the Yangtze River, the par price was discounted to the government. The big grain merchants in our two lakes went home and stored hundreds of thousands of catties of grain, but they refused to sell it when the price of rice was [-] yuan. Later, The victims were so hungry that they stormed the granary of the Yue family, and more than a hundred people died at that time. The second son of the Yue Dong family was also buried in it, and hundreds of thousands of catties of grain were not saved.” Chen Dong’s family lamented Tone, "What are you trying to figure out? To be honest, anyone who has done business like ours has some background, and it is a blessing to be safe."

Everyone said yes again and again, Lin Jing said, "The Yue family, I heard that there is a Yuehou Mansion in Beijing, is this the family?"

Huo Dongjia laughed, "Your Excellency is so well-informed."

Lin Jingxin said, my sister-in-law's surname is Yue, which one of you knows.

Huo Dong's family said, "It's not the clan of Yuehou. The Yue family was originally a big clan in Huizhou. Except for the Yuehou branch in Beijing, there are many other clansmen in their hometown, either studying or doing business."

Lin Jing said, "Marquis Yue is also a scholar, why don't you care about the clansmen?"

The people in this circle were considered to be older than Lin Jing, so everyone laughed but didn't answer.Lin Jing smiled and said, "I think it's the Marquis Yue who doesn't know about this matter..." He looked at everyone, frowned slightly, and then smiled, "Or, Marquis Yue acquiesced to this matter."

Chen Dongjia said with a smile, "My lord's eyes are like lightning."

Huo Dong's family laughed and said, "If we do business, we have to greet all officials. The side branches of a big family like them must have a good relationship with the main branch. It may be that there are cadres of the main branch in it." .”

Xu Dong's family said, "The eldest girl from the Marquis of Yue's mansion married the Lin family of Duke Cheng'en's mansion. I heard that His Majesty trusts Lord Lin very much."

Chen Dong's family said, "But, I heard that His Majesty's own father was slaughtered by the young master of the Lin family."

Because they were talking about the affairs of the royal family, Wei Dong's family lowered their voices, "You can't blame Young Master Lin for this matter. You don't know what His Majesty's biological father did. It's really outrageous. Young Master Lin is really a bloody man. I heard that his I was not very old at the time, so I chopped off eight petals of His Majesty's biological father!"

"What's the reason?" Huo Dongjia asked.

Wei Dong's family said vaguely, and Huo Dong's family couldn't help saying, "It's really bloody!"

Lin Jing felt a little uncomfortable listening to them talking about himself, so he changed the subject and said, "Hey, the nobles in Beijing are far away from us, and besides, the nobles are not short of money. In my opinion, although it is quick to get money for business, But, at any time, the ones with the power are the officials."

"Who says it's not?" Chen Dongjia said, "Master Mu, you occupy a high position at a young age, and you are a hundred times stronger than me." Master Mu, because Lin Jing is not good at being surnamed Lin, he took the surname Mu for the time being.

Everyone said yes.

Lin Jing said with a smile, "You can just make fun of me. I just hit it off with you, and I want to say a few words of my heart to you."

Although Lin Jing is young, but he lived in the palace when he was young, and rarely lived in the public house. The noble aura he cultivated over the years is that people don't know the details of Mr. Mu, but they are also big men in the business world and have seen it before. The high-ranking officials in the capital only felt that the nobility of Lin Jing's body was a dignity that ordinary officials and eunuchs could not raise.Therefore, he was quite polite to Lin Jing.When Lin Jingfu spoke, he carried that air of being superior to others. These business leaders, not only did not feel disgusted, but took it for granted.Lin Jingdao, "The current world is not as good as it used to be. I live outside the customs, so I don't feel as deep as you. After all, although we are poorer outside the customs, we still have enough food and clothing. To tell you the truth, besides, you have been outside the customs these days. , I also know that outside our customs, although the taxes seem to be higher than those outside the customs, there is absolutely no other exorbitant taxes except for the money that has to be handed over to the government. Even ordinary people who have no relationship dare to come to the state city to do something A small business to support the family. I have also been outside the customs, and I know the current situation in the customs. Hey, in the customs, the poor can’t afford to live, and it’s hard to fill their stomachs. But the rich are like you, not me, like the Yueliang merchants, Although it is indeed a bit of low-level work to collect grain to make money for the country, but if they don’t sell their own grain, they will die. As a result, hundreds of people died due to the impact of hungry people. What’s more, there are The rebellion of the King of Jinling caused a lot of turmoil in the past."

"You are all first-class businessmen in various places. In a peaceful and prosperous age, everyone would just wait for a peaceful life. Nowadays, natural disasters and man-made disasters continue. The richer you are, the more serious the crisis. Therefore, you must be on guard. " Lin Jing said with emotion.

Lin Jing's words were not noticed by Jin merchant Xu Wei's two masters, but when they heard Zhao Huo's second master's ears, it was no less than a thunder, which sounded the alarm bell deep in their hearts.