"Shanxi and Suzhou are the friendship between our fathers and ancestors for three generations. Our three families advance and retreat together, just like one family!"
Zhou Quan said slowly, "The shareholders on the Shanxi side are mainly engaged in tea, cloth, leather goods and other business, while the Suzhou side is engaged in cotton and silk."
I'm afraid that's not the case.
Li Jinglong sneered in his heart, because the merchants in Shanxi were close to the Tatars, they were not only making tea cloths, they were also making contraband items such as war horses, salt, iron, livestock, and gold sand in private.
The court turned a blind eye to some businesses, and had closed the door on trade with the Tatars all these years. But the Tatars still have to live. If they really can't buy anything, even if they can't defeat the Ming Dynasty, those Tatars
The son also wants to send troops to rob him.
"Actually, Sheng Hengda is what it is today because the three of us have taken too big a step!" Zhou Quan continued, "Last spring, Suzhou borrowed 400,000 silver dollars from the bank and said it would build a cotton factory."
"You also know that our Ming Dynasty's cotton cloth has always been in short supply. Suzhou has said that it plans to build a large factory in Songjiang Prefecture that will employ 10,000 people and make thousands of machines. It is expected to produce 100,000 pieces of cloth per year..."
After hearing this, Zhu Yunxi, who was behind the screen, made silent calculations in his heart.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty was a cotton empire.
Not to mention that the old man relied on cotton cloth to conquer the north and south. Nowadays, Ming Dynasty's cotton cloth is among the most important, both in foreign trade and within the country.
Last year alone, the country produced 13 million pieces of cotton cloth, and exported nearly 10 million pieces. Of the remaining 3 million pieces, 1.5 million were tax deductible and used as military pay for the frontier troops.
This amount does not include the cloth weaved by people at home.
What is a small-scale peasant economy? The rice you eat and the clothes you wear are all grown and knitted by yourself. Except for exchanging eggs for some salt, you don’t need to buy any other external products at all.
At this time, in addition to the self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy, the Ming Dynasty also began to have large-scale cotton factories employing tens of thousands of workers.
Moreover, there will be more and more such workshops in the future.
Zhu Yunxi secretly thought, "The development of industry and commerce may not necessarily delay land annexation. It may even cause grain production to decrease and grain prices to rise too high due to the development of industry and commerce."
"When granaries are built extensively in cotton-producing areas in the south of the Yangtze River to calm food prices and prevent famine years, worries about food shortages arise!"
At this moment, Li Jinglong had another thought in his mind.
"These business people are really shady. They give others two cents of profit, and then use hundreds of thousands of other people's money to do business for themselves. Hehe, isn't this a waste of money?"
Zhou Quan continued, "But who knew that Suzhou was involved in a case."
Hearing this, Li Jinglong's heart skipped a beat again.
I couldn't help but ask, "But what about Tongwa?"
"Exactly!" Zhou Quan sighed.
The affair with the Japanese was actually a trap set by Tie Xuan and others for wealthy businessmen in Suzhou who did not want to pay taxes. His half-brother Li Jinglong was also involved in this matter, and in the end it was Li Jinglong who managed to escape.
But at that time, he, Li Jinglong, also made a lot of ill-gotten gains.
"Because of that case, the cotton factory has been put on hold again and again, and Sheng Hengda's circulating funds have been cut off. A few days ago, the Chief Secretary in Suzhou was allocated tens of thousands of dollars to reclaim Yuhuan Island."
"ha!"
Zhu Yunxi couldn't help but burst out laughing. Han Kezhong and the others were reclaiming the deserted island there. In the memorial and approval he gave, he wrote that they wanted to raise money on the spot.
Unexpectedly, Tie Xuan and Han Kezhong once again regarded these businessmen as unjust and slaughtered them.
But after laughing, Zhu Yunxi's face was full of solemnity.
"There is a long way to go to establish a good and healthy business environment. Officials' property should not be taken by officials at will."
"At the same time, Suzhou still has 380,000 cotton arrears in Henan that is in urgent need, so it can only be borrowed again."
Zhou Quan sighed, "This makes the bank unable to make ends meet!"
Li Jinglong sneered, "You businessmen are so good at calculating. Speaking of which, you don't have any place to put your money at home. But you don't use the money at home and use the money from the bank account to do business!"
"This..." Zhou Quan was speechless for a moment.
"I understand that the money at home belongs to the family, and you should never take out what is in your own pocket. Smart people always use other people's money to make money, right!" Li Jinglong laughed, "But, you are as big as Sheng Hengda.
The industry won't be in trouble because of this little money, right?"
"That's what the Duke said!" Zhou Quan said, "In the past two months, I wrote to Shanxi to dismantle it, and they transported 700,000 silver by water. But..." He said
, sighing heavily again, "When we arrived in Wuchang, even the silver boat and the people were detained by the Wuchang guards!"
In an instant, Li Jinglong's expression became solemn.
"Have you ever reported the ships that carry your silver?"
Zhou Quan smiled bitterly and said, "How dare you not report it? Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty collects commercial taxes, and you need to see tax stamps when passing customs and cards to enter and exit the city. Not only did you report it, but you also used the tax department to go to the postal station to declare it.
The Chief Secretary assigned fifty archers as guards."
"But not long after arriving in Wuchang, I was immediately detained."
Li Jinglong's face became more solemn, "In what name?"
"What kind of name does the government have to seize things? Sheng Hengda has some respect in the government, but it doesn't work if he asks someone to send money. In the end, the Wuchang Prefecture said that it was the garrison general who took it, and they had no right to interfere." Zhou Quan sighed.
road.
Li Jinglong stood up, walked a few steps, and said nothing.
"After what happened, the little old man thought about it, and the only one he could think of was you, the Duke..."
"No!" Li Jinglong immediately spoke, interrupting the other party, "I know what your intentions are, but you, you think more highly of me!" He said with a smile, "If it's a matter in Beijing, I can still do it.
I’ll help you clear the way, but over there in Wuchang? I can’t help you!”
"My lord!" Zhou Quan suddenly knelt down again and said, "Don't refuse. You are a relative of the emperor and a close minister of the emperor. If you can't do anything, Sheng Hengda will really be doomed." After saying that, he continued, "If Sheng
Hengda's survival is not just about money..."
"Stop!" Li Jinglong interrupted the other party again.
He knew what the other party meant. Sheng Hengda itself was an old bank account circulating in six provinces. Not to mention the profit in terms of money and interest, if the cotton factory in Suzhou was built in the future, it would be an inexhaustible cornucopia.
Moreover, Zhou Quan said that in addition to doing business, the two ticket companies in Shanxi also had other income. Those two ticket companies first delivered food to the garrison station outside the Shanxi Pass.
In the early years of the founding of the dynasty, these logistical transactions were all handed over to merchants, and those merchants were then given salt stamps and other tokens to repay them.
People in the military are afraid of trouble. After dealing with them for a long time, not only the food supply, but also the resale of many trophies and even the forwarding and storage of military pay were entrusted to them.
Even if Sheng Hengda's ticket number fails, these businesses will not fail.
"Why did you offend that person?" Li Jinglong asked.
"I don't know, little old man. People who do business are always cautious, lest they offend anyone. But this time, little old man really doesn't know which god he has offended?" Zhou Quan said with a bitter smile, "My lord, you are the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
, now only you can help to clear it up."
"As long as the money from over there can be shipped..."
"Wait a minute!" Li Jinglong suddenly turned around and stared at the other party, "You didn't tell the truth!"
Suddenly, a chill ran down Zhou Quan's spine.
"Not to mention the things in Suzhou, I think something is wrong with the cotton arrears in Henan!" Li Jinglong sneered, "Now that the Holy Emperor is in power, who dares to default on the farmers' money for farming? Hehe, let's talk about it one more time.
The Chief Secretary of Henan is Hou Yong."
"That man Hou Yong, he dared to chop off the head of anyone who owed him a penny to rule the people?"
In an instant, Zhou Quan's face turned pale.
"You're afraid not. You can't get back the money you lent, and you don't dare to offend me. Then..." Li Jinglong sneered, "Besides, you said you accounted for 30%, and the other two families accounted for 50%.
Cheng, who owns the remaining 20% of the shares?"
"If you don't tell the truth, not only will I not help you, I will also punish you for the serious crime of deception!"
This chapter has been completed!