A group of outstanding maggots were dancing in the spotlight in the gauze, making various seductive postures. The officials and gentry here watched with relish, and their eyes were unconcealed on the maggots' breasts and legs. When they saw the "subtle" points, they even cheered, which showed the atmosphere of the Jiangnan officialdom.

After a erotic song and dance performance, the maggots left gracefully. When the banquet passed, a bald gentleman took the opportunity to pinch the buttocks on the maggots, and everyone in the same banquet laughed and joked.

The salt transportation envoy Shi Haoran looked at Xu Jin calmly. Seeing that the latter's expression was not abnormal, he felt even more satisfied. He raised his glass and smiled: "Mr. Xu came from the capital thousands of miles away. Come on, everyone respected Lord Xu and welcomed him."

All the officials and gentry here stood up one after another and toasted Xu Jin. Xu Jin also stood up and said loudly: "Thank you for your colleagues' kind hospitality. Xu Jin was ordered to govern Zhizhe and preside over the clearance of the land. Next, he will rely on his colleagues to help him."

As soon as these words were spoken, the smiles of the gentry here became a little unnatural. Jiang Ping, the governor of Yangzhou, glanced at him and said with a smile: "You are polite, Lord Xu, this is natural. It is a blessing for the land of the past 100 meters, and everyone has no choice but to do so."

Although the officials and gentry were not happy, they still smiled and agreed.

Everyone drank a glass and sat down again. Prefect Jiang coughed and laughed: "There are still some unrestrained faces tonight. I have to introduce them to Lord Xu."

There were six receptions tonight, and there were indeed quite a few people that Xu Jin had never seen before. These people sat at the three tables that were the ones that Xu Jin could see that these three tables should be divided into different camps and rarely communicated with each other.

As soon as Jiang Ping, the governor of Yangzhou, finished speaking, two people stood up at one of the three tables, holding wine glasses to the chief, saluting to Xu Jin, "I, Zhang Yunling (Wang Yao) have met the imperial envoy."

Jiang Ping smiled and introduced: "Mr. Xu, this Zhang Yuanwai is the leader of the Shanxi Chamber of Commerce and Wang Yuanwai is the vice-chamber of the Shanxi Chamber of Commerce. They are all wealthy figures with huge wealth."

Xu Jin's heart moved and said with a smile: "It turned out to be Zhang Huishou and Wang Huishou, I feel respectful!"

Zhang and Wang and the others hurriedly said in fear and fear: "How dare you?"

Zhang Yunling was about her early forties and was not handsome in a jade-colored shirt, but she had three long beards under her jaw, and she was elegant, but she didn't have the aura of a merciful businessman on her body.

Wang Yao next to her was dressed very simple, wearing a black Liuhe unified hat and a gray cloth dress. She was so pretty that she was a little like a small vendor walking through the streets and alleys. Who would have expected that such a person was a wealthy family with millions of dollars?

"Is Mr. Zhang a student?" Xu Jin asked curiously.

A hint of compassion flashed in Zhang Yunling's eyes, but she said modestly: "I was lucky enough to pass the college entrance examination when I was twenty years old, but I was not very talented and learned. Later, I failed the exam many times, so I could only put my face down and do this business and low business."

Xu Jin smiled and said, "Zhang Yuanwai is too humble. As the saying goes, 360 professions will be the top scholar in every profession. Zhang Yuanwai can become the leader of the Shanxi Chamber of Commerce and earn millions of wealth, which is absolutely unattainable."

A strange color flashed in Zhang Yunling's eyes, and he looked at Xu Jin deeply. Scholars have always looked down on businessmen, but the envoy Xu gave in an unusual way: "Mr. Xu praised it."

Two Shanxi merchant representatives, Zhang and Wang, politely spoke, and then retreated. Then three of them walked forward with wine glasses and saluted, saying, "I have met the imperial envoy."

Prefect Jiang immediately introduced: "Mr. Xu, this is Xu Dong, the leader of the Hui Chamber of Commerce, Wang Zhi, the leader of the vice-chamber, and this one is..."

The magistrate Jiang's eyes fell on the third person, and his eyebrows were slightly frowned. The man immediately smiled and introduced himself, "I am Luo Longwen, She County, Huizhou."

Xu Jin was stunned for a moment and suddenly said, "It turns out to be Mr. Luo, no wonder he looks a little kind-looking."

Luo Longwen immediately smiled and said, "It turns out that Lord Xu still remembers me, and I am so honored."

The person in front of me was Luo Longwen, a Huizhou man whom Xu Jin met in Qianshan County, Jiangxi Province. At that time, Xu Jin fought with Fang Tianyou in Dou Zhan Hall, betting on 100,000 taels of silver to bet on the Geng Tie of Ruyi. Luo Longwen had helped and verbally agreed to borrow 100,000 taels of gold from Xu Jin.

The prefect Jiang and the salt transportation envoy Shi Haoran looked at each other, and the latter frowned slightly and tentatively said: "Mr. Xu and Mr. Luo are old acquaintances?"

Xu Jin smiled and said, "That's right, I was just a student back then, but Mr. Luo was generous and helped me a great favor."

As soon as Xu Jin said this, Xu Dong and Wang Zhijun, the heads of the Huizhou Chamber of Commerce, showed joy, but the people at the Shanxi Chamber of Commerce, looked slightly dark, and the bald gentry who touched the dancer's butt just now also changed his expression on the table.

Luo Longwen was overjoyed at this moment. He just helped Xu Jin a little favor. Unexpectedly, Xu Jin gave him face so much. He quickly smiled and said, "You are polite, it's nothing to stop just a single effort."

Xu Jin smiled slightly and didn't say anything more. Just the words just now were enough to pay off the favors of the other party back then.

This is also an exaggeration. With Xu Jin's current identity, he said in public that he owed Luo Longwen a favor. This not only made the other party feel more respectful, but also the officials and gentry present would look at Luo Longwen with a high profile. In the future, it would be much easier for him to do business or conduct business in Yangzhou. This is also the reason why later businessmen like to hang photos of themselves and a certain leader in the office.

Shi Haoran glanced at Luo Longwen and said with a smile: "Luo's Huimo is a good thing."

Luo Longwen said happily: "Master Shi praised it. If you like it, I will give you two boxes of top-quality ink ingots. It is not worth much, so I will show you my feelings."

"There is a share in the meeting. Mr. Luo cannot favor one or the other!" said the prefect Jiang.

Luo Longwen hurriedly said, "What the prefect said is very good. I will turn around and give you two boxes to all the adults here."

"Haha, I will thank you first!" Jiang Ping stroked his beard and laughed.

Just like Kong Yiji, stealing books cannot be considered stealing. Can scholars’ affairs be called stealing? Similarly, the request for Mo Ding from Luo Longwen in public is not considered bribes. Can scholars’ affairs be considered bribes? Scholars are also romantic and romantic, and asking for Mo Ding is naturally a matter of elegant!

So Prefect Jiang didn't think it was wrong to ask for the ink ingot. In fact, the value of the top-quality Hui ink is no less than that of the same weight of silver. Of course, Luo Longwen must be very willing to give it. If there was no opportunity today, he would have no way to give it.

Xu Dong and Wang Zhi were secretly happy, but when they saw Luo Longwen appearing in the limelight and overshadowing the capitals of his two chief and deputy chiefs and deputy chiefs, they were immediately unhappy, and the former coughed lightly.

Luo Longwen also shut up with tactfulness and took a step back inadvertently.

Xu Jin looked at Xu Dong and Wang Zhi, and his sword eyebrows were slightly frowned. The two of them in front of him were both about thirty years old. Although they were dressed very well, they were powerful and had extremely aggressive eyes. They naturally showed a rash aura of the world.

"What business does Xu Huishou and Wang Huishou run?" Xu Jin asked calmly.

Xu Dong bowed and smiled, "I mainly do salt goods and water transportation business, and there are some miscellaneous business, which is not worth mentioning."

Wang Zhi also bowed and smiled, "I mainly do pawn business, salt goods and water transportation are also involved, and there are some miscellaneous business operations. I am not as good as Mr. Xu, so I can barely make a living."

Xu Jin's heart moved. It turned out that these two were big salt merchants. He smiled and said, "Mr. Wang is humble. If Mr. Wang just barely makes a living, then the people of our Ming Dynasty will have to beg for food."

It is worth mentioning here that the salt goods business in the Jiangnan area is mainly controlled by Shanxi merchants, Hui merchants and Fujian merchants. Among them, Shanxi merchants from Shanxi are the strongest, followed by Hui merchants and finally Fujian merchants.

The rise of Shanxi merchants was due to the "Kaizhongfa" implemented during the Hongwu period. The so-called "Kaizhongfa" was simply to take grain and exchange it for salt to attract it.

The nine military camps in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty were important military cities, and a large number of troops were stationed, but the north was bitter and cold, with low grain yields, and the military camps were difficult to be self-sufficient. In order to provide enough food to the border troops, the court tried to transport grain from the mainland to transport the nine borders, but unfortunately the journey was long and difficult to travel. The food transportation process was very costly, and the court had too heavy burdens.

So, Zhu Yuanzhang asked the ministers for advice and finally introduced the "Kaizhongfa" to take out the salt sold by the official fortunes and officials. As long as the merchants transported grain to the nine north sides, they would send salt to the salt turban according to the route and the amount of grain. Merchants could use the salt turban to sell salt to make profits.

Salt is a business that is profitable, so after the "China-French" government order, merchants from all over the country flock to the border. In order to provide food to border towns more conveniently and save costs, merchants simply recruit people to reclaim wasteland to grow grain at the border.

For a time, the food supply problem of the border guards was solved, and merchants also obtained the right to run a salt course business. Due to their geographical advantages, Shanxi merchants became the first to eat, so they rose rapidly and almost monopolized more than half of the country's salt business.

However, as time went by, "Kaizhongfa" was seriously damaged and completely lost its original role. During the Hongzhi period, "Kaizhongfa" was directly abolished, and merchants no longer had to transport grain to the border, but only needed to collect silver to exchange for salt inlets.

As a result, Shanxi merchants lost their geographical advantages, and Hui merchants and Fujian merchants took advantage of the situation to rise to seize the salt course business in the southeast coast. However, for now, Shanxi merchants are still the most powerful business gang, accounting for more than 30% of the salt course business in the Lianghuai and Liangzhe areas, while Hui merchants and Fujian combined are less than 30%.
Chapter completed!