Coupled with their current behavior of actively paying military expenses for the Manchus and collecting local taxes for the Manchus, it can be seen that the eight Shanxi merchants are really determined to be traitors.
As long as they were loyal to the Ming Dynasty, they could not be loyal to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
With the financial resources of the eight Shanxi merchant families, as long as they could feed the frontier troops in Shanxi Town, it would be impossible for Li Zicheng to march eastward and reach the capital.
As we all know, it’s not that the Ming Dynasty’s frontier troops were incapable of fighting, they were just poor!
As long as the money and food are in place, these frontier soldiers can even kill the slaves for him!
Li Zicheng's old camp of the Chuang Army, the Manchu Green Camp, and the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, weren't they all the result of these people changing their skins?
Therefore, the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty's frontier troops must not be considered bad!
Of course, the reason why the eight Shanxi merchants sided with the Manchus wholeheartedly was not because of how loyal they were to the Manchus.
If they were really the kind of people who would be loyal to the imperial court, they would not have betrayed Ming Dynasty back then!
To put it bluntly, it was actually because they had been firmly tied to their own warships by the Manchus.
I can’t even think about it!
An imperial edict from Shunzhi canonizing the eight imperial merchants, as well as the honor given to the eight imperial merchants by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, completely tied them to death.
As a result, the eight great imperial merchants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty are not even qualified to rebel.
Well, Zhu Hongyu said that if these "specimens for experiments scheduled by Da Ming Tai Hospital" fall into his hands, I guarantee that they will live or die.
Zhu Hongyu sneered and said.
"These Shanxi merchants are quite interesting!"
Zhou Tianxu added.
"Your Majesty, not all Shanxi businessmen are on the side of the Manchus. My Ming spies in Shanxi have also received many letters of allegiance from Shanxi businessmen."
"These businessmen expressed their willingness to contribute money and efforts to help the Ming Dynasty regain Shanxi!"
"If Ming Dynasty wants to regain Shanxi, they can bear all the military expenses!"
After hearing this, the expression on Zhu Hongyu's face improved a little. He let out a heavy breath, and Zhu Hongyu still spoke.
"Haha, these people don't just talk but don't do anything, do they?"
Zhou Tianxu said.
"Your Majesty, these Shanxi businessmen are very sincere."
"They have sent people to Jiangnan to make contact with the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty and prepare to purchase a batch of Guangfu Bonds!"
When Zhu Hongyu heard this, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.
Damn, a bunch of idiots wronged me!
I am really prepared to repay the bonds and the interest will be calculated.
There is absolutely no intention of having sex for free!
Regarding this, Zhu Hongyu was quite speechless. He stated several times that the bonds were just loans and the court would repay them when they matured in the future.
However, I can’t stand it and no one believes it!
Just like these Shanxi merchants, they made it clear that they regarded the Ming Dynasty's bonds as a debt that the imperial court could not repay, and as a means for the emperor and his businessmen to get money.
Therefore, they regard buying bonds as a way to show their good will to the Ming Dynasty.
There is no preparation for the court to pay back the money!
To put it bluntly, you are spending money to buy peace!
They never expected to get back the money they paid for the bonds.
But what troubled Zhu Hongyu the most was Zhou Tianxu's attitude.
Obviously, judging from Zhou Tianxu's current performance, he also does not think that the bonds borrowed by the court will be repaid...
Although after Zhu Hongyu withdrew from the bond policy, he also spent money to buy a batch.
But he had just finished buying them, and he turned around and threw the bonds aside. Although he didn't throw them directly into the trash can, he didn't pay much attention to them and just threw them aside.
Obviously, he never thought that the court could repay the money after buying the bonds!
The reason why he spent money to buy bonds was just to show his loyalty to Zhu Hongyu, nothing more!
However, in the face of the overtures from the people below, and in the face of those Shanxi businessmen, they obviously think that buying bonds is a waste, but they still spend money to buy them...
Zhu Hongyu really couldn't say anything serious!
Taking a deep breath, Zhu Hongyu finally figured it out.
That’s all, I don’t think about that much now!
It’s no use even thinking about it!
It's really not that easy to move away from the mountain of prejudice in people's minds.
Just wait for three months to expire!
When the three months expired, the court paid back the principal with interest, and the Ming court's credibility in selling bonds was established.
How much people in the world today don't believe that the imperial court will repay the money they borrowed. When the imperial court actually repays the money, the shock will be directly proportional to the degree of prejudice in their hearts!
…
Beijing!
In the Golden Palace of the Forbidden City, a middle-aged man with a shrinking expression sat on a dragon chair.
His body and posture have undergone special etiquette training. Whether it is his sitting posture or his expression, it is impossible to fault him.
However, when he sat on the dragon throne, the first impression he gave people was that he looked like a monkey and looked nothing like a real emperor.
Not to mention compared with a powerful emperor like Zhu Hongyu, even compared with a young emperor like Kang Mazi who had no real power, he was far behind.
This person was none other than Prince Zhu, the third prince promoted by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and was known to the outside world as Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong.
However, his true identity is just a beggar on the streets of Sijiu City.
Only some old people in the Manchu Palace who were left over from the previous Ming Dynasty testified that the beggar's appearance was somewhat similar to that of the late Emperor Chongzhen.
Therefore, he completed his identity transformation from beggar to emperor!
This transformation speed is much faster than that of Zhu Yuanzhang.
When Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he went through more than ten years of hard battles, but he won directly.
As soon as I woke up, I completed my identity transformation from beggar to emperor!
After the Manchu Qing Dynasty supported Zhu Cijiong to ascend the throne, he gave him the title of Xuantong.
The reason for choosing such a reign name is that the Manchu Qing Dynasty wanted to declare the legitimacy of its rule, so it was called Xuantong!
Emperor Xuantong of the Ming Dynasty sat on the dragon throne. Below him, Ao Bai, wearing the imperial robes of the Qing Dynasty, stood with his head held high and his eyes stern.
He looked at Emperor Xuantong without any respect.
On the contrary, Emperor Xuantong looked at Obai with eyes full of fear and fear.
Facing Obai, Xuantong just asked tremblingly.
"What does Ao Shaobao have to do with me?"
"Please also make it clear that whatever I can do, I will definitely not call Shaobao and let the Qing Dynasty be disappointed!"
Xuantong's status change from beggar to emperor was too fast, and now he has a typical nouveau riche mentality.
Extremely arrogant and extremely inferior at the same time!
This is a pretty morbid mentality!
Now, in addition to enjoying the glory and wealth that the throne brings him every day, he is also using his power as much as possible.
When Obai found him today, he was wallowing in a pile of powder.
He was using the little power he had in his hands to force the little eunuch waiting beside him to bark like a dog and crawl on the ground imitating a dog.
Anyone who dares to disobey his orders, beat and scold him at every turn, may even be beaten to death!