"God is really helping us. If there is a famine at this time, it will be difficult not to get rich."
A middle-aged man with a big belly said with a smile that what those who trade in grain like most is a famine, because once a famine occurs, it means that the grain in their hands will be more valuable than gold.
At that time, they can use grain to reach the sky. If they want to have a good reputation, they will sell the grain cheaply to the court. In order to gain the reputation of a great benevolent person.
Grains can be used to harvest people's wealth. In normal times, grains cost a few cents per catty, but during times of famine, they can be sold for tens of cents per catty. Only these grain merchants can know how much profit there is.
"Getting rich is not difficult. You all know the business of Gujin Building. Since the opening of Gujin Building, their income has exceeded five million taels of silver. This is how they got rich overnight."
"It is said that some time ago, everyone in the East Palace received a dividend of one million taels of silver."
"Compared with them, those of us who trade in grain are simply insignificant. We can't get on the stage, and we only earn hard-earned money."
A young man who looked like a scholar and held a fan in his hand said casually.
"What Mr. Hu said is that we just earn some hard-earned money, hard-earned money!"
When the middle-aged man with a big belly heard Mr. Hu's words, he quickly nodded and bowed, looking fawning.
This Mr. Hu is no ordinary person. His name is Hu Wan'an, the eldest son of the Hu family of Huizhou merchants and the future successor.
Huizhou merchants are definitely synonymous with wealth in this era. Huizhou merchants are not just merchants from Anhui in general. Their scope includes Huaiyang, Jiangsu and Jiangsu.
Because of the salt in the Huaiyang area, countless big salt merchants were born, and the salt merchants were the richest representatives of this era.
At the same time, due to the special salt industry policy of the Ming Dynasty, if you want to obtain salt, you must transport grain to the important town of Jiubian to obtain salt. Of course, this policy was changed in the fifth year of Hongzhi because of the prevalence of private salt.
, coupled with the fact that the court dignitaries and others arbitrarily complained to the emperor about occupying the territory and monopolizing the market, the amount of salt distributed greatly exceeded the production capacity of the salt industry.
This forced a large number of border merchants to have salt but no salt to collect. They could only wait for the output of new salt in the salt field, and some had to wait for decades to emerge. This greatly affected the border merchants' losses.
The enthusiasm of the grain branch made the implementation of the Kaizhong Law difficult, and it would be difficult for it to operate as smoothly as it did during the Hongwu and Yongle years.
Therefore, in the fifth year of Hongzhi, Ye Qi, who was the Minister of Household Affairs of the Hongzhi Emperor at the time, proposed a method of collecting silver and salt, which was called the Zese method. From then on, it was stipulated that merchants no longer needed to transport military supplies to border towns, but only needed to pay the treasury to the state treasury.
Pay silver and you can get salt.
Therefore, in the past, if these salt merchants wanted to sell salt, they had to transport grain to the border towns in exchange for salt. Naturally, these Hui merchants were among the best.
Because it is located in the most prosperous Jiangnan area, which has been the most important grain-producing area since ancient times, it is gradually difficult for these salt merchants and grain merchants to separate from each other. The same is true for Huizhou merchants. They are both big salt merchants.
, is also a big grain merchant.
The Hu family is a representative family among Huizhou merchants, and it is also the most powerful family. The family power is extremely large, and it has extremely huge influence throughout the Ming Dynasty.
"It's not good to have too much money here."
Hu Wanan looked at this person, and then said calmly: "The news has been sent to the Central Government. This time, we will take this opportunity to remove all the wool on it."
"As a very kind-hearted man today, he is also a benevolent king who is diligent and caring for the people. If there is a famine in Beizhili, Shanxi, and Shandong, he will definitely do his best to provide disaster relief."
"But the treasury is empty. When the time comes, the princes in the court will definitely let the emperor use his internal funds. At that time, we can drain all the emperor's internal funds at once. But the internal funds are only a million taels of silver.
I don’t like it.”
Hu Wanan's tone was so loud that even a million taels of silver could not even look down upon him.
Of course, this was not because he was arrogant, but because these big salt merchants and grain merchants were all extremely wealthy. Compared with them, the Ming court and the Ming emperor were poor beggars.
"This time, we are mainly targeting someone in the East Palace. His Gujin Building is too profitable. This industry must be in our hands."
"There is too much money here, and many things are beyond the control of the princes in the court. Moreover, there is a vague intention to impose a sea ban. This is absolutely not allowed."
"Liu Jin from Xishan Coal Industry is really capable of doing things. He leaves a good scholar alone and insists on talking about the Golden Continent or something like that."
"The Central Government has also sent a message. This time, Liu Jin must be completely beaten to death. We must not keep such a person, especially if he is too close to the East Palace."
As Hu Wanan explained, the people around him also nodded, once again clarifying the goal this time. This action will be more targeted, and the operation will know how to do it.
"Master Hu, please give us instructions on how we should operate."
Someone thought for a while and said.
"The first thing we need to do is to stock up on food. We don't have enough food in hand. The winter wheat harvest is dead. In the next few months, food in Beizhili, Shanxi, and Shandong provinces will become more and more valuable."
"Next, in Tianjin and Beijing, we will implement sales restrictions for Liu Jin. Don't tighten the rope too tightly at the beginning. They can still buy some grain. Later, we will suddenly tighten the rope and all of a sudden
Choke him to death..."
…
In Tianjin, Tong Yuan hurriedly found Liu Jin again.
"Teacher, all the people who were sent to the capital to buy food have returned. The food supply here in the capital has begun to skyrocket. At the same time, it has become more difficult for us at Xishan Coal to buy food."
"I asked people to get some news, because the winter wheat harvest in the three northern provinces has failed, and the price of grain shipped to the north from Shaanxi, Henan, Jiangnan, Huguang and other places has also begun to rise sharply. I guess it will be difficult for us to buy grain."
Tong Yuan looked very anxious, and things turned out just as Liu Jin expected. It seemed that someone was targeting him, or the Emperor Hongzhi behind him, or the Prince of the East Palace, Zhu Houzhao.
"It seems that the students at our Maritime Academy need to go to sea for training in advance."
After listening to this, Liu Jin pondered for a while, then said with a smile.
"Go to sea for training in advance?"
When Tong Yuan heard this, he was immediately confused. He really couldn't figure out what medicine was sold in Liu Jin's gourd.
"Teacher, should we take any measures and think of ways to raise food as soon as possible?"
"I'm just trying to think of a solution. Just don't worry, there will be food, and from now on we can eat meat every meal until we feel like vomiting."
Liu Jin smiled, with a mysterious look, and then thought about it and told Tong Yuan: "You sent people to keep an eye on the news about grain shipments from various places to the north. I want to know the prices of grains in various places every day."
.”
"Eat meat every day?"
"Eat until you feel like vomiting?"
When Tong Yuan heard this, he became even more confused. He really wondered what Liu Jin could do to make everyone eat meat all the time, and eat it until they felt like vomiting?
