At the palace of Wang Hao in the capital, Wang Hao, who had been approved by Emperor Hongzhi to return home to take care of his old age, was not in a hurry to return to his hometown. He was still waiting for Emperor Hongzhi to reinstate his official position.
He is only in his early fifties, which is still young for someone in the officialdom. He is considered an entry-level person when he is sixty. As long as he is in good health, seventy is not too old.
After finally reaching the high position of Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, how could he just go back to his hometown to take care of himself in such a dejected manner? He is only in his early fifties, and his days are still long.
"Your Majesty, please rest assured. We have jointly submitted a letter to Your Majesty. Your Majesty is upright and dedicated to serving the country and the country. We will never sit back and watch your Majesty suffer injustice like this."
In Wang Hao's study, several officials and censors came to visit.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"This new-style school run by Liu Jin does not respect Confucius and Mencius, and does not teach the right way. Instead, it pays attention to heretical ways. This is putting the cart before the horse. The prince speaks out for the sake of the Ming Dynasty and the prosperity of our Confucian school. How can we suffer injustice like this?"
"We have contacted the great scholars from all over the Ming Dynasty and will definitely explain the key points to your majesty and bring justice to the prince."
The people next to me also followed suit.
Many people have long been disgusted with Liu Jin, especially in this new school.
They don’t teach the Four Books and Five Classics, they don’t teach the scholars the meaning of the classics, but they specialize in teaching heresy. What’s the use of mathematics?
No matter how well you learn, you still don’t understand etiquette, justice and shame; this chemistry is just a trick of some quacks, used to deceive the ignorant people; and this physics, biology, geography and the like are all heretical and have no truth.
In other words, those who learn will only think about how to delve into strange and clever skills, and they will have no effect on the country and the country.
It must be severely suppressed, and even Liu Jin must be brought down along the way, to rectify the source and correct the distorted atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty.
"Thank you all for your generous help!"
Wang Hao looked at the people in front of him with a smile on his face. This strengthened his determination not to return to his hometown immediately. There was hope that he would be reinstated.
The power of Confucianism is so huge, I'm afraid they themselves don't know it. Anyway, the whole government and the public are their disciples of Confucianism. As long as everyone works together, nothing is impossible.
Here, Wang Hao had just sent away these Hanlin officials and censors, and soon someone came to visit again. This time, the person who came to visit was He Zhizhen, the boss of the Ming Dynasty Zhizhen Trading Company.
He Zhizhen and Wang Hao are also old friends and acquaintances. Wang Hao also owns a large part of the Zhizhen Trading Company. Like many court officials, he has also invested in trading firms, plantations, factories, etc.
The profits are huge and the income is quite decent.
"Prince, this is your shareholding document in Zhizhen Commercial Bank. This is the sum of the one hundred thousand taels of silver you invested when you bought the shares. In addition, this is the share that belongs to you, Prince, after converting the assets of Zhizhen Commercial Bank.
amount of silver, totaling thirty-five taels of silver notes."
He Zhizhen had someone carry out a large box and put out all the documents and stacks of banknotes inside.
"Brother He, what do you mean?"
When Wang Hao saw it, he couldn't help but frown.
Although I am no longer the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, I don’t think I will leave immediately. Even if I go home to live in retirement and do not have an official position, I don’t know how many of these disciples and old officials there are.
, He Zhizhen, a businessman, actually did this to himself.
"Your Majesty, after unanimous discussion with all the other owners of Zhizhen Trading Company, they have decided to withdraw your shares, Your Majesty."
He Zhizhen pondered for a while, then said helplessly after thinking about it.
"Withdraw shares?"
Wang Hao's eyes suddenly widened slightly, a little unbelievable. Is this He Zhi really crazy?
The fact that Zhizhen Trading Company is what it is today is partly due to He Zhizhen's ability to run it, but the most important aspect is not relying on himself to protect it. Now they actually want to give away their own shares.
"My lord, thanks to your care over the years, our Zhizhen Trading Company has achieved the scale and status it has today. For this, I and other shareholders are forever grateful."
"So when we withdraw our shares this time, we will give you an extra 100,000 taels of silver. This is our little thought."
He Zhizhen said with a troubled expression.
"Why is this?"
Wang Hao said with a serious expression.
"My lord, don't you understand this?"
He Zhizhen thought for a while and asked: "You attacked the new school and targeted Liu Jin and Liu Shilang. This Liu Shilang is the God of Wealth. Now, whether it is overseas trade, various factories, or Nanyang
Plantations, etc., in all walks of life, his influence is everywhere and unparalleled."
"You have targeted him. Doesn't this offend the entire business community? Everyone knows that Zhizhen Trading Company has your shares. After the news spread, our Zhizhen Trading Company's cargo ship could not borrow a single piece of cargo, and even berthed.
There was no one at the port to load or unload our cargo.”
"There is also the factory of our Zhizhen Trading Company. We can't buy raw materials even if we have money, and there are no people to produce the goods. Our fishing boats want to go out to sea to fish, but the captains and crew are unwilling to work for us. This is
No one is willing to buy our fish when they come back.”
He Zhizhen is really helpless. He offended Liu Jin and still wants to get involved in the business world?
Even if Liu Jin doesn't say anything, people in the business world will spontaneously block you. What's more important is that Wang Hao also bombards new schools.
Don’t you know how many people’s children in the Beijing-Tianjin area study in these new schools?
The largest number of them are the children of many industrial employees under Liu Jin, as well as the children of emerging capitalists and the working class. Throughout the Beijing and Tianjin areas, new schools opened by Liu Jin can be found everywhere.
Whether they are the children of traders, the children of factory workers, or the children of sailors who go to sea, there are too many children who can go to school because of the opening of this new school, and they also have a hope and a future.
The hope of living a prosperous life.
Now that you want Emperor Hongzhi to close these schools, you have not only offended Liu Jin, but also almost everyone in the Beijing-Tianjin area.
"It's unreasonable. This Liu Jin, I thought he was quite good at first, but I didn't expect that he would use such despicable means to deal with me."
When Wang Hao heard this, he became furious and slammed the table.
This is going to cut off your own financial path.
Once the shares of this trading company were withdrawn, I had a lot of money in my hands, which was enough for my own retirement. But now everyone knows the principle of money begetting money.
Zhizhen Commercial Bank is running well and makes a lot of money every year. Last year's dividends were more than 200,000 taels of silver. If I withdraw my shares, I will have nothing to do with myself in the future.
He didn't expect that Liu Jin would attack him from this aspect, directly mobilizing the power of the business world to target him, and hit him in the hole all at once.
"Prince, this is not what Liu Shilang meant, it's just that everyone did it spontaneously."
"In the entire Beijing-Tianjin area, and even in the entire Ming Dynasty, there are too many people who have been favored by Liu Jin. We are able to make a fortune and go overseas to make money. All this is thanks to Liu Jin."
"In addition, this new school run by Liu Jin enrolls many, many students. It affects thousands of households in the Beijing and Tianjin areas. Your Majesty, you said that you want to close these schools."
"This offends not only Liu Jin, but millions of people in the entire Beijing-Tianjin area."
He Zhizhen shook his head slightly and said, "Wang Hao has been so smart all his life, how come he is so confused about this matter."
Have you offended Liu Jin?
No, you have offended the entire Beijing-Tianjin area. Many dignitaries from the imperial court to ordinary people have been offended by you because of this matter.
"Prince, I have something else to do so I'll take my leave first."
After saying this, He Zhizhen left Wang Hao's mansion directly. He still had a lot of things to do, and he was very worried.
Zhizhen Trading Company was originally operating very well, and Zhizhen Trading Company was even preparing to build a permanent private colony overseas like other trading companies.
But because of Wang Hao's incident, all plans were disrupted. Not to mention going overseas to seize colonies, I didn't know how to get through the current hurdle alone.
"He Zhizhen!"
Looking at He Zhizhen's leaving figure and then looking at the banknotes piled on the table, Wang Hao couldn't help but read out each word. In Wang Hao's view, this He Zhizhen was really trying to burn bridges and add insult to injury.
As soon as he lost his official position, he immediately came to withdraw his shares. This is not to add insult to injury, but what is this?
However, before Wang Hao could be angry for long, Wang Hao's butler Wang Xuan hurried in with several people.
"Master, something big happened~"
Wang Xuan said with sweat profusely.
"What happened?"
Wang Hao took a deep breath and asked quickly.
"Sir, our Wang family's textile factory can no longer buy wool and cotton. The merchant who originally ordered cloth from us also returned the goods."
"Also, after our Wang family's ship arrived at the port, Tianjin Port did not allow us to dock. The crew members on the ship also disembarked directly and left the ship, leaving the ship in the sea outside Tianjin Port."
"And, and more~"
Wang Xuan was about to speak but stopped.
"what else?"
When Wang Hao heard this, he immediately asked with a serious face.
"And the servants in our house went out to buy things today, and even if they had money, they couldn't buy things. Now we don't even have rice in our house."
"A few other servants have asked me to resign, saying that something happened at home and I'm afraid they won't be able to work for the government in the future."
Wang Xuan hesitated and said that this was a matter managed by his housekeeper. It was originally a trivial matter and should not be discussed with Wang Hao, but he had no choice now.
