In mid-July of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the construction of the first cement official road in the Ming Dynasty was completed.
The good news reached the capital, and at the instigation of Zhong Jinwei, Emperor Chongzhen decided to go to the starting point of the cement official road outside the capital in person to cut the ribbon for the inauguration ceremony.
In the early morning of this day, the people of the capital got up early and waited at the city gate to open the door to watch the inauguration ceremony.
"Brother, why are you here too?" The tall man's height allowed him to spot the merchant not far away.
But because there were too many people and they were noisy, the merchant did not hear the strong man's question.
So, the strong man turned to the short man next to him and said, "Follow me and go find my elder brother."
After saying that, he took advantage of his body and forced his way to the merchant's side.
"Hey, you two are here too!" the merchant asked in surprise when he saw the strong man and the short man.
"Yes, find a good place to admire the emperor's true face." The strong man said with a smile.
When the merchant heard this, he looked at him with disdain and said, "I'm afraid I want to see how to charge. You bought a lot of road construction funds back then."
The short man listened on the side and said with a smile: "They are all there, they are all there. The emperor wants to see it, and the cement road also wants to visit. Brother, the same goes for you, right?"
Unexpectedly, the merchant shook his head and said: "It's not mainly because of this. This year's fur goods are really in demand, and the Mongolians have given them away. My boss asked me to transport a few trucks of goods to Zhangjiakou to earn money from the Mongolians."
The strong man heard this and corrected him: "Brother, from now on it is time to talk about making money. Now this is a popular saying in the capital!"
The merchant smiled after hearing this and said, "Before, you were worried that there was something wrong with the Ming Dynasty Jiu Si Bao banknotes. Why did you change your mind so quickly now?"
The strong man stretched out his hand and scratched the back of his head, and said with a little embarrassment: "That was at the beginning, and it was not because of the precedent of the popular banknotes. But now the Jiusi banknotes have become popular, and there is a Royal Bank of the Imperial Court that can be exchanged at any time.
I’ll give you a tael of silver as a guarantee. To be honest with you, my second brother and I only need Jiu Si Bao banknotes in our stores now, and we don’t want any cash or copper coins. It’s really troublesome!”
The benefits of using this banknote are all good. Since there is no problem of devaluation, who would use metal currency that is so troublesome?
The merchant smiled understandingly and said: "The Mongolians have already used Jiu Si Bao Qian. I just said it smoothly and made money."
Merchants who do big business, especially trade, find banknotes convenient. Therefore, they have already used banknotes for transactions. It is just a matter of habit over the years, and they also use the term silver.
.
"Brother, your boss is a noble man. When you go to Zhangjiakou this time, will you be charged for the cement road?" The short man asked the merchant when he saw the opportunity.
The merchant shook his head, approached the short man, and whispered: "Why do you think the emperor came to do this inauguration ceremony in person?"
"For what?" the short man asked curiously.
The strong man also lowered his head and moved his head closer to hear more clearly.
"It's just to warn the officials of the Ming Dynasty not to use power for personal gain. Don't forget that the former inns were used by those officials as if they were their own hotels."
When the merchant said this, he added: "The imperial court has issued a strict decree. There will be a Metropolitan Procuratorate specifically watching this content. If anyone wants to take advantage of this kind of thing again, he can go to the reporting office to report it.
In addition, there will be a road protection team that will patrol the road conditions and also randomly check large vehicles to see if they have paid."
"Then your boss doesn't dare to do it anymore?" the strong man said.
The merchant looked up at the strong man's face and said angrily: "Do you think my boss is so ignorant that he is being targeted for a little passing money?"
When he said this, he turned around and looked around. When he found that no one was paying attention, he lowered his voice again and said: "I will reveal another secret to you..."
Just as he said this, the city gate opened, and the waiting crowd swarmed out of the city gate.
The merchants didn't bother to talk and just followed the flow of people to occupy their seats.
At the starting point of the cement road, soldiers from the Five Cities Military and Horse Division have been standing guard since yesterday.
I saw a house next to the cement intersection, which must have been used by toll collectors to rest temporarily.
The cement road is very wide, divided into left and right lanes, with a bulge in the middle that separates the two sides to distinguish the two different directions.
The two lanes on the left and right can accommodate two large vehicles side by side, and there is also a path left for pedestrians, which is called a sidewalk.
On the spacious road where the vehicle is driving, there is a place to stop the horse. Next to it is a large box with a lock on it.
It is said that this is used to invest money for passing vehicles. The toll for each vehicle is fixed. If you want to take this cement road, you have to prepare the money yourself and put the money in under the supervision of the road yamen commissioner. In this way
To get a pass.
Of course, the money in the box is locked, and the key is not in the hands of the commissioner, but is kept by another person.
When the daily shift changes, the money in the box and the number of passes in the hand of the specialist will be checked. The two must match the number before they can be laid off. Otherwise, they will invite you to tea or make up the difference yourself.
The merchant explained it in detail to the two sworn brothers, which made the strong man exclaim: "This method is good, and it avoids malpractice for personal gain."
After hearing this, the short man shook his head and said: "If you really want to be greedy, how can you not do anything about it? If the person who checked the amount is in partnership with the commissioner, then he can be greedy for the money."
The money received was related to the interests of the people who bought the road construction fund. When the strong man heard this, he said dissatisfiedly: "This is more than enough!"
The merchant shook his head and said: "The fewer people know about this kind of thing, the better. Don't say that many people are involved in corruption together, the risk will be very high. The commissioner just doesn't let passing vehicles invest money, or invest less money, just
It will make people grasp the clue. When the censor comes, the secret will be exposed. Even if the censor is bribed, do you think there will be people in the past who are unhappy with them and go directly to the reporting office to report them? They will be finished. Therefore,
The risk of being greedy here is too high.”
The short man and the strong man both nodded, as if this mechanism to prevent corruption was not bad. Unless everyone in the Ming Dynasty was as corrupt as before, this money could only be used.
After a while, the strong man remembered something and quickly asked the merchant: "Brother, didn't you just want to tell us a secret?"
When the short man heard this, he quickly looked at the merchant. He didn't know what the secret was when the merchant said it so mysteriously.
The merchant only remembered this when the strong man reminded him.
He approached the two sworn brothers and said: "Although this matter is no longer a secret in the court, it has not spread among the people. However, after a while, there should be an announcement. But no matter what, you first
Don’t spread the word.”
When the merchant said this, the strong man became even more curious. He quickly reassured and then asked: "Brother, what is the secret?"