When Ma Yingkui met people later, he said that the Governor of Dongchang and Gao Jie invited him to eat and drink, but he couldn't remember what he drank and what he ate. Others said he was bragging, but Ma Yingkui knew that he was not bragging, but
He really can't remember what food or wine he had at that time, because he was confused the whole time.
I just remember that Chang Yu told him during dinner to go back and pack his bags and leave with him to Jinan in two days, and then follow Octopus's caravan to find Li Yan in Puzhou, Shanxi.
Ma Yingkui asked: "Is it Li Yan, one of the Eight Pillar Kingdoms?" After receiving a positive answer, he became excited: "Are you going to attack Xi'an?"
Chang Yu did not expect that a small low-level general would be so concerned about the situation, and actually knew that the troops deployed in Puzhou were to attack Xi'an, so he liked Ma Yingkui a little more and decided to train him well.
After the meal, Ma Yingkui left. When Chang Yu paid the bill, he asked the waiter: "Do you know who is the richest in Yangzhou City?".
"Of course it's the Wang family," the waiter said without hesitation: "The Wang family's business is huge, not only in Yangzhou City, but also in the entire southern Zhili and even the capital."
Chang Yu paid the bill and left with great satisfaction. He stood on the street and looked up at the scorching sun above his head. He turned to Gao Jie and said, "I'll take you to a rich man's house for a cup of tea to relieve the heat."
"This is not good." Gao Jie rubbed his head. He thought that Chang Yu was going to take advantage of him again: "With your current status, you should pay more attention to the impact of doing things. If you have to fight, you will do it. Now that the war is over, if you do this again
...If word spreads about it, it will be detrimental to your reputation.”
"What are you thinking about?" Chang Yu pushed Gao Jie: "You think I would do something like beating up local tyrants to divide their property? That's a robbery by Chi Guoguo. Although I also think about it, brother, I want to lose face."
"Then you..." Gao Jie was stunned, and Chang Yu took a long breath: "Didn't I tell you before that I would come to Yangzhou City to discuss business? Let's go and visit the Wang brothers, the richest man in Yangzhou."
"Hey, how do you know they are two brothers?" Gao Jie spat out and then slapped his head again. It was not surprising that Dongchang knew anything. He thought Chang Yu had actually asked Dongchang or Jinyiwei to investigate the Wang family.
actually not.
Although Chang Yu had known about the Wang family for a long time, he definitely did not get the information from Dongchang and Jinyiwei. It was historical records that when Duduo besieged the city, he received a huge bribe of 300,000 gold from the Wang brothers, Hui merchants in the city, but did not agree.
Their plea "Don't kill innocent people".
This record proves that Duduo did order the massacre of Yangzhou and also had the financial resources of the Wang family!
Three hundred thousand gold! Even silver is a huge sum of money, let alone gold!
Of course, this is the most humane bribe Chang Yu has ever seen. He does not seek promotion and wealth, but only pays for the lives of the people! This is in sharp contrast to the Shanxi merchants who led the way and became Tatars from Shanxi merchants.
Therefore, Chang Yu feels that this kind of person deserves to be rich. Although he doesn’t know what will happen to the Wang brothers later (it probably won’t be a good ending), but in this time and space, Chang Yu decides to make friends with these two people and seek win-win cooperation.
.
The Wang family has financial resources, and he has the power and means. I believe the Wang family will not refuse.
Hui merchants, hence the name, refer to merchants who were born in Huizhou. In the Ming Dynasty, there was no such thing as Anhui Province. It was an administrative province that was created after the Qing Dynasty merged Anqing Prefecture and Huizhou Prefecture into one.
At this time, Huizhou Prefecture only had one prefecture and six counties under its jurisdiction. It was not outstanding in terms of administrative capabilities or other aspects, except for...business!
"Anhui Geography" said that "Hui people are doing business and buying, which is natural." "Huizhou Prefecture" records: "Huizhou Baojie Valley, the mountains follow the original foothills, the fields are barren, and the production is very small, most of which are one
The income earned at the age of 10 cannot be paid tithe. The common people who are skilled in crafts, or those who sell their burdens to eat in other counties, are often nineteen." Gu Yanwu said: "The middle and lower families in Huizhou have no land to work in. There are many merchants in Huizhou, and they are powerful.
Of course." Chaozhou merchants, Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants are the "three major business gangs" in Chinese history.
There was a saying at that time that no town can be built without Hui, and Hui merchants are all over the world. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Hui merchants with huge sums of money began to appear. Qimen brothers Cheng Chengjin and Cheng Chenghai became rich through business and were called "One Hundred Thousand Grand Dukes" and "One Hundred Thousand Twelve" respectively.
"Gong", collectively known as "Cheng Shiwan". The shops and inns run by Zhu Xi's grandfather Zhu Que accounted for half of Huizhou Prefecture, and were known as "Zhu Banzhou". At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Jiang Jia, a businessman from She County, issued usury loans in Huizhou and made huge profits.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the capital of Huizhou merchants increased greatly compared with that in the Song Dynasty. When Zhu Yuanzhang entered Anhui Province and was short of pay, Jiang Yuan, a native of She, helped with 100,000 taels of silver at a time. During the next five hundred years of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Huizhou merchants became more and more courageous as they fought.
Among the Shanxi merchants wearing crowns, their representative is Hu Xueyan! Everyone should be familiar with this man, he is also an Hui merchant.
All in all, Huizhou merchants are not short of money.
The Wang brothers were also from Huizhou merchants, and later settled in Yangzhou. The eldest brother was named Wang Zhaoyi, and the second child was named Wang Zhaode. The largest house in the east of the city was the Wang Mansion. The Wang brothers were low-key and had no bad record of bullying men and women. At least they often
Along the way, Yu and Gao Jie met and inquired about people, but heard nothing but some harsh words about the rich.
After Kuang Ren knocked on the door of Wang's Mansion, the gatekeeper inside poked his head out and took a look at the six or seven big men standing outside. Except for one young man, all of them were extremely rough. He couldn't help but frown: "Who is that?"
"We are recommended by the prefect Ren and come to visit Mr. Wang." Kuang Rengong held his hand, but the gatekeeper frowned even more tightly: "Since we were recommended by the prefect, why didn't anyone come to inform you..." He was about to continue.
, Kuang Ren patted the steel knife on his waist and said: "I'm a member of the public."
The doorman swallowed his saliva and said, "Wait a moment." He retracted his head, closed the door with a click, and locked the door latch.
Chang Yu laughed and said, "What a fool, why do you think we are regarded as heroes of the forest who came to ask for alms?"
"Not really." Kuang Ren smiled bitterly: "The gatekeeper can't be so discerning." Gao Jie shrugged: "It's hard to say, the gatekeepers of this ordinary wealthy family are really not as discerning as the gatekeepers of the yamen, and
It’s common for Green Forest Road people to visit their homes to catch the autumn breeze.”
Since they were visiting and didn't want to show off, they had no choice but to wait outside the door honestly. Chang Yu and Gao Jie chatted for a while at the horse-hitch posts next to the door when they finally heard something moving inside.
The door creaked open, and more than ten people rushed out, holding swords, guns and sticks, standing on the steps and glaring at Chang Yu and others. Kuang Ren and others quickly protected Chang Yu in the middle and shouted at the servants: "Bold, you know our identity."
At this time, a person took a step forward and cupped his hands towards Kuang Ren and said: "I am in charge of the Wang family. I don't know and don't want to know where and why all these heroes came from. I have troubled you to have a drink and leave quickly. I am with the Wang family."
We have a lot of connections in the yamen, and in this bright and clear world, I believe you won’t do anything random.”
Hahaha... As soon as the butler finished speaking, Gao Jie couldn't help laughing until tears came out of his eyes. Even Chang Yu couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly. The rest of the guards also leaned forward and backward.
The housekeeper and the servants looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what these people were laughing at. In fact, it was no wonder that they misunderstood. Chang Yu and his party had been marching and fighting for several months, and they were rougher than the others. Apart from their neatly dressed clothes, they looked no different from those green forest heroes.
"Let's learn the characters." Kuang Ren took a step forward and handed over his waist badge. The butler's legs went weak immediately after seeing it. "It turns out it's an official family. Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. Please..." He said and quickly put Chang Yu in his arms.
The group was invited into the house, but there was nothing to be happy about. After all, the eagle claws in Dongchang were not good things. They must have come here to catch the autumn wind, and their appetite must be greater than those of the heroes on the green forest road. To be honest, he
Now I would rather the other party is from Green Forest Road.
The servants of the Wang family were illiterate and didn't know what was written on the badge, so they frightened the housekeeper so much. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they hurried to inform the head of the family, but they also knew that the one who could show the badge must be from the government.
Bad job.
Wang Zhaoyi was taking a nap in his room after lunch, when he suddenly heard that the housekeeper was reporting urgently that someone from Dongchang was coming to his door. He was so frightened that he jumped up and quickly asked someone to call Wang Laoer, and asked the housekeeper to go to the Yamen to find the prefect.