Shen Lie, who was blocked outside the gate of Zhangjiakou Station, thought for a while and then slowly walked over with the escort carriage and horse team. There was no way that the station would have any vacancies at this time.
Shen Lie planned to show Dongchang's waist card to bluff people.
As the cavalry approaches.
At the gate, several postmen with knives shouted in low voices: "Stop the visitors... there are no vacancies... stay at the inn."
As Shen Lie's face darkened, he took out his Tiger Tooth Tag and the Kanhe signed by Dongchang, and immediately stepped forward and showed it to the postman.
"Ouch!"
The postman was shocked when he saw Dongchang Qianhu's waist badge.
This belt card is really rare.
Naturally, the few postmen at the post station did not dare to offend the adults in Dongchang, so they hurriedly saluted Shen Lie and tried to please him: "Sir...where did you come from?"
Shen Lie waved his hand and said impatiently: "Of course I am coming from the capital, so don't be nagging... hurry up and ask someone to make room."
Damn!
But the postman had a look of embarrassment on his face. While trying to please him, he hesitated: "This... this is really difficult to handle."
Watching it get dark.
Shen Lie became even more displeased and said coldly: "Why, is my Dongchang brand not strong enough?"
Several postmen hurriedly said: "My lord, you are serious in your words. Look at it."
When speaking.
The postman pointed to a handsome scholar not far away who was holding a folding fan and said softly: "This is the young master of the Ma family of the Ministry of War."
The implication.
This Senhu-sama feels that his status is comparable to his.
How does it compare?
Shen Lie was speechless.
The young master of the Minister of War, this... is really not easy to mess with.
But I'm not angry.
Shen Lie curled his lips and said to a group of idle people who just came out of another room who didn't know what they were doing.
"Where are these?"
These few don't look like scholars, they look like idle hooligans.
"Ouch!"
The postman was startled and hurriedly whispered: "Master Qianhu doesn't know something. Those people are close relatives of His Highness Prince Jin."
Shen Lie then looked at those gangsters who were dressed luxuriously and did not look like good people.
Silence again.
This makes it even more unprovoking.
Shaked his head.
a long time.
Shen Lie held back a few words through his teeth: "What a damn thing!"
Are these all imperial officials? Why do they live in the imperial inn?
Who gave them their compatibility?
Cursing and cursing.
at this time.
Shen Lie recalled the astonishing costs that the Ming court had paid to maintain the inn system. The Ming Dynasty's dignitaries, officials, relatives and friends all spent free money in the inn system.
Approximately more than three million taels of snowflake silver are produced each year.
Shen Lie thought about it and realized that this huge expenditure was probably more than twice the Ming Dynasty's military expenditure, and it was still expanding at an alarming rate.
He could understand why Emperor Chongzhen was so impatient that he wanted to abolish all the Tianxia Stations across the board and laid off Li Zicheng completely.
Who can live with this?
"Walk!"
No choice.
Shen Lie had no choice but to return the same route with his escort, chariot and horse team, and found a hotel nearby to stay.
So when the lanterns first came on.
In the upper room of the inn, after a simple wash.
Away from home.
Shen Lie didn't dare to eat the food in the inn, so he asked someone to bring out the dry food he brought with him, heated it on the stove, and filled his stomach randomly.
He told his subordinates to take turns to watch the escort car overnight.
Shen Lie walked into the upper room, opened the window, looked through the window lattice at the bustling street under the dim lights, and fell into deep thought.
At this moment, I felt awe-inspiring in my heart.
Shen Lie suddenly understood a sentence written in the history book.
With Zhang Juzheng gone, the Ming Dynasty is over. Zhang Juzheng is the last ruthless person in the Ming Dynasty. Only he can control the powerful people in the world.
"This is the Ming Dynasty..."
Under the cover of the prosperous age, the Ming Dynasty had already fallen into a situation of serious illness, and Zhang Juzheng's various reforms were the last hope of the Ming Dynasty.
Although I encountered some unpleasantness.
Shen Lie still cheered up and became a little more interested, so he asked a few of his men to go out for a walk, intending to experience the customs and customs of this important town.
Exited the inn.
Went into the teahouse across the street.
In an instant.
Various accents from the south and the north came to my ears. The teahouse was filled with businessmen traveling from all over the world. On the stage in the center, there were girls singing babbling little songs.
In the commotion.
The rough southern and northern accents came to his ears, and the strong frontier atmosphere made Shen Lie feel free and easy, and he casually sat down in a corner with his two men.
He took out a few big bucks and slapped them on the table.
Shen Lie said happily: "Servant, serve tea!"
Not far away, the waiter walked quickly with a smile on his face and shouted at the top of his voice: "Hey... come on!"
A pot of tea and some snacks.
Listen to a show while eating.
This northern opera is different from the southern opera that is popular in the capital. It is much wilder and rougher, and the actors' accents are also much higher pitched.
Beixian is also called Zaju.
Shen Lie sat and listened for a while, and then he heard a hint of Bangzi. He couldn't help but smile knowingly, and started chatting with the guest at the next table.
Shen Lie smiled and asked, "Where did the guest officer come from?"
The guest officer was also very talkative and said hurriedly: "Datong."
"oh……"
Look at this little Tsing Yi hat.
Shen Lie nodded, and while chatting, he thought about it. This was another Shanxi businessman.
What happened to the Shanxi merchants in the late Ming Dynasty cannot be explained clearly in a sentence or two. Anyone who can clarify this matter will understand the root cause of the decline of the Ming Dynasty.
Generally speaking, in the north of this era, Shanxi merchants were extremely powerful.
even.
Shanxi merchants, who hold the world's largest bank accounts, have gradually become the ones that crush Zhejiang merchants.
But how did the Shanxi merchants rise? It was naturally thanks to the imperial court. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, in order to completely solve the Mongolian problem, they deployed heavy troops to defend the north.
This is the legendary emperor guarding the country!
At that time, the Ming Dynasty established nine major military towns on the northern border and prepared a strong frontier defense force of 800,000 troops.
A frantic campaign was launched against the remnants of Beiyuan.
This is the origin of Jiubian.
But with the nine-border land and 800,000 border troops stationed there, military food supply naturally became a huge problem. In order to solve the military food problem.
The Ming Dynasty implemented the "Kaizhong Method" in the third year of Hongwu.
That is, the imperial court paid for the business of transporting grain, selling grain, and even growing grain to the private sector, and Shanxi was the closest to Jiubian.
Ever since.
Seeing huge business opportunities, Shanxi merchants established large-scale farming near military towns and gained dominance in the military grain business.
thus.
Shanxi merchants made their first pot of gold from the military grain business.
Just doing military grain business would not be enough to make Shanxi merchants become popular.
after that.
When the time came to the third year of Zhengtong in the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court issued a decree in order to solve the increasingly serious shortage of war horses in the border troops.
In the decree.
The imperial court specifically allowed merchants from several provinces in Shanxi and Shaanxi to engage in the salt and horse trade, which was to exchange salt for horses from the border areas.
As a result, merchants in Shanxi and Shanxi responded one after another at the end of the year, entering the grassland from the Tiger Killing Pass and going deep into the hinterland of the Ordos prairie to trade salt and horses.