Chapter 375: The sky is high and the earth is thick
In the mountainous area of Nanzhang County, Xiangyang Prefecture, You Minggui, the magistrate of Xiangyang Prefecture, led fifty government officials on horseback riding on the rugged trails in the mountainous area, heading towards a small alkaline mine.
An aide next to You Minggui was riding on a horse, shaking his head and saying: "In the north of Xiangyang City, there are thirty-four alkali noodle mines of different sizes. The large mines often employ dozens of miners, and produce tens of thousands of kilograms of alkali noodle every month. The small mines
There are several miners, and they produce several kilograms of alkaline noodles every month. Most of these alkaline noodles are transported to Yangzhou via waterways, and then transported to Tianjin via the Grand Canal and sold to Li Zhi. In recent years, due to the expansion of Li Zhi's orders,
These mines are constantly expanding, employing more miners."
You Minggui, the prefect of Xiangyang, was riding on his horse. He raised his hands towards Suzhou and said: "This time Li Thief forced the land tax from the Tianjin gentry, and the world's scholars were furious. Fortunately, Zhang Tianru of Suzhou stepped forward and ordered the world to ban Li Thief in the name of restoring society.
, cut off the input and output of Li Thief's workshop. Xiangyang produces alkali noodles, and in recent years almost all of these alkaline noodles have been bought by Li Thief. We cannot allow these minerals to be used by Li Thief."
Next to You Minggui, the magistrate of Nanzhang County raised his hands and said, "I admire you, the magistrate, for charging into battle and doing your best for the world's scholars!"
You Minggui said sternly: "If Thief Li succeeds, the rules of the world will be ruined, and we, the gentry, will have no place. At this critical moment, we cannot sit silently and watch. We must let Thief Li know that this world is
Gentleman’s!”
The magistrate of Nanzhang County raised his hands and said, "The magistrate is so righteous!"
A group of people walked on the mountain road and gradually arrived at the entrance of a small alkaline mine.
This was a small mine, and there was not even a janitor. The miners had all gone down into the mine, and they only saw a miner pushing a cart into the mine tunnel. Fifty government officials rushed into the mining area and kicked over the miner's cart.
He shouted loudly: "The prefect is here to seal the mine! Call the mine owners and miners out!"
When the miner saw the ferocious government servant holding a fire stick, he looked frightened and ran towards the mine tunnel. After a while, the mine owner with a dirty face walked out of the mine tunnel with seven miners. This
The nine miners, all of whom were owned by a family, were filled with panic when they heard that the prefect was coming to seal the mine.
The nine people walked up to the magistrate who was wearing official robes, and all of them knelt down with a bang.
"Your Majesty, our family depends on this alkali mine. If the mine is closed, we will starve to death!"
A middle-aged woman with a wrinkled face and a scarf on her head knelt behind the mine owner and shouted: "Master Magistrate, we people rely on this mine to support our children. If the mine is closed for a month, I will have no money to buy anything."
We have enough food to feed the children at home!”
The prefect You Minggui shouted sternly: "You are digging alkali noodles to support Li Zhi of Tianjin, causing harm to the gentry of the world. You are worthy of death for your crimes, and you still dare to quibble? Come here and take down the mine owner!"
Several wolf-like government officials rushed forward and tied up the dumbfounded mine owner in a few moments. The mine owner became a little anxious and shouted loudly: "I wait for the common people to work hard to dig the alkali surface mine, and I will honor the county every month."
What's the crime here, the police officer here? Why did you arrest me?"
Several government servants wielding water and fire sticks rushed up and hit the mine owner hard on the head, immediately beating his head to pieces and bleeding.
The woman rushed forward, grabbed the mine owner's hand and shouted: "No, you can't arrest my man. Do you want to beat him to death?"
Several more government officials rushed forward and beat the woman with sticks.
You Minggui snorted coldly and said loudly: "Today I will only arrest the mine owner! Spare you miners. From now on, if another pound of alkali is mined out of this mine, I will arrest all you miners in prison."
!”
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In Jinan Prefecture, Wang Gongbi, the governor of Shandong, took the prefect of Jinan and led his servants to the merchant gathering area in the west of Jinan City.
When they reached the door of a large courtyard, the government officials looked around, turned around and said to the governor Wang Gongbi: "My lord, this is the courtyard!"
Wang Gongbi said calmly: "Open the door!"
After receiving the order, several yamen servants did not knock on the door, but kicked hard on the side door, kicking the thin side door open. The yamen servants kicked the side door open and went in and opened the door, allowing the governor and prefect to walk in through the door.
When the cotton merchant family in the courtyard saw that the courtyard door was kicked open, not knowing what happened, they all ran into the main courtyard. They saw the governor in red official robes and so many servants and government servants entering their courtyard.
The cotton merchant was so frightened that his legs trembled, and he and his family all knelt in the yard.
Dozens of government servants and servants rushed into the courtyard to conduct a search.
Governor Wang Gongbi looked at the head of the family kneeling in the front row and asked coldly: "Among the eleven merchants selling cotton in Shandong to Tianjin Li Thief, are you one of them?"
The cotton merchant kept kowtowing to the ground and shouted loudly: "The common people have realized their sins! The common people will not dare to do business for a penny with Thief Li again! The governor knows this, and the common people will take back all the people in Tianjin tomorrow!"
Wang Gongbi snorted and said: "Your family was originally a gentry. You knew that Li Zhi was collecting commercial taxes in Tianjin and tormenting the gentry, but you still did business with Li Zhi and sold cotton to him without conscience. Your behavior is a shameful behavior.
The same is true for betrayal, but worse for capitalizing on the enemy. If there are no businessmen like you in the world, then why would Li Zhi harm the gentry?"
"Fortunately, Zhang Pu of Suzhou stepped forward and called on the people of the world to ban Li Zhi's raw materials and products, otherwise we will really let you and other great rats go unpunished!"
While Wang Gongbi was talking, a servant who was searching the yard ran over from behind, raised his hands and said to the governor: "Sir, there are 30,000 kilograms of cotton in the yard, and I'm afraid they are all going to Tianjin."
Wang Gongbi snorted coldly and said: "Burn!"
The servant shouted the order and rushed into the backyard. After a while, a huge fire broke out in the backyard warehouse.
The cotton merchant who was kneeling on the ground gritted his teeth in distress when he saw his goods being burned. He knelt on the ground and was sweating profusely, but he did not dare to speak.
Wang Gongbi thought for a while and said coldly: "Arrest all the men, women, and children of the head of the family and put them in prison!"
When the cotton merchant heard this, his face turned pale, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed, and shouted loudly: "Sir, I know I was wrong, please spare my life!"
"Spare my life! I will never do business with Thief Li again!"
"grown ups"
Wang Gongbi stopped paying attention to the cotton merchant on the ground and said coldly: "Go to the next one!"
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In the Tianjin General Military Mansion, Secret Guard Ambassador Han Jinxin knelt on the ground and reported to Li Zhi the intelligence from the field.
Under the call of Fushe leader Zhang Pu, goods-smashing campaigns were launched in various places. Merchants selling soap, Lijia fine cloth, Lijia fine steel, glass wine sets and glass mirrors were led by gentry into the shops and smashed the goods.
The local government ignored such hooliganism and allowed the gentry to destroy Li Zhi's goods.
For a time, no one dared to sell Li Zhi's goods.
Not only that, Xiangyang's alkali noodles and Shandong's cotton, the two commodities on which Li Zhi's industry relied most, were also cut off by local officials.
Han Jinxin said: "Zhang Pu, Zhang Cai and Chen Zilong were the initiators of this movement. The governor of Shandong, Wang Gongbi, and the magistrate of Xiangyang, especially Minggui, were the vanguard of this movement!"
Li Xing looked at Li Zhi worriedly and said: "Brother, without alkali noodles and cotton, most of our industries will stop working. Without income, we can only rely on savings to support it. Nowadays, Taiwan's land reclamation expenses are too huge, and we are at most
It can only last seven months."
Li Zhi closed his eyes and said nothing.
After a long time, he opened his eyes and said calmly: "If this Pu fights with me, he doesn't know how high the sky is and how high it is."
