The status of merchants in the Han Dynasty was extremely low, and Wen Renxi had no need to meet them in person. These merchants were not qualified to sit with the Han Dynasty officials to discuss important matters, so Wang Sheng asked Wen Renxi to wait in his mansion while he went to summon these merchants.
He came to discuss with them in person. Hearing that Renxi had a restless temper and was unwilling to stay in the palace all day, he went out with his entourage to inspect Hanzhong County.
Wang Sheng sent officials to tell them to come. Wang Sheng was a gentle man, but most of these merchants were extremely jealous of these Han officials. In the past, the first thing many famous officials did when they arrived at a place was to attack the powerful and raid the merchants' homes.
, because of this, merchants respect officials very much, and they cannot afford to offend even the lowest-level rose servants.
After learning that Wang Sheng had summoned them, the merchants unanimously put on the oldest clothes. This was a common practice. Hundreds of years of experience from their ancestors told them that when going to see high officials, they must not dress too luxuriously, otherwise
, you are just a fat lamb in their eyes. Of course, you can't wear too much clothes.
Because there was a big businessman before. When he visited the local prefect, he was scolded by the prefect for being too shabby. He thought that his disheveled clothes were disrespectful to himself and the great man, so he ransacked his home...
The businessmen who had learned the lesson carefully dressed up. After a long time, they finally packed up properly and left their homes. The big businessmen from Hanzhong County rushed to the prefecture's mansion worriedly. They had not had much interaction with the prefect recently.
I'm afraid it won't do any good to suddenly ask them to go there. Could it be that we are asked to fund the construction of Chi Road?
When they arrived at the prefect's mansion, Wang Sheng sent his servants out to greet them and took them into the study.
The merchants paid their respects one by one and handed over their greetings one after another.
Wang Sheng first exchanged greetings with each of them before getting down to business.
"What? Seven out of ten??"
The merchants' faces were pale and their eyes were wide open. When they heard that Wang Sheng allowed them to go out of the fortress to conduct trade, they were so excited that they almost danced. They were still contemplating the words to flatter Wang Sheng in their hearts. What they said next was so exciting.
This was a very heavy blow to them. The cost of this trip must be huge. If 70% of the profits were to be allocated to the government office, what would be left for me?
They gritted their teeth, frowned tightly, and did not dare to speak out to refute, so they could only remain silent.
Wang Sheng said helplessly: "You still have 30% of the profit left, and you won't suffer any losses. Why not?"
These people were still silent. They were also thinking about how much profit would be left. If they disagreed with Wang Sheng, would it bring any trouble to themselves? They really didn't want to resist Wang Sheng's order. If they were offended,
Wang Sheng, he gave an order. None of his people could survive alone. He was a little scared when he saw them.
Wang Sheng was also helpless and asked: "Have I ever harmed you since I became the prefect? Have I ever done anything unjust?"
"There is no such thing as a wise king..."
"It's just that I don't know why the prince suddenly acted like this? Previously, we had approached the prince to discuss foreign trade, but the prince refused... The prince said in the past that this matter is harmful to the country. In this case, shouldn't more efforts be made?
Think about it and discuss it later?" A businessman said with a charming smile.
Wang Sheng was a little displeased when he saw that they were so uncooperative, and said coldly: "This is not my intention, but the Grand Duke of the court personally came to Hanzhong and ordered me to act like this... I am a kind person, but , if we offend the Grand Duke of the DPRK, I’m afraid we will all be in trouble!”
Hearing what Wang Sheng said, these merchants were naturally even more frightened. They looked at each other for a moment, and then asked cautiously: "May I ask which minister it is? He behaves in such a cruel and cruel way..."
"Could it be that Mr. Situ is here today?"
A businessman asked doubtfully.
"Hey!" Another sneered with some disdain and said, "If Mr. Situ comes in person, can we still chat with the prefect here?"
When everyone thought about it, it was indeed true. If the number one traitor in the dynasty came, I'm afraid they and others would already be in prison, and maybe there would be the eunuch to accompany them. Since it's not Situ Gong, who would it be? Where is the minister? The price is so high... Suddenly, one person's eyes lit up, trembling a little, and asked: "Is it Mr. Wen?"
"What?!"
"Wen Renggong!" Several merchants exclaimed, and for a moment, everyone stared at Wang Sheng.
Wang Sheng felt a little creeped out by these blazing gazes. He coughed and said, "It is indeed Mr. Wen Ren."
"Wen Renggong came to Hanzhong!!!" Several merchants shouted, jumping up and down, and asked a little rudely: "Where is Wen Renggong!?" Wang Sheng was a little confused as to why these people were like this. Excited, he slowly said: "Wen Rengong is here for state affairs. Now he is inspecting Hanzhong..."
"Haha~~" Several merchants laughed excitedly. The leader trembled all over and asked cautiously: "Maybe we can see the truth about you?"
"Wenren Gong is the Grand Duke of the court, how can he be the same as you?" Wang Sheng said with some displeasure.
"It makes sense...but we really want to see the gentleman. If the king can allow it, let alone seven, just...take...eight, and we will admit it!" The merchants said excitedly, and Wang Sheng was a little confused again. He really couldn't understand these recent things. What was going on? He asked with some confusion: "Are you and Wen Rengong a township party?"
"That's not the case. The king doesn't know. Many merchants in Yizhou worship Wenren Gong day and night... They regard him as an immortal. In the remote areas of Yizhou, many people call him Wenren. The Lord is the God of Wealth, and it is our lifelong pursuit to learn about the way to make money from others!!" The merchants' eyes were blazing and they said excitedly that Yizhou's private sacrifices were the most frequent.
It is also the most troublesome problem for the emperors of all dynasties. This is also the reason why the Zhang family can develop rapidly here. It was this group of people before. Why did the public offer sacrifices? Now there are hundreds of large and small obscene sacrifices in Yizhou. Some worshiped mountains and rivers, some worshiped capable ministers, and some even worshiped Xiang Yu. These things were forbidden repeatedly. Wang Sheng really didn't expect that it turned out that Wen Renggong had also been set up as a sacrifice!
Still a God of Wealth...
"Then when you worship on weekdays...are you always asking for wealth?"
"yes."
Wang Sheng took a deep breath, calmed down, and said: "Well, then I will talk to Mr. Wen Ren, but I don't know whether he can come..."
The merchants nodded, and some even shed tears with excitement. We are so lucky to finally be able to meet Wen Renggong, and they are not worried about whether Wen Renggong will come. They have the financial resources.