Jia Ke was not very worried about the memorial, because he knew that the ministers were not so courageous yet.
Now the thing that Jia Ke is most worried about is money, because it is related to his future affairs of rectifying the world: "You should worry more about money."
Although Li Deshan didn't know what Jia Ke wanted so much money for, since it was his master's order, he, as a slave, would naturally give his full support.
Soon Jia Ke's order was passed to the hands of the three business gang leaders.
After receiving Jia Ke's letter, the Shanxi merchants headed by George Yong immediately summoned the leading figures among the Shanxi merchants to gather in the Qiao family compound.
These big businessmen were sitting there questioning each other. This time George Yong called everyone over to see what big things they wanted to discuss.
It turned out that one or two of them were really well-informed. As soon as they spread what they knew to these people, these outstanding Shanxi merchants immediately started an uproar.
In all the previous imperial courts, I have never heard of asking serious businessmen like them for money every year. This is the first time Jia Ke has done so.
While they were shouting there, George Yong entered the hall from the back house. He was a little unhappy when he saw the bustling scene below, and Nashou patted the table.
Everyone looked up and saw that George Yong was already here, so they quickly shut up.
Seeing that everyone was quiet, George Yong sat down in the middle seat, then raised his hands downwards and said: "It seems that everyone has understood that this time King Yan has ordered us to pay tribute of 2 million taels of silver every year.
What rules do you have?"
The people below were still making noise just now, but now after hearing George Yong's question, no one spoke up. After all, this is not a trivial matter. If he came out to oppose and became the first person that day, and Jia Ke knew about it, there would still be others in the future.
good.
Seeing that they were silent, George Yong stood up and said: "I know that everyone is reluctant to give up money, but our backers in the court all eat under Jia Ke, and even they are fed, but they are not given any money."
How can he agree to Jia Ke's little benefit?"
As soon as Qiao Zhiyong finished saying this, the business leaders below began to talk about it. George Zhiyong was right, and there were many ministers in the court who had supported him. However, Jia Ke, who was unquestionable in this court, was
They don't have a tael of silver to pay tribute, and now Jia Ke wants silver. If they dare not agree, they may be in disaster.
Qiao Zhiyong saw that the direction of the wind below had changed, and then he said: "What I mean is that we can give him 2 million taels of silver, which can be regarded as spending money to avoid disasters. I don't know what you think."
Although the others were a little reluctant after hearing this, since it was hard to give up good money, after all, their arms could not twist their thighs, so they had no choice but to agree.
George Yong breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the people below agreed, and then said generously: "This time our Qiao family provides 500,000 taels of silver every year, which can be regarded as sharing the worries for everyone. We can't chip in the rest."
It’s so difficult.”
The businessmen below were relieved after hearing this. After all, as the leader of Shanxi merchants, George Yong got the most money this time.
When George Yong saw that these people had been discussing for a long time, and finally distributed the silver to each family, he felt relieved, and then continued: "Everyone will send the silver to my house within three days, and I will order someone to open the silver."
Send the ticket to the residence of King Yan Qiantai, and let King Yan Qiantou withdraw it directly from the ticket number in the capital."
After the Shanxi merchants finished discussing it, they immediately took action. Within a few days, a 2 million tael banknote was delivered to Jia Ke's case.
Jia Ke looked at the banknotes in front of him and couldn't help but nodded. This Shanxi merchant was worthy of being the leader of the three major business gangs. He was quick in action and had bright eyes.
Jia Ke took the banknote and said to Li Deshan next to him: "You take the banknote to the Shanxi Merchant's bank account and bring the money back to me. I'm always worried if the money is placed in other people's hands."
After hearing this, Li Deshan hurriedly took the banknote, then patted his chest and promised that he would send the money to the bank of Prince Yan's Mansion tonight.
Most of Jia Ke's Prince Yan's Mansion has been repaired, and there are still many exquisite buildings that have not been completed. However, such an important building as the bank has been repaired in advance and has been put into use.
Although Bao Shufang, a Hui merchant, was much slower than Shanxi merchants, he finally escorted the silver to the capital and delivered it to Jia Ke.
Jia Ke saw that these two major merchants were subdued, so he focused all his attention on the salt merchant.
Besides, Wang Yinggeng was so anxious after receiving the message from Jia Ke. She originally thought that the emperor was dead and these silver coins would no longer need to be paid as tribute, so some time ago his master was in urgent need of money, so she sent the silver to his master first.
After leaving, Jia Ke unexpectedly thought of this problem again, which asked him how to collect the money.
It is indeed possible to ask him to collect more silver from other salt merchants, but he cannot collect a piece of money twice. He has already collected the filial piety of these salt merchants in the name of the emperor as he did in previous years.
Now that he is the leader of the salt merchants, he will not be able to keep his position as the leader of the salt merchants, and he will be attacked by a group of these salt merchants.
Wang Yinggeng is also very wealthy and powerful. If he goes up against one or two salt merchants, he is sure to win. But if he goes up against almost all salt merchants, he doesn't have the ability.
Wang Yinggeng couldn't solve the problem by himself, so he had to go to his master for help.
After the young master received Wang Yinggeng's letter, he felt that his heartbeat kept accelerating. He had analyzed the news and found out that Jia Ke had already doubted Wang Yinggeng. This time, he was asking for money on the surface, but in fact
It's testing.
The young master was not given for free. He had to cut off his tail to survive. If he and Jia Ke were to fight and make Jia Ke angry, there might be some clues that would lead him to find him.
The young master is still not sure about Jia Ke's attitude towards him, so he doesn't dare to take risks.
After the young master thought it through, he immediately asked his butler to take out 5 million cars of silver from the bank and send it to Wang Yinggeng.
The housekeeper listened to the young master's order and stood there for a long time without moving.
The young master looked a little unhappy when he saw the butler standing still, "What are you doing standing there? Why don't you go do something?"
After hearing what the young master said, the housekeeper could only say: "Master, we only have more than 6 million taels of silver in our treasury. If we give another 5 million taels to Wang Yinggeng, how will we spend this year?"
After hearing this, the young master also felt troubled. In the past few years, Qin Keqing's power has grown too rapidly, and as a result, they can't keep up in terms of money.
Now that Jia Ke has made such a fuss, the situation that was barely able to be maintained may be about to collapse.
"What else can we do? Temporarily shrink our power, let the people below work hard for a year, and wait until next year."
The butler smiled bitterly after hearing this. Those spies who have been trained since childhood can naturally persist, but for those bribed court ministers, they will suffer with you. If you don't give money today, they will not listen tomorrow.
It's your command.
But there was nothing that could be done about it. The old housekeeper reluctantly went to the bank, took out the money, and sent it to Wang Yinggeng.
Wang Yinggeng finally breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the greeting. If he didn't handle Jia Ke's affairs this time, he might be worried about Jia Ke.
Wang Yinggeng is now thinking of taking advantage of the sharp rise in salt prices in the north to make a profit and make up for this year's deficit.
But things went against expectations. The sales price had just increased for more than half a month. Suddenly, a large amount of salt appeared on the market, and the price of this salt was four or five levels lower than Wang Yinggeng's price. Now Wang Yinggeng's salt could no longer be sold.
Moved.
After Wang Yinggeng got the news, he was so angry that he was burning inside. What is all this? Who is the unruly person?
In Wang Yinggeng's impression, those who can produce salt on such a large scale are just a few of their big salt merchants.
So Wang Yinggeng sent people to inquire around, and found that the Jiangnan salt merchants did not make any big moves.
Not only that, these salt merchants were also angry that so much salt suddenly appeared in the north. After all, Wang Yinggeng accounted for the majority this time, and they salt merchants could also follow behind and drink some soup. This time it was all over, and there was no trouble.
Well, I still have to pay some money.
Wang Yinggeng still had some influence in the south of the Yangtze River. Without much effort, he got the news from the salt workers at the salt factory and learned that the salt factory transported a large amount of salt directly to the north without going through their salt merchants.
Now it became clear that the salt factory had bypassed the salt merchants and directly participated in the sale of salt. This was a bad rule.
So Wang Yinggeng didn't waste any time, and went to the salt factory in a furious manner for several hours to look for Li Yingtai and ask him to give him an explanation.
Li Yingtai watched Wang Yinggeng coming to find trouble for the second time and didn't care. He drank a cup of tea slowly, glanced at Wang Yingtai sideways, and then said slowly: "Mr. Wang, do you really not know what's going on?"
?"
Wang Yinggeng said with a livid face: "Please give me some advice."
"Haha, the price of salt in the north has risen so much. Does Mr. Wang really not know what's going on?"
At this time, Wang Yinggeng understood at once that the imperial court was transporting salt to stabilize prices. It seemed that the imperial court had already doubted himself.
Wang Yinggeng did not dare to have any complaints after returning home. After returning to his home, he thought about it and felt that it would be better to be more honest during this period. Otherwise, if Jia Ke really cares about him, he may not have a good life.
As a result, the 5 million taels of silver that Jia Ke wanted were quickly shipped from Jiangnan. And half a month later, Jia Ke received the 5 million taels of silver from Jiangnan salt merchants.
Jia Ke looked at dozens of boxes placed in the main hall. The lids of each box were opened. Under the sunlight, these boxes reflected silvery white light.
Li Deshan next to him also felt greedy looking at the money, but he didn't dare to show it.
Jia Ke didn't feel happy at all. It seemed that Wang Yinggeng was still a bit wealthy.
Originally, I thought that through this time, I could take down Wang Yinggeng in one fell swoop and see who was behind him. Unexpectedly, he actually collected 5 million taels for himself.
However, Jia Ke did not lose heart. You paid 5 million this year, and I will see how you make up the money next year.
Besides, at this time, Zhu Lin also received an order from their young master, telling her to gain Jia Ke's trust no matter what, even if she lost some connections for this, she would not hesitate to do so.