Early the next morning, at dawn, Admiral Wang Chengen of the West Factory and Admiral Wang Dehua of the East Factory suddenly dispatched with a large number of their men.
The military commanders of the five cities also received the order at the same time and sealed the city gates, prohibiting entry and exit.
Aiming at Shanxi merchants' houses, shops, warehouses, etc., groups of fans swarmed in like wolves and tigers.
On the street, the early-rising officials and some businessmen were frightened when they suddenly saw this posture.
Some time ago, Emperor Chongzhen once ransacked his houses on a large scale, which frightened the officials in various government offices and went on strike.
How long had it passed before the emperor came again?
Even during this period, those officials who were really well-behaved were frightened, fearing that the emperor would not be trustworthy and start liquidating the matter because of the past. Not to mention those who resumed work and still took advantage of the power in their hands to do illegal things.
Those with income are even more frightened.
Suddenly, everyone in the capital was in a state of turmoil, and everyone was afraid that the next moment, Fanzi would rush to his home!
Fortunately, at noon, a large number of people were arrested and taken to the Ministry of Punishment Prison instead of the Jinyiwei Prison. This was different from before.
After a little inquiry, the truth of the matter came out.
Those arrested this time were not officials, but businessmen, and they were Shanxi businessmen.
The crime is very simple, just two words: Tonglu!
For people here in the capital, Jianlu is definitely a sworn enemy!
In the past, the Jianlu invaders invaded the capital several times. The people in the city were fine, but basically no one outside the city was spared.
Anyone who didn't have seven aunts or eight grandma-in-law had more or less relatives and friends who were tortured by the Jianbu. Even those who were powerful and had fields and manors outside the city were plundered by the Jianbu.
Therefore, there is no one in the capital who does not hate Jianlu.
Hearing that the Shanxi merchants arrested by the imperial court were accused of being traitors, the fear of having their homes confiscated was immediately reduced.
Some people, without thinking too much, just scolded these Shanxi merchants who were colluding with the captives and deserved a good death!
Some people, who thought too much, inquired about the specific situation, wondering if it might be the property of the merchants that the court was jealous of, and made up a crime to pin these merchants on their heads.
Fortunately, these businessmen are all imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, which is much easier to inquire about than in the Jinyiwei Prison.
"What, those Shanxi merchants are selling military supplies to Jianlu through Zhangjiakou? Damn it!"
"He also tipped off Jianlu to reveal what was true inside the customs? Is this news accurate?"
"I heard that he bribed Chen Xinjia, the former minister of the Ministry of War, so he could know about important military and state affairs!"
"You don't need to think about this kind of thing to know that it will definitely happen. Look, the Jianlu plundered so much gold, silver and jewelry from the pass. Can they eat it? It must be turned into food and supplies, right? Who can buy it from?"
"Besides, the money the Jianlu robbed is just like the money picked up on the ground. It will definitely be very generous, so these Shanxi merchants most hope that the Jianlu will enter the customs and steal more gold, silver and jewelry!"
"That's right. If no one had tipped off the news, how could Jianlu have taken such a long detour to invade the pass!"
"Damn Shanxi merchants, where is your conscience? Has your conscience been eaten by a dog?"
"..."
As the news spread, all the anger in the capital against Jianlu was focused on these Shanxi merchants.
Although there has been no public interrogation by the Ministry of Justice, everyone already feels that this must be the case.
As a result, those Shanxi merchants and their families were in bad luck.
It is naturally impossible for the guards in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment to give them good things to eat.
There were even people from outside paying money to people in the prison of the Ministry of Punishments so that they could go in and beat up Shanxi merchants to vent their anger.
Suddenly, everyone in Shanxi merchants shouted for beatings.
Some of the Shanxi merchants who were so frightened that they were not caught quickly closed their doors to avoid the limelight, while others showed their positions by showing signs, shouting slogans, knocking down the Jianlu, and sworn sworn ties with the Jianlu. Some were even clever.
A little bit, you have to donate money to the imperial court to use it to build captives.
It was like this on the capital side, and on the other side of Jin, it was Wang Dehua who finally led Fan Zi and rushed to arrest the people.
In addition to his status as the governor of the East Factory, he also has the status of the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, which is equivalent to the chief assistant of the outer court. Unless the local government wants to rebel, they will never dare to go against his will.
The Shanxi merchants in Tonglu were mainly concentrated in Zhangjiakou, and of course there must still be people in their hometown.
Emperor Chongzhen's decree was to punish the nine tribes of the eight major Shanxi merchants.
Therefore, after Wang Dehua arrived at the Xuan Mansion, he mobilized the Xuan Da troops to hunt down the eight major Shanxi merchants.
No one in the local area dared to rebel, but it was inevitable to spread the news.
In addition to the eight major Shanxi merchants, other smaller smuggling merchants, mainly concentrated in Zhangjiakou, fled outside the customs. Also running with them were Zhangjiakou guards.
As others may say, if you are on guard in Zhangjiakou, you will not be able to escape the blame no matter what. If you don’t run away, you will have to wait for death!
In the end, four of the eight major Shanxi merchants escaped during this arrest, namely Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa.
The child was intercepted.
The news was quickly conveyed back to the capital by horseback. Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict to severely reprimand Wang Dehua. He was dismissed from his position as the eunuch and eunuch, and Wang Chengen was replaced as the eunuch.
On the surface, it seemed that Emperor Chongzhen had an old love for Wang Dehua, escaped the four imperial prisoners, and finally retained Wang Dehua's post as admiral of the East Factory, but in fact, this was actually Emperor Chongzhen taking the opportunity to have a fit.
He knew the history of Wang Dehua, and he always held a grudge in his heart. He hated that he trusted Wang Dehua so much, but did not want to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country. Instead, he colluded with corrupt officials, turning the East Factory into a decoration. He also hated that Wang Dehua, a domestic slave, cheated on others and did not die for the country.
That's all, he's going to add to the feet of thieves and captives.
This time, Emperor Chongzhen knew that one of the Shanxi merchants would definitely run away, so he sent Wang Dehua instead of anyone else, and then took the opportunity to first remove him from his position as chief ceremonial officer and eunuch.
As for retaining Wang Dehua's position as the Admiral of Dongchang, he just wants to use him to bite people, otherwise he will be beaten to death this time! In addition, Wang Dehua was also warned to work hard, otherwise he will not be able to retain the position of Admiral of Dongchang.
!
Others don't know what he is thinking, but Wang Dehua himself knows it very well!
Emperor Chongzhen punished him, but he was relieved. He felt that a shoe had fallen to the ground, and he had an idea in his heart.
For this reason, he did not dare to be careless in other matters.
In the inspection list reported to Emperor Chongzhen, he basically counted the ones in custody himself. The large number made Emperor Chongzhen smile from ear to ear with joy!
Among the materials confiscated by the eight major Shanxi merchants, the amount of cash alone amounted to five million taels, which was more than the amount of officials he had confiscated before!
To be honest, just seeing the money, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly felt that the power of confiscating homes was better than science.
No matter how powerful the science is, can it make so much money at once?
It’s just a pity that there are still too few such wealthy businessmen!
When he thought of this, he asked Wang Cheng'en, the eunuch who trusted him in charge of rituals and eunuchs: "Are there any businessmen as rich as Shanxi merchants?"
As soon as he heard what he said, Wang Chengen knew what he was planning.
So, he quickly replied to Emperor Chongzhen: "Long live my Lord, the salt merchants in Yangzhou are also very famous. It is said that they have more wealth than the Shanxi merchants!"
"Oh?" When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he immediately looked very interested and ordered Wang Cheng'en, "Tell me, how do they make money?"
When Wang Chengen heard this, he told Emperor Chongzhen several things he had heard.
"The tumblers made in Suzhou are very exquisite and valuable. A Yangzhou salt merchant spent 3,000 taels of silver to buy all the tumblers available in Suzhou, and then poured them into the river for fun, which once caused the river to be blocked."
Just for a piece of fun, you spent three thousand taels of silver? When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he frowned and was very unhappy. But he still didn't agree in his heart. How rich is this?
"There is also a salt merchant who invented the way to eat delicious food. That is to prepare dozens or hundreds of dishes for each meal. If you are not satisfied with the dish, you will immediately remove it and replace it with a new one. The total number of dishes remains the same.
!”
Upon hearing this introduction, Emperor Chongzhen was obviously angry. It was unreasonable for such a level of luxury to far exceed that of the emperor himself!
"There is also a salt merchant who is said to have wanted to spend tens of thousands of dollars, so he sent people to buy gold foil with ten thousand taels of silver. Then he climbed up to a high building, threw the gold foil in the wind, and laughed as he watched the people downstairs snatching the gold foil.
…”
Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen was extremely angry and shouted: "That's enough!"
Wang Chengen knew that his anger was not directed at him, so he shut up immediately!
"It's really unreasonable, it's really unreasonable!" Emperor Chongzhen said angrily, making Long Yan furious.
As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he should be the richest man in the world, but he was so poor that he secretly asked the queen to mend his underwear before wearing it again.
He had already done this, but the result was not as good as those damn salt merchants. It really irritated him!
After being furious for a while, Emperor Chongzhen then looked at Wang Chengen, stared at him and asked: "How rich are those salt merchants?"
"Long live the Lord!" Wang Chengen replied cautiously, "According to rumors, there is a ranking of Yangzhou salt merchants. Those on the list are all worth more than tens of millions. Those with a net worth of only a few million cannot be on the list at all!"
Emperor Chongzhen was stunned when he heard this. According to what he said, he wouldn't even be on the list!
When he came back to his senses, he couldn't help but be curious, and immediately asked: "Why are these salt merchants so rich? Is it possible that they can be so rich just by selling salt?"
Logically speaking, salt and iron were a monopoly of the imperial court, and the imperial court collected taxes on the salt sold by salt merchants. Since those salt merchants made so much money, the imperial court's taxes should also be large!
However, the fact is that today's salt class silver income is just over one million taels a year, about a quarter of which is used for local defense and is given directly to the military towns, and the rest is turned over to the Ministry of Household Affairs.