It took a lot of effort for Gu Zizi and his party to get from Zhangzhou to Ningbo.
In fact, the sea journey is not very far. They are people who have been wandering on the sea all year round. They are naturally familiar with the coastal waters from Fujian, Zhejiang, south and even Shandong. However, they are the ones leading the team. How to hide it from the eyes of outsiders has to be done.
Putting subordinates at ease is a difficult problem.
Of course, they estimated that they could hide it for a while, not for too long. Whether it was the five major families or the other thirteen local families, while the Eight Immortals were crossing the sea to show off their magical powers, they were also keeping an eye on their friends, allies, and opponents, trying to figure out what to do.
See what they are planning.
The person who sent the message was very mysterious. They only knew that it was related to Si Yamen, the salt envoy of the capital, but it was not from Fujian and Zhejiang, but from Nanzhi. This made them confused.
Selling smuggled salt is certainly a lucrative business, but not just anyone can get into it, and the pattern has already been fixed. Unless the Salt Patrol Censor is replaced, there will be a wave of reshuffles.
However, Gu Laizi and the others all know that they are not the material to eat this bowl of rice. They need to have deep and dense connections and influence in the government and on land. They have no advantage. Even if they change the salt patrol censor, they will not.
Maybe they are interested in these pieces of information.
That's why they were anxious and uneasy. Of course they couldn't ask for help and advice from noble people. They were willing to offer their own property as tribute, and as long as they could get a bowl of food for a long time, they were willing to do so. After all, they had hundreds of people and families under their control.
It is crying for food.
The problem is who gets this bowl of rice, how to eat it, what to eat, and how to eat it, they have no idea.
But one thing they are still aware of is that the other party may not be interested in their little possessions, but may be interested in their ships or people. This is the only thing they can get. After all, they are wealthy businessmen who want to get started.
There are too many. Compared with money and connections, they have no advantage.
While they were anxiously waiting to be received in the reception room, Feng Ziying was also thinking about how to deal with this group of people.
Like the Seven Surnames in Quanzhou and the Five Famous Families in Zhangzhou, these wealthy families all had their own personal connections. Not only were they closely related to the local government, but they also had their own connections in the imperial court.
Officials with Fujian scholar origins such as Ye Xianggao, Li Tingji, Huang Ruliang and even Xu Xie were their strong backers and could respond quickly to the slightest disturbance.
Without these people behind them, the tyrannical maritime merchants would have been wiped out long ago under the pressure of the government and the army.
The situation is becoming increasingly clear now.
Scholars from the two Zhejiang provinces were quite powerful in the court, and the scholars from South Zhili always worked closely with the scholars from the two Zhejiang provinces. That is, Ye Xianggao was the chief assistant and Li Tingji was the group assistant. But to
Compared with the two Zhejiang and southern Zhizhi people who had considerable advantages in the six ministers and ministers of the Duchayuan, Dali Temple, and the General Affairs Department, the power of the Fujian scholars was still inferior.
Therefore, Ningbo and Guangzhou are basically confirmed as the first batch of pilot projects to open the sea. However, if the Fujian scholars are not given an explanation, they will encounter pressure in terms of borrowing.
You must know that the Seven Families of Quanzhou and the Five Families of Zhangzhou are all wealthy businessmen, and a large number of Fujian businessmen with strong funds are also eager to try. It is unjustifiable if Fujian is not given a quota.
Although Feng Ziying didn't know what kind of compromise the court would make, he estimated that it would probably add another quota between Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and Quanzhou was more likely.
Although there are more maritime merchants in Zhangzhou, Quanzhou's maritime merchants are stronger. In comparison, Zhangzhou has more small and medium-sized maritime merchants. Even if the five major merchants are compared with the seven surnames in Quanzhou, their strength is much inferior.
Wang Wenyan is indeed a talent. Although he was not familiar with the situation in Fujian before, in less than a month, he mobilized all his relationship resources and contacted these maritime merchants in Fujian.
Although this also received the full support of Lin Ruhai, it was not easy to achieve this step.
Feng Ziying, the original sea merchants and even those wealthy merchants from Fujian and Zhejiang who were about to enter the sea trade, was not yet qualified to intervene in the contacts. If they wanted to find them, they could only go to the big shots in the DPRK.
There are too many small maritime merchants and insufficient strength, so they have begun to actively rely on these local large merchants and gentry wealthy merchants. Only these small and medium-sized maritime merchants are now like headless flies. Without catching them, they can only
It is the best target to win over and recruit.
They are not willing to be absorbed by the sea merchants and the gentry with strong backgrounds and connections, which means that most of their interests will be taken away by these gentry sea merchants, but the risk may eventually fall on themselves, but they must be allowed to
When it comes to seeking charter qualifications, the imperial court is basically unlikely to give them this opportunity in the first batch.
Because first of all, they will be suppressed and squeezed out by those large merchants, especially the gentry who are new to the industry and have recruited small maritime merchants. Only by expelling these people can they quickly seize the most lucrative benefits.
This kind of suppression and exclusion may come from all aspects, including the government.
It is for this reason that everyone feels the most desperate, and even wants to take a risky path.
"Wen Yan, do you think these people can be used? How to use them?"
Feng Ziying stretched her body, leaned back in the chair, and asked calmly: "The ones from Zhangzhou are here first, and the ones from Quanzhou are on the way. Well, where are the local ones from Ningbo?"
Wang Wenyan smiled, "Sir, there are more maritime merchants in Fujian and they are more adventurous. Those in Zhejiang and Zhejiang have more connections in the DPRK and stronger capital. Of course they are not willing to be excluded. They are more willing to take risks."
We hope to minimize the number of charter qualifications on the Fujian side, so those on the Ningbo side will not give up until the Yellow River and will not give in until the last moment."
"No, Wen Yan, what you said is wrong. No one asked them to bow their heads and submit. In fact, they can wait. Maybe after waiting for a year or two, the court will open up more sea routes and give more support.
If they have the charter qualification, then they will have a chance." Feng Ziying said calmly.
"Sir, you are just kidding. They can wait for one or two years, but what about the people below? How can they afford to wait? This is one of them; after finally excluding them, those who have already entered the game can still
Tolerate them? I'm afraid they will come up with various ways to prevent them from re-entering the game, such as poaching your people, cutting off your business channels, such as setting up obstacles at the government level. Once you are out, it will not be so easy to get back in. This
Everyone understands the truth, and people in the government understand it even better..."
Wang Wenyan's words hit the nail on the head.
After being kicked out, it is basically impossible to get in unless you have huge connections and capital support. Having said that, if you really have such a big connections and capital, how can you be kicked out?
"Well, I understand." Feng Ziying carefully looked at the information on the desk and kept it in her mind. This will be used later.
Logically speaking, he should not meet these people directly, but he currently does not have a suitable person who can represent him, and his identity is still insufficient. If he finds another so-called spokesperson, it will be even more difficult to convince people.
Already.
After careful consideration, Feng Ziying declined Wang Wenyan's suggestion to come forward on his behalf and decided to contact him personally. This group of people may become a very critical force in the future.
"Sir, these people are not good people. Basically, they are all connected with the Japanese. Of course, being connected with the Japanese does not mean that they are Japanese pirates robbing homes, but mainly because of the need to engage in smuggling." Wang Wenyan also reminded, "But
When necessary, these people will not hesitate to use various means. Well, murder and arson are commonplace."
Wang Wenyan's reminder was fair, without too much emotion, and objectively introduced the true identity and background of this group of people. They were neither the vicious Japanese pirates, nor the pure sea trade smugglers.
In other words, when these identities are mixed together, the latter is more common, but the former can also be transformed when necessary.
"Well, don't worry, Wen Yan. I'm not the kind of person with a moral obsession. I also know that there is never a clean behind this sea trade. It is a crime to violate the imperial court's sea ban laws, even if this law seems to me to be very harmful to us.
It will be disadvantageous for Zhou, but the law is the law, and those who violate it should be punished..."
Feng Ziying packed up the documents in her hands and said, "Let's go and meet these people. They should be very nervous and uneasy right now."
When Gu Yanbing saw the young man, his heart tightened, and then jumped again.
Even though the middle-aged man walking in front has calm and sharp eyes, and even has a unique leisurely demeanor in his movements, compared with the young man walking behind, Gu Yan, who has been at sea and among various forces for many years,
Bing could tell that this seemingly careless young man was the real person in charge of the matter.
Because he glanced at a few people inadvertently and then retracted his gaze, not even paying much attention to everyone's expressions and attitudes.
Of course, this trust cannot be because they don't care, otherwise the other party would not need to spread the word and recruit his group to Ningbo, but the other party is confident that he can make his group of people bow down and obey orders.
It's okay to bow your head and obey your orders. As long as you can find the conditions for you to obey your orders, what if I sell this life to you?
This is what everyone, including Gu Yanbing, thinks in their hearts. I’m not afraid that you don’t want it, but I’m afraid that you can’t afford it.
All eyes were focused on Feng Ziying and Wang Wenyan, but they did not even introduce their identities.
The whole room was in a mysterious and subtle silence. Who were they, why did they invite their group, and why did they come? Even when they got the message from the person who brought the message and arrived here, no one asked, so they just
