The Meng family is not an ordinary family in the city. In the past ten years, the Meng family has really built bridges, paved roads, and helped victims of disasters. It can be said that its reputation among the people is definitely one of the best.
As the eldest son of Meng Yi, Meng Ping has been doing business abroad all year round. In the memory of many people in Shanghai County, in the early years, Meng Yi, an official, was doing business abroad all the time. The Meng family was only supported by his orphans and widowed mother.
In the past few years, Meng Yi seemed to have left the family business to his eldest son Meng Ping, and he himself settled down in the county. He usually made friends with some literati. In everyone's opinion, Meng Yi was a scholar.
A great good man.
It's a pity that these people don't know at all that the business the Meng family has always done is maritime trade. Although it is not the best among maritime merchants, its strength is not bad.
How huge the profits from overseas trade are, it is impossible to imagine unless you have personally stepped into this business. I am afraid no one can imagine that once the porcelain worth dozens of coins in the Ming Dynasty was shipped overseas, its value would almost skyrocket by dozens or hundreds of times.
In other words, if you invest 10,000 taels of silver, once you return successfully, the profit will be at least dozens of times. Even if sea trade is subject to great risks, such astonishing profits of dozens of times will still make quite a lot of people
Groups of people came one after another to join the ranks.
It was with the money the Meng family earned from maritime trade that the Meng family was able to have the money to build bridges and pave roads to build their own reputation.
Without the support of huge profits from sea trade, the Meng family would not have so much gold and silver to do these things.
As the imperial court opened the sea, ordinary businessmen with no connections and no means could finally get involved in this hugely profitable industry.
The profit of an industry depends on how many people are engaged in this industry. Maritime trade itself is a hugely profitable industry. Coupled with the Ming Dynasty's policy of banning the sea, this has led to a result that only a few businessmen can rely on
Carry out maritime trade based on your own relationships.
With the implementation of the imperial government's policy of opening up the sea, a large number of merchants naturally entered this industry, which naturally diluted the huge profits of maritime trade.
Of course, the so-called diluted profits are only relative. After all, the profits from overseas trade are too great. Even if more businessmen join in, they will still be more profitable than 99% of other businesses.
From the huge profit of dozens of times to the profit of several times or more than ten times, it is still profitable. For those new businessmen who joined, it is naturally very happy.
But for families like the Meng family, which had been involved in maritime trade earlier and were rich in food, their profits suddenly plummeted so much, which was unacceptable to these families who were used to living alone.
These people tried their best to prevent the imperial court from opening the sea, but under Chu Yi's insistence, even though many civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty accepted money to speak for these maritime merchants, they could not change the emperor and Chu Yi's opening of the sea.
The determination of the sea.
Since the imperial court cannot stop Kaihai, some people have given up completely, but some people are determined not to give up. They believe that all this is due to Chu Yi. As long as Chu Yi, the culprit, can be eradicated, then
At that time, the policy of opening up the sea can naturally be cancelled.
I believe that without Chu Yi in charge, it won't be a problem for them to put a little thought and effort into using their people in the court to ban the sea.
It's just that Chu Yi's evil reputation is too great. There are people who try to assassinate Chu Yi. It's a pity that all the people or families who try to deal with Chu Yi end up having their families confiscated and exterminated.
Ordinarily, in this case, the killings one after another should be able to shock people's hearts, but people's hearts are unpredictable, or in the face of the huge profits, some vested interests simply cannot bear that the huge profits that originally belong to them are shared by so many people.
I really miss the days before the sea was opened, when a casual trip to sea trade could bring dozens of times huge profits.
The more I miss these things, the more I naturally hate Chu Yi.
Naturally, Meng Yi is also one of the representatives of the family who hates Chu Yi. These people are quietly connected through channels, hiding their identities, and secretly planning to deal with Chu Yi.
Some people secretly transported dozens of explosive shells from the imperial war department's warehouse through connections, and some people obtained powerful crossbows. Anyway, these people really tried their best to kill Chu Yi.
You must know that no matter how careful these people are, as long as they do some things in this world, they will inevitably leave some traces and clues. Once the court investigates, they may not be found out.
Of course, these people have done so much, but they are confident that they will be able to eradicate Chu Yi. As long as Chu Yi is gone and there is only an emperor, isn't it easy for them to deal with it?
If so many civil and military ministers in the DPRK united, I am afraid they would have to issue an order to ban the sea even today.
Although great changes have taken place in the civil and military officials of the DPRK, no matter how much changes occur, the court is still in the hands of the previous officials. As for the newly promoted officials, although there are many, they are not able to completely control them.
Court.
After all, no matter how radical Chu Yi is, he can't clear the court all at once, right? So Zhu Houzhao can only replace the civil and military forces in the court little by little. At this speed, it will take about three to five years to clear the court.
The officials were replaced again.
By then, nine out of ten civil and military officials in the court will be newly promoted officials promoted by the emperor, and they will obey his orders. In this way, it will be difficult for there to be any more disturbances in the court.
Meng Ping had a gloomy face. He never dreamed that his father would go out and come back with a separated body.
Meng Yi's body was brought back by a loyal servant of the Meng family. After Meng Ping inquired, although he couldn't tell why his father was beheaded, he could probably guess some reasons.
Meng Yi has been secretly planning to assassinate Chu Yi with some people. Others may not know this, but as the eldest son, Meng Ping knows it all too well.
Not long ago, Chu Yi returned from overseas. Soon the news spread throughout Shanghai County, and Meng Ping naturally got the news.
Meng Ping knew exactly why his father went out not long ago, but he didn't expect that his father would go out well and never come back.
He punched the coffee table hard and looked at his father's head that was gradually being sewn together. Meng Ping gritted his teeth and said, "If you don't avenge this revenge, you are not a son of man!"
At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps, and Meng Ping looked around and saw his housekeeper leading a staff member.
Upon seeing this, Meng Ping hurriedly greeted him, with a slight smile on his face and said: "This gentleman is here, I don't know what to say."
The official glanced at Meng Ping, and then looked around. There seemed to be something wrong with the atmosphere, but the white cloths hung up all around seemed a bit strange.
"Where is Mr. Meng? The prefect sent a subordinate to invite Mr. Meng to go to the winter garden. The chief steward summoned Mr. Meng. This is a great blessing for Mr. Meng."
Meng Ping couldn't help but shrink his eyes when he heard this. He had hated Chu Yi deeply before, but now his father lost his life.
The winter garden was used by Meng Yi to entertain officials from all walks of life, not just to entertain Chu Yi. It can be said that the winter garden was definitely bought and renovated by the Meng family to build closer relationships with officials.
Apparently the official hadn't noticed Meng Yi's body yet, and just said to Meng Ping with a smile: "This is a great joy for the Meng family. I don't know if Mr. Meng is out there, but I ask him to come with me right now."
Meet the Grand Steward."
A strange color flashed in Meng Ping's eyes. He took a deep breath and glanced at the official. Then he turned slightly to the side, stepped out of the way and said to the official: "Sir, please follow me."
The official was very puzzled and followed Meng Ping into the lobby.
The lobby was now covered with white cloths by the servants of the Meng family, and a mourning hall was even set up. When the official walked into the mourning hall, everyone couldn't help but froze for a moment.
Especially when he saw Meng Yi's body lying there, this official who was the confidant of the prefect could not help but froze.
This official never expected that he had been ordered to ask Meng Yi to go with him to meet the general manager Chu Yi, but instead of seeing Meng Yi, he saw Meng Yi's body.
Regarding Meng Yi, not to mention the official, it can be said that at least half of the people in the city admired Meng Yi very much. When they saw Meng Yi's body, the official was stunned for a while.
One voice said: "Oh my god, Yuan Meng, he..."
Meng Ping stood aside, with a somewhat sad look on his face, and gritted his teeth and said: "My father suffered this disaster, Meng Ping felt very uncomfortable. If there is anything rude, please forgive me."
The official glanced at Meng Yi again, who was lying there with his head being sewn around his neck, and sighed in his heart.
Meng Yi's luck is really bad. Now Chu Yi summoned him, but he didn't have such a blessing, and he lost his life.
Thinking that he had come under the command, the officials hesitated a little. How could they go to see the chief manager even if his head had been cut off?
Is he going to go back and reply to the prefect Xu Bang that Meng Yi was beheaded?
If it were normal, that would be fine. If such a murderous case occurred, the court would naturally work hard to solve the case. But if Chu Yi knew about it, would it mean that the impression left by the prefect Xu Bang on Chu Yi would be even worse?
Already.
You must know that the sudden assassination incident in the port had already made these officials tremble with fear, fearing that Chu Yi would blame them.
After all, Chu Yi did not get angry with them because of the assassination case. Now if he suddenly told Chu Yi that Meng Yi, a well-known philanthropist in Shanghai County's most philanthropic home, had his head chopped off in an extremely cruel way, that would not be the case.