On the New Year's Eve of the third year of Xuanhe's reign, Jeju City seemed a little deserted...
Merchants with a business acumen can easily see that the number of villagers purchasing new year goods at the end of the year has dropped significantly, making the business atmosphere in Jeju at the end of this year much worse than in previous years.
The shopkeepers all had sad faces. The shop's income dropped sharply at the end of this year, and the owner didn't care what the reason was. They, the shopkeepers, didn't get a good harvest.
Fortunately, if misfortune occurs, everyone will suffer misfortune together, even the shop of Liangshan Trading Company, the instigator, is no exception. They can only comfort themselves in this way.
Not only the shopkeepers had sad faces, but also the wealthy families in the city were enveloped in a depressing atmosphere.
A middle-aged man dressed as a member of staff looked at the income account book in his hand. His face turned ugly and he suddenly closed his eyes. He threw it on the table in front of him and said dissatisfied: "This year's income is less than 40% of previous years. It is simply unreasonable!"
"Master, this is already very good!"
The steward standing nearby smiled bitterly and said: "Affected by the village over Shuibo, the opportunity to make a big fortune at the end of the year was lost. In addition, coupled with the fierce competition from Liangshan Trading Company, to maintain this level, several shopkeepers also came out."
A lot of effort!”
"It's those thieves from Liangshan again, they are simply lawless!"
When the middle-aged member outside heard Liangshan's name, he immediately became furious. He banged the table and gritted his teeth and said angrily: "No, we must find an opportunity to give them a taste of the power, otherwise they won't be able to take advantage of us in the future."
Shit and piss?”
The loss was not just commercial interests, but more importantly, the farms outside the city were also affected. This year's harvest was less than half of previous years.
The reason for this is not that Liangshan Village is attacking local tycoons. It is obvious that the strongmen in Liangshan Village are not willing to touch the fields near the city, at least for now.
However, all the former tenants of the farm ran away and took refuge in the three-story farmland rented by Liangshan Village...
Without tenants for farming, no matter how fertile the fields are, there is no hope of yielding much.
This time, the impact on the middle-aged member's family's property was heartbreaking.
The current Jingdong East Road is not the end of the dynasty when refugees were everywhere, and the place where the refugees were most concentrated was called the Xiangjun Barracks!
Even if the Xiang army at this time has been reduced to free helpers for wealthy families, they are not so easy to command.
In particular, with Liangshan Village as a benchmark, even if tenants are hired in the future, the commission cannot exceed three and a half, otherwise there will be no tenants to rent fields for the family to exploit at will.
Yes, in the hearts of middle-aged members of the Communist Party of China, exploiting people to support their families is a matter of course, and even if the exploitation is not strong enough, it will feel unsatisfactory.
There are many wealthy families in Jeju City who have ideas like his. This year, the family's income has dropped significantly, and every one of them is so angry that they are yelling and gnashing their teeth.
"No, we must not allow this to continue. Either those bandits in Liangshan will bow their heads, or the entire Jeju will completely fall into the hands of bandits in the future!"
They are all wealthy families. Although the family has a rich income and many sources of income, the family's expenses are also huge. Whether it is normal official expenses or favors, or providing food, drink, housing and transportation for the children and the entire family, it is extremely expensive.
.
One or two years is okay. With the background of a large family in Jeju City, we can still handle it easily. But what if it is five, six, eight or ten years?
Who can guarantee that the income of the family business will continue to be weakened, or even reach the point where the income will be so low that it becomes outrageous?
When the time comes, if the income cannot cover the expenses, then we will have to rest on our laurels...
Therefore, the threat from Liangshan Village must be resolved as soon as possible!
The big families in the prefecture and city united together. Although they didn't have the courage to take the initiative to confront the main village of Liangshan, they still had the ability to cause trouble.
Regardless of whether it was for financial gain or because of the disgust of Liangshan Village, at the end of the year, the city increased its efforts to collect various assessments.
For example, Liangshan Trading Company, which is affiliated with Liangshan Village, requires one or two additional layers of fees for goods entering and leaving the city.
Another example is the Liangshan shop in Zhoucheng, which has been squeezed out and suppressed from all aspects.
The rich families in the city are having a hard time, and the Liangshan Trading Company, the instigator, will definitely pay a heavy price.
What they were doing was official tactics and they were using the power of the government. They hoped that Liangshan Village would not be able to bear the anger and completely come into conflict with the state government's Yamen.
The big families in the city are quite dissatisfied with the prefect Zhang Shuye...
Previously, he had united with outside landlords and gentry to put pressure on him, asking him to use the power of the government to suppress the Liangshan village that had misbehaved.
As for the possibility of directly forcing Liangshan to rebel, they didn't care at all. The trouble was still with the court and government offices, which had little to do with big households like them.
Besides, didn't Liangshan accept the imperial court's recruitment? The main force is still in Jiangnan to suppress the rebellion, and he probably doesn't have the guts to completely fall out with the imperial court.
What's abominable is that Zhang Shuye, who is a son of a man in vain, only went to Liangshan's main village in person, and then everything remained as it was.
How could the united large households in the state and city, as well as the landowners and gentry outside the city, accept such a result?
You must know that the forces of Liangshan Village have begun to infringe on their fundamental interests, and there is no room for relaxation at all.
However, the official methods are not very effective...
It's the end of the year, and all the big businesses in the city have already received detailed accounts of shops and farms, but the imaginary Liangshan Trading Company has not yet appeared.
How is this going?
…
"A bunch of idiots, they don't even look at what's going on outside, they just know how to use these unworthy methods!"
In the study room in the backyard of the Jeju government office, Zhang Shuye couldn't help but sneer after listening to the information sent back by his servant.
He was a little desperate for the wealthy families in the city...
Damn it, they just want to deliberately target Liangshan Trading Company, but how could the old gang of officials and government servants below not take the opportunity to make a fortune?
The key point is that this group of government veterans may not dare to offend Liangshan Trading Company too much. After that, those small businessmen and hawkers with no power and no backing will be in bad luck.
During the end of the year, without the lively atmosphere of the small traders and hawkers attracting the villagers outside the city, how could the commercial activities in the city not be deserted?
As far as he knew, at least half of the small merchants and hawkers who were originally hanging out in the city were reduced by the end of the year, and they all went to the rural markets outside.
It seems that Liangshan Trading Company's business in Zhoucheng has been severely disrupted and affected, but don't look at how lively the rural market outside the city is!
Recently, taking advantage of the good weather, he personally visited many villages outside the city. The atmosphere there was quite lively. The flow of passengers from outside the city that used to gather in Zhoucheng were completely diverted by the rural markets everywhere, leaving only Zhoucheng.
A little bit of soup, soup, water.
The wealthy families in the city who were used to being superior had no idea how serious the situation was.
If this trend continues, even if Liangshan Trading Company completely abandons Zhoucheng, it will still be able to thrive.
Chai Daguan is a great person...
Zhang Shuye now finally understands what the rural development that the high officials meant back then.
Damn it, thinking about the lively scene and atmosphere when he toured the countryside outside the city, he will definitely never forget it.
If you observe carefully, you will see that many daily necessities businesses that originally belonged to the city have been completely replaced by lively rural markets.
Just think about it, if you can buy these daily necessities at your doorstep at the village market, why go to the city and be looked down upon by others?
He was even surprised to find that many ordinary people in the city braved the severe cold and snow to go all the way to the country market outside the city to purchase cheap and practical new year goods.
Zhang Shuye is a capable official, so he naturally has a clear understanding of the prices of goods sold in the city and rural markets outside.
There is indeed a significant difference in price...
Especially the prices of pork, mutton, fresh fish, chicken, duck, goose and other poultry and eggs are completely different.
To be honest, if it were him, he would also be willing to buy cheap and fresh meat and eggs from the rural market outside the city.
Seeing this situation, he had to admire Chai Daguanren's methods.
As far as he knew, all villages affected by Liangshan Village had established breeding farms.
Not only do they raise pigs and sheep, but they also raise chickens, ducks and geese. As a result, these originally poor villages have no shortage of meat and eggs during the Chinese New Year. They can even supply large quantities of meat and eggs to the surrounding areas. I am afraid they will make huge profits.
Ashamed to say it!
A people-friendly official like him should be guiding the people to live a good life.
The result was that a thief leader did such an incredible thing.
As far as he knew, the situation during Jeju's New Year's Eve was very different from previous years.
For the first time, the reserves of New Year supplies in rural areas outside the city, especially those that have been transformed, exceed those in the state city.
This situation surprised him but also made him helpless.
Not only are they stocking up on meat and eggs for the Chinese New Year, they also have rice, flour, grains, oils, sauces, vinegar and tea. The transformed villages can produce them themselves, so why do they need to go to the city to buy them?
Even for some luxury goods that wealthy families can enjoy, the supply in Liangshan village is quite sufficient, and the sales in the city are quite good. At least the purchase volume of many wealthy families is an astonishing figure.
In other words, things like cloth and satin cannot be produced and supplied independently by Liangshan Village and the transformed villages.
But Liangshan Trading Company is not a vegetarian. They have established a stable purchase channel, leaving no opportunity for other trading firms to take advantage of the opportunity to firmly grasp the large demand for cloth and satin.
Even the grain wine that was monopolized by the imperial court, Liangshan village also tried to replace it by brewing fruit wine, and did not let some trading houses that specialize in buying and selling wine make any profit.
In short, in the business battle at the end of the year, Liangshan Commercial Bank is the dominant one, and the other commercial banks can only drink a little bit of water. Can you not feel resentful?
But if you have resentment, you can only hold it in, and you still want to use force?
Looking at the five talisman papers placed side by side on the table, Zhang Shuye's face became more solemn than ever...