Ming Dynasty: The Rampant Crown Prince

In the west of Yangzhou, there is a place called Slender West Lake, which was originally called Paoshan River, and because it is in the west of Yangzhou City, it is also called West Lake.

The shape of this lake is long and narrow, thin and beautiful, so people add a thin word in front of the West Lake, in fact, it is not a lake, but a criss-crossing river, surrounded by many rockeries around it, the pine and bamboo on the mountain are verdant, the attic under the mountain is bright, the moon pavilion on the top of the mountain is admired, looking at the scenery of the lake and mountains on all sides.

In the periphery of the Slender West Lake, there is a stone bridge, called Wuting Bridge, there are five pavilions built on the bridge, the highest in the middle, and four pavilions on all sides are in four directions, forming a tendency to encircle.

"Compared with the West Lake in Hangzhou, I don't know how.

Zhu Cihong stood on the Wuting Bridge, looking at the attic group in the distance, a huge wooden platform has been built on the lake, and there is a circle of pavilions around, the pavilion is already full of friends, and the attic on the lake shore is also full of people, the lights are bright, so it is not lively.

"If you want to talk about the bustling and prosperous, the two places are comparable, but if you want to talk about the scenery of the West Lake alone, Hangzhou West Lake is better.

Qian Qianyi walked to the bridge, looked at the Slender West Lake not far away, touched his beard and smiled.

"You don't know the prefect of Yangzhou, do you?" asked

Zhu Cihong, they won't stay in Yangzhou for long, Qian Qianyi's role is mainly to connect in Nanjing, which used to be his base.

After figuring out the bottom of Yangzhou, stealing the ledger of the Bamboo Gang, and then extracting other people from these people, you can go to Nanjing, in short, after the death list here is recorded, you can leave.

If Qian Qianyi knew the prefect of Yangzhou, there was a big official of the imperial court, and together with them, a small businessman, I am afraid it would arouse unnecessary suspicion.

"I don't know, the Yangzhou prefect I know has long been transferred. "

Qian Qianyi hasn't been back to Jiangnan for a long time, some magistrates have long been transferred, and those who have returned to seclusion have returned to seclusion, and although he has a wide network in Jiangnan, he doesn't know everyone, and most of his friends are still in Nanjing.

Soon, several people came to the entrance of Slender West Lake, Li Ruolian stepped forward, and then took out the invitation in his arms and handed it to the guard at the door.

The guard glanced at Li Ruolian and the others a few times, looked at the clothes on these people, and saw that they were dressed gorgeously before taking the invitation and looking at it, there are many small merchants and hawkers who also want to mix in, but ordinary people want to blend into the circle of this group of top businessmen, it is not simple, just this invitation, ordinary people can't get it, and outsiders want to get it, it's not okay to have money, and someone else needs to recommend it.

Moreover, the invitations also have different codes, with inconspicuous numbers, except for the owner, even those who have the invitations do not know, just to prevent anyone from cheating.

"Only three people can go in!" The

guard saw that the code posted on the invitation was correct, looked at Zhu Cihong's group of people, and shouted mercilessly, the seats inside are limited, and the space is also limited, how can it be possible to let so many people go, and not everyone can go in.

"Li Ruolian, Zhang Huaibin, the three of us go in, and the rest of you are waiting outside.

Zhu Cihong was not surprised by this request, if everyone's followers all went in, they would not be able to stand inside, Qian Qianyi still did not bring in, and he would not be recognized, after all, there was suddenly a third-grade high-ranking official who inexplicably followed a foreign businessman into this party, if he was recognized, he would be suspected, this was a smuggling and spoils meeting, and the people inside were probably very sensitive.

"Yes.

Seeing this, everyone had to wait outside, although they were worried about His Highness's safety, but as long as there was a little movement inside, they could confidently rush in immediately to ensure His Highness's safety.

And Qian Qianyi's words, he glanced inside, to be honest, he still wanted to go in and have a look, the literati are romantic, this is a legend through the ages, he is naturally no exception, and he knows that there is a project in it that Yangzhou is famous for, and he hasn't been playing for a long time.

"There are quite a lot of people.

After Zhu Cihong walked in, he found that it was already overcrowded, many gorgeously dressed businessmen, and there were also many gorgeous women, the lights were shining, and the attic next to the roadside were hung with colorful lantern riddles, very lively, what clothes and hats, fan tents, bonsai flowers, fish, pigs and sheep, pastries and preserves, seasonal fruits, literati and scholars, talented and beautiful women, it is really everything.

"Yo, Young Master Zhang, why haven't you come to the slave family for so long, don't you love my slave family anymore?"

"How can I follow my father to Yancheng some time ago." "

What are you doing there, did you bring a gift

to the slave family?" "Learn to do business, in the future, all the business of my Zhang family will be mine, when the time comes, I will redeem you, are you not happy?"

"The slave family is waiting, dead ghost, don't touch it."

Zhu Cihong looked at the young man in front of him, it seems that these salt merchants will bring their heirs over, one is familiar with the network, and the other is to learn how to do business Xi, salt in ancient times was monopolized, and it was hereditary, so each salt merchant would give birth to a son to train the next generation of heirs.

"Childe, excuse me, wait for the role you play, it's my younger brother, who came to learn Xi business.

Li Ruolian whispered beside His Royal Highness, and said: "The people who come in here, there is no such small role as a follower, they all bring their own heirs, outsiders can't come in on this occasion, and the secrecy is very strict, so I also said that I brought my younger brother here, if I didn't give too much money, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to get the invitation."

"Got it.

Zhu Cihong smiled faintly, he knew this, although these people may not be afraid, but in the final analysis, they are also talking about private salt, and the people who can come in are naturally familiar faces, so at a glance, they are all dealing with each other, he knows that this is a person in a circle, if it weren't for Li Ruolian's 100,000 taels of silver to smash down, it would be too much, and he might not be able to say anything.

"Wait a minute, when my recommender arrives, he will introduce us, we are three brothers, remember.

Li Ruolian reminded again.

Zhu Cihong nodded to Zhang Huaibin, and then immediately showed a communicative smile around, looking extremely uncomfortable, and waved awkwardly to the crowd around him.

Many people are chatting, their eyes glance here from time to time, the three of them strangers are too conspicuous, so that many people are vigilant, the three of them have to act like people who have never seen the world, and try to give that kind of restraint to the performance.

"Do you see the fifteen

pavilions in the lake?" Li Ruolian came to His Royal Highness's side, nodded with a smile and nodded around, pointed to the five pavilions in the lake, and explained: "There are five general merchants in Yangzhou, five of which are reserved for the five general merchants, each of them is responsible for the salt monopoly in a region, and after the government gives them five salts, the five of them will be distributed to their own distributors.

"My recommender is Jiang Zongshang, and he gave 100,000 taels of silver, half of which is his, and half is from the Yangzhou government.

Li Ruolian said, looked around, didn't see Jiang Zongshang for a long time, and continued to smile: "These five people, and the people from the government haven't shown up yet, it seems that the people haven't arrived yet." "

The salt of Yangzhou, the five of them are responsible for the north of Yangzhou, Huai'an, Fengyang, Xuzhou, Shandong, Henan, and even shipping to North Korea and the Wa Kingdom.

As he spoke, he nodded his head around from time to time, as if he was very familiar with these people, but this showed the embarrassing situation of the three of them, and the eyes of the people around him were all looking this way, and there was nothing wrong with nodding in return, but there was a problem with being too indifferent.

Although the salt merchants around were very curious about the strange three people, none of them came up to say hello and inquire about the details, and when the organizer arrived, they would naturally focus on the introduction.

"These people are all distributors of the five general merchants.

Zhu Cihong smiled, looked at the people around him, and knew in his heart that north of Yangzhou, extending to Shandong, several prefectures, and extending to Henan, the area is very large, and the five general merchants can't manage it, so they naturally need a lot of distributors to sell, which means that these five general merchants have obtained the general agency of government salt, and then delegate it to the following regional agents.

It's just that these are hereditary powers.

"It's coming!"

Suddenly, a voice sounded all around, and then everyone looked at the door, and Zhu Cihong and the three of them also turned around and looked at the door together.

I saw more than a dozen people walking in one after another, and then all of them greeted everyone with a smile on their faces, the few people who walked in the front nodded slightly, and the people who walked in the back said hello.

"This look shows that their identities and status are different, and the first few are probably the people from the Yangzhou government.

Zhu Cihong's eyes were fixed, looking at the middle-aged men walking in the front, with an extremely hypocritical smile and temperament, full of officialdom.

This group of people is the interest group that controls Yangzhou's economy!