Please ask me to be the emperor

The summer harvest in the north usually occurs around the time of Ear Grain, from south to north, first in Nanzhi and Henan, and then in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces. The approximate date is between the end of May and June.

It has been more than two months since the rebels attacked Shanxi in early March.

In just two months, the wheat, which was originally as tall as a leek, has grown to nearly the height of a person; the green wheat seedlings have also turned golden.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, wheat had become the main crop in the "Yan, Qin, Jin, Henan, Qilu and other regions". "Wheat accounted for half of the staple food of the people there, while millet, millet, rice, and sorghum accounted for only half."

And in this season when the wheat harvest is expected, Han Xu, the rebel Taifu, Lei Chong, the prefect of Pingyang, and Li Jingu, the "Guo Zhang" Li Baihu, are sitting in the lobby of the government office, waiting patiently for something.

"Report, the heads of the merchant families have arrived!" At this moment, a group of people came in to report.

"Oh? Let them come in!" Han Xu, Lei Chong and Li Jingu couldn't help but smile at each other before giving the order.

Following Han Xu's order, a roll call was announced outside the door: "The Kang family in Fuli, the Wei family in Shizhuang, the Liu family in South Gao, the Wang family in North Chai, and the Yang family in South Zhao."

As the doorkeeper shouted, businessmen in rich clothes filed in one after another.

The leader was none other than Kang Siding, the "Kang Wanwan" of the Kang family of Dingding in the Ming Dynasty.

This man was young. When he saw Han Xu, Lei Chong and Li Jingu, he just stepped forward and bowed and then stepped aside without saying a word.

According to his thoughts, Han Xu, Lei Chong and others invited him here this time just to "collect donations."

With tens of thousands of taels of silver left and right, I should just send him to beggar.

In line with the mentality of "sending beggars away", not long after, the famous and wealthy businessmen of Pingyang Prefecture gathered together, and soon the entire government office was filled to capacity.

"Bah!" Pingyang Magistrate Lei Chong suddenly slapped the crowd, scaring everyone into silence, and then said.

"I invite you all to come here this time. I have nothing else to do. I just have something to say to everyone."

"A few days ago, some businessmen saw profits and were unjust. They openly colluded with the Tartars and opened the city gates, causing the city to fall. Their crimes are punishable!"

"Fortunately, Zhang Sanbai, the general under King Shun, used his life to defeat Jianlu and killed his famous king Azige."

"In order to serve as a warning to others and warn against lawlessness, I respectfully follow King Shun's order and spread it throughout the world. Please take a look."

Following Lei Chong's order, a yamen servant brought up a box, placed it on the table and opened it.

Someone couldn't help but stretched out his head to take a look, and suddenly trembled with fright.

"Really?" Some people didn't dare to look, but couldn't help being curious. They couldn't help but hurriedly asked those who had seen it in a low voice.

"How do I know? I've never seen this Jin Mingwang before?" The man almost felt sick, rolled his eyes after hearing this, and quickly suppressed the rising feeling in his throat.

"Who has seen this before?"

"Hey, I've seen it before! Make way, make way, let me see!" Don't say it! Although the Pingyang Commercial Gang is different from the Pingyao Commercial Gang and does more business in the mainland, there are always exceptions.

The "exception" stretched out his head and looked at it carefully for a moment, and couldn't help but exclaimed: "It's really him!"

"How about it, is it Azig?"

"Yes, it is indeed true. Who among the three hundred people in this group has such ability?"

"Oh, don't you have a granddaughter in your family who is in her prime years? Do you want me to help you ask someone to talk to you? If it happens, she can climb a high branch!"

"Hey, I can't reach that high, I can't reach that high!"

"Quiet!" Lei Chong slapped the gavel again, and this time everyone became more honest.

"You all already know about the execution of the famous king of Donglu. I'm afraid there are some things that you don't know yet. Let me remind you first!"

"Jiexiu Fan, have you heard of it? He has such a great reputation, but he colluded with the Tartars, and he will die a good death."

"Now, all the members of the Fan family have been killed, one hundred and twenty-seven, and they have lost all their property and women. Only Fan Yongdou and a few others have escaped, and the Zhangjiakou industry has not been closed yet."

"Ah?" When everyone heard this, a chill suddenly came to their hearts, and they felt a bit like a rabbit dead and a fox dead.

Relatively speaking, the Fan family is also a famous merchant family, and Fan Yongdou is also a rising star of the Fan family. It was once suppressed by the other three Jiexiu families.

Who would have thought that things in the world would be fickle, but in the end, the Fan family, which was flourishing like a flower, would be defeated first.

Everyone couldn't help but express their opinions: "Sir, don't worry, even if we are cut into pieces by swords, we dare not get involved with the Tartars."

"Okay, that's good!" Lei Chong smiled and nodded when he heard this, and then said with a smile, "However, not only the Tartars, but also the remnants of the Ming Dynasty must not have even the slightest connection with them, have you remembered them?"

"Ah? Remember it!" Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and they couldn't help but said something to their heart.

"The Jiexiu family, the Ji family, the Hou family and the Liang family are much smarter. When they heard that King Shun wanted to take the opportunity to find out those who were colluding with the thieves in the territory, they quickly wrote to His Highness, admitting that there were seven shares of the former Ming Dynasty puppet officials. Everything has now been dedicated to the rebels." Lei Chong smiled again.

"Remembering that he took the initiative to confess, His Majesty the King of Shun accepted only 50% of the shares of these companies, and distributed our logistics and transportation business to these four companies as an encouragement."

"Ah?" When all the merchants heard this, they couldn't help but curse: Straight bitches, you guys are willing to lick the buttocks of the thieves and lick it off yourself, so what are you doing to bring us out?

A full 50% of the shares, if you don't tell me, and I don't tell you, once the dynasty changes, wouldn't 30% to 40% of it fall into my own hands, and the remaining 10% or 20% will be used to manage the powerful people of the new dynasty.

"I don't know, have you ever been in this situation?" Lei Chong asked again with a smile on his face when he saw that everyone was crying without seeing the coffin.

"Ah? No, no, we definitely don't!" "Kang Wanwan" Kang Siding quickly took the lead and said, "Our Pingyang Commercial Gang cannot compare to the Pingyao Commercial Gang."

"They specialize in Tatar business. They do illegal business and inevitably collude with former Ming and puppet officials."

"We are different. We are businessmen doing serious business. How can we be like this?"

"Ah, yes, yes, what Brother Kang said is true!" Seeing that they had a backbone, everyone agreed.

"Really? I happen to have a list of names in my hand. They are all confessions made by the former pseudo-officials. Do you need me to read them over?" Lei Chong couldn't help but sneered after hearing this, "We have to wait for me to read them out. That's not the case. 'Leniency for those who confess' was replaced by 'sternness for those who resisted'."

"There is a time in life that must be fulfilled, but there is no time in life. Don't force it. Don't make too many calculations. If you accidentally plot yourself into something, don't be embarrassed when the time comes to 'collude with the remnants of the previous dynasty, confiscate the family and exterminate the clan'!"

"Ah?" Everyone suddenly started sweating on their foreheads after hearing this.

Be on guard against all odds, and never be on guard against the "shun thief" who has this trick.

You said that those officials of the Ming Dynasty fell into the hands of the rebels. In order to survive, wouldn't they ask for whatever they asked?

All the merchants, you looked at me, I looked at you, and you were helpless for a moment.

Lei Chong saw that the matter had come to this, and these people still couldn't see the situation clearly, so he couldn't help but sneered and called out: "'Kang Baiwan', I don't want the half of the shares you gave to me, you can give it to His Highness King Shun!"

"Ah? Okay!" "Kang Wanwan" Kang Siding felt cold all over and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Good guy, the good "hidden rules" were exposed by these fools like Jiexiu. Now I'm covered in words and I can't explain it clearly.

You give others a few percent of your shares, and you give "this government" a few percent of your shares. Now you have offended everyone who should be offended, and everyone who should not be offended.

"I don't want the shares of the Zhang family, the Li family, and the Wang family. Please give them to His Highness King Shun!" At this time, Tai Fu Han Xu had to take the initiative to express his position.

"Okay!" The heads of the three families responded awkwardly without saying anything to each other.

"Idiot, what time has it been? You are still hesitating here. Do you still want to have your home confiscated and your clan exterminated?" Han Xu couldn't help but cursed when he saw that they had no discernment at all.

"Think about what kind of people Zhang Wenyi and Wang Xiangyi were back then, how could they give birth to such descendants!"

Zhang Wenyi and Wang Xiangyi were the famous cabinet ministers Zhang Siwei and Wang Chonggu, the Minister of War.

Among them, the Zhang and Wang families were the descendants of these two people. Han Xu showed his feelings by showing his kindness.

"Ah? Our two families also dedicated the fifth floor to His Highness King Shun!" When the three families heard Han Xu's words, they couldn't help but hurriedly responded.

"Fifty percent?" Han Xu laughed angrily at them. King Shun wants 50%, so you will give 50% to the beggars?

"Ah? Seventh floor, seventh floor, a slip of the tongue, a slip of the tongue!" The heads of the three families responded with blood dripping from their hearts.

"Aren't you guys openly robbing him?" Seeing Han Xu's "insatiable greed", some people couldn't help but stood up and shouted loudly.

"Oh? 'Kang Wanwan', right?" Unexpectedly, as soon as the man finished speaking, Li Jingu couldn't help but stood up and sneered, "It is said that when the Shaanxi rebel army passed by, 'Chuang Jiang' had saved a large sum of money in Pingyang. I don't know. Do you know or don’t you know?”

"Ah?" "Kang Baibai" suddenly broke into sweat when he heard this and didn't dare to say a word.

It turns out that the Kang family is also a rising star compared to the others.

In recent years, he suddenly emerged as a wealthy businessman and became a wealthy businessman with a fortune of tens of millions. Therefore, there have been rumors that "the Kang family only made a fortune by devouring Li Zicheng's treasures stored in the Kang family."

Regardless of whether this matter is true or not, if Lei Chong, the prefect of Pingyang, and others follow this line of investigation, the destruction of the Kang family will not be far away.

"I and our Kang family admit it, and we will also hand over 70% of the shares!" Seeing the denial, the "Kang millionaire" gritted his teeth and offered "70%", "But this 70% cannot be dedicated to the rebels, only I can present it to His Highness King Shun."

This "Kang Baiwan" had a good plan. The country is a country, the country is a country, and the family is a family. Since it is also bleeding, it is better to just please "King Shun".

"Ah, yes, then our family will also be dedicated to King Shun Qicheng!" The others recognized "Kang Baiwan" at the first sight and couldn't help but imitate him.

Seeing that the matter was almost over, Li Baihu Li Jingu stood up and comforted him: "Everyone, I am also a businessman. Although I am not as big as your family, I still know a bit about the market."

"A businessman is uneasy without an official, and a businessman is not rich without an official. What is yours is yours, and what is not yours is yours. Don't reach out."

"I know that the 'clients' behind you are all very powerful. However, no matter how powerful they are, can they compare to His Highness King Shun?"

"Your Highness is the most noble person in the world. He possesses all kinds of treasures, including women's goods. He has everything, but you are missing hundreds of thousands of taels of silver?"

"His Royal Highness once told me that these shares and money are ill-gotten gains and the bad governance of the previous dynasty."

"Now that you have made the donation, Your Highness wants to set up a separate Ministry of Commerce to specifically manage the accounting, payment, expenditure and other matters of these shares, ensuring that every penny of them is taken from the people and used for the people, and no one dares to misappropriate them. For other purposes.”

"Everyone who pays the dividends will be named 'Members', temporarily designated as the seventh rank, without rank. The use of dividends from these shares needs to be notified to you every year and subject to supervision."

"If the imperial court is recruiting business or investment, priority will be given to 'Members of Parliament'. What do you think?"

"Ah? Is there such a good thing?" All the merchants were relieved of their resentment because of being "robbed", but instead they all beamed with joy.

What kind of business do you think this Shanxi merchant does?

It is nothing more than the trading of salt, tea, iron, grain, silk and other items.

Since ancient times, salt and iron were mostly sold exclusively, and even if they were not, they were still under official control.

The rise of the Shanxi merchants only relied on the implementation of the "Kaizhong Law" in the Ming Dynasty, which allowed them to gain access first.

Nowadays, these merchants have just changed their "owners". Not only can they obtain 20% of the shares, but their value has doubled, and they can deeply participate in the court's future business in an "official" capacity.

Since then, not only have everyone not suffered much damage, but they have fallen in love with the "new thigh", how can they not be happy?

Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but let go of their resentment and praised one after another: "King Shun is benevolent and righteous, none of us dare to disobey him!"

The story of the "owner" behind the Shanxi merchants is made up by the author and is the words of a novelist. However, judging from the situation in feudal society where most of these businesses had to deal with local officials, the support of officials was definitely indispensable behind these merchants. From the sale of salt in Hedong, the development of Wanli Tea Road, and smuggling to Mongolia and Houjin, how could each of the merchants have such abilities without the deep involvement of Ming Dynasty officials?