Please ask me to be the emperor

Cheng Jia, a salt merchant from Lianghuai Province, received the support of Cheng Dagong and immediately rushed to She County, Huizhou Prefecture.

It is more than 600 miles from Yangzhou to She County.

Cheng Jia first took a boat and sailed up the Yangtze River to Taiping Prefecture in Nanzhili, which was later known as Wuhu. He then abandoned the boat for horses and headed south to She County.

It took three to five days to finally reach my hometown in She County. Cheng Jia quickly prepared a greeting card and went to visit the old patriarch Cheng Yandao.

When he arrived at the residence of the clan leader Cheng Yandao, he was directing two apprentices to dry the herbs in the yard.

When he saw Cheng Jia, he couldn't help but shake the medicine powder stuck to his body and said with a smile: "Isn't this Cheng Jia? Now that you are prosperous, why do you think of me, a bad old man?"

"You are laughing at me, aren't you?" Cheng Jia said with a smile, "I have earned a few things, but how can they compare to your contribution to helping the world by hanging a pot and accumulating virtue and doing good deeds?"

"What's more, you are only a few years older than me. How can you be called a 'bad old man'?"

"You have such a mouth, you can tell even the dead to live!" Cheng Yandao pointed at him and smiled, "Tell me, what's the matter that's worthy of your own visit?"

"Clan leader, let's talk in the room!" Cheng Jia looked at the apprentice next to him and whispered.

Seeing that he was mysterious, Cheng Yandao nodded and led him to a quiet place. Then he smiled and said, "What do you have to say? Don't tell me that you want to rebel!"

"Here! Even if this is not true, it's not far off!" Cheng Jia held up his palms and said with a smile.

scare? Cheng Yandao almost sat down on the ground and couldn't help but cursed: "What nonsense are you talking about? Are you willing to kill yourself?"

"Clan leader, don't worry, let me tell you in detail." Cheng Jia quickly calmed down his excitement and told him everything exactly.

"Are you trying to annihilate our entire clan?" Cheng Yandao was about to push him with trembling hands.

"Wealth is gained in danger, fame and fortune are gained in danger!" Cheng Jia said with a smile, "Clan leader, don't bother me, in the past I, Cheng Jia, was just a young boy who didn't even have enough to eat two meals a day, how could I earn such a family fortune? "

"Now, if the business is too big and I can't afford it by myself, so I am thinking about our clan, how can I have to withdraw the wealth I have acquired?"

"This" Cheng Yandao hesitated for a moment and then said, "Let's do this. I can't make the decision at this time!"

"If you insist on doing this, I'll call the most respected and powerful people in the family, and you can tell them what to do! If you can convince them, then it's up to you: if they insist on arresting you and reporting you to the official, then you will not be blamed for your life. Okay, do you dare to take such a gamble?"

"Why don't you dare? Please ask the clan leader to arrange it as soon as possible!" Cheng Jia responded decisively.

In fact, Cheng Jia was quite uneasy. There are many businessmen, scholars and famous doctors in the Cheng family. If others really want to find fault with him, then today will be his death anniversary next year!

But now the arrow is on the string and must be fired. If he backed down a little at this time, then more than a month's work, plus the cost of tens of thousands of taels of silver, would be all in vain.

Immediately, Cheng Jia returned to his old house to rest, and the clan leader Cheng Yandao quickly notified the famous and powerful people one by one.

Many of them are located in Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Huai'an and other places, and suddenly they cannot gather together.

Fortunately, She County is where the Cheng clan is located, and most people gather here. Some wealthy families also have people who are in charge of the family, and they all gathered together at once.

When the big guys were due, the seventh uncle and the eighth uncle slowly sat together.

When the patriarch Cheng Yandao told Cheng Jia what he said, everyone immediately became excited: "What are you going to do? You want to destroy our Cheng family and destroy our clan, but you won't succeed!"

Suddenly, everyone accused him of Cheng Jia Lai.

Cheng Jia resisted the pressure and stood up and couldn't help but said: "Seniors and elders, please be calm and listen to me clearly. I wonder if it will work or not?"

"No!" Before Cheng Jia finished speaking, someone had already said, "Cheng Shi'an dares to tolerate such treasonous remarks! Tie him up quickly and send him to the official!"

When Cheng Jia saw that this matter was not easy to handle, he couldn't help but said angrily: "How brave. Since you are afraid of the swords of the officers and soldiers, how can you not be afraid of King Shun's swords?"

The man couldn't help but hesitate, and couldn't help but defend himself: "The bandits are thousands of miles away, but the officers and soldiers are at the door of the house, how can we do this!"

"Although the officers and soldiers are powerful, but they don't hear private messages, who knows? Although King Shun is far away, he only needs to send a team of people to pretend to be common people and come quietly. Who can stop him?" Cheng Jia also asked.

Immediately, everyone in the Cheng family was submissive and did not dare to say a word.

Now King Shun is roaming across Henan, winning hundreds of battles, and beheading governors in succession. Even the Cheng family members in She County south of the Yangtze River have heard about it for a long time. Now that Cheng Jia's threatening words came out, many people suddenly did not dare to be the first to show off.

Cheng Jia then smiled and said: "I am also a member of the Cheng family, how can I harm myself?"

"It took several generations for us and the Huai salt merchants to overwhelm the border merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi, and become richest in the world in one fell swoop! Do you think this will end once and for all?"

"The profit from selling salt is only 11%. I heard that Shanxi businessmen now have liaisons with the Tartars and Houjin, and sell rice and grain, and the profits are dozens of times higher!"

"One stone of rice and wheat in the interior is worth only one tael of silver. The price of land in the border areas is high, and the price is only two taels! However, the Tatars and Jurchens are constantly famine, and rice is measured in dou. At the highest, the amount of money received per dou of rice was eighty taels. In recent years, the amount of money earned per dou of rice is one tael. The profit far exceeds that of the salt industry!”

"What?" The major salt merchants immediately became red-eyed and couldn't help shouting, "How dare they do this? Don't they have no law?"

"Wang Fa? How did everyone here get rich? Don't you have any idea?" Cheng Jia smiled.

If the Cheng family hadn't produced a number of Jinshi, and had connections with the Salt Patrol Censor, the Transport Envoy, etc., how could they have squeezed out the powerful Shanxi and Shaanxi salt merchants and monopolized the Lianghuai Salt Industry?

What king's law? The King's Law is the means by which salt merchants like them attack dissidents and make profits.

Sure enough, everyone couldn't help but calm down a lot after listening to Cheng Jia's words. Even those with a lively mind couldn't help but think: Since the salt merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi can turn to smuggling, why can't the salt merchants from Lianghuai and Huaihe do the same?

At this time, someone asked loudly: "I wonder how much profit can be made from smuggling grain and grass to the rebels?"

"But for grain, if you make one penny, you will make more than 300,000 yuan, and if you make two penny, you will make more than 600,000 yuan!" Cheng Jia sneered, "But that's it, that's all."

"Western Henan has been rich in gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and other hardware since ancient times, as well as jade, wood, medicinal materials, mountain treasures, furs and other specialties. King Shun promised that if we help him, he will entrust us to manage these!"

"Ah? There is such a thing!" The Cheng family suddenly became agitated.

Don't look at the small amounts of 300,000 taels and 600,000 taels. In fact, due to the sudden drop in silver imports at the end of the Ming Dynasty, a "silver shortage" occurred, and their actual value was far higher than the equivalent silver taels during the Qing Dynasty. Coupled with the right to mine metal mines and special products in western Henan, the businessmen of the Cheng family who were always willing to pay for every penny immediately became excited.