Rise From the Humble

On this day, there was an endless stream of government officials who came to the imperial envoy’s office to “voluntarily” pledge to donate money. The carriages and sedan chairs coming in and out of the imperial envoy’s office insisted on blocking the wide avenue in front of the imperial envoy’s office, blocking hundreds of people in one breath. meters away.

It was rare to see such a traffic jam in ancient times, and Zhu Pingan felt like he was dreaming back to modern times.

Yes.

Zhu Ping'an also came, and he came with Deputy Envoy Bai. Deputy Envoy Bai came to accept the donation on behalf of the Zhejiang Procuratorate, and Zhu Pingan came to acknowledge the donation on behalf of the Zhejiang Army.

When he came to the gate, Zhu Pingan found that not only the yamen, but also the country gentry and wealthy businessmen from Yingtian and the surrounding areas had come.

Zhu Pingan found a rich businessman with a big belly to find out about the situation, and learned that they had received verbal notifications from the officials of Yingtian Household Department, Ministry of Industry and other departments, that is, conveyed Zhao Wenhua's intentions on their behalf, and asked them to voluntarily pledge their money to come. Support Jihai.

There is a constant stream of traffic in front of the imperial envoy's office; inside the imperial envoy's office, there is a bustling bustle of people.

This scene was the same as the imperial yamen holding a wedding. Five large tables were set up in the courtyard of the yamen, and five clerks were keeping accounts behind the tables. There was a row of big boxes under their feet, full of clear gold and silver, and piles of silver bills, piled up like mountains of gold and silver, the golden light almost blinded people's eyes.

Officials, squires, and wealthy businessmen lined up to report the name of the thick yamen or Genjiao, and handed in the silver taels that had been raised. After the clerks carefully counted and confirmed the amount was correct, they recorded it one by one in the account book.

Zhu Ping'an and Deputy Envoy Bai lined up, and after handing over the silver taels, they didn't even get Zhao Wenhua to meet him.

There are many people who want to meet Zhao Wenhua, but only those officials, country gentry, and wealthy businessmen who have exceeded their quota or greatly exceeded their silver taels are eligible to meet Zhao Wenhua in person.

Zhu Pingan inquired at the scene and said that only those with more than three thousand taels had the chance to meet Zhao Wenhua.

Is it more than three thousand taels?

Of course it's a lot, and most officials' salaries these days are only a few dozen taels a year. However, there are still many people who are willing to pledge more than 3,000 taels, most of them are country gentry and wealthy businessmen, especially wealthy businessmen.

At the scene, Zhu Pingan heard that a rich local businessman in Yingtian paid a full 10,000 taels of silver, was received cordially by Zhao Wenhua, and was also qualified to have dinner with Zhao Wenhua.

As for the amount of silver that can be shared for dinner, there is no clear standard, and it was determined by Zhao Wenhua himself after being interviewed by Zhao Wenhua. It is said that six people have already obtained the qualifications to have dinner together, and all of them have pledged at least 6,000 taels of silver. It's a bit like a Buffett charity dinner, isn't it?

Zhu Pingan estimated that Zhao Wenhua could receive more than one hundred thousand taels of silver today conservatively...

Daily progress is not enough to describe it, no wonder Zhao Wenhua will stay in Jiangnan for so long in the future.

The richness of the southeast coast can be seen from this scene.

Zhu Pingan walked around the crowd, silently memorizing the names of those squires and wealthy businessmen who were received by Zhao Wenhua, especially those who were eligible to have dinner with him.

These people who sent large sums of money to Zhao Wenhua had some problems.

At present, merchants who are doing business normally in the southeast are generally not willing to give away so much money, and there is no need to spend such a large amount of money. Of course, some businessmen who want to cling to the powerful are not ruled out, but they are a minority after all.

At present, the most profitable industry in the south of the Yangtze River is sea trade smuggling, especially after the sea ban, the huge profits of sea trade smuggling are beyond imagination. Many businessmen and local gentry took risks and participated in smuggling, and many officials also secretly participated in smuggling.

At present, although the capitalism of the European countries is developing, Daming is definitely a well-deserved world economic center and trade center. Overseas markets, including Japan, France and other European countries, have a growing demand for silk, porcelain, cotton cloth and other commodities from the Ming Dynasty. Blowout high-speed growth.

However, Daming now implements a sea ban. Officially, the channel for sea trade with Daming was completely cut off.

However, the huge overseas demand for Ming products is still there. As long as silk, porcelain and other commodities are transported to the sea and traded with the countries of Japan and Europe, they can get ten times or a hundred times the profit return, which is exactly the same as stealing money.

The huge benefits prompted gentry and businessmen in many places along the coast of Daming to take risks and start smuggling at the risk of genocide in violation of the imperial ban. Some officials also secretly took shares and participated in smuggling.

In addition to the risk of being investigated by the imperial court, smuggling overseas also has its own risks. There are no rules at sea, and the weak and the strong prey on the strong, and there is a risk of being robbed.

Therefore, group smuggling and armed smuggling are prevalent, and sometimes smuggling will also be part-time plundering, and some directly become big pirates. This is how Wang Zhen evolved into big pirates. It is not uncommon to have secret connections with Japanese pirates.

In many cases, when the imperial court was suppressing the Japanese, these people were the ones who colluded with the Japanese pirates, informed the Japanese pirates of the movements of the officers and soldiers.

Combined with the background of Zhao Wenhua's coming to worship the sea and suppress the Japanese, Zhu Ping'an can almost conclude that most of the businessmen, gentry and officials who sent Zhao Wenhua a large amount of benefits were smuggling participants.

Smuggling makes huge profits. When domestic goods are shipped overseas, the profit is more than ten times. Making money is like a strong wind, so they don't hesitate to bribe. At present, the main source of bribes for the strict party is people like Jiangnan.

With the asylum of Zhao Wenhua and others, they can get special care to protect their smuggling business, and they can also avoid disasters in the suppression of Japanese.

Spending money to buy safety, spending money to buy umbrellas, they are willing to pay this money, and they are rushing to pay.

Zhu Pingan secretly remembered these people in his heart, and followed the clues. They may be a breakthrough in the future.

Today, I bought this information with two hundred taels of silver, Zhu Pingan comforted himself.

The endless stream of traffic in front of the imperial envoy's office did not gradually thin out until dusk.

It wasn't until evening that it finally quieted down.

Inside the imperial envoy's yamen, Zhao Wenhua looked at Wu Tai's box of gold and silver and a box of silver fruits in the genus.

A total of 120,000 taels of silver, Jiangnan, Jiangnan, is indeed a land full of fat and oil, and it is really the right time to come out this time.

hehe

I really don't want to miss Shu.

However, Zhang Jing is really hateful, stubborn and determined to fight against me! He even kicked out the person I sent after being scolded and kicked out. Beating a dog depends on the owner, he doesn't give him any face!

"Have all parties sent the money?" Zhao Wenhua looked away from the money and asked the confidant accountant brought from the capital.

"Basically all have been delivered." The confidant accountant replied, "Except for Governor Zhang's Yamen, Zhejiang Governor Li Tianchong, and Chun'an Magistrate Hai Rui and a few other Yamen who did not send money, the other Yamen have sent."

Zhang Jing still didn't send the money in the end, he was determined to fight against me! And Li Tianchong, the old bastard!

Who is Hai Rui? Where are the people who are trying to catch fame and reputation, I have written it down, just wait, there are good fruits for you to eat!

Zhao Wenhua's face was a little displeased, and he confirmed again, "Has the money assigned to the Zhejiang Army been delivered?"

"Master Zhu sent it early." The confidant accountant replied.

"It's quite interesting." Zhao Wenhua was slightly satisfied.