Chapter 390 A Plan to Dig Deeper (Please Subscribe)

In fact, the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou are still quite important in the entire power structure in Jiangnan.

The main thing is that the big salt merchants are willing to spend money, that is the fundamental thing.

There are many academies in the Jiangnan area. The Yangzhou salt merchants donate money in units of ten thousand taels to academies in various areas of the Yangtze River every year. They can be said to be big benefactors.

The academies across Jiangnan are the core of Jiangnan Shilin.

Similarly, academies across the Yangtze River were still the headquarters of officials from the Southern Department in the imperial court.

Just like the Donglin Academy back then, the great salt merchant in Yangzhou had the idea to act like a squire in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty.

However, because the reputation of the Donglin Party was so bad, both the Donglin Academy and the southeastern coastal gentry group were suppressed by the imperial court, either openly or covertly, and then they went dormant and allowed academies across the Yangtze River to gain momentum.

Later that year, Jin Tieqi entered the pass and entered the capital, and took charge of the northern power for a period of time.

Things like the Donglin Party leader's scalp was itchy and the water was too cold, actually happened.

Emperor Daqian naturally hated the Donglin Party so much that there was basically no possibility of its revival.

However, the current Jiangnan Academy and the original Donglin Academy are no longer the same.

It represents the entire Jiangnan Shilin, not the representatives promoted by the southeastern gentry.

The same is true. Although the big salt merchants in Yangzhou donated silver almost every year, unfortunately they did not get much positive feedback and were unable to intervene in the normal operation of the academy.

In the end, the big salt merchants in Yangzhou seemed to be taken advantage of.

Moreover, their gift of silver is indeed a great help to the finances of major academies in Jiangnan.

If the payment is suddenly stopped, it will naturally not affect the normal operation of major academies in Jiangnan. However, the daily welfare benefits of teachers and students in the academies will definitely drop by one or two levels.

This time, several academies that received silver gifts from big salt merchants every year did not feel well.

The sponsor’s father actually refused to give any silver as a gift. This is simply unreasonable!

Isn't the sponsor's father afraid that the academy will make them lose face?

The two big salt merchants in Yangzhou who quietly took refuge with Prince Zhongshun were really not afraid of public opinion.

At this time, they had slowly begun to shrink the property at hand according to the instructions of Prince Zhongshun, and began to relocate some of their properties.

The various forces in Jiangnan are intertwined. Once a certain force makes a move, it cannot be hidden from anyone.

Then, the two major salt merchants in Yangzhou were exposed!

Immediately, the scholars in the several academies who had lost the gift of silver began to criticize and criticize him in various ways.

Anyway, the curses were quite unpleasant, which made the two major salt merchant families quite unhappy.

Co-authored, could it be that all the investment they had made in the past years had been fed to dogs?

Originally, there were still some ideas in my mind that I wasn't comfortable with, but why would I care about those now?

They simply expressed their attitude openly and openly: they had taken refuge in the clan forces headed by Prince Zhongshun, and even most of the entire family's strength would go to the outer sea territories to fight!

One stone stirs up a thousand waves!

All the forces in Jiangnan were confused by the actions of these two major salt merchants.

How is this going?

Is a good, wealthy salt merchant going to the open sea to fight for his life if he is not good enough? Is his brain damaged?

Anyway, the subsequent impact was quite astonishing.

The clan forces that were originally sucking blood from them saw that they were one of their own, so they naturally relaxed their blood-sucking movements and waited to watch the next actions of these two families.

As for other forces, it is impossible to let go of their huge fatness, but they have secretly begun to select replacement salt merchant families. These two major salt merchant families will definitely become lonely quickly.

In fact, this is also true. Whether it is the share of private salt or other interests related to private salt, it has become shaky. After all, everyone wants a stable income.

The two major salt merchants were unhappy, and in a rather obscure manner, they publicized to their peers the huge benefits they could get by joining the Queen of Zhongshun County!

Be granted an official title, be rewarded with a title, and maybe even become the lord of a small offshore territory!

At the same time, he can also lead the commercial affairs of the overseas territories, and the money he can earn is no less than selling private salt.

The key thing is that in the future, he will completely get rid of his identity as a 'merchant' and become one of the powerful people in the overseas territories. The prosperity and wealth of future generations will also be guaranteed.

Now, it was the turn of the other six major salt merchants to be interested...

In short, as the two major salt merchants in Yangzhou took refuge, the situation in Jiangnan began to become chaotic.

Naturally, it affected the court, who was a big salt merchant with a net worth of tens of millions!

Despite the so-called low social status of salt merchants, their energy and influence are quite huge.

Once one is determined to embrace the outer sea territories, it will have a considerable impact on all forces.

The most important thing is that the inside story of the many supervisory censors who encountered obstacles in their journey south may be revealed to the world, which would be a big deal.

"Awesome, Jia Huan's idea is really great!"

Prince Zhongshun was also stunned by this series of changes.

The main thing is that the situation in Jiangnan, which originally seemed to be monolithic, has a lot of cracks.

If Prince Zhongshun was just surprised, then the current emperor was extremely happy.

He has always wanted to break the situation in Jiangnan, but unfortunately his past efforts have had no effect at all, which is better than nothing.

The reason is actually very simple. I know it very well now, but there is nothing I can do about it.

There are at least two cabinet ministers who are from Jiangnan, and there cannot be any less!

Although the current emperor has never heard that economic status determines the superstructure, he also deeply understands that the economically developed Jiangnan region must have representatives in the cabinet.

Otherwise, things in Jiangnan will be very difficult to deal with!

The aristocratic families there are quite powerful, and due to the distance, it is difficult for the imperial court's tentacles to spread over there, so their influence is naturally quite average.

The southeast of Qianming Dynasty is the best example!

It can be said that no matter which emperor in Daqian reigns, he will be wary of the Jiangnan region!

The method adopted before was to constantly bury nails and seep sand. Whether it was Xue Pan's damn father or the Zhen family, the largest wealthy family in Jiangnan, this was basically how they gained momentum.

It's a pity that in the end, these guys all fell to the local forces in Jiangnan.

Especially the Jinling Zhen family, which was single-handedly supported by the Supreme Emperor, has now become the largest wealthy family in Jiangnan. In the end, it has become the spokesperson of Jiangnan's power.

Every time I think about this, I want to curse angrily, how unreasonable.

If the Supreme Emperor was not still alive and well, the Zhen family in Jiangnan would have been ransacked long ago.

Now I am getting a little impatient with waiting, but I didn't expect to find a breakthrough from a big salt merchant in Yangzhou.

What else is there to say?

Anyway, the royal family members, including him, have no favorable impressions of all the forces in Jiangnan.

If they work internally, it will be the best thing for the court and today.

There must be a fight behind the scenes. If the matter doesn't cause a big fuss, how can the court intervene?

Here, Prince Zhongshun also had some thoughts.

"Chang Shi, do you think that if something happens to the big salt merchant in Yangzhou, is it possible for us to send the sun-dried salt from the seaside to Daqian on a large scale?"

Palace Chief Shi was stunned for a moment and said, "It's hard to say this. It depends on what you think now!"

"How to say?"

Prince Zhongshun became interested and urged: "Speak clearly!"

"Your Majesty, the last time Xiaguan and General Jia met quietly, General Jia showed Xiaguan a relatively detailed plan, which included a plan for a large-scale flow of sun salt into Daqian!"

"The reason why the imperial court controls salt and iron is mainly because it involves quite huge interests, and it is one of the largest sources of revenue for the national treasury!"

"Once something goes wrong, not to mention the sharp drop in treasury revenue, the entire world may be affected!"

"We all know that Qian Ming basically died because of the empty treasury!"

Prince Zhongshun nodded repeatedly, but said rudely: "That boy Jia Huan is really impressive. He even has such a plan?"

If it were in the past, he would definitely be afraid of him and would try every means to kill him.

But right now, as long as Jia Huan doesn't act so evil and doesn't have any flaws, they can still work together well.

After all, the outer sea is vast, and he hopes that his allies will be as powerful as possible, so that when the time comes to seize and develop the outer sea territory, it will be easier.

In fact, a group of royal family bosses, including him, have begun to put pressure on today.

At present, their territory on the offshore Ezo Island has been clearly divided and has entered the construction and development stage.

At this time, the current emperor had better give him a name, otherwise there may be trouble in the future.

Isn't it just a matter of sealing off the country outside the sea? So far, no clear answer has been given.

Anyway, Prince Zhongshun, who has suffered a lot from the current hands, is not in a good mood.

Sometimes, it is inevitable that he would have some idea to teach the present a profound lesson, so that he could get busy and have no intention of scheming against these royal family members.

The princes currently under my knees are also starting to grow up.

If we really wait until most of the princes have reached adulthood, who knows if they will have evil thoughts now?

It would be terrible if the princes under his knees took over all the offshore territories in the hands of their royal family members.

The possibility of such a thing is not high, but one has to be prepared.

After all, no one can guess the current emperor’s deep thoughts!

Naturally, the official history of the palace was unclear. Prince Zhongshun thought so much in a short period of time.

At this time, he said with some anxiety: "Since the court wants stable salt tax revenue, is it possible for us to give up the share of official salt and directly use fixed or incremental silver coins every year to increase the official salt revenue?" Buy all the shares!”

"Isn't what you said just to seize the share of private salt?"

Prince Zhongshun laughed and scolded: "You still talk in such a roundabout way, who are you trying to fool?"

"Your Majesty is wise and can spot the clues at a glance!"

Prince's Chief Shi complimented, and then smiled and said: "Your Majesty is right, we will use sun salt instead of private salt. Anyway, we have paid money to the present and the national treasury, so we are more reliable than those private salt dealers." too much!"

"As a result, those salt merchants, big and small, will probably have no chance of survival!"

Prince Zhongshun said angrily: "It's not like you don't know how powerful these guys can be together!"

"Seeing that they have no way forward, don't they have no choice but to find a way to the open sea?"