Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 155: Selling Crafts, Jinhui Tradition!
The precious light was cold and the money warehouse was even quieter.

Although there were only Jinyiwei Commander Lu Bing, Xuanda Governor Wang Chonggu and General Zhaoyong Ba Han Naji in the huge warehouse, the atmosphere was very warm.

Han Naji knelt on a pile of gold and silver, repeating over and over again: "One billion! One billion! I can't spend it all in my lifetime! I can't spend it all! I can't spend it all!"

Wang Chonggu was also unable to hide his shock, his body trembling along with his heart, and he murmured, "How can there be so many?"

Last year, the taxes levied by hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty amounted to only 45 million taels of silver.

Ten billion taels of silver, this is more than the taxes collected by the Ming Dynasty in the past thirty years.

Rich as a country?

Do not!
Your country cannot match my wealth!
Lu Bing smiled and said, "Governor Wang, your family is the financial owner of the Shanxi Merchants. Others may not know how the Shanxi Merchants made their fortune, but don't you know?"

Wang Chonggu's family had been the financial masters of the Shanxi Merchants for only about fifty years, but they had made a fortune of more than ten million taels of silver.

You should know that the Shanxi merchants had eight permanent financiers. During the past fifty years, the dividends distributed to the Jin merchants alone exceeded 100 million taels of silver.

The eight wealthy families are not static. Over the past thousands of years, countless families have been replaced, but the dividend distribution model has not changed much.

The amount of silver distributed as dividends has been incalculable so far. So how much silver did the entire Shanxi merchants earn?
The Shanxi merchants took root in Xishan, and most of the money they earned was spent in Xishan and remained in Xishan.

As wealth accumulates from generation to generation, everyone says that the south of the Yangtze River is rich, but how can they know the luxury of the West Hill?
Wang Chonggu couldn't help but think that Shanxi merchants could be traced back to Wu Shizhe, the father of Wu Zetian, between the Sui and Tang dynasties.

When Li Yuan and his son started their rebellion in Taiyuan, the timber merchant Wu family provided strong financial support. Li Yuan and his son began to conquer the world relying on the most elite Taiyuan army at that time and the financial resources of the Wu family.

Out of gratitude to the Shanxi merchants, after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, many new commercial towns were built in Jinzhou, Luzhou, Zezhou, Taigu, Pingding, Datong and other places.

Li Tang started his army in Taiyuan and made Taiyuan the northern capital, which straddled both sides of the Fen River and prospered in commerce.

Han Yu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, once described it in a poem: "Hearing the loud street drums, waking up in the morning feels like the dawn."

In the Song Dynasty, southern Shu, southern merchants, northern merchants, etc. were all famous local merchants, and the backbone among them were Xishan merchants and Huizhou merchants.

During the Song Dynasty, Xishan was located on the northeastern border. Most of the war horses needed by the Song Dynasty army were supplied by Northern Liao, and Northern Liao needed firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea and other supplies from the Song Dynasty even more.

In the second year of Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty's Zhidao reign, "a trading market was set up in the border states of Xishan to trade with the vassal states," and "merchants along the border went deep into the restricted areas" to conduct trade.

During that period, Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants grew wildly. There was nothing in the world that Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants dared not sell. As long as the price was right, the two merchant gangs could even sell themselves.

Traitor?

That's even less worth mentioning.

The two merchants of Jin and Hui have been selling out their country since ancient times.

Even the Zhao Song royal court was terrified and ordered the market to be closed several times. But just like the maritime ban, the geographical location was there, the land and the ocean were there, and it could not be closed or covered. How could it be possible to do it?

During the Song Dynasty, it was sold for a very good price by two business groups.

During the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan court ruled brutally and the business environment was destroyed, but the Yuan court ended the division among the Song, Liao and Jin dynasties. In particular, the completion of the Yuan court's post stations expanded the scope of commercial activities.

It can be said that it was under the rule of the Yuan court that Shanxi merchants spread from Taiyuan to all parts of the country.

When the Yuan Dynasty fell, merchants from Shanxi and Huizhou made a fortune again.

After buying two dynasties for a good price, no one has a complete idea of ​​the wealth of the Shanxi and Huizhou merchants. After entering the Ming Dynasty, the Huizhou merchants may have been confused for a short time, but they were surpassed by the Shanxi merchants at this time and became the world's number one merchant group.

The salt and tea permits of the "Kaizhong System" were the first to reach out to Shanxi merchants, who seized the initiative and occupied the vast majority of the salt and tea markets.

The most important thing is that it is reasonable and legal.

This was something that the Song court did not dare to give to merchants, but it was given to merchants by Emperor Taizu Gao.

With the business of "money makes money, and money makes more money", coupled with the skill of "traditional treasury selling", Shanxi merchants have sold two dynasties in the past thousand years and occupied the two golden chickens that lay eggs, salt and tea. Even Wang Chonggu felt that ten billion taels of silver was a bit too little.

For thousands of years, every fortune of Shanxi merchants has been soaked in the blood of the Han people.

Wang Chonggu remained silent. Although he had returned the Shanxi merchants' dividends of more than 10 million taels of silver to the emperor and the court long ago, he still couldn't help but look at his hands, which seemed to be covered in blood.

The ancestral tombs of the Shanxi merchants were dug up and their coffin lids were opened. As the "remnants" of the Shanxi merchants, at this moment, they all felt that it was natural.

"Everyone is guilty, and the fault lies with the Shanxi merchants." Wang Chonggu sighed.

Lu Bing glanced at him and said nothing, but it seemed as if he was saying, you still know.

The countless crimes of his ancestors and the "stolen goods" made Wang Chonggu's thick skin turn red. He had no choice but to drag others into the water, "including the Huizhou merchants!"

The Shanxi merchants and the Huizhou merchants were both doing the same thing: harming the people and selling out the country for money. The Shanxi merchants have a history of thousands of years, but the Huizhou merchants also have a long history.

Moreover, most Shanxi merchants were selling out their country, and the disaster they caused was foreign invasion, not direct harm to the people.

The Huizhou merchants are different. They are engaged in treason and collusion between officials and businessmen. They have one more way of harming the people than the Shanxi merchants.

"Oh?" Lu Bing suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

Yes.

The Shanxi merchants are worth billions.

So how much wealth did the Huizhou merchants have?

The Shanxi merchants were a scourge, and the Huizhou merchants were also a scourge. In the two capitals and thirteen provinces, how many officials colluded with the Huizhou merchants? In terms of sins and karma, the Huizhou merchants were not much worse.

Wang Chonggu saw Lu Bing's agitated expression and was startled, "Commander Lu, you are not serious, are you?"

Hui merchants are different from Shanxi merchants. Most of the officials colluded with by Shanxi merchants are in Xishan, in border towns like Datong and Xuanfu, and they cannot compete with the imperial court.

The roots of Huizhou merchants are in the imperial court and the cabinet. Hu Zongxian, who was just conferred the title of Marquis of Jinghai by the imperial court and served as prime minister, is from Huizhou, South Zhili. Most of his family members and fellow townsmen are Huizhou merchants.

The Ming Dynasty was established for 200 years, and Hui merchants had been operating in the Ming court for 200 years. To some extent, Hui merchants were equivalent to the court.

Lu Bing and the Jinyiwei would not risk the world's condemnation and try to shake those mountains and rivers, right?
Even Bahan Naji was startled and looked up at Lu Bing in shock.

The reputation of Huizhou merchants is not much less than that of Shanxi merchants, even among the Tatars.

"How will you know if you don't try?"

(End of this chapter)