Crown Prince of the Empire, I quit!

“That’s the problem.”

Guan Yue frowned slightly and pointed to the area on the northwest border of Daqian.

"During the Civil War, after you entered Beijing, you began to order the conquest of the northwestern lands."

"At that time, most of the wealthy merchants and prominent families in the northwest did not offer much resistance. Some even surrendered by sending money and food."

"Many of the big families in the northwest were not harmed, so they took the opportunity to develop."

"During the industrial development period in recent years, factories have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and many large families have several factories under their control."

Guan Yue’s words reminded Qin Ming of what happened back then.

The situation in the northwest has been very stable, which has made him relax his vigilance.

However, no one expected that there would be people so bold as to collude with the Western Regions and engage in secret smuggling.

The commercial tax collected by Daqian was not much compared with the more than 50% collected at a time by ordinary feudal dynasties.

Depending on the product, it is generally 10% to 30%.

In some feudal dynasties that emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce, commercial taxes could even account for 70%.

Qin Ming believed that under the current support he provided to them, the taxes he collected were already low enough.

“Why do they still want to smuggle despite all the help they receive?”

"It may be due to the internal fighting between the major families."

Guan Yue is in charge of the factory in Beijing and communicates with Wan Shu frequently on weekdays.

Therefore, I also have some understanding of the internal situation of these major families in the northwest.

"The materials produced must be traded, but there are differences between trades. After all, we have only opened up some civilian factories, and the products they produce are similar."

The situation described by Guan Yue made Qin Ming quickly understand the reason.

If the market is only this big and their goods are very similar, then they can only compete with each other among the major families.

In order to ensure their profits in the constant business competition, they can continue to fight with others.

They must look for opportunities to increase the profits they can obtain from each transaction.

So they set their sights on taxes from the imperial court.

There is nothing more profitable than smuggling.

So they chose to cooperate with the Western Regions, and the two sides smuggled each other with internal and external support.

This creates a situation of malicious competition. If others do this, we will definitely not be able to compete with them if our own factory does the same.

So gradually, all these big families started smuggling.

"Notify Liu Yueli and arrange for people to seize all smuggled goods, whether they come from the Western Regions or slip away from us!"

"But Your Majesty, such an overbearing approach will probably cause their dissatisfaction."

"That's fine. Let Jin Wansan and Wan Shu summon wealthy merchants from the northwest to Beijing in the name of the Beijing Chamber of Commerce and the Lingnan Chamber of Commerce."

Qin Ming spoke lightly, and soon, Wan Shu and Jin Wansan were called in front of Qin Ming.

Jin Wansan, who had experienced Qin Ming's methods before and had not yet recovered, was still a little frightened when he saw Qin Ming.

"Your Majesty, what do you want from me?"

Because Jin Wansan lost the competition with Qin Ming a few days ago, a large number of members of the Beijing Chamber of Commerce left.

The remaining chamber of commerce members also decided to temporarily remove him from his position as president.

Seeing that the storm had passed in the past few days, he returned to the Capital Chamber of Commerce and began to lead them to gradually resume factory construction.

Unexpectedly, Qin Ming turned around and called him back to the palace.

This made Jin Wansan very frightened.

He was afraid that Qin Ming would ask him to improve the workers' treatment again.

Then their factory will really be unable to operate.

"How are the improvements to the factory going lately?"

Qin Ming did not respond, but just smiled and patted his shoulder, personally pulled him to sit aside with a smile, and even poured him a cup of tea.

I saw Qin Ming making a gesture of invitation with one hand.

Jin Wansan nervously picked up the teacup with both hands and drank it all in one gulp. He was so frightened that he couldn't taste anything.

Seeing this, Qin Ming simply placed his hand gently on his shoulder, and the two seemed like old friends who had not seen each other for many years.

"Don't be nervous. I called you here today just to ask about the recent situation of the Beijing Chamber of Commerce."

"No... not very good."

Jin Wansan spoke hesitantly.

Since the workers' wages were improved, they have indeed worked much harder.

But correspondingly, Jin Wansan's profits also decreased.

This made it difficult for him to give an explanation to the big families that had invested money in him.

If it weren't for Qin Ming, the great Buddha, sitting in charge of the capital, perhaps the factories under the Beijing Chamber of Commerce would have to sacrifice the interests of their workers again under the pressure of the major families behind them.

"I'm planning to open a canal from the northwest to the capital. Do you have any ideas?"

Qin Ming naturally knew that the current situation of the Beijing Chamber of Commerce was not very good, and what he asked just now were just greetings.

Only then did he finally say what was in his mind.

As the saying goes, it is better to loosen than to block.

Just like the problem with the factories in the northwest, if their goods are forcibly seized, it may be okay once or twice, but if it happens too many times, the other party will inevitably resist.

It was for this reason that Qin Ming planned to build a canal from the northwest to the capital.

The canals in the capital connect to the four seas, providing an almost unlimited market.

If the canal could be built here, it would not only improve the size of the market in the northwest, but also allow their commercial activities to be controlled by the capital.

"This...building a canal for the northwest?"

"Well, a big canal that runs through more than a dozen state capitals."

Qin Ming spoke with a smile.

Jin Wansan thought he was daydreaming.

"Your Majesty, the cost of this operation may exceed 50 million taels of silver... Even if the Capital City Chamber of Commerce worked hard for 30 years, it might not be able to earn that much!"

"Who told you to take it?"

Qin Ming glanced at him and asked.

"You... do you want to take it?"

Jin Wansan was instantly ecstatic. If the imperial court paid for it, it would be a good deal for their Beijing Chamber of Commerce.

Maybe you can make a huge amount of money from it.

By then, no one would care about the losses of the previous factories, and his position in the Beijing Chamber of Commerce would be consolidated again.

"I take it?"

Qin Ming shook his head helplessly.

Jin Wansan is indeed a businessman, he only thinks about good things all day long.

In the end, Wan Shu, who often chatted with Guan Yue, understood Qin Ming and said with a smile:

"Your Majesty, do you want the wealthy people in the northwest to take the silver?"

"You are really smart."

Qin Ming nodded approvingly.

But after hearing this, Jin Wansan said in surprise:

"Your Majesty, how is this possible!"

The northwest is where the emperor is truly far away.

If you make them angry, they might do anything.

Qin Ming now wants them to take out tens of millions of taels of silver to build a canal, and to bring this canal under the control of the court.

It's impossible no matter how you think about it.

But Qin Ming had already thought of everything.

"Please, both of you, invite these wealthy people from the northwest. I will talk to them personally."