The eldest son of the red mansion

Chapter 371 Chaos First Appears
Besides, Jia Ke has been too busy to keep her feet on the ground.Since the emperor had already made a move first, Jia Ke also launched a counterattack. The generals on the nine borders had already started to collect taxes. pressure.

And now the business gangs from all over the world are also moving as Jia Ke wants.

On this day, at the most famous restaurant in the city of Beijing————, the top figures of the three major business gangs have already arrived.

Among them, the Shanxi merchants were headed by George Yong of the Qiao family, the Anhui merchants were headed by Bao Shufang, and the salt merchants were headed by Wang Yinggeng.

These three are the top figures in the three major business gangs, and can even be said to be the leaders of the three major business gangs.The decisions made by the three of them can influence the direction of the three major business gangs.

The three people met today for no other reason than for the past few days, the army has been somewhat disobedient and has set up checkpoints at various important traffic intersections to collect taxes, which has seriously affected business exchanges.It can be said that these people are struggling, and they have to face the army's difficulties every step they take.

After the three big men came to the private room, they sat down at the table, and then there were all kinds of delicacies, like flowing water, and finally the three waved their servants to retreat.

Seeing that there were only the three of them left in the private room, George said, "What do you two think of the developments in various places during this time?"

Wang Yinggeng is the leader of the salt merchants. If it is wealth, the salt merchants now claim to control 1/4 of the world's wealth.Therefore, this Wang Yinggeng speaks with full confidence.

"These Qiu Ba are too ignorant of the rules, we should mobilize our hands to make them unable to eat and walk around."

Bao Shufang was the oldest, so he considered things the most carefully. At this moment, he said, "Nephew Wang Xian, be safe and don't be impatient. We haven't reached that point yet. Once we move like this, we will be caught in a dead end. Could it be that you can still control the whole world?" Changing all the military commanders and envoys?"

After hearing this, George Yong nodded, "Mr. Bao is right, it's just a little bit bad now. Let's not act rashly."

Wang Yinggeng was the youngest and had the fewest experiences. After hearing the words of the two of them, he felt a little disapproving, "What are you worried about? As long as it is issued by the imperial court, would these people still dare to defy it?"

After Bao Shufang finished listening, she shook her head in disdain and stopped talking.

As the leader of these business gangs, George Yong needs to mention him now, otherwise if something happens, both of them will suffer losses.

"Brother Wang, the situation is not good now. I think it's time for the imperial court to re-elect."

After Wang Yinggeng heard this, he couldn't help being dumbfounded. You must know that every change of dynasty is a big reshuffle of wealth.When the Taizu of this dynasty rebelled, it was their salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River who gave their full support. This is how they have made endless wealth for so many years since the founding of the country, surpassing Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants to become the number one in the world. If there is turmoil this time, in the end The result is hard to say.

Bao Shufang also saw the instability of the imperial court, nodded after listening to George Yong's words, and then said: "Nephew Qiao Xian is right, let's not do too much this time. It's better to wait and see how it changes, just lose some money , if there is a change in the court in the future, we will not be the first birds."

On the surface, George Yong nodded in agreement, but in fact, he was a little jealous of the two of them.This time, their Shanxi merchants have already suppressed the treasure.Perhaps because of the proximity to the water, the Shanxi merchants have now communicated with the Jiedushi of Xuanfu Town, and they have funded a lot of money and military supplies overtly and secretly.It can be said that the treasure has been pressed on Jia Ke.

But Qiao Zhiyong didn't want to share his secret with the two of them, because if this matter was not handled properly, the whole family would be wiped out.But once Jia Ke succeeds, the Shanxi merchants will continue to be the leaders of the world's merchant gangs, and they can even share the interests of the salt merchants. You must know that the Shanxi merchants have long coveted the wealth of the salt merchants.

After all, Wang Yinggeng is the leader of the merchant gang, so he calmed down after thinking about it, "Since that's the case, let's not care about these people this time. Let's ask people to make up the money, let the emperor make up for the food owed, and let the emperor make up for it. These Qiu Ba have nothing to say, and finally we will clear up the relationship and let these people go back to the camp."

Bao Shufang stroked his beard after listening and said with a smile: "Nephew Wang is right this time, we'd better wait and see what happens. When they're almost done fighting, we're betting on it."

Wang Yinggeng kept nodding his head on the surface, but in his heart he was thinking that the Salt Gang and the imperial court would prosper together, and that both would suffer.If the court is in trouble, it is not impossible for them to donate several million taels of silver to help the court tide over the difficulties.

So these three people had three thoughts, but they didn't know what the final outcome would be.

Within a few days, the news of the meeting of the three of them was delivered to Xia Shouzhong. After Xia Shouzhong got the news, he did not dare to neglect, so he also summarized some news about Jia Ke in the past two days. The emperor reported.

Xia Shouzhong carefully entered the East Nuan Pavilion with a few documents.The emperor's temper has been very bad these days. Is it because Jia Ke strongly suppressed the courtiers and suppressed comments that were unfavorable to him?
Jia Ke's strength made many ministers in the court wait and see. This is the first time I don't know how many times.Every time the emperor gained a little advantage, Jia Ke immediately counterattacked, making the courtiers who were leaning on the emperor waver again.

It was the same this time, the emperor had just reduced the military pay of Jia Ke’s troops, and the courtiers under him had just started arguing, and Jia Ke used strong means to suppress all these reactions, and even several of the emperor’s trustees were suppressed. Brother Jia was sent to go fishing in the South China Sea.

During this period of time, the emperor had no choice but to let Jia Ke deal with him.

Xia Shouzhong quietly came to the emperor's case with the documents, and then said softly: "Long live, this is the information from the lords in the past few days, there is also the news of the meeting of the three leaders of the merchant gang, and there is also the news of the meeting of the three leaders of the business gang. Ke's movements these days."

The emperor glanced at Xia Shouzhong blankly. That Xia Shouzhong was far worse than Dai Quan. It turned out that when the Supreme Emperor put Dai Quan in charge of the secret guard, there was never any error in the information, and the information compared to Jia Ke was also very accurate.

Now he has got the last trump card of the Supreme Emperor - the hidden guard, but this Xia Shouzhong is really useless. Since he took over the dark guard, the efficiency of the dark guard has dropped greatly.For Jia Ke, she was completely in a blind spot.

The emperor took these documents with a blank expression and looked at them carefully, the most important of which was about Jia Ke's situation.But this time Xia Shouzhong didn't give him any surprises, it was still a trivial matter.Although there is a lot of information about Jia Ke, they are all insignificant things.

So the emperor threw Jia Ke's information aside and continued to look at others.For other ministers, this information is very detailed.

Among them, there are three major business gangs, and there is news that each of them sent representatives to hold a meeting in the capital. Except that the content is not exhaustive, but the intentions of the three major business gangs can be roughly guessed.Once, the emperor offended the Three Dozens of Merchants.

These three major merchant gangs have lasted for several dynasties, no matter how the dynasties change, these merchant gangs have not wavered.The main reason is that the imperial court still needs them to communicate with each other from north to south.

One is that the forces controlled by the three major merchant gangs are very powerful. Back then, Emperor Taizu relied on the power of the Jianghuai Salt Gang to stand out in the world competition.

Therefore, the emperor did not dare to take the reaction of these three major business gangs lightly, but the emperor's current control over the border is indeed a little weak.Because of Jia Ke's rise, the military generals at the border saw their own promotion ladder.Many people now regard Jia Ke as their spokesperson in the imperial court, both openly and secretly.

Because of this, the emperor dared not act rashly. The emperor thought that the control of the three major battalions in the capital was not under Jia Ke.After all, these three battalions have been in the capital for nearly 100 years, and none of the generals among them has inextricable connections with the royal family.

But it was because he was not sure about the attitudes of the generals from all over the place that Jia Ke was left alone and did not dare to act.And this time, the military pay of Jia Ke's direct troops was severely deducted, which also meant to give the border generals some color.Let them know that without the court's reduction support, they would not even be able to support a single soldier.

Unexpectedly, Jia Ke's direct lineage would start to collect taxes at the border. This annual income can already fully make up for the lack of money and food given to them by the imperial court.

In addition to Jia Ke, other border generals also began to follow suit, collecting taxes everywhere in the border.Moreover, this trend has spread to the mainland, and the local army has also begun to set up checkpoints to collect taxes in various garrisons, and all passing merchants have to pay them a sum of money, which made the emperor even more worried, and he even felt a wave of fear .

The way for the court to control these generals is to control their money and food. If these generals have money and food, will they be loyal to the court?

And now that these three major business gangs have started to make trouble in the court again, it seems that they can't bear with these generals anymore.Wanting to use the power of the imperial court, the imperial court made up for the money and food, so that these Qiubas should return to their camps as soon as possible and stop making trouble.

After reading the information, the emperor thought for a while, and then asked Xia Shouzhong next to him, "Do you think I should stop the random collection of tolls by armies around the world?"

To be honest, in terms of trust, the emperor trusted Xia Shouzhong next to him the most. Even those people in the court who thought they were the emperor's confidantes were just regarded as pawns and tools by the emperor.

When Xia Shouzhong heard the emperor's question, he was shocked immediately.You must know that the Emperor Taizu once issued an imperial decree: concubines in the harem, and eunuchs who interfere with politics will be executed.

Xia Shouzhong immediately knelt on the ground and said to the emperor tremblingly: "Long Live Lord, this slave is just the emperor's dog. How can a slave speak for these important court affairs?"

"You are different from others, if I ask you to say it, just say it, I am a little undecided now?" The emperor's meaning is already very clear, and now the emperor is a little hesitant, not sure whether he should issue an imperial edict to stop the army from all walks of life Act indiscriminately.

Xia Shouzhong was indeed a bit embarrassed by the emperor. As the eunuch who raised the emperor since he was a child, he actually regarded the emperor as his junior since he had no descendants.

Now seeing the emperor's sincere inquiry, he boldly said: "I think the emperor is in a dilemma, mainly because he is afraid that these generals from various places will not listen to the imperial court's orders after they have money and food, and eventually become warlords."

Xia Shouzhong's words were right in the heart of the emperor. The emperor looked at Xia Shouzhong with admiration now. Xia Shouzhong was indeed not good at handling intelligence, but he was very scheming about these court intrigues.

Seeing the emperor's nodding, Xia Shouzhong was also relieved, so he let go of his courage and said: "Now the Lord Long Live is in a dilemma, and he has to make a choice. Is he worried about the warlord's separatist regime, or Jia Ke's plot to usurp the throne? The best of both worlds It’s light, another problem is slowly being solved, and this is the long-term solution.”

(End of this chapter)