The eldest son of the red mansion

Chapter 561 Land
From this day on, in places unknown to the common people, the rich and powerful of those parties began to get together in the capital for some reason.

Many of these people came from various places, such as Shanxi merchants in Shanxi, Anhui merchants and salt merchants in Lianghuai, and those big families in Jiangnan.

After these people came to the capital, they didn't go to the flower streets and willow alleys to enjoy themselves, but got together in small groups and discussed something with each other.

And the most important of these people are the leaders of the three major business gangs. Every time there is turmoil in the court, the three of them are the first to come out.

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.

This time is no exception. In the Zhuangyuan building in the capital, the three major business gangs have already booked the Zhuangyuan building today, just for the three leaders to come here to gather.

Before noon, these three people arrived one after another. They entered the innermost private room, asked all the servants and entourage to retreat according to the usual practice, and then set up a banquet before starting to discuss matters.

Wang Yinggeng was the youngest of the three, so he was a little impatient, so he asked directly, "Is what happened this time true?"

George Yong looked at this impatient salt merchant and shook his head, "Don't be so anxious, let's drink first, and it's not too late to discuss things after we're full."

"Okay, my brother, I'm not in the mood to drink now. I'm almost done discussing the matter, and then I can eat as I like. That's the only way to be happy. Otherwise, I will always have things in my heart, and the meal will not be good."

Bao Shufang looked at him helplessly, "In that case, let's discuss things first."

George Yong could only nod his head, and then said: "I have received news from the senior officials in the court that Arslen Khan has returned from the west, and he has brought back a large number of slaves and mercenaries. I am afraid that he will not let it go this year." .”

Wang Yinggeng then asked: "What does that general in the court mean?"

George Yong picked up a glass of wine and took a sip, then said, "What else can you mean? Naturally, we have to go north to resist."

Bao Shufang was much older than the two of them, so he fell silent after hearing this.If someone else goes north, the old man is not optimistic, but he is still somewhat sure about Jia Ke.

Because Jia Ke has been invincible since his debut, and he has never lost even against the Tatar Jia Ke.

"If this is the case, then going north this time should not be defeated."

As the leader of the three of them, George Yong naturally saw the situation very clearly, "I also agree with the old gentleman, our prime minister was killed on the battlefield, and this time going north is to gather the strength of the whole country. It is sure to be able to hit the ground running and succeed in no time."

Wang Yinggeng was not thinking about this, "If this is the case, then it seems that the imperial court did not lie to us, and this time it will definitely get a lot of land."

Although Wang Yinggeng was the leader of the salt merchants, the land in the south of the Yangtze River was very precious, and most of it was in the hands of aristocratic families. Although they were rich, they didn't buy much land.

In ancient China, the land was regarded as the lifeblood. If it was not at the last moment, the land would never be sold.

Therefore, although these salt merchants are rich, the current government officials are pretty good, and there is no chance for them to plunder. Therefore, although they have spent a lot of money over the years, they have not bought much land.

This time, Jia Ke gave them a bad check, but they thought it was an opportunity. If the court could win, then a large piece of land in the north was waiting for them to collect.

Although Bao Shufang was optimistic about Jia Ke, he still didn't want to take risks when he was too old. "This is not the same as doing business. When the battle is fierce and dangerous, it may change at any time. I think it's better to be cautious."

George Yong sat there with the wine and kept thinking. He is not thinking about the land and the victory or defeat of the court, but the changes in the future situation of the court.

Jia Ke is Sima Zhao's heart now, and everyone knows it.This time, he made a promise to the wealthy businessmen all over the world to buy land, and many people invested in him only after looking at the land.

But George Yong didn't think so. Whether Jia Ke won or lost this time, it would not affect his control of the Central Plains.

Well, from now on, these businessmen may have to act according to the face of the Jia family. Now is just the opportunity to invest, otherwise, if they miss this time, it will not be easy to show their faces in front of Jia Ke in the future.

After thinking about it, George Yong said to the other two people: "I see that this time the army going north still has a chance to win. We invest a little bit to show the face of the imperial court."

Bao Shufang shook his head when he heard this, "I'm getting old, and I can't stand such fear. The world from now on will belong to you young people, so I won't get involved this time."

Wang Yinggeng curled his lips after hearing this. This old man was too cautious. Although Huizhou merchants have developed steadily in the past few years, they have begun to lag behind Shanxi merchants and salt merchants. It is because this old man is too conservative.

After hearing Bao Shufang's decision, George Yong asked Wang Yinggeng, "Brother, what do you think?"

Wang Yinggeng's eyes are red now, just thinking about the fertile land in the north, you must know that in ancient times a family's land was the foundation, otherwise, no matter how much money you have, you will not be valued by those gentry.

"I have nothing else to say. I have raised 150 million dans of grain, and this time I will donate all of it to the imperial court for military use."

George Yong nodded after listening. Although Wang Yinggeng was a little reckless, he still dared to fight hard. This time, he made such a big investment. If the court wins, it will at least get hundreds of thousands of acres of land. In the future, Wang Yinggeng will have Not at all.

George Yong also expressed his final decision: "I also decided to donate 250 million dans of grain to the court. After all, the Tatars invade the south every year. If we don't teach them a lesson this time, we will have a hard time doing business."

Bao Shufang looked at these two people and shook his head, thinking in his heart, he is still young, he doesn't know how hard it is to be successful, they donated so much food at once, although it won't make them short of money, but once they lose money, it may take a long time for business It is about to shrink, but this is also good, just to allow the Anhui merchants under his command to erode their territory. The two of them have developed too much in the past two years. If this continues, I am afraid that there will be no foundation for people like myself .

So these people stopped talking about the court affairs, and started drinking and having fun.

In the next few days at the Ministry of Households, many people began to donate grain to the imperial court. In particular, George Yong from Shanxi merchants donated 250 million dans of grain, and Wang Yinggeng from salt merchants donated 150 million deniers of grain to support the imperial court’s Northern Expedition.

After Jia Ke knew this, he understood the meaning of these two families. One was for the land in the north, and the other was to present a certificate of honor for himself.

That being the case, Jia Ke accepted their kindness. After all, the world's commerce still depends on these few companies.

In addition to them, other rich merchants in the capital also started to act. These people saw that even the leaders of the three major merchant gangs had already donated grain to the court to buy land. What is so scary about these small households?
As a result, these people almost broke through the threshold of the household department. Because there were so many people who came, even Liu Wan, the secretary of the household department, had to come out to receive them in person.

Liu Wan registered the names of these people and the number of grain and grass to be donated, and then he was a little surprised that the grain added up to more than 300 million dans.

If the grain donated by the Shanxi merchants and salt merchants were added to it a few days ago, this figure was much higher than Jia Ke's stipulated figure.

The extra food and grass are all land, so Liu Wan can't make the decision by herself, so she hurried to the palace to report to Sun Yan, the chief minister of the Military Aircraft Department.

Sun Yan got the news from Liu Wan, pondered for a while, and then said: "Since ancient times, there have been ups and downs in business. Since there are so many people buying, then we should increase the price."

Liu Wan also worked in the household department for so many years, so she naturally understood what Sun Yan meant.

Liu Wan tentatively said, "Then what does Mr. Yishoufu mean?"

"Calculate the total amount of these grains, and finally see how much land we can get, and then distribute them equally."

Liu Wan nodded immediately after listening, and this was the only way to do this matter.

The next day, the imperial court's disposal plan was announced to the world, and the wealthy landowners all talked about it when they heard the news.

This matter seems to have disadvantages, but it does not mean that it is not beneficial. It depends on how much land the court can obtain in this round of war.

If the land they get is small, they will naturally suffer. If the imperial court wins and seizes a large area of ​​land, even if the imperial court does not sell all the land, they will not suffer.

Merchants and rich landowners from all over the world felt relieved one after another, and some even regretted that the donated food was less.

When Jia Ke was actively preparing to go north, Arslen Khan in the north was not idle.

In the past few years, Arslen Khan's life has not been going well. At the beginning, because of Jia Ke's relationship, the grassland tribes began to split.

In the past few years, Arslen Khan had to concentrate his forces on the Western Regions, but in the Western Regions, he encountered a big food in black clothes. These soldiers armed with religion were not afraid of death. They were almost pushed back.

Fortunately, Arslen Khan was quite strategic. He fought against the masters in black several times and defeated them all, and expanded his land to the west for more than 1000 miles.

Now that the big food in black has been beaten by Arslen Khan, he has no temper at all, so he can only cede the land for peace, so Arslen Khan can take a large number of slaves and mercenaries with the attitude of the winner Returned to the grassland.

Arslen Khan now once again focused his attention on the south, where his lifelong enemy lay.

(End of this chapter)