The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 128

With the lifting of the curfew, the people of the entire Nanjing city were relieved, and then it was discovered that a large number of restaurants, shops, and casinos were seized.

Fully half of the brothels along the Qinhuai River are closed, and the hooligans who roamed the city in the past have all disappeared.

Instead, they were replaced by teams of Jingying soldiers, walking the streets and alleys, responsible for maintaining law and order.

The [-] capital battalion was all used by Hong Niangzi as the soldiers and horses of the five cities, to guard the gates and walls, and to patrol and prevent theft. The former inspection department of soldiers and horses was all abolished.

These people are so angry that they dare not speak out, but they can only find another way out.

Fortunately, these people who were dismissed have already made a lot of money.

The appearance of the whole city of Nanjing is completely new.

Wei Guogong and other nobles are not just as simple as a dozen nobles, but represent the interests of one of the Jiangnan.

The largest interest group in Jiangnan must belong to the local gentry. On the surface, these people cultivated their families and became officials through the imperial examinations, but secretly they were doing business, and even operating maritime trade.

It has long been unclear whether it is an official or a businessman, and the Donglin Party is their representative in the court.

This is a very huge interest group, and at the same time, it is very complicated and loose internally. Jie controls almost [-]% of the world's wealth.

The other side is the forces headed by Xungui. After more than 200 years, countless businessmen also rely on them to survive.

Compared with the complexity and instability of the government-business group, the Xungui Group is relatively simple and stable. The reason for this is naturally that Xungui is hereditary.

The last party is the eunuch group mainly composed of Nanjing guarding eunuchs. These eunuchs rely on the imperial power, and to put it bluntly, they are here to make money for the emperor.

It's a pity that the big heads were taken by themselves, and the small heads were handed over to the emperor. Almost all walks of life wanted to intervene, and they were extremely greedy and unruly.

It is the existence that both nobles and officials and gentry groups hate, and the eunuch group is also the most unstable.

The Apocalypse Dynasty almost reached its peak, and the Chongzhen Dynasty fell to a trough in the early stage, and then slowly recovered in the later period. After the thieves besieged the capital in March this year, the eunuch group was knocked down again.

After the rumors spread, they were completely wiped out by the official and gentry group, leaving only Nanjing guard eunuch Lu Jiude hiding in the palace with a group of eunuchs.

There was a big reason why the Jiangnan officials and gentry wanted to set up a new monarch and refused to recognize Zhu Cihong's orthodox status. They wanted to take advantage of the blank period of imperial power to kill and expel the eunuchs from all over the country.

So now that the honorable group has been eradicated by Hong Niangzi, the government and business groups are celebrating behind their backs, waiting to take over these noble industries and power.

Indeed, with the news that Xungui was copied, the businessmen who used to be attached to them began to look for new backers.

In the imperial palace, as the properties of the nobles were gradually counted out, countless shops in almost all parts of Nanjing and surrounding counties were sealed every day.

Except for a small number of shops, restaurants, brothels and casinos that have been sealed, most of them are directly owned by Xungui.

It can be said that Xungui is the backer and owner of the largest gray industry in Jiangnan.

This undoubtedly shocked Hong Niangzi and Zhang Yan beyond measure.

"Ying'er, those lands, manors, and mansions are all easy to deal with, but what about these shops, restaurants, brothels, casinos, etc.?"

"We can only sell them all. It is impossible for us to operate so many industries. Those who hold shares, I will spread the word that if they want to unblock them, they have to come to Nanjing to pay money to buy shares, and directly operate the properties before selling them!"

The red lady thought about it and said.

The manor and mansion must be sealed up, and she plans to distribute the property to the [-] brothers she brought with her in the future. Both of these are easy to deal with, but the things that are difficult to deal with are the industries run by the nobles and the industries in which they have invested.

After Hong Niangzi released the news, all the officials, gentry and businessmen in Jiangnan were furious and cursed.

It's fine for Hong Niangzi to sell those properties directly operated by the nobles, but those so-called holding shares are not the case at all.

Almost all of them are businessmen's own business, and they just verbally say that they will give away [-] to [-]% dry shares, and donate some money every year to keep them safe.

From everyone's point of view, even the nobles were confiscated and allotted, so naturally there is no such thing as dry stocks or non-dry stocks.

But the fact is that now as long as the shops and mines related to Xungui are sealed, they are sealed.

Everyone can't figure out how the imperial concubine can investigate so clearly?

Naturally, they didn't know that they were judged. Every time a family was judged, Hong Niangzi would send a steward to lead the way, and then went to the local area to put a seal.

The ugly appearance of Hong Niangzi's food naturally aroused public outrage, and a pot of porridge was fried in the hall for several days, but Hong Niangzi just killed her with one bite, and would not break the seal if she didn't pay the money.

In the end, the officials had no choice but to compromise. Fortunately, there was not much money, so there was no other way. The seal was always a troublesome hidden danger, and it might be copied one day.

After more than half a month of getting along with each other, everyone has already understood Hong Niangzi's temper, and they can definitely do such a thing.

Restaurants, shops, casinos, and brothels and red ladies from all over the country were also on sale. For a while, the officials, gentry and businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River almost robbed their heads.

Hong Niangzi is no longer interested in silver now, she just wants to end this mess quickly.

However, under Chen Yuanyuan's persuasion, the dozens of brothels and hundreds of flower boats along the Qinhuai River have not been sold for the time being. These are all industries directly operated by Xungui.

"Your Majesty, it's a pity that those brothel painting workshops are sold like this. They can earn at least several million taels of silver every year."

"Yuanyuan, tell me the truth, what is your real purpose in persuading me not to sell those brothels and flower boats?"

The red lady stared at her curiously.

She really doesn't care about the millions of taels of silver now, the pile of silver in the palace is almost too big to fit.

How many are there, I'm afraid I can't count them all in a month.

"Mistress Mingjian, those dozens of brothels are all the top brothels on the Qinhuai River, and there are more than 2000 hard-working women in them. Although their contracts of prostitution were all in the hands of nobles, according to tradition, ordinary women can do it when they reach their age. Redeem yourself.

And those famous prostitutes can redeem themselves at any time, and there are no restrictions on weekdays, and the reception of customers depends on their own wishes. The servants are worried that once the empress sells the brothel, the new owner will not obey the rules. "

Chen Yuanyuan said in a low voice, except for sister Liu, the other six sisters' contracts of prostitution are all in Xungui's hands.

"Oh? So free, why don't they redeem themselves? They still stay by the Qinhuai River every day?"

The red lady looked surprised, obviously not understanding what was going on with the brothel industry in Jiangnan.

"Hey! Your Majesty doesn't know something. Once a servant is as famous as a slave, no one can force him to do so. The contract of selling his body is just a formality. Lifetime, so it's better to take shelter under the honorable brothel."

Chen Yuanyuan explained in a somewhat dejected manner.

"It's too complicated. However, before I sell them, I can burn their deeds of selling their lives and let them all go to good." The red lady waved her hand.

"Your Majesty, it's not about selling your body, it's because you haven't found someone to entrust you with for life. Even if you do well, there will still be no good ending in the end. The more famous you are, the worse your end will be." Chen Yuanyuan quickly waved her hands and explained.

"Then what do you mean?" The red lady frowned slightly.

"Ma'am, these brothels are so profitable, why don't you find someone to manage them and run them yourself?"

"Why, do you want to run these brothel workshops?"

The red lady finally understood what she meant.

"If the empress trusts the servant girl, the servant girl will naturally be willing to help the empress manage it." Chen Yuanyuan said hastily.

"Yuanyuan, it's not that I don't trust you, but what His Majesty said, that I have a physical relationship with you. I'm afraid it will be a matter of time to favor you. You have to think about it, are you really willing to run a brothel?"

Sure enough, Chen Yuanyuan hesitated again after hearing what Hong Niangzi said, but for the sake of those sisters, they will all have a good home in the future, so they won't be like her, and finally gritted their teeth and nodded.

She knew that the empress would not care if she made money or not, as long as the empress let her manage it, it meant that those sisters were under the protection of the empress.

Not only will they not be persecuted in the future, but they will be sold off, and the situation will only be better than before. Once they find someone who can entrust them for life, they can redeem themselves at any time.

"It's not right, I'm a noble concubine anyway, and going to open a brothel will have a bad influence, and His Majesty may be unhappy if he knows."

After thinking about it, the red lady waved her hand.

In fact, she really wanted to seal up all the brothels in the south of the Yangtze River, but she knew that this would definitely cause turmoil in the whole of the south of the Yangtze River. Now that she is not short of money and food, there is no need to make extra troubles. These things should be dealt with after His Majesty comes down.

"Your Majesty, you don't need to do anything, just wait for the money to be collected. Your Majesty can put all these brothels under the name of your slaves."

Chen Yuanyuan gritted her teeth and said, but said in her heart, the story of you eating King Fu has spread all over the south of the Yangtze River, and I am afraid that it will have a bad influence. For a strange man like His Majesty, I am afraid that any emperor would not directly kill him, but would Useless, locked in the cold palace.

"This is feasible. Well, I've sold all these brothels and flower boats to you, as well as those deeds of sale. I don't want you to earn millions of taels of silver every year. As long as you can support them, I won't let you Just stick it upside down!"

The red lady's eyes lit up, and she nodded immediately.

After all, I have already given them a chance to be a good person, so who is to blame if they don't want to be a good person?
Is it possible that I have to find someone for them to entrust to them for life?

So she planned to throw all these troublesome brothel prostitutes to Chen Yuanyuan to deal with, and she could do whatever she wanted, as long as she didn't ask herself for money.

"Thank you madam!"

Chen Yuanyuan immediately knelt down excitedly and thanked her.

Obviously also heard the meaning of Hong Niangzi, so that the sisters at the bottom will not even have to pick up guests in the future.

As long as the famous people accompany them to drink occasionally, they can feed everyone, and then slowly find their home and become good.

(End of this chapter)