Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 36: Hatred of the Rich
Due to its geographical environment, Shanxi has many mountains and little land, so its agriculture is not very good, but its commerce is very developed. In addition, Shanxi is close to the border Great Wall. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have been constant wars and conflicts with Mongolia. Merchants have often been responsible for the purchase and transportation of part of the military supplies since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

This was the strategy that Zhu Yuanzhang had initially set. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, another reason for doing so was that Zhu Yuanzhang intended to target the merchants. While using the merchants to get things done, he was also prepared to continue to make money from them to make up for the shortfall in military spending.

The local governments also had this consideration. In order to solve the problem of insufficient taxes, they provided a lot of support to merchants. In addition to the military needs, they also gave merchants a lot of policy conveniences. This was how the Kaizhong Law came about.

From this historical reason, Shanxi merchants have close ties with the local government and even the military, especially the big merchants, who have various connections behind them.

Liu Shancheng is such a big businessman. The Liu family has been doing business in Pingyang for many years, which can be counted as several generations.

The Liu family was originally just an ordinary merchant family, and they became wealthy during the Jiajing period.

In the 29th year of Jiajing, Altan Khan led his army to invade Datong. Qiu Luan, who bribed Yan Song's son Yan Shifan and served as the general of Xuanda, was panicked and helpless. He tried to bribe Altan Khan with a large sum of money to move the invaders to other places and not invade Datong.

At that time, the head of the Liu family seized this opportunity and took the initiative to help Qiu Luan raise funds, and even donated most of his family assets, thus establishing a relationship.

In order to thank the Liu family for their help in times of crisis, Altan Khan moved his troops to Gubeikou and entered Tongzhou to force Jiajing to open tribute and trade. After that, Jiajing ordered Qiu Luan to preside over the opening of the horse market. With the emperor's order, Qiu Luan reciprocated by handing over the actual operation of the horse market to the head of the Liu family, and at the same time tacitly approved the convenience of trade between the Liu family and Mongolia.

Although this horse market did not actually exist for long, it was soon closed by Emperor Jiajing's order because of its lack of effectiveness.

However, the Liu family took this opportunity to not only open up channels in the officialdom, but also to establish relations with the Mongols in the north. Relying on the apparent mutual trade and the actual border trade and smuggling, in just a few years, the Liu family swelled like a balloon.

After Qiu Luan's death, the Liu family made other connections and after decades of hard work, they grew from a small merchant to a well-known large merchant in Pingyang Prefecture.

Although the current Liu family is not as glorious as the earliest Liu family, and the current head of the Liu family, Liu Shancheng, does not have the courage and vision of his ancestors, but as a person who maintains the status quo, Liu Shancheng is still qualified, and the Liu family is still one of the big merchants in Shanxi.

The Liu family has been operating in Shanxi for many years and has deep roots. They have many connections with the government, the military, and even other parties. The Liu family is not an ordinary merchant. Such a big merchant is not something that ordinary royal family members can touch. Not to mention these low-level royal family members, even if the Pingyang prefect wants to move the Liu family, he has to think twice.

Just now, Zhu Shenzhui had drawn a pie of 1,000 taels for the three of them, and this pie was so big that the honest Zhu Minyu almost jumped over it in excitement. But when they heard that Zhu Shenzhui's target was Liu Shancheng's Liu family, the three of them suddenly felt depressed again, and for a moment they all looked sad.

"Haha, why are you all like this? Are you guys scared when you hear about Liu Shancheng?" Looking at their appearance, Zhu Shenzhui asked with a smile.

"What's there to be afraid of? How can a member of the royal family be afraid of Liu Shancheng? Who is Liu Shancheng? He is just a merchant." Zhu Qiuqi said with a stiff neck. But after saying this, he said with a guilty conscience: "But uncle, although our royal family is noble, you know what's going on. Liu Shancheng is nothing, but if we touch him and involve other people, it will be troublesome."

"What Xiao Shiba said makes sense. Liu Shancheng is nothing to be afraid of, but the Liu family has been in business for many years after all. They have connections in local areas and at the border. If things get out of hand, the trouble will be huge." Zhu Minfeng also said worriedly.

Zhu Minyu hesitated as he was about to speak. He was so excited about the two hundred and fifty taels that he was overwhelmed. Now that he had come to his senses and heard that the target was Liu Shancheng, it was like he was sweating profusely and then had a basin of cold water poured on him.

He is an honest man, but being honest doesn't mean being stupid.

Zhu Minyu was of course aware of Liu Shancheng's position and wealth in Pingyang, and also understood that the Liu family had complicated relationships behind them. If they wanted to move Liu Shancheng, they would definitely run into the relationships behind the Liu family. With just a few low-level clan members, the success rate was pitifully low. But at the same time, Zhu Minyu was thinking about his illusory 250 taels of silver. He knew very well how big the Liu family's assets were. As Zhu Shenzhui had just said, a mere 1,000 taels was nothing to the Liu family, who had a huge fortune. If he could really succeed, not to mention getting 250 taels for himself, he might even get several 250 taels.

The combination of risks and benefits made Zhu Minyu very conflicted. He was worried about problems if he attacked Liu Shancheng, but he was also reluctant to give up the idiot Zhu Shenzhu had promised him. For a moment, his hands were clenched and his face changed constantly.

"Without risk, where would the benefits come from? Want to stay at home and wait for a pie to fall from the sky? Do you think that's possible?" Seeing that the three of them were thinking of backing out, Zhu Shenzhui sneered, "Do you feel comfortable living like this? Having no food to eat, watching your own children cry with hunger? Do you have to make excuses and go hungry?"

"Royal family? Haha, it sounds good, and the rank is not low, but others don't know what royal family is like, don't you understand? We were born into royal family, and we were given the surname Zhu when we opened our eyes. This is arranged by God and we have no choice, but we still have a chance to live our lives. If we live like this for the rest of our lives, maybe one day there will be a famine and the whole family will starve to death. This kind of thing has happened before. Why do others have delicacies every day? Why do others have huge wealth? Why do those big turbans and soldiers show off their power and have many wives and concubines?"

"Let's not talk about the turbans and soldiers, let's just talk about the local mining supervisors and tax collectors sent by the emperor. These worthless guys are actually our Zhu family's servants. But how do these servants live? How much money have they made privately? Don't you know?"

"Two hundred and fifty taels? Haha, Lao Wu, Lao Wu, I almost sent you away with just two hundred and fifty taels of silver, but do you know that this little bit of silver is just a meal in the eyes of those servants? Forget about this little bit, even if it's two thousand five hundred taels, or even twenty-five thousand taels, what would it be?"

"Looking at the Ming Dynasty, this was originally the world of our Zhu family, but in the end, what benefits did we, the royal family, get? To be honest, our lineage is still the direct descendants of Emperor Taizu, but now? We have no money and no food. We can't do this or that. Even leaving the city is restricted. I've had enough of this miserable life. Aren't you guys tired of it? Don't you want to give it a try?"

"There has never been a shortage of courageous people in this world. Now that it has come to this, if we don't fight, there is no chance at all. If we fight, maybe we can succeed. Besides, if they go too far, what can they do to us with our status as royal family members?"

The last sentence was so decisive and deafening that the expressions of Zhu Minfeng, Zhu Minyu and Zhu Qiuqi, uncle and nephew, changed for a moment and they were extremely excited.

Zhu Qiuqi slapped the table with his hand and gritted his teeth, "Uncle is right. Why are you still hesitating when it has come to this? I've had enough of this kind of life. The court owes me more and more salaries. If this continues, I'll all be left with nothing."

"This world originally belongs to our Zhu family. Why do even the servants have the best food and the most money? On the contrary, what kind of life do we, the royal family, have? Everyone saw the banquet at the general's mansion yesterday. Several royal family members fought over a chicken leg. If life wasn't so hard for everyone, how could they do such shameless things?"

Zhu Qiuqi's words made the brothers Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minyu feel the same way. They thought of the scene of yesterday's banquet and also thought of the situation in their own family.

What Zhu Shenzhui said was not wrong at all. It sounded good to the royal family, but their life was worse than that of ordinary people. And he knew his own situation clearly, especially Zhu Minyu's family, which was almost unable to survive. Winter was coming, and if there was no more income, the family would have sold almost everything they could sell. They might be able to barely survive this year, but what about next year?
There were people who starved to death in the royal family, and they knew of several such deaths. When Zhu Minyu thought that his family might also end up like this, he felt as if a knife was stabbing his heart.

It is true that he is an honest man, but being an honest man does not mean that Zhu Minyu is willing to live such a life. When people are pushed into a corner, they can do anything. So what if he risks everything for the sake of survival?

Besides, Zhu Shenzhui's words touched his heart. As long as they didn't go too far, what could they do to them with their status as royal family members? At worst, they could be demoted to commoners and removed from the clan register. So what? Zhu Minyu was eager to be an ordinary citizen. At least ordinary citizens could be freer. Even if they went to farm or found a hard labor job in Pingyang Prefecture, they could barely support their family. It was better than starving to death with the empty title of royal family, right?
As a second choice, even if the emperor was furious and sent all his family members to Fengyang to be kept in captivity, it would not be a bad thing. At least he would not have to worry about having no food to eat in the future. Thinking of this, Zhu Minyu's eyes suddenly lit up, and he followed Zhu Qiuqi's second statement.

Zhu Minfeng didn't hesitate for long, and soon figured it out. He gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement.

Damn it! If you try hard, a bicycle can become a motorcycle. If you work hard, loess can become gold. These three poor royal family members who can't even get enough food made up their minds.

(End of this chapter)