Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 137: Shanxi merchants’ coping strategies!
Just when Wang Yan and others arrived at Pingyang Prefecture, there was a place called Puzhou County under Pingyang Prefecture, which was somewhat uneasy.

In a large traditional northern courtyard, several well-dressed people were having a secret meeting in a room.

At the top, two people were sitting side by side.

One of them is Zhang Ning, the head of the now famous Shanxi merchant Zhang family, and also the owner of this huge courtyard.

He had a son named Zhang Yi.

Now that Zhang Yi has grown up, he has just begun to gradually take over the Zhang family's business.

Zhang Yi has two children who are still infants.

The eldest son was named Zhang Yunling and the second son was named Zhang Xialing.

The other person sitting side by side with Zhang Yi was Wang Ze, the head of the Shanxi merchant Wang family.

Wang Ze also has an adult son named Wang Yao, who is being trained by Wang Ze as his successor.

Later, Wang Yao gave birth to a son named Wang Chonggu and a daughter who married Zhang Yunling.

Zhang Yi's eldest son, Zhang Yunling, would have a child with Wang and named him Zhang Siwei.

Decades later, Zhang Siwei and Wang Chonggu would bring Puzhou Shanxi merchants to a new peak.

At this moment, there were only two pairs of father and son in the room: Zhang Ning and Zhang Yi, and Wang Ze and Wang Yao.

They are the Zhang and Wang families, the present and future of the two major Shanxi merchants.

It is no exaggeration to say that the decision made jointly by the four of them is enough to affect the future direction of the entire Puzhou County and even the entire Pingyang Prefecture.

"Brother Wang, what do you think about this matter?"

Zhang Ning frowned, his face full of worry.

Wang Ze sighed: "I can only say that the person who came here has bad intentions."

"As far as I know, in northern Zhili, the lands of countless landlords and gentry have been clearly traced by them. Not only the hidden lands, but also the newly reclaimed lands have been registered."

"From now on, all these lands will pay taxes to the court."

"That's right." Zhang Ning continued, "If we have to pay taxes on our hundreds of thousands of acres of land in the future, it will be a huge sum of money."

"Now that they've come to cause trouble, we can't just sit there and wait for death, right?"

"What else can we do if we don't just sit there and wait for death?"

Wang Ze scratched his head in annoyance: "It's not that there were no landlords and gentry in Northern Zhili who tried to resist, but what was the result?"

"Our top priority now should be to take care of the business in the north first. As for the land..."

"Of course we have to take care of the business in the north, but can we just give up the land in Puzhou?!"

Zhang Ning interrupted Wang Ze, with anger on his face.

Zhang Yi and Wang Yao, who were sitting below, looked up at Zhang Ning with worried looks on their faces.

Wang Ze frowned and asked, "Then I wonder what your plan is, Brother Zhang?"

Zhang Ning: "Brother Wang, don't forget that when the imperial court comes to Puzhou to survey the land, the ones who are most afraid are not our two families."

After Zhang Ning's reminder, Wang Ze suddenly remembered something.

"You mean... Hou Weihou Qianhu?"

Zhang Ning nodded: "I guess this captain Hou must be very anxious at home now. It won't be long before he takes the initiative to contact our two families."

Hou Wei was the commander of the Puzhou garrison, in charge of the military affairs of the Puzhou garrison.

The Qianhu Suo, which was under the jurisdiction of the Weizhihuishisi, was the grassroots unit of the Weisuo system and also the grassroots military organization of the Ming Dynasty.

As mentioned before, the Wei Suo system was on the verge of collapse in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

A large number of military officers in the garrisons seized the fertile farms of the military households under their command, turning these military households from semi-professional soldiers into de facto land slaves of the garrison officers.

These military households no longer participated in any military training, but instead worked in the fields for the officers all day long.

The amount of land owned by this captain Hou Wei is no less than that of the two major Shanxi merchants, the Wang and Zhang families of Puzhou.

Moreover, Wang and Zhang relied on trickery and spent some money to buy the land.

Hou Wei simply robbed the land and occupied most of the land of the military households in the garrison without spending a penny.

If we talk about urgency, Hou Wei is definitely more anxious than them.

Wang Ze was still puzzled: "Occupying the land of military households is a capital crime. Hou Wei should be anxious, but what's the use of Hou Wei being anxious?"

Zhang Ning: "When Hou Wei is anxious, we can make this matter bigger. If it gets bigger, the court will feel the pressure."

"Only when the imperial court puts pressure on us will the land surveying issue see a turnaround."

"At least, this kind of thing cannot happen in Pingyang Prefecture."

"Then...how big of a fuss does this have to get for it to be considered a big deal?"

Zhang Ning picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea: "The Puzhou uprising, is this a big deal?"

"what?!"

Wang Ze exclaimed, his eyes widened, and his body suddenly sat up straight.

He looked at Zhang Ning in shock. He didn't expect Zhang Ning to be so bold.

A civil uprising will result in the deaths of many people!
Zhang Yi also looked at his father in astonishment: "Father, is this... too risky?"

Zhang Ning glanced at Zhang Yi and said, "You have been learning business from me for so long, don't you know that the greater the risk, the greater the benefit?"

"To make money, how can you not take risks?"

"Isn't business in the north risky?" "But this civil uprising... the risk is too great!"

Not only Zhang Yi, but Wang Yao also felt that this matter was inappropriate.

Zhang Ning exhaled and explained, "It sounds risky, but in fact the risk is not that big."

"It's called a civil uprising, but in reality, we just need to incite our tenants to take the initiative to stop those people in the court."

"When the time comes, let the tenants surround the post station where those people from the imperial court live. They will definitely go to Puzhouwei to mobilize troops."

"Then let Hou Wei cooperate with us to stage a play and create the illusion of a defeat. The court will definitely feel pressured by then."

"Be careful not to hurt those imperial envoys!"

"After the court officials leave Pingyang Prefecture, we will disperse the tenants and restore everything to its original state."

"I think that if the imperial court wants to survey the land in Pingyang Prefecture again, it will have to think twice."

"Besides, our Zhang and Wang families have not come forward, so the court has nowhere to investigate even if they want to."

After hearing Zhang Ning's words, the room fell into silence.

Zhang Ning's plan is feasible, and the risks are not that great for both families.

But Wang Ze always felt that something was wrong, as if some important factor had been deliberately ignored by them.

Zhang Ning waited for a while before asking, "So, Brother Wang, what do you think about this matter?"

Wang Ze took a sip of tea and spoke carefully: "Brother Zhang, this is a good idea, but the north is in a hurry, so I still have to focus on the business in the north."

"Let's put it this way. All matters concerning the imperial court's land survey will be decided by Brother Zhang. Whatever Brother Zhang wants to do, the Wang family will definitely support him. The Wang family's resources in Puzhou will also be mobilized by Brother Zhang."

Zhang Ning knew that Wang Ze was actually not very willing to get involved in this matter. It was already very difficult for him to achieve this level.

After all, most of the Wang family's businesses are in the north, so it's normal for him to pay more attention to the north.

The Zhang family purchased the most real estate in Puzhou, so Zhang Ning was more concerned about the court's land survey.

At the same time, the Wang family also has shares in the Zhang family's business in the north.

Now that they had finished talking about Puzhou, Zhang Ning also asked about the business in the north.

"How is business in the north this time? What do you need?"

Wang Ze pointed at Wang Yao and said, "Yao'er, come and tell your Uncle Zhang."

"It's father."

Wang Yao stood up and explained the business in the north one by one.

"Uncle Zhang, the most requested item from the north this time is iron sheets. They want three thousand pieces in total. Uncle Zhang has to think of a way."

"Three thousand iron sheets, no problem, I can transfer them from Zhangde Prefecture."

After a little thought, Zhang Ning agreed.

Wang Yao: "There is also 2,000 kilograms of tea. Our Wang family only has 1,300 kilograms in stock. We have to rely on Uncle Zhang to make up for the 700 kilograms gap."

Zhang Ning nodded: "It is indeed difficult to find tea leaves in the winter, but the Zhang family happened to have stockpiled some tea leaves this spring, so we can make up for it."

Wang Yao continued, "The last thing is food. The north is in great shortage of food this winter. We still have a gap of 13,000 shi."

"Thirteen thousand koku? That much?!"

After thinking for a while, Zhang Ning suddenly asked, "How much grain does the court need this spring?"

"The court posted a notice for 20,000 shi. According to the rules, our two families will each get half."

Zhang Ning did not say enough: "The land our Zhang family purchased in the north this year produced a total of 8,000 shi of grain this year."

"Add to that the inventory in Puzhou, which still has 11,000 dan. Add these two together and you have 19,000 dan of grain."

"There are still 4,000 dan of grain left. I'll think of a way to see if I can find someone to borrow some."

"But there is no guarantee that we can raise food."

Wang Yao's expression relaxed when he heard this, and he smiled and said, "Uncle Zhang, just do your best. Even if you are short of some grain from the court, I think General Zhou should understand."

The General Zhou that Wang Yao mentioned was Zhou Hongyi, the deputy commander-in-chief in Xuanfu who was in charge of collecting grain.

Every year after the imperial court issued a grain collection notice, the Wang and Zhang families would transport the grain to Xuanfu and then obtain the donation from Zhou Hongyi.

Then use this certificate to exchange for salt permits from the imperial court.

A long time ago, the smart Shanxi merchants discovered that instead of spending a lot of effort every year to transport grain to border towns,

It would be better to buy land in the border towns, recruit tenants from the border towns, and farm for you.

The harvested grain can be supplied to border towns locally, saving transportation costs.

The Zhang family is the Shanxi merchant who owns the most land in Xuanfu and Datongfu.

Finally, Zhang Ning asked again: "When will the goods be delivered this time, and who will deliver them?"

Wang Ze smiled and answered with some pride: "This shipment will be delivered in five days, and Yaoer will be responsible for the delivery."

Zhang Ning cupped his hands in surprise and said, "Brother Wang, you are so lucky. Your son can now share your worries."

Wang Ze and Wang Yao just smiled but said nothing.

After discussing these two matters, the four of them ended the meeting.

Zhang Ning asked Zhang Yi to take Wang Yao to the Zhang family's warehouse to get the things needed from the north.

At the same time, a visiting card was delivered to Zhang Ning by a servant at home.

(End of this chapter)