The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 446: Misty Jiangnan Finally Returns

In Suzhou City, Xu Wenzhong sold out his glutinous rice, but he was a little uncomfortable because in addition to the sugar, walnuts, pine nuts and candied fruits he needed to make the fruit cake, there were also some things he didn't need very much in his load.

No one was willing to spend their copper coins, so naturally, after he had exchanged for what he needed, if he didn't want to take the rice back, he would have to exchange for other things that he didn't need as much.

It is indeed very uncomfortable, Xu Wenzhong sighed, but that is all, no matter how small the problem is, it should be no problem to overcome it.

Carrying the load, he walked very fast. When he was about to reach the Xintang Bridge in Huqiu, Xu Wenzhong saw a long queue of people. These were all mechanics who were there to receive relief.

Xu Wenzhong looked at his former colleagues, and his heart, which should have been close to them, suddenly felt uncomfortable for no reason, because he felt a little sorry for Emperor Mo Da.

In Xu Wenzhong's view, Emperor Guangzhong was the best man in the world. He was wise and benevolent, especially good to the people. He was the kindest person in the world.

"How many people are needed to feed them? His Majesty will suffer a huge loss if they eat only rice and salted fish every day." Thinking of this, Xu Wenzhong couldn't help but mutter.

"That's right. The people of the Li and Cheng families are too despicable. When the emperor raided the weaving house, he should have confiscated their property as well."

Xu Wenzhong looked back and saw a silk vendor from his fellow village.

This year, the Li and Cheng families refused to exchange for silver dollars, but they did not dare to openly oppose and continue to use silver. So they made up their minds and cut the production capacity by half, causing fluctuations in the market.

As a result, who knew that the emperor was more determined than them. He used the war as an excuse to ban most of the silk trade, and transferred white rice and salted fish from Southeast Asia to support 70,000 to 80,000 machine workers.

This has caused great harm to the small traders active between the breeders and these machine workers and large silk collectors. Many of them have not done any business for most of the year and have been living off their savings.

"Yes, their whole family should be raided!" Somehow, their whispers were heard by a few passing mechanics.

An old mechanic, carrying a half-loaded bag of rice and a small salted fish hanging around his neck, shouted indignantly:

"I've worked as a mechanic for the Cheng family for fifteen years, but the wages I earned have never been enough to buy me rice and salted fish every day. The Cheng family is so cruel!"

"I wonder if Emperor Guangzhong will open a silk reeling workshop. If he does, I'll work for him."

"When the Emperor opens a workshop, I'll eat his rice and salted fish for a few days. When I'm fat, I'll go to Southeast Asia. Fortunately, I haven't lost my farming skills, so I won't be exploited by the Cheng family anymore."

The more the mechanics who were collecting the grain spoke, the angrier they became. They gathered in groups and cursed the Cheng family and other wealthy families.

It seems that if someone raised a call at this moment, they would dare to follow suit and smash the Cheng family up.

But in reality, the machine workers and silk reelers in Suzhou had a difficult life. The wealthy families like the Cheng family and the Li family only accounted for a small part of the reason. The main culprit was actually the weaving factory set up by the Qing Dynasty in Suzhou.

This weaving house was run by the Baoyi of the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty. You can tell how corrupt it was just by hearing the name.

At the same time, the weaving house had to pay a large amount of tribute to the palace every year, and they also had to pay tribute when Emperor Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River, fought against Myanmar, and conquered the Jinchuan Islands.

No matter how profitable this silk industry is, it can't withstand this kind of thing!

Therefore, in addition to continuously leaving loss accounts, they can only "reduce costs and increase efficiency" layer by layer. It is obviously an almost monopoly industry with huge profits, but in fact the life of the bottom-level mechanics is worse than that of farmers.

But now the weaving house had been confiscated by Emperor Guangzhong, and the Manchu bannermen in power who had committed the most heinous crimes had been publicly tried and beheaded, and the rest had almost all been exiled to various places in Southeast Asia.

Now that they are gone, if the mechanics still have any resentment, they will definitely vent it on the big families like the Cheng and Li families.

Xu Wenzhong was timid. He was afraid that these mechanics would lose control and cause trouble, so he hurried home with his load on his shoulder.

The Xu family now lives in a large courtyard. It looks quite impressive, but the interior furnishings are very simple.

Their family had not yet completed the transformation from a low-level silk reeler to a small landlord, and they were still frugal with their food, clothing, housing and transportation.

The daughter-in-law, who was walking around the door with her belly bulging, saw the large pieces of fresh mutton in Xu Wenzhong's basket and her eyes lit up.

Xu Wenzhong smiled lovingly at his skinny daughter-in-law, "Take down the ham from the house. In addition to the mutton, I also replaced it with a small crucian carp. Daddy will make you mutton and hidden fish later."

As he spoke, he took out two black things and said, "These are sea cucumbers from the South China Sea. They are very delicious and nourishing when roasted with green onions. I'll give them to you alone. After you eat them, you can give us a big fat grandson."

At this time, my son also came back. He was very excited to see so many delicious foods.

"Old man, you should have given up long ago. Nowadays, large ships from the South China Sea can go directly to Taicang. Food has become much cheaper. Even those who only have ten or eight acres of land can afford to eat chicken, duck and salted fish. What's the big deal for us to eat some good food?"

Xu Wenzhong wanted to show his fatherly authority and scold him, but when he saw his skinny daughter-in-law and his son swallowing hard as he looked at the mutton, he couldn't bear to scold him.

. . . .

On the other hand, Xu Wenzhong was just afraid that the mechanics would cause trouble and steal the mutton and sea cucumbers in his carrying pole. The Cheng family was really scared.

Cheng Weiyuan was scolded by Wang Zhefu. When he returned home, he saw a large group of uncles and brothers in the family who were already waiting for him.

Unlike the Li family, which has only risen to prominence within a few generations, the Cheng family, as descendants of Cheng Yi, has always been a large family with a strict inheritance and branches everywhere.

The Cheng family's assets are indeed substantial, and Cheng Weiyuan can allocate them, but this does not belong to him alone; it is the common property of more than a dozen families.

"Boss, the farmers downstairs are already making a fuss. If our family doesn't make a decision, they're going to cut down the mulberry trees and plant crops." Cheng Weiyuan had just come in and hadn't even had a sip of tea when someone started complaining.

Cheng Weiyuan waved his hand impatiently, "Don't listen to those troublemakers. Mulberry trees are ten times more profitable than growing crops. Even if you pay them to remove the mulberry trees, they won't do it."

"We have only paid 20% of the money we collected for raw silk this year. The merchants below said that if we don't pay up, they will go to the government office to sue us." Another clan member who was in charge reported, and it was also bad news.

Cheng Weiyuan didn't care. "They are rebelling. How much money have they made from our Cheng family over the years? Tell them, whoever makes trouble will be the last to pay. We have plenty of money. Let them wait a little longer." "The 70% and 50% silk collected this year will go bad if we don't let the machine workers weave them quickly." The third member of the clan came out and said.

At this point, Cheng Weiyuan finally hesitated after hearing this, and no longer had the "command power" he had just now, because this problem was still quite serious.

Raw silk is the silk obtained from the reeling process of mulberry silkworms. It comes in three types: three-point, five-point, and seven-point, each with its own uses. The degummed silk is called cooked silk.

Raw silk has a certain shelf life. Although the Cheng family harvested it late this year, they couldn't afford to argue with the emperor for too long, and the shelf life was about to expire.

"That's nothing. The important thing is the mechanic. I tell you, as long as the Jinyiwei flag bearer hidden inside instigates it, this fire bomb will explode immediately.

Boss, I don’t care what you want to do. I just want to tell you that no amount of money can be more important than life.

I'm going back to Yangzhou tonight. I won't go crazy with you, or I'll be beaten to death in the ancestral hall by the fucking mechanics who rushed in!"

Hearing the change in the mechanic's mood, an elder from the fourth branch of the Cheng family could no longer hold back and pointed his finger at Cheng Weiyuan's face. It seemed that if he was not the patriarch, this uncle would have slapped him a few times on the spot.

Once someone broke the window paper, the tribesmen began to vent their nerves that had been tense for the past few months, cursing in person and making fuss in front of the crowd.

Cheng Weiyuan finally couldn't hold it anymore. The pressure he was under was extraordinary.

You have to know that if they lose the battle against the emperor, the clansmen will only lose some money, but Cheng Weiyuan might even lose his head.

"Everyone makes money, but nothing has happened yet and you're already hoping I'll take the blame, right?"

"Forget it, forget it. The Cheng family doesn't belong to me alone. I will send all the silver to the government office tomorrow!"

. . . .

Southern Capital, Chengtian Guangzhou Prefecture.

Mo Zibu was ready to set off immediately, but the report sent by Jiangnan forced him to pause his progress.

As for the situation in Jiangnan, naturally, the last few dozen stubborn wealthy families finally surrendered.

Mo Zibu is not going to show any kindness to those who finally surrender. Since you have surrendered, you must be punished harshly.

"Let's get these families behind, especially those that have close ties with the Jiangning and Suzhou weaving factories, with the focus on the Cheng family."

Humph, you are the descendant of a sage, right? You are the one who sticks your head out and is going to be killed!

However, Mo Zibu still did not kill anyone. His biggest goal now was to make the wealthy people in Jiangnan take out their money for investment. Naturally, he could not kill anyone, so as not to scare these rich people.

Not only should we not kill them, but we should also try to give them a feeling that their property is safe.

"Let the Cheng family and other families deposit all their silver into Fuxing Bank!" Mo Zibu ordered lightly.

Others only need to pay a certain amount and can exchange the rest for as much as they want, but for the Cheng family, they must hand over the entire amount.

In fact, Mo Zibu had not originally planned to ask these people to hand over all the silver stored in the cellar in a short period of time, because if too much was handed over at once, it would mean that the same silver coins would have to be minted and put on the market.

Due to the shortage of silver dollars, the value of the hoard has been lost to a certain extent, which may lead to the wealthy people frantically buying various things, especially land, after getting the money.

This kind of flood of money will definitely cause a rapid rise in prices in a short period of time, and will rapidly push up land prices and related industries.

Therefore, the amount of money to be handed over now is more of a token of allegiance, representing that the gentry and wealthy people in Jiangnan agree with the court's new monetary policy.

"The relevant government offices, including the Imperial Household Transportation Department, the Imperial Guard, the Cabinet, the Ministry of Revenue, and provincial governors, should conduct professional assessments.

We need to make plans for how many silver dollars will be released in the first batch, how to convert the fineness of the surrendered silver, and where to pilot the reduction of the silver dollar-copper coin exchange rate first, so as to avoid causing large fluctuations in private prices."

Mo Zibu gave orders on every detail, no matter how big or small. After the ministers left, Mo Zibu kept the inner court transport ambassador Wei Changle, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard Chen Xu, as well as the heads of the Northern Pacification Office and the Criminal Law Office.

"From now on, we will closely monitor the major prefectures and counties in Jiangnan, reporting every three days and promptly reporting any abnormalities.

Tell the people below clearly that anyone who doesn't work hard will be sent to Mawlamyine in Jiaqing Province and Andai Province as a spy."

Mo Zibu is very strict. The most important power of a king is the right to know. Only by not being locked in an information cocoon can one govern well.

"Chen Xu, the tax inspection team of the Northern Pacification Office must be established as soon as possible.

I have given so many benefits to the gentry and wealthy people in Jiangnan. If I am still cheated by them in taxes, I will lose all my face.

This concerns the court's finances and my reputation, you must mobilize elite troops and generals to enter!"

For any country, collecting taxes is definitely the top priority. Not to mention the famous United States Internal Revenue Service in later generations, even the tax bureau of China would be a tough place to deal with.

Mo Zibu naturally had to learn from this. Now the focus of the Jinyiwei's Northern Pacification Division had actually begun to shift towards tax police, and it was estimated that it would soon become powerful.

"By the way, have Fuxing Company increase its efforts to recruit mechanics from Jiangnan. Even if they don't end up going to Southeast Asia, they must recruit them to create a labor shortage.

Damn it, the wages these wealthy families in Jiangnan pay are too low. Now that the weaving house is gone to exploit them, if they return the workers to their previous wages, I will make it impossible for them to recruit any workers."

　Book friends, who still has monthly tickets please give some, I’m just a few dozen votes away to 4000.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)