The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 195 I subdue the people with my prestige

Li Xianmu looked through the grain and fodder collected by the prefects of various prefectures and thought, "Indeed, we have to let the wicked grind against the wicked. Otherwise, where would we find so much grain and fodder?"

However, it's still not enough. The fields in Shandong have been destroyed by the severe drought and locust plague. At least until next year, they will have to rely on stored grain to survive. The army is also fighting, and people and horses need to eat. It is possible that the imperial court will have to provide more grain relief.

But there are too many gaps. It's unknown how much of it will fall into Shandong, and Gansu has also been suffering from severe drought for years. Fortunately, there has been no war or chaos, otherwise, we don't know what to do.

No.

We still need to put more pressure on the powerful families in Shandong, otherwise we won't be able to get past this hurdle.

The White Lotus Rebellion in Shandong was handled by a designated person. His task was to coordinate the resources of the entire Shandong province, ensuring that the army could fight without worries, to restore production in Shandong as soon as possible, and to settle accounts with the officials who caused the chaos in Shandong.

Li Xianmu kept going back and forth, but the key point was food. Food was the foundation of public morale and stability. With food, everything was possible!
He wouldn't mind killing some powerful families in Shandong if it could raise enough food.

But he worried that even if he killed all these powerful clans, what would he do if he didn't have enough food?
After all, Shandong is not like the Jiangnan region; it doesn't have such abundant resources and isn't a land of fish and rice. Even if the wealthy have a lot of money, they may not necessarily have enough food.

"Isn't the governor worried that this grain and fodder is being plundered from the people?"

Li Xianmu waved the list in his hand and said calmly, "In prefectures like Dengzhou, which are not particularly chaotic, the prefects will definitely worry about harming the people and causing them to rank low in the final ranking, so they will not go too far to plunder the people."

In prefectures like Yanzhou, which were already in chaos, there were hardly any people left to plunder; most had already died. The only option was to plunder from the powerful clans. Therefore, this grain and fodder could only be obtained by plundering from them.

Upon hearing this, the officials all realized and wholeheartedly agreed, saying, "The governor truly possesses great wisdom, beyond our comprehension."

"However, Shandong is already in such a mess, and even in Jinan, grain prices are skyrocketing, yet these powerful families still have so much grain in their hands, it's truly..."

As they were talking, someone hurried in and said, "Your Excellency, a large grain merchant from Jiangnan has entered Shandong. He seems to be here to sell grain and hopes to pay you a visit."

As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone, including Li Xianmu, frowned. Li Xianmu himself was filled with questions: "Grain merchants from Jiangnan are coming to Shandong to sell grain?"

The others shook their heads as well, saying, "It's truly unbelievable."

In this era, local ties were very strong. Officials formed groups based on their regions, and merchants were even more so, with the Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants being among the best.

Because most of these merchants were supported by local government forces, they could only protect their interests by doing business locally, and if something went wrong, someone would protect them.

If you go to another city, not to mention anything else, they'll set up a checkpoint on the road and charge you one-tenth of the tax. You don't need many; just three or five checkpoints and you're done doing business.

This is no joke. Among the mining supervisors and tax commissioners sent down by Emperor Wanli, the tax commissioners were responsible for tolling people on the road. Travelers and merchants alike had to pay heavy taxes.

To draw an analogy, this is a kind of tariff between provinces, cities, and counties within a country. Everyone knows the harm of high tariffs. In later generations, Chuanzi, who was known as the "Tax King," imposed a 50% tariff, which caused global stock markets to plummet, as if the world was about to collapse.

In ancient times, taxes between different regions were not just 50%. For highly profitable industries like grain and salt merchants, traveling to other places to do business could result in complete financial losses if they were not careful.

Merchants from Jiangnan travel all over the world, so they must know this. Why then did they come to Shandong to do business this time?

Could it be?

Li Xianmu suddenly thought of something and immediately said in a loud voice, "Summon him in."

Before long, a rather refined-looking merchant was brought into the imperial envoy's residence. He was quite fair-skinned and looked somewhat travel-worn. He was about thirty years old and dressed in hemp clothing. He did not have the gaudy look of a typical merchant; instead, he resembled a scholar.

Upon seeing Li Xianmu, he immediately knelt down and bowed, his expression neither humble nor arrogant, saying, "This humble subject, Shen Chenxing, pays his respects to the Governor."

"I heard you brought grain to Shandong. Do you intend to sell it?"

Shen Chenxing immediately cupped his hands and said solemnly, "We are indeed selling grain, and at half the usual price."

In an instant, everyone in the room could no longer sit still, craning their necks to stare in shock at the merchant before them.

"Sell grain at half the usual price?"

"What's the difference between this and giving it away for free?"

"Shen Chenxing, are you telling the truth?"

The crowd bombarded them with questions. Merchants are driven by profit, and this kind of voluntary concession seemed completely out of character for a businessman.

Li Xianmu had been staring at Shen Chenxing the whole time. He noticed a fleeting sadness and resentment in Shen Chenxing's eyes when she was addressed by her full name. It was only a fleeting moment, as if he had just imagined it.

Li Xianmu suddenly realized, "So that's how it is." He had already guessed Shen Chenxing's purpose.

In this era, only elders can be addressed by their given names; doing so at other times is considered disrespectful. Of course, it's disrespectful!

Among the officials present, Li Xianmu was the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, a second-rank official, practically at the top of the Ming Dynasty's civil service system. The lowest-ranking subordinates were all fifth-rank officials. As for the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and others, they were also high-ranking officials. If it weren't for this special situation, Shen Chenxing, the merchant, wouldn't even be able to send a visiting card to Li Xianmu, let alone see him.

The difference between the two is like heaven and earth; no one in the world would ever compare them.

This is an insult to Li Xianmu, and it will also make Shen Chenxing tremble with fear.

Li Xianmu had already discerned Shen Chenxing's purpose in coming here. He was an ambitious man who wanted to shed his identity as a businessman and was seizing this opportunity to turn his life around.

A businessman with a high gambling instinct? Or a businessman with great vision and wisdom?

"How much grain did Mr. Shen bring? And how much more grain will he bring later?"

The moment the words "Mr. Shen" were uttered, everyone was startled again. Shen Chenxing suppressed his excitement and cupped his hands, saying, "Reporting to the Governor, this humble subject has brought 300,000 shi of grain. If the Governor needs it, this humble subject will do his utmost to allocate another 1 million to 1.3 million shi of grain."

"I also have a herbal medicine business under my command, which can procure large quantities of herbs for the governor to prevent an epidemic after the severe drought."

silence!

Deathly silence!

Even the most worldly-wise people were shocked by Shen Chenxing's extravagant spending. How much money must that be? It was unimaginable in Shandong, which had already become a disaster area. Even under normal circumstances, it would be an extremely generous gesture.

To put it simply, during the war in Japan, the imperial court only provided Japan with three million shi of grain each year, yet Shen Chenxing was able to mobilize so much grain on his own.

Even in a place like Jiangnan, where wealthy merchants abound, this is no ordinary businessman.

Does this businessman have no powerful backers? Or did he lose his backers when he was in Jiangnan last time?
Most importantly, how dare he do this?
It can only be described as foolish for a mere businessman to gamble everything on a high-ranking official of the second rank, because the official could easily use him and then discard him, leaving him with nothing after losing all his wealth.

How did Shen Chenxing dare to gamble?
"Mr. Shen, have you met me in Jiangnan?"

Li Xianmu suddenly asked a seemingly unrelated question.

Shen Chenxing, who was kneeling on the ground, had been calm at first, but his expression changed in an instant. He realized that his thoughts had been seen through. He was too shocked to control himself. You have to know that he had only been in the headquarters for a short time!
"When I was in Jiangnan, I saw the Governor from afar and admired his demeanor. I held him in high esteem. Today, I see him again and his demeanor is even more outstanding. Even the stars in the sky cannot obscure it in the slightest. I am humbled."

After saying this, he kowtowed deeply on the ground.

It was indeed because he had seen and witnessed his own deeds back in Jiangnan that he took such a big gamble.

Shen Chenxing was sweating bullets. He was really gambling by coming here today. He had met Li Xianmu once in Jiangnan and then collected a lot of information about Li Xianmu and analyzed his various behaviors.

Ultimately, he determined that Li Xianmu was a true gentleman who knew what to do and what not to do. He chose to trust Li Xianmu's character and fight for a better future for himself. He was fed up with his merchant background and the constant setbacks he faced in society. If he could get close to Li Xianmu and gain a bright future, he was willing to give everything.

Therefore, he always kept an outpost in the capital to keep an eye on all kinds of news in the capital. When he learned that Li Xianmu was going to visit Shandong as the governor, he immediately organized all the grain and fodder of the entire trading company to take a gamble.

Li Xianmu already knew what Shen Chenxing was thinking.

He felt a pang of emotion at that moment, and recalled his father’s words: “Trust and confidence are precious things. Noble character will often lead to setbacks, and it seems that petty people always live better than virtuous people.”

But Mu'er, remember this: if you truly want to accomplish something unprecedentedly great, if you truly want countless people to gather around you in unwavering loyalty, you must be trustworthy and possess noble character.

If you can win people's hearts and minds and have them entrust their lives to you, you can unite a party and accomplish great things.

If you can gain the trust of strangers, you can unite the majority, and at that point you will be invincible.

If you can earn the sincere admiration of your enemies for your integrity, even to the point of entrusting their children to you, then nothing in the world can stop you.

At this moment, these words have truly come into being in reality!

Cultivate your aspirations for ten years, cultivate your virtue for ten years, and cultivate your noble spirit for ten years.

Today in Shandong, the biggest food problem has been easily solved.

Using morality and trust, which many people consider useless, they persuaded Shen Chenxing, a businessman who had been struggling in the business world, to hand over all his wealth!
"The court will not forget any loyal subject. Shen Chenxing, you are very good and should be commended as an example."

Li Xianmu pronounced the verdict with a single word.

"This humble subject kowtows in gratitude to the Governor!"

Shen Chenxing felt a sense of relief instantly, followed by overwhelming joy. He had made the right bet!
(End of this chapter)