‘A certain offer is 70,000 taels!’
A domineering voice sounded, directly raising the price by ten thousand taels, which attracted everyone’s sideways glances.
Even Zhu Gaoxu was a little surprised. Who is this person with such a big deal？ Is he a rich man？
That’s 70,000 taels of silver with snowflake patterns!
In the early Yongle period, one tael of silver was enough to cover the expenses of an ordinary family for a year!
And a seventh-grade county magistrate’s annual salary is only forty-five taels of silver!
In other words, these 70,000 taels of silver are enough for a common family to spend 70,000 years, and it is also enough for a seventh-grade magistrate to have a salary of more than 1,500 years…
Numb!
I’m numb!
Zhu Gaoxu rubbed his face and cursed bitterly, ‘These big dogs are so damn rich!’
Zhou Chen nodded numbly, not yet recovering from the shock.
When everyone looked around, they saw that the person who spoke was a short, thin black man, but his eyes shone with shrewdness.
Zhou Chen took out a roster and explained carefully, ‘Your Majesty, according to what Qiu Guangde said, this person is Wang Wenxian, a Pu merchant. He has a wealthy family. He started out as a salt merchant. He is a good businessman and has a good sense of importance. He can be low-key when he can. Therefore, when Zhirao makes friends with others, he is loyal and loyal, and the autumn frost can be used to analyze and benefit the hair. Therefore, people are happy to take his wealth and ax, and he is good at stretching…’
Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu showed a clear look.
It turned out to be a wealthy businessman from Shanxi Province!
When talking about Shanxi merchants, we have to mention a national policy of the Ming Dynasty – Kaizhongfa.
Although the great ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang drove the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty out of the Central Plains and established the Ming Dynasty, the remaining forces of the Yuan Dynasty that retreated to Mobei were still strong and were waiting for opportunities to go south to recover the Yuan Dynasty, becoming a serious border trouble for the Ming Dynasty.
Immediately, in order to resist the southern invasion of Mongolia and Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court established nine important border defense towns in Liaodong, Xuanfu, Jizhou, Datong, Taiyuan, Yansui, Ningxia, Guyuan and Gansu along the northern border defense line from Yalu Jiang in the east to Jiayuguan in the west, which were known as the ‘nine border towns’ in history.
However, in order to solve the problem of military grain transportation for the troops stationed along the Great Wall, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang drew on the ‘Chao Yin Law’ of the Song Dynasty and implemented the ‘Kaizhong Law’. The army guarded the border, merchants provided wages, and salt was used as an intermediary, so it was called ‘Kaizhong’.
To put it simply, the monopoly of salt is granted to merchants on the condition that the merchants undertake the task of transporting grain. The merchants are allowed to transport the grain to the frontier, where the feudal officials will issue salt certificates to them, and then return to the designated salt farm to buy it with a ticket. The salt was then sold to designated places, which gave rise to many grain merchants and salt merchants.
Shanxi is a traditional salt-producing land, and it is close to Shuntian Prefecture and the Mongolian grassland. There are more troops stationed in the north, so it has unique resource advantages and geographical advantages.
These Shanxi merchants seized the opportunity and gave full play to the commercial value of Yuncheng’s salt and grain and Shangdang’s silk and ironware. The most famous ones were the Wang family and Zhang family in Puzhou.
Famous officials of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Siwei and Wang Chonggu, were born in a family of salt merchants in Puzhou.
Now is the Yongle period, and Shanxi merchants have only just begun to take shape.
But the first person to eat crabs has already made a lot of money, such as Wang Wenxian in front of him.
He opened his mouth and saw seventy thousand taels, an astronomical figure that ordinary people could hardly imagine.
Wang Wenxian smiled and bowed his hands to everyone, and said kindly, ‘Everyone, why don’t you give this first spot to Wang…’
‘Oh, seventy-one thousand taels!’
Before Wang Wenxian finished speaking, another person spoke domineeringly.
Although this person only raised the price by a small amount of one thousand taels, he almost made Wang Wenxian furious.
Who doesn’t give himself face so much？
Wang Wenxian’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. He turned around and saw that the person who spoke was dressed as a Confucian scholar and looked out of place among the wealthy businessmen.
Zhu Gaoxu also looked at this person and couldn’t help but be a little stunned.
‘Xun Ru, who is this big dog？’
Zhou Chen quickly looked through the roster, and after thinking for a moment, he said, ‘This person should be Wang Fuguang, a Huizhou merchant. He is from the East China Sea, and Jia Yan is in the Jianghuai River. He leads his children to trade, and he chooses for the merchants as if they were walking on flat ground.’ When he was in charge, he took advantage of the opportunities and accumulated huge amounts of money…’
Yes, he is a big salt merchant, but he belongs to the Hui merchant group.
Huizhou merchants are all located in impoverished mountainous areas. The mountains are located at the foot of the original land, and the fields are barren. The yields are extremely small, and they cannot survive on the land. Therefore, most people in Huizhou go out to do business. They became active in the Song Dynasty, and even more chaotically in the Ming Dynasty.
The advent of the Four Treasures of Huizhou, such as She Yan, Hui Mo Chengxin Tang Paper, and Wang Bo Li Brush, completely established the reputation of Huizhou merchants.
But Huizhou merchants all have one characteristic they are both businessmen and scholars, while Jia is a Confucianist. They use Confucian culture to guide their business, and they have become unique Confucian businessmen.
Wang Fuguang also stood up with a smile, looked at the livid Wang Wenxian, and said with a smile, ‘My dear Wang Fuguang, I happen to be in Beijing. I happen to be in this tasting event today. I would like to ask Brother Wang to give me the first place…’
‘Eighty thousand taels!’
Wang Wenxian was too lazy to talk nonsense with him and directly raised the price by nine thousand taels, hoping to win the first spot.
When Wang Fuguang saw this, he stopped smiling and shouted unhurriedly, ‘Eighty-one thousand taels!’
Everyone was completely dumbfounded when they saw this.
Are these two giant salt merchants at odds today？
Zhou Chen was very confused and asked subconsciously, ‘Your Majesty, aren’t there still eight places left？’
‘Why do the two of them have to spend a lot of money to fight for this one spot, and why do they even have to fight for it？’
Zhu Gaoxu was stunned when he heard this, and then explained angrily, ‘Xun Ru, you only saw the surface. This first quota is not only the qualification to donate to prison, but also represents a favor.’
‘This tasting is held in the name of me, the King of Han. The two of them started vying for a lot of money, which gave the tasting a good start. Even if they don’t mention this favor, I, the King of Han, You have to admit it too.”
Zhou Chen was stunned when he heard this, and then nodded with some understanding.
‘You will inevitably have to deal with these businessmen in the future. You must always keep in mind that businessmen make a living by pursuing profit. Every move they make is for profit!’
‘It seems that they have spent more money, but it is a favor from the King of Han. What’s more, this money is not worth mentioning to them. This account is naturally worth considering to the two big dogs in front of them. understandable.’
After hearing this, Zhou Chen nodded sincerely.
‘Your Highness, I understand.’
At this moment, Wang Wenxian and Wang Fuguang were still bidding, but when the price approached 200,000 taels, the price increase of both of them was much smaller.
‘Your Majesty, why is this happening？ Is one of your favors only worth two hundred thousand taels？’
‘No, the bidding started at a low price of 50,000 taels, and now it has been increased to 200,000 taels, which has quadrupled!’
Zhu Gaoxu patiently explained, ‘If we continue to increase the price, how can the people behind me take pictures？ That will only outweigh the gains. Instead of making a good start for me, these two people ruined the tasting, and Hanwang’s favor was gone. It will arouse the wrath of King Han!’
‘Two hundred thousand taels is the bottom line. Both Wang Fuguang and Wang Fuguang know this, so the results will be soon.’
Sure enough, as soon as Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Wang Wenxian directly increased the price to 200,000 taels, but Wang Fuguang hesitated for a moment and decisively chose to give up.
Since then, area No. 7 of the tasting meeting has fallen into the hands of Wang Wenxian.
Zhou Chen was completely stunned when he saw this, because they had divided a total of 108 areas!
Even excluding their little tricks, it is conservatively estimated to be at least tens of millions of taels of silver!
Numb!
Completely numb!