Lou Jiangxi Pavilion.
It was crowded and crowded.
Compared with the number of wealthy businessmen attending the first meeting, today there are more than one generation more!
As a last resort, Qiu Guangde had to replace the seats with small benches, so that he could accommodate so many people.
‘Everyone has been waiting for a long time. Although the tasting has been delayed for a few days, it will be held as scheduled today. It is the joint efforts of all of us!’
Compared with the first time when he was embarrassed and uneasy, Qiu Guangde has improved a lot now, calm and composed, talking and laughing happily.
‘Every transaction result from the tasting session remains unchanged and we will compensate you for your losses.’
The emperor conducted a three-day trade. Although the wealthy merchants did not participate, the merchants hardly sold any goods.
However, some small traders are profiting from this and specialize in selling jewelry, corals and other in-demand products, which has led to some changes in the area where the tasting will take place.
But this small profit is not a problem for those present.
Wang Fuguang was the first to ask loudly, ‘Mr. Qiu, aside from other things, I just want to know, does the qualification for donating prison remain unchanged？’
Money is nothing to them.
The issue they are most concerned about at the moment is their qualification to donate prison, which can change the fate of their family!
Although the imperial court valued the role of the imperial examination, it did not make it the only way to become an official.
In addition to this road to heaven, the traditional conquest system and the Imperial College system that evolved from the previous Imperial College were also important ways to provide talents for the imperial court.
Especially during the Hongwu period, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang attached unusually high importance to the Imperial College, the highest institution of learning.
The graduates of the Imperial College not only received the most rigorous and efficient education at that time, but also had the opportunity to enter various institutions of the imperial court for internships. Excellent candidates could directly obtain official positions, while those who were not qualified could also serve as officials with real power.
For a group of wealthy businessmen, this is simply the best choice to change the fate of their family.
Qiu Guangde secretly said, ‘Sure enough,’ what these wealthy businessmen value most are the nine qualifications to donate to prison!
‘Don’t worry, everyone, this matter has been approved by the emperor, there will be no surprises!’
‘The top nine bidders with the highest bids can recommend the children of their clan to enter the Imperial Academy to study and cultivate virtue.’
Upon hearing the news, the businessmen immediately became excited.
The emperor has approved it, which means that this is a definite matter and no one can change it!
‘Let the auction begin!’
‘Yes, Master Qiu, let’s get started!’
A group of wealthy businessmen kept urging them, and they were ready to fight and fight.
If the money is gone, you can earn it again, but the opportunity for your children to become officials may not necessarily come!
Today, even if I spend all my wealth, I still have to win a spot.
At this moment, two people were sitting next to Wang Wenxian, both of whom were Shanxi salt merchant giants.
Zhu Gaoxu sat behind the scenes. Because Wang Wenxian and Wang Fuguang spent a lot of money last time, he paid special attention to these two people.
Seeing the two people beside Wang Wenxian, Zhu Gaoxu immediately asked, ‘Xun Ru, who are the people next to Wang Wenxian？’
Zhou Chen spread out the list of attendees and quickly confirmed the identities of these two people.
‘One person’s name is Zhang Sijiao, and his knowledge is great. He is especially good at Jiuzhang arithmetic. The other person’s name is Zhan Yuquan. He serves all the people, is charitable and good at charity, and has made huge profits by opening up the Chinese method!’
Oh, they are all a group of salt merchant giants spawned by the ‘Open China Law’!
Zhu Gaoxu sighed and touched his chin, his thoughts racing.
To put it simply, the Kaizhong method is to let merchants transport grain to the frontier, and the feudal officials will issue it with salt, and then return to the designated salt field to buy salt with the salt, and then sell it to the designated local area.
It is easy to see from the process that this method is extremely difficult to operate and the freight is extremely high.
Merchants were not stupid, so a division of labor quickly emerged, divided into three categories ‘border merchants, internal merchants and water merchants’.
Border merchants directly cultivated farmland in border areas, paid salt taxes, received salt quotations, and sold the quotas to domestic merchants at official quotation prices. This step is called ‘reporting’.
Internal merchants specialize in buying salt, collect it in salt-producing areas, pile it up, and sell the salt to water merchants at the official salt price. This step is called ‘Shou Zhi.’
Most of the merchants on the water are traders selling on the shore. They specialize in collecting salt from domestic merchants and selling it at designated diversion shores. This step is called ‘market exchange’.
Obviously, domestic merchants are the absolute leader, and middlemen naturally have to make the difference.
For example, Wang Wenxian and others relied on this ‘opening method’ to get started and became very wealthy businessmen.
‘Xun Ru, what do you think of the court’s open approach？’
Zhou Chen was stunned, then pondered for a moment, and then replied, ‘Salt not only opened up the country, but also built merchant settlements, provided for the army, and reclaimed wasteland. Confucius said, ‘Benefit the people because they benefit them, and benefit them at no cost.’ It’s true.’ This is the best strategy for planning a country…’
‘speak English!’
‘In order to save costs, those merchants hired laborers to cultivate fields and produce food on the border, forming a prosperous merchant settlement, which greatly increased the food reserves of the border army and satisfied the food and salary supply for the Ming Dynasty’s border army. It is a national plan! ‘
There is no doubt that Zhou Chen highly admires Kaizhong Dharma.
In fact, the system itself is not bad, but the profits contained in it are so huge that the royal family, eunuchs, nobles and bureaucrats saw that holding salt Yin was profitable, so they all sued for salt Yin and resold it to salt merchants to make profits from it.
The giant salt merchants also wanted to monopolize the salt trade and colluded with court officials. There was collusion between officials and businessmen, and corruption abounded.
Zhu Gaoxu touched his chin and fell into deep thought. Did he solve this hidden danger for Zhu Di？
At this moment, the bidding in the venue has reached an extremely fierce level.
After three days of preparation, these wealthy businessmen had already raised money, so they were unambiguous in announcing the price.
Previously, Wang Guangfu offered a sky-high price of 300,000 taels to take a photo of area No. 1.
This is also the highest bid so far.
Therefore, the wealthy businessmen approached this number in a tacit understanding and never exceeded it.
However, as the number of two hundred and ninety thousand taels increased, the faces of all the wealthy businessmen turned green.
Wang Wenxian was impatient when he saw this. Although he had already purchased area No. 7, his bid was only 200,000 taels!
Today there are seven or eight bids for 290,000 taels. His bid has no chance of qualifying as a prison donor.
But he continued to bid, and he was short of money.
Although he is indeed a giant salt merchant, he only has 200,000 taels of silver in hand, which he raised in the past two days.
After delivering the 200,000 yuan in area No. 7, he, a giant salt merchant, was ‘penniless’.
In desperation, he had no choice but to look at Zhang Sijiao and Zhan Yuquan beside him.
‘Brother Zhang, Brother Zhan, please give me a helping hand.’
Zhang Sijiao has 150,000 cash in hand, and Zhan Yuquan has 200,000. The total amount is 350,000, and he can definitely win a spot!
Zhan Yuquan’s face was as white as jade, and he smiled lightly and said, ‘What do you think, Brother Zhang？ Zhan thinks that Brother Wang’s previous proposal is good.’
Zhang Sijiao nodded solemnly, ‘Yes, only by monopoly can we make profits. From now on, the three of us will be enough for the salt merchants in Shanxi.’
Wang Wenxian was overjoyed after hearing this.
With the support of these two people, he was confident and shouted out the sky-high price of ‘three hundred and one thousand taels’.
Wang Fuguang was stunned when he saw this, and his face instantly darkened.
Why does this bald man still have cash？
And he also broke his own record for the highest bid？
When he noticed the two people beside Wang Wenxian, he immediately reacted.
If you have someone to help you, don’t I have anyone？
‘Brother Song, Brother Li, it’s time to take action!’
‘Okay, let these Shanxi old men see the strength of my Huai merchants!’