Chapter 1509 Chapter 28 of Xin Zi Volume begins
Feng Ziying does have this intention. Through this round of contact, he can understand the thoughts of these Jiangnan businessmen.
He would not place too much hope on the mainstream of the Jiangnan gentry, that is, those gentry who are based on land and land. For their own fundamental interests, these people cannot make too many concessions, not to mention that there is still Prince Yi Zhong. The best sign was held up in front, which gave them too much courage and hope.
However, these businessmen who mainly focus on industry, commerce, and trade are worthy of being win over and win over.
The navy has always been firmly controlled by the imperial court, including the Denglai, Fujian and Guangdong navies of the current three major navies. In addition to Denglai, the Fujian and Guangdong navies are mainly made up of local people, but those who join the ships as soldiers are all They were from a poor family and had nothing to do with the gentry. Most of the military officers and military officers were promoted from these soldiers, and they had relatively close contact with maritime merchants.
In Feng Ziying's view, once history really moves towards the separation and confrontation between the north and the south that he least wants to see, and Prince Yi Zhong really wants to raise a rebel flag in the south of the Yangtze River, then if the imperial court based in the north cannot solve the problem in a relatively short time Fighting may lead to a crisis.
The Northland, including the Gyeonggi Province, relies to a large extent on food, cloth and other daily necessities from Jiangnan and Huguang. Once the north and the south are divided and confronted, and water transportation is cut off, how long can the Gyeonggi Province last? Half a year or a year?
With water transportation cut off, Northland can only rely on sea transportation if it wants to survive. However, the current sea transportation capacity is far from being comparable to water transportation.
Although Feng Ziying began to promote the policy of opening up the sea a few years ago and encouraged north-south trade to be supplemented by sea transportation in addition to water transportation, the proportion of this supplement is still very small. Based on the various data currently obtained, it is estimated that It is only equivalent to about 10% to 20% of water transportation. This is still under the situation that Yuguan Port and Denglai are gradually expanding the scale of sea trade. If it were replaced before, it would not even be even half a percent.
This is why Feng Ziying worked hard to open ports and build wharves in Denglai and Yuguan, and encourage shipping merchants to increase trade. Without this life-saving route, Feng Ziying was worried that once there was a confrontation between the north and the south, as long as the court could not If the troubles in Jiangnan are solved quickly, the country itself may collapse first.
Xue Biao was just a random chess piece, but now it seems that this chess piece has to play a big role. Feng Ziying even spared no effort to support its expansion of the fleet regardless of cost, hoping to be able to deal with possible crises in the future as much as possible. A little more strength.
In addition to Xue Biao, Feng Ziying values Zhuang Limin even more.
Cooperation with merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi in Yongping Prefecture has deeply bound this wealthy Guangdong businessman to the imperial court and the North. Guangdong has never had much contact with Jiangnan, so this has become the most important "rear base area". In the situation where Huguang's grain transportation to the north may be blocked by water transportation and the land transportation to the north will consume too much, Guangdong's grain transportation to the north will also become a bright spot and even a life-saving straw.
Of course, these are all worst-case scenarios. Now Feng Ziying hopes to win over these Jiangnan businessmen and let them restrain the Jiangnan gentry, but Feng Ziying knows that this is difficult.
Although these Jiangnan merchants have strong economic strength, they cannot compare with the gentry in terms of political discourse and control of public opinion. So they can only take a step back and let these people do their best if the situation worsens in the future. Merchants from the south of the Yangtze River still maintain trade relations with the north, even if it is like the smuggling trade during the sea ban.
As Wang Wenyan said, from the third round of sales by these Jiangnan businessmen, we may be able to get a glimpse of the thoughts of these Jiangnan businessmen. If they are more optimistic about the court or the future peaceful resolution of the situation between the court and Jiangnan, then they may If they are not optimistic about purchasing the farms and mansions in Gyeonggi, then it may be difficult for them to purchase these fixed assets in the North.
Of course, this is not absolute. Hedging their bets, or in order to perfunctory and hide their opinions, these businessmen may also spend money to hide their intentions, but this is at least a window.
A steady stream of silver and silver notes arrived at Haitong Bank on the second day, which was another extremely rare publicity opportunity for Haitong Bank.
Transactions involving thousands or even tens of thousands of taels of silver would seem too frivolous if servants were required to carry the silver, so merchants basically chose to complete it with the acceptance banknotes of Haitong Bank.
Whether it is Beidi, Jiangnan, or Huguang, Haitong Yinzhuang's branches are basically available in big cities. So for these businessmen, they give up the inconvenience of carrying silver, but instead they can find it in Tongdu Dayi. Depositing, withdrawing, and exchanging money is certainly inconvenient for small amounts, but it is much safer and more convenient for large amounts.
On the third day, that is, the second round of sales was far less lively than the first round of sales, but it was still sold at a good price of 450,000 taels of silver, which was somewhat different from the 500,000 silver that Fu Shi expected. , but it is in line with Feng Ziying and Wang Wenyan’s predictions. After all, jewelry is not something that can only be found at a low price. It can be found in jewelry shops in the capital city. Most of the people who come to buy it are hoping to find something cheap. , if it exceeds expectations, it will be difficult to increase the price.
What Feng Ziying is most concerned about is the Jiangnan merchant group. Dongting merchants, Longyou merchants, and Anfu merchants are all active, but Huizhou merchants and Yangzhou salt merchants are not as satisfactory, forming a sharp contrast.
It goes without saying that Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants have always had a bad relationship. They are representatives of merchants from the north and south. However, the Yangzhou salt merchants are a mixed group, with merchants from all over the Yangtze River and the north, Shanxi and Shaanxi merchants joining in. Therefore, this group In fact, it can no longer be judged by place of origin, but a very special interest group. They will be loyal to whoever can bring them the most generous benefits. And now they are obviously more optimistic about Jiangnan and stand on Jiangnan's side. .
On the other hand, although the group of maritime merchants and salt merchants in Fujian just picked up the poor land of Dongfan, they are more trustworthy because they have been squeezed out by the Yangzhou salt merchants.
Of course, this is just the most superficial and straightforward division and judgment. It is difficult to say how many of them are speculators or people who are in Cao's camp but their hearts are in Han's, or whether everyone is placing bets separately and watching the changes.
This is all expected, but in the big wave of gold mining, these people will eventually reveal their true colors. When the situation becomes clear and it is no longer possible to sit on the fence and wait and see, it will be the time to see the outcome.
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"Father, the total income from the four sales was more than 3.56 million taels, which far exceeded our previous predictions. Now you can go and discuss the issues of the four northwest towns with Mr. Huang and Mr. Zhang openly." Feng Ziying sat under Feng Tang, holding the account in her hand and saying quite proudly.
"Well, it's really shocking." Feng Tang was also filled with emotion. "The officials in Jingtong Ercang are really unimaginable. Aren't they greedy for ink every moment for so many years?"
"The accumulation over the past twenty years can be regarded as a contribution to the imperial court." Feng Ziying said calmly: "If not, father, what can you do to appease the military morale in the northwest?"
"It's not as serious as you think. There are three hundred thousand ways to appease three hundred thousand people, and there are eight hundred thousand ways to appease eight hundred thousand people." Feng Tang said calmly: "But if it is true as you said, there will be big problems this year and next year." Change, that 300,000 yuan is really not enough, 800,000 yuan is enough."
Feng Ziying laughed and said, "Why, father, do you have feelings now?"
Feng Tang glanced at his son and breathed a sigh of relief, "Although your father and I don't care much about government affairs, I still feel it. Although Beijing seems peaceful and there are many disputes between the DPRK and China, I just don't understand what's going on in Jiangnan." Steady, can’t the three cabinet ministers Ye, Fang and Li not see that Huang Ruliang, Gao Panlong, Zhang Jingqiu, Gu Bingqian and Liu Yishen are all famous ministers in Jiangnan, are they also indifferent?”
"It's not that it turns a blind eye, nor is it indifferent, but that it is too confident. The public riots in Jiangnan are not just once or twice. Even when the Supreme Emperor was in power, didn't they also make riots from time to time? Now that there is such a situation, everyone probably thinks that it is the gentry in Jiangnan who wants to To be pretentious, the court first appeases, then hangs, then comforts, then beats, in short, just hangs, hangs, and takes turns, what else can those people in Jiangnan do?"
Feng Ziying sneered.
Feng Tang thought for a while, and it seemed that this was really the case. In the 42nd year of Emperor Yuanxi's reign, the gentry in Jiangnan had at least five or six quarrels, and they would have riots every few years. After the current emperor ascended the throne, this Jiangnan seemed to be the first Once? So everyone thinks it’s nothing, it’s commonplace, and they’re not surprised if they’re used to it.
"However, these people seem to have forgotten that the situation is different. There is an additional Prince Yoshitaka who has been the crown prince for twenty years, and the Supreme Emperor is still there. Who can guess what his thoughts are?"
Feng Tang frowned and slowly shook his head: "The Emperor cannot fail to see the pros and cons of this. No matter how pity and guilt he feels towards Prince Yi Zhong, he cannot make a mistake in this situation. If the emperor If you can't even grasp this sense of proportion and emotion, the Zhang family should have been over for a long time."
This is also something Feng Ziying is very puzzled about.
If Prince Yoshitaka wants to raise a rebellion, all he needs to do is say a word from the Emperor, and everything Prince Yoshitaka has done will be wiped out.
If Prince Yi Zhong thought that he could persuade the Emperor to side with him based on the previous relationship between father and son, then Prince Yi Zhong would be too naive. In this case, when the great cause of the dynasty is at stake, the relationship between father and son will also give way to Da Zhou Zhang. The inheritance of the emperor's throne is eternal, not to mention that Emperor Yonglong is also his son.
(End of this chapter)