Zhu Hongsan was very surprised when he saw the details. He did not expect that these Shanxi jealous jars were so rich. Zhu Hongsan knew that the Ming Dynasty merchants had a tradition of burying money underground, but the big merchants and landlords in Jiangnan used all their money to buy land, so the merchants in Jiangnan were rich, but it was rare to see so many cash-in-the-moneys.

The Ming Dynasty was in the era of great maritime in the West, so from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, a large amount of silver produced in South America flowed into China. According to later estimates, from the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the silver flowing into China from overseas was 300 million taels. Although so much money entered China, the national tax on Chongzhen was only more than 7 million taels of silver in the tenth year. So much money went there, and of course they were buried underground by merchants of all sizes across the country.

Chinese people like to save money, and Zhu Hongsan was also very troubled by this after occupying the whole country. A large amount of silver inflow caused soaring prices, but because the wealth was among the people, the court could not collect taxes, which further aggravated the court's financial crisis.

When Zhu Hongsan was in Guangdong, he formulated policies to hope that private silver would flow. For example, it was strictly prohibited to use silver only for standard silver dollars, etc. However, the function of this policy was very limited. After converting silver into silver dollars, those landlords still hid it in the cellar in their homes and did not participate in market circulation.

However, due to the large reduction in the population across the country, and Zhu Hongsan occupied rice-producing areas such as Luzon and Annan, as well as the cultivation of high-yield crops such as corn and potatoes, the price of grain is very stable. Even Shanxi, where the land is barren, the best Jiangnan rice is only five silver dollars per stone, and the unsavory corn and potatoes are even one silver dollars and two silver dollars. Therefore, although the prices in the country are soaring, the grain prices are very stable, so Zhu Hongsan is facing much better than Chongzhen.

Now after the Xuanfu family search, Zhu Hongsan found that there is actually another good way to let silver circulate, that is, to find a few big merchants to search their homes from time to time, so that they can spend money and silver can participate in circulation. This is really the best of both worlds.

Zhu Hongsan looked at the list in his hand and thought to himself: These eight families in Zhangjiakou are so rich, aren’t the famous big businesses in Shanxi even richer? What if they confiscate their homes?

Zhu Hongsan was harshly planning the gains and losses of scavenging the houses of these Shanxi vinegar jars. The gains and losses were very simple, that was, they had money to spend. Zhu Hongsan estimated that those Shanxi merchants such as the Qiao family, Chang family, Cao family, Wang family, etc. could at least produce tens of millions of silver.

But the loss was a bit serious. Fan Yongdou and his eight families were too bad. Everyone in the whole country knew that their eight families were not clear about whether they were from the Qing Dynasty. He just knocked them down and just practiced the way for heaven. However, other Shanxi merchants in Shanxi were different. Although these guys were more or less involved in Mongolian trade, these Shanxi merchants did not blatantly endorse the Qing Dynasty like Fan Yongdou.

Another point is that these Shanxi merchants were too powerful. The financial owners behind the ministers of the court in the middle and late Ming Dynasty had two main forces, one was the Zhejiang merchant group represented by Jiangnan merchants, and the other was the Shanxi merchant group. Shanxi merchants supported many high-ranking officials in the central government, such as Wang Chonggu during the Jiajing period, and Zhang Siwei who took over Zhang Juzheng as the chief minister. These were all from Shanxi, so the Shanxi Gang was very powerful in the court in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Although there has been a great chaos in the late Ming Dynasty, there are still a group of Shanxi people in Zhu Hongsan's court. Although these Shanxi jealous people are not important officials, they still have a certain say in the court.

If Zhu Hongsan dealt with Fan Yongdou and others, these Shanxi officials would not say anything, because in their eyes, Fan Yongdou and others were just nouveau riche. In addition, Fan Yongdou and others had bad reputations, so no one would complain about them. However, those Shanxi merchants were different from Zhu Hongsan. Those guys were deeply rooted in Shanxi for hundreds of years. If Zhu Hongsan scouted their homes for immediate interests, a big storm would probably cause in the court.

Zhu Hongsan is now troubled by the party disputes in the court. If Shanxi people are involved, they will not be able to live this life. Zhu Hongsan thought for a long time and decided not to move, and then he will talk about it when he has no money in the future.

In fact, even if Zhu Hongsan gave up the idea of ​​dealing with Shanxi merchants, those Shanxi merchants were rich, but their wealth was still incomparable to Fan Yongdou. Fan Yongdou was able to find so much silver at home, and a large part of this money was obtained by Fan Yongdou and others for the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty attacked the border three times in total, and the farthest time was to Dezhou, Shandong. In addition to abducting a large number of people, there were also a large number of gold, silver and jewelry. These things were not food that could not be eaten, but the Qing Dynasty also needed to convert these things into food, iron and other supplies. So Fan Yongdou and others gave this kind of ill-gotten fortune. Most of the silver and jewelry in their homes were brought by the Qing Dynasty from Han landlords waiting for the pass.

Now if Zhu Hongsan went to search all the Shanxi merchants in Shanxi, he would have money, but it would never be more money than Fan Yong. During the period of great development of Shanxi merchants in Shanxi, in the Qing Dynasty, when the Qing Dynasty used troops to the northwest, he organized some Han merchants to trade with the army. They followed the Qing army and went deep into the Mongolian grasslands to traffic in various parts of the Mongolian grasslands, trafficking military rations, military horses and other military supplies, and at the same time doing business with the Mongolian people.

Most of these merchants traveling to Mongolia were Shanxi merchants named "Imperial Shang" by the Qing court, and some were Han merchants from Zhili and other places. They guaranteed logistical needs for the Qing army's military operations. Of course, the Qing government also gave these merchants the privilege of doing business to monopolize their profits, allowing them to make great profits. This was the golden period of Shanxi merchants' development. Now those Shanxi merchants are also very rich, but they are just the second Fan Yongdou. If Zhu Hongsan stabbed Shanxi's hornet's nest for 10 or 20 million silver dollars, it would be really not worth the loss.

After Zhu Hongsan made up his mind to let the Shanxi merchants go, he issued an order to kill all the adult men of the eight merchants in Zhangjiakou. A man under the age of 12 was castrated into the palace. Except for selecting more than ten young and beautiful people to enter the palace, all other female relatives sold Jiaofangsi as prostitutes, and they were not allowed to redeem themselves for life.

Zhu Hongsan made a fortune in Zhangjiakou, so he was naturally very satisfied. After the Xuanfu preparations were completed, he sent someone to transport all the money from the house search to the inner treasury of Beijing. Then Zhu Hongsan led the imperial guards to continue his journey north.

Zhu Hongsan originally had a good plan. I got all the money myself, so of course I had to enter my own small treasury. But when he thought that the money was just shipped to Beijing, he was charged by the cabinet that received the news.

When Zhu Hongsan received the news, he had already arrived at the Zhangjiakou Pass. Zhu Hongsan was so angry that he was half-dead when he saw the letter from the cabinet. Feng Ziyong said it very clearly in the memorial that Zhangjiakou merchant Fan Yongdou and others colluded with the Qing Dynasty to resell supplies. The circumstances were serious and hateful. Now they were led by Emperor and you personally led the troops to wipe out the enemy. However, their illegal income was all the money and ominous people of the Central Plains, and they should be handed over to the state treasury, so please forgive me.

Zhu Hongsan was so angry that he stood up and cursed: "Feng Ziyong, you bastard. If I hadn't saved your whole family in Hengyang, would you still be the chief minister here? He would have long become a ghost of the bandits!" Zhu Hongsan was so angry that he took the sword of the Jinyiwei's waist and chopped it up at the furniture in the tent.

After Zhu Hongsan got angry, he personally picked up the paper and pen and wrote a letter to Feng Ziyong. Zhu Hongsan personally wrote it, and Chen Mingxia did it for nothing. It can be seen that Zhu Hongsan was really angry.

Of course, when Zhu Hongsan was angry, he still had to respect his identity. He could not curse his grandparents in the letter. In the letter, Zhu Hongsan explained that he had legal possessiveness of the money. At that time, Feng Ziyong said that the country did not pay for the Northern Tour, and the emperor had to pay for the money himself. Naturally, the benefits obtained during the Northern Tour were also owned by the emperor, and the cabinet could not illegally occupy it.

After writing the letter, Zhu Hongsan ordered the Jinyiwei to send it to Beijing immediately for 800 miles, and Feng Ziyong's reply was quickly sent back. In the letter, Feng Ziyong completely gave the scholar's unreasonable face. Feng Ziyong said that at that time he said that the treasury had no money and asked the emperor to use his own treasury. However, after Feng Ziyong returned home, he felt very unbearable. Emperor, you are so hardworking for the country, so we ministers cannot share the advantages for the emperor, so after the decision of the cabinet, the cost of the emperor's northern tour was paid.

Zhu Hongsan was even more angry when he saw that he had told his cabinet that he had said anything good, and he took him back to sit down? In the second letter, Zhu Hongsan started to act like a scoundrel, either giving money or quitting, your cabinet is so powerful, you can choose an emperor yourself!

Feng Ziyong was stunned when he received this letter. He didn't expect that Zhu Hongsan was so shameless. Can such an important matter of the throne be negotiated? Feng Ziyong thought about it and decided to say something soft, which would definitely make the emperor anxious.

In his second reply, Feng Ziyong said, Emperor, please understand the difficulties of the cabinet. The country needs money everywhere, and this country is the emperor's own. What do you think if you don't care about this country?

Zhu Hongsan was helpless after receiving the letter. There was no way, Zhu Hongsan had to take a step back and let the cabinet leave 10 million for him, and the remaining money was returned to the national treasury. In this way, the emperor started to argue with the cabinet, but the Jinyiwei, who had suffered a lot, ran eight times between Beijing and Zhangjiakou in less than half a month.

Finally, Zhu Hongsan reached an agreement with the cabinet to leave three million silver dollars for Zhu Hongsan's treasury, but the treasury had to bear all the expenses of this Northern Tour. In this way, most of the 20 million silver dollars that Zhu Hongsan had obtained for half a month went into the cabinet's pocket. Zhu Hongsan just drank some soup.

But Zhu Hongsan had no choice. He chose these bastards in the cabinet at that time, and their rights were also given by Zhu Hongsan himself. Now these bastards have checked and balanced Zhu Hongsan, so he could only break his teeth and swallow it. Zhu Hongsan finally received a letter from the cabinet, glanced and sighed, kneaded the letter into a ball and threw it away, and then took the army to leave Zhangjiakou and officially entered the Mongolian area.
Chapter completed!