PS: Thanks to book friend "Chai Yong" for his monthly votes.

It’s not that Wu Zheng intended to indulge and cover up the Chamber of Commerce.

Instead, the Chamber of Commerce is a part of Wu Zheng’s foundation in recent years and cannot be ignored or despised.

It may not be difficult to kill the Chamber of Commerce, but the difficult thing is that it involves too much.

When Wu Zheng thinks about this, his mind hurts.

Ma Shiying's accusation was already very obvious. He was accusing the Chamber of Commerce of disobeying orders, hoarding grain privately, and even robbing grain with the court.

If this matter is in daily life, it is understandable. The Chamber of Commerce is doing something that can be bought high and sold at a low price. As long as you don’t force it to buy, it will be done.

But at this time, if the Chamber of Commerce is still participating in the fight for grain with the court, then this is not because it is not because it has ulterior motives.

This crime can be big or small, small, and can be laughed at and big, and can be implicated in all the people involved, and among them, there are people Wu Zheng the one whom he cannot bear to touch.

Wu Zheng is actually already restraining the Chamber of Commerce from its wild growth methods, such as strictly prohibiting the Chamber of Commerce from smuggling firearms and ordnances.

However, there are policies from above and countermeasures from below. The Chamber of Commerce shifted its energy to the grain that it was most reluctant to touch before and believed that profits were not high.

Wu Zheng breathed a long sigh and said to Ma Shiying in anger: "Tell me... how do you plan to collect grain from the Chamber of Commerce?"

As soon as these words were said, Wang Yi was anxious, "Your Majesty must not... Now the situation in Jiangnan is in chaos... If the Chamber of Commerce is triggered to take the opportunity to oppose the prince and support King Lu... it is really not worth the loss! In my opinion, why not... I will stop supporting the Daxi Army, sending military rations to the northwest, and transferring them to the Northern Expedition Army to relieve their anger...?"

Ma Shiying looked at Wu Zheng and kept silent.

Wu Zheng nodded calmly at him, "No... The food to support the Daxi Army is not allowed to be less than a grain, and it cannot be late for a day... Our dynasty cannot be without the Northwest, nor without the King of Jin and Daxi Army. This matter cannot be mentioned again...Ma Shiying, please continue to talk."

Ma Shiying was happy and then said solemnly: "Maybe the prince doesn't know yet... Most of the grain shops and rice shops in the street markets of various prefectures in Jiangnan have been annexed by the Chamber of Commerce. In other words, as long as the Chamber of Commerce gives an order, even if the government wants to buy rice, it must obtain the approval of the Chamber of Commerce..."

Wu Zheng's face became increasingly ugly. Has it reached this point?

"... But the prince must know that the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce now has at least half of the shares..." Ma Shiying used his words to prove it.

Wu Zheng's thoughts were already ethereal.

Is the old saying really right? Is it true that there is no businessman or evil?

Maybe they can be missing?

The key is that businessmen do not appear out of thin air. Businessmen are also human beings. They may come from scholarly families, or they may be scholars before they joined the business.

For example, Xi Benzhen and Huang Zongxi are serious scholars, but now they are also the top ten shareholders of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce.

When he founded the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce, he was already in aware that the chamber of commerce would be in trouble, so he chose Xi Benzhen and Huang Zongxi to fill it up, so he was to guide the chamber of commerce not only to pursue profits.

Wu Zheng’s purpose of founding the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce was not just to require money to support his foundation.

The most important thing is that Wu Zheng wanted to use the Chamber of Commerce to guide the people to deposit gold and silver at this time and invest in handicrafts and industries.

In fact, the main reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty was not the greed for civil officials.

Civil officials are greedy for money, which dynasty does not exist, including later generations.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, especially during the Wanli period, capitalism actually sprouted, far earlier than Western Europe.

But the Ming Dynasty used administrative means to kill the buds in the cradle, such as forbidding the sea.

The sea ban has left the sedimentary funds of the entire country with nowhere to go and can only be buried in large quantities in the ground.

Countless ordinary people along the coast also cut off their livelihoods due to the ban on the sea, and had to collude with pirates and engage in smuggling.

This also caused the main reason for the constant troubles throughout the Ming Dynasty.

In a short period of time, the self-restraint did not threaten the land, but it allowed the entire Ming Dynasty to enter a period of no pursuit. It is said that a country without enterprising and no sense of crisis will sooner or later die.

The slogan of "forget the battle and be in danger" in later generations is really not empty.

As for the corruption of the entire "Donglin Party", it can actually be resolved - leading the disaster overseas and allowing the huge capital force of the Ming Dynasty to go out to sea. With the naval strength of the Ming Dynasty's seven voyages to the West at that time, it could almost wipe out the entire Southeast Asia, and even expand its power to Africa and Western Europe.

Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty cut off the road to dominance of the world.

Wu Zheng didn't want to repeat the regrets of history.

He wants to spread the Chinese civilization throughout the world.

Therefore, supporting a powerful chamber of commerce is indispensable.

But the reality is cruel, not because of Ma Shiying's accusations today. In fact, Wu Zheng has heard the news and the Chamber of Commerce has many illegal things.

But the problem is that the Chamber of Commerce is now in a big way, where are the capital 20,000 taels and how many shareholders are there?

It is not an exaggeration to say that it is related to people's livelihood.

It is not a simple matter to ban it, it can be said to be a pain of cutting the skin and scraping the bones.

Because all the operations of the Chamber of Commerce have been integrated into ordinary people.

What happens after it is banned?

I have to support one again, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and cost-effective, and exhausting the people!

"Prince..."

"Prince...!"

Wu Zheng's distractedness made Ma Shiying laugh and cry, "Prince, I've finished speaking..."

Wu Zhengran said, "Tell me... what are you going to do?"

Ma Shiying had to repeat, "Please issue a wartime supervision order in the name of the country's supervision... immediately seal off all grain shops, rice shops, granaries within the jurisdiction of the court... in case the Chamber of Commerce transfers and hides grain. In this way, the food shortage of the army ahead will be resolved!"

Ma Shiying's advice was not only opposed by Wang Yi, but also by Mao Xiang, a radical man.

"I think the strategies offered by Lord Ma are too radical... The serious and violent medicine is counterproductive. In my opinion, I should take it step by step, first solve the food shortage of the army in front, and then slowly plan it... Please summon the members of the Joint Conference of the Chamber of Commerce in person to explain the pros and cons and explain the righteousness. I think the people in the Chamber of Commerce should know the importance of the severity..."

Ma Shiying sneered: "Lecture notes to the merchant... Master Mao's move is a matter of being a tree and seeking fishing!"

Mao Xiang was furious and shouted at Ma Shiying: "Ma Yaocao, do you know that if you really want to pursue the crime of the Chamber of Commerce, what serious consequences will it cause... It will affect your whole body... Do you think that Jiangnan is not in chaos enough... Do you want to push all the people in the Chamber of Commerce to the King of Lu... What is your intention?!"

This is serious, and Ma Shiying dares not refute it anymore. If he really confirms the crime of bad intentions, the consequences will be too serious.

Wu Zheng spoke and asked Xia Wanchun, Liao Zhongping and others: "Which one of the two people's plans do you think is more secure?"

There is actually no need to ask this. No one is a fool. The word "safety" has been pointed out in the words of King Wu. Do you still need to choose?

"Let's listen to the prince!"
Chapter completed!