After Zhu Jun arrived in Haidu's three southwestern provinces, the delegation of the three provinces in Haidu landed at Haidu Port 37, welcomed by officials from the Ministry of Rites. The Grand Secretary of the Cabinet Zhou Mubai personally led a team and first led them to visit some historical sites in the city. Zhou Mubai is now focusing on the economy of Haidu, and has a lot of experience over the past year. He always has professional words such as production, workshops, production volume, and operating rate. He looks like an economic brick in later generations. The gentry and businessmen in the inspection team felt that it was strange everywhere because Liu Laolao entered the Grand View Garden.

After walking around the city for a few days, Zhou Mubai began to lead the merchants to the development zone. There were many workshops along the road, and various carriages were shuttled back and forth. The gentry and businessmen in the inspection team watched one after another. When they arrived at the development hall in the middle of the development zone, Zhou Mubai took out various reports for the gentry and businessmen to show them.

"In Haidu, there are 1,120 workshops with more than 200 craftsmen. The goods produced every day require thousands of carriages to be taken to the port or warehouse. Among them, the profits earned by the workshop owners are hundreds or thousands of taels of silver a year." Zhou Mubai stroked his beard and shook his head and was proud. The development zone was handled by him, which was both his political achievements and his heart.

In order to run the development zone well, Zhou Mubai has had a few good sleeps this year. He gets up before dawn every day. He first goes to court, then symbolically goes around the cabinet, discusses some major events in court with Yang Side. After breakfast, he takes a carriage to the development zone. He has to patrol the workshops every day, and then process some materials in the development zone. In the afternoon, he goes to meet a few businessmen who are interested in investing in opening workshops. He has been busy until night and has to ask about the issues of the merchants' parliament. If he thinks it is feasible, he will be allowed to pass. After a year of struggle, Zhou Mubai has already seemed to be gone.

He lost a lot of weight, but he added a bit of a fairy-like appearance. As for party disputes, he had no interest in it. He used to think about gaining power, but after the emperor refuted it last time, his niece became an imperial concubine. In this way, there was no need for him to compete with others in order to consolidate his status. On the contrary, since he started to create the development zone, his business has not only won praise from many merchants, but also made his colleagues in the court look at him differently. Although life has been a little harder and he always has endless work, he feels comfortable and has a sense of success with every passing day.

"The tax bank in the development zone is only 20 yuan, but the imperial court has a total of 20 yuan and 300,000 taels per year. And this year, dozens of large workshops have been added, so the tax bank will be increased by a few percent." Zhou Mubai proudly introduced to more than 100 members of the inspection team.

The gentry and businessmen stared at Zhou Mubai and admired him so much that this shock was unique. Two million taels of silver were the tax silver of the Qing Dynasty. The tax silver collected by this hundred hectares of land was as much as one province. No wonder the Ming army was well-equipped when they entered the city, and even the military uniforms were made of silk.

At this time, a creaking sound of slashing down the ladders on the second floor of the office yamen. Seven or eight Haidu merchants wearing precious silk stroked their beards and went downstairs to the main hall of the yamen. They saw Zhou Mubai in the crowd and hurriedly came over with a smile to bow to Zhou Mubai to say hello.

The gentry and businessmen in the inspection team found it even more strange. Lord Zhou was a grand cabinet minister. In the past, he was the prime minister. He was also a minister of the Central Government in the Qing Dynasty. With such an identity, these merchants from Haidu only gave up their hands to compile. Do you not worship the officials when they saw them?

When the merchants in Haidu walked out of the yatang with relief, Zhou Mubai obviously saw the doubts of the gentry and merchants and said: "They are the second floor consulting councils to discuss the commercial law clauses of the development zone. In Haidu, as long as the merchants are willing to buy a certain amount of interest-free bonds, they can get the honorary Lord of the Justice of Peace. They have the right to not worship the officials. Do you see the Taiping Medal on their chests? That's that."

Zhou Mubai's expression was kind and he was not big at all. This is also an experience he summarized since he started the development zone. In fact, for many merchants, it doesn't matter whether they make money or not. What they need most is not money, but status and respect. When a senior official like Zhou Mubai met them, if they could give them a certain respect, not to mention anything else, even the workshop merchants who lost money were willing to invest. In this era, the discrimination against merchants in the entire East reached an unparalleled level. Merchants have always been in a lowly place, and have been exploited by governments from various countries. The Haidu City has been innovative, and has suddenly increased the status of merchants and has also given up the honorary title of Justice of Peace. In addition, Zhou Mubai, a friendly old man, naturally, merchants from various countries in Southeast Asia have been rushing and are reluctant to leave even if they are in the sea.

Zhou Mubai stroked his beard and asked the vast expedition team to go to the second floor. This was the meeting place for the Council of Consultants. The huge club was occupied by an oval long table, with hundreds of benches placed on both sides of the long table. Zhou Mubai sat on his head and asked all other merchants to sit down.

"This is the Merchant House. On the first day of every month, all merchants who have received the title of Justice of the Peace can go

When discussing matters, officials from the yamen will also come to listen. However, they are not allowed to send people a discussion result and the yamen officials will record the results. Which workshop has what needs and which businessman has encountered any trouble. Whether it is customizing commercial laws or trivial matters, they can be brought up. The yamen officials will help solve the problem."

The gentry and businessmen were stunned. Especially those merchants from generation to generation, their faces were flushed and making money was nothing to them. All the merchants who could participate in the inspection team had a fortune of one or two generations. But the Lord of the Justice of Peace made them very moved. The merchants could still discuss politics? They could not worship officials. This was a matter of hard work for many merchants.

"Adult, the little man has a son in his family. He has also learned some poetry and books since he was a child. If he bought a bond and became a Justice of Peace, can he take the exam for fame and fortune?" A thin businessman looked at Zhou Mubai and asked.

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, merchants were born in a low-class family. The offspring was not allowed to take the imperial examinations and become officials unless you announced that you would no longer do business. And you never had any other people who were born in a low-class family for three generations. Only in the fourth generation did you have such rights. Therefore, most of the civil servants in the Ming Dynasty were from peasants or gentry. The so-called farming and reading and family inheritance were like this. Although merchants had a lot of money, their status in the peasants was much higher than that of them.
Chapter completed!