The salt merchants in the Ming Dynasty were definitely one of the top groups of people with the most wealth. If Forbes Magazine had ranked the world's wealthy people at that time, the salt merchants would probably have monopolized the list.

If Gu Zhenhua wants to rule the two Huaihe Rivers, the first thing he needs to settle is these Gods of Wealth.

"Wang Shouzhong, are you also an official in our dynasty?"

Wang Shouzhong nodded quickly: "The villain just donated a Governor Su Song, it's not worth mentioning!"

"Why isn't it worth mentioning? He is a second-rank official. Is it worth mentioning in your eyes?"

"I dare not, I dare not!" Wang Shouzhong waved his hands repeatedly.

This time when he was called to Xuzhou, Wang Shou’s center was full of troubles and knew that he would not pass easily. However, facing Guo Zhenhua, he did not have the courage to resist, so he could only lower his figure. At worst, he would be slaughtered. Anyway, they were all ready!

"Dude, the villain has long known himself. He just spends money to buy an official position. If the Duke feels it is inappropriate, the villain will resign immediately!"

"Don't!" Gu Zhenhua smiled and waved his hand: "At such a high position, don't spend money in vain. Besides, I still hope you will serve Chaotian!"

Gu Zhenhua smiled and looked at the other businessmen. These fat businessmen, facing Gu Zhenhua, unconsciously lowered their heads and almost dared not look directly.

Although this man dressed like a civilian, standing there, his perfect inverted triangle figure and his muscles swelled, like a powerful leopard with a powerful hole. Especially his sharp eyes, they were full of brilliance. When he was stared at, the temperature around him immediately dropped by two degrees, and he couldn't help but shivering!

Wang Shouzhong bowed and said, "Duke, for my sake, you have made many extraordinary achievements and killed countless Tartars. People all over the world admire him. This time, the villains came to Xuzhou. First, they were the order of the Duke of the Kingdom to pay homage to him. Second, they also wanted to show their hearts and give them some tea to each other!"

When the other salt merchants heard this, they nodded and said with a smile: "That's right, that's right, it's all the filial piety of the villains. Please accept it."

Wang Shouzhong led the leader to deliver a gift list to Gu Zhenhua. Gu Zhenhua looked at the gift list and smiled slightly, "Everyone is intent, I have received this order. You are a guest from afar. I have prepared a banquet in the city to entertain you, please don't refuse."

"Oh! The prince's wine. The villains are so eager to ask for!"

When Gu Zhenhua received the gift list, these people were intrigued. As the saying goes, even if Gu Zhenhua is a tiger, he will not turn around and eat them.

The big salt merchant Fei Honglin squeezed out. This guy was not tall, and his width was almost beyond his height. He had a big meat ball, five or six chins under his neck, and his fat face squeezed his eyes away.

He gasped and said, "The villain Fei Honglin met with Duke Ji. The duke showed his power. The villain admired him from the bottom of his heart. Some time ago, he invited a few scholars to help make up the lyrics. Then the villain found several famous opera singers and filmed a big show called "Wang Tianqing", which only played the story of Duke Ji accepting the Lord Hong En, protecting His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, assisting the new king, and stabilizing the country. If you are willing, let's take a look at this new show in the meal?"

When other salt merchants heard this, they looked at each other. This fat man is really good at flattering, and even has operas. He doesn't have to worry about touching people's hearts. In contrast, the gold and silver beauties, antiques, calligraphy and paintings they prepared all look vulgar.

Wang Shouzhong even wanted to slap himself. Why didn't he expect such a good idea?

Gu Zhenhua kept silent and smiled slightly: "You have the heart too, let's go to the city!"

Gu Zhenhua took his head and invited all these salt merchants into the government office. Wu Kaijie took them to the flower hall first, while Gu Zhenhua went to change his clothes.

After these salt merchants sat down, they had already served the dishes like maids shuttled around, all of which were mainly Huaiyang dishes, including Wensi tofu, crab noodles, lion heads, squirrel mandarin fish, three sets of ducks, etc., which were full of them. A large table was set, which was much more abundant than An Guojun's celebration banquet.

However, facing the dishes, the salt merchants showed a hint of disdain. Although they tried their best to cover up, Wu Kaijie was so keen that he couldn't see it!

"Haha, everyone, this is the special care of the Duke of the State. Do you think it is difficult to swallow if you can't get it on the table?"

"How dare you, how dare you!" Fei Honglin shook his fat head and smiled: "Mr. Wu, to be honest, I feel uncomfortable when I see the Duke of the Kingdom to eat this! These are all ordinary dishes. What a character the Duke of the Kingdom is. You can't eat dragon liver and phoenix marrow, but you should always make it more refined. It's so crude that it's hard to bear to take a look!"

When Wu Kaijie heard this, he couldn't help but shake his head and smiled bitterly: "This is good. When you are fighting, you can eat pancakes and drink saliva. It's a great blessing. You guys have been so comfortable for too long!"

Fei Honglin saw that Wu Kaijie was unhappy and hurriedly said, "Sir, the young man doesn't mean to look down on him. Instead, he deeply admires Duke Ji's simplicity. There are a few new cooks in the little man's family. Although he can't make big meals, it's a great deal. When will the Duke want to eat it, he can make it right immediately!"

Wang Shouzhong watched from the side. When he heard that Fatty Fei was going to send the chef again, he couldn't bear it anymore. This good thing could not be taken by you alone. He also smiled and said, "Mr. Wu, I'm not to hide it. I also have two masters in my family, one is a sheep mat and the other is a good puffer fish. They are all first-class masters. Their skills are excellent. The little man will deliver it to the Duke immediately."

"No need!"

While they were scrambling to flatter, Gu Zhenhua changed into a purple-green shirt, tied a gold-wire belt, and walked over quickly.

"I have understood your kindness, but it is said that the land of gentleness is a hero's tomb. Now that the Tartars have not yet been destroyed, how dare you talk about enjoyment!"

As Gu Zhenhua said, he walked to everyone and sat straight in the main seat.

The salt merchants looked at each other and changed their clothes, and their whole body was completely different. Gu Zhenhua's figure was definitely a standard clothes rack, and his whole body was elegant and elegant, but when he walked, he was full of energy, especially the corners of his eyes and eyebrows, which was inviolable!

What do you think of this style? Everyone is chasing their hearts. Perhaps only the imagined emperor has this dignity. When they think of this, they were also shocked.

"The prince is a model for the world!"

"Hahaha, Lord Wang, you are too polite! I am not polite to everyone, open the skylight and speak out. Now An Guojun is only two words, lacking money! I just won a battle, rewarding the meritorious soldiers and asking for money, soothing the people who were suffering from the flood, and reclaiming the trauma of the Tartars, and refining the troops. Beware that the Tartars will still need money when they go south again! Thousands of troubles are all on my shoulders. You are all wise merchants, gentry, businessmen, and tycoons. I believe I would not see my husband so embarrassed!"

Wang Shouzhong, Fei Honglin and others looked at each other. Everyone knew that they could not escape this knife, so Fatty Fei stood up first.

"Dude, you always keep the security in the southeast. The villains have all received your favors, so I am naturally grateful. The villains are willing to give out 50,000 taels to support military supplies!"

As soon as he spoke, others followed suit, some took 30,000 taels, some took 20,000 taels, and some paid 8,000 taels. Wang Shouzhong gritted his teeth and took out 100,000 taels.

The money they paid was calculated in total, and the total amount was nearly one million taels. Adding the gift list just now, there were still 500,000 taels, which was 1.5 million taels in total!

If this is taken into consideration by others, it will definitely be a lot. How much does the annual tax in the Ming Dynasty cost? It is enough for them to take out so much, which shows their filial piety!

But who made them meet such a bad person as Gu Zhenhua, and they were not interested in this amount of money. In fact, Gu Zhenhua had to do too much. This amount of money is indeed a drop in the bucket and is not enough to see it!

After waiting for them to finish speaking, Gu Zhenhua smiled slightly: "Everyone, yesterday my master wrote a memorial to give it to the emperor. The content is very simple, which is to restore China and France. However, due to the fall of the North, the salt merchant will re-tender and divide the area!"

When these merchants heard this, they were all shocked. The so-called Kaizhong Law was actually the salt law of the early Ming Dynasty: the Ministry of Revenue issued a list to summon merchants and ordered them to transport grain to border areas or other food-deficient places. The government's grain collection agency registered the number of grain collected and the number of salt to be paid, and filled it with the warehouse banknotes; the merchants put the banknotes on the production of salt and transported the salt to the department for salt to exchange for salt, and transported it to the salt farm to sell salt to designated areas.

If this opening of China and France could be maintained forever, it might be a proper way. However, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, all kinds of evil hands were inserted into it, and even the emperor had privately given salt intake. The generals of the border town even opened salt intake, causing the border granary to be empty, and the merchants who actually transported grain could not mention salt intake.

During the Wanli period, the plan was changed. From then on, the officials did not collect salt. The merchants and the dealers directly traded, bought, and sold the goods and sold the goods, and were all inherited. The plan was the people-based system, including business collection, business transportation, and business sales. Simply put, it was the merchant's monopoly sale.

There is no doubt that the reform of the salt law in the Ming Dynasty was a typical example of the Democratic Progress and the National Resistance. From then on, salt merchants firmly controlled the fat piece of salt, but the tax revenue of the court became increasingly exhausted.

When Wang Shouzhong and others heard that they wanted to change the salt method and re-auction, there was no doubt that this was to break their lifeline again. How could these people bear it!

"Dude, this salt method must not be moved!"

"Yes!" Fei Honglin also bowed and said, "Salt is an indispensable thing for the people, it is not enough to be less. We are just earning hard money, and we also ask the Duke of the State to be polite."

Another businessman named Ji stood up. He was not very old, but he was the largest salt merchant in Yangzhou. His wife was also a family of salt merchants and was very strong.

He said respectfully: "Duke Ji, the salt law is of great importance, and it is indeed not easy to change it. The villain dared to speculate that the Duke of the Kingdom wants to change the salt law to meet the military needs. As the people of the Ming Dynasty, we should share the worries of the court. In this way, from now on, we will offer another million taels of silver every year and ask the Duke of the Kingdom to give up his hands!"

The other merchants were a little dissatisfied, but they didn't dare to refute it. They thought secretly in their hearts that they would raise prices in the future to make up for the losses!

One million taels have become two million taels, which seems to have increased by a large amount, but it is still far from Gu Zhenhua's standards!

"Everyone, I will tell you the truth. Five million taels cannot be lost in a single child!"

Five million! Ten thousand!

Everyone was furious now. Just kidding, the total salt taxes in the Ming Dynasty added up to only more than one million in actual storage. They gave Gu Zhenhua more than two million at once.

Draw a piece of paper with a nose, and it’s such a big face! Five million, is this guy crazy about money?

Wang Shouzhong shook his head like a rattle.

"Dude, even if the villain smashes his bones, he can't afford so much money."

Fatty Fei simply started to cry: "Dude, don't listen to them saying that the salt merchants are so rich. It seems that we are all fat. In fact, we know the hard work of each person, and it's not easy for us!"

"Yes, Duke, you can't help but give us a way out!"

Gu Zhenhua said nothing. Wu Kaijie widened his eyes and jumped to the middle of these guys, saying loudly: "You all listen to me, don't cry here and don't want to be poor. At worst, you can auction the salt farm in Lianghuai. From now on, all methods will be abolished. As long as you pay 500,000 taels of silver every year, you will be given one-tenth of his salt farm, cook salt and sell it casually. No need to have more, ten portions are enough. What do you think?"

Not so!

These salt merchants were completely scared. If they really did this, let alone five million, they might be able to sell for ten million!

Wang Shouzhong, Fei Honglin and others looked at it, and they all knelt on the ground and cried bitterly.

"Duke, the salt law has been rules since ancient times and we must not change it without any changes! We are willing to do our best to respect the Duke, and ask the Duke to understand our difficulties!"

Gu Zhenhua looked at them, and the people kneeling in front of him were definitely the fattest group of fat cats in the Ming Dynasty. As a result, they were still crying in front of them, which was simply outrageous!

However, Gu Zhenhua has long learned to control his emotions so that he will not get angry easily.

"Everyone, what should I do with this salt method? I really should think carefully. Everyone should have a meal first. After eating, arrange for you to rest. I will talk about what you have later!"

When we reached this point, what else can we eat? Everyone had to deal with it for a while and then they dispersed. Wu Kaijie brought them to a special inn.

Fatty Fei came to his room. When he opened the door, he was covered with spider webs, and the smell of mold was pungent. He picked up the spider webs and looked inside. He saw that the bedding on the bed was also moldy, and cockroaches crawled back and forth!

"Ah! Is this a place where people stay?"

As soon as he said this, he suddenly heard a scream outside.

“Ah————”

"What's going on? Kill pigs?"

Fei Honglin came outside panting and followed the sound under a courtyard wall, which was heard from the opposite side.

"Hold the master and let me see!"

The four families supported Fei Honglin hard and sent this person to the wall.

Fei Honglin looked at the opposite side with difficulty, and saw that in front of the opposite room, a large row of people were tied to the pillars. Several people were holding red soldering irons and pressing on the flesh and blood body, and white smoke suddenly burst out.

Fei Honglin had never seen this before, and suddenly he was unstable and fell heavily, leaving a mimeogram on the ground!
Chapter completed!