Zhu Youzhen leaned towards King Fu and said to him meaningfully: "Uncle has you ever thought that even if you become the Zongzheng of the Zongren Mansion now, it may not be able to guarantee that you will live in peace in the capital." No one stipulates that Zongzheng must live in the capital in Zongren's Mansion. ”

Zhu Changxun's face changed suddenly, but he still reacted quickly, "What does Your Majesty mean?" As long as this case is tried alone, can you stay in the capital? ”

Zhu Youzhen said with a smile: "This case has been a long time, and many of the parties involved in the case have passed away, so it may be a very headache to sort out this case." ”

Zhu Changxun nodded again and again in agreement and said: "Your Majesty is right, this case was a mess back then, and when it comes to further investigation, it will not only involve a large number of officials in the court, but also make the Chu clan fight endlessly, and it will make the people of the world despise the clan because of this case, so my father chose to terminate the investigation, and I thought it would be better to ignore it." ”

"Haha, my uncle is really a sincere person. The emperor's grandfather didn't have time to entangle with these people back then, but is my uncle very busy now? And as long as this case is not over, won't my uncle be able to stay in the capital forever? Zhu Youzhen leaned back and said.

Zhu Changxun was quite moved, but he was still a little hesitant, not knowing whether he should step into this troubled water.

Zhu Youzhen suddenly added in a whisper, "The King of Chu has been a vassal for more than 200 years, and Huguang is a famous land of fish and rice, and the wealth of Chu Zong is second only to the King of Shu." If the current King of Chu is really a fake, wouldn't the savings of more than 200 years of the Chu King's Mansion be cheaper for outsiders? ”

Zhu Changxun is naturally a good man, otherwise he wouldn't have wanted to get his money back from the bank not long after he arrived in the capital.

Since the founding of the country, Huguang Province has not had any military disasters, and although there have been several floods from time to time, they are only local areas. According to his estimates, the wealth in the palace of the king of Chu is at least twice as much as his property, which obviously makes Zhu Changxun's eyes a little hot.

If the king of Chu is a brother of the same clan, he can only be hot-eyed, after all, he is still bound by etiquette, and he can't have other ideas. But if this King of Chu is a Xibei goods, thinking that such a large amount of property actually fell into the hands of irrelevant outsiders, King Fu suddenly became angry for no reason.

After making up his mind, Zhu Changxun straightened his posture and said to Chongzhen: "Please Your Majesty hand over this case to Gu, Gu will definitely expose the true face of this fake king and seek justice for Chuzong." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at King Fu, who suddenly became enthusiastic, and was silent for a while before saying: "Uncle I'm afraid I still haven't understood what I mean, no matter what conclusion is drawn in this case of King Chu, in the end, someone will always use it to attack my uncle, or even attack my Ming clan." ”

Zhu Changxun was puzzled at first, and then seemed to understand a little, and he asked tentatively: "Then what does Your Majesty mean?" ”

Zhu Youzhen didn't say what he thought directly, but said to King Fu: "I heard that some wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan like to litigate the most, especially Yangzhou and Zhejiang.

I had recruited about 2 or 30 well-known lawyers from Jiangnan to improve the judicial process of adjudicating cases in our dynasty.

These litigators are the most proficient in asking questions, and my uncle can consult with them when he returns, until the people on both sides do not want to go to court.

I only said two points, since it is a question, all the people involved in the case must wait in the capital to be summoned, and the funds for the trial are naturally to be paid in advance by the original defendant, does my uncle still have questions? ”

Wang Chengen ordered the attendants around him to leave the palace with the troubled King Fu, and Zhu Youzhen also set off for Jiale Palace.

Wang Benren, Liu Daoheng, and Cai Yuanling, together with the shareholders of the Four Seas Commercial Bank, were already standing outside the palace waiting for the arrival of the emperor.

Chongzhen and the shareholders exchanged a few words of greeting, and then walked into the hall with everyone. Before Zhu Youzhen could sit down, he opened his mouth and asked the shareholders: "What happened to the materials prepared by Sihai Commercial Bank?" Can it meet the supply of daily necessities for about 200,000 people near Datong? ”

Liu Daoheng took a step forward and said to the emperor: "Datong itself is an important border town, and it is also a place of exchange with the Mongolian tribes such as Tumut, in fact, there is no shortage of material supplies, as long as there is enough silver, you can buy food and various materials.

The problem now is that the Jin merchants refused to accept the paper money issued by the central bank, they thought that this was the border trade of the Hui merchants who wanted to get involved in the Jindi, so the merchants of the Jin Dynasty not only united to resist the establishment of the central bank in the Jindi, but also adopted an attitude of refusing to cooperate with our four sea commercial banks.

If money, grain, and military supplies need to be shipped from the capital, I am afraid that the Four Seas Commercial Bank will not be able to raise enough supplies for His Majesty in Datong within two months.

In addition, a few days ago, Fuwang could not be satisfied with the withdrawal of money in the bank, and after the news of the big trouble in the bank, the credibility of the banknotes was dealt a considerable blow, and the commercial bank had to keep a part of the cash as a reserve..."

Zhu Youzhen interrupted him and said, "I have solved the matter of King Fu, and soon he will deposit the silver back in the bank." Now, I just want to ask, what should I do if I want to raise enough supplies in Datong? ”

Cai Yuanling interjected from the side: "The materials to maintain the daily life of 200,000 people need a minimum of about 200,000 yuan per month, and Your Majesty requires a minimum of 5 months of preparation, that is, 1 million yuan."

For the preparation of an army of 100,000 troops, the expenditure on armaments and equipment is about 500,000 yuan, and the monthly maintenance fund is 300,000 yuan, which is 900,000 yuan according to the minimum requirement of His Majesty for three months of preparation.

In addition to the 500,000 yuan city reward and 600,000 yuan of war preparation expenses, that is to say, we must prepare 3 million yuan of materials in Datong.

However, the price of these materials is calculated at the usual price, and if it is not possible to raise most of the materials on the spot without the support of the Jindi merchants, I am afraid that the expenditure will exceed half of the current budget, reaching 4.5 million yuan. ”

Seeing that the emperor was silent, Liu Daoheng took the opportunity to say: "Your Majesty, the contradiction between the Jin merchants and the Hui merchants, we really don't need to interfere in the four seas firm.

The Jin merchants originated much earlier than the Hui merchants, although the modern era is in decline, but the rotten ship still has three catties of nails, not to mention that the Jin merchant ship is not rotten, the wealth of the merchants on the right side of the mountain, enough to affect the flow of materials in Qin, Jin and Henan.

Whether it is to transport materials into Shaanxi or to deal with this war outside Datong Pass, without the support of Jin merchants, even if we can get a good result afterwards, the energy and funds we pay will be an astronomical amount.

I'm afraid this will shake His Majesty's development plan for Beizhili this year. ”

Although Zhu Youzhen was a little shaken, he was still a little unwilling in his heart, and the history of the eight major Jin merchants betraying their compatriots, selling grain and military salaries to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and inquiring about intelligence, really made him unwilling to cooperate with these Jin merchants.

"What if I order Shanxi to impose military control and force these merchants to sell their supplies?" Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but ask.

Cai Yuanling hurriedly wanted to dispel the emperor's terrible thoughts, "In that case, what Your Majesty can get is only a part of the materials in Datong City, which will be supported for 2 or 3 months at most, and without the replenishment of follow-up materials, Datong will become a dead city." ”

"In 2 or 3 months, you still can't open up a trade route to Datong?" Zhu Youzhen couldn't help frowning and asked.

Cai Yuanling had to explain: "As the saying goes, you don't sell grain for thousands of miles, and you don't sell firewood for hundreds of miles." This is not an overnight effort.

If there were no merchants who were familiar with the road, and there were safe warehouses on the road, such a large-scale operation to transport materials would be carried out, and if something went wrong, not only would the merchant house suffer great losses, but it would also implicate His Majesty's battle plan. ”

Liu Daoheng added in a hurried whisper: "There are two business routes for Jin merchants to transfer materials, one is that Huguang enters Shaanxi through the Luogu Road, and then crosses the Yellow River from Shaanxi into Shanxi until Datong, mainly tea and porcelain;

The second is to cross the Yellow River from Henan to Baoding, and then enter Shanxi from the Jingcheng Ancient Road, and then transport it to Datong, mainly grain and other goods.

In addition, in recent times, Jin merchants have also opened up a trade route from Datong to Zhangjiakou. These trade routes all pass through the territory of Shanxi, if we have a bad relationship with these Jin merchants, the caravan of our four sea trading houses in Jin is afraid that it will be embarrassed by the local tyrants. ”

Zhu Youzhen sighed, and finally decided to bow to reality, he said to the shareholders of these Four Seas Commercial Firms: "You go to the side hall on the side to wait first, Wang Chengen, you call those Jin merchant representatives in." ”

The shareholders of the Four Seas Commercial Bank made a courtesy to Chongzhen, and then followed a chamberlain out, and soon Wang Chengen called in 5 or 6 representatives of Jin merchants.

After Zhao Sigong, Li Sixiao, Zhai Ning, Tian Shengbai, and Huang Zhiming walked in, they bowed to Chongzhen, who was sitting in the hall.

Zhu Youzhen didn't let the five of them get up, he whispered a few words to Wang Chengen, and Wang Chengen stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty has read your letter, but these affairs are all matters that have been decided in the merchant congress, even if they are to be changed, they are also the content to be discussed at the next meeting, why are you so chattering and staying in the capital and refusing to leave?" ”

Zhao Sigong suddenly straightened up slightly and said: "Please Your Majesty, the villain didn't dare to insult the saint, but this time the merchant congress was held in a bit of a hurry." Most of the famous businessmen in Jindi waited for the horse market to open in the border areas, so they basically did not enter Beijing.

After hearing the full text of the resolution of the merchants' congress, the Jindi merchants in Datong recommended me and several others to go to Beijing to ask His Majesty to give equal treatment to the merchants of Jindi and other regions. ”

Wang Chengen bowed down and waited for Chongzhen's orders, but Zhu Youzhen was already impatient to let him pass the word this time.

Zhu Youzhen said in an unkind tone to the Jin Shang who was kneeling below: "What kind of equal treatment do you want, you might as well say it and let me see it." ”