Zhu Youzhen persuaded the Shaanxi merchants to spend a lot of words, but he barely moved his lips when facing the Sichuan merchants. Compared with asking the emperor to collect commercial taxes, the Sichuan merchants were more eager to hope that the imperial court could quell the rebellion of luxury as soon as possible and repair the road out of Sichuan.

Therefore, after the emperor made his request, they expressed their allegiance to the emperor almost immediately.

During the Yuan Dynasty, Huguang Province almost included the area south of the Yangtze River to Hainan Island, and after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the scope of Huguang Province was narrowed, leaving only Hunan and Hubei, but the south of Henan Province north of the Yangtze River, Dabie Mountain, and Tongbai Mountain was incorporated into Huguang Province, a total of 16 provinces.

Although Huguang Province is a vast area, its commerce is basically controlled by outsiders, and there are only two industries operated by locals, tea from Hubei and rice from Hunan.

With the continuous development of the economy in the south of the Yangtze River, most of the fertile land was converted into cash crops, and the area of grain production gradually shifted to the Huguang area. In particular, Changsha Prefecture in Hunan Province has cultivated more than 30,000 hectares of fertile land, becoming the largest rice exporting area in the two lakes region, and Changsha has also become the most important rice market in Hunan.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the situation of "Su Lake is ripe, the world is full" has gradually become the situation of "the lake is wide and ripe, and the world is full".

However, the underdevelopment of commerce in Huguang Province has led to only 10 representatives in the huge Huguang area, and they are basically tea merchants and grain merchants.

For them, the most painful thing was not the collection of commercial taxes, but the large number of clans in the Huguang area. These clan vassal kings relied on their privileges to connive at domestic slaves to bully and dominate the market, and to exploit past merchants.

And Huguang tea merchants have the most worrying thing, that is, with the development of tea planting technology, Huguang's tea production is constantly growing.

On the contrary, the market for tea sales is shrinking. Half of the tea in the world comes from a province in southern Fujian, and the unique geographical environment and climate of Fujian, coupled with the most exquisite tea planting and processing technology, so Fujian tea basically monopolizes the Jiangnan tea market and overseas markets.

Although the tea planting technology of Huguang has developed, the inferior processing technology makes the tea quality far inferior to that of tea in other regions, and can only compete with tea merchants in other provinces at a price.

However, the bitterness of Huguang tea is very suitable for the appetite of the grassland peoples, who are accustomed to eating beef and mutton and dairy products, and prefer the Huguang coarse tea that has been brewed for a long time and the taste is not reduced.

After some Hunan merchants learned about the taste of tea on the grassland, they started to use a bitter tea produced in Hunan as a tea for sale.

But the Mongolian habit of drinking tea is to chew and swallow the tea after drinking the tea, which is a rather primitive way to replace the lack of vegetables.

Although the taste of this Hunan bitter tea is similar to that of tea leaves, the leaves are tough, and the tea merchants obviously did not consider the Mongolian habit of drinking tea, so there are often cases of cutting lips and stabbing internal organs.

This made Huguang tea synonymous with inferior products, and gave rivals Sichuan tea and Shaanxi tea an excuse to attack.

Because of this, the worries of Huguang tea merchants are not how much to pay, but to keep their share of the tea and horse trade.

After meeting with the merchants of Sichuan, Zhu Youzhen came to the Huguang venue, and the Huguang businessmen who had been waiting for a long time saluted the emperor and greeted him with courtesy.

After listening to the reports of several businessmen, Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "I have already read the questions you raised, although you dare not say it, but I also understand that the clan in the Huguang area has set up cards to collect taxes privately, which has become a chronic disease.

I can't explain anything to you right now, but I can assure you that within two years, I'll be able to solve this problem. Ensure the development of Huguang commerce and no longer be unreasonably disturbed.

Huguang Province has a wide area, rich in tea, grain, tung oil, timber and other products, which can be said to be a rare treasure land in my Ming Dynasty. However, what hinders Huguang's economic development is the issue of development goals, that is, what does Huguang want to develop as its main business? ”

Changsha businessman Chen Dade and his companions glanced at each other before cautiously asking, "What is Your Majesty's so-called development goal?" ”

Zhu Youjian said clearly: "Songjiang cloth, Weitang yarn, Taihu silkworm, wherever the economy is developed in the south of the Yangtze River, will find the positioning of the region, and then guide the local people to engage in this industry."

However, after a certain industry is developed in a certain area to a certain scale, skilled technicians can be hired cheaply; The concentration of a large number of materials in this area will also reduce the price of materials; The cost of the final product can be significantly reduced.

After a large number of products are made, the abundant number and variety of products will also attract merchants from all over the world to purchase. In the long run, smaller industries in other regions will shrink. I call this the industrial agglomeration effect. ”

The emperor's words made these Huguang businessmen feel like they were enlightened, they could only see the scale of their own business profitable, and they had never stood on such a high place to look down on the entire Ming economy.

When these businessmen looked at the industry they were engaged in from a different angle, they suddenly felt that the previously vague business competition suddenly became clear.

The rice merchants felt that their future was bright, but the tea merchants saw the embarrassing situation of Huguang tea more obviously.

After these businessmen discussed for a while, Zhu Youzhen spoke again: "What you just said is right, Huguang relies on the Yangtze River and its tributary water systems, and can easily transport the products to Suzhou and Hangzhou.

The abundant water source of Huguang is a favorable condition for planting rice fields. In the past, we said: Suhu is ripe, and the world is full; But in the future, it may become: the lake is wide and ripe, and the world is full.

If this can really be done, the name of the former land of Susong fish and rice will not become the title of Huguang. ”

Most of the representatives of Huguang businessmen had knowing smiles on their faces, and a small number of businessmen were still worried.

After observing the expressions of these merchant representatives, Zhu Youzhen changed his words and said: "But it is not so simple to develop the agriculture of Huguang to the level of Susong and Song.

If you are a businessman, you should understand a simple truth, doing business requires costs, and if you want to turn the land of lakes into a land of fish and rice, you also need a huge investment.

Water is a good thing, but too much water is a disaster. Although the Yangtze River system brings water for shipping and agriculture to Huguang Province, it also brings flooding.

If we want to develop Huguang Province, we must first subdue the Yangtze River water system, and we need to sort out every tributary that flows into the Yangtze River, so as to get the water conservancy of the Yangtze River and remove the water damage of the Yangtze River.

In addition, the Yangtze River channel is bent and spreading, and many places have become a threat to the navigation of the Yangtze River.

The projects thrown out by the emperor immediately poured cold on the Huguang businessmen who had just been excited. To complete these projects, the money spent is not in the millions, but in the tens of millions.

They really couldn't figure out that the poor had to find a court where merchants would have a meeting to pay taxes, and the construction would start in the year of the monkey.

Zhu Youzhen didn't seem to notice the ugly faces of these merchants, and continued to say with great interest: "Secondly, if you want to reclaim the fields in Huguang, you need to eliminate all kinds of diseases that hinder the reclamation. I heard that in the vast land of the lake, the most serious disaster for the people is the water Gu disease.

If these diseases cannot be conquered, the people of Huguang will not be able to live and work in peace and contentment, and without the people, how can we talk about developing agriculture? I have ordered the Tai Hospital to mobilize personnel and go to Huguang to study ways to overcome these diseases..."

After listening to the emperor's vision for the development of Huguang's agriculture, these businessmen looked at each other, and finally Chen Dade reminded the emperor in a low voice: "Your Majesty Shengming, you care for the people of Huguang very much, and we and other small people are grateful." But where does the money come from? ”

Zhu Youzhen replied gently: "The imperial court contributes a part, the local government raises a part, and the beneficiaries take a part." We first make it easy and then difficult, first urgent and then slow, as long as we work little by little, we will be able to change the face of Huguang after all. On the other hand, if we don't do anything, then even the simplest things will not be done automatically. ”

Chen Dade finally understood something, and he asked tentatively: "Your Majesty means, aren't these things done immediately?" ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said, "That's right, I'm not an immortal, nor is I Emperor Yang of Sui. I still understand that after all, we still have to do things according to our ability, and we can't do things that exceed the actual conditions. ”

The emperor's statement made the merchants' faces much better. Although Chongzhen's idea is indeed beneficial to the people of Huguang, if the emperor disregards the people's power and issues an order like this, it will be a disaster for the people of Huguang.

These merchant representatives also reacted immediately, and the emperor said that the imperial court was partly partly referring to the increased commercial tax, after all, in addition to the commercial tax, other revenues have already corresponded to expenditures.

After all, in order to complete these many projects, the commercial tax paid by Huguang must be insufficient, so it must be subsidized from the commercial tax collected in other places.

However, the mood of the tea merchants is a little worse, their tea sales are getting worse, and if they have to increase the business tax, it will undoubtedly make their situation worse.

Zhu Youzhen turned his head at this time and gave a few orders to Wang Chengen, and soon several little eunuchs walked in with trays.

Zhu Youzhen first picked up a brick-like tea brick and said: "This piece is Fu brick tea, which is a tea brick used for side plug sales, of course, there are always people who know more about tea than me, so I won't talk about how to do it."

I heard that there is also a kind of hat box tea in Hubei, which is also similar to brick tea. But in addition, whether it is from southern Shaanxi or Huguang, the tea will be transported to Xianyang to make tea bricks.

This is obviously not cost-effective, and I think that we should arrange personnel to develop it in the tea producing area. As for the foreign trade of border tea, I plan to reopen the Silk Road and set up the first batch of five companies to engage in outbound trade..."