readx; In the quiet and elegant back hall of the Champs-Elysées, Zhu Youzhen was dressed in civilian clothes and met with Li Henian, the old gang leader of the Shaanxi Business Gang, and Li Zicheng, the young gang leader. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoBecause only Li Zicheng knew the identity of his prince, Li Henian didn't know about it, so Li Henian still called him the leader of the Huanghai Merchant Gang, "You Gongzi".

"You Gongzi, I haven't seen you for a year, and the abundance is even more outstanding!" Li Henian laughed heartily, "Where did Childe go this year?" ”

Of course, Zhu Youzhen would not tell him the truth, but only said that he would go overseas to expand new business routes. Li Henian praised sincerely: "Since ancient times, heroes have been born as teenagers, this is not wrong at all. Don't look at how old the old man is, but compared to You Gongzi's vision, it is really too far behind. The Yellow Sea Merchant Gang has only been established for a year, and the cloth and cotton clothing business has become a banner in Xi'an and even Shaanxi, and merchants from all over the world have come to visit. And several major merchant gangs, including our gang, are just eating their old books. It seems that the old man still has to ask Gongzi You for advice! ”

Li Zicheng also smiled: "Thanks to the help of the Huanghai Merchant Gang this year, since last year's business war, the three major merchant gangs of Jinzhong, Tiger Roar, and Yulin no longer dare to compete with us maliciously. Guibang focuses on the cloth and cotton clothing business, and gives some scattered business to the Shaanxi merchant gang, so that our gang can barely support it. ”

"The two of you are too polite." Zhu Youzhen said with a smile, "Cooperation, it is a win-win situation, everyone has money to make, and the market can remain stable." By the way, what is the general situation of the Xi'an market now? I heard that since Governor Hong took office, all merchants have to pay a lot of silver taels every month, what is the truth? ”

Li Henian frowned and replied: "Other commodities are not satisfactory, but the price of grain has risen again, and now it is six taels and one stone." Although no one from the major business gangs has raised the price of rice this time, after all, the tide is rising, and the price of rice in Jiangnan has reached more than four taels and one stone, and rice is a major business of our gang, and we can't do loss-making business.

"There is indeed a matter of paying money, and Governor Hong has many names, and merchants of all sizes are miserable. The Shaanxi merchant gang has to pay almost 5,000 taels every month; In addition, the three major merchant gangs, the Yulin merchant gang, had already been hit hard last year, and now they are unwilling to pay the silver, so they simply withdrew from the Xi'an market; The Jinzhong merchant gang is similar to the Shaanxi merchant gang; Only the Tiger Roar Merchant Gang has sprung up. I heard that Li Hu and Governor Hong had a good relationship, and the merchants of the Tiger Roar Merchant Gang paid less than 30% of the silver of other merchants, and I didn't know if it was true or not. ”

Zhu Youzhen listened and thought that in fact, Hong Chengchou did not scrape ordinary farmers, but apportioned them to these businessmen, which was quite discerning. Because the commodity economy of this era was already relatively developed, the turnover of merchants was much higher than that of land, and they also controlled a large amount of wealth in their hands. It is only natural that you have to pay taxes when doing business. In the past, these businessmen relied on their connections with the government to pay bribes, and basically did not pay taxes or paid very little, but now Hong Chengchou is just overkill. If you change yourself, you will also have to pay taxes to the merchants.

However, Hong Chengchou's approach is also undesirable, first, it is too arbitrary, and there is no fixed standard. Merchants don't know how much money they have to pay, and of course they are afraid of losing money, and even flee directly, so that the source of taxes is reduced, and it will definitely be difficult to continue after a long time. The second is that it cannot be fair and just, some people pay more and some people pay less, businessmen will naturally complain, the problem will accumulate seriously, and even evil cases will occur.

However, now Hong Chengchou is not bad to Zhu Youzhen, and even has the intention of investing in Zhu Youzhen's door. Although Zhu Youzhen was not at ease with him enough to agree, he was also unwilling to be his enemy and dismantle his platform. After all, Wei Zhongxian is the biggest enemy, and Wei Zhongxian's minion Li Qin in Xi'an is Zhu Youzhen's most direct threat. Making good use of Hong Chengchou can contain a lot of Li Qin's energy, and Zhu Youzhen can act well.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen smiled at the Li family and his son: "After all, Governor Hong guarantees the safety of the party, and we do business, so we can pay some of the silver, it is better than letting the thieves rob it." Let's not talk about these for a long time, I don't see you for a long time, today I want to invite you two to have a meal and go out to have fun in the evening, what do you think? ”

Li Henian was flattered and said: "How dare you let Gongzi You break the bank, how about asking Gongzi to eat wine in Zuixianglou at night?" ”

Zhu Youzhen knew that Zuixiang Building was a famous Qing building in Xi'an City, so he immediately shook his head with a smile and said: "The fat powder there is too heavy, and I can't stand it." I don't know if there is a fun place to play money, but I've been itching my hands lately! ”

Li Zicheng smiled when he heard this: "It turns out that Gongzi You wants to gamble a few times. Coincidentally, a new casino was opened in the city, and the name was domineering, called 'Pinjin Grotto'. In addition to the old games such as rolling dice and pushing pai gow, there is also a new way to play, called 'mahjong'. And the stakes are quite large, and gamblers all over the city flock to it. Would you like to take a look? ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled secretly in his heart, knowing that what he said must be Lin Youkun's newly opened casino. In fact, he wanted to gamble, but wanted to take the opportunity to see the operation of the casino. First, the palace has been spending a lot of money recently, and it is time to recover the silver from the casino; Second, he also wants to see if Lin Youkun has complied with the three chapters of his covenant and limited the harm of the casino to those who are rich and unkind.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen rejected Li Henian's suggestion to go to the restaurant for a big meal, and just asked his subordinates to buy some baked cakes and side dishes from the street and eat them simply at the Champs-Elysées.

After dinner, Zhu Youzhen, under the strict protection of Yan Ling and the special combat team, walked with the Li family and his son to the Pinjin Cave.

This gold cave is in the downtown area of Xi'an City, and it was originally a restaurant. Lin Youkun made an extraordinary move, bought the entire building and whitewashed it, and at this time, when he looked at it from a distance, it was really brilliant and luxurious. There was a lot of traffic at the entrance, and many dignitaries and dignitaries came on horseback or in sedan chairs, crowding the originally very wide street.

Zhu Youzhen and others finally squeezed to the gate, and saw a golden plaque hanging on it, with three big characters on it: "Pinjin Grotto". As soon as they were about to enter the room, several big men stretched out their hands to stop them, and respectfully hugged their fists and said: "A few distinguished guests, the rule here is to pay one hundred taels of silver in advance when entering the door, and register it." When he went out for a while, the hundred taels of silver were returned. ”

Zhu Youzhen knew that this was the first article in the three chapters of his agreement with Lin Youkun: ordinary people were forbidden to enter. Li Zicheng next to him hurriedly handed over four hundred taels of silver, and Zhu Youzhen, Yan Ling and Li's father and son entered the casino. As for the other special combat personnel, they were on guard outside the door.

Entering the casino, Zhu Youzhen's eyes lit up. I saw that in the spacious hall on the first floor, dozens of tables were arranged, and the sound of noise was loud. Needless to say, this is the gamblers building the Great Wall!