Nanjing, Xuanwu Lake, Liuyuan. [No pop-up novel network]

Xuanwu Lake in the Mid-Autumn Festival, the sky is high and the clouds are light, the wind is clear and the water is blue, it is the best season of the year. The autumn breeze blows gently across the lake, flooding with ripples. These ripples continued to spread towards the shore, one after another, slowly disappearing into the lake. The willow trees by the lake, swaying their long branches comfortably in the breeze, seem to be the warmest girl, in a subtle and reserved welcome to distant guests.

At this time of year, the tourists who come to Xuanwu Lake to enjoy the fun are in groups, and it is not easy to find a relatively secluded place. In particular, there are large groups of tourists in several habitats. Among them, Liuyuan, located in the center of Xuanwu Lake, is a very important habitat. Tourists who are tired of playing generally choose to sit here. If you are wealthy, you will choose to drink tea or something here. However, today, in the vicinity of Liuyuan, it is quite quiet, and there are no tourists in sight.

At the entrance of the willow garden, there were only some guards in civilian clothes. Dressed in black samurai uniforms, they were scattered around Yanagien, blocking passers-by from a distance. Faintly, under their samurai uniforms, the shadow of the broken blade could be seen. Those visitors who are close to Liuyuan see this posture and know that there is a big man in Liuyuan.

If it was before, tourists would leave silently, not daring to say anything. Because, those who can occupy Liuyuan must be the magnates of the imperial court. They can't afford to mess with it. But now, things are different. The magnates of the Southern Ming Dynasty, in the minds of ordinary people, have greatly lost their brilliance. They are no longer high, inviolable beings. A tourist quietly cursed and said: "It's not the arrival of the white-clothed army, what is it showing?" ”

Of course, this curse can only be whispered and quiet. Although the imperial court is no longer the imperial court of the past, and the magnates are no longer the magnates of the past, they still have means to deal with a group of ordinary people. In their hearts, they are secretly looking forward to the arrival of the white-clothed army. After the arrival of the white-clothed army, these magnates in the imperial court are not as good as chickens as the phoenix that has shed their hair, and they no longer have the majesty of the past.

…… Xing and Ye Xianggao tasted the wine silently, relatively speechless.

The court magnates who occupied Liuyuan were the two of them. The scenery of Xuanwu Lake is very good, and the service attitude of Liu Yuan is also very good, but the mood of the two of them is still not very good. To be precise, the mood of the two of them is a little bleak. The two of them were already old and lacked energy, and this period of time was exhausted and exhausted, so that they didn't know how to eat, couldn't sleep at night, were physically and mentally exhausted, and became more and more lifeless.

The main reason for this result is, of course, because of the pressure of the White Army. The wedding of Zhu Yilan and Xu Xingxia did not alleviate the pressure on the Nanjing court. On the contrary, with Zhu Yilan's wedding, more and more people in the white-clothed army began to infiltrate the southeast half of the wall under various names, bringing heavy pressure to the Southern Ming court.

What made the two of them laugh and cry was that this pressure did not come from the military or from politics, but from business. According to incomplete statistics, in July of the first year of Taichang, the number of white-clothed merchants or merchant groups active in the southeast half of the wall exceeded 300. This is still an influential businessman or a trade group. If you count the ordinary merchants and trade groups, the number is even higher.

The arrival of the white-clothed merchants has undoubtedly had a huge impact on the southeast half of the wall. These people are basically people who were depressed and have a deep hatred for those who have vested interests. After they took refuge in the white-clothed army, they jumped into the dragon gate and flew on the branches to become phoenixes, which naturally wanted to show off greatly.

The main way for these merchants, or merchant groups, to show off is to constantly devour the market and occupy the market. They are eager to take the southeast half of the market into their own pockets. However, they have the support of the white-clothed army behind them, and they have great advantages in technology, quality, scale, cost, and publicity. Under their joint attack, the southeast half of the market was quickly conquered by them.

Now in Jiangnan, many of the goods sold by major merchants are from the hands of white-clothed merchants. They not only sold a large number of cheap goods from the northwest region, but also bought a large number of materials from the Jiangnan region and transported them to the northwest. At the same time, they also had contact with Westerners, buying goods from Westerners, or selling certain goods to Westerners.

Even in Yuegang, Fujian, there are a large number of white-clothed merchants. They made use of the advanced knowledge they had learned from the white-clothed army, as well as various business tricks, to work together and cooperate with each other to advance and retreat together, and to achieve great victories. The current Jiangnan is no longer dominated by the Donglin Party, and it is no longer Ye Xianggao's world.

In the past, Ye Xianggao's family could obtain at least more than 500,000 taels of silver in profits every year through business. At its peak, the profit in a year even exceeded three million taels of silver. However, now, the Ye family's business profits have been greatly compressed, and there are only less than 200,000 taels. Moreover, there is a tendency to continue to shrink.

His own interests were hit hard, and Ye Xianggao was of course unwilling. He couldn't wait to hang all the merchants who had defected to the white-clothed army on the walls of Nanjing. However, he could only think about this idea a little, and he didn't dare to seriously implement it at all. Because, behind those businessmen, there is Xu Xingxia and the white-clothed army, which he absolutely cannot afford to provoke.

Since even Ye Xianggao can't provoke Xu Xingxia or the white-clothed army, other businesses are not to mention. It is precisely because of the existence of Xu Xingxia and the existence of the white-clothed army that the original merchants in the southeast half of the wall did not dare to act rashly, and the white-clothed merchants blossomed everywhere. This is also the situation that Xu Xingxia tried his best to create.

There are some things that don't need to be solved with a bayonet. A little different, the effect is better, the cost is lower, and the impact is more far-reaching.

"Are we just giving up?" [***] Star said meaningfully.

He actually hoped that Ye Xianggao would make a move to suppress those white-clothed merchants. In any case, we can't be as angry as we are now. However, Ye Xianggao didn't dare. Not only did Ye Xianggao not dare, but other important ministers in the Southern Ming court did not dare either.

"This Xu Xingxia is not simple!" Ye Xianggao said bitterly.

When he said this, he was definitely not talking back. He was indeed impressed. In fact, he absolutely agrees with Xu Xingxia's behavior of vigorously advocating the development of industry and commerce, encouraging commercial trade, abolishing commercial barriers, unifying commercial taxation, and regulating the commercial market. If he had this ability, it was estimated that he would have been given the implementation before Xu Xingxia. It's a pity that he doesn't have this ability. So, the development of things took another fork in the road.

Many people feel that Ye Xianggao is selfish and wants to occupy the commercial trade of Fujian Yuegang alone. Previously, the Ye family's suppression of Jin merchant Sun Dakun was a typical example. Actually, it's a complete case. Ye Xianggao can serve as the first assistant many times, and he is definitely not an uninformed person. He has been keenly aware that with the development of the times, the status of commercial trade will become more and more important. The profits generated by commercial trade will also increase.

The most typical example is the Ye family itself. The Ye family has a wide range of fertile land, with hundreds of thousands of acres. However, the net income that the Ye family obtains from the fertile land every year is actually not very much. Because, the cost of cultivating fertile land is also very high, and after deducting the expenses of all aspects, there is not much left. It takes a long time to accumulate huge wealth. At least thirty years or more.

On the contrary, commercial trade is different. At that time, commercial trade was basically a cash cow with small investment and large returns. As long as you find the right way to trade and trade, you can quickly accumulate a lot of money. The business exchanges with the Nanyang region, the Ye family has only been carried out for less than ten years, and it is already full of money and money.

However, in an unregulated commercial market, even Ye Xianggao, who is the first assistant, does not dare to take it lightly. Because, the Ye family's commerce and trade are closely related to his official position. The higher his official position and the greater his power, the greater the benefits that the Ye family will receive, and the less resistance they will encounter. However, if there is any problem with his official position, the Ye family's commercial and trade activities will inevitably be restricted, and the resistance he will encounter will become greater and greater.

Before, Ye Xiang Gao Zhishi returned to his hometown in Fujian to recuperate, and many other officials tried their best to snatch the profits of commercial trade from the hands of the Ye family. The suppression of Jin merchant Sun Dakun and the seizure of Sun Dakun's goods were actually a counterattack by the Ye family. The final result, because of Xu Xingxia's interference, was over. It wasn't until Ye Xianggao was reappointed as the first assistant that the situation improved. It's a pity that at this time, the white-clothed army has risen, and the glory of the past is no longer there.

Now, Ye Xianggao is even older, about to be eighty years old. He knew that there was no way for him to stay in the court for long. Someday, he was going to leave completely. Once he leaves, the Ye family will be suppressed by the emerging elites, and commercial and trade activities will definitely be robbed. Even, the Ye family may be annihilated because of the suppression of others.

Therefore, what Ye Xianggao desperately hopes for now is a fair commercial trade market that does not have much power to participate in. Only in this way can the Ye family make use of the wealth accumulated before, as well as the heritage of commercial trade, to continue to move forward. In other words, he hopes to continue to extend the glory of the Ye family with the light of the policy of the White Army.

(To be continued)