Early the next morning, Pei Wenjing took 15 big businessmen from Hedong County to the government office quickly, although these 15 big businessmen all have a net worth of hundreds of millions, and they have a well-known name among the people of Hedong, but in the Sui Dynasty of soldiers, peasants and workers, merchants have no status, they are not allowed to ride horses, they are not allowed to take concubines, they are only allowed to wear black cloth clothes, and in most of the government cases involving businessmen, most of the losing parties are businessmen.

But with the chaos in the world, these cumbersome provisions also lost their binding force on the merchants, many merchants also secretly rode horses and wore robes, and even many merchants had gorgeous carriages and married concubines, but with the establishment of the new Sui, many merchants were afraid of being liquidated, and secretly replaced their horses with donkeys, pressed the brocade robes, changed to black cloth clothes, and called the concubines maids.

Although the new Sui did not liquidate some of the businessmen's transgressions, they were still panicked, and some even arranged a way back for themselves, unexpectedly, yesterday Pei Changshi suddenly found them and said that the king of Chu would meet them, which surprised the fifteen big businessmen, which has never happened before, what does this mean? Although officially, Yang Yuanqing was only Shang Shuling and regent, but among the people, almost all the people regarded him as an emperor.

They didn't expect Yang Yuanqing's meeting to change the status of the businessman, but it was a signal, a gesture, and a good start.

Fifteen big businessmen, all dressed in black cloth, gathered behind Pei Wenjing, and followed him into the palace hall, seeing that the king of Chu did not have the trouble they imagined, there was no need to learn etiquette in advance, nor did he need to unify his voice, let alone bathe and change clothes, but the soldiers searched again and again to make them feel the tightness of security.

In the meeting hall, Du Yan, the Taishou of Hedong County, was accompanying Yang Yuanqing to speak, Du Yan was Du Ruhui's uncle, who served as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry in Luoyang, more than a month ago, due to the tense situation in Luoyang. Du Yan, his close friend Dai Zhou and Du Ruhui's brother Du Chuke fled from Luoyang to Taiyuan. Yang Yuanqing then appointed Du Yan as the Taishou of Hedong County, Du Chuke as the official Langzhong, and Dai Xuan as the secretary of Dali Temple.

Du Yan heard footsteps in the courtyard. Seeing that Pei Wenjing was followed by a large group of black-clothed merchants, he smiled at Yang Yuanqing and said, "They are here." ”

Yang Yuanqing came to these businessmen, on the one hand, it was certainly related to yesterday's thoughts. On the other hand, he also wanted to use this opportunity to slightly improve the status of merchants and give full play to their abilities, so that they could speed up the flow of materials in Hedong and Hebei, and rely on the government for everything, which is indeed a bit overwhelming.

At this time, fifteen big merchants walked into the council hall, and these merchants had already seen Taishou Du Yan. When they saw Du Yan accompanied a young high-ranking officer in the army, everyone realized that this was the king who controlled the Sui Dynasty. Yang Yuanqing, King of Chu.

Pei Wenjing stepped forward to give a salute. "Boss Qiqi, they all brought it."

Fifteen businessmen knelt down together. "Xiaomin, see His Royal Highness the King of Chu!"

"Gentlemen, please take a seat!"

There are more than a dozen single couches placed on both sides of the lobby, which is prepared for them, and fifteen big businessmen sit down one by one, but everyone is reminiscing about what Yang Yuanqing called them just now, and actually called them gentry, gentry refers to a famous family, generally not their turn, walking and reselling goods is called a businessman, sitting on the ground to open a shop to sell goods is called Jia, usually people call them businessmen, merchants or Dajia, there is absolutely no word for gentry, and Yang Yuanqing actually called them gentry Jia, does this mean that their status will change? Everyone's hearts began to light up.

Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen guards served them tea, which flattered the merchants a little and thanked them repeatedly.

Yang Yuanqing glanced at everyone, most of them were forty or fifty years old, many of them had fat heads and big ears, big bellies, although they were wearing low-status black clothes, but this kind of pampered style was not comparable to ordinary people, he smiled slightly and asked, "Has anyone here ever been to Fengzhou?" ”

The merchants looked at each other, and finally one of the merchants sitting in the second place said: "Back to His Royal Highness the King of Chu, my caravan has been to Fengzhou several times, and Xiaomin has not been there, but I just listened to the description of the steward. ”

Du Yan whispered to Yang Yuanqing: "This person's surname is Li, and he is a famous grain merchant in Hedong County. ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded and said with a smile: "It turned out to be Li Shenjia, you might as well tell everyone what your subordinates saw and heard in Fengzhou, you can tell the truth." ”

"Yes!"

Li Shenjia thought about it, then raised his voice and said: "Probably the year before last, one of my caravans went to Fengzhou to sell peach wine, and stayed in Fengzhou for less than a month, he said that the biggest impression of Fengzhou is that the rules are very strict, but it is very free, saying that for example, when entering the city, all weapons are not allowed to carry, and in a city for more than three days, you must file with the government, write down the reason for stay, at most not more than one month, if it is more than a month, you must apply for settlement, and you have to pay a deposit, of course, it will be refunded afterwards, which is the harsh side, And the free side is that merchants can wear clothes at will, they can ride horses, there is no merchant or craftsman, only civilian and military status, merchants do not have any discrimination, and they are ...... like normal civilians."

It can be seen that this businessman surnamed Li is very talkative, he is a veteran of business, and he is very good at figuring out Yang Yuanqing's thoughts, when it comes to the stern side, he tries to understate it as much as possible, and when it comes to the free side, he describes it in thick and colorful, Yang Yuanqing did not interrupt his eloquent talk, he drank tea slowly, paid attention to the expressions of the merchants, when it came to the businessmen without any discrimination, and the same as normal civilians, everyone changed abnormally, some people fidgeted and twisted their bodies, and some people listened attentively, and their eyes flashed with anticipation.

It can be seen that the status of businessmen is the issue they are most concerned about, in fact, Yang Yuanqing knows very well that the struggle for hegemony in the world is not only a military strength, but also an all-round competition for economy, politics and even the people's will.

The reason why the Northern Sui did a good job was largely because he had accumulated a lot of money, grain and materials in Fengzhou, so he could afford it, and Hedong was much less devastated by bandits than Hebei and Henan, and its own population and economic situation were good, but with the advancement of the Hebei campaign, the accumulation of Fengzhou gradually decreased, and he could no longer consume his previous savings, and he must rely on his own economic development to achieve rejuvenation, which needed to rely on the creativity and vitality of the merchants.

After Li Shenjia finished speaking, Yang Yuanqing said to everyone again: "The reason why Fengzhou is strict is because it is necessary to prevent the mixing of fine works, in fact, if it is a unified country, then there will not be so many strict restrictions, but freedom is my way of thinking, I advocate the abolition of merchant registration and craftsman registration, and restore their normal civil registration, I also do not approve of the discrimination of the first emperor against merchants, I plan to completely cancel all kinds of restrictions on merchants......

When Yang Yuanqing said this, the merchants below suddenly became in a commotion, everyone was extremely excited, the sound of stealing rang out, Yang Yuanqing waved his hand, and let everyone quiet down.

"But there is no free lunch in the world, the reason why I give so much freedom to the merchants of Fengzhou, it is because they fight for their own energy, the new immigrants come, the businessmen always take the initiative to help the government, they build porridge sheds, help the temporary resettlement of immigrants, the Turks called, they did their best to help the old and weak retreat, donated clothing and food to the soldiers in front, built schools, and took care of the lonely and old with their efforts, so, when I proposed the revocation of the business registration of Fengzhou, it was unanimously supported by the officials of Fengzhou, it can be said that it is a matter of course, do not hide from you, I just called you gentlemen, which is my usual title in Fengzhou, and it has nothing to do with you. ”

There was silence in the hall, the meaning of the King of Chu was already obvious, if you want to get yourself and get equality, you have to rely on them to show a practical attitude, the businessmen were silent for a long time, and one of the oldest businessmen said: "Your Royal Highness, we are also willing to do this, I am afraid that the government will not appreciate it, and the discrimination formed by the people for hundreds of years is difficult to change, so we have concerns and dare not do it." ”

Yang Yuanqing said with a smile: "It is indeed difficult to change the discrimination and ideas formed for hundreds of years, but it is not without opportunities, there are not many opportunities in the prosperous times, but it is a good opportunity in the troubled times, if you make a difference in the troubled times, I believe that this discrimination will be greatly reversed, and I will not benefit all businessmen because of your efforts, that is not fair, I will carry out a pilot in Hedong County, if you succeed, I will take the lead in canceling the business registration in Hedong County, give you equal treatment, and your children can even take the exam." ”

There was a discussion in the meeting hall, and the Taishou Du Yan and Pei Wenjing next to them glanced at each other, and both of them showed joy in their eyes, they all knew that these big businessmen were rich and rival the country, but none of them had a dime, if they could mobilize their financial and material resources, it would greatly reduce the pressure on the government.

At this time, the oldest merchant asked, "Your Highness, what should we do?" ”

Yang Yuanqing shook his head, "It's up to you to decide what to do, I suggest that you set up a chamber of commerce, and everyone sits together to discuss what to do, instead of the government asking you to do it, don't do it if you don't want to do it, that's not good, with the chamber of commerce, you can coordinate your actions, and it won't be as much as this family pays, that family pays a lot of money, some people will think it's unfair, I suggest you think about it." ”

The establishment of a chamber of commerce is a good idea, but will the government agree to it? All the merchants looked at Du Yan and Pei Wenjing.

Du Yan smiled bitterly and said to Yang Yuanqing: "As long as the imperial court decrees and agrees to the establishment of chambers of commerce in each county, there is no opinion on humiliation." ”

"There is no problem with this, after I go back, I will let the imperial court issue a decree to allow Hedong County to try it first, if the trial situation in Hedong County is good, Ziwei Pavilion will formally discuss the revision of the part of the Sui Law involving the commercial law, and your Hedong County can try the Chamber of Commerce first."

Du Yan nodded, "I understand." ”

Speaking of this, Yang Yuanqing smiled at the businessmen again: "I came to you today because of two things, the first thing has just been said, I hope that the businessmen can play a role in assisting the government to resettle the victims and help the old and weak, and now I will talk about the second thing, which is that I want to ask you to make a big deal." ”