Steel Dynasty - Chapter 470

[Chapter 470 Secret deal]

The atmosphere in the main hall was a bit serious.

At this time, King Yong’s brows were furrowed, as if he was ready to get angry at any time. It was not without reason that these Shanxi merchants were able to have their way between Yongdi and Liangdi. He and King Liang were very aware of the existence of these Shanxi merchants. They all know what they are doing.

It’s just that these Shanxi merchants are very generous, giving him hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year, not to mention jewelry and beauties.

Because of this, he naturally turned a blind eye. Who would have trouble with Yinzi? As long as these Shanxi merchants did not harm their interests, it was enough.

But now these Shanxi merchants have obviously tricked Lou Zi and let Xiao Ming find out.

“Are these Shanxi merchants really collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country?” King Yong couldn’t help but ask.

He never cared about what business these Shanxi merchants did with the barbarians, he only cared about how much money he could get from these Shanxi merchants.

Xiao Ming nodded and told King Yong the news the secret guard had obtained.

“Huh, these profiteers, I once told them not to go too far, but I didn’t expect them to secretly do these things without telling me. My nephew is at ease, I will deal with them when I get back.” King Yong said carelessly.

When Xiao Ming heard this, he sneered. He only believed what King Yong said. Nowadays, it is no longer a matter of a day or two for the feudal kings of the Chongqing Kingdom to govern their own affairs.

In fact, he understood that moving out Xiao Wenxuan would not bring King Yong into submission. The most likely thing King Yong would do at that time was to kill some people randomly to make up for the debt. These Shanxi merchants would still do whatever they were supposed to do, they would just change their appearance.

Rather than using imperial power to pressure them, it is better to talk about interests directly. After all, both King Yong and King Liang are vassal kings guarding the frontiers. The generals will not accept the emperor’s orders when they are outside, let alone these vassal kings.

“Uncle Four Emperors, you and I are both sensible people, so there is no need to say this to your nephew.” Xiao Ming picked up the tea and took a slow sip.

King Yong said dissatisfied: “My dear nephew, what do you mean by this? Hasn’t the emperor promised you already? What more do you want from the emperor?”

“If the emperor is really sincere, my nephew will send him this time.” Three thousand cavalrymen returned with the emperor’s uncle, but the heads of the nine major Shanxi merchants were missing. My nephew didn’t believe it. “Xiao Ming blew the hot tea, but King Yong’s face turned dark.

From King Yong’s point of view, Xiao Ming was taking things too far. How could he endure such a hot temper?

Before King Yong could get angry, Xiao Ming continued: “My nephew understands what the emperor is worried about. Isn’t it just hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year? As long as the emperor can eradicate this group of Shanxi merchants, my nephew will give you this money.” “Yes.”

King Yong’s expression gradually returned to its original state, and he said in confusion: “My dear nephew, I have always been outspoken. To be honest, I don’t believe that you are doing this all for the sake of the country of Chongqing. After all, you He is just a small vassal king, but the world belongs to the prince. It is the emperor and the prince who should worry, not you. Why do you work so hard? It is impossible to say that your achievements will shock the king in the future. This achievement is poison. The more credit you have, the faster you will die. We vassal kings only need to manage our own one-third of an acre, and stretching our hands too far will make some people unhappy.”

“They say Uncle Four Emperors have it .

You may not be brave enough when your nephew sees it.” Xiao Ming said in surprise. What King Yong said was exactly what most of the feudal kings were thinking now. He pondered for a moment and said, “What the emperor said makes sense. My nephew is now. That’s what he thought, so the purpose of eradicating Shanxi merchants this time was for the sake of Great Yu and himself. ” Oh?” King Yong exclaimed, “Why did this Shanxi

merchant

offend his nephew?”

My chamber of commerce takes goods, but sells them to the barbarians four times or even five times, and blocks the chamber’s business on the grassland. How can I endure this? “

Although the Chongqing Kingdom prohibits merchants from trading with the barbarians privately, However, if there is Xiao Wenxuan’s handwriting, he can still do business with the barbarians, but these businesses cannot involve iron, saltpeter and other materials, just like the barbarians’ restrictions on war horses.

However, the court always imposed heavy taxes on border trade, which meant that general trade did not make money from smuggling. Because of this, Shanxi merchants made a fortune from it.

Now that Xiao Ming has received the treatment of an imperial merchant and does not have to pay taxes, he naturally does not want to let go of the lucrative border trade. After all, the barbarians are also very powerful. Years of wars have allowed the barbarians to plunder a lot of gold and silver from the countries in the Western Regions. , jewelry.

As far as he knew, the nobles among the barbarians also loved luxury goods, and comparison was prevalent. This was an opportunity for him. After all, even if there was a war, trade could still be carried out.

“Hahaha… I see, well, these Shanxi merchants have indeed gone too far.” King Yong said.

Xiao Ming continued with a smile on his face: “The Shanxi merchants are so profit-minded that they dare to sell anything. How can this be compared with the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce? At least my nephew can’t sell saltpeter, sulfur and other materials, so destroying these Shanxi merchants will It can prevent Shanxi merchants from enriching the barbarians, and allows the nephew’s merchants to control border trade, and the emperor’s uncle can also take money generously, right?”

King Yong was tempted, he only kept these Shanxi merchants for the money, and now Xiao Ming promised to make it up to him, why not, and he had always been unhappy with King Liang. These Shanxi merchants also gave King Liang more money than they gave him.

What made him most angry was the Battle of Jizhou. King Liang just watched helplessly as his Jizhou was besieged, with no intention of helping.

Thinking of this, he nodded, “In that case, the busy uncle is here to help, so we can try the power of this matchlock gun.”

“Then my nephew is waiting for good news.” He found a thug for himself, Xiao Ming felt relieved.

It can not only crack down on the traitorous behavior of these Shanxi merchants, but also expand their own trade. This operation against Shanxi merchants is a matter of killing two birds with one stone.

After saying this, King Yong wanted to receive the matchlock gun. He was a quick-tempered man and wanted to equip his troops with the matchlock gun now.

Taking King Yong to the warehouse at Qingzhou Pier, the two went directly to the warehouse dedicated to storing arms. The arms he and other vassal kings traded were all here, and layers of soldiers guarded the place.

According to the last agreement, Xiao Ming will produce two thousand matchlock guns for King Yong. Now these batch of matchlock guns have been produced and are just waiting for King Yong to come and receive them.

This time King Yong arrived in Qingzhou with his silver and personal guards just for this matter.

“Uncle Four Emperors, I’ll leave these matchlock guns to you.” Xiao Ming said. He had to accompany King Yong when he came in person.

The armory was filled with boxes of matchlock guns. Seeing these matchlock guns, King Yong’s eyes lit up. He nodded with satisfaction to Xiao Ming, “Thank you, nephew. Come and take the silver from the cargo ship.” Move it down.”

As he spoke, King Yong wandered around the armory. When he saw the artillery in the armory, his eyes suddenly became hot and he said, “My dear nephew, can you also give these twenty artillery pieces to the emperor’s uncle? ”

(End of chapter)