Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 015 The First Broker in Ming Dynasty
"Except for the fact that a large piece of land was occupied by the Wuqing Marquis family, it is impossible for all the output of this farm or other imperial farms to enter the inner treasury."
Wei Zhongxian was in a dilemma about whether to confront Wuqing Hou's family, but Liu Yong didn't care about that. Instead, he continued to talk to himself: "The envoy just called my master a senior official. Haha, the junior supervisor is of course considered high among us. But everyone knows what the direct palace supervisor does. The job is hard and there is no money. If you do well, you deserve it, but you won't see any results. If you do not do well, the fault will be particularly obvious... So my master is suffering. He has worked hard to get me to this position of village head, and I don't want to show my filial piety to him?
He, the junior eunuch of the direct palace eunuch, has already paid tribute, so should the eunuchs of the direct palace eunuch pay tribute? The direct palace eunuchs have already paid tribute, so should the eunuchs of the inner palace pay tribute? Everyone knows that among the twenty-four palaces in my palace, there is the civil eunuch of the Imperial Household and the military eunuch of the Imperial Horses. But who knows that the transfer, promotion, and exile of a group of us all have to go to the inner palace eunuchs?
Mr. Central Envoy, the Emperor has assigned this farm to the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince has sent you here. I guess you will be the head of this farm in the future, right? I'm going to tell you the truth. As the head of this farm for these years, I can't say that I have been completely clean-handed. But I can guarantee that after taking into account all aspects of the relationship in the palace, the money and grain paid to the palace every year is definitely the result of my utmost efforts. Even if I work so hard in this farm for a year, the silver I get every year is only ten taels...
Hey, everyone in the palace thinks that we, who are the bosses of the farm outside, can make a lot of money. I thought so before I came here. In order to come here, I spent all my life savings on it. But after I came here, I realized... I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. Since I was a farmer before entering the palace, I couldn't bear to force the tenants on the farm too much after I came here. But there are all kinds of gods and Buddhas who need to be taken care of. Hey, the surpluses over the years have not even recovered the original capital..."
Liu Yong was mumbling there, and Wei Zhongxian certainly heard it. As a gangster in the folk in his early years, and later a low-level eunuch in the palace, Wei had experienced the sinister and dark nature of human beings, and the warmth and coldness of human relationships. Wei Zhongxian felt that most of what Liu Yong said was credible. As for what he couldn't believe, of course, it was Liu Yong's claim that he earned ten taels of silver every year, and he hadn't recovered his capital in these years.
But Old Wei is cruel to his relatives and even crueler to himself. In the historical plane, Wei Chao had obviously been kind to him, but he stole Wei Chao's girlfriend for his own promotion. Not only did he steal her girl, he also sent Wei Chao to Fengyang to guard the mausoleum - so Old Wei is definitely not a good person.
However, although Wei Zhongxian was a ruthless person, he was generally more disciplined and did not like to do things to the extreme: Wei Chao was not killed by him after all. This is not to say that Wei Zhongxian still had any compassion in his heart. But he was smart: if Wei Chao was really killed, the entire Ming eunuch group might not say it, but they would really feel the same in their hearts.
Therefore, although it can be predicted that Liu Yong's wealth will never be as pitiful as he said. But Lao Wei is not going to pursue this matter: if every cent of silver is really counted, then too many eunuchs in the inner court will be implicated. Although the crown prince is also the crown prince, he is still young and weak. If the eunuchs in the inner court are angered, it is possible that the crown prince will have to throw himself out to appease the public anger.
What needs to be investigated seriously now is the issue of the land occupied by the Wuqing Marquis family: His Royal Highness is a person who would not care about a few dozen or a few hundred taels of silver. Letting Liu Yong go lightly will not make the Royal Highness unhappy, and it can also win the favor of other eunuchs. However, the Wuqing Marquis family occupies half of the manor. This is probably something that the Royal Highness cannot tolerate.
Wei Zhongxian knew very well that he could protect himself by reporting the truth to the crown prince and letting him sue his great-grandfather's family. But he also knew that if he really did that, his future would be ruined - reporting everything directly to the leader and letting the leader take the lead. What would you do then?
Gritting his teeth, he turned around and said, "Ten people, come with us to visit our neighbors."
Li Wei, the first Marquis of Wuqing in the Ming Dynasty, was the grandfather of Emperor Wanli. He also left a legacy to modern society: after he became rich, he had Tsinghua University in Haidian District, Beijing built.
Apart from this, everything this gentleman did basically left him with a bad reputation.
The financial and taxation system of the Ming Dynasty was quite rubbish. Not to mention compared with today, even compared with the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties, it was rubbish. Among them, there was a large category of taxes that were delivered in the form of in-kind taxes.
So the question is, according to the national tax system, officials from various places have to find a way to deliver the physical goods as quickly as possible after they arrive in Beijing - many physical goods have a shelf life.
At this time, the officials of the warehouses at all levels of the Ming Dynasty ushered in a harvest period: Oh, brothers from the various provincial governments, the quality of your stuff is not up to standard. Brother, I am directly responsible for the supply of materials to the palace. In other words, the honey may all be used by the emperor. This quality, tut tut tut, you should go back and change a batch of better ones.
Hmm? What are you going to do with the money? Are you trying to bribe me? No, no! I serve the royal family, I am loyal and honest, I will never accept your bribe. Anyway, your stuff has quality problems, I just won't accept it!
The local officials were stunned, and at this time, someone would often tell them: For this matter, you have to go find Wu Qing Hou.
Yes, Wuqing Hou Li Wei and his family were the biggest brokers in the entire Ming Dynasty during the Wanli era .
After becoming rich, the main job of this family was to amass wealth by acting as a broker.
The local government paid taxes in kind, and it didn't matter whether the quality was good or not, as long as the money was sent to Wuqing Hou, and the money was enough, then these things would be top-grade products. As for his grandson the emperor, if he drank something that was not pure honey, hey, it wouldn't kill him!
In addition to cheating their own emperor grandson, this family also cheated the country in order to make money.
Since the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty was always known for its inefficiency and shoddy workmanship, one year the Governor of Ji and Liao, Wang Chongguang, went directly to Li Wei and gave him 200,000 taels of silver. He asked Wuqing Hou to find someone to make 200,000 sets of cotton coats for the northern soldiers to keep warm in winter. (Silver was very valuable in the Ming Dynasty, and a cotton coat was usually good enough for 5 to 7 coins)
Then Li Wei swallowed up 150,000 yuan and only gave 50,000 yuan to the cotton cloth merchant. In order to avoid losses, the cotton cloth merchant had to cut corners, and the cotton coats were completely incapable of keeping out the cold. As a result, more than a dozen soldiers on duty froze to death in winter...
When Qi Jiguang, who had been fed up with this matter, exposed it, what was Li Wei's punishment? A six-month salary deduction.
There is no way, because he is the emperor's grandfather. And why did the Ming Dynasty claim to rule the world with filial piety for more than 200 years?
Now, the first Wuqing Marquis Li Wei has been dead for many years. But his son Li Gao, Wanli's uncle, is even more greedy and shameless than his father!
It was really difficult for Lao Wei to encounter such a difficult person for the first time when he was on his own.
