Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 127 Donglin Falls into Decline (Part 2)
Twenty large ships and a large amount of money on board were seized. Even a wealthy family like the Xu family felt the pain.
But after the severe pain, they still couldn't do anything to the other party: without a guide, they were arrested by the official navy of their country as smugglers. This was a fact that could not be disputed no matter where they were. No matter how much money the Xu family spent on Donglin Academy and its imperial censors, no one dared to stand up and speak for them at this time.
Therefore, this matter can only be swallowed. Even if this matter is to be retaliated, it can only be done later, and the censors supported by the Xu family will find faults in other aspects to deal with these stinky soldiers in Chongming Sand Station.
However, after understanding the whole process of the incident, the Xu family had no intention of revenge at all.
First of all, there is no way to retaliate: the navy of Chongmingsha was nominally a garrison, but in reality it was the private army of the crown prince. The logistics and equipment of this army were all funded by the crown prince, and it was ineffective to try to strangle this army through the Ministry of War.
You said that the military department should be consulted to replace the generals of this army? First of all, the Crown Prince would not approve it. Even if the matter was brought to Beijing by the Nanjing Military Department, the Emperor would not approve it. Even if it was approved, the new generals would probably be forced to join the gang or die suddenly after taking office...
Secondly, the head of the Xu family discovered a new opportunity through this incident: since Donglin Academy is so unreliable, why not rely on the crown prince? Not to mention full surrender, but it is always possible to sit on the fence between the two sides, right?
Since Xu Jie, the Xu family had only produced one Jinshi in the past few decades, and his career was not very good. Therefore, the Xu family felt a crisis about their future: the family had too much land, silver, and slaves. Such a huge fortune lacked sufficient political status to protect it. Such a sense of crisis made them always agree to Gu Xiancheng's repeated requests for sponsorship.
Now that I have the opportunity to get close to the grandson, why not get close to him? What is grudge in the adult world? It is normal that there is no friendship without fighting.
Therefore, after quickly reaching a consensus within the family, Xu Yuanzuo, the current head of the Xu family, came to Chongmingsha very readily.
Originally, according to Xu Yuanzuo's idea, the Xu family would be better off sitting on the fence between the crown prince and Donglin. But when he saw the draft agreement submitted by Cao Sanxi, he immediately threw the idea of sitting on the fence out of his mind.
Because this agreement is so shocking:
First, the Xu family will provide maritime trade channels to Fangshan in the future, and the goods from Fangshan Grocery Store will be included in the Xu family's maritime trade.
Secondly, Chongmingsha would be responsible for escorting the Xu family's maritime trade fleet and, based on the Xu family's requirements and depending on the specific circumstances, attacking the Xu family's competitors.
Third, the Nanjing weaving eunuch was in charge of the Jiangnan weaving bureau, and its products were not only supplied to the palace but also used in maritime trade.
Fourthly, the Xu family no longer organized weavers to produce silk on their own. They were only responsible for purchasing local silk cocoons, raw silk, etc., and all the raw materials were sent to the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau for unified production.
Fifth, when the Xu family was purchasing tea in the Jiangnan region, the Jinyiwei guards from various places monitored the situation and provided assistance.
Sixth, in addition to supplying the imperial court, the crown prince also allocated some of the finest products from Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, to join the sea trade, making it the flagship product among porcelains.
Seventh, the two sides exchanged equity, with the Ming Haimao, jointly run by Zhu Youdong, Li Guozhu, Liaodong Li family, and Cao Sanxi, giving out 10% of its shares in exchange for 30% of Xu's Haimao. Afterwards, both sides sent accountants to supervise and audit each other's accounts.
Eighth, from the date of signing the agreement, the Xu family will stop providing any material assistance to Donglin Academy.
Ninth, the Xu family can send an outstanding child to join the Jinyiwei, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will guarantee the child's future. At the same time, in the next year's Yingtian County Examination, it is guaranteed that one of the Xu family's children will pass.
"Manager Cao, is this agreement serious? Oh, what I mean is, has ?"
"Master Xu, I am just a free-lance businessman who is trusted by His Highness to manage His Highness' private property. How dare I make such a big decision without His Highness's approval? However, for such a matter, don't even think about getting His Highness's signature. Everything can only be a verbal gentleman's agreement."
"Of course! Of course!" Standing up in surprise, Xu Yuanzuo bowed deeply to Cao Sanxi, a white-collar businessman, and said, "Your Highness is really too kind to the Xu family. With such an agreement, what else is there to consider? That's it, that's it!"
Seeing Xu Yuanzuo expressing his gratitude over and over again, Cao Sanxi not only twirled his beard and smiled, but in his heart he was full of admiration for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
"Sanxi, you went to Chongmingsha this time and treated the Xu family like this... We must know that we cannot be enemies with the gentry in Jiangnan as a whole. We must unite some to fight some."
"Your Highness, I understand the principle of dividing the enemy, but why do we want to involve the Xu family instead of others?"
"Because the Xu family had the most land and the most money among the gentry in Jiangnan, but there were no more Jinshi after Xu Yuanchun's death."
"Uh... Your Highness, although the Xu family is in a downturn in the officialdom, it is still a big family with great wealth. Should we cooperate with them?"
"Can the Xu family's business be bigger than ours? Besides, we want to choose big partners."
Why do I say so? Because the land annexation in the Ming Dynasty was different from that in the Later Han and Three Kingdoms period.
Land annexation was indeed serious in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, but compared with the huge scale of the land owned by the top 100 or so families in the Later Han and Three Kingdoms period, which "spanned states and counties and formed a market behind closed doors", the land problem in the Ming Dynasty was that there were very few super-large landlords and too many small and medium-sized landlords.
For example, according to the Songjiang Prefecture Chronicle, during the Ming Dynasty, the Xu family was the only one that owned more than 100,000 mu of land. The second family was 70,000 mu. After that, there were only 17 or 18 families that owned more than 10,000 mu. There were only a hundred medium-sized and large landlords that owned between 3,000 and 8,000 mu of land.
Please note that what is being discussed here is the Ming Dynasty, which means that these large landlords and medium and large landlords did not exist at the same time.
So, with so much land, the big landlords only occupied so much, where did the rest go? A large number of lands were in the hands of small and medium-sized landlords with 300 to 1,000 mu.
During the Wanli reign, Hai Rui, who was appointed governor of Yingtian, mentioned that the Yellow Book was in disarray and it was extremely difficult to sort out the changes in land and household registration. What was even more difficult was that there were too many small and medium-sized landlords. Once a blanket cut was made, it would easily cause unrest in the whole society.
Therefore, in order to rectify the land and household registration during the Later Han and Three Kingdoms period, the best way was to unite a group of second- and third-rate families to deal with the super families. Once these super families were brought down, the land and population obtained by the state would be enough to support the regime.
But in the Ming Dynasty, a different approach had to be adopted: unite the super-large landlords and deal with the small and medium-sized landlords. With the development of society, the super-large landlords could be accelerated to become chaebols in the future. The land of the small and medium-sized landlords could be nationalized...
After Zhu Youdong presented this plan to Cao Sanxi, Cao Sanxi's trust in His Royal Highness the Crown Prince undoubtedly increased a lot.
In short, after Cao Sanxi and Xu Yuanzuo reached an agreement, the Xu family quickly cut off financial support for Donglin Academy.
As for people, when they reach a certain level, their information channels will naturally become more extensive. It is impossible for officials in Nanjing to know all the contents of the Cao-Xu secret agreement. However, after receiving the news that the Cao family fleet was wiped out, everyone who had a maritime business in their family felt nervous.
Even Li Sancai, the biggest financial backer behind Donglin Academy, felt a chill down his spine after hearing the news.
No one is stupid. After seeing the Xu family suffer such a big loss and not saying a word, everyone can think that the Xu family must have made a deal with the crown prince. Although the specific content of the deal is unknown, the Xu family is so honest, which makes people think that the crown prince's methods are not simple.
Specifically speaking, Li Sancai's main source of income came from the grain transport business, and the people behind him were not the gentry from the south of the Yangtze River, but the Huaiyang business community. As for the grain transport business, strictly speaking, the governor of the Yangtze River had the power to investigate the grain transport business!
