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The power of the Tang family caravan is indeed enormous. The Cao Gang and the several families behind the Cao Gang have no resistance in front of the Tang family caravan. These business families are actually very powerful and have many connections in the officialdom. However, these business families lack some military force. In front of hundreds of muskets, Chen Yiran, the leader of the Cao Gang, first surrendered to Huang Feng, the third young master of the Huang family.
Huang Feng did not disappoint Tang Tong's hopes for him. After taking control of the Cao Gang, he forced the Huang family to re-elect a new patriarch, and this new patriarch was naturally Huang Feng. There were people in the Huang family who wanted to resist, but in the face of absolute force, they could not make any waves at all.
Afterwards, the Huang family transported a large amount of grain purchased to places like Southeast Asia and Taiwan. They used this grain to exchange for high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes from the immigrants and brought them to the Ming Dynasty. Tang Tong also issued an order for these places to produce these crops, which can also be considered grain, with almost no cold weather in those places in Southeast Asia, so these crops can be produced all year round.
After these high-yield tropical crops were transported to the Ming Dynasty, they were sold at one-tenth the price of local grain. The common people just wanted to fill their stomachs and didn't care whether the food was edible or not. In any case, it was better than having nothing to eat.
With such a trade, the Huang and Tang caravans not only failed to make money, but also suffered a lot of losses. Although the people of the Huang family had complaints in their hearts, they dared not speak out when they saw the troops under Huang Feng. The other grain merchants also had complaints about the behavior of the Huang and Tang caravans. Some people complained to the local government that Huang Feng had his own troops and was suspected of treason. Unfortunately, except for the thirty special soldiers who protected Huang Feng, the other soldiers and the Japanese auxiliary troops were not on the shore, so it was difficult to find any handle. Those grain merchants who reported to the government would soon be attacked by the so-called bandits. The degree of their arrogance made the grain merchants feel that their behavior was outrageous.
This is an impending era of chaos, with bandits rampant everywhere. After Gao Yingxiang reconciled with Tang Tong, he received Tang Tong's strong support. After contacting Li Yan who stayed in Shaanxi, Gao Yingxiang led his men to fight back in Sichuan for food. His power rose again, making the court officials and Emperor Chongzhen anxious.
In this situation, the government had no energy to control those small gangs of bandits. After several grain merchants suffered, all the grain merchants realized the situation and dared not do those small tricks again. Huang Feng did not just use force. After robbing the grain of those families, he obediently gave a huge sum of money to the local prefect and other officials. These officials were naturally sensible and turned a blind eye to such armed gangsters in the country. Some of them even hoped that these armed gangsters would rob more families so that they could earn more income.
The actions of the Huang and Tang caravans were actually a drop in the bucket for the entire Ming Dynasty. Although they stopped the crazy rise in grain prices to a certain extent, they could not solve the situation of so many ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty who had no food to eat. However, being able to achieve this level on his own, Huang Feng's name was the number one figure in the grain and oil industry. The grain merchants in the Ming Dynasty hated and feared him, but not many people knew that the person who really pushed this matter behind the scenes was the powerful figure Tang Tong.
Emperor Chongzhen knew a little about Huang Feng's sale of grain at low prices through intelligence agencies such as the Embroidered Uniform Guard. From Emperor Chongzhen's standpoint, he still approved of Huang Feng's behavior, because if the grain price was too high, more people who could not afford to eat would rise up in rebellion. Chongzhen was not so stupid as to be unaware of this.
However, although commerce was developed during the Ming Dynasty, the status of merchants was not high. It was impossible for Chongzhen to commend Huang Feng for what he had done, but he also did not pursue the fact that Huang Feng had a private army of several hundred people. After all, in this era, there were actually quite a few people who had private armed forces, and the number of people Huang Feng had was not large, but the weapons he had were a bit too extreme.
It was not until Tang Tong's arrival that the people of the Ming Dynasty realized the power of muskets, but it was just the beginning. Few people realized the far-reaching significance of muskets, so Emperor Chongzhen did not issue an order strictly prohibiting the private ownership of muskets. What Emperor Chongzhen was most concerned about now was Gao Yingxiang's rebel army. Faced with the growing rebels, Emperor Chongzhen was very worried because the court had no money, and without money, it would be impossible to organize an army to suppress the rebels.
For the sake of money, Emperor Chongzhen tried every possible means, and even tried several times to kill several corrupt officials and confiscate their properties to get a sum of money to solve the current difficulties. But it was impossible for him to kill the corrupt officials, because there were almost no corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty court. If he killed one, a group of people would jump up to oppose it. Poor Emperor Chongzhen, although he was an emperor, there were some things he could not do as he pleased, which made Chongzhen helpless and annoyed.
Wang Chengen, a close confidant of Emperor Chongzhen, understood Chongzhen's distress. Wang Chengen was very loyal and smart to Emperor Chongzhen, and sometimes he would give him advice. So, when Emperor Chongzhen sighed again, Wang Chengen appropriately placed a memorial in front of him.
"Well, didn't I say I wanted to rest for a while?" Chongzhen frowned. Emperor Chongzhen was a very diligent emperor. He had to deal with memorials for more than ten hours every day and only rested for a few hours every day. Being an emperor to this extent can be regarded as the greatest sorrow of an emperor.
"Your Majesty, this is a memorial sent by Captain Wang of the Jinling Embroidered Uniform Guard. It contains a secret report about the treason committed by Tang Jing, the General of Dongjiang. Your Majesty, this General Tang is the richest man in the Ming Dynasty. It is said that he has a net worth of tens of millions of taels of silver. With so much silver, he is truly rich enough to rival a country. Your Majesty, the treasury of our Ming Dynasty is not as rich as him." Wang Chengen said in a thin voice. In his opinion, if such a large amount of silver was confiscated, it would not only solve the difficulties of Emperor Chongzhen, but also provide a way for the salt merchants under his command to survive. In this way, he would not be cut off from his source of income in the future. It would be a three-pronged approach.
When Chongzhen heard what Wang Chengen said, his eyebrows couldn't help but twitch violently. Tens of millions of taels of silver, what a concept! Even though he was the emperor, he couldn't suppress his emotions when he heard this number. However, Wang Chengen and Chongzhen didn't know that although Tang Tong had an income of nearly 10 million taels of silver in a year, his expenses for his subordinates and those immigrants were also nearly 10 million taels of silver a year. In fact, Tang Tong's wealth was just an empty shell, and only those factories were worth a few dollars.
Chongzhen picked up the secret memorial and began to read it, but he frowned. The Jinyiwei reported that Tang Tong had an army and was self-reliant, but in fact there was no evidence. It was just that under the instructions of Zhang Zhiqing, the commander of the Jinyiwei, some false evidence was listed, including a false accusation that Tang Tong had tens of thousands of soldiers and was disturbing the coastal areas and neighboring countries. This number of tens of thousands made Chongzhen hesitate.
If Tang Tong only had a few thousand soldiers under his command, Emperor Chongzhen would have jumped up without a second thought and ordered the arrest of General Tang. But when it came to a man with tens of thousands of troops, Emperor Chongzhen had to think twice.
"This man has tens of thousands of soldiers and cannot be easily moved. When Mao Wenlong was the commander-in-chief of Dongjiang, Yuan Chonghuan killed him and almost caused chaos. Let's discuss this matter with all the ministers tomorrow." Chongzhen put down the secret letter in his hand and said to Wang Chengen with a sigh.
"Your Majesty, why should you worry? He is just a general. Moreover, all his soldiers are overseas now. It will be easy to capture him." Wang Chengen observed the emperor's expression and knew that he was tempted, so he encouraged him.
As the saying goes, money can move people's hearts. When the money reaches a certain amount, even the emperor will have ideas. Back then, Shen Baiwan was rich enough to rival a country, but he was killed by Zhu Yuanzhang and his fortune of Shen Baiwan was taken for himself.
Chongzhen did not say anything. Although he was also a ruthless and self-willed person, as an emperor, he thought more than Wang Chengen. Wang Chengen only saw the immediate benefits, but Chongzhen saw the future impact of this matter. It was not difficult to capture and kill General Tang, but he had tens of thousands of soldiers under his command overseas. If these soldiers were loyal to him, they would cause a lot of trouble to the Ming Dynasty in the future. How could he do such things as he pleased?
At this time, Tang Tong had no idea that someone was plotting against him, and Chongzhen had not expected that by not making a decision and bringing the matter to the court for discussion, he would give Tang Tong a chance to escape and accelerate the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
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