The third year of Jingming, autumn.
At the Weishui Wharf in Beijing, ships coming from the south and the north gather here, carrying people and goods, and the business is in full swing.
In order to facilitate the transportation of goods, Sanhe Express paid for the construction of a railway at the dock, which directly leads to Sanhe Express's Beijing warehouse, which is also the headquarters of Sanhe Express.
The double-track horse-drawn carriage, carrying goods time and again, is much faster than human power.
This made people in other warehouses very envious.
"What are you looking at? Is that something we can afford? Just carry the goods."
The warehouse manager slapped Li Fu on the head.
Li Fu chuckled and said, "I'm just envious."
"You're envious of nothing. With this, none of you will have a job to do."
"Look at what the steward said. Even if we have rails, we still need people to carry the cargo off the ship."
"Go, go, hurry up and carry the goods. If you are late, your wages will be deducted."
Li Fu laughed and left.
The clerk stepped forward and muttered to the steward, "Why doesn't the boss build a warehouse next to the Sanhe Express warehouse? Then we can benefit from it and use the double-track carriage to transport goods together."
The manager raised his eyelids and said, "What are you thinking? Do you think it's so easy to get the attention of Sanhe Express?"
"What's the point here? Please tell me."
The manager coughed lightly. "If you want to benefit from this, you have to abide by the rules of Sanhe Express. The first rule is to pay taxes in full. The reason why our warehouse has so much business is because... Do you understand?"
The guy suddenly realized, "I understand!"
"If you understand, go and work."
"Is Sanhe Express really forcing its customers to pay taxes?"
"There's no need to force us to pay taxes. This is a matter of mutual consent. Sanhe Express is not the Ministry of Revenue. They don't have to force us to pay taxes."
"If that's the case, why do we still require merchants to pay the full amount of taxes?"
"Why else? The owner of Sanhe Express is the Empress. If the Empress says we have to pay taxes, who dares to say no?"
"Isn't it said that the Ministry of War also has shares in Sanhe Express?"
"You just do nothing but chat. Get back to work. You talk so much nonsense." The manager ran out of patience and kicked the waiter away.
A beautiful three-story ship docked, attracting the attention of everyone at the dock.
The waiter jumped up and said, "It's a three-story ship. Boss, I'll go take a look and be back soon."
The guy ran out like a gust of wind, and the manager didn't have time to object.
The three-story ship is really beautiful, with carved beams and painted buildings, and it is luxurious and high-profile. The whole ship has the four big words "I am rich" written on it.
"Damn it, we finally arrived in the capital."
A middle-aged fat man walked out of the ship, wearing gold and silver and cursing.
The fat man looked even more high-profile than a ship.
On the deck, a thin man in his thirties glanced at the fat man, and the fat man's cursing mouth immediately shut.
"The tower ships built by Okura Shipyard are indeed very comfortable." The thin man said casually.
"Master Zhang is right."
Others echoed.
This group of upstarts, all mine owners from various parts of the south, were led by a thin man named Mr. Zhang.
They owned both private mines and legal mines that were registered with the government and paid taxes.
This time, the Shaofu is conducting a mineral inventory. No one can escape. All of them will be liquidated one by one.
While the north was bustling with activity due to the gold rush in Xiliang, the south was buzzing with excitement over the Jinwu Guards' closure of the mines.
There were countless armed fights involving hundreds of people.
The government was in a dilemma, and memorials impeaching the Shaofu and the Jinwu Guards flew into the capital from all directions.
However, there was no movement in the court.
This is not right!
The mine owners failed to get justice from the high officials in the court. Instead, they received a letter from the capital, asking them to cooperate with the Minister of the Imperial Household and send several representatives to the capital. They also said that great wealth and honor awaited them.
The mine owners looked at each other in confusion.
They blocked the officials of the Shaofu, fought back and forth several times, and finally figured out what the Shaofu was doing.
Outside the Great Wall, overseas, an official position starting from the sixth rank?
But is it worth exchanging existing mines?
Everyone hesitated.
The Jinwu Guards were watching closely, ready to arrest and imprison anyone who didn't cooperate.
That's all.
The arm cannot twist the thigh, so let's go to the capital first to find out what the court is planning.
So, a dozen or so mine owners, led by the mine owner named Zhang, came to the capital on a ship.
There were several ships following behind, all filled with their men and guards.
After getting off the boat, we stayed in the most luxurious inn in the capital.
These mine owners are all rich.
The mine owner is named Zhang Shengshui.
The reason why everyone chose him as the leader was because he was from the same clan as the Zhang family in the capital.
An aunt of the Zhang family in the capital married into the Gu family in the capital. She was the Empress's aunt.
Because of this relationship, Zhang Shengshui was naturally elected as the core representative of this negotiation.
Zhang Shengshui first handed a visiting card to Zhang in the capital, and they met smoothly, and he got a general understanding of the situation in the capital and the court.
After that, he sent a letter to the Gu family of the Zhenjun General's Mansion and went to pay a visit to the Queen's aunt Zhang as a junior.
Zhang took the visiting card and read it several times. "If you hadn't reminded me, I wouldn't have known there was such a relative."
The eldest daughter-in-law, Xiao Zhang, said, "This man's family owns a mine. I heard that the Shaofu has closed down the private mines in the south, and there's been a lot of commotion."
"The Ministry of Revenue has shut down the illegal mines, so why are they going to the capital? Are they going to file a complaint with the court?"
"That's not the case. It's said that the Minister of the Imperial Household wants to give everyone a chance to be rich and prosperous, and they came to the capital to test the sincerity of the court."
Zhang immediately understood. "As the Empress's aunt, she's become a hot commodity. He sent me a visiting invitation. Could it be that he's trying to test the Empress's attitude through me?"
"Does the mother-in-law want to see him?"
Zhang pondered for a moment. "You mean the Shaofu is investigating illegal mines in the south, but there's no activity in the north?"
"There's been no activity in the north for the time being. Perhaps it's because there's been a lot of commotion in the north for the past year or two."
Zhang shook her head, then nodded. "There's no movement in the north. I'm afraid it's related to the Northwest Army's advance into Xiliang. Well, as a woman, why should I interfere in these important court affairs? Send someone to invite him in. It's a bit rude anyway."
Zhang decided to meet Zhang Shengshui, but she was disgusted by his poor manners.
Zhang Shengshui was invited into the General Zhenjun's Mansion and met Zhang in the flower hall.
"I, your nephew, pay my respects to you, Aunt. This is my first visit to you, and I would like to offer you a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it."
Zhang Shengshui handed over the gift list, and the maid took it and placed it in front of Zhang.
Zhang took a quick look and saw that the gift list was very generous.
She frowned slightly and gave a wink to her eldest daughter-in-law, Xiao Zhang.
Little Zhang knew what was going on, so she quietly retreated and prepared to return the gift.
"Please sit down! I've heard about your branch before from my mother's family, but I haven't been in touch with them for many years, so I'm a little unfamiliar with them."
"It's all our fault for not being polite. From now on, we will send people to the capital every year to deliver festival gifts."
"That's not necessary. Is this your first time in the capital?"
"Exactly!"
Zhang and Zhang Shengshui chatted about all sorts of things, but didn't talk about serious matters.
Zhang Shengshui himself was not in a hurry.
Until the banquet was over, he stood up to say goodbye without mentioning the purpose of his visit to the capital.
It seemed like an ordinary meeting between relatives.
This made Zhang look at him with a higher opinion.
The butler saw him out and returned the gift.
Zhang Shengshui refused to accept it no matter what, jumped into the carriage and ran away.
The housekeeper had no choice but to report the truth to Zhang.
Zhang laughed when she heard this and said, "Let him be."
"Zhang Shengshui never asked about anything related to the Grand Chamberlain and the Empress, nor did he accept any return gifts. What was his intention in doing so?"
Xiao Zhang was a little confused.
Zhang smiled and said, "He just needs to let people know that he is visiting our house and that he has stayed for a feast. The Minister of the Household will know that he is related to our family and will certainly be more polite to him."
"These private miners have a lot of tangled tricks. The gift list he sent is truly over the top. Is it okay to accept it?"
"Find out where he lives and find a chance to return the favor."
"My daughter-in-law knows!"
…
A group of private mine owners, led by Zhang Shengshui, temporarily settled down in the capital, experiencing the local customs and practices that were different from those in the south.
The gold rush in Xiliang was still brewing and was being hyped in newspapers.
Houses around the Imperial College are in hot demand.
This group of people are all rich.
I was curious about the double-track carriage and went to experience it.
The ticket was a small amount of money, but after getting on the luxury carriage, we ate and drank, spending nearly a hundred taels.
The station staff thought these people were just rich country bumpkins from the south who were being taken advantage of.
The stationmaster, Niu Lao Da, slapped his clerk on the head and said, "How can you say that to your breadwinners? Serve me now! If there were more generous gentlemen like you, everyone would have their bonus this month."
"Okay!"
The guys agreed in unison.
The mine owners were enjoying the ride, making one trip after another, and were planning to find the Universal Carriage Company to build them a carriage in the south.
“Great for hauling ore!”
"The cost is too high, it's better to use manual labor."
"Manual labor is too slow, how can it be this fast?"
"Since the Shaofu has shut down our mines, the prices of iron and copper mines should go up."
"Let's not talk about the price increase for now. The Grand Master has left us stranded at the inn for so many days, with only a small official showing up to greet us. What's his real intention?"
"Are you kidding us?"
"That's outrageous."
"It's better to go back."
"Since we're here, we have to talk. If we can't reach an agreement, we can talk about going back later."
"Humph! I don't believe that the Shaofu and Jinwu Guards can keep an eye on all the mines. There will always be a day when they withdraw. Once they withdraw, we will start working."
"Why rush? Now that you're here, take a good look and learn from other people's business strategies."
As soon as Zhang Shengshui spoke, everyone stopped complaining.
"Master Zhang, are we just going to wait like this forever?" someone asked.
Zhang Shengshui stared out the window and said, "It's almost there!"
They have been in the capital for ten days, and it is unreasonable for the Shaofu to continue to ignore them.
"I guess the Shaofu will send someone to see us in the next few days. Everyone, be alert and don't talk nonsense when the time comes. Let's listen to what the Shaofu has to say first."
"Okay! Just listen to Boss Zhang. You're an educated man, and you're more knowledgeable than us roughnecks."
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