Yesterday's chaos disappeared without a trace after being suppressed by the army. Even most of the people were talking about the changes in the Ming army.

In the streets, teahouses, restaurants, and even the vendors on the small streets, almost everyone is talking about the scene when the army appeared yesterday.

"I have lived for seventy years, from the previous dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, and this is the first time I have seen an army like this."

"This unique army, when marching, looks like one person, and does not harm the people in the slightest. I heard that this army was personally trained by the current Crown Prince."

"Our Ming dynasty has successors, and it will surely be passed down for thousands of years."

In the restaurant, an old scholar with white hair and beard praised loudly while holding a wine glass.

His words should have also aroused the agreement of many restaurant diners.

There was a small table with two men in blue clothes sitting on it. After hearing this, they looked at each other and one of them asked loudly, "Old man, today everyone only talked about the army and did not mention yesterday's recruitment. I wonder what you think about yesterday's recruitment."

"With such generous conditions for recruitment, almost everyone can go. If this were the case for everyone in the world, who would want to farm?"

Upon hearing this, before the father-in-law could say anything, the waiter in the teahouse suddenly stiffened, his eyes flashed, and the corner of his eye turned to the two men.

The servant was naturally a secret agent of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

In this era, teahouses and restaurants are the places where news spreads the most. With the secret development of the Jinyiwei, all restaurants are the focus of attention.

As everyone's eyes focused, it was obvious that the old man rarely had such a highlight moment. He took a sip of the wine in the glass and then said:

"That's wrong. The Heroes Chamber of Commerce is recruiting workers. This is a charity. Anyone can go. Don't use this name to fool people. There are a certain number of people to recruit."

"Let's not talk about anything else. In this Ming Dynasty, how many people don't have land and can't get enough food to eat?"

"Only big cities can set up factories. Even if all big cities can do it, it would be enough for these people with little money."

"What's this talk about barren land? It's nonsense!"

Hearing the father-in-law's disdainful tone, the man who asked the question immediately became angry and wanted to argue.

But he was immediately stopped by the person next to him and shook his head.

The man sat down unwillingly.

The father-in-law looked at him smugly and continued drinking.

Seeing that the two did not start an argument, the guests who were eating there felt a little disappointed that there was no fun to watch.

After eating and drinking, the father-in-law went to the counter to pay the bill and left staggeringly.

The man who spoke earlier stared at his father-in-law's back as he left, obviously unwilling to do so, and gave his accomplice a look.

After a slight hesitation, the accomplice nodded.

The two of them then quickly paid the bill and left without finishing the food and drinks on the table.

As the two were leaving, the waiter from the restaurant followed them.

Before he finished walking along the path, five people had already gathered around the servant.

In an alley, the old man was blocked by two men.

"What do you want to do? This is the capital, aren't you afraid of the law?" The father-in-law didn't expect that the two would dare to do it for real, and he was a little panicked.

The man who spoke earlier said, "Today I want to let you, an old man, know who to mess with and who not to mess with."

Hearing this, the father-in-law, who was originally a little scared, suddenly laughed.

"These are the two. If we catch them, we will finally have done something great. Damn it, I'm almost exhausted, and I just caught two small fish."

The father-in-law said swearingly.

These words startled the two men, and the man behind immediately wanted to leave.

Then, the alley was blocked from front to back.

The two men realized that they had fallen into a trap and their faces turned pale.

After the morning court session, the Jinyiwei had begun to implement a fishing strategy throughout the capital, with the aim of arresting those involved behind the scenes.

Especially after knowing the merchants, there is a targeted target group, which makes it much easier.

Zhu Ying was able to guess that it was the Chamber of Commerce that was behind this, and it wasn't just based on speculation.

There is communication and interaction between chambers of commerce, so they can get some information about some small changes.

As a large number of businessmen were arrested, the leaders of many chambers of commerce began to get anxious.

In a corner of West City, more than ten people gathered together.

"Didn't they say Gao Yong had been poisoned to death? Why did the Royal Guards seem to have gotten a clue and arrested so many of our brothers?"

"If it was just the Zhejiang merchants, we wouldn't have to talk about it. But now even our Huizhou merchants have had many of their brothers arrested one after another. Isn't this what Gao Yong revealed?"

A man dressed in short clothes said in an exasperated tone.

When these words were spoken, everyone was somewhat indignant.

One of the old men frowned and said, "It's impossible. Even if Gao Yong is still alive, he can't know so much information. Apart from contacting us Zhejiang businessmen, he has no contact with any of you sitting here."

Someone immediately retorted, "Gao Yong doesn't know, but doesn't his boss know? It's been so many years, I'm afraid all the details have been revealed. This time, we gave him 100,000 strings of treasure notes, and we still lost so many brothers. I'm afraid it's a bit unreasonable."

"In my opinion, since the money has no effect, Zhejiang Merchants should return it."

After hearing this, other chambers of commerce immediately felt that the proposal was good, and they all looked at the old man representing Zhejiang businessmen.

The old man snorted coldly and said, "This time, we Zhejiang merchants have lost a fifth-rank official in Beijing, as well as the Jinyiwei who took many years to bribe. Such a huge loss, don't you guys share the burden?"

After hearing this, everyone didn't say anything more.

The loss is one aspect, but the main reason is that Zhejiang merchants have now been targeted by the Jinyiwei, and their future paths in the capital will certainly be severely hit.

"Well, everyone has suffered losses, so let's not waste any more time on gossip. Now that the Heroes Chamber of Commerce is under the command of the Crown Prince, this matter should have spread throughout the capital."

"Next, we still need you all to get together and mobilize the writers to write a great article on the competition between the royal family and the people for profit."

"The reason why we can sit together today is because of our past grudges. Now we all have a common enemy, the Heroes Chamber of Commerce!"

"In just two months, the Heroes Chamber of Commerce has embezzled a lot of your business. I'm sure you all know it. If it continues like this, I'm afraid our chambers of commerce will be swallowed up by them and have no way to survive."

"This step is particularly critical. The bigger the momentum, the better. It would be best if the whole world was in an uproar. Let your majesty receive a mountain of memorials."

"Only in this way can everyone have a glimmer of hope. Now, it's time to contribute."

A middle-aged man in fancy clothes said in a deep voice.

When he opened his mouth, all the representatives of the chambers of commerce listened quietly. It was obvious that his status was quite high among the many chambers of commerce.

After he finished speaking, someone couldn't help but ask, "I wonder how much money Mr. Fan wants to settle this matter properly? Can you tell us a number so that we can have a rough idea?"

Mr. Fan glanced at the representatives of the Chamber of Commerce around him and said, "To bribe a scholar, especially a great scholar, the cost is not a small amount, but I, Fan, believe that this expense is worth it."

"This time, Fan, on behalf of the Shanxi merchants, will offer 800,000 taels of silver. According to calculations, about 3 million taels will be needed. The rest, please collect them together."

In the early Ming Dynasty, what did three million taels of silver mean?

According to today's market price, it is equivalent to 6 million strings of Ming Dynasty treasure notes. Such a large amount of money is just used to bribe scholars from all over the country to write and spread news about the competition between the royal family and the people for profit.

This huge amount made all the chamber of commerce representatives present silent for a long time.

"Why, you don't want to spend money?"

"That's fine. This time, I, Fan, will represent the Shanxi merchants. There's no need for you to get involved. Anyway, our Shanxi merchants are not in the capital. They are on the sea. You can do whatever you want."

Mr. Fan snorted coldly, then stood up and prepared to leave.

The old Zhejiang businessman said hurriedly: "Mr. Fan, I am in a hurry! No one here says it's not possible, I just want to see if the silver can be reduced. It's really too much."

Mr. Fan snorted coldly and said, "You are just playing house as a child. Don't I, Fan, want to have a little less?"

"It's not known whether these three million taels are enough. This is a direct confrontation with the imperial court. As for the imperial court and our emperor, I think the brothers of Zhejiang merchants know the most about it."

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhejiang merchants were the most financially powerful among the four major chambers of commerce: Shanxi merchants, Huizhou merchants, and Guangdong merchants.

Its origin was mainly from the maritime trade of the previous dynasty.

The businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are really rich.

However, with Zhu Yuanzhang's crackdown on the Jiangnan region and the restrictions on maritime trade, the strength of Zhejiang merchants began to decline sharply.

Naturally, he hated the Ming Dynasty court even more.

Hearing what Mr. Fan, a Shanxi merchant, said, the old Zhejiang merchant gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, give me the money that I owe you tomorrow. Everyone must work together, otherwise our four major chambers of commerce will not exist in the future."

"I don't believe that a powerful dragon can't overthrow a local snake. Can this Chamber of Commerce from the Western Regions really turn the world upside down?"

Seeing that the two major chambers of commerce agreed, the Huizhou merchants and Guangdong merchants naturally nodded as well.

They all said that they would be able to collect enough money and implement their plan tomorrow.

…

Duke of Liang's Mansion,

Lan Yu, Jingchuan Marquis Cao Zhen, Heshou Marquis Zhang Yi, Zhu Shou, Dingyuan Marquis Wang Bi, Dongguan Earl He Rong and others gathered together.

And the person sitting at the top was Zhu Ying.

There were all kinds of delicious fish and meat on the table, but no one started eating first. They were all waiting for His Royal Highness Chang Sun to speak.

This was the first time that Zhu Ying asked Lan Yu to gather together the core nobles of the current Huaixi military group.

"You are all heroes of our Ming Dynasty. Without your contributions, there would be no Ming Dynasty today. Once again, I would like to offer a toast to all the generals."

Zhu Ying did not act like a crown prince, even though the enthronement ceremony was tomorrow.

On the contrary, he treated these meritorious generals and nobles as if they were his own family.

When Zhu Ying raised the wine glass, all the nobles present, including Lan Yu, quickly stood up and bowed, not daring to accept Zhu Ying's greeting.

"Come on, everyone, don't be restrained, eat some food and drink some wine."

Zhu Ying said with a smile, his tone calm.

This made many nobles and generals feel at ease.

But even so, the generals who usually have loud voices did not dare to say too much.

The identity of the Crown Prince is one aspect, but the most important thing is that His Royal Highness Changsun's prestige in the army is growing day by day. Although he has not made any contributions in battles, no soldier dares to underestimate His Royal Highness Changsun.

How could His Royal Highness Chang Sun, who is able to practice such military discipline, be an easy person to deal with?

After three rounds of drinking,

Only then did Zhu Ying put down his chopsticks.

The generals also put down their chopsticks.

Zhu Ying wiped his lips and then said, "Generals, it is not Grandpa's idea to gather you all together this time, but my personal idea."

"I believe everyone has heard about the factory that the Qunying Chamber of Commerce is about to open."

Jingchuan Marquis Cao Zhen was the first to reply: "Your Highness, I have heard of you more than anything. You are so famous that you are well-known."

"Who in the capital doesn't know about the Heroes Chamber of Commerce?"

"Speaking of which, I am extremely envious of Duke Liang. With less than 10,000 acres of good farmland, he got 30% of the shares of the winery. This is a good deal."

"From now on, the shares held by Duke Liang will probably be worth a million dollars."

"I don't know if His Royal Highness Changsun will also sell shares in other factories. It would be better for us to know in advance."

Cao Zhen's words attracted the attention of many nobles present, and also revealed their desire.

They don’t know how to estimate the value, but the housekeepers below or other friends certainly know.

The fact that Duke Liang can have shares means that there is hope for everyone.

The factory run by the Royal Chamber of Commerce can bring in income much faster than from fertile farmland.

Zhu Ying looked at Jingchuan Hou Cao Zhen with satisfaction.

As Lan Yu's good brother, Cao Zhen had already received secret instructions to cooperate with Zhu Ying.

Zhu Ying felt the attention and said, "To be honest with you generals, the situation has changed a bit, so I plan to expand the scale of the factory."

"Don't worry about sales. Everyone in the Qunying Chamber of Commerce knows that there are many ways to sell."

"It would cost too much money to set up five factories at once. I have thought about it carefully and decided to sell some shares in each factory."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the generals were delighted. If they were not in front of His Royal Highness Zhang Sun, they would have drunk three large bowls of wine.

Sure enough, His Royal Highness Chang Sun still has his heart on everyone’s side.

Then, Zhu Shou, the Marquis of Zhuolu, asked, "I wonder how many shares Your Highness is going to sell, and how much treasure notes are required for one tenth of the shares."

Zhu Ying smiled and said, "Each factory will sell 40% of its shares, and each share will be worth 500,000 guan of treasure notes."

As soon as these words were spoken, the smiles of the generals turned stiff.

Even Lan Yu's face showed shock.