The secret conversation continued in the study room in the general's mansion.
There are two extra guards outside the gate, all of whom are personal soldiers who have followed the Zhenyuan Marquis Mansion for generations and are absolutely loyal and reliable.
There was wine and food in the study, and several people were eating and chatting, but the atmosphere was very solemn.
"What Nan Hebo said just now is actually correct. If the two plans compete fairly, we will most likely lose." Song Xiaoming drank a cup of hot Gaogou Daqu and frowned as he said:
"So we have to do something to them to undermine the confidence of the government and the opposition in them, so as to ensure our victory."
"Yes." Pingjiang Earl Chen Wangmo nodded and said in a cold voice: "We have no grudges against the Jiangnan Group and the kid surnamed Zhao in the past, but they are trying to force us to death. Whatever we do to them is fine!"
"What are you going to do?" Gu Huan asked without comment.
"Break the illusions they have created and let the rulers and ministers in Beijing see the dangers of sea transportation and the weakness of the Jiangnan Group!" Song Xiaoming said in a deep voice.
"What they said was that Jiangnan Group took advantage of the calm sea conditions in March and April to carry out several sea transport operations to prove that sea transport is safe and fast. Pah!" Chen Wangmo spat fiercely, "Try it during the summer typhoon season. I guarantee that not a single ship will be left. They will all be fed to the Dragon King!"
"The Sand Ship Gang knows about sea floods. When the storm season comes, they will most likely not go out to sea. And the Jiangnan Group also knows that the biggest excuse the court uses to attack sea transportation is that it is unsafe, so they will definitely be extra careful." Song Xiaoming shook his head and lowered his voice, "If we expect them to get into trouble, we don't know when that will happen..."
"You mean..." Chen Wangmo and the others looked stern and couldn't help but gasp. "Think of a way to kill him at sea?"
"That's right." Song Xiaoming nodded, and sneered with a gloomy look: "Didn't the Jiangnan Group publicize that it could reach Tianjin in ten days from Chongming? I asked someone to check it out. They must have taken the third route of the Yuan Dynasty's grain transport, which went east out of the Black Water Ocean, turned west at Jeju Island, and followed the ocean current to Chengshantou."
"Yes." Chen Wangmo and others nodded in unison. Regardless of whether they understood or not, they all acted as if they understood. Otherwise, wouldn't it be embarrassing for their ancestors?
"This water route is fast, but it's too far from the coast. The farthest point is a thousand miles away." Song Xiaoming picked up a piece of Lianshui Qianzhang with chopsticks, chewed it with a slightly ferocious look, and said, "This is really a road to death!"
"Yes!" The nobles understood now. The coastal garrisons of the Ming Dynasty were only used to prevent the Japanese pirates from landing and to monitor the people from going out to sea. The ocean was the world of pirates and what happened had nothing to do with the people on the shore.
"Manager Song means that we should call some pirates and ambush him?" Chen Wangmo asked softly.
"That's right." Song Xiaoming nodded and said, "It's just that the Jiangnan Group's fleet is too large, at least more than a hundred ships, and the guards they have arranged will definitely not be few. The pirates in the north are too weak, I'm afraid they are not worth it. Only the sea lords in Fujian and Guangdong dare to attack them."
"Fujian and Guangdong are having a hot fight with Yu Dayou. Besides, we don't know people like Lin Daoquan and Zeng Yiben." Another person who participated in the secret talks was Li Yangong, the legitimate son of Linhuai Marquis.
After Xu Pengju fell ill, his father, Linhuai Marquis Li Tingzhu, took charge of the Nanjing Military Office. Since it was inconvenient for Li Tingzhu to come, Li Yangong was asked to be the representative. However, this young marquis was nearly thirty years old and had been in charge of the Marquisate for nearly ten years, so he was quite influential.
"Yes, we can't rely on pirates." Song Xiaoming nodded and said softly, "And it's not safe either."
"Who are you going to look for, the coastal garrisons?" Chen Wangmo asked in return: "Although the Jiangnan Group is not transporting grain, they are also transporting grain under the emperor's order. They must have the guts to rob the emperor."
"Even if you have the courage, you have to be able to sail the boat to Tamra without getting lost." Li Yangong joked, and the two of them chuckled.
"I'm talking about the Li Dynasty's navy." Song Xiaoming said calmly, "Although this country's land warfare is not worth mentioning, it is still very good at training its navy."
"The Li Dynasty navy?" Li Yangong said in a lost voice: "You want to collude with foreign countries?"
"Don't make a fuss. Is the Li Dynasty a foreign country?" Chen Wangmo glanced at him with dissatisfaction.
Li Yangong is an ignorant fellow, who shares the same surname as the King of Korea. He does not even know that the name of Korea was given by the Ming Dynasty, and its full name is "Ming Dynasty Korea". He has always regarded himself as a minister of the Ming Dynasty.
"That's right, that's the dog of the Ming Dynasty." Li Yangong changed his words and said, "But we are not familiar with the Liaodong area. Can you talk to Wang Zhidao?"
Gu Huan shook his head and said, "The Liaodong generals are all promoted from the guards outside the Great Wall. I have never been to Liaodong in my life."
"I do know a deputy general named Li Chengliang, but he is stationed in Liaoyang and it is unlikely that he can talk to the powerful figures of the Li Dynasty." Chen Wangmo scratched his head.
"The relationship is too complicated." Gu Huan didn't agree with the reckless behavior of these young people from the bottom of his heart, so he said in a deep voice: "And with the character of the King of Li Dynasty, I'm afraid it's more likely that he will sell you out."
"That's true." Chen Wangmo didn't dare to say anything.
"No need to be so troublesome." Song Xiaoming said confidently: "I can arrange it."
"Oh?" The three were really surprised and asked in unison: "How do you know the North Korean high-level officials?"
"Actually, I don't know them either." Song Xiaoming smiled slightly and said, "But many of them are clients of Hengtongji."
"Oh, so that's it." The three of them suddenly realized.
~~
Although Hengtongji was the money house with the most branches in the Ming Dynasty, it did not have the ability to expand its business outside the Great Wall, let alone be so flashy as to open a branch in Seoul.
The accounts of those Korean princes and ministers were all opened in Beijing, Tongzhou or Tianjin.
To people of this era, this is quite reasonable.
Because, as a model of Ming vassal, the Li Dynasty was the best licker among the lickers, and the bones it got were the most delicious. Others paid tribute every two or three years, but the Li Dynasty paid tribute three times a year.
It can be said that except for the winter when heavy snow blocked the roads and made it impossible to pay tribute, in the other three seasons, the vast delegations of the Li Dynasty were all on the way to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.
Coming so frequently, in addition to constantly increasing loyalty, naturally has great benefits... Accompanying the delegation came a large number of Joseon merchants, who transported Korean specialties such as Korean ginseng, Korean paper, musk, Schisandra chinensis, etc. to Ming Dynasty for sale, and then purchased various commodities from Ming Dynasty and brought them back to their country for sale, making huge profits from the trip.
Because the Ming Dynasty prohibited foreigners from entering the country privately, and even more so from private cross-border trade, the tribute business had always been a cash cow for the Lee Dynasty, and those merchants who were able to participate in it were merely agents of the royal family and the powerful.
Moreover, the situation in the Li Dynasty was turbulent in recent years. The ruling Sillin faction was constantly fighting among itself, and power was constantly shifting among factions. What followed was bloody purges and constant cruel revenge.
Therefore, whether from the perspective of purchasing luxury goods in Ming Dynasty or to ensure the safety of their own property, the nobles of the Joseon Dynasty opened accounts in Ming Dynasty and kept the money earned from tribute trade directly in Ming Dynasty. They even secretly transported the money extorted from the people of Joseon Dynasty to Tianjin by sea and deposited it in Ming Dynasty's money houses.
As the largest bank in the Ming Dynasty, Hengtongji was backed by the Canal Transport Office, so it was naturally favored by the Korean dignitaries. It was no surprise that Song Xiaoming had their list.
~~
Then, Song Xiaoming took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and passed it to the three people for reading.
The man above was named Park Sung-seong, the governor of the Jeolla Right Province Navy of the Joseon Dynasty.
In the Li Dynasty, the military governor was a third-rank official, roughly equivalent to the commander of the guards in the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the Li Dynasty followed its father, also using civil officials to control the military, and the status of military generals was not high.
In addition, after the Yongle reign, Korea began paying tribute by land. Since the Japanese invasion during the Jiajing reign, the imperial court closed the Maritime Customs Office and imposed strict maritime bans, and Sino-Korean maritime trade was completely cut off. Park Sung-seong was the naval commander in Jeolla Province, the farthest from the land border, so it was impossible for him to get a share of the tribute trade.
However, this guy actually had a deposit of 300,000 taels of silver in his account at Hengtongji!
The annual income of the Li Dynasty was no more than 200,000 dan of grain, plus various taxes, which was converted into about the same amount of silver.
A mere third-rank military commander could actually be as rich as a country. Was this a flaw in the system or a loss of morality? The people present were not interested in exploring this, they only knew that this was the perfect candidate!
Jeonra Island is within the defense zone of Jeolla Right Province, and Park Sung-seong is the commander of the navy, so it is very convenient for him to take action.
And the best thing is, even if he is exposed, the matter cannot be traced back and it will definitely not involve them.
This is very important for these cowardly nobles who have brought shame to their ancestors.
~~
After the three of them finished reading, Song Xiaoming burned the note. It is the duty of every bank to keep confidentiality for its customers, but unfortunately that is only the case in normal times. When the critical moment comes, they will definitely sell you out completely.
"This kid's money must have come from illegal sources." Li Yangong said with a beaming face, "We have the leverage over him, so we're not afraid that he won't surrender."
"Yes, if he doesn't agree, we will report this to Seoul, and he and his entire family will be executed." Chen Wangmo also laughed and gave a thumbs up, saying, "Manager Song, you are smart, really smart!"
Even the old marquis, who had initially been opposed, was silent now.
Since there is no danger and you can hit your enemy, why not do it?
So they decided on this matter.
~~
Seeing that the three people were all excited, Song Xiaoming brought out his own plan:
"I'm afraid this alone is not enough. Jiangnan Group is very wealthy, especially with the almost unlimited financial support of Jiangnan Bank. What if they don't care about that little loss?"
"That's true." At this point, the three of them had been completely led by him. "I heard that Jiangnan Group is going to implement a contracting system, and all losses at sea will be borne by themselves. As long as they can do what they say, the court doesn't care how many ships they sink at sea or how many times they are robbed."
"So we have to do it on two fronts and cut off his source of income!"
Song Xiaoming said as he took a few dominoes from the desk nearby and placed one upright on the table. "This is Jiangnan Bank."
Then he stacked the rest of the dominoes one by one and said, "This is Jiangnan Textile, Jiangnan Shipping, Jiangnan Education..."
"Jiangnan Bank is the support of all the companies in Jiangnan Group. We just need to knock it down." He flicked his finger and knocked down the bottom domino. The rest of the dominoes naturally fell all over the table.
"The Jiangnan Group will no longer exist, and the threat will naturally disappear..."
ps. Because the little monk is about to start school, there is still a lot of homework to be done. In order to avoid being scolded by the teacher, I have to take time to help him finish his homework. I can only update twice in the next two days. Sorry. I will try to write more tomorrow.
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