In Zhaojia Hutong, Zhaojia House, Zhao Hao’s study command center.
"Duke Kaiyang, are you assuming that Yang Bo and Zhang Juzheng have joined forces?" After hearing the old man's words, Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi exclaimed, "This assumption is too scary!"
"But it's very likely." Zhao Liben also sighed and said, "Whether it's Yang Yupo or Zhang Taiyue, they are all heroes who are unwilling to be pawns. They are unwilling to listen to our instructions and vote honestly. They want to interfere in the battle between us and the grain transport and become the one who decides the outcome. Is this strange?"
Everyone's faces changed drastically. They finally understood what Zhao Hao meant by the severe test.
"Old man, are you sure they can join forces?" Fatty Tang wiped the sweat from his forehead, thinking to himself, I am just a small businessman, how come I suddenly arrange for a big shot in the court? This life experience is really bizarre.
"Basically confirmed." Zhao Hao took over the conversation calmly and said lightly: "This is a very simple arithmetic problem. Because the Shanxi people have five votes, as long as they can support us, even without Zhang Xianggong, we can still win."
In fact, the shipping group only needed three more votes to ensure victory.
"So Mr. Zhang left because he probably knew that the Shanxi people would most likely not vote for us." Zhao Hao said with a complicated expression of being hurt by his idol, "Otherwise, it would be meaningless for him to leave. Why would he come here on purpose to make people laugh?"
Stop being a fan! Stop being a fan!
"That's right." After hearing this, those who didn't understand suddenly understood.
Yes, if Yang Bo decided to defect, Zhang Xianggong would not be able to help him. However, Zhang Juzheng could choose to stay and do a favor to show his support for shipping.
But Zhang Juzheng did not do so, which means that he and Yang Bo reached an agreement to advance and retreat together!
"What exactly are they planning?" Xu Wenbi was so angry that he slammed the table and said, "Our 10% stake is worth a fortune! How could those old guys not even think highly of it? What exactly are they planning? What is more valuable than our stake?!"
"Gao Huzi." Zhao Liben suddenly blurted out these three words, and the study room suddenly became silent.
Now it all connects.
"Zhang Taiyue wants Gao Suqing to come back, doesn't Yang Yupo want to?" Zheng Ruozeng nodded in agreement and said, "Don't forget, Gao Cifu stood up for Yang Tianguan, which triggered the whole court to turn against him. It is said that Yang Bo was also behind the crowd that forced Xu Ge Lao to step down."
"That's right." Zhao Liben nodded and said with a smile, "Since last year, the Ministry of Personnel has recommended Gao Huzi to come out of retirement several times, but he was never selected in the imperial court. Do you think Yang Tianguan is frustrated?"
On the issue of not letting Gao Gong come out of retirement, the attitudes of the south and north of the Yangtze River were the same, that is, sixteen or seventeen votes, plus those voting ministers who had offended Gao Gong and were attached to the current prime minister, it would be easy to let Gao Huzi continue fishing at home.
"So, my grandson has offended Yang Tianguan and Zhang Xianggong a long time ago." Zhao Hao touched his nose with a wry smile. This young master really didn't mean it. I just simply didn't want Gao Huzi to organize the Homecoming Group so early.
"What do you think?" Zhao Liben rolled his eyes, and couldn't help but light up his cigarette and took two puffs, then put it out and said, "You've messed up other people's plans so many times, and you still want them to vote for you. You're really stupid and naive."
"Didn't we give him some benefits?" Zhao Hao muttered softly, "I thought Lao Xier would choose to forgive me for the sake of that 10% of the shares."
"They really are 'copper coins as glasses - they only care about money'." Zhao Liben sneered and said: "But if the benefits of reinstating Gao Huzi are greater, they will certainly choose to kick you hard in the ass."
"Hey..." Young Master Zhao scratched his head and admitted with a wry smile: "Damn it, Old Yang tricked me."
"Is it so important for these old men to have Gao Xinzheng return to the throne?" Xu Wenbi still found it hard to accept. "Even if he becomes the Prime Minister, what can he bring to them?"
"I can bring them a lot." Zhao Hao sighed. Although the history books did not record what secret agreement Gao Gong and Yang Bo had, they clearly recorded how much help Gao Gong had provided to the Jin Party in just a few years after his return.
Gao Gong's lifelong achievement - the Longqing Peace Agreement, brought long-term peace to the northwest border of the Ming Dynasty. The people in the northwest and even the entire Ming Dynasty benefited from it, but the biggest beneficiaries were the Shanxi merchants.
The officials from Shanxi also contributed the most to the peace talks. Wang Chonggu, the governor of the three frontiers, took in Altan Khan's grandson despite the pressure and proposed to the court to take the opportunity to negotiate with Altan Khan. Huo Ji, the Minister of War who was about to finish his term, Wang Guoguang, the Left Vice Minister of Personnel, and Zhang Siwei, Wang Chonggu's nephew who was a reader in the Imperial Academy, lobbied everywhere in the capital and tried their best to promote Altan Khan's tribute.
In the subsequent court discussion, all the officials from Shanxi voted in favor, and also brought in a large number of votes, miraculously gaining the majority.
The reason why it is called a miracle is that the difficulty of that court discussion was much greater than this discussion on sea transportation.
You know, the Tatars and the Ming Dynasty were enemies for generations, and Altan owed the people of the Ming Dynasty a blood debt, and brought endless humiliation to the Ming Dynasty. As a minister of the imperial court, how could I choose to forgive him with my bad temper?
But the result is really delicious.
Among them, although Gao and Zhang, who went against the majority's opinion, made great contributions, without the Shanxi Gang's utmost efforts, peace talks would never have been possible.
So what did the people of Shanxi get after the peace talks?
The first is of course safety. And an important clause of the Longqing Peace Talks was that the court finally allowed border trade with the Mongols - and 11 markets were opened at once, with no limit on the trade quantity!
The Shanxi merchants monopolized this trade right. Although the northwest business is not as high-end as the southeast sea trade, it is safer, more stable and more continuous.
Since Emperor Longqing opened up the border, Shanxi merchants, who had previously only dared to engage in smuggling secretly, could finally organize camel and horse teams in an open and aboveboard manner to transport Ming Dynasty's cheap goods such as tea bricks, iron pots, coarse cloth, salt, etc. to Tatars, Oirat, and even Jurchen tribes such as Haixi, Jianzhou, and Yeren, in exchange for precious goods such as furs, horses, ginseng, and timber.
The Shanxi merchants made a huge profit from this transaction and earned enormous wealth, and also achieved their long-cherished goal - to surpass the Huizhou merchants and become the number one business group in the world!
What, the Huizhou merchants are not convinced? The Shanxi merchants have become the eight imperial merchants through foreign trade, isn't that enough to beat you scumbags?
~~
In addition to this major event that changed the historical status of Shanxi merchants, shortly after the Longqing peace talks, Gao Gong promoted Zhang Siwei to the position of Hanlin scholar and left vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel on the grounds that he was familiar with border affairs and facilitated the peace talks with Altan Khan, thus clearing all obstacles for him to enter the cabinet.
In addition, Gao Gong's top general, his disciple Han Ji, was also from Puzhou, Shanxi. In short, during the few years when Gao Gong was in power, the Shanxi officials rose to prominence, even surpassing the Henan people... As everyone knows, Henan officials love to stick together, and regard mutual support among fellow villagers as a matter of course.
This shows how much Gao Gong favored Shanxi officials. Why? It was definitely not because he was jealous.
Therefore, Master Zhao, who had great prophetic powers, easily figured out why Yang Bo would rather offend himself than allow Gao Gong to return.
After all, I can only give them some dry shares and let them enjoy the dividends, but I can't give them the power, security, and the glorious road to becoming one of the eight imperial merchants that they want... Strike out the last sentence.
So now it would be very easy to deal with Tingtui. All he had to do was go find Yang Bo tomorrow and tell him that he would no longer obstruct Gao Gong's reinstatement.
In that case, not only the five votes from the Shanxi Gang, but also the three votes from officials from Huguang would be cast for him resolutely and selflessly.
Young Master Zhao could not help but realize that Prime Minister Zhang was using this method to remind him that the key to the success of sea transportation lies in Yang Bo!
"Ah, Zhang, Idol, you really have good intentions. And you have confidence in my intelligence. Aren't you afraid that I have limited understanding and can't appreciate your efforts?"
Of course Zhao Hao chose to forgive him. After all, it would be more hurtful to say to his face, "If you don't agree to let Gao Gong come out of retirement, forget about the success of the sea transport."
Yes. This is because the crazy fans always imagine that their idol treats them differently. It is definitely not because of his daughter!
~~
The atmosphere in the study was a little stagnant. After all, it felt terrible to be tricked by others.
Everyone looked at Zhao Hao with a strange smile on his face, wondering if the young master was really going to sign the humiliating treaty tomorrow?
"No, I won't go." Unexpectedly, Zhao Hao put away his smile. His expression became a little ferocious under the light. He swore in a rare outburst: "Are these old guys' heads full of rotten noodles? How dare they stab me in the back? And they want me to go to their door and beg them?!"
When he was so angry, he hit the white board behind him with the wooden stick in his hand. With a bang, all the nameplates of officials from Shanxi and Huguang on it fell to the ground!
"Dream on! Even if I can't ship goods by sea or sail, I will never be coerced by anyone!" Young Master Zhao's face turned red and his neck became thick, and he was obviously very angry.
The people present had never seen him get so angry. Old Tang, Sun Dawu, Zhang Qianfa and others stood up in fear. Zheng Ruozeng was so frightened that he coughed repeatedly.
"Young Master is really young and full of vigor..." Although Xu Wenbi was not afraid of him, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and advised him to try his best to get things done. There was no need to fight for a moment. The nobles of the Ming Dynasty were indeed cowards, even the Duke was no exception.
"Well said, this is my grandson!" Zhao Liben clapped his hands loudly. They were a group of grandparents and had a very close rapport with each other, so naturally he understood Zhao Hao's thoughts better than Zheng Ruozeng.
To put it bluntly, Mr. Zhao's current status does not allow him to bow his head!
The wealthy families of Jiangnan Group and the powerful people of Xishan Company are not easy to deal with. Seeing him admit defeat to the Shanxi people for the sake of the so-called overall situation, not everyone will appreciate it. On the contrary, some people will think that he is being completely dominated by Old Xier, which will seriously fade the myth of Mr. Zhao's invincibility.
It's okay for Zhao Hao to take the initiative to lick his ass, but as a king, he can't be forced to bow his head, otherwise the crown will slip off his head...
ps. Still two updates, I cover my face in shame...