Chapter 491 What a Simple Thing! (Monthly Ticket Requested!)

Lin Tailai's journey along the canal this time was different from the previous ones, mainly because of his different identities.

His original identity was mainly a scholar who was taking the imperial examination, but this time he was a nine-yuan auspicious sign and a supernova in the court. Although the capital was tired of seeing the nine-yuan auspicious sign, the locals had not seen it yet.

Lin Tailai could not pass through the border quietly and low-key like the previous times. He had to socialize wherever he passed along the way, unless he arrived at the territory where the Qingliu forces were the chief officials.

As a newcomer, Lin Tailai could not refuse other people's enthusiasm.

Since he was in the officialdom, these were inevitable. Fortunately, he was not in a hurry, so he just went slowly.

Moreover, it was not a bad thing to know more people and understand more about the situation in some places.

When he arrived at Huai'an Prefecture, Lin Tailai went to visit Pan Jixun, the governor of the river who was nearly seventy years old.

"Regarding the matter of dredging the old course of Wusong River, we still need the old predecessor to say a few good words to the court." Lin Tailai requested.

Pan Jixun, who has served as the governor of the river for four times, is the top water conservancy expert today. No matter how good his level is, in the eyes of the court, Governor Pan is the authority in water conservancy.

In terms of larger water conservancy projects, the court often consults Governor Pan.

A few years ago, Pan Jixun was also dealt with by the Qingliu forces, but the court still had to appoint Pan Jixun as the governor of the river for the fourth time.

Hearing Lin Tailai's request, Governor Pan smiled bitterly.

When Lin Tailai went north last year, he also made this request, but was rejected by himself.

Although it is still the same words now, the identity of the speaker is different, and the strength is naturally different.

Even Prime Minister Shen wrote a letter to himself a few days ago, and the theme of the letter was just four words: "Don't mess with him."

Thinking of this, Pan Jixun asked, "I'm a little curious. If you have the idea of ​​attacking and framing me, how will you implement it?"

Lin Tailai laughed and replied, "Old senior, you are joking. I respect you the most. How could I do such a thing?"

Pan Jixun said again, "Let's not beat around the bush. I have experienced ups and downs in my life. What else can I not see?

I'm just curious. What can you do to someone like me?"

As the saying goes, curiosity kills the cat. Governor Pan really wants to know why the Prime Minister repeatedly emphasized "don't mess with him"?

After a moment of silence, Lin Tailai said, "Old senior created Hongze Lake with the strategy of restraining water and attacking sand, which has the intention of endangering the ancestral tomb of Sizhou!"

Pan Jixun: ""

I can't tell that this young man also knows a little about the water situation in the Yellow River and Huai River.

The strategy of restraining water and attacking sand can indeed alleviate the water disasters in the Yellow River and Huai River today, and it is still used hundreds of years later.

However, this method stores water in the southwest direction and creates a Hongze Lake, and the lake surface is still expanding.

The key is that the ancestral mausoleum where the three generations of the Emperor Taizu Gao are buried is in Sizhou in the southwest.

After coming to his senses, Pan Jixun explained: "The lake is still far from the ancestral mausoleum, and we can build dikes to prevent water from entering, so there is no danger."

Lin Tailai continued: "This is the case, but how others want to exaggerate it is not certain.

The lake is still far from the ancestral mausoleum now, but what about decades or a hundred years later?

The trend of the lake is to expand towards the ancestral mausoleum. My Ming Dynasty will be thousands of years, and sooner or later we will see the day when the lake invades the ancestral mausoleum.

And will building dikes to prevent water from entering always work and work every time?

The old predecessors who work in water conservancy should know that even if they can prevent it ninety-nine times, as long as they fail to prevent it once, it's over."

Pan Jixun: ""

After hearing these almost threatening words, I wanted to run away with a bucket. The Prime Minister was right. Don't mess with him if there is nothing to do!

Then Governor Pan quickly changed the subject, "Regarding your idea of ​​dredging the old course of Wusong River, technically, there is no problem at all.

But there are two issues that need to be considered. The first is investment. Where does the money come from?

The second is effectiveness. Will there be enough benefits for the country and the people after completion?"

Lin Tailai showed his strength, "These are all things that the court and I have considered. You don't have to worry at all, old predecessor!

If I am not sure of raising funds, or if it cannot produce enough effects in the future, then I will not push this project hard!

So the old predecessor only needs to tell the court that this project is technically feasible, that's enough!"

As a technical consultant, please abide by your duties and don't try to dictate investment, operation and other links.

Governor Pan was helpless. Even the prime minister who protected him was convinced. What else could he do?

After leaving Huai'an Prefecture, Lin Tailai continued to go south and soon arrived at Yangzhou City, which he was very familiar with.

Here in Yangzhou City, there is also his home, his career, his relatives and friends. He can't just pass by and leave after spending the night.

So Lin Tailai decided to stay in Yangzhou for a few more days to sort out the affairs of the Lin family salt industry.

He also took some time to cross the river to Taicang Prefecture to help his classmate Wang Shiqi bring a letter to the old leader Wang.

If the old leader Wang insisted on dragging him to discuss the future of the literary world, he would talk about it reluctantly.

At the big dock outside Lijin Gate in Yangzhou City, gongs and drums were loud, trumpets and suonas were playing, and officials from the Transport Department, prefectures, counties, and guards appeared at the same time, standing on the shore waiting.

Even if the governor of Fengyang came, there might not be such a high-level welcoming lineup.

At least the Salt Transport Department, which is self-contained and vertically managed by the court, can ignore the governor.

But if the person who came was Lin Tailai, it would be very reasonable.

After all, Lin Tailai had turned the world upside down in Yangzhou City in the past two or three years, and no one from the Transport Department to the prefecture and county dared to be disrespectful.

Besides, Lin Tailai was the brother-in-law of the Minister of Revenue, so the Salt Transport Department dared not treat him badly.

Official etiquette does not require a welcome, but as long as they come to welcome him, it will definitely not be wrong. This is the reality.

Only Cui Yushi, the salt inspector, did not have the reason to go out of the city to welcome him because of the respectability of the law.

After Lord Lin, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites, the brother-in-law of the Minister of Revenue, and the number one thug of the Prime Minister, walked out of the cabin, scanned the lineup on the shore, and nodded with satisfaction.

After getting off the boat, Lin Tailai said to the officials: "My second brother is now living in Yangzhou, so today is the time for us to meet as relatives, so I dare not bother you!"

The prefect Wu Xiu said: "Then I will welcome Lord Lin tomorrow."

The Lin Mansion in Yangzhou, located on Dongguan Street, has now doubled its area.

After entering the mansion, Lin Tailai first spent two hours to comfort Miss Lin Wang, who had not seen him for half a year, and then looked at the pregnant Tian.

Then he summoned Lin Yunlai, the second brother of the nominal boss of Lin's Salt Industry, and Lu Junbi, the chief manager, in the front hall to inquire about the affairs of the salt industry.

Lu Junbi was mainly responsible for reporting, "In April, the Transport Department finally completed the registration of salt merchants.

The final number of merchants was 150, including 15 from our Lin's Salt Industry."

Lin Tailai said with relief: "That's good."

According to the new system, only these 150 people will be allowed to subscribe to the salt permit from the Transport Department in the future and exchange it for salt permits on an annual basis.

If others want to enter the Yangzhou salt industry, they can only rely on these 150 people.

Either rent the salt permit from the salt merchants, or become the market merchants and transport merchants in the upstream and downstream links.

In the future, the number of salt merchants will not be expanded unless there are special circumstances, so each salt merchant quota is very precious.

Lin's Salt Industry took advantage of the "foresight" of the policy and allocated more than a dozen small salt merchants who "held" salt permits in advance, and finally registered more than a dozen salt merchants.

"How many quotas do other families have?" Lin Tailai asked again.

Lu Junbi smiled and said, "How could other families expect the government's policy to change? The capital is concentrated in the hands of the family head, and in the end, most of the families registered one merchant.

All in all, among the 150 quotas, Lin's Salt Industry accounted for 10%, the emerging Hui merchants accounted for 50%, and the traditional old Western merchants accounted for 40%. "

Lin Tailai praised: "This ratio is very good! In the future, if we encounter a collective decision, our 10% can also influence the situation."

Lu Junbi said, "But now there is a new situation, which is not optimistic."

Lin Tailai asked in surprise: "Under my deployment, the situation is so good, what is there to be optimistic about?"

Lu Junbi replied: "When registering merchants, I saw that our Lin's Salt Industry had more than a dozen merchants. The Hui merchants and the Western merchants quarreled fiercely, but fortunately nothing came of it.

Now they are thinking of organizing the salt merchants and establishing a salt industry guild. "

Lin Tailai still didn't understand, "The guild is just a guild, right? We will join anyway, how can we not be optimistic?"

Lu Junbi explained in detail: "They also decided that only those with more than 5,000 Woben can join the guild and become managers.

Lord Lin, you also know that the internal composition of our Lin's Salt Industry is complicated, and at most we can make up one or two quotas to join the future Salt Industry Guild. "

At the beginning, Lin Tailai knew that he could not live in Yangzhou permanently. In order to prevent Lin's Salt Industry from being controlled by others, he designed the internal equity of Lin's Salt Industry to be very complicated and dispersed.

There are Woben that are permanently "rented", Woben owned by Suzhou Jinong Warehouse, and Woben owned by Lin Wangshi in the form of dowry.

Later, in order to occupy the quota of Wo merchants, more than a dozen small "shareholders" with only hundreds of salt permits were created.

This is the reason why, if the "five thousand yin" standard of the Salt Industry Association is followed, the "small shareholders" of Lin's Salt Industry are not qualified.

So if such a Salt Industry Association is really to be established, it will weaken the industry discourse power of Lin's Salt Industry.

It can even be said that this is a conspiracy designed by Huizhou merchants and Western merchants to counter Lin's Salt Industry.

After Lin Tailai figured out the reason, he confirmed it again, "Does everyone else agree?"

Lu Junbi smiled bitterly and said, "Except for our Lin's Salt Industry, almost everyone agrees with this plan.

In business, we can't destroy all other salt merchants."

Lin Tailai sighed, frowned and criticized, "I thought your work was excellent, but I didn't expect there were still so many shortcomings.

You really disappoint me. How can you unite Huizhou merchants and Western merchants?

Huizhou merchants and Western merchants have been fighting in Yangzhou for hundreds of years to compete for business shares, and you actually let them unite."

Lu Junbi wanted to say that under your guidance, Lin's Salt Industry was too strong.

So it will definitely force others to unite. This is an objective law that is bound to happen. It will be the same no matter who is in charge.

Lin Tailai warned: "Don't be satisfied with maintaining the status quo. Always be vigilant!

So we must constantly provoke the struggle between Hui merchants and Western merchants, and not let them have the tendency to unite, so that our Lin's salt industry can be stable and strong."

The second brother Lin, who had been silent, took over and said: "Others united for the interests of the salt industry. If you want to provoke others to fight each other, you must have new interests. What interests can be greater than the salt industry?"

Lin Tailai sighed helplessly, "When I watched the Three Kingdoms, I didn't understand why Prime Minister Zhuge had to do everything himself and exhausted himself to death.

As I dealt with more things, I gradually understood. If all his subordinates are reliable, why would Prime Minister Zhuge do this?

Do you still need me to handle such a simple thing?

Let me show you tomorrow how simple this thing could have been! "

The next day, the government office and the transportation department jointly held a banquet to welcome Mr. Lin.

Lin Tailai took his second brother Lin and Lu Junbi to participate.

Traditionally, local celebrities are invited to such banquets.

Therefore, Mr. Lin saw many acquaintances, such as Zheng Dachaofeng, the leader of Huizhou merchants, and Sun Da, the manager of the Western Merchant Guild Hall.

Before the banquet started, Lin Tailai was chatting and laughing with the prefect Wu Xiu when he suddenly asked:

"I heard that schools in Yangzhou Prefecture and Jiangdu County have reserved a few places for Western merchants?

Can those descendants of Western merchants who are residing in Yangzhou take the imperial examination in Yangzhou? "

Magistrate Wu replied: "It is true."

Lin Tailai asked curiously: "Now in Yangzhou, there are more Huizhou merchants than Western merchants, right? So are there more places reserved for the children of Huizhou merchants in the imperial examination?"

Magistrate Wu said with a smile: "Lord Lin, you don't know something! Huizhou and Yangzhou belong to the same province in Southern Zhili. According to other words, they are the same province.

Therefore, Huizhou merchants cannot be considered as residing in Yangzhou, and the children of Huizhou merchants are not eligible to participate in the imperial examination in Yangzhou. "

"Oh! That's it!" Lin Tailai glanced at Zheng Dachaofeng, the leader of the Huizhou merchants, and said with compassion: "So, you Huizhou merchants are really pitiful!

Even if they have been doing business in Yangzhou for two or three generations, they are still regarded as outsiders and cannot even participate in the imperial examination. They are not as good as Western merchants from other provinces. "

Being pitied in such a way, Zheng Dachaofeng's small flames of anger ignited in his heart began to burst out.

Lin Tailai said to Magistrate Wu again: "This is a matter left over from history, and it is a bit out of date.

In fact, the government could consider allocating half of the imperial examination quotas for Western merchants to Hui merchants, which seems more fair. "

"This is impossible, absolutely impossible!" General Manager Sun of the Western Merchant Guild Hall suddenly shouted: "This is the quota that the imperial court awarded to us Western merchants, and we will not give it away even to death!"

Zheng Dachaofeng, the leader of Huizhou merchants, directly cursed: "Fart! What kind of reward from the court is clearly a collusion between officials and businessmen!

Because in the officialdom, there used to be a saying that people from the south would rule the north and people from the north would rule the south!

Therefore, most of the officials in Yangzhou in the past were from the north, and they were closer to you Western businessmen from the north!

Therefore, regarding the issue of imperial examination quotas, the government has always been biased towards you Western merchants and has never been corrected! "

Manager Sun retorted unceremoniously: "You're just farting! Huizhou and Yangzhou are in the same province, and the court doesn't recognize you as a registered citizen. Why don't you come and fight!"

Everything is low-grade, except for good academic performance, and things like the imperial examination are the white moonlight in the eyes of the people of the Ming Dynasty, and no one is willing to give up.

Especially wealthy businessmen who had enough money and learned the etiquette time paid special attention to the opportunity to take the imperial examination.

As the leaders of both sides started scolding each other, the other Huizhou merchants and Western merchants present immediately became divided and started to quarrel with each other.

Lin Tailai hid his merit and fame and quietly retreated to the side of Brother Lin and Lu Junbi.

"Look, aren't they starting to fight now? Such a simple thing?"

Second brother Lin: ""

Lu Junbi: ""

It can only be said that some people are really talented in certain aspects.