Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 388: Shen, the Richest Family in Jiangdong
Knowing that Zhu Yuanzhang was worried about how to manage the family finances, Wei Jia and Qian Hui also started to think about it. Wei Jia thought for a while before speaking.

"Since we are not allowed to buy more land to become big landlords, we can always do business. I heard that those who open restaurants can make money. Chongba Ge can find a prosperous place and open a few inns and restaurants. Tsk, we can eat meat and drink wine every day in the future. What a comfortable life that would be."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned when he heard this, and seemed to be considering the possibility of this matter. He thought to himself that it would be great if he could marry a knowledgeable wife, preferably one whose family was good at business. This way, he wouldn't have to worry so much about household management. Although Zhou Tong's family was also from a butcher's family, he didn't know if his sister understood these things.

Qian Hui curled his lips when he heard this and immediately retorted, "Come on, our Master Zhu is so generous and treats his brothers very well, but this is not good for doing business. Haven't you heard the storyteller say that kindness cannot command the army and righteousness cannot command wealth?

"If someone like Chongba Ge knows that he has opened a restaurant, all the brothers in the army will go there to eat and drink. Master Zhu is generous and doesn't want to take money from poor brothers. If he lets the brothers eat and drink for free every day, won't the restaurant go bankrupt? How can it make money?"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Wei Jia were stunned when they heard this, and then they reacted instantly, as if it was really the case.

"Well, Qian Hui said it well. Kindness cannot command an army, and righteousness cannot command wealth. It seems that this kind of righteousness is not a good thing in business." Zhu Yuanzhang immediately nodded in agreement.

Wei Jia also stroked his chin and thought, "That's right. Since opening a restaurant doesn't work, why not do other business? I heard that you can make a lot of money by trading with foreigners. Collect some iron pots, porcelain, paper, cloth and silk from the inland areas and sell them to those ignorant foreigners. You can get a lot of gold, silver, spices, ivory, rhino horns, and wood in exchange. You should be able to make a lot of money."

Qian Hui poured cold water on him, "It's easy to say, have you ever been to sea? Do you understand the language of those barbarians? Do you know where to sell goods and what you can get in return? If everyone knew how to go to sea to trade with foreigners, wouldn't everyone in the world go to sea long ago?"

Wei Jia immediately argued, "I don't know, but Chongba is the Earl of Danyang, which means he is a nobleman in the eyes of the people. If we find a sea merchant, we just need to pay and ask him to take one of us with him. Would he dare to say no? I don't know how to sell goods by sea, but can't I find someone to help me do it?"

Qian Hui smacked his lips and said, "That's fine, but where are you going to find a sea merchant? Do you know any?"

Wei Jia immediately laughed and said, "When we attacked Huzhou before, I heard from the guide that there was a man named Shen in their area. He was the richest man in Jiangdong. I heard that his family suffered a disaster at first, and then he moved to Pingjiang Road (Suzhou), bought land in Wujiang, and made a living by farming. Later, he started to do business with foreigners and made a lot of money. After Shen made money, he bought hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Pingjiang. He was really a wealthy man.

"Such a famous person should not be difficult to find. Why don't we just go to Pingjiang Road and look for this Shen? When he goes out to sea to sell goods, we can ask him to help us take a ship with him. Would he dare to refuse?"

Qian Hui was also shocked when he heard this, "My goodness, with hundreds of thousands of acres of land, how much grain can be harvested? His family must have built a few granaries themselves, otherwise where can they store so much grain? It will all go bad."

Zhu Chongba listened to their discussion, but shook his head, and then finally spoke.

"You guys are still thinking too simply. You know what you can do and what you can't do. In the final analysis, it all depends on what the commander-in-chief says. If the commander-in-chief doesn't allow us to buy more land, then we won't be landlords anymore. If the commander-in-chief doesn't allow us to travel by sea, how can we travel by sea?

"Besides, I don't expect to become the richest man in Jiangdong. As long as I can pass on the family business and title I have earned, that's enough.

"The Shen family is a commoner, but they are rich enough to rival a country. This is not a blessing, but a disaster for themselves. What is a businessman doing with so much money? Even though he has bought hundreds of thousands of acres of land, according to the latest tax law of the Marshal, 20% of the land above 10,000 acres will be taxed. Do you think he can keep these hundreds of thousands of acres of good land?
"The Shen family you just mentioned, his family must either divide up the property or rise up in arms to resist the taxation. If he really dares to rise up in arms, then it's time for us to confiscate his property and exterminate his clan.

“Sometimes, too much wealth is not a good thing, it can be fatal. This is called wealth that does not match one’s position. It is not his wealth, but he insists on earning it. Even if he earns it, he may be alive to take it, but not to spend it. This is purely bringing disaster to himself.

"We don't understand anything else. We, Zhu, are here to fight for our lives. It's better not to think about these things for now. There will naturally be other generals who will take the lead in such matters. We just need to watch and don't follow suit, otherwise we may lose our lives."

Qian Hui and Wei Jia were stunned when they heard this, and immediately looked at each other. They had not thought so much about it before, but Zhu Yuanzhang's words made them suddenly alert. Yes, it is hard to say whether the man surnamed Shen can survive this. Asking him for help to make money is not seeking death?
The richest man in Jiangdong, Shen, was Shen Wansan from Suzhou. However, Shen Wansan was 71 years old this year, and the old man was almost dead.
Shen Wansan, according to the Qing Dynasty's "History of Ming Dynasty", funded Zhu Yuanzhang to build the Nanjing city wall, and threatened to give Zhu Yuanzhang one million taels of silver to reward Zhu's army. Zhu Yuanzhang angrily rebuked him, "How dare a common man reward the emperor's army?" Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and jealous of Shen Wansan's wealth. He wanted to kill him, but Empress Ma persuaded him to spare his life and exiled Shen Wansan to Yunnan.
This rumor fabricated by the Qing Dynasty to discredit Zhu Yuanzhang is full of loopholes. Anyone who believes it is an idiot.

The Ming Dynasty's "Wujiang Chronicles", a local chronicle, records that Shen Wansan had already died when Zhang Shicheng occupied Suzhou. Zhang Shicheng occupied Suzhou in 1354, and Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty in 1368. Not to mention that Zhu Yuanzhang had never met Shen Wansan, in fact, even Zhang Shicheng had never seen him. How could a dead man help Zhu Yuanzhang build the city wall and be exiled to Yunnan by him?

Besides, when the Ming Dynasty conquered Yunnan, it was already more than ten years in the Hongwu reign. Even if Shen Wansan was still alive at that time, he must have been over a hundred years old. In ancient times, filial piety was the basis of governing the country, and respecting the old and loving the young was the most basic ideology. People who lived to be seventy or eighty did not need to perform formalities when they met the emperor. How could you exile a centenarian to Yunnan? ? ?

If some people say that the Ming history compiled by the Qing Dynasty is not credible, then can the local chronicles of the Ming Dynasty be credible? As for this question, the "Wujiang Chronicle" of the Ming Dynasty was compiled by Mo Dan, the academic director of the Imperial College during the Yongle Dynasty, and Mo Dan was the in-law of the Shen family. So, do you believe the words of Shen Wansan's in-laws, or the Ming history compiled by the Qing Dynasty?

Even if you don't believe in the local chronicles of the Ming Dynasty, the "Wujiang County Chronicles" of the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty also adopted Mo Dan's statement, saying that Shen Wansan had died before Zhang Shicheng occupied Suzhou. However, the author of this book took into account that the official history of the Ming Dynasty compiled in the Qing Dynasty had already been published, so he secretly wrote a sentence in the book that Shen Wansan's relatives said that Shen died early, which was inconsistent with the official history. He himself didn't know which one was true and which one was false, and let the readers judge for themselves. This is very sincere.

If this is not enough proof, there is also the tomb of Shen Wansan's eldest son Shen Rong as evidence. Shen Rong's epitaph clearly states that Shen Rong died in the ninth year of Hongwu, at the age of over seventy. According to the time calculation, it is now the thirteenth year of Zhizheng, and Shen Rong is already 48 years old. His father Shen Wansan must be at least around 70 years old. In addition, he had died before Zhang Shicheng came, so Shen Wansan died in the last one or two years at the latest.

There is even a record in the Wujiang Chronicles of the Ming Dynasty that during the period when Zhang Shicheng occupied Suzhou, Shen Wansan's other two sons, Shen Mao and Shen Wang, secretly transported grain to Yuan Dadu by sea.

But in this time and space, their family will definitely not do such a thing again.

After Lu Jin crossed the river, he immediately launched the Jiangbei Campaign and captured Huaiyang. Then he launched the Eastern Expedition and occupied the entire eastern Zhejiang with a crushing force. Later, there was a public announcement of victory, saying that the navy of the Shengwu Army defeated Fang Guozhen's navy and blockaded the mouth of the Yangtze River and the coast of eastern Zhejiang.

The Shengwu Army displayed such a powerful offensive that not only did they not have the intention to resist or continue to collude with the Yuan Dynasty, even if they wanted to collude, they would not be able to do so given the cut-off of transportation.

Moreover, when the Shengwu Army was on the Eastern Expedition, they strictly observed military discipline and did not harm the civilians. Lu Jin even specifically announced the "Ten No-Entry" military order in a manifesto. As a result, he had been very popular in eastern Zhejiang. According to a description that often appears in history books, "the people were unaware that the soldiers were passing by."

Moreover, during this eastern expedition, Lu Jin posted notices while advancing his troops, announcing that two imperial examinations would be held in the spring and autumn of this year, summoning scholars from all over eastern Zhejiang to go to Jiankang to take the exams and become officials. In this way, the Shen family had even less intention to resist.

Now Lu Jin blocked the coast, and inland Jiangxi was also in a standoff, cutting off business travel, and Jiangxi porcelain and Fujian tea were no longer available, so Shen's maritime trade simply stopped.

Shen Wansan, whose original name was Shen Fu, is now old and retired. His younger brother Shen Gui, nicknamed Shen Wansi, has also stopped taking care of things. The current head of the Shen family is Shen Wansan's eldest son Shen Rong.

Ever since the Shengwu Army captured Suzhou and witnessed Lu Jin's powerful army and the notice of recruiting talents for the imperial examination, he gave up the idea of ​​continuing to have dealings with the Yuan court. He personally brought the elders of his hometown, donated a thousand stones of grain, and a large amount of wine and meat to entertain the troops and establish a good relationship with Yu Yunzhou, the governor of Suzhou.

He also asked Yu Yunzhou about the content and question-setting habits of Lu Jin's previous exams, and then immediately went home to gather the young disciples of the Shen family, and had them cram in his own private school, hiring famous teachers to teach them, in preparation for next year's Jiankang imperial examination.

Originally, the year had passed, and apart from the new government in Lu Jin sending people to notify the replacement of new land deeds and to count the population and land, nothing else happened. The people in eastern Zhejiang also gradually got used to the existence of the new government, until the new tax law was announced, which immediately caused an uproar.

On the fourth day of February, the decree was posted just after it arrived in Suzhou. Although the Shen family's mansion was built in Zhouzhuang in the countryside, they had many businesses in Suzhou City. The entire street in front of Xuanmiao Temple in the center of Suzhou City was full of their shops. Therefore, as soon as the decree was posted, the Shen family's shopkeeper stationed in Suzhou learned about it and immediately rushed back to Zhouzhuang to report the news to Shen Rong. At the Shen family mansion, after two months of intensive study, seven or eight young people from the Shen family were preparing to leave for Jiankang to participate in the imperial examination in early March. At this time, there was less than a month left until the beginning of March, but their family had money and could charter a boat and a car all the way there. It would take at most a few days to reach Jiankang, so they were not too anxious.

Shen Rong was giving his sons and nephews instructions on what to pay attention to when taking exams and becoming an official. However, at this moment, Wang Xiang, the shopkeeper in Suzhou City, came running back in a panic.

"My husband, it's bad, something terrible has happened!"

Shen Rong frowned when he saw this and said, "What happened? Why are you so panicking? Ah Xiang, you have been with me for more than 20 years. You have even seen dynasties change. What is there to be so surprised about? How can you be so panicked?"

However, the middle-aged shopkeeper Wang Xiang slapped his thigh anxiously and complained, "My husband is right. This is the major event of the change of dynasty. The government of Marshal Gongshu has issued a new decree and announced a new tax law. From now on, the tax on our land will be 20%!"

"What? A 20% tax on land?! What nonsense are you talking about? How can there be a 20% tax on land in this world? Isn't this forcing the people to revolt? Marshal Gongshu is not a stupid person, how could he possibly formulate such a tax law?" Shen Rong was still a little unconvinced at this time.

However, the shopkeeper Wang Xiang took out a handwritten notice and said, "Oh my dear husband, how dare I talk nonsense about such a thing? The general Gongshu imitated the tax law of Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty and divided the households into nine levels. Taxes are collected according to the level. My family happens to be the ninth level. We will collect the highest land tax, which is one-tenth of the total land tax. This is the notice I copied from the city. Please read it yourself, husband."

"What? Ninth-class household?"

"Is it really two draw one?"

Hearing this, the other members of the Shen family could no longer sit still. Shen Rong's four brothers and a group of younger generations all gathered around and looked at the handwritten notice. When Shen Rong saw that it really said "20,000 acres or more, 10% tax", he almost fainted.
The Shen family owns a total of more than 300,000 acres of land scattered across the country. If they were all taxed according to this tax law, they would have no way to make a living. The landowner and the tenant only get one-for-two, but the government in Lu Jin directly asks them to take one-for-two. Wouldn't that mean the Shen family has become the government's tenants?

"Ms. sir?"

"Dad! Are you okay? Help me sit down and serve tea. What are you still standing there for?"

Seeing Shen Rong almost fainted, his sons hurriedly helped him sit down. The second oldest, Shen Mao, waved his fist and cursed, "This Gongshu is too cruel. We donated a thousand shi of grain to him. It would be fine if he didn't appreciate our kindness, but he actually wants to collect such a heavy tax from us!"

"We definitely cannot pay this tax. Hundreds of thousands of acres of land are cultivated by tenants. The tenants take half and the government takes the other half. Our family and friends will have to pay compensation. How is this possible!" Shen Dechang, the eldest son of Shen Wansi, also said.

For a time, everyone in the Shen family was outraged, and they all felt that the tax collected by Lu Jin was too much. However, Shen Rong's third brother Shen Wang said.

"Brother, Brother Dechang, and Sen'er, I advise you to stay calm. Please read this notice carefully. In addition to announcing the new tax law, it also specifically states that if the land deeds are changed before the summer harvest, the tax will be levied according to the latest household registration.

"It's been made very clear. This is not for the purpose of collecting taxes. This is clearly to force us to split up. As long as we split up, we won't have to pay this heavy tax of one-half of the total."

As soon as these words were spoken, the minds of all the Shen family members present suddenly became active. It was still okay for Shen Rong's generation, but the dozen or so people of their nephews and nephews' generation had different thoughts.

The Shen family's total land holdings amount to at least 32 mu. Even if they were divided equally, I could get more than mu, right? Even if they couldn't be divided equally, there would always be a few thousand mu, right?
This is the lethality of the Enfeoffment Order. For those illegitimate sons who are not eligible to inherit the family property, it would be a great temptation if they could get a part of the family property.
However, at this moment, Shen Rong, who had figured out the key, slammed the table and said, "Okay, stop arguing. The old man is still alive. No one should talk about dividing the family at this time. Besides, our family has 32 mu of land. Even if everyone present divides it equally, it still can't be divided. Everyone still has more than mu. We will still be classified as ninth-class households and still have to pay a heavy tax of one-half of the land.

"Splitting up the family may work for other families, but when it comes to a family like our Shen family, it is no longer something that can be solved by splitting up the family."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone frowned, and the younger generation who had previously been thinking about splitting up the family also immediately gave up the idea.

The second son, Shen Mao, then asked, "What should we do? We can't really pay this heavy tax of 20% off, so we might as well just give away all the land."

Just when everyone was silent and deep in thought, another servant came to report from outside.

"Sir, the new government has appointed a chief in the town, and the patrol inspector of the inner guard army has asked our Zhouzhuang inner guard army to gather troops in the town, saying that they want to strengthen training before the spring plowing."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment when they heard this. They were preparing to gather troops and use force to enforce the tax. Anyone who dared to resist the tax might end up having their property confiscated and their family exterminated in the blink of an eye. The main force of the Yuan court's government couldn't defeat them, so how could these powerful people defeat them?
Everyone looked at Shen Rong, waiting for him, the head of the family, to make a decision.

Shen Rong pondered for a long while, then sighed and said, "Alas, this Marshal Gongshu is a great man, no wonder he was able to conquer eastern Zhejiang, but he can't tolerate us tyrants, and issued a decree of enfeoffment to force us to divide our property, but this is not so easy.

"If we only had a few thousand acres or tens of thousands of acres, we could divide it up, but now we have 32 acres, and even if we divide it up, it still can't meet his requirements.

"We definitely cannot pay this 20% tax, and we must not rebel against it. Since they dare to collect this much, they must have made preparations. They are not afraid of the powerful people rebelling. If they really take radical actions, it will not be as simple as being forced to split up. By then, our Shen family may be wiped out."

"What should we do? We must find a way to solve it." Shen Hanjie, the second son of Shen Wansi, said again.

To be honest, although most of the Shen family's wealth was earned by Shen Wansan, his younger brother Shen Wansi also contributed a lot. But the current head of the family is the lineage of Shen Rong, Shen Wansan's eldest son. It is impossible to say that the concubines of Shen Wansi's lineage have no intention of dividing the family.

Shen Rong stood up and said, "Come here, prepare the car, and send someone to deliver my visiting card to Prefect Yu, saying that I want to visit the prefect in person.

"I am the head of the Shen family. I will personally go to the prefect to ask if there is any other room for maneuver. Before I come back, no one in the Shen family is allowed to act rashly."

Shen Rong's eldest son, Shen Sen, was only 25 years old this year. He was also preparing for the imperial examination. When he heard this, he immediately asked, "Dad, are we brothers still going to take the imperial examination in Jiankang?"

"Let's talk about it when I come back. We have so much land and it's hard to divide it all up.

"I'll go and feel out the prefect first. If we can keep our property without paying heavy taxes, then we'll find a way to keep it. If we really can't keep it, and we're asked to donate it, then we can't donate it in vain. We have to get some benefits in return. Maybe we can donate an official position directly, and then we won't have to take the exam."

When everyone heard this, they looked at each other in bewilderment. If donating the land could get them a new job, that would be fine.
(End of this chapter)