Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 294 Regret Starting a Business
The next morning, Pei Yuan started his new life.

The Northern Bureau was just in its infancy, and all the work had not yet begun to be implemented. Pei Yuan was too lazy to get involved now.

Following the principle of "taking care of the small family first and then the big family", Pei Yuan first went to find a broker to select some reliable servants.

"Ya Ren" is a middleman who is specifically responsible for matchmaking transactions.

Although business is developed in this era, the flow of information cannot keep up.

If the transaction is done directly, the buyer and the seller lack a communication platform. Those who want to buy cannot buy, and those who want to sell cannot find anyone.

At this time, a middleman is needed to coordinate. Those who buy things go to the middleman, and those who sell things also go to the middleman. Information gathers at the middleman, and it is naturally easy to reach a deal.

So what should some people do if they don’t want the middlemen to make a profit from the price difference?

The method is simple, you can go to the market to trade by yourself.

If you trade at the market yourself, you can avoid the price difference caused by the middleman, but generally speaking, you will have to pay an extra mood tax.

The so-called mood tax is the tax collected according to the mood of the officials of the prefecture and county governments, the Jinyiwei, the Wucheng Bingmasi, the patrol camp, the fire guards and other institutions when they walk in the market.

The main characteristics of this tax are that the tax items are unclear, the amount is arbitrary, there is no invoice, it can be collected repeatedly, and it is not paid to the court.

Of course, if the shopkeeper could loudly tell those who came to collect taxes who his backers were, these would not be a problem.

If not, it is better to go through a broker, otherwise you will have to rely on luck to some extent.

Fortunately, dealers also pursue profits and do not enter the lower-tier markets. Their main targets are large-scale transactions.

It's generally not a big problem for ordinary people to sell needles, thread, and candied haws.

After all, compared to these piecemeal businesses, valuable commodities still have higher profits.

During the Tang Dynasty, there were two famous brokers, one named An Lushan and the other named Shi Siming. Because they made too much money and their careers gradually prospered, they had some ideas about the state management of the Tang Dynasty.

Everyone knows what happened later.

——"At first, Shan and Ming were both brokers in the trade." "Old Book of Tang"

This time when Pei Yuan went out, he brought Yun Buxian, who was very familiar with all the monsters in the capital, to lead the way.

After listening carefully to the story of the broker, Pei Yuan also became a little interested.

He had a hard life in the past, and only found a pawnbroker to help him pawn his house, but he had no dealings with this industry at all.

Now when I hear it, I immediately realize the value of building a platform.

First build a platform, then monopolize the upstream and downstream, block the circulation of silver, circulate it in the system, then conceptualize silver, issue silver bills with great leverage, act as the Federal Reserve, and then go to prison.

Ok?
Pei Yuan calmed down instantly and quickly dispelled the inappropriate thoughts.

When I listened carefully again, the little interest I had left was gone.

It turns out that the brokers of this era were highly segmented. For example, there were brokers who specialized in cloth, some who specialized in silk, some who specialized in buying and selling wooden products, some who specialized in buying and selling houses, some who specialized in buying and selling land, and even when it came to digging wells, there were specialized brokers to help with the process.

It can be said that there are commercial platforms, but these platforms are fragmented.

According to Yun Buxian, a medium-sized county town generally has one or two hundred brokers. In big places like Huai'an, Yangzhou, Jining, and Suzhou, there are tens of thousands of brokers who are responsible for affairs in all walks of life.

For example, Suzhou Prefecture is rich in silk fabrics. In Shengze Town alone, there are thousands of silk shops.

Some of these brokerage firms were run by the imperial court, the inner palace, local governments, princes, and local tyrants.

There is absolutely no possibility of integration.

This left Pei Yuan with no chance to regret starting his business.

Pei Yuan could only focus his attention and put all his energy into purchasing slaves.

The Ming Dynasty allowed officials and their families to own slaves, with slight restrictions on the number, but ordinary people were not allowed to own slaves.

Well, like many Ming Dynasty policies, this one is useless.

In fact, most of those who sold themselves into slavery were the most miserable people in society. Apart from relying on themselves and their masters, they had no place to stand in society.

Every year, floods, droughts, accidents, and diseases create a large number of people who lose everything.

Since the imperial court could not care about their lives, it was impossible for them to end their last chance of survival just for a piece of cold law.

Therefore, the imperial court basically turned a blind eye to "selling oneself into slavery" or "devoting oneself to being a servant".

Yun Buxian knew the taboos of buying slaves, and apart from introducing some human traffickers to Pei Yuan, he did not give any opinions.

Pei Yuan walked around for the whole morning and selected seven or eight pretty girls to serve Jiao Yaner.

After hesitating for a while, he picked a few servants who looked honest and simple to be responsible for guarding the door and sweeping the floor.

Yun Buxian thought for a moment and suggested, "If the captain wants to find someone reliable, it's best for him to set up a farm and support dozens of families. If he is young and strong, he can be selected to work with the captain. If he is mature and steady, he can be placed in the house."

He added, "This kind of thing will have to be done sooner or later. After raising it for three or five generations, the future generations will also be happy with it."

Pei Yuan had no experience like this before, and after hearing this he praised, "Well said, this is good advice."

When it comes to supporting people, we still have to rely on the land.

If Pei Yuan gathered hundreds of strong men of unknown origin in Zhihua Temple, this would be secretly raising a group of assassins, which would be a way to his own death.

But if Pei Yuan employed several hundred farmers on his farm, it would be a model village of labor production.

Pei Yuan kept this in mind and thought about how to build a farm near the capital.

On his way back, Pei Yuan thought of what Zhu Houzhao had said and couldn't help but sigh.

Pei Yuan finally embarked on this path by accumulating silver and purchasing land.

With these servants working, Pei Yuan's courtyard was quickly adjusted.

Jiao Yaner moved to the back house and the front house was gradually cleaned up.

Yun Weilin came again to help add some furniture.

Pei Yuan didn't bother to be polite with him, just consider it as the price for sitting on the fence before.

Pei Yuan remembered that he had moved to a new place, so he asked him, "You've gone to Yuan'en Temple. Are you used to it?"

Yun Weilin said quickly, "I stayed at Yuan'en Temple last night. It's a place that Qian Hu arranged for me, so of course I am used to it."

Pei Yuan smiled and was quite satisfied with his attitude.

Then he remembered something and asked, "By the way, how is Monk Yuantong from Yuan'en Temple doing these days?"

Yun Weilin heard this and said, "I also met him for the first time yesterday. I feel that this monk Yuantong knows when to advance and when to retreat." Pei Yuan smiled and asked, "Did he mention me?"

Yun Weilin's heart trembled. Could it be that Monk Yuantong and Captain Pei had a past relationship, and Captain Pei deliberately placed him close to his spies?

Yun Weilin thought quickly and made sure that he had said the right thing in front of Monk Yuantong. He then slowly said, "I did tell him that I was following Captain Pei's order to go to Yuanen Temple to investigate, but Monk Yuantong didn't seem to have any special reaction."

Pei Yuan's face darkened slightly. "Then he also didn't mention the help I gave him in Nanjing?"

Yun Weilin felt something was wrong. He thought about it carefully again before saying, "Indeed, not at all."

Yun Weilin said, "However, he did talk about the past events in the south."

Pei Yuan asked, "What did you say?"

Yun Weilin replied, "At that time, I mentioned the matter of the Suppressing Evils Thousand Households Unit to him, and his reaction was quite obedient. He also mentioned that he responded to the call of the Thousand Households Unit last year and went to the south to assist in investigating a case. As a result, the group had just left the capital not long before they encountered a military disaster. Later, they went to Nanjing and suffered repeated setbacks. If it weren't for the mercy of my Buddha, who protected the Three Treasures in the dark, he would not have come back."

Pei Yuan was so angry that he trembled coldly after hearing this.

Damn Monk Yuantong.

If I hadn't given you the certificate of ordination, you would still be consecrating prostitutes in the Qinhuai River!

I didn't expect that I would turn around and thank the Buddha for this favor.

good good!
Pei Yuan directly said to Yun Weilin, "Go back tonight and tell Monk Yuantong that there are prostitutes from Qinhuai River who want to identify the lecherous monk. The complaint has been handed to me. Let him think it through and then give me an answer."

Yun Weilin was cheered up after hearing this. Just one sentence actually connected to so many hot topics.

Yun Weilin said immediately, "I understand. I will definitely make Monk Yuantong give a satisfactory answer."

Pei Yuan was still at home supervising the renovation when a soldier rushed over from Zhihua Temple and said to him, "Reporting to the captain, Xiao Yan, the left commander of the Central Military Command, is waiting for you at Zhihua Temple."

"Xiao Yan?"

Pei Yuan stood up and asked, "Did he bring anyone with him?"

The messenger soldier replied, "He only brought two or three followers."

Pei Yuan also realized what the messenger had just said. "You mean, he has been appointed as the Left Commander of the Central Military Command?"

The messenger hurriedly said, "Yes, that was the title used in the announcement. Commander Xiao was even wearing his lion-patterned patch."

Pei Yuan was speechless after hearing this. You weren't going to court, so why were you wearing court clothes?

Are you here just to show off to me?

Pei Yuan immediately didn't want to go there anymore.

But then he changed his mind and became excited again. Xiao Yan got the position of Left Commander-in-Chief, which meant that the Xiao family's urging had worked. Maybe even the official documents of Tianjin Guard headed by Cheng Leixiang could be obtained.

Pei Yuan immediately said, "Let's go back to Zhihua Temple."

As soon as Pei Yuan arrived at Zhihua Temple, he encountered Xiao Yan's pretentious scene.

Xiao Yan laughed and proudly showed his new official uniform to Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan endured for a long time without retorting. When Xiao Yan was satisfied, he took out an official document from his arms.

"The appointment document from the Ministry of War. Ask Cheng Leixiang to go to the Ministry of War to say hello, and then you can go to Tianjin to take up your post."

Pei Yuan was overjoyed and quickly took the document. After looking at it for a few seconds, he turned back to look at Cheng Leixiang.

At this moment, several of Pei Yuan's men were present, and they were all staring at the document in Pei Yuan's hand, as if their names were also on the document.

Pei Yuan threw it to Cheng Leixiang with a smile, "Go to the Ministry of War to make arrangements, and then take your people to take office as soon as possible."

Cheng Leixiang knelt down to receive the document and said excitedly, "Thank you very much for your help, thank you very much for your help."

Pei Yuan looked at the jealous Ding Hong and asked Xiao Yan, "Where's the other one?"

Xiao Yan rolled his eyes impatiently, "Haven't you decided yet? It's easy for me to say, but you can't delay any longer."

Pei Yuan glared at Ding Hong, who quickly shrank his head.

It is not difficult to arrange things for Ding Hong. The key is to use Shi Yong's connections with the Shandong Beiwodusi, and he has to accept it!
If Shi Yong does not recognize this favor, he will inevitably leave people in Xuzhou Zuowei to hinder him.

By that time, one of them will be a promoted old superior, and the other will be a newly arrived commander who has skipped rank. It will be impossible for those soldiers to obey Ding Hong.

If Ding Hong cannot hold the Xuzhou Zuowei, then what is the point of Pei Yuan giving him this commander?

Besides, Pei Yuan also had some ideas about the Shandong Anti-Japanese War Department, and he also needed to let Shi Yong know who had the final say.

Pei Yuan had no choice but to say to Xiao Yan, "Let's wait another day or two."

After that, he continued to hint to Xiao Yan, "When Cheng Leixiang and Ding Hong lead their troops to take up their posts, it means that the elite troops from Xuzhou who escorted Eunuch Gu to the north will completely disappear from the officialdom. They will all live with new identities and will definitely not cause any trouble for Governor Xiao."

Xiao Yan came here for this matter. After listening to this, he nodded with satisfaction and said, "I hope Captain Pei will keep his word."

After finishing the business, Xiao Yan smiled again and said, "By the way, Xu Feng, the commander of the Hangzhou vanguard, really went to the Ministry of War to sue you. He said that you colluded with the Nanjing Ministry of War to form a conspiracy with the Bazhou rebels, deliberately acted on the battlefield, and deceived the court. There is even suspicion that you condoned the rebel army's march north."

Pei Yuan's expression remained unchanged as he asked, "What did the Minister of War He Jian say?"

Xiao Yan still maintained an indifferent attitude. "The Grand Marshal was furious and said that Xu Feng had made a false accusation and added the charge of desertion. He then had him thrown into jail."

When Pei Yuan heard this, he understood.

Perhaps the document reporting the achievements from the south should have arrived, so even though He Jian disliked Wang Chang, he couldn't impeach him on the charge of colluding with the rebels.

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and asked, "Logically speaking, if we want to arrest Xu Feng, the Ministry of War should give a heads-up to the Five Military Commandery. It's not good to just arrest him like that."

Xiao Yan had no awareness of his status as the highest military official in the Ming Dynasty, and he disclosed secrets without reservation, as if they were gossip.

"I have already informed you. It is said that some of Xu Feng's remarks have implicated Lu Wan, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, who is in charge of the army. So in order to keep it secret and avoid disrupting the morale of the army, we have no choice but to keep Xu Feng in custody for the time being."

Pei Yuan was overjoyed when he heard this. How could Lu Wan, who had returned with great merit, be so easy to deal with? If this happened, there would be a lot of trouble in the court.

After sending Xiao Yan away, Pei Yuan routinely encouraged Tan Tai Fang Tu and Si Kong Sui, two guys who were full of envy and jealousy, "Work hard with me, and you will have the opportunity to take charge of the guard post in the future."

The two of them sighed in their hearts, not knowing whether Pei Yuan's feelings were sincere or not, but they could only bow their heads and thank him.

Pei Yuan didn't want to make a wasted trip, so seeing these two little snitch experts right in front of him, he gathered his emotions and continued his long-range attack on Han Qianhu.

But the two centurions felt differently. Thinking of Pei Yuan's promise of official titles and listening to his arrogant words at this moment, the two of them shrank back silently.

Otherwise, forget it.

Writing letters to inform on others all the time is not conducive to unity.

(End of this chapter)