Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 879: Greed
Yuan Chongyu was not surprised by Yang Dehua's reaction. If Yang Dehua agreed immediately today, it would not be a good thing. It would be right not to agree immediately.

After all, this is not a trivial matter, but a big matter. According to Yuan Chongyu's suggestion, they should directly bypass Shandong and trade with North Korea. However, the court's opening of the sea in Laizhou, Shandong for foreign trade is not entirely private trade. The main body is dominated by the Imperial Household Department. In other words, the Imperial Household Department is behind all foreign trade companies, and everything is carried out under the control of the Imperial Household Department.

Not only that, there is also the Ming Royal Bank as an operating platform. All funds in and out must be conducted through the Ming Royal Bank. In addition, there are the Jinyiwei Yamen and Shandong Provincial Administration to coordinate.

In other words, the government sets up the platform and attracts merchants to operate it. Part of the profits go to the government and part to the merchants. The government can not only make profits from trade, but also directly obtain a large amount of commercial taxes through the platform. This is the fundamental reason why the Ming Dynasty opened up the sea to conduct maritime trade.

If we bypass Shandong, it would be equivalent to bypassing the Ming Dynasty court, and naturally there would be no such supervision and constraints, but at the same time it would also allow the original interests to increase significantly and obtain more profits.

Yuan Chongyu saw this clearly, and Yang Dehua was no incompetent either. Of course, he also knew the situation, so it was right for him not to agree immediately. After all, once this matter was done, it would be in conflict with the court's policy of opening the sea in the north, and it might even be an act of smuggling that bypassed the court. This was no trivial matter.

But even so, Yuan Chongyu was not worried that Yang Dehua would refuse, because once this was done, the benefits would be extremely huge. And wasn't it always like this in the Ming Dynasty? The aristocratic families in the southern provinces of the Ming Dynasty had never decided to go out to sea privately for maritime trade, and it was still the same now, except that the route they took was the South China Sea instead of the North China Sea.

In the eyes of many people, the court's rules and taxes are nothing! These things have been fooling people for two hundred years, and it is not difficult to continue to fool people. Moreover, the sea trade in the north is in full swing, and many people in the south have long been jealous. However, the court somehow favors northern merchants, which makes the southern merchants feel very dissatisfied.

As a businessman and a son of an official, Yuan Chongyu knew these people too well because he was one of them. So he started directly from this matter and got in touch with the channels of the Ming officials in Nanjing through Yang Dehua. At the same time, in his opinion, once this matter was accomplished, he could not only complete the task given to him by Fan Wencheng and stir up the confrontation between the north and the south of the Ming Dynasty, but also rely on this matter to get some benefits for himself.

After all, after Yuan Chonghuan got into trouble, Yuan Chongyu could no longer continue doing business. Although he was not short of money in Shengjing, it was not the right thing to just watch the money go out without any income and just eat up all the money.

He still has a wife and children, and he is not a real Jurchen. Even though he has married the daughter of a Jurchen noble and changed his surname to a Jurchen, his identity as a Ming person will not change. What will happen to his descendants if his family business fails? He can't end up as an ordinary person or even begging for food, right? Yuan Chongyu had long been planning to do something to save up a family business that would be rich enough for several generations for his descendants, and to use his own abilities to prove his role and improve his status in the eyes of Huang Taiji.

And now this is the best solution. With the Ming Dynasty's blockade of the Qing Dynasty in various places, the Qing Dynasty has had a hard time since the Battle of Jinzhou. In addition, although the disasters in the north have eased in recent years, they have not yet recovered. The Qing Dynasty's productivity is insufficient, and it has to maintain the war, and it has gradually become unable to make ends meet.

In the past, the Qing Dynasty could still plunder supplies from the Ming Dynasty through war, or sell grain to the Qing Dynasty through the relationship between Yuan Chongyu and his brother Yuan Chonghuan, but now it is impossible. The fence on the Ming side is getting tighter and tighter. The current emperor, Yongming Emperor Zhu Shenzhu, is not Emperor Chongzhen. This person is very difficult to deal with, and Huang Taiji is very troubled by this.

If he could trade with the southern Ming merchant groups, or even the southern aristocratic families including the southern civil servants and gentry groups, on the surface it would be trading with Korea, but in fact the Qing Dynasty would rely on this method to obtain urgently needed supplies from the Ming Dynasty, especially food and fodder. Then Yuan Chongyu's status on Huang Taiji's side would be completely different. He would definitely become Huang Taiji's favorite, and he could take this opportunity to gain a firm foothold in the Qing Dynasty and earn a family fortune that would be enough to pass on to future generations. Isn't this the best of both worlds?
Lao Ma once said, "If there is a 50% profit, capital will take risks; if there is a 100% profit, capital will dare to risk being hanged; if there is a 300% profit, capital will dare to trample on all human laws."

Although Yuan Chongyu had never heard of this sentence, he was very clear about the logic behind it. He had enough confidence to convince Yang Dehua and the people behind him, and Yang Dehua's reaction now also illustrates this point. He did not agree immediately not because he was not tempted, but because of the interests and risks, plus the need to discuss with the people behind him. These are also very normal situations.

Since Yang Dehua's reaction was within Yuan Chongyu's expectations, Yuan Chongyu stopped urging him and immediately expressed his hope that Yang Dehua could help him with this matter. As long as it was accomplished, his Joseon Park family would never treat Yang Dehua unfairly. He also gave Yang Dehua another gift to express his gratitude.

When Yang Dehua saw an old mountain ginseng that was at least eighty years old in a brocade box, his eyes lit up instantly and a smile as bright as a chrysanthemum bloomed on his face. He spoke polite words but held the brocade box of ginseng tightly in his hand, and his greed was evident.

Yuan Chongyu did not stay in Yang's house for long, declined Yang Dehua's offer to keep him for dinner, and stood up to say goodbye. After seeing Yuan Chongyu off in person, Yang Dehua returned to the room and carefully thought about what Yuan Chongyu had just said. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, and he happily kept walking around the room.

"This thing must be done! And it can't be done in a small way, it must be done on a big scale! Once it is accomplished, my family will never lack wealth and prosperity in the future." Yang Dehua said so in his heart. Ever since the three brothers of the Yang family separated, his family had the worst life. When he became the head of the family, he couldn't even pass the examination to become a scholar, and could only rely on the influence of his ancestors to get the title of scholar.

This kind of scholar is considered good in the eyes of ordinary people, but in the eyes of real scholars, he is not looked down upon and even laughed at. But the problem is that Yang Dehua really can't pass the exam. If he doesn't have the title of scholar, he will lose the qualification of tax exemption. There are so many industries and fields in the family, it can't be given away to the court for nothing.

After becoming a scholar, Yang Dehua, who was self-aware, knew that he would never be able to pass the imperial examination and become an official in his lifetime, so he became a legal advisor. Although Yang Dehua lived a good life relying on the reputation of the Yang family and his talent as a legal advisor, a legal advisor was, after all, a legal advisor, not an official. As a legal advisor, he was rootless and relied on the boss. Once the boss got into trouble or lost his job, he would have nothing to rely on. Therefore, Yang Dehua always had a sense of crisis, and today Yuan Chongyu's words made him see another golden road.

Having been a legal advisor for so many years and because of his family background, Yang Dehua has a much longer-term vision and thinks more than ordinary legal advisors.

He knew that this was a great opportunity that he must not miss. He also had the ability to do this. In addition, he knew too well that officials at all levels in Jiangnan, including the aristocratic families and the gentry class, were dissatisfied with the court. In this case, not only would no one oppose such a thing, but many people would be happy to participate.

The more he thought about it, the happier he became. Yang Dehua wanted to laugh a few times to vent his excitement. However, he still held back and carefully thought about how to do this thing more properly. He picked up a pen and wrote down dozens of names on a piece of paper. Among these names were his current boss, officials at all levels in Nanjing, and even nobles in Nanjing such as Duke Wei, etc. In addition, there were aristocratic families and gentry in Jiangnan, plus several businessmen with strong strength and background.

He thought as he wrote, and after he finished he continued to make some marks. In the end he crossed out a few people and added a few more. It took him more than an hour to finish. Although he was not really satisfied with it yet, he felt it was almost there.

Afterwards, Yang Dehua took out the booklet that Yuan Chongyu had given him and copied it again, but he directly deducted 20% from the price at the back. As for the difference, it was naturally Yang Dehua who embezzled it. Of course, it was not just him, because he had to make arrangements to do this and had to leave some room for others. But even if he gave up most of it and only kept a small half, Yang Dehua would be satisfied. After all, this was not a small amount, and once it was up and running, there would be more than ten or even more transactions a year, and the sum of each amount would be an astronomical figure, which was enough for Yang Dehua to make a fortune.

"Someone come here!" Yang Dehua shouted, putting the pen in his hand aside.

As soon as he finished speaking, the servant who was guarding outside came in and asked with his hands lowered what the master wanted.

"Make arrangements and prepare the carriages and horses. I will be returning to Nanjing tomorrow!"

"Yes, I'll arrange it." The servant responded quickly, but he was puzzled. Didn't the master say that he would stay at home for half a month? Why was he in such a hurry to return to Nanjing after just a few days? However, Yang Dehua's family education was strict, and as a servant, he didn't dare to ask what was going on. Since the master had given the order, he just followed it.

After the servants left, Yang Dehua sorted out the written list and the re-transcribed booklet, put them aside and prepared to take them with him tomorrow. After doing all this, Yang Dehua was still happy, and couldn't help but have a good impression of Yuan Chongyu who came to visit today. This guy is really a boy who brings wealth. Could it be that when he was offering sacrifices to his ancestors a few days ago, his ancestors heard his begging and arranged for this Korean to come to him? That's right! It must be like this, otherwise it would be early or late. He had just finished offering sacrifices to his ancestors, and the other party came to his door on his own. How could it be such a coincidence?
Moreover, when Yang Dehua recalled, he found that this Korean named Park Sangyin looked very familiar, as if he had seen him before. But Yang Dehua was sure that he had never seen this person before, which seemed to prove that this was God's will? Was it the arrangement of his ancestors? The more he thought about it, the happier he became. Yang Dehua leaned back and half-lying in the armchair, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the armrests, and humming happily.

(End of this chapter)