"Tell me the whole story clearly." Fang Yun said.
Dong Wencong nodded and said, "Xiangzhou has a superior geographical location, a suitable environment, a dense population, and is very rich. Especially after the human race's water transportation capabilities improved, Baling City, which is close to the river, rose. With developed water transportation, the things needed by the workshops can be purchased at low prices, and the things produced by the workshops can be quickly transported away, so there are many workshops in Baling City. There are rivers and lakes in the north and west of Baling City, which are most suitable for hydraulic machinery. Therefore, the North Workshop District and the West Workshop District were formed. You must have seen them when you went up to the Military Review Tower... No, when you went to the Yueyang Tower."
Fang Yun nodded slightly and said, "Indeed."
"Many years ago, even though Baling had great advantages and formed a continuous workshop area, it only made life easier for some people in Baling City, and did not benefit all the people in Xiangzhou. Because all the workers, scholars or excellent craftsmen in the workshops were from Qing Country, and they only gave the simplest, dirtiest and most tiring work to the people of Baling City. Moreover, they purchased items such as logs, medicinal materials, and grain from Xiangzhou at low prices, and after making paper, finished medicines or other goods, they would give priority to selling them to Qing Country or other countries. Only those surplus goods would be sold to people in Xiangzhou, and the price would be higher than those sold to outsiders."
"After hearing this, others will definitely ask why people in Xiangzhou don't buy goods from other places, but you must know that because Qing State has established a Xiangzhou Association, the import and export of all goods are decided by the Xiangzhou Association, and the Xiangzhou government has no right to manage it. The members of the Xiangzhou Association are all major trading companies in Qing State, and the real owners behind all the major trading companies in Qing State or Shengyuan Continent are aristocratic families, royal families, wealthy families or high-ranking officials from various countries."
Fang Yun nodded slightly.
Dong Wencong continued, "In other parts of Qing, these big business houses still have to save face. After all, they have to claim that they are doing it for the people of Qing at all times. Once they go too far, they will be criticized by scholars in Qing and other countries, and even the foundation of the country will be shaken. But Xiangzhou is different, so Qing indulges the Xiangzhou Association. The Xiangzhou Association is not a government agency, and does not need face, but only money, so they use all means to exploit the people of Xiangzhou. Up to now, it is not the government agency, but the Xiangzhou Association that truly controls the lives of the people of Xiangzhou."
"I also know something about this matter." Fang Yun said.
"The Xiangzhou Association controlled every aspect of Xiangzhou. In the first year after Xiangzhou was taken back by Jing State, Jing State did not take any action, and they did not give up Xiangzhou either. They just compromised, such as increasing the wages of workshop workers, lowering the prices of goods sold, attracting workers and scholars in Xiangzhou, and moving papermaking workshops with too much wastewater away. But starting from the second year, various Jing State merchants began to enter Xiangzhou. However, the various Jing State merchants were well aware of the power of the Xiangzhou Association, so they only opened shops and did not build workshops."
"After some trials, Jingguo Company discovered that Xiangzhou is a treasure land for making money, so it prepared to march into Xiangzhou, but Xiangzhou Association immediately used some tricks to make those companies realize the strength of Xiangzhou Association and hesitate. It was not until recently that Zhao's Company officially broke the deadlock and began to build a large papermaking workshop in the North Workshop District. After completion, the paper produced can at least meet the needs of one prefecture. Before the Zhao's workshop was completed, it began to advertise that it treated workers equally and the price of paper was in line with that of the entire human race. This was equivalent to digging up the roots of all papermaking workshops near Baling City, and 70% of the papermaking workshops in Baling City belonged to Qingjiang Company." Dong Wencong said.
"Is it the business owned by Ge Baiwan?"
"Yes, it is the famous Ge Baiwan's business. However, although everyone is used to calling him Ge Baiwan, his wealth has reached tens of billions of taels of silver. Of course, you should know that those fortunes do not belong entirely to him. He is not the owner of Qingjiang Business Company, but only the chief manager of Qingjiang Business Company." Dong Wencong said and glanced at Fang Yun.
Fang Yun smiled slightly and nodded gently. He understood this kind of thing. Those families of emerging high-ranking officials or families that were not convenient to do business directly for various reasons would cooperate with a businessman and let the businessman show up in public, while they would wait behind the scenes to collect the money.
Since it is illegal for senior officials to use their power to make money, which is called dirty hands in some places, these businessmen are like clean gloves covering the dirty hands of these senior officials, so they are also called white gloves.
Ge Baiwan is the biggest white glove of Qing Kingdom.
Fang Yun had known Ge Baiwan's identity for a long time. Although he hated the fact that he was colluding with officials and businessmen and disregarding the lives of the people, he was still quite confident in his abilities. If it were someone else, even with the support of senior officials behind the scenes, they might not be able to make Qingjiang Trading Company so big.
Fang Yun thought for a moment and said, "The one who instigated the people of Baling to take to the streets this time should be Ge Baiwan's distant nephew, the wealthy businessman Ge Yiming from Xiangzhou who was a Jinshi. The Ge family probably hates me to the core, so they couldn't wait to incite the people of Baling to take to the streets just after the inauguration ceremony yesterday. On the surface, they are against the Zhao Company and it's a business dispute, but secretly they are trying to undermine my prestige."
Dong Wencong praised: "You really are 'sitting at home, knowing everything in the world'. Although Ge Baiwan is the head of Qingjiang Commercial Bank and can move freely among high-ranking officials, he himself is not in a high position after all, and he is most afraid that one day he will lose both his wealth and his life. So, his nephew Ge Yiming in Xiangzhou suddenly appeared in everyone's sight. This person is a Jinshi, and his words are often unexpected, but also reasonable. The key is that this person recruits talents and has a wide range of friends among scholars. He is also good at creating some small incidents to let the common people remember him. Most of the common people think that although this person is a Jinshi and rich, he is very confident, so he is also very popular among the people."
Fang Yun smiled slightly and said, "This Ge Yiming returned to Xiangzhou from Kongcheng and became a Jinshi. His literary reputation began to soar. It should have been seven or eight years ago."
Dong Wencong said: "Whether it is those wealthy families that have accumulated wealth for many years or the families that have risen in recent years, whose children are as flamboyant as Ge Yiming? Absolutely not one. Why? The Ge family is unstable. Because Ge Baiwan is among the powerful people in Qing State, if he is not careful, he will be ruined and it will be difficult to protect his family. In order to avoid disasters and the loss of wealth, he must transfer part of his wealth to the Ge family. Ge Yiming has the highest literary status and is the most suitable candidate. Ge Yiming's previous self-degradation was nothing more than promoting his literary reputation. Once his literary reputation is enough, even if Qingjiang Commercial Bank changes drastically, Ge Baiwan will end it as long as he dies. Those people will not kill him and will let Ge Yiming be a stable rich man."
"A barking dog never bites. When I faced the persecution from Liu Zicheng, Liu Zizhi and Ji Zhibai, I wanted to use every possible means to enhance my literary reputation, just to make them afraid to act rashly. But now, even when facing the Zong and Lei families, I will not show off." Fang Yun said.
"That's exactly the truth. However, Ge Baiwan is indeed a dragon among men. He is a wealthy businessman. If he studies literature, he may become a great scholar. As for Ge Yiming, he was cultivated by Ge Baiwan with all his strength. Naturally, he is far superior to ordinary people in all aspects. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is one in a hundred. However, those Hanlin scholars or university scholars who occasionally evaluate him can only use four words: above-average." Dong Wencong made no secret of his dissatisfaction with Ge Yiming.
.(To be continued.)