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“Your Imperial Majesty, Tong Hongchang and other powerful families from Wei have been waiting outside the traveling palace for a long time. Should they be summoned in now?”
Qian Dafu’s voice suddenly rang out from outside the door.
Xiao Ming regained his composure, remembering at this moment the matter of receiving the powerful families from Wei.
When Fei Ji returned from Jinling City, he had brought these powerful families to Qingzhou, but because of the enthronement ceremony, he had kept these powerful families waiting.
Now that he had some free time, Fei Ji immediately arranged for these powerful families to meet him. After all, the longer Xiao Ming avoided them, the more anxious these powerful families would become.
“Summon them to wait in the main hall,” Xiao Ming frowned.
According to the intelligence provided by Wang Xuan, these powerful families were the actual administrators of the various prefectures and counties. To collect taxes normally, he would have to rely on them.
The fact that the taxes from the thirteen prefectures were collected so easily this time was entirely due to the cooperation of these powerful families. In his opinion, he would have to rely on these people to collect taxes for a long time to come.
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”
Qian Dafu departed. Xiao Ming stretched. These days, he, as emperor, wasn’t particularly tired, just a little annoyed. After all, with more and more prefectures and counties under his rule, all sorts of things cropped up.
After reviewing a few more memorials in the study, Xiao Ming then headed to the main hall. Making these powerful families wait was not without reason; it was to display imperial authority.
“Long live our Emperor!”
Seeing Xiao Ming enter the main hall, the powerful families, led by Tong Hongchang, immediately stood up and bowed to Xiao Ming.
At this time, the powerful families of Wei were arranged in two rows. Xiao Ming walked through the middle, his gaze sweeping over them one by one. Sitting on the main seat, he said, “All of you, dispense with the formalities, and be seated.”
Only then did Tong Hongchang dare to look up at Xiao Ming. According to what they knew, Xiao Ming was only twenty-three years old now.
Before they came, they had always thought Xiao Ming was a fierce and intimidating person, but now that they met him, they found him to be a handsome young man with a firm countenance.
“How dare we, humble commoners, sit in the same room as His Imperial Majesty?” Tong Hongchang remained standing, not daring to take a seat. At this moment, his palms were sweating nervously.
The person before him held the fate of their family’s future prosperity.
Xiao Ming smiled faintly. He said, “This must be the Tong family, the only powerful family in Jinling City besides the Zhang family.”
Tong Hongchang, being called out by name, felt both fear and excitement. He said, “Your Imperial Majesty, I am Tong Hongchang, the head of the Tong family. It is just that the Tong family and the Zhang family have always been at odds. I hope Your Imperial Majesty will make a clear judgment.”
“Elder Fei Ji has already told me that all of you who came to Qingzhou this time are powerful families willing to serve me. This time, the tax collection also relied on your great assistance.”
“This is all what we should do. It is our honor to serve Your Imperial Majesty,” the powerful families said in unison.
Xiao Ming smiled upon hearing this. He said, “In that case, I am at ease. But you all should also be at ease. As long as you are willing to serve me, and abide by the law in your respective prefectures and counties, your lives will be comfortable. As for the rumors outside that I will exterminate all powerful families, those are slanders. Do not take them to heart.”
Tong Hongchang’s forehead beaded with light sweat. Xiao Ming’s words seemingly contained no flaw, merely comforting them, yet they were gentle on the surface but firm within.
Conversely, if they did not serve the imperial family and did not abide by the law, it meant they would be exterminated.
His calves trembled slightly. Tong Hongchang said, “We will keep His Imperial Majesty’s teachings in mind.”
Xiao Ming had said what he needed to say. So he asked, “During this time living in Qingzhou, what are your insights?”
“The prosperity of Qingzhou’s commerce and the wealth of its common people are truly rare in the world. Moreover, there are many novel things that have greatly broadened our horizons. This trip to Qingzhou was truly worthwhile.”
A powerful family member spoke up.
“Your Imperial Majesty, we are all willing to disband our private forces, but may we engage in commerce? After all, for a family to prosper, if there’s no livelihood, they will starve to death,” a powerful family member said opportunistically.
Tong Hongchang agreed deeply. To save their lives, they had disbanded their private forces and returned the land they had illegally occupied. In their view, only by engaging in commerce could their families continue to flourish.
This idea grew stronger after they came to Qingzhou, because they found that merchants in Qingzhou had a high status and would not suffer bullying from officials.
Many wealthy merchants owned extremely luxurious residences and purchased large numbers of slaves to serve them, living lives even more affluent than these powerful families. How could they not be tempted by such a situation?
The foundation of Xiao Ming’s governance was to strengthen the nation through commerce. Only the prosperity of private capital could make the common people wealthy. After all, this was a truth that had been tested for centuries.
Therefore, Xiao Ming not only did not object to powerful families engaging in business, but even encouraged it. Now, facts proved that the common people of the Great Yu Empire still lacked interest in business; very few farmers voluntarily abandoned their land to work in factories or engage in commerce.
The poisoning of the small-peasant mentality could not be changed in a day or two. Most importantly, they also lacked capital. After all, not everyone had the courage to mortgage their land to a bank for business.
Indeed, there had been considerable criticism among the common people regarding Xiao Ming’s policy, with some accusing the government office of merely using the opportunity to annex land.
This matter surprised Xiao Ming somewhat, but thinking about it, it was reasonable. He had overestimated the thinking of the common people in this era. Some things needed to happen naturally before they could trigger a complete revolution.
As for the policy, he had formulated and publicized it. The rest could only be left to the common people themselves.
Moreover, in Xiao Ming’s view, not everyone was cut out for business. If a large number of common people blindly engaged in business and failed, the government office would ultimately have to bear the blame.
Therefore, relatively speaking, powerful families were more proactive in business, because almost all of them had participated in business, and they had strong capital. Even if they failed, they would simply look for other business opportunities.
At the same time, Xiao Ming, by reading the information in the technology crystal, gradually understood that when the feudal system disintegrated and moved towards capitalism, the first to benefit were still the aristocratic class, meaning that social change basically proceeded from top to bottom.
The situation in Qingzhou was currently the same. In any case, the common people could not compete with traditional big merchants. Big merchants ate meat, and the common people could only drink some soup.
And after powerful figures like Princess Taiping transitioned into commercial trade, they had even more advantages than the big merchants.
For Xiao Ming, the waters of Qingzhou’s commerce were already muddied, and he didn’t mind the powerful families coming in to share some of the profits, because with more people sharing, it would prevent one family from dominating.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t be long before super merchants appeared in Qingzhou, and this was not something he wanted to see. So he said, “This is certainly possible. I have always encouraged commercial trade.”
Tong Hongchang and the others were overjoyed upon hearing this. The prosperity of Qingzhou’s commerce had made them eager for days, and now they could finally boldly engage in business with Qingzhou merchants.
Tong Hongchang led a group of powerful families and bowed simultaneously, saying, “Thank Your Imperial Majesty for your great kindness.”