Chapter 58 Recruitment

Chapter 58 Recruitment

Chapter 58 Recruitment
After laughing for a while, Zhu Shenzhui continued to ask Kang Youfu what he thought. Since he had planned to pass the family business to his younger brother Kang Youlu, what was he going to do himself?

Kang Youfu shook his head and said that he hadn't thought it through yet. This was something that had just happened in the past few days. Besides, it was the end of the year and the Chinese New Year was coming soon. His sister-in-law would probably give birth in a few days. There were a lot of things to do at home, so he didn't think about it for now. When his sister-in-law's baby was born and all the things at home were done, it wouldn't be too late to think about it.

Hearing him say this, Zhu Shenzhui nodded to show his understanding, but after hesitating for a moment he asked Kang Youfu a question, which surprised Kang Youfu.

"Sixth Master, what you just said...did I hear it correctly?"

Zhu Shenzhui picked up the teapot and refilled the tea. He picked up the teacup and drank the tea slowly. "You heard me right. You are also somewhat involved in this matter. This time, I targeted the Liu family. I used some connections. The government gave me a shop that was confiscated from the Liu family at a low price. It can be considered as a bargain."

"Since this shop came about in this way, then it must have something to do with you. Since you didn't want the compensation just now, how about using this as compensation? I'm not good at doing business, and my identity is not suitable for showing up in public. You've managed your own business well over the years, and now you have the idea of ​​doing something on your own. Instead of working hard to start from scratch, why don't you help me take over this shop and try?"

At this point, Zhu Shenzhui laughed and said, "If you agree, I will be the boss and you will be the chief manager. I will let you take care of the business and I will give you a share of the profits. What do you think?"

After hearing this, Kang Youfu said seriously without thinking: "Sixth Master has given me honor. I have accepted this matter. If Sixth Master has any request, let alone asking me to be the head shopkeeper and have a share, even if I have no share and can only be a clerk, I will not refuse!"

"it is good!"

Even though Zhu Shencui was very sure about this matter before, he was still very happy when Kang Youfu agreed without hesitation.

Zhu Shenzui has been in contact with Kang Youfu these days and has gotten to know him very well.

Kang Youfu is not only extremely smart, but also a natural businessman. He has many business ideas and is quite courageous. More importantly, Kang Youfu is grateful and repays kindness. He is not the kind of villain who forgets his principles when he sees profit. This is especially rare.

Ever since Zhu Shenzui led the people from Wangjia Village to smuggle salt, he has been making preparations in secret. Although the profits from smuggling salt are huge, it is illegal after all, and the risks are also high.

Even if he has now recruited Li Hu and others from Yangtou Mountain to disperse the risk of salt trafficking in this way, who can guarantee that there will be unforeseen problems in the future?

Zhu Shenzhui is not a person who acts on impulse. He plans for the long term, and it is impossible for him to do this alone.

What he lacked most now was someone who could really help him. Although the people in Wangjia Village were reliable, there weren't many who could really be used. Even his cousin Wang Jinwu was just a warrior. It was absolutely fine for him to do some fighting and charging into battle, but Wang Jinwu was not the type to help him in this regard.

Even Xia Dong, whom Zhu Shenzhu had always valued, had only read a few books and was conscientious and careful in his work. He might be able to handle small matters, but he would not be able to handle big matters either.

Not to mention the people over at Yangtou Mountain. The Li Hu brothers are similar to Wang Jinwu. Their abilities lie in their martial arts rather than their brains.

Master Zhang Xijun is a smart man, but he has too many secrets. In addition, Zhang Xijun's surrender was purely a coincidence, so Zhu Shenzhui cannot really trust him. This is also the reason why he puts Zhang Xijun in Wangjia Village. At least in the short term, it is impossible for him to be reused.

Compared with these people, Kang Youfu sitting in front of him is different.

Kang Youfu is the most suitable candidate in every aspect. Zhu Shencui is the benefactor of the Kang family, and Kang Youfu can definitely be trusted to repay his kindness. In addition, as a member of the royal family, Zhu Shencui must have such an agent in front of him if he wants to gradually normalize the private salt in his hands.

In the words of later generations, Kang Youfu was also Zhu Shenzhui's white glove. The Liu family suddenly collapsed this time, Liu Shancheng had died in prison, and the Liu family's property had been divided up by everyone. At the same time, it was also a great opportunity for Zhu Shenzhui now.

Others don’t know that the Liu family’s shop was actually one of the conditions for the cooperation between Zhu Shenzhu and Zhu Minfan from the very beginning.

Although the Liu family appears to be powerful, wealthy and has many connections in official circles, these may be out of reach in the eyes of ordinary people. However, in Zhu Shenzhui's view, the Liu family is like a high-rise building built on a pile of sand, without any foundation. As long as you stretch out a finger and give it a light push, the seemingly powerful Liu family will inevitably fall into the abyss.

Wealth is the source of the Liu family's power, but it is also the original sin of the Liu family. Not to mention now, even in the 21st century, classes still exist. In the Ming Dynasty, among the four classes of people, merchants, no matter how rich they are, are just inferior. Moreover, the Liu family's network of relationships in the officialdom is completely dependent on the money of interest exchanges, and this kind of relationship is not so reliable. Unless someone in the Liu family serves as an official in the court, and becomes a member of the official business from an ordinary merchant, completing a complete transformation of identity, then this network of relationships will be reliable.

If this is the case, then the Liu family, which has no roots in the officialdom, is like a rootless duckweed. The class gap is huge. Besides, the Liu family itself is not clean, but no one has done it before. In addition, the Liu family seems to be powerful, and some interests are colluding. Under the protection of his network of relationships, these hidden dangers have not been exposed.

But the moment Zhu Shenzhui decided to take action, the nature of the situation changed completely.

Although the royal family no longer has the privileges they had in the early days of the Ming Dynasty, their status is still high. In addition, the Ming Dynasty's attitude towards the royal family involves the face of the royal family. Others who want to target the Liu family may have to consider their own careers, but the royal family has no concerns in this regard.

According to Zhu Shenzhui's plan, with the intervention of Zhu Minfan, a very influential member of the royal family, it was impossible for both local officials and the court to protect the Liu family too much. In addition, Zhu Shenzhui's plan was linked together, with both internal and external efforts at the same time. Once the Liu family was in chaos, they would be unable to take care of themselves. How could those officials who were only colluding with the Liu family for interests speak for the Liu family under such circumstances?

While Zhu Shenzhui and Zhu Minfan were reaching an agreement, they also used their respective connections to bring in other people, including Pingyang prefect Yu Zhida.

Yu Zhida appears to be honest, but in fact he is not a good person.

Just looking at his official career, one can guess that if Yu Zhida was really an honest official, he would not have not gone to the local area to serve as a minor official of the seventh rank after he won the 229th place in the third class of the imperial examination in the 38th year of Wanli, but would not have stayed in the Beijing Censorate to observe politics. In the 42nd year of Wanli, he was promoted to the Left Reviewer of the Dali Temple, and later to the Deputy Reviewer. Until the beginning of this year, he was transferred to the post of Prefect of Pingyang.

In just ten years, he went from being a fellow Jinshi ranked at the bottom of the third class to becoming a prefect of the fourth rank. It can be said that his career was very successful.

If one could be promoted just by relying on one's own talent or being honest, then Yu Zhida would be a god.

You should know that among his peers, there were many who were still serving as minor officials of the sixth or seventh rank, and the highest-ranking ones had only climbed to the fifth rank, but he was already a fourth-rank official.

The reason why Yu Zhida was able to be promoted so quickly was not only because he was good at management and taking sides, but also because he had the support of a powerful political group behind him. This political group was the now famous Donglin Party.

Some time ago, Liaodong was defeated, and Yang Hao, the commander-in-chief, was not executed by Emperor Wanli, but was imprisoned. The Donglin Party was behind this. The power of the Donglin Party in the court was not small. As a member of the Donglin Party, it was natural for Yu Zhida to become the prefect of Pingyang.

Involving Yu Zhida was equivalent to involving the entire Donglin Party behind him, which was a win-win situation. In addition, Zhu Shenzhui and Zhu Minfan were both smart people, and they knew that it was absolutely impossible for them to swallow the fat meat of the Liu family. Only by pulling in most people to form an alliance and everyone sitting in a row to share the fruits could this be accomplished.

According to the distribution of benefits, Zhu Shenzhui did not actually get much. Most of the Liu family's property was taken away by various interests. What he finally got was less than two thousand taels of silver, thirty acres of irrigated land and a shop.

These things are just a drop in the bucket for the entire Liu family's industry, and not all of them belong to Zhu Shenzui. Some of them have to be shared among Zhu Minfeng, Zhu Minqi and Zhu Qiuqi. After all, the three of them have also contributed a lot to this matter, and he had made promises to them before. Whether from the perspective of friendship between clan members or integrity as a human being, Zhu Shenzui has never had the idea of ​​going back on his word.

It's nothing more than some money. Compared with his own reputation and long-term plans, this money is nothing. Zhu Shenzui is very generous in this regard.

The cash was not much, but the store was different. Although the store was only one of the many businesses of the Liu family, and after the collapse of the Liu family, the original floating wealth of the Liu family had been almost completely divided, and there was not much inventory left in the store, and now even the store was closed.

But others didn't know that this store was a salt shop, which meant that it was a store with a formal salt permit. The storefront was not valuable, but the qualification to obtain the salt permit was something that could not be bought with money. If Zhu Shenzhu had not set his sights on this store at the beginning of his plan and had discussed it with Zhu Minfan in advance, he would not have been able to get it.

Now that he has acquired the store, Zhu Shenzhui, as a member of the royal family, cannot run it himself, so he needs to find someone to manage the business.

Kang Youfu is the most suitable candidate. With this shop, he can gradually cleanse his private salt business and obtain the qualification for salt permits through the shop. In the future, he can sell "private salt" openly like other big merchants, thus completing the upgrading of the industry.

(End of this chapter)