I was a conman in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 251 Entering the Capital to Meet the Emperor

Chapter 251 Entering the Capital to Meet the Emperor

After interrogation, Wang Wenzhou understood the whole story. It turned out that Qu Yongning and his accomplices were indeed in cahoots with the thieves. The thieves initially stole items from the supermarket, but later, plainclothes security guards were deployed, and the thieves were frequently caught. So the thieves changed their targets and began stealing money from customers.

When a thief is discovered by a customer, security guards like Qu Yongning will step forward, take the person to the office, beat them up, force the customer to sign a confession, and then extort money from the customer.

Wang Wenzhou was instantly enraged. Pointing at Zhang Shize, he said angrily, "Zhang, is this the guard in your mansion? If this continues, what's the point of running a supermarket? We might as well just rob them! Customers are king, how many times have I said that? These bastards are treating customers like suckers! Who will shop at the supermarket in the long run?"

Zhang Shize smiled wryly and said, "Boxin, don't be angry. Don't worry, I will teach them a lesson!"

Wang Wenzhou thought for a moment and then said, "Everyone says that big shops bully their customers, and at first I didn't believe it. After all, doing business is about making money. And customers are our bread and butter; if we bully our customers, who will come back to patronize us? But now I understand, it's not that the boss wants to bully the customers, it's that these bastards under him are doing inhuman things!"

"Yes!" Zhang Shize quickly said, "These bastards are absolutely outrageous!"

Wang Wenzhou asked, "Have the interrogation results come out? How many people were involved?"

Zhang Shize replied, "This gang consisted of 23 thieves and 41 security guards."

Wang Wenzhou said with a smile, "The way to handle this is to make these thieves act out a play. Let them steal things, get caught by security guards, then have their arms broken in public, and finally send them to the yamen."

Zhang Shize nodded and said, "I'll have someone do it right away."

"As for the security guards who colluded with the thieves, I don't care which mansion they were guards in before. Kill them all, not one of them!" Wang Wenzhou made a beheading gesture.

"Huh?" Zhang Shize frowned and asked in confusion, "Boxin, why did you let the thief go so easily, but you killed these security guards?"

Wang Wenzhou explained, “Thieves earn money by stealing things based on their skills. These security guards are all hired by you, and their responsibility is to catch thieves. These security guards are like cats you keep. But these cats are all ungrateful wretches. Not only do they not catch mice, they also steal things with the mice. They even bully your bread and butter.”

Wang Wenzhou sneered, "That's betrayal. If someone can betray you once, they can betray you countless times. How do you know that one day you won't be waiting for them to save your life? Perhaps then they won't save you, but instead harm you!"

Zhang Shize thought for a moment and then said, "Alright, Boxin, I'll do whatever you say!"

Wang Wenzhou continued, "Brother, you should leave the supermarket business to Zhao Zhengxi from now on. You just need to wait to collect the money. I will send some people from Hanshan to recruit and train security guards. The guards in your mansion can be used for now. They will be replaced after the newly recruited security guards are trained."

Zhang Shize frowned, puzzled, and asked, "Why is that?"

Wang Wenzhou explained, "Brother, even a seventh-rank official is treated like royalty. These guards in your household, outside your own gates, walking the streets of Nanjing, which one doesn't think of themselves as some kind of arrogant lord? Do you really think it's possible for them to treat customers like royalty?"

Zhang Shize smiled awkwardly; it was indeed the case.

Wang Wenzhou also realized that the guards of the noble families were unusable. Therefore, he decided that in the future, when opening shops in various places, he would recruit new security guards. The nobles would only be responsible for investing and waiting to collect profits, and would absolutely not be allowed to interfere in the operation. The nobles were already masters; how could they treat their mostly ordinary customers as masters?

……

Forbidden City.

In the imperial court, everyone was arguing fiercely about Wang Wenzhou's matter.

When Wang Wenzhou's battle report arrived in the capital, the imperial court's reward for Wang Wenzhou, the great hero who repelled the rebel army and beheaded more than 30,000, was divided into two factions.

One faction, led by Grand Secretary Wen Tiren, felt that Wang Wenzhou was too young and already held the fourth rank. They argued that despite his great achievements, further rewarding him was inappropriate. Wang Wenzhou was the heir to the title of Earl of Xinjian and would inherit it. If he were to be promoted further, and then perform another great service, he might not be able to be rewarded.

Of course, Wen Tiren wouldn't be foolish enough to offend the nobles; his actions were entirely at Chongzhen's behest. This was simply Wang Wenzhou's bad luck; Wang Wenzhou introduced an entry tax for the city, and Chongzhen sent Wang Chengen to investigate.

Wang Chengen's assessment of Wang Wenzhou's character was very low. Wang Chengen said, "This boy is adept at making money, but he's too ruthless. If he were to actually enter the imperial court, who knows what trouble he would cause."

Emperor Chongzhen trusted Wang Chengen, so he decided to temporarily suppress Wang Wenzhou's morale and let him serve as the prefect of Hanshan for a while longer. He would then bring Wang Wenzhou to the court when he was older and more mature.

The other faction was led by Qian Qianyi. Qian Qianyi was currently the leader of the Donglin Party, which had close ties with the newly established Earl's Mansion. Furthermore, the nobles had all benefited from Wang Wenzhou's establishment of the Hanshan Supermarket. Therefore, the nobles supported Wang Wenzhou's promotion.

Wen Tiren was actually part of the eunuch faction. The eunuch faction was essentially a group loyal to the emperor.

During the Ming Dynasty, especially in its mid-to-late period, imperial power was too weak. In some respects, the emperor and the scholar-officials jointly ruled the country, and the scholar-officials genuinely believed this.

Emperor Wanli wanted to make his favorite son the crown prince, but the court officials vehemently opposed it. In the end, Wanli had no choice but to give in. If this had happened in the Qing Dynasty, all the officials would have been killed long ago!

Qian Qianyi spoke up, saying, "Your Majesty, Wang Wenzhou has rendered such a great service, how can he not be rewarded? If he is not rewarded, wouldn't that chill the hearts of the people?"

Wen Tiren immediately said, "Wang Wenzhou has risen from a seventh-rank county magistrate to a fourth-rank prefect in just one year, a promotion of six ranks. How can His Majesty's favor towards him be said to have chilled the hearts of the people?"

As soon as the two bigwigs started criticizing each other, the officials below immediately took sides.

Qian Qianyi and Wen Tiren were political enemies who wanted to eliminate each other. Such verbal battles were common in the imperial court.

Emperor Chongzhen was quite helpless. He actually admired Wang Wenzhou's talent, after all, Wang Wenzhou had transformed a small county town of 10,000 people into a metropolis of one million in just a few months. Moreover, he had repelled the rebel army and made great contributions.

However, Emperor Chongzhen truly disapproved of Wang Wenzhou's behavior. This young man was too ruthless, impetuous, and born into a noble family. If Wang Wenzhou were really transferred to the capital, who knew what trouble he would cause?

Emperor Chongzhen thought for a moment and then said, "We will discuss this matter another day! Send someone to draft an imperial edict to summon Wang Wenzhou, the prefect of Hanshan, to the capital for an audience with the Emperor."