Water Margin people

Chapter 1435 Exchange coins

A lot of things happened in Quanzhou Prefecture on this day. The emperor suddenly arrived, the bank opened, and the Fanren Lane was investigated. The people of Quanzhou felt that it was a little unreal. Things that they dared not imagine happened in one day.

In the middle of the night, Qian Zhen arrived at the Xinggong Inn with the search results.

"More than 40,000 people are hidden?"

Sun Lei frowned as he looked at the report in his hand. Although he had been prepared mentally, he was still a little surprised to see this number. These were all young and middle-aged men. If they really wanted to rebel, these people would be enough to control the entire Quanzhou city.

"I have failed in my investigation, please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Qian Zhen quickly apologized. He was also shocked when he saw the number. He thought there would be at most five or six thousand people, but he didn't expect it to be as high as 40,000. This was his dereliction of duty.

"Alright, the Ministry of Personnel is responsible for the investigation. You should be a good official in Quanzhou first, but you must strengthen the control in the future!"

Sun Lei looked at Qian Zhen and spoke.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Qian Zhen said with tears of gratitude that with the emperor's words, the accountability would not be very severe, and as long as he made meritorious contributions in the future, the matter would be over.

"Interrogate those people carefully and then deal with them. Those who should be killed should be killed, and those who should be enslaved should be enslaved!"

Sun Lei looked at Qian Zhen and said, those who have rebellious intentions will naturally be killed, and the rest will be made into slaves and sent to the mines to work until they die.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Qian Zhen nodded heavily and said that he would naturally take care of these things.

"Okay, go do your job!"

Sun Lei waved his hand and said that these people in the army are very skilled in doing these things.

"Your Majesty, Qian Zhen was negligent in his official duties and should be punished!"

Zhu Wu looked at Sun Lei and said, Qian Zhen's negligence was not a small one. He didn't even know that 40,000 foreign troops were hiding under his nose. This was a serious dereliction of duty.

"Just give him a small punishment and a big warning. He is a talented soldier in the army. How careful do you expect him to be? It takes time to learn how to be an official!"

Sun Lei shook his head and said, Qian Zhen had only been out of the army for half a year, and it was already considered that he had worked hard enough to manage Quanzhou to this extent.

"In addition, Quanzhou is a port city, and there will be a lot of foreign merchant ships. The prefect must be a military man with a murderous aura to keep the place under control!"

Sun Lei looked at the night outside and said, Qian Zhen did a good job today. He captured so many foreigners in just half a day.

Zhu Wu bowed to show that he understood that Qi State was still in great need of officials.

Hangzhou.

In a huge manor, dozens of merchants dressed in luxurious clothes were drinking in a pavilion.

"The bank replied that all of them can be exchanged, three million silver coins!"

A merchant walked into the pavilion and spoke while looking at everyone.

"They have three million silver coins?"

  A young businessman frowned and asked, "Three million is not a small amount. How could a bank take out three million silver coins at once?"

"This is a bit difficult! We wanted to give this bank a warning, but they don't buy it at all. We are hitting cotton with our fists!"

Someone immediately frowned and said that Hangzhou was only part of the group of merchants, and merchants in Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Jiankang Prefecture were all taking action. Just today, the coins they exchanged exceeded 10 million, which was 10% of the annual tax revenue of the Song Dynasty.

"Let's continue. Let's dig out all the gold and silver buried in the cellar and exchange them together. I don't believe they have so much money! When they run out of money, it will be time to close down!"

A thin-faced merchant spoke sinisterly, saying that silver banks were rare in Baixin's eyes, but they were nothing in the eyes of merchants. They had already had this model for private transactions, and they also knew the fatal weakness of this model, which was that they would completely lose their credit if they encountered a run on the bank.

"But the problem is that we are the only ones in Hangzhou now, and the others are scared!"

Someone slammed the table in anger. Those who came here were all wealthy merchants. Smaller merchants and wealthy families did not come. If they did not come at this time, it meant that they would not participate. "We are all cowards. Who are we taking such a big risk for? Isn't it for everyone? The State of Qi imposed heavy taxes on us merchants and intervened in the price of goods. They are trying to force us to death. If we don't resist now, we will be fish on the chopping board in the future!"

Someone spoke.

After the establishment of the State of Qi, the head tax was abolished nationwide, all land was nationalized and then distributed based on the number of people, the agricultural tax was reduced to 15%, and the prices of salt, cloth, grain, etc. also tended to stabilize.

However, Qi State paid great attention to commercial taxes. Compared with the Song Dynasty which only cared about the quantity, Qi State further subdivided various commercial taxes. This made the merchants very dissatisfied. Once things were divided in detail, there was no room for operation and it was impossible to evade taxes.

"We can't control others, but our silk cloth business will never wait to die!"

Someone slammed the table and shouted.

“We tea merchants don’t agree either!”

"We are just like salt merchants!"

……

Everyone quickly reached a consensus.

"Everyone, don't be so hasty to quarrel. Let's try the silver bank's land first. After this batch is exchanged, go and exchange another batch immediately. Be polite and say that we need it for business! Let them refuse first!"

Someone helped to come up with an idea. They were businessmen, so it was okay for them to engage in business wars, but they must not conflict with the government.

A group of merchants contributed money, and soon they collected more than 100 million taels. In order to win this battle, they emptied their savings.

Cheng Wanli finished his official business and looked at the sky.

"Sir, those wealthy merchants are gathering in the manor outside the city!"

The constable stepped forward and whispered.

"A mantis trying to stop a chariot is overestimating one's own capabilities! Are they all those people?"

Cheng Wanli looked at the constable and asked.

The constable called out the names one by one. They were all local celebrities and everyone in Hangzhou knew them.

As the constable read out the names one by one, Cheng Wanli pulled out the documents one by one from the pile on the desk.

"Everyone is guilty of numerous crimes!"

Cheng Wanli looked at the official documents in front of him, which recorded the crimes of the people that the constable had just read out.

  Cheng Wanli has not been idle during the time he has been in Hangzhou. Being rich and unkind is the norm in the world. Which rich and powerful person does not have a dark history?

"I hope they don't go too far, otherwise, haha!"

Cheng Wanli suddenly laughed. He had an idea and hoped that these people would go even further, so that he could arrest them with evidence of their crimes. The proceeds from the house search would probably be over 100 million, which was enough to cover the annual tax revenue of the whole country. This achievement would be enough for him to join the cabinet.

The sky brightened again, and banks across the country opened their doors. The people who had been queuing up for a long time were still enthusiastically exchanging money.

When those wealthy merchants came to the bank, boxes of exquisite silver coins had already been prepared.

"Everyone, this is the money you wanted to exchange yesterday. Let's make the transaction!"

The manager of the bank smiled and had someone move a bunch of silver coins to the door of the bank, and opened them in public. The silver coins were so bright that people couldn't open their eyes.

This heroic scene stunned the people. When had they ever seen so much money? This also made them more confident in the bank and they began to think about saving money.

The wealthy merchants all looked unhappy; they didn't expect the exchange to be so easy.

Under the gaze of the people, both parties checked carefully and completed the transaction. The merchants left with the money and said they wanted to exchange it for another 3 million tomorrow. The bank manager agreed with a smile.