Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 372: The Consolation of the Chief Minister
The second floor of the restaurant,

Except for the two men who are here, no one else on the first floor is allowed to come up. Many young men and ladies are dissatisfied and want to make noises below.

Before he could say anything, he was grabbed by his friend who was traveling with him and said softly,

"I didn't see Marquis Luo Yun coming. If you want to die, just go."

The people around him were so frightened that they fell into silence and couldn't help but lower their voices.

Next to the window on the second floor,

The two sat opposite each other and smiled meaningfully at each other.

Zhang Jinyu slowly shook his head and said helplessly,

"It's you, Mr. Zhuang. This business is done exquisitely. I haven't said anything about it yet, but I have sorted out the rest of the matter. I have agreed. As long as it can really increase the tax money outside the customs, I will definitely agree."

"Master Hou, this is true!"

Zhuang Shouzhi continued and asked closely.

"a man of his words."

Zhang Jinyu patted the table with her palm, nodded in agreement with a smile on her face, but the inexplicable look in her eyes made Mr. Zhuang, who was a little excited, ignore it.

Zhuang Shouzhi cleared his voice, pondered for a moment, and said;

"Master Marquis, if you want money, the head of the house is just trying to find ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. No matter what you want to do, everything will be done if you are prepared, and if you are not prepared, it will be ruined. I remember that in the first year of Yuanfeng, the emperor had just succeeded to the throne, and the emperor We have long been determined to reorganize outside the Pass. At that time, the Jurchen clan outside the Pass had become a powerful force that could not be shaken off, and the threat to the three cities outside the Pass was becoming increasingly serious. Oh, Lord Marquis, Pingliao City was not lost at that time. .”

Lord Zhuang began to talk about the situation outside the pass, and specifically named Pingliao City, which made Zhang Jinyu feel nervous. Pingliao City was in his hands. Before he thought about it, Zhuang Shouzhi continued;
"In the first year of Yuanfeng, at the beginning of February, the imperial court discussed at the great meeting that the counties and cities outside the pass were ordered to prepare their armies in order to give the Jurchens some color. Many people in the court supported this matter, and it was actually implemented. Internal Affairs The government had a small weapons workshop in Pingyang City, and later it was directly built into the current weapons supervisory department. They used local materials to supervise the production of weapons. In this year, they provided sufficient weapons for the border and saved the capital's treasury. It caused a loss of more than 500 million taels of silver. So at that time, various places were doing great things, and the Marquis must not have known about it."

Of course Zhang Jinyu knew that the weapons supervisor had been infiltrated into a sieve by him, how could he not know it, but his expression did not show it, and he shook his head.
"I have heard about it, but you also know, sir, that it is a treasure of the internal affairs. There are many eunuchs and supervisors, and the weapons made are supplied to the entire border army. The Marquis Mansion has no right to collect taxes, let alone get involved. , it would be a pity to throw away the food if it is tasteless.”

Zhuang Shouzhi looked at Marquis Luo Yun in front of him, crying out loudly, and had no choice but to ask back,
"The sergeants under the Marquis are the best in the world. They all wear heavy armor with unique styles. They are unique in the world. The eunuchs can stop the Marquis' power. What do you think, Marquis?"

Zhang Jinyu looked a little unnatural and sighed reluctantly.
"My lord, what you said is true, but those eunuchs were desperate for money. If they wanted something, I bought it with my own money, so I gave it to my closest confidants."

Zhuang Shouzhi smiled and said nothing. Looking at Luo Yun Houyan's insincere look, he did not point it out and continued,

"Yes, there are so many people close to the Marquis. In addition to the supervision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War also made great efforts to supervise the weapons inspection. In that year, the imperial court's various expenditures increased greatly, and the pressure on the cabinet can be imagined. , so at that time the elder ordered that matters for the coming year should be carefully discussed."

"Master Zhuang, you just said that everything will be done if you are prepared, and if you are not prepared, it will be ruined. I don't think the court and the cabinet have discussed it. Why did it cost so much later?"

Zhang Jinyu naturally thought that the money spent inside must have been scooped up by someone before leaving the capital.

"What the Marquis said is absolutely true. At that time, the elder asked, what was discussed before was explained very thoroughly, so how could so much money be spent."

Zhuang Shouzhi asked himself something instead, and Zhang Jinyu laughed;
"Then Mr. Zhuang should know better. The cabinet has already made a decision and the accounts should be calculated thoroughly. If too much money is spent, someone must have taken too much."

"That's wrong, Mr. Marquis. At that time, I was on duty at the Ministry of War. From the perspective of the Ministry of War, I asked General Wei to lead his troops and the local government troops controlled by Mr. Ye to assemble all the troops in Pingliao City. On standby, the intention is to build Pingliao City into a strong city. Use this city to deal with the Jurchens. If there are fighter opportunities, we can cooperate with the Pingliao City defenders to go out of the city to exterminate the small Jurchen people, trying to keep the trade routes inside and outside the pass open and free from foreign influence. At that time, all the ministers in the cabinet had unanimous opinions on this matter."

When Mr. Zhuang said this, his expression was a little sarcastic and bleak. Zhang Jinyu thought about the court's decision carefully. There was no general mistake, but why was Pingliao City lost in the end? "The imperial court's purpose is correct. If the trade routes are smooth, the army's logistics will be able to keep up, and the Jurchens will be wasted."

"Haha, Lord Marquis wants to be simple. Let me finish what I have to say. Smooth trade routes are naturally a good thing, but what to transport next will be difficult. Jiangnan is talking about transporting silk and brocade cloth from Suzhou, and other places Porcelain, tea, and especially silk were as good as gold. At that time, Suzhou only had one thousand horses per year, which was not enough for each family to share. The reason was that there were not enough silkworm chrysalises, so it was difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. Humph."

Zhuang Shouzhi sneered and continued to drink tea.

"So in order to increase silk production, Jiangnan's political history at that time proposed that the key to increasing silk production lies in silk. How to increase the yield of silk in mulberry fields? Mr. Marquis, what do you think the cabinet is thinking?"

"Mr. Zhuang is asking questions knowingly. You just stopped saying that if you want silk, you need to increase the number of mulberry fields. Just open up more mulberry fields."

Zhang Jinyu couldn't figure out the connection. What did this have to do with silk.

"What the Marquis said is right or wrong. The requirements for mulberry fields are high and the cost of reclamation is huge. Therefore, the cabinet agreed with Jiangnan's policy and simply allocated half of the existing farmland in Jiangnan to be converted into mulberry fields, and the converted mulberry fields were still classified as mulberry fields. It was a good intention to pay the same taxes on farmland and not to increase taxes. However, a rare flood occurred in the south of the Yangtze River the next year, the rice crop dropped sharply, and most of the mulberry fields were destroyed. The annual income expected by the court was lost."

"It's time to go. Who can think of changing the best acres of land into mulberry fields? Not to mention other things, and the food is not guaranteed. Such a method must have reaped a lot of benefits. It can't be said that the Jurchens Just took a chance.”

Zhang Jinyu thought it was unbelievable, she couldn't believe it was like this. Food output was the foundation, and everything else could only be a foil. The emperor's internal funds were almost not taken in by the money, but it enriched a lot of corrupt officials.

Mr. Zhuang smiled bitterly and said what he said was true.

"What the Marquis is saying is that Pingliao City fell that year, Jiangnan's political history was copied, and all plans outside the customs were aborted. They originally had the upper hand, but now they have failed miserably. Since then, all proposals outside the customs have been shelved. Well, the main sources of wealth outside the customs are trade routes. This one must have been taken by the Marquis, and the other one is just sitting and collecting money on this basis."

Zhang Jinyu was immediately interested. He had already thought about the trade on the trade routes. Now that the trade routes are open, which greatly alleviates the shortage outside the customs, what else can he do to collect money?
"Master Zhuang, please forgive me. I was reckless earlier. Please give me some advice, Master Zhuang."

Zhang Jinyu admitted her mistake frankly and asked humbly. Zhuang Shouzhi accepted the gift.
"Have you ever heard of the Sihai Bank, which is a bank where private people make notes and exchange money with merchants?"

Zhang Jinyu's mind suddenly flashed, how could he have forgotten this matter? The bank is not the so-called cashier's place, but this is a huge profit. As he lay counting the money, Zhang Jinyu's eyes lit up, and he thanked the old fox for reminding him.

"What Mr. Zhuang said is true. I have been a little negligent. There must be a plan for the Qianzhuang. So should I set up a new mountain or have other methods? Mr. Zhuang, do you have any good suggestions?"

"It's better to talk to the Marquis openly and happily. He is worthy of being the powerful Luo Yun Marquis outside the pass. I don't hide it anymore. To be honest, one is to start from scratch, but it will cost a lot and will be affected by the Central Plains and Jiangnan. The major banks are squeezed out by other people's hawks and dogs, but it is no problem to gain a foothold outside the Houye Pass. The other one is to directly enter the branch of Jiangnan Sihai Bank, bloom everywhere outside the pass, and then use the same ticket number as inside the pass, which is not very suitable. ."

Mr. Zhuang had a smile on his face, and he was silently thinking about which one Luo Yunhou would choose. If he was really short of money, he would definitely choose Sihai Bank. If he was to set up a new business on a different mountain, I'm afraid he would already have some differences in his heart.

But the deficits of banks all over the world have been revealed, and the same is true for banks all over the Central Plains. Aristocratic families and nobles from all over the world only know how to take money and bury it in the ground, without thinking about whether the bank's silver deposits can support the run. They are really speechless, even though I am also there. Carrying money back home is a last resort.

After Zhang Jinyu heard this, he still hadn't made up his mind, but he had already heard about Sihai Bank's name, and he even asked Duan Hong to test it out, but he didn't know what happened.

Besides, if a bank wants to do business, it must be on its own. How can outsiders get involved? However, if there is a ready-made bank to support it, it can still make a little profit. As for those inside and outside the customs, as long as they go on business routes outside the customs, it is strictly stipulated that they must use As for the ticket numbers outside the pass, as for the ticket numbers inside the pass, there is a general ticket number in the capital and Jiangnan, and you can exchange money freely. As for the other areas, don’t ask. They are all meat in the bowls of the noble families, and you can’t grab them. .

"Master Zhuang, I have thought about your idea for a while. If nothing else, ever since I took care of the Jurchens outside the customs, I like to eat alone. If I follow others, I always feel that I am robbing others of their mouths, which is a bit annoying. The image is too ugly. So I want to build another mountain, but it is difficult to find a big shopkeeper in the early stage. As for the money, I can still get it."

Zhuang Shouzhi looked at the young Marquis in front of him, feeling excited and vigilant in his heart. He was indeed a tiger from outside the Pass, but he was acting decisively, but did the Marquis really have money?

"Then what is Mr. Hou's plan? Can Mr. Zhuang be lucky enough to participate in a share? Even if not, can the profits of Jiangnan's bank account be distributed to Zhuang's family? This can be regarded as a little favor from Mr. Hou. As for the preparation of Jiangnan bank account, , I don’t bother Mr. Hou to worry about it. Zhuang has a small bank account in his hand. When the time comes, he will change it, and the old man will fill in some bad debts in it, and it will be a ready-made bank. As long as Mr. Hou sets up branch offices in the capital and outside the customs. , the bank will naturally be established."

(End of this chapter)