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Chapter 730: Revenge

"As far as I know, two Portuguese tailors have come to Macau. How about making two more skirts for you?" When Wang Datou heard that he had to owe someone a favor, he instinctively wanted to find a way to refuse. He really couldn't afford it. It would cost him millions of taels of silver at any time. It would be better to spend the money to avoid disaster.

"No, no, no, see! This is the dress and high heels designed by His Majesty for me and the Queen. As students of His Majesty, you not only didn't learn any real skills, you didn't even learn the little tricks to please women. It's really disappointing."

Who would have thought that small favors were of no use. Oyani lifted her cloak and revealed the long robe underneath... No, it was definitely not a long robe, nor was it the long skirt worn by women in the Ming Dynasty.

Although her chest was not exposed, the tightness of her body made it hard to look directly at her. If you looked at her for too long, you would have wild thoughts. What was even worse was that her lower body was made up of two pieces of cloth, one in front and one in the back, which were not sewn together. If she moved a little, her white thighs would be exposed.

"…The wind is picking up! I'll go tell the navy warships to slow down."

Wang Datou really didn't dare to ask whether it was the Emperor's plan. The cabin was too small and there was no place to put his eyes. He had better find an excuse to escape. After returning, he had to move the contact point quickly and never let this woman find it again.

"Then let them know that they are not going to Guangzhou but to Macau. I have asked Mr. Gabriel to borrow more than one million taels of silver from Portuguese merchants, which will be just the right amount to ship back with them."

Looking at the little man fleeing in panic, Oyani smiled triumphantly, lifted up her legs in red high heels, and gently stroked them with her hands, causing Wang Datou, who was planning to resist again, to disappear without a trace in an instant.

"Madam, I have the responsibility to remind you that you used inappropriate words. These clothes and shoes were not made by His Majesty, and the Queen and the two Zhaoyi never wear them outside the palace."

Just when Oyani was feeling proud, the faint voice of her assistant La Mei came from the corner of the cabin. As a maid, she knew the details of the emperor and the empress's life very well, and she did not allow anyone to mention them in public, let alone use disrespectful words.

"...I was praising her!" Every time she heard this woman's voice, she would be furious, but her reason would always remind her not to turn against her.

It was easy for him to control Wang Datou, and he was not even afraid of a provincial governor like Zuo Guangdou. This was not because of his own ability, but because of the emperor standing behind him. Without the emperor's support, let alone enjoying the power and treatment of nobles in the Ming Dynasty, he would have no place to bury his body.

When she was free, she would think about her current situation and then she would be very troubled. The emperor, ministers, and citizens of this country were completely different people from their living habits to their cultural beliefs, except for their similar appearance.

When I was with the emperor, I often had the illusion that I was in a European court. But as soon as I left the emperor, I immediately felt the strangeness of a foreign country.

"Your Majesty and the Queen must be kept in mind. They cannot be mentioned all the time, let alone discussed casually!"

La Mei would not give in at all when it comes to royal etiquette. If it weren't for the order of His Majesty, she wouldn't want to work with this Western woman. Every minute and every second was torture.

"... Get out, now, I want to change my clothes!" Even with her teeth almost broken, Oyani still couldn't hold back completely and screamed hysterically.

With more than two million taels of silver borrowed from the Dutch and 800,000 taels of silver from the Portuguese in Macau, plus the silver reserves of the Sun Moon Bank, it was almost enough to deal with this bank run.

If the situation is urgent, the customs and the navy can still provide nearly one million taels of silver. Of course, it is best not to touch the government's silver, which would be very troublesome. It would require reconciliation with the Ministry of Revenue and the Internal Treasury, and it might even cause criticism in the court. In fact, the bank run only lasted for six days and then disappeared. The opponent used more than 50 deposit receipts to withdraw more than 4.3 million taels of silver and silver coins from the five branches of Sun Moon Bank.

Without prior preparation, even if the customs, navy, and army were all used to cover the huge hole, it would not be able to fill it. By then, the Sun Moon Bank would have lost its reputation and withdraw from civilian business for a long time, serving the army, customs, and factories and mines owned by the royal family under the protection of policies.

As the saying goes, if you try to steal a chicken, you will lose the rice. A run on a bank is an extreme way, so there is no win-win situation. At least one party will suffer. This time, Sun Moon Bank not only suffered little loss, but also took the opportunity to make a name for itself among the people, which promoted the issuance of bonds.

Then the other party would be the one who suffered the loss. According to statistics from various branches, the total loss of documents for early settlement of deposits is about 15%, which includes the interest due and the handling fee required for early redemption.

If the loss was only over 600,000 taels of silver, that would be too cheap and totally inconsistent with the emperor's style of not taking revenge overnight. Even worse things are yet to come.

At the end of November, firecrackers and loud gongs and drums suddenly rang out on the streets of Xizhong City inside the Changmen Gate of Suzhou Prefecture. Many people gathered in front of a three-story building, eagerly waiting for the host to slowly pull down the red silk covering the plaque.

"..." When the red silk slid off, revealing four golden characters as big as water jars, the noisy sounds suddenly disappeared, and many people's faces became gloomy.

Sun Moon Bank! Legend has it that the Sun Moon Bank, which was very popular in Guangdong, Fujian, Shandong and Zhili and had bankrupted countless local money houses and banks, finally extended its claws into the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, and it was a black tiger that ripped out the heart.

For the twenty local money houses and banks clustered on Xizhong Street, the opening of the Suzhou branch of Sun Moon Bank was definitely bad news.

In terms of fair competition, no one can beat Sun Moon Bank. If they want to play dirty tricks to exclude others, they will learn a bloody lesson within a month. All participants will lose at least 20,000 to 30,000 taels, and the wounds have not healed yet.

There are three advantages to opening a bank. First, the capital is strong enough to support the capital chain circulation of lending and borrowing. Second, there are many customers, and the more deposits, the more money can be loaned out, and the money cannot be left in the warehouse.

Third, if you have strong connections, you will inevitably run into lawsuits when doing lending. If you don't have any connections with the government, if you lose a lawsuit once, you will have to face lawsuits a second and third time. If you just go to court for fun, how can you do this business?

The capital of the Sun and Moon Bank must be the largest in the entire Ming Dynasty. The fact that it paid out more than 400 million taels of silver in just five or six days has gradually spread through newspapers. Those who are more informed have already seen the report, and those in more isolated areas will also be able to see it in half a month.

With more customers than others, no one can compete with it. Relying solely on low-interest industrial and agricultural loans, Sun Moon Bank has no worries about not being able to loan out the large amount of silver in stock that it has absorbed through interest-bearing deposits.

Others haven't learned this yet. Low-interest loans are all about scale. It's possible to make money only when the number of loan customers reaches a certain level. If the scale is not reached and some loans cannot be collected and become bad debts, the company will lose money.

Relationships... Never mind, let's talk about something else. Sun Moon Bank itself was founded on the New Deal, with the backing of the Navy, Army and Customs, and it is said to have a royal background. If they want to cause trouble through litigation, they might as well continue to play the game of running the bank, at least they won't be sued.

(End of this chapter)