Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 419 The world is shocked
"Second brother, go home and reflect on yourself. You are not allowed to go out without my permission!" Emperor Chenghui said this slowly, and it was obvious that he was trying his best to suppress his anger.

Li Yuan, who had been arguing confidently and thought he had sufficient reasons to convince the emperor the previous second, fell into a daze again.

This time was different from the last time. As a bystander, Jia Lian saw a hint of disgust in Emperor Chenghui's eyes.

At this moment, Jia Lian lowered his head and looked at the shoes, and refused to look up again.

Looking at the dazed Li Yuan, and then at Jia Lian who bowed his head and said nothing, Emperor Chenghui's patience was almost exhausted, and he said with his last bit of calmness: "Someone, send the Second Prince home."

Two Dragon Guards came in and helped the distraught, puppet-like Li Yuan away. At this moment, Li Yuan's face was pale and there was no trace of spirit.

Emperor Chenghui then let out a heavy breath and said, "Qiu Shian, take people to the headquarters of Jinshang Bank immediately, control the relevant people, and keep an eye on the silver vault."

"Your Majesty, absolutely not!" Jia Lian interrupted. Emperor Chenghui frowned and looked at Jia Lian unhappily and said, "What do you think, Mr. Jia?"

"Jinshang Bank has a deep foundation. No matter how bad this matter is, it is only a temporary problem. What the Second Prince did will not cause too serious consequences. To put it bluntly, even if all the money of Jinshang Bank is exchanged, where will the shareholders go, and where will all the industries go? Your Majesty can order Eunuch Qiu to pass on an oral order, instructing Jinshang Bank to properly handle this matter. At the same time, Long Jinwei will accompany to supervise and control his family. As for the Second Prince, maybe he can earn a fortune for Your Majesty by accident."

Jia Lian's words immediately calmed Emperor Chenghui down, and he said in a deep voice, "Tell me in detail!"

"Jinshang Bank itself is a high-quality asset. If it cannot repay the central bank in time, the debt can be converted into shares. The court will be able to supervise it more conveniently in the future after obtaining the shares, and will use this incident as an opportunity to require all licensed private banks to transfer a portion of their equity to the court. If they do not comply, their licenses will be revoked. If they comply, they can focus on making money for the court in the future. However, these shares belong to the imperial treasury and the Ministry of Revenue, so I don't have to worry about that." Jia Lian's solution was actually to take advantage of the fire. At the beginning, he really didn't expect to be able to do this. He just didn't expect the situation to be more serious than expected. Jinshang Bank directly withdrew the deposit, which showed that there was a problem with the capital chain of Jinshang Bank in the capital. Don't blame Jia Lian for kicking the man when he was down.

"Until now, you are still speaking for Li Yuan. I really don't know what to say to you." Emperor Chenghui let out a sigh. Jia Lian's countermeasures were obviously a good solution to the problem. Thinking of Li Yuan's disdainful attitude towards Jia Lian, Emperor Chenghui couldn't help but sigh.

"Your Majesty, the king is the king and the minister is the minister. There is an order of superiority and inferiority. Even if the Second Prince does not like my minister, I should still do my duty." Jia Lian's words were sonorous and powerful.

Emperor Chenghui understood what he meant. Li Yuan was the emperor's son. Since he was a prince, no matter how badly he did, it was not Jia Lian's turn to comment.

Emperor Chenghui, who was very satisfied, turned around and said, "Qiu Shian, do as Jia Lian said. By the way, in what name?"

Jia Lian chimed in: "Your Majesty, you can use the reason of maintaining financial order and protecting the interests of depositors."

Emperor Chenghui nodded and said, "Okay, the word finance is used well. Let's do it this way. Let's draft the decree."

Emperor Chenghui was indeed a man who cared a lot about his reputation. After regaining his composure, he thought about a legitimate reason for his actions. It was not impossible to issue an imperial decree directly and bypass the cabinet, but it would expose the irreconcilable contradiction between His Majesty and the cabinet.

Jia Lian quickly took his place and drafted an imperial edict. Qiu Shian took it to the cabinet to go through the process. Kong Zhao was shocked when he saw it. He quickly summoned the cabinet ministers to discuss it.

After reading the draft, the cabinet ministers fell silent. Jia Lian explained clearly in the draft the cause and process of the matter.

When everyone saw that Jinshang Bank actually took the margin from the central bank, they felt like they were screwed. Is this how the Second Prince supervises?
"This is an urgent matter. His Majesty is waiting. We don't have time. If there is no objection, this will be passed immediately."

No one objected, so the cabinet immediately wrote a formal imperial edict, sealed it, and sent it back to the emperor. After the seal was used, Qiu Shian immediately executed it.

Jia Lian had nothing to do next, so he could leave with peace of mind.

After leaving the palace, Jia Lian did not ride a horse, but chose to walk to give himself some time to relax. During that period of time, he dared not say a single wrong word as he was under too much mental pressure.

After walking for a while and feeling almost relaxed, Jia Lian jumped on his horse and headed straight for the Wucheng Bingmasi.

When I arrived at the place, I found out that Li Heng was actually waiting there.

"You are finally back. The negotiation results of the Chahar tribe are out. The people at the Honglu Temple unanimously agreed that you should take a look before making a decision. Really, I am worried about you."

Li Heng started to complain as soon as he came up, but Jia Lian waved his hand and said, "Don't look for me. I have already quit my job at the Honglu Temple."

Li Heng asked, "Has the emperor approved it? Is there any official document?"

Jia Lian was stunned for a moment. It seemed that he just said he wanted to resign. No, His Majesty agreed verbally, but didn’t he send any written consent?
"Okay, let me take a look!" Jia Lian had no choice but to pinch his nose. This is what it means to have too many lice and not be afraid of the itch.

The King of Chahar pledged his loyalty and promised to go to Beijing to meet the Emperor in person after the agreement was signed. The Honglu Temple had always insisted on this point, and the other party finally gave in.

After a careful look, Jia Lian could not help but complain: "Are all the people in the Honglu Temple thinking about the so-called face? Why don't they care about the substance? The place for the trade can only be in Zhangjiakou, change it back! Also, this agreement is signed every three years. If the King of Chahar dies, the heir needs to come to the capital in person to see the emperor before our dynasty recognizes it. We can't just say whatever they say. Your Highness, go back and tell the people in the Honglu Temple that we are the winners of the battle of Zhangjiakou. It is the Chahar tribe that can't hold on. What we say is what it is. If you don't accept it, get out."

Li Heng was a little embarrassed. After being scolded by Jia Lian, he was a little embarrassed. He retorted: "Isn't this because you are worried about the border troubles?"

Jia Lian looked at him incredulously: "Your Highness, even if our dynasty loses the passes of the Great Wall, it will only be a minor defeat. Once the Chahar tribe mobilizes, they may face a catastrophic disaster."

Li Heng was not angry after being told off. He leaned closer and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong with Lao Er?"

Jia Lian looked around and saw no one else. He whispered, "Don't ask me. You will know."

Li Heng was rebuked, but his face lightened up and he quickly returned to his serious tone: "That's it, I will return to the Honglu Temple."

After Li Heng left, Jia Lian sat down to take a breath, and felt that he really couldn't handle so many things at the same time, so he quickly wrote a letter of resignation, quitting the positions of the Nine Gates Control, the Ministry of Works, the Secretariat, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Honglu Temple, and the Ministry of Revenue. He retained the position of the Imperial Censor and the position of the Research and Development Director, and quit all the others.

After writing it, Jia Lian quickly sent it to the Ministry of Public Security and submitted it through formal channels.

Emperor Chenghui handled it very quickly this time. Before leaving get off work, Jia Lian received a reply, retaining the positions of Chief Secretary, Special Fourth-Rank Imperial Censor of the Capital Region (Leading the Imperial Censor of the City Patrol and the Five Cities Military Command), and General Manager of the Research and Development Department. The eunuch who came to deliver the reply explained that retaining these positions was not to tire the silly boy, but that the emperor was worried about using others. Jia Lian naturally had nothing to say, as he was a minister.

After receiving the reply, Jia Lian went to handle the formalities the next day and spent a whole day to clean up the mess.

The incident at Jinshang Bank continued to ferment. With the intervention of Long Jinwei, the whole situation developed in a more intense direction.

The court officials submitted memorials on this matter one after another, and the main points were as follows.

Merchants who do not engage in production and are only interested in profit are absolutely not trustworthy and must be more strictly restricted.

As a major agricultural country, there have been various restrictions on merchants throughout the dynasties.

This is a commonplace. It is a basic practice for officials to treat businessmen as fat pigs.

The next point of view is more harsh. Private banks are difficult to supervise and, if they are neglected, the damage will be huge. The right of banks to communicate with the world should be abolished and the system should be limited to one province. Even if damage is caused, it can be controlled.

This view is actually to turn banks back into money houses, which is a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, or it could be that if there is no benefit for me, then you can forget about it.

A small number of people believe that banks play a very important role, are beneficial to the court, and are relatively friendly to the private business environment, and that they only need to be supervised and regulated.

The last wave of people didn't make much noise, mainly because the first two waves were so loud.

Emperor Chenghui once again kept all these memorials to express his attitude.

There were still many people going to Shanxi Merchants Bank to withdraw money every day, but Jia Lian’s people didn’t have to go because the whole city had been alarmed.

Even after being restricted by Long Jinwei, Jinshang Bank still did not give up and tried its best to make ends meet and try every possible means to ensure cash flow.

After three days of persistence, the treasury was finally exhausted, and a notice was posted to temporarily suspend business, and to continue cashing out when foreign funds arrived.

This was a huge incident, and a large number of people came to the bank and demanded that the banknotes they had be cashed.

The officials and their families in the capital did not join in the fun, but ordinary people did. Upon hearing the news, Jia Lian mobilized the troops of the Five Cities Military Department to maintain public order and appease the people to ensure that no casualties occurred.

When things got to this point, Emperor Chenghui urgently convened a cabinet meeting, and the solution they came up with was of course the same one Jia Lian had suggested. The cabinet naturally had nothing to say, and even if they wanted to object, they were afraid of being overwhelmed by the citizens of Beijing. They quickly reached an agreement, and the government immediately intervened to stabilize the market first and prevent the situation from escalating before discussing other matters.

Afterwards, the government posted a notice to reassure the people, saying that the imperial court had intervened and that everyone’s money would not be reduced and would be paid in full.

Long Jinwei took the lead, and all the Jinshang banks across the country were supervised and restricted by Long Jinwei. After the officials of various provinces learned of the imperial court's will, they also posted notices to reassure the people, saying that the imperial court was involved and that everyone should not panic, as the silver would not be reduced. But as I said before, the privileged people, like those in the capital, cashed in the silver bills in advance, and the ordinary people could only wait.

This incident caused such a big stir that it shocked the whole world.

In the capital, at the headquarters of Shanxi Merchants Bank, all shareholders were locked in a room.

When the matter reached its climax, Lin Ruhai returned to the capital and went to the palace to meet the emperor. Emperor Chenghui issued an imperial decree at the cabinet meeting, allowing Lin Ruhai to join the cabinet. This was the emperor's right and did not require approval from the outer court.

After taking office, Lin Ruhai was entrusted with handling the affairs of Shanxi Merchants Bank.

Lin Ruhai didn't make any requests, didn't even go home, and immediately got down to work. Lin Ruhai is really a hard-working man.

Outside the Shanxi Merchants Bank, there are still many people waiting for the resumption of business every day, but there is no commotion. After all, it is the capital city and the government is very persuasive.

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Thanks to the fact that the out-of-town branches of the Shanxi Merchants Bank are all in the provincial capitals, it is not that difficult for the government to handle the matter. After all, there are governors in charge, so those who want to make trouble have to think twice.

Other banks were also affected to varying degrees. Those that had been prepared were able to cope with the situation and the situation did not escalate further.

The first thing Lin Ruhai did after taking office was to meet with the shareholders of Shanxi Merchants Bank and post a notice to let all depositors know about this matter and publicize the origins of each shareholder.

This announcement is not a big deal. The background of many officials has been exposed. For example, Wang Chong and Xu Lin were exposed. Although they were not shareholders, their families were shareholders.

The Xu family is still the largest shareholder, followed by the Fan family, the Pei family, the King of Zhongshun, the Zongrenfu Zongzheng, the Kong family, the Liang family, etc. Among them, the Liang family holds a small share, only 1%, but this Liang family has a lot of stories. The second assistant Liang Daoyuan is a Liang family member. Among them, the Kong family has nothing to do with Kong Zhao, but many people don’t know it, and they immediately contact Kong Zhao when they see the Kong family.

After this announcement, there was another disturbance. This time it was not the people who were causing unrest, but the officials who were in an uproar. The Censorate was short of paper, and all the memorials impeaching various powerful people had to be put in baskets.

The impeachment firepower was mainly concentrated on Prince Zhongshun, Da Zongzheng, and Liang Daoyuan.

The three men could no longer hide, so they had to go to the palace to ask for an audience with Emperor Chenghui.

Although they hated Lin Ruhai to the core, they did not dare to say a word of dissatisfaction when they met the emperor.

Why are they so cowardly? The reason is simple. They didn't pay a penny and got the shares for free. Although not much, Prince Zhongshun got two points, Da Zongzheng got one point, and the Liang family got one point.

But this matter cannot withstand investigation. Once it is investigated, no one can escape.

Although Lin Ruhai did not disclose that they had obtained the shares for free, they did not dare to lie in front of the emperor and confessed everything honestly.

After they confessed, Emperor Chenghui flew into a rage, pointed at their noses and scolded them for an hour, and then immediately issued an imperial decree, demoting Prince Zhongshun from a prince to a county prince, and ordering him to pay up the share capital. Da Zongzheng was directly dismissed and his shares were confiscated. As for Liang Daoyuan, Emperor Chenghui did not deal with him, leaving him to deal with it as he saw fit.

Liang Daoyuan knelt in front of Emperor Chenghui to admit his mistake, and said that he would ask his family to hand over the shares, and that was all.

Why didn't he ask for his remains? He was unwilling to give up. He was just one step away from reaching the pinnacle of human authority. How could he bear to give it up?
Emperor Chenghui did not speak to Liang Daoyuan again and asked him to go back and think about it carefully.

Liang Daoyuan did not sleep all night, and his hair, which was originally a mixture of black and white, turned completely white overnight. The next day, he submitted a memorial, requesting that the Liang family hand over their shares and he himself beg for rebirth.

Lin Ruhai ordered all shareholders to cash in all the silver bills issued, otherwise the entire family would be in danger.

Under such strict orders and under the full surveillance of the Dragon Guards, silver was continuously transferred from Shanxi to the capital. After suspending business for ten days, the Shanxi Merchants Bank resumed exchange.

The situation began to cool down, but it was not over yet, and the strong aftermath was still shaking.

The people in the capital were so fed up with the melon that they vomited. First, Prince Zhongshun was demoted, then Da Zongzheng was dismissed, and then Liang Daoyuan begged to retire. After three requests and three resignations, the emperor approved it and saved face.

Just when people in the market thought that the matter was basically settled, another piece of news came out that the Kong family of Qufu, as one of the shareholders, actually got the shares for free without paying a single ounce of silver.

For a time, public opinion was in turmoil. Is this the descendant of a saint?

Jia Lian knew the whole story. Lin Ruhai got the details from the shareholders and the shopkeeper, and immediately issued a notice, asking the Kong family to make up the three percentage points of the share capital.

But the Kong family refused, and the reason they gave was that they had originally agreed with the Jinshang Bank that the Kong family would not have to pay money, but only provide a name. All of this was written in the agreement.

Lin Ruhai really did not make public the affairs of the Kong family, but the rumors on the market were all about the truth.

Many people have only one thought: Why? As a descendant of a saint, is the preferential treatment given by the imperial court good enough?

After hearing the news, Emperor Chenghui, who had long been dissatisfied with the current Duke of Yansheng, immediately summoned Lin Ruhai and asked him for details. After Lin Ruhai reported the results of the investigation truthfully, Emperor Chenghui convened a cabinet meeting to discuss how to deal with the Kong family. Feeling the emperor's anger, the cabinet ministers cooperated very well and did not play against the emperor. After all, the Kong family's valuable tablets were not the Duke of Yansheng.

The conclusion was quickly reached to replace the Duke of Yansheng. After the emperor and the cabinet reached an agreement, the censors below took action to impeach the Duke of Yansheng.

The Kong family is so big, but its descendants are mixed with good and bad people, and there are always some who commit crimes. Local officials dare not offend the Kong family, and many cases were covered up for them.

The various censors don't care about this. No matter who did it, they just say whether it is a member of the Kong family and whether Duke Yansheng should be held responsible.

The governor of Shandong went to Qufu in person and met Duke Yansheng. Duke Yansheng was so frightened that he fell ill. The Kong family then submitted a memorial saying that Duke Yansheng was in poor health and requested that the position of Duke Yansheng be re-appointed.

Normally, the son of Duke Yansheng would inherit the throne, but after the imperial edict came down, it was discovered that it was his brother who took over.

The new Duke of Yansheng quickly submitted a memorial to the emperor, stating that he would not only contribute capital, but would also contribute double the amount. He also said that the court had treated the Kong family well and that they should think about repaying the country's kindness.

The imperial court issued an edict to commend the new Duke of Yansheng!

Because of the resumption of exchange, the market gradually quieted down. After seeing the means and power of the court, few people worried about not being able to withdraw money anymore.

Shareholders of Shanxi Merchants Bank have been gradually released from control, but those in Beijing are still restricted from leaving the city.

Xia Shouzhong finally returned to the capital. It was no wonder that he was slow. When he arrived in Yangzhou, he fell seriously ill and had a fever for several days before it subsided.

As soon as he felt better, he set off immediately. No matter how hard he tried, he was unable to return to the capital before Lin Ruhai.

After meeting the emperor, Xia Shouzhong knelt down and cried, "I have never been away from the saint for so long. This time I thought I would never see the saint again!"

Emperor Chenghui kicked him and said, "Why are you crying so much? I'm still fine. Get out of here now. I have something for you to do."

After Xia Shouzhong stood up, Emperor Chenghui gave him some instructions, and Xia Shouzhong continued to work like a slave and went to the central bank as the chief supervisor. Although Prince Zhongshun was still the chief supervisor of the central bank, his authority was greatly weakened.

The one who is most miserable should be Li Yuan. There has been basically no news about him during this period, and he has been reflecting on himself at home.

(End of this chapter)