Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 686
Li Jing said with a smile: "Father-in-law's words are wrong. It is not your duty to increase income for the country. Your duty is to manage the money in the treasury so that officials don't waste it. Now that the state's fiscal revenue is insufficient for expenditure, your job is really not good When, in a few years, when industry and commerce develop, your life will be easier."

Shen Zheng sighed and said, "I hope so."

Li Jing said solemnly: "There must be no problem. In the past few years, I will try my best to reduce military operations and focus on developing agriculture, industry and commerce. I don't want to hide it from you. One purpose is to encourage people to engage in business.

In the past, the imperial court did not pay much attention to commerce and suppressed merchants at every turn, so that merchants did not dare to let go of business.Now I sell the equity to let everyone follow me, so that they don't have to worry.With these people as role models, more people will be driven into business.At the same time, we need to build more factories and produce more materials to drive business development. "

Everyone couldn't help nodding when they heard it.

After a while, Shen Zheng suddenly smiled and said: "Marshal, the imperial court has borrowed more than 700 million taels of silver from you personally in the past few years, and borrowed more than 1000 million taels of silver from Jingji Bank. With so much money, it is estimated that The Ministry of Household Affairs will not be able to repay within three to five years. If you have to take out the money again this time, the court will not be able to repay it.”

Li Jing said with a smile: "Actually, I don't have to pay it back, but if I don't pay it back, many people will feel that they can rely on them and feel that I can solve their difficulties personally, so they will inevitably be lazy in doing things.

We can't let the officials have this mentality, so the money must be paid back.As for the current difficulties in the country, it doesn’t matter if you don’t pay it all at once. Let’s take it slowly. "

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "As for the borrowed money this time, I don't intend to ask the imperial court to pay it back. I want to transfer part of the equity of the property under my name to the imperial court. Let's count it as half. After selling the equity in this way, the imperial court You can get a lot of money.”

"Isn't that giving money to the country for free?" Shen Zheng said with a smile.

Li Jing shook his head: "This account can't be calculated in this way. You know that I have many industries under my name, especially those factories were set up when I was in Pingyang Prefecture. Although I personally paid for it, it is in the name of the government after all. Since it is in the name of the government, the factory cannot be said to be my own, the government should have a part of the equity. The government belongs to the imperial court, so it cannot be said that I gave the money to the country for nothing. "

Shen Zheng heard the words and pondered for a while and said: "Marshal, you don't want to listen to what I say, I think you'd better discuss this matter with Ying'er and the wife of the princess, after all, these businesses are handled by them. To be able to achieve this level today, they have put in a lot of hard work, and I think it is not appropriate for you to make decisions and hand over the money to the court."

Li Jing smiled: "I know, and I won't hide it from you. Before you came, I was going back to the mansion to discuss this matter with the two wives. I didn't expect to be stopped by you just as I was about to go out."

Shen Zheng and the others said with a smile: "It seems that we came at the wrong time."

Li Jing waved his hands and said with a smile: "Your matters are more important, it doesn't matter if mine is later. Alright, bring me any official documents, and I'll approve them for you."

After hearing this, Yuan Shu and others smiled and took out the official document to Li Jing. Li Jing took it and looked at it roughly, signed his name one by one, stamped his seal, and handed it to everyone.

Then everyone bowed and left.

After sending everyone away, Li Jing put on his coat again, and asked Su Heng to call Xiao Jiu to go back home with him.

Back in the mansion, Li Jing told Shen Ying about starting a family for Shen Jixian. Shen Ying naturally strongly supported this, and teased Li Jing with a smile that he finally knew how to care about his wife and uncle.

Li Jingwen couldn't help but feel ashamed.

Speaking of which, Shen Jixian's failure to get married so far was really delayed by him.Shen Jixian followed Li Jing when he was 16 years old, starting from a small grocery store. As Li Jing established a bank to issue banknotes, Shen Jixian's business grew bigger and bigger.

However, since Shen Jixian’s business mainly revolved around the banknote business, every time Qianzhuang and later established Daming Bank opened a branch, Shen Jixian’s business had to follow suit, and every time a branch was opened, Shen Jixian had to stay in the local area for at least several months. Basically, being away from home all year round eventually delayed lifelong events.

Of course, it cannot be said that Li Jing delayed Shen Jixian's failure to get married. Another reason was Shen Jixian's occupation.

You must know that at this time, marriage between a man and a woman is about the right family. As Li Jing's status rose, Shen Zheng naturally wanted to find a family with his status.

But Shen Jixian was a businessman, and the status of a businessman in Daming was extremely low. All Shen Zheng fell in love with were the daughters of officials, but the officials were unwilling to marry their daughters to a businessman.

As for ordinary people who are not worthy of Shen Zheng's status, Shen Zheng still looks down on such a family, which is one of the reasons why Shen Jixian has not married yet.

There are many brothers and sisters in the next generation of the Shen family, but Shen Jixian is the one Li Jing values ​​most.To be honest, Li Jing didn't want Shen Ji to find a girl from an ordinary family first.

Asking Shen Ying to help Shen Jixian take care of it, naturally she wanted to find someone with a similar status.But it is not so easy to find a family of comparable status right away, so Li Jing thought about taking a concubine for Shen Jixian first.

Hearing that Li Jing said that he would promise Shen Jixian his maidservant as a concubine, Shen Ying couldn't help turning her eyes to the maidservant behind her.

At this time, there were four maids accompanying the house, they were the personal maids of Shen Ying and Zhu Huiyu, and they were also the four highest-ranking maids in Li's mansion. Two of these four were Cao Wenzhao and Ma Wucong. The ones obtained by Fang Si are the family members of the prisoner, and the other two were forcibly snatched by Chen Dahu from the Qinhuai Songfang when he was in Nanjing.

These four people are not only excellent in appearance, but also outstanding in literary talent, especially the two girls that Chen Dahu forcibly snatched, one is Dong Bai and the other is Gu Mei, and they are proficient in all kinds of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. Being a concubine is really a bit wronged.But Shen Jixian was his younger brother, and even Li Jing's younger brother-in-law, if he accepted them as concubines in this capacity, it wouldn't be considered an insult to them.

Looking at the four maids, Shen Ying couldn't help but ponder. Among the four, Dong Bai was the youngest, less than 16 years old, and Gu Mei was the oldest, 20 years old this year.

Ordinarily, it is most appropriate to give Gu Mei to Shen Jixian, but Gu Mei is Zhu Huiyi's maid, and Zhu Huiyi's right-hand man. If you want to give Gu Mei to Shen Jixian, you have to ask Zhu Huiyi for his opinion.

Seeing Shen Ying's gaze turned to her maid, Zhu Huiyu smiled and said: "It seems that my sister is planning to give Meisheng (Gu Mei's word) to Jixian."

Shen Ying said with a smile: "Meisheng belongs to my sister, how can my sister make decisions for my sister?"

Zhu Huiling shook his head with a smile: "My sister is the head of the family, so naturally I have to listen to my sister."

Shen Ying said with a smile: "The head of our family is here, my sister dare not be the head of the family."

Li Jing smiled and said: "Your sisters are in charge of the affairs of the house, I don't care."

Shen Ying gave Li Jing a white look, then turned to Zhu Huiyu and said, "Let's make it up to my sister."

Zhu Huiling shook his head, sighed lightly, turned to Gu Mei and said, "Meisheng, you have been in the mansion for almost three years, and you have been with me for two years. In the past two years, you have worked hard, and I will keep that in mind. I originally planned to give you another year, and I will praise you when the master's guarding period is over, but Madam wants to promise you to her younger brother, so I can't go against Madam's wishes.

Meisheng, Jixian, you have seen this person before, he is a very nice young man, although he is a businessman, but if the master wants to promote him, he can make him an official at any time, so you don't have to consider his status.Now I don't know if you are willing or not, if you are not, my wife and I will not force you. "

Upon hearing this, Gu Mei slowly knelt down in front of Shen Ying and Zhu Huiyu: "Your servant obeys Madam in everything."

Shen Ying stretched out her hand to pull Gu Mei up: "If you say that, I will take it as your agreement. We will be a family from now on, and you will call me sister from now on."

"Slaves don't dare." Gu Mei hurriedly said.

Shen Ying smiled and said: "Although the master promised you to Jixian as a concubine, you are a person who left our house. After passing through the door, if you are wronged, you can go back to the house and tell my sister and me. Call the shots for you."

"Thank you ma'am." Gu Mei hurriedly said.

Seeing that Gu Mei agreed, Li Jing said with a smile: "I have already ordered someone to write to Jixian, asking him to return to Beijing immediately. I estimate that Jixian will return within a month at the latest. Madam, you will send someone to notify your father-in-law in a while, and let him return to Beijing immediately." The old man asked someone to choose a good and auspicious day, and when Jixian came back, the marriage was done.

En...Let my father-in-law make the wedding more grand. After all, he is a person from our mansion. Although he is a concubine, there is no less courtesy. Also, you should treat yourself as your own younger sister leaving the cabinet, and you must prepare a dowry Enough. "

Shen Ying laughed and said, "Master, don't worry, I promise to let my sister come out of the cabinet in a good manner."

Gu Mei hurriedly fell to her knees when she heard the words: "Thank you, Master, thank you Madam, I don't know how much incense I burned in my previous life to meet Master and Madam in this life."

Li Jing waved his hands and said with a smile: "Get up, we will be a family from now on, don't be too polite, I don't like family members who are so polite."

"Yes! Master." Gu Mei hurriedly said.

Seeing that Gu Mei still used her previous address, Li Jing smiled and shook his head, knowing that after Gu Mei left the cabinet, he might not be able to change this address.

After Shen Jixian's marriage was finished, Li Jing told Shen Ying and Zhu Huiyu in detail about his plan to sell the shares.

What Li Jing didn't expect was that Shen Ying and Zhu Huihou not only didn't object after listening to it, but were full of interest in this business method.

It should be said that after so many years of training, Shen Ying and Zhu Huiyu's business insight can be said to be quite keen.

The two keenly felt that if the operation method of the East India Company was followed, the King Kee Company could immediately collect a large amount of cash and then open more factories and shops. In this way, although part of the equity was sold, the Since more factories and stores can be opened, the income of the family will only increase and not decrease.

It's just that how to divide assets into shares still needs De Bauer's advice.

(End of this chapter)