Chapter 343: Losing Everything
Zhang Xiangyang is old and goes to bed early. His concubine Liu Haitang quickly waited for him to dress up and came out to see Ma Ling with a confused look on her face. She asked what was the matter that had to be told in the middle of the night?
Ma Linger handed him a letter and said: Brother Yulin has left some instructions, so please help me in an emergency.
Zhang Xiangyang took the letter and saw that it was written by Zhao Yulin a few days ago, asking Chengdu Weekly to publish an article on the front page about Rongcheng Bank opening deposit and withdrawal services, and also asking the old man to contact Manager Qu for support and help make a comment to maliciously hype the money market.
What this means is that the newspaper will also do a piece of news reporting on the shopkeeper, so that the Jewelry Chamber of Commerce can praise and support the bank's business and criticize the current practice of speculating on money notes and disrupting the Chengdu money market.
The old man was watching the Chengdu Weekly, so he was aware of the hot topics these days. He didn't dare to be careless, and immediately became a different person, quickly gathering people and rushing to the Qu family on Qintai.
The next day's special issue of "Chengdu Weekly" was published, but because we were busy last night, it was published late and was not sent out until almost noon.
The newspaper only had two pages, and the front page was filled with news about the opening of the new currency deposit and withdrawal business by the Chengdu Bank and articles compiled by the leaders of the Jade and Jewelry Chamber of Commerce. Every article praised the court for doing things for the people and for earning interest on deposits.
In the past, people in the Song Dynasty had to pay deposit fees when depositing money, which was like being skinned alive after depositing it in a money shop. Now, depositing money in a bank earns interest, which means that money deposited in a bank will give birth to children on its own, which is incredible and of course a good thing.
Newsboys sell newspapers in crowded places, so naturally they flock to the money market. Those people see that depositing money in the bank earns interest, which is great.
But other banks only deposit new coins, what should I do?
The only thing you can do is sell the money you have, exchange it for silver and go to the bank to exchange it for new currency and deposit it. However, the government bank has promised to exchange new currency and silver coins at equal value.
The common people watched and excitedly crowded over to exchange the notes in their hands, then took out the silver and ran to the bank.
Only those who speculate on money would hang around money shops and buy money with the intention of making high profits.
However, the people behind them saw that they were blocking the road, and they held up newspapers and shouted, "Why don't you just get your money and leave?" The jewelry store owner Qu Da publicly denounced this evil act of maliciously raising the exchange price of money in the newspaper.
Those who were speculating in money also began to wonder whether they should continue the quarrel.
At this time, Inspector Jiang Ligang quietly got into a sedan chair, and a group of guards also dressed in plain clothes, escorted a carriage and followed behind to Qian Fuxing's shop.
When Qian Fuxing saw him coming, he immediately welcomed him into the accounting office with a smile.
Jiang Ligang said carelessly and bluntly that all the three million strings of cash notes would be exchanged for silver, and he would find a small box to put the three cents of interest on the side, and not a penny would be missing.
Qian Fuxing understood immediately that Jiang Ligang was onto something and was using the public funds of his Inspection Department to make a profit. He immediately told his clerk to do it with a smile, and also secretly gave him a big golden rat and shouted, "Make a pair, make a pair."
Jiang Ligang of course knew what he meant, and said with a smile that it was a small matter. Brother Qian's business was so booming, do you want to send some more people to help?
Qian Fuxing immediately thanked him with a laugh and even said it was not necessary.
As soon as Jiang Ligang left, this guy immediately frowned and became depressed. Every company was trying to sell their goods, but he had to receive a large amount of high-priced goods, and he had no choice but to accept it. Damn it.
After the market closed that day, these shop owners sat down at Qian Fuxing's house again to discuss countermeasures.
Jiuzi said angrily that Chengdu Weekly was harming people. Those idiots were going to come to the shop to buy his money notes to make money, but when they saw that the newspaper was no longer sold, those who had some money exchanged it for silver and went to the bank to exchange it for new currency to earn interest. He received a lot of money notes today.
Ma Chenggui was very cautious. He said that at the end of the day, the people who bought money leads were all familiar money-gamblers. There were very few strangers who really wanted to gamble and make a profit from the price increase. They all took advantage of the price increase to exchange the money for silver and ran away.
Qian Fuxing also sensed danger and thought that the government was taking action. It must be Zhao Qier's doing. He was worried that raising the price of money again would lead to greater suppression from the government.
He thought for a long time and decided to raise the price by 5 cents tomorrow, find a reason to refuse to accept the money orders, and persuade more people to buy the money orders so as to ship out the goods slowly. After everyone reached a consensus, they immediately took action.
At Zhao Yulin's house, Ma Linger was also assigning tasks.
Wu Yuqi said that Shunfeng had already caught evidence of Qian Fuxing gathering a crowd to drive up prices, so they could take action.
Ma Linger said that we are officials and if we want to catch them, we cannot let the people suffer any harm. This is what Brother Yulin meant.
There was a news report in the newspaper today that many people have come to the bank to exchange new currency for deposits.
Tomorrow, we will ask Shopkeeper Qu to lead a group of merchants to go to Shisanpu to withdraw silver and spread the news that Shisanpu is using depositors' silver to speculate and make profits, and that the money shop is now empty.
When the bank depositors knew that their money was used by Shisanpu to speculate on money notes, they would definitely worry that their money would be gone and would definitely go to withdraw cash. Shisanpu had no money to do business with, so why would it speculate on money notes? It would directly become the biggest banker of money notes.
This move is called removing the fuel from under the cauldron.
The third young master said that he would make these people lose everything they had and serve as a warning to future generations so that they would not dare to do evil again.
Then, she arranged for a banknote of 10 million strings of cash and ordered them to be taken to the Jiuzi Shop of Shisan Shop to exchange for cash the next day so as to knock it down first.
Everyone immediately took action separately.
Seeing that Jiang Ligang had gone far away, Ma Linger asked someone to stop him and walked up to Jiang Ligang and said that the Third Young Master absolutely trusted the Inspector. There would definitely be unrest in Chengdu in the next few days because of the money market, so the Inspector needed to respond with caution and do his best to protect the people.
Jiang Ligang looked grateful and asked her not to worry, saying he would do the job well.
Hengqu Town in Qingcheng Mountain.
After resting for a night in Hengqu Town, Zhao Yulin and Cao Youwen left the town and went upstream along the Weijiang River.
Hengqu is the Jie Zi ancient town of Dujiangyan in later generations. He often came here to play in later generations and remembered that there was a relatively flat area in front.
Sure enough, they had only walked about three miles when they saw a large terrace on the hillside on the right. He pointed at the place and said, "It's right there. Let's build a camp. The surrounding mountains are just right for our brothers to train and exercise."
Lao Cao was also happy when he saw it, thinking that he really knew how to choose a place. He was so excited that he wanted to camp and hunt here and have some fun before leaving.
He knew that Zhao Yulin had arranged things in Chengdu and was planning to set up a maze here, so he decided to cooperate with him.
Zhao Yulin felt that hunting was fine, and going into the mountains was fine, but they could not camp overnight in the mountains, because they were both important officials of the court and their safety had to be guaranteed.
The two men immediately took action, searching the mountain carefully and surveying the surrounding environment.
Lao Cao Cao picked up his bow and arrow, Zhao Yulin found a small hoe, and the two of them wandered around in the mountains. After working for most of the day, they came to Jinbian Rock to rest.
Lao Cao shot a wild boar and three wild rabbits, which was a good harvest.
Zhao Yulin followed behind to look for wild orchids, but all he dug up were parrot green ground orchids. The flower pavilion of this kind of orchid is very short and the flowers are not plain, so he got nothing.
The two men, along with a large group of guards, crowded the Golden Whip Rock, which had only three households. The people in the mountains had never seen such large soldiers and officials before, and they were so frightened that they trembled and didn't know how to speak.
It was Zhao Yulin's guard captain Chu Yuxuan who went up to explain and communicate, asking them to give up a yard for the two of them to rest.
The two men lived in a shabby but tidy yard, waiting for the guards to kill rabbits and wild boars for them to barbecue.
Zhao Yulin walked around the yard and found that several branches of the fence made of miscellaneous wood were broken, so he asked the guards to cut some good branches to help the landlord fill the gap.
Following the scent of the orchid, he found an orchid planted in a broken clay pot at the foot of the gable of the house, and discovered that it was actually an orchid with a pure yellow heart, and the ivory yellow flowers were blooming in the wind.
Zhao Yulin squatted down and tasted it carefully. The flower with a pure yellow heart under the hard orchid leaves was dignified, and the petals were narrow, long and thick. The tender yellow jade heart was none other than the famous Daoguang of Western Shu in later generations.
Oh, the orchid variety of Xishu Daoguang is very hard to find. This trip was not in vain.
He asked Xiao Chu to pick up the orchid and ask the owner if he wanted to sell it and how much he wanted. The thin old man of the Xu family trembled and said that the wild grass in the mountains was not valuable, so he gave it to Junye.
Zhao Yulin said, how can that be possible?
The Shenwei Army cannot just take the people ’s property. They have to give a price.
The old man didn't expect that a wild flower in the corner could be sold for money. He smiled, crossed his two fingers and said, "That's the amount I want."
Zhao Yulin said ten taels of silver? Give me the money.
Xiao Chu immediately took out a hundred silver coins and gave them to the old man.
The old man held the purse in his hand and shook his head in surprise, saying that what he wanted was... He was just continuing to speak when the old woman next to him hurriedly pulled him back, saying as they walked that the deal was done and the orchid would belong to him.
When Zhao Yulin saw the old man's staggering back, he thought of his mother in the afterlife. He couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat and turned away.
When he got back, Lao Cao saw that he was in a bad mood and asked what was wrong.
Are you unhappy because you didn’t find the treasure?
Are you worried about the lady in the city?
He asked three questions in a row, and Zhao Yulin didn't know which one to answer. He smiled faintly and said, "No, I have nothing to do, so I'll go for a walk and have a look."
Lao Cao was in a good mood and asked Zhao Yulin to sit down. He was disturbed by Zhao Yulin's constant wandering in front of him. He began to talk about his daughters, who also participated in the battle to sniper Shisanpu. He wondered how they were doing.
It turned out that Lao Cao was also concerned about the financial war in the city.
Later, the hare and wild boar were roasted, and the fragrance had filled the valley. Lao Cao generously asked for some grains, and everyone got a jar and started eating.
The next day, the two returned to Chengdu. The financial war in the money market had entered a white-hot stage. A large number of small retail investors rushed to exchange silver and get out of the market. Some people, hoping to take a gamble, went to buy money to gamble and make money.
Ma Linger told him that in the afternoon, Shopkeeper Qu took several jewelers to the money market to withdraw their own silver and exchange it for new currency. He promised the shopkeeper that if the price went up later and they suffered losses in the exchange, the bank would make up for it.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said solemnly that he wanted to give these people a reassurance.
