Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 287 Loans are also conditional
The main reason why Zhao Xin agreed to borrow money from Wanhe Bank was to provide another channel for exporting population.

In his view, since people like Thirteen Lines can sell the cleared military secrets for profit, then these people must also traffic people for profit in the future, which is the same as opium in another time and space.

It is said that the biggest problem of China's economy in the late Qianlong period was the contradiction between the growing population and the serious shortage of land.Under the enormous pressure of survival of less than two mu of land per capita, farmers had to sell property and land to landlords in exchange for food and money.With the intensification of land annexation, a large number of farmers became tenants.

However, the landlord class had limited demand for tenants, and with the severe drought in the 50th year of Qianlong, a large number of tenants gave up their land and became refugees.As a result, the entire Chinese society entered an era of great unemployment from the late eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century.

Although there is still a large amount of uncultivated wasteland in Northeast China and Taiwan, it can effectively relieve economic pressure.However, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has always adhered to the strict population flow policy, and the refugees are not allowed to go to sea or go out of the customs.

Naturally, Beihai Town would not help the Qing Dynasty, so what Zhao Xin could do was to bring a large number of unemployed refugees to the outer northeast to reclaim wasteland.In this way, when Beihai Town sends troops into the pass, the economic problems in the pass will be easier to solve than in another time and space.

In addition, the second purpose of Zhao Xin's trip to the south is to solve the problems of payment of migrant workers and how to keep secrets.

This matter is actually not difficult to operate. Zhao Xin’s approach is to put all the wages and bonuses of the migrant workers into the trust company through the offshore company under his name, and then the trust company signs an agreement with the cross-travelers, while Zhao Xin hides in the Behind the trust company to control.

Those who want to leave while being able to keep the secret will be able to get a regular payment from the trust company every month; those who cannot keep it secret will lose their eligibility to receive the salary.

Faced with such conditions, should he choose to mess around with BB after returning home?Or quietly take money to live a good life?At present, the reason why the cross-travelers in Beihai Town went abroad with Zhao Xin was either because they died in society and changed their way of life, or they wanted to make money.

Compared with the trouble, Zhao Xin needs to pay the lawyer's fee and the annual management fee of the trust company, which is a drizzle.

There are three old Bodhi trees in Haizhuan Temple, all of which were planted in the 15th year of Chongzhen.In another time and space, although Haizhuan Temple has been demolished and rebuilt by wars, these three trees have been preserved.After consulting the information, Zhao Xin decided to use these three trees as his anchor points.

On the third day of December, Liu Zheng, Cai Zhaoping and others arrived at the temple in the morning. They ate and drank tea in the living room, or wandered and chatted in the garden until seven o'clock in the evening.

Because Guangzhou is a sea trade city, there are Western clocks used to tell the time no matter in the wealthy households in the city or in the temples, and everyone is used to Western timekeeping.

At this time, it was completely dark, and all the monks in the temple were quietly listening to the Dharma in the hall. Liu Zheng looked at the time, and it was already 07:30. He talked to Cai Zhaoping, and then he came alone with a lantern. Came under a bodhi tree.

After waiting for a while, there was no movement, Liu Zheng sighed, turned around and walked towards another bodhi tree, when he suddenly felt someone tap his shoulder; when he turned around holding the lantern, it was Zhao new.

"Brother, you almost scared me to death! It's such a dark night, why don't you cough first?" The complainer complained, after not seeing each other for several months, Liu Zheng was still very excited to see Zhao Xin, and he had a fight with Zhao Xin with one hand Embrace.It can be regarded as meeting relatives!

When the two returned to the living room, Cai Zhaoping was already waiting here.

"Brother Liu, who is this?" Cai Zhaoping was a little surprised when he saw Zhao Xin, who was tall and tall, wearing only dark blue clothes and carrying a large backpack with a strange shape.

"Young Master Cai, right?" Zhao Xin took a step forward with a straight face, and said to Cai Zhaoping, "I was sent by the north to deliver the money."

Cai Zhaoping looked at the bag in Zhao Xin's hand, and thought to himself that although your bag is quite big, it can't hold 50 taels of silver!It is 1000 taels if you are exhausted.

(One tael of silver in the Qing Dynasty was 37.5 grams, and 1000 taels was 75 catties.)
Zhao Xin knew what the other party was worried about, so he took out a document bag made of kraft paper from his bag, handed it to Cai Zhaoping, and said, "It contains a loan agreement. Mr. Cai will take it home and discuss it with Boss Cai. As long as the agreement is signed, the money will be paid." almost there."

"Okay!" Cai Zhaoping took the paper bag, and said to himself that he would look at it when he got home tonight.

"Have a cloak or cloak? Give me one."

"Yes, yes! Everything is ready." Liu Zheng said while handing over a black cloak and straw hat.

After Zhao Xin finished dressing up, the group hurriedly left Haizhuan Temple and boarded a boat by the river. After more than 20 minutes, Zhao Xin's feet had already set foot on the square in the commercial area.

It is impossible to give the money immediately, and a contract must be signed before taking the money, so Cai Zhaoping and Liu Zheng agreed to meet at the office tomorrow morning, and then left.

Seeing Zhao Xin coming in person, the 33 people in Beihai Town were very excited.Everyone entered the White Bear House and went up to the second floor, closed the door and pulled the curtains, and then began to salute Zhao Xin.

After exchanging pleasantries and condolences, Zhao Xin showed kindness and kindness, without any arrogance, but the posture of the superior was naturally revealed.After the subordinates left, only Liu Zheng and Zhao Xin were left in the room.

Liu Zheng was very curious about how the aura of the superior was cultivated. Zhao Xin smiled slightly after hearing this: "There is no need to put on airs or show a sense of superiority. When you can see the overall situation and control it, you will naturally have it."

The two chatted for a while, and when his subordinates brought tea, Zhao Xin took out a folder from his backpack and handed it to Liu Zheng.

"Trust contract?" Liu Zheng opened it and flipped through it. There was a number and deadline on it that surprised him. "2000 million! Ten years?"

"Yes, as long as you go back ten years later, this document will take effect. Please read carefully the clauses on the responsibilities of both parties. Let's be a villain first and then a gentleman."

Liu Zheng read the contents of the document several times, and after an hour, he put down the document and asked, "Everyone has it?"

Zhao Xin nodded slowly and said, "Everyone has it."

Liu Zheng said, "Let me think about it again?"

"Okay, I won't leave until the day after tomorrow." Zhao Xin nodded, then got up and walked to the window, opened the curtain with his fingers, and looked at a certain place in the dark night.

"Is there?" Zhao Xin asked without looking back.

Liu Zheng knew what Zhao Xin was asking, so he walked up to Zhao Xin and said, "Yes, the shelf is still there, but the iron cage was taken away a few days ago."

A scornful smile appeared on Zhao Xin's face, and he looked at the dark night in the distance and said to Liu Zheng: "It's all about these unscrupulous things. It seems that the few shots in the former cottage haven't hurt them yet."

Liu Zheng said, "You don't know, those few days I was so angry that I really wanted to shoot and kill."

Zhao Xin asked, "Did someone from the Zheng family contact you?"

Liu Zheng shook his head and said, "The boat has been parked on the other side, and there are two fishermen on it. But the situation here makes it difficult to go out and contact me."

Zhao Xin said: "Well, this is a problem. I'll think about it."

The boat that Liu Zheng mentioned was one of the conditions Zhao Xin had discussed with Zheng Lianchang.Since Zhao Xin left with Zheng Yi and others, the Zheng family arranged for a watermelon boat to park on the south bank of the Pearl River, facing the commercial hall area; Lei Yue Mun, the old nest of the family.

"By the way, what did you say about the contract you gave to the Cai family?" After being busy for a long time since entering the door, Liu Zheng remembered the loan agreement.

Zhao Xin took out another three-page document from his bag, handed it to Liu Zheng, and said, "Two copies, please have a look."

After reading it, Liu Zheng nodded and said, "I understand."

The next morning, Liu Zheng went down to the office with two of his men, and Cai Zhaoping and Cai Shiwen had been waiting here for a long time.After the three of them retreated to the left and right, the Cai family father and son saluted Liu Zheng deeply: "Mr. Liu, thank you for your kindness. If there is anything I need my Cai family to do, please tell me clearly."

In Zhao Xin's loan agreement, the interest on the 50 taels of silver is [-]/[-] of the monthly interest, which will be paid off in three years.At present, all merchants are ordered to donate, so it is almost impossible to borrow money from peers; as for Macau, the merchants in Bass offer three-cent monthly interest or compound interest.

The Cai family and their sons understood at a glance last night that courteous people must ask for something, so as soon as they came up today, they had to ask whether the other party wanted to wrap Wanhexing into a rebellious chariot, and if they really held this For the purpose, this money is too expensive to borrow.

"Four conditions. First, give me a weekly briefing on all the movements of the officialdom in Guangdong and even the imperial court."

Cai Zhaoping asked doubtfully, "Briefing?"

Liu Zheng explained: "It's similar to the palace copy of the imperial court. Everything big and small must be detailed."

Cai Shiwen nodded calmly: "This is not difficult, is there any more?"

"Ship, help us buy ten English-style three-masted sailing ships from Siam, five of the [-]-ton class, and five of the [-]-ton class. The sooner the better!"

"This..." Cai's father and son suddenly gasped.This is a big business. If it can be done, the Cai family can earn a lot from it, and the working capital on hand will be several 10 taels more.

For Hong merchants like them, how many assets they have are just paper figures. What really matters is how much cash flow they can control, which is a matter of life and death.

"These ships don't need artillery. I will pay 7 taels of silver bills as a deposit first, and then pay the balance after the official contract is signed."

Cai Shiwen was a little surprised when he heard that no weapons were needed, but he still let out a sigh of relief, and continued to ask, "Are there any more?"

"Help us buy two houses, one outside the city and one inside the city. The location inside the city must be near Guangxiao Temple."

When the Cai family heard this, the request was too simple. The Cai family had a lot of mansions, and it was enough for people to find two houses.

"And what about the last condition?"

"The person who came to deliver the money last night asked to go around the city."

"Ah?" The Cai family father and son were stunned when they heard this.

Cai Zhaoping met Zhao Xin yesterday, so he knew that the other party was not some blond and blue-eyed ghost.

"What are you going to do in town?"

"Don't be nervous, both of you." Liu Zheng explained helplessly: "My colleague has long heard that the Xiguan area of ​​Guangzhou City is prosperous, and he wants to visit it. Don't worry, he just wants to buy some antiques, books and other items. Absolutely no trouble."

Cai Zhaoping said in his heart that from the appearance, it is not impossible to pretend to be a disguise, but the problem is that the man is a bit too tall, and it is difficult to walk on the street without attracting attention.He glanced at his father, and said to Liu Zheng: "The problem is not that big, why don't I talk to him later?"

"it is good."

After negotiating the conditions, the next thing is simple.The Cai family and his son were obviously not used to the text format of the agreement given by Zhao Xin, so they drafted a new one.Liu Zheng had no objection after reading it, so he and Cai Shiwen signed it and pressed their fingerprints.

Next, it's time to give the silver, where is the silver?Liu Zheng put the agreement in his pocket, saying that the money was in the Baixiong shop, and it arrived last night.

The Cai family father and son looked at each other in blank dismay.

Well, Cai Shiwen was really surprised when he saw the silver bar in Beihai Town this afternoon! 18.75 tons of silver were quietly stacked in the warehouse next to Baixionghang.There are many fishing boats docked on the Pearl River even in the middle of the night, and there is such a big movement of carrying several 10 taels of silver that there is not even a little wind!
The warehouse next door to Baixionghang is very large, with an area of ​​almost [-] square meters.Because there is no goods in storage at present, it has been empty for several months.

Nearly 20 tons of silver were stacked nearly three meters high, occupying more than half of the warehouse.Untie a corner of the thatch, and you will see a dazzling silvery white.Cai Shiwen has been a merchant for so many years, and he has passed tens of millions of dollars. Of course, he will not be scared by the mere 50 taels. He can tell by the color that these are extremely pure silver, which is far higher than the daily silver taels and double-column silver coins. .

"Boss Cai, each thousand-pound silver bar here is 13.333 grams, which is [-] taels in taels, a total of [-]. It is not bad at all. Please order it."

The ancients generally tested the authenticity of silver by listening, seeing and weighing. Of course, biting is also acceptable.And Cai Shiwen's subordinates are all veterans in the business world, they only need to weigh it to distinguish the true from the false.

The two sides left the people who inspected the silver and the guards, so Liu Zheng and Cai Shiwen went to the shop to drink tea and wait.After about half an hour, people from the Cai family came to report that the silver ingots were checked and they were all [-]% pure silver.

Seeing this, Liu Zheng took out another 7 taels of bank note and said, "This is the deposit for buying the sailboat, please keep it."

Cai Shiwen's smiling subordinates asked his son to issue a receipt to the other party, and then he cupped his hands and said, "Boss Liu is really trustworthy!"

After finishing business, it's time for Zhao Xin to come forward.

Zhao Xin came down from the second floor, sat opposite Cai's father and son, smiled and cupped his hands and said, "Thanks to Mr. Cai for your help, I am very grateful."

Huh~ This mouthful of Beijing movies immediately stunned the Cai family and his son.

Cai Zhaoping cupped his hands and said, "May I ask what your name is?"

"My surname is Wang, and my name is Yuanfang."

"Brother Wang, where do you want to go in the city?"

"I have heard for a long time that the West Gate of Guangzhou City is well-developed in commerce, and there are all kinds of shops. I have been in Beidi, and I have admired it for a long time. This time I want to go to the city and buy some gifts to take back."

At this time, the Cai family father and son suddenly had an illusion. If the man surnamed Wang opposite him only listened to the voice, he would really think he was a banner man.

wait!Are there bannermen among the rebels?

Cai Zhaoping stopped his chaotic thoughts, thought for a while, and then asked tentatively: "Most of the shops in the city are located in the west gate, and the east of the city is all government warehouses. How about just walking around the west gate?"

Zhao Xin nodded and said, "Let's go to Ximen."

(End of this chapter)