Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 344 Loans and Arrangements

"How about borrowing money from King Yu?"

At this time, Zhang Qi couldn't help but said.

"King Yu?"

Everyone was surprised and laughed.

Isn't this whimsical?I have never heard of the principle of borrowing money like the emperor.

"On this trip, Shanxi merchants, Huizhou merchants, and salt merchants will offer 3 million taels of silver when the king of Yu gives birth to an heir. How can such a huge amount of money be spent in a short while?"

Facing everyone's doubts, Zhang Qi didn't panic at all.

For his son-in-law, he knows very well, he is only interested in profit, and he is very fond of gold and silver, no less than women's sex.

Money is stored in the treasury, how can it be better to borrow it to earn interest?

"Instead of that, if the annual interest is ten percent, King Yu will definitely not refuse."

Zhang Qi immediately cupped his hands and said to He Zongcheng, "And once other merchants and common people know that we can borrow silver from King Yu, who else will question us?"

"That makes sense."

He Zongcheng nodded, showing a trace of excitement: "We must dare to be the first in the world, and do things that others dare not do."

"You don't need a million taels, you only need to borrow three 500,000, and it's enough to open a business."

"However, an annual interest rate of ten percent is too little. I'm afraid King Yu is hesitating, so I think it's appropriate to adjust it to fifteen percent."

Fifteen percent, that is, 15.00%, if you borrow 50 taels, you will have to repay 5000 taels a year. Although the interest is high, it is not a usury.

Shaanxi merchants are not short of money, but they are short of time.

At this time, everyone expressed their agreement and agreed with this whimsical idea.

"Mr. Zhang, there is no one more suitable than you for such matters."

He Zongcheng turned his head, showing some compliments.

"This matter is related to the future of Shaanxi merchants. How dare I not try my best?"

Zhang Qi couldn't hide his excitement on his face, and patted his chest to assure him.

Once this matter is completed, it will be extremely helpful to improve his status among Shaanxi merchants.

Thinking of this, he is full of motivation.

Puffing and puffing, he begged to see King Yu, and after waiting for a long time, finally, while changing clothes, King Yu was willing to see him.

At this time, His Royal Highness King Yu took off the sun, moon and stars' gown and crown, only wearing a white silk underwear, eating iced sour plum soup, his face was full of exhaustion.

Whether it is clothes or etiquette, it needs to be rehearsed over and over again, and there must be no mistakes or omissions, so as not to make people laugh.

"What? Want to ask me to borrow money?"

Zhu Yixi smiled dumbly when he heard the words, and couldn't react in his brain for a while.

Since ancient times, the feudal society has always looked down on businessmen, even if they borrow money from them, it is very rare, for fear of losing face.

Otherwise, back then when Beijing gathered wealthy businessmen from all over the world, as long as Emperor Chongzhen had the cheek to borrow a thousand or eight million taels, it would be like playing.

It's a pity that he would rather borrow from officials and lose the majesty of the king than face merchants.

Not to mention that a businessman borrows money from the emperor, even though he is currently only in charge of the country, he is still a half-lord.

Thinking about it, he suddenly understood that the million taels that the salt merchant donated first, probably had a deep meaning.

The Shaanxi merchants were bound to be blocked and had to ask him, the Yu king, for help.

Although he does not suppress business, Zhu Yixi wants to control business. An uncontrolled behemoth like the Donglin Party can be described as a cancer.

Merchants' money plus the power of officials, the chemical effect produced is immeasurable.

"What do you Shaanxi merchants need money for?"

Facing King Yu's question, Zhang Qi didn't hide anything, and said directly:
"Shaanxi merchants are not reconciled to only being in the barren land in the northwest, but want to get their hands on the south of the Yangtze River and get a share of the wealthiest land in Ming Dynasty."

"It is also through the east wind of His Highness."

As he said that, Zhang Qi prepared Shaanxi merchants for a joint venture to build three or five money shops to be responsible for the business of exchanging money in Huguang, Shaanxi, Nanjing and other places.

The so-called money shop, also known as exchange shop, is the embryonic form of money houses. At the beginning, many money houses were not only engaged in money exchange, but often operated in other industries as well.

For example, there are banks in Nanjing and Jiujiang who "also run lottery tickets"; there are "cloth shops and operators" in Leping; some banks in Nanchang and Songjiang prefectures are also called "qianmidians" because they also operate rice businesses.

As the saying goes, silver is the living water of all industries, and obviously, Shaanxi merchants must take advantage of the opportunity of the shop to sell some tea, salt, fur and other things, and gradually penetrate into the Jiangnan area.

"can."

After thinking about it again and again, considering the frightening wealth of the salt merchants and the business of Huizhou merchants all over the south of the Yangtze River, Zhu Yixi felt that it would be good for Shaanxi merchants to be this catfish.

"500,000 taels of silver, [-]% interest, let's settle it for half a year!"

"Thank you, Your Highness, the Shanxi merchants will never forget their great kindness!"

Zhang Qi paid his respects.

After waving his hands, Zhu Yixi fell into deep thought.

Thirteen on the side played with the clothes with great interest, both novel and cautious.

Power can give ordinary clothes a different meaning.

"Thirteen, do you know about money shops?"

"Know!"

Thirteen was stunned, turned his head quickly, and said respectfully: "There are many in Xi'an City, who are responsible for exchanging copper for silver, or the turnover between the two places, but they are usually big merchants. How can ordinary people have so much money?"

"How old are you?"

Suddenly, Zhu Yixi changed the subject.

"Sixteen, no, seventeen."

Thirteen wondered.

"four years ago."

King Yu sighed.

From the 16 years of Chongzhen to the second year of Hongguang, time flies, and four years have passed in the blink of an eye.

The young man who was once thin is now tall and straight, a man of talent.

"You have grown up. After staying for a while, I will give you another job."

Zhu Jing was surprised by King Yu's erratic sentence.

Leaving the suzerain, this is something he never thought about.

But like he said, he's getting old.

For example, Zhu Yi and Sun Lin, who were eighteen or nineteen years old, had been in charge of the Military Judiciary Department for two or three years, and their qualifications had greatly increased.

And according to the usual tone of King Yu, the two of them will have to leave the Military Justice Department after a while and go to some place to become officials!
And myself, where will I go?
Zhu Jing fell into deep thought.

……

And at the beginning of May, with the smooth flow of the canal, the news that Nanjing City was regained by the Ming army spread to Beijing again.

Leaving aside Dorgon's rage, the disposal of Hong Chengchou is on the agenda.

For Hong Chengchou, the court at this time was polarized from north to south.

The civil servants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, led by Chen Mingxia and Chen Zhilin, demanded that they be dealt with strictly so as to make an example of others.

"Hong Chengchou first lost Luoyang, then lost Nanjing, and now lives in Yangzhou. Does he have to wait until he loses Shandong to be punished?"

The northern civil servants headed by Feng Quan tried their best to protect it:

"Hong Chengchou was in Luoyang, with no more than [-] soldiers and no more than [-] taels of silver. How could he resist the [-] Ming army? Nanjing was forced to lose because of the internal rebellion..."

In this regard, the regent, who had just let off fire from the empress dowager's fleshy body, said:

"Nanjing fell, one was internal thieves, and the other was misorganized, so that the city of Nanjing was destroyed."

Dorgon calmed down the controversy: "Remove Hong Chengchou from his official position, return to Beijing to reflect, Wu Sangui cut his salary for half a year, that's all."

(End of this chapter)