Zhou Kongmu peeked at Du Zhongxiao, who was sitting at the desk to deal with official documents, hesitated again and again, stepped forward and whispered: "Official, several supervisors of the cabinet shop have come to the yamen several times to see the officials. Because the officials were busy, the small ones let them wait in the side hall. ”

Du Zhongxiao raised his head and asked, "What are they doing in the Yamen?" ”

Zhou Kongmu sighed: "In the past few days, the price of frankincense has plummeted, and the cabinet has collected a large amount of inventory because of the guarantee of the owner's bonds. Now there is a lot less cash in the cabinet, the bonds have been exchanged for goods, and no interest can be charged, and several supervisors are afraid of being scolded by officials. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled: "Do business normally, why do you scold them?" From the time the bonds were issued, we knew that there would be such a day. ”

Hearing Du Zhongxiao say this, Zhou Kongmu relaxed and said: "Although we all know that this kind of thing may happen, this time it is too scary." Today, frankincense on the market only costs 200 wen a catty, and no one has bought it yet. I have heard that many merchants in the Western Regions have lost their capital, and some of them are bankrupt and dare not return to their hometowns, and people outside are panicking. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "It is inevitable that people will be panicked, and it will be natural after a while." Don't worry about those businessmen, they do business, they lose money today and make money tomorrow, and there are many scenes to see. Pay more attention to the poor people who eat with the merchants, who travel thousands of miles with the merchants, carry goods, and have little savings, and it is easy to hold on without anything to do. The people of the yamen were ordered to be attentive these days, and all those who lived in the city should come to check on them from time to time. If there is a difficulty, try to provide relief. ”

Zhou Kongmu saw this kind of thing for the first time, and felt that many businessmen went from having a lot of money to being poor, and they didn't know how to survive. After listening to Du Zhongxiao's words, I was a little relieved.

Zhou Kongmu went out, and Du Zhongxiao sat alone for a while. The Song Dynasty was probably the largest unified market of this era, and things like spices, which were traded in a few areas, were very large. If you are not careful, it will skyrocket and plummet. This kind of market speculation is different from the historical Dutch tulip crisis, and the bubble is not particularly *** incense is still a scarce commodity in society. At most, the price will rise slowly in a year.

The palace suddenly released hundreds of thousands of catties of frankincense, not against the merchants of Tanglong Town, but at the usual operation. When making this decision, the people in the palace were afraid that Gen didn't think about Tanglong Town, but he just collected too much frankincense from Nanfang City and exchanged it for money.

There is no need to worry about this turmoil, as long as the cabinet has sufficient capital to ensure social stability.

When they arrived at the side hall, several supervisors of the cabinet shop were waiting there early, and when they saw Du Zhongxiao, they hurriedly got up and saluted.

After sitting down and giving tea, Du Zhongxiao said: "Most of the frankincense merchants have lost money in the past few days, and the place is turbulent, so you are more careful." ”

Director Tong, who was in charge of the cabinet, gave his hand: "Officials, not only businessmen who do frankincense business, but also many businessmen who bought their bonds and lost money. We took frankincense and exchanged the bonds for cash, and now we are a little short of the capital. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Such a large transaction, it is said that it does not require too much cash, how can it lose capital?" When you redeem the bonds, you can get the people holding the bonds to keep their money in the counter and give them money bills. ”

Director Tong said: "It should be like this. But because the frankincense merchants lost too badly, many people did not dare to do bond business anymore, and even some people did not believe in the counter shop, so they had to take the cash in hand. Now the price of gold and silver has risen in the market. ”

Du Zhongxiao was stunned, and said: "Gold and silver cannot be exported, and no prohibition is allowed!" You have to keep an eye on it! ”

Several supervisors hurriedly said yes. The new iron money is easy to manufacture, and the copper money is equivalent to making money, and it is allowed to leave the country. But gold and silver, on the other hand, have not been allowed to be taken out of the country.

Several supervisors saw that Du Zhongxiao said harshly, and hurriedly said yes.

asked about the current situation of the cabinet shop, Du Zhongxiao said: "In the event of such a big turmoil, the cabinet shop will inevitably be affected, you don't have to be nervous." The more times like this, the more you have to calm down, so that the business can become bigger. If the situation is messed up, it will be difficult to do business in the future. ”

Director Tong said: "What the official said is true. After the price of frankincense plummeted, the Khitan people in Dongsheng Prefecture were different from us, they desperately pressed the price of the merchants, and dragged the bonds not to be redeemed, and the merchants talked a lot. Many merchants would rather transport frankincense to Tanglong Town and sell it to us, and then use the money to redeem the bonds, rather than let the cabinet shops in Dongshengzhou take care of it. In this way, we are much stronger here. Recently, some merchants who are there have also turned to us and no longer deposit money with the Khitans. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "That's the reason, business is like this, step by step." ”

Supervisor Teng on the side said: "Not only that, but those who save money in the cabinet, because there is the Bafang Society, they get the news earlier than others, and the bonds in their hands are sold early, and the losses are less than others." The other merchants saw the greed and learned to save money to join the guild in the cabinet. ”

Du Zhongxiao said with a smile: "You see, the price of frankincense has plummeted this time, and people are panicking. But after careful calculation, the cabinet shop did not lose, and the business still grown. To do this kind of business, you must be able to keep it, and you can't be half-hearted. Some time ago, when bonds made money, if the cabinet followed suit, there would be no benefits today. You have a lot of money in your hands, and the most important thing is to follow the rules, which is the most important thing. ”

Several supervisors whispered a few words, thinking that this was indeed the case. In this turmoil, the unlucky businessmen and the bond buyers did not lose. The Khitan cabinet shop in Dongsheng Prefecture bought a large number of bonds by himself because he couldn't abide by the rules, and later passed on his losses to other businessmen, which chilled people's hearts and lost a lot of business.

The banking industry is the market maker of the financial market, and as long as it actively avoids risks, it is they who ultimately benefit from every turbulence. The price collapses and the asset price plummets, whether it is to recover the collateral or help the distressed merchants to buy assets, it is a low harvest. When the price rises, sell the assets in your hand at a high price, and all the previous losses will be returned.

This turmoil made the cabinet shop in Tanglong Town make a lot of money. However, a large amount of frankincense in his hand squeezed out the funds, which made several supervisors feel panicked. As long as there are no problems with the funds, they are the winners in the end.

Seeing that Du Zhongxiao did not blame the cabinet shop, several supervisors finally put their minds at ease and left together.

After sending off several supervisors, Du Zhongxiao paced in the side hall alone.

The most important thing now is not to care about who has lost how much money and how to do business in the future, but about the stability of the market. Merchants lose money, and the labor they hire loses their livelihood, and that's what matters. If the yamen does not provide proper assistance, they will have no food and clothing, and they will easily have accidents.

The frankincense business in Khotan could not be done for a while, at least until the inventory of the cabinet was sold out. There must be other businesses to absorb the population stranded in Tanglong Town. You can't eat and drink for nothing, and wait until business improves, which is easy to get into trouble.

After thinking about it again and again, Du Zhongxiao finally decided to temporarily accommodate these people by the catering industry in the city. Even if the yamen gave some money to subsidize the shops that took them in, it would be worth it. People are afraid of idleness, and they may not be grateful for raising them in vain, and finding things to do for them is the right way.