Late at night, in a large courtyard in the city of Bosinan City, several people who looked like principals were sitting together and drinking. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info a few people chatted while eating, chatted a few words, and one of them suddenly said: "Brother Taiyuan, I heard that your Li family in Suzhou is developed?" Today, the emperor accepts your family as an imperial businessman? ”

A few of them are the representatives of the Silk Business Alliance in Shanghai, including the Li family in Suzhou and the Zhao family in Huzhou. The person who asked was Duan He, he had just exchanged glances with Xiao Zhuo and Lu Yu, and asked with the strength of wine.

Li Taiyuan was stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile: "It was Yang Zirong, a member of the Zhongshu Branch, who met the head of my family and the head of the monk's family, and said that he wanted to set up an 'industrial park', so that my monk's family would move some silk and tea industries to the industrial park, which would have all kinds of convenience." The head of my family was also skeptical, but decided to relocate part of the silk industry to it after the official establishment of the park. ”

"Isn't this called an imperial merchant? It's just that there is no name, who else will dare to covet your family's property in the future? Much safer. Duan He said with a smile.

Li Taiyuan did not continue to deny what the emperor said, but said with a wry smile: "No one else dares to covet it, but it will be much easier for the royal family to want my family's property in the future." ”

"Brother Tai Yuan, didn't I say that although your family is a large merchant in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it is not worth the emperor's effort to covet your family's property, right? Last year, the tariffs of this Shanghai port company exceeded 3 million; Uncle Fang went to Jinning once last year, and let the imperial court get 480,000 taels of gold. All the properties of your Li family can be counted as earning one million yuan a year, right? Lu Yu said.

"Where?" Lee Tae-won said with a smile. Their family property earned a total of 230,000 yuan last year, and even if each house has its own property, the total income is 340,000 yuan. But there are still various expenses at home, and it costs money to work up and down on weekdays, and there is not much left.

"Isn't that all there is to it? Only businessmen at the level of Shen Wansan are worthy of His Majesty's concern, and your family can rest assured to make money in the future. Maybe, in the future, we will all have to rely on you to live. Wang Rende also smiled.

"Where? Today, Your Majesty is benevolent and tolerant of our businessmen, and has also eliminated the road guide, as long as everyone is willing to work, they can make money, how can they rely on my Li family? Lee Tae-won said with a smile.

Although he was suspected of shirking what he said, everyone loved to hear it, and they stopped talking about the Li family, and they talked about other things one after another.

"That's the case, the road guide has been canceled, most of the money customs are gone, and it is more convenient to go out; In addition to the water bandits on Taihu Lake in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the place is still quiet and does not worry about the goods being robbed, which is much stronger than before. Zhao Dechen said.

"I think it's also much more convenient than before, and I don't want to change my household registration to a merchant. It's just that the tax is a little higher, if only it were the same as before. Xiao Zhuo said.

"How is that possible? Now that there are no customs duties on the road, and the burden is less, how can the imperial court reduce the tax back to twenty taxes and one? Wang Rende said with a smile.

When Xiao Zhuo heard this, he smiled and said, "I think it's bad." ”

Several people drank while talking, and soon some people got drunk. Seeing this, Xiao Zhuo said: "I still have to do business tomorrow, let's stop here today, and drink it when I have the opportunity in the future." ”

Everyone responded one after another, and they dispersed, Xiao Zhuo and Lu Yu pulled Duan He, who was already drunk, back.

After returning to his house, Xiao Zhuo called Lu Yu over after settling down and said, "According to what you listen to Li Taiyuan today, is it possible for this Li family to fly solo?" ”

Today, Xiao Zhuo instructed Duan He to deliberately test it, just to see if the Li family wanted to fly solo. As a big silk merchant, the Li family has half of their supply of goods in their hands, and they have the strength to eat alone, and now the Li family has become a royal merchant who can honor the royal power. The land in their hands is only for five years.

Lu Yu said: "Big brother, I can't look at it." If the Li family was so greedy, they would have been squeezed out by their peers long ago. Besides, we still have the Wang family here. The Wang family is a local in Shanghai, and the strong dragon does not suppress the head snake, and it is not so easy for them to gain a foothold in the city without the Wang family. ”

Xiao Zhuo thought for a while and said, "What you said makes sense, it seems that I have thought too much." ”

"Where is my brother thinking too much, it's just that my brother is cautious by nature." Lu Yu said with a smile.

The two smiled, and Xiao Zhuo said again: "I heard that the emperor came to Shanghai today, and I don't know if the emperor will come to the city to take a look." ”

"No, the emperor has a lot of opportunities, and besides, the city is a place where merchants gather, how can he come?" Lu Yu said.

"It's not certain, the saints today are different from the previous emperors. But we don't recognize the emperor even when he comes. Xiao Zhuo said: "I just have to let the guys pay attention, drink less and fight less, no matter whether the emperor comes to the city or not, most of the officials will patrol more strictly, be careful of being expelled because of fights." ”

"Big brother, let's talk about this tomorrow, it's so late now." Lu Yu yawned and said.

"It's so late, let's rest." Xiao Zhuo said.

……

……

The next morning, Yun Xi got up, had breakfast after a boxing trip, went out with a few guards, and went straight to the Yamen of the Shanghai City.

When he arrived at the location of the yamen, Zhang Yanfang was not there, and Yun Xi called Zhang Jian, the deputy of the left, to him and said, "I want to inspect the north and south cities and arrange guards for me." ”

Yun Xi was of course very interested in the Eastern International Trade Zone in this era, and although he dissuaded Yun Zhi from coming over to see it, he couldn't help but want to take a look.

Zhang Jian was shocked: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty's golden body, how can you go to a place like Nanbei City!" ”

In this era, because of the restrictions of transportation conditions and technical means, it is not easy to travel long distances, especially on the sea, the merchants of Fanguo who can come to Shanghai to do business have strong force, even if they are serious businessmen, they do not mind occasionally making a cameo appearance as pirates, and many people are also unruly. Therefore, even if they try their best to maintain order, the cities of the north and south are not particularly safe. So Zhang Jian prevented Yun Xi from going to Nanbei City.

Yun Xi said: "I am dressed in official uniforms, and I bring local messengers and guards, and I say that I am the people who came to inspect the capital, how dare these businessmen do anything to me?" ”

"This, they really don't dare to do anything to the officials of the Yamen, but, if they are not afraid of 10,000, they are afraid of what if, Your Majesty!" Zhang Jian said.

"What if anything! That's it, I'm going to go to the North and South Cities to see it myself. Yun Xi said.

Zhang Jian couldn't dissuade Yun Xi, so he could only respond. Yun Xi changed into a seven-rank official uniform and went to Nanbei City with a few guards and a dozen errands.

Let's start with the North Market. Beishi is a place where Fanguo merchants sell goods, from the beginning of entering the market, Yunxi did not hear too much shouting, although many shop guys are guarding the door, and they also answer in detail when they meet customers, but they just don't shout.

Yunxi asked Zhang Jian curiously. Zhang Jian said: "My lord, this is not the same as an ordinary bazaar. The prices of goods here are not cheap, but there are no ordinary small merchants who come to buy things; In addition, it is a permanent store, so most of the people who come to buy goods are familiar with whose goods are and there is no need to shout. ”

Yun Xi listened to his explanation, and understood this place as a large shopping mall in the middle and high-end, even if it is the cheapest pepper and other seasonings, this era can be regarded as a mid-range goods, and most people are reluctant to buy it, so it is normal to have no shouting, have you ever seen a mid-to-high-end store shouting?

Yun Xi looked at it while walking, and indeed saw a lot of rare treasures. Although he was an emperor, he had never seen a lot, so he couldn't help but buy something.

Before paying, Yun Xi asked the people in a shop: "Do you accept treasure money?" ”

This man was dark-skinned, and Yun Xi thought that he was probably the owner from the Nanyang Islands, and said in stiff Chinese: "You can accept treasure money." But it can only be calculated according to the consistent money equal to six banknotes. ”

The guard Li Bo said: "It's clear that the consistent money outside can be exchanged for five banknotes, how can you calculate it according to the fact that the consistent money is equal to six banknotes?" ”

He said in blunt words: "We are not allowed to leave the city, how do we know the exchange price outside." You Han people are cunning in business, and we can only guarantee that we will not suffer losses by following the lowest price set by the Ming government. ”

Li Bo was about to say more, but Yun Xi stopped: "Give him money according to what he said." Li Bo felt a little at a loss, although Yun Xi spoke, he also wanted the owner of this store to spare some money, so the owner wiped out the odds.

After buying something, Li Bo still felt a little at a loss, how did he know that Yun Xi was very surprised at this time.

Although he seemed to have suffered a little loss when he bought something this time, he learned one thing: the merchants of Fanguo also accepted the treasure money.

This is definitely a very good thing, similar to the later generations of Chinese merchants who sold things to most countries in the world, and the money they received in the end was all dollars, and the treasure money is equivalent to dollars. Needless to say, how much the United States has gained by virtue of its monetary hegemony, the seigniorage is levied on the whole world, and it can be said that the poor people of the United States are supported by the countries that hold dollars in the world. One of the important purposes of Huaxia is to get rid of the US dollar and establish its own monetary system.

Yun Xi visited hundreds of shops in the morning and bought goods from more than a dozen, of which eight accepted treasure money and five did not. Yun Xi asked Zhang Jian again, and learned that about sixty percent of the merchants in the North City accepted treasure money, and only forty percent did not. Because most of the merchants would use the treasure money to buy goods from Nanshi and return to China, there were not many treasure banknotes left in their hands in the end, according to Zhang Jian's estimate, there were about two or three million yuan, and the treasure money left in the hands of the merchants in Nanshi was about this amount.

But Yun Xi is still very happy: this means that he can issue another four or five million yuan of treasure notes without causing inflation.

When he returned, he ordered an increase in the printing quota of three million treasure notes. In addition, there are forty percent of businessmen who do not accept treasure money, probably still have doubts about the credit of treasure money. It seems that it is time to further improve the credit of the treasure banknote. Yun Xi thought.