In other words, when a merchant went out to do business, if he was short of money or had no money, he could rely on the good reputation he had built up over the years—of course, it was sometimes necessary to have cash, physical guarantees, or intermediary guarantees—to borrow money between clans and acquaintances in the form of bills, which was also the most primitive means of private off-site financing.

Generally speaking, if it is an acquaintance who borrows, it is enough to make an IOU, but this will be different from an IOU. The bill has the function of "borrowing money in one place and repaying the loan in another place with the bill", and it has both the functions of loan documents and exchange vouchers in other places, while the IOU only has the function of lending and no exchange "ability", although the functions of the two are not the same, but the content is similar.

Secondly, the loan procedures of the IOU are complicated, requiring a certain amount of security deposit or the same physical object as security, and then relying on it to pay official taxes such as stamp duty, with high interest, and pay off together within a limited time, so that the IOU promotes the two parties to become a recognized creditor and debtor relationship, it becomes a legal document between the loan and the loan, and becomes the original judicial evidence that can be used for prosecution. The loan type will be not, it is a form of mutual benefit and mutual assistance between people, there can be cash, tokens, insurance, or nothing, only with a paper bill instrument, do not have to pay stamp duty, there is no legal instrument effect, in a specific group of people to redeem the principal and lower interest, it is a private credit instrument, so the self-binding force of the loan repayment of the loan is higher than the IOU - only the integrity of mutual benefit and win-win is the cornerstone of the survival of the private bill.

Aside from private lending, this kind of certificate is generally issued by a certain bank, which proves how much money the person has in the bank, and can withdraw the money at any time and anywhere in all the semicolons of the bank. Of course, when you go to get it, in addition to this certificate, you must also have a secret deposit, which is similar to the password of the later generations.

The means of secrecy in this era are actually quite advanced.

For example, the ticket in Dong Ce's hand, in addition to the dense words written on it, there is also a watermark.

Watermarks, in this day and age, already exist.

The watermark is formed in the process of papermaking, "sandwiched" in the paper rather than on the surface of the paper, and the graphics, portraits or words with light and dark textures can be clearly seen when facing the light. When viewed under light, the watermark pattern will appear relatively light or translucent, and the watermark cannot be removed unless the paper is burned.

Its main purpose is to prevent counterfeiting. Take the bill of exchange in Dong Ce's hand as an example, the watermarks have a certain regularity, and it must be chaotic to the layman, but in the eyes of the experienced shopkeepers in the bank, it is clear at a glance. And if anyone dares to take the fake membership ticket to take it, it will definitely be easily recognized. Even if these people deliberately imitate this watermark, it will never be seamless.

This is anti-counterfeiting on paper, and the tighter is the anti-counterfeiting on the secret deposit.

You can't do business with the support of power alone.

For example, Maode Qianzhuang, which has a semicolon in Taiyuan, a semicolon in Datong, and a semicolon in Beijing, has extremely strict requirements for confidentiality in the production and writing of its membership tickets, and no mistakes are allowed. In addition to the use of Daming, that is, the world's most advanced printing technology, watermark printing, and stamping on key parts, there are two other methods.

One is handwriting. The full-time staff of a certain local money bank writes the contents of the ticket with a brush. At the same time, his handwriting reported the number of 13 large and small ticket houses in the Northland.

The second is the secret deposit, which is almost similar to the existence of a code book.

"Beware of counterfeit tickets, don't forget to pay close attention to the book", indicating January to December; "It's ridiculous that the world is thin, and the way of heaven is the fairest. Ill-intentioned selfishness and conspiracy to harm others. Good and evil will be rewarded in the end, and they will be clear in the end", indicating one to thirty days in each month. "The guest should look at it more and consider it before acting", indicating the first to tenth positions of the silver two. "National treasure circulation" means thousands of taels.

Dong Ce's secret deposit of this bill of exchange is 'Zhang is the most look at Baotong', which actually refers to Dong Ce's remittance of 5,000 taels of silver on the eighth day of the first month of December. And this silver can be taken out from all places. If you add that only a certain local bank can take this when depositing, the secret deposit will be longer.

Such a secret is absolutely impossible for outsiders to decipher.

The money is ready, but there is still something missing, or rather, a person, an extremely important person.

A referrer.

This person must be familiar with the person you want to visit, at least know each other, and have some friendship so that you can enter the house smoothly and meet the person you want to meet. And if you don't have this referrer, you can't even enter the mansion door, let alone send money. Even if you give more silver, the other party will not ask for it at all, let alone do anything for you.

This is especially true in the officialdom of the late Ming Dynasty. Whether it is a senior official visiting Beijing, or a trusted eunuch by the emperor's side, or a feudal official, a powerful minister, it is necessary to have the recommendation of the Chinese. It is because many people who go to Beijing to run relationships often have to stay for a year and a half. For example, first find an elder who is a fellow villager or the same year or has a good relationship with his parents, and ask him to take him to visit another outsider, and then the other person will take him to visit the next one...... After going through three or five people, you will see the person you want to see and who can help you.

The list goes on and on.

This Chinese person is not very rigid about identity. For example, it could be a colleague of your target, a fellow villager in the same year, or a former colleague who worked together. This person's children and nephews, this person's staff, and even this person's housekeeper can ...... In one sentence, you have to be familiar with your face and speak well.

What's more, this time Dong Ce wanted to see no one else, but Yang Sichang, the governor of Xuanda. This is the old man who governs Xuanfu, Datong, and Sanfu and three towns in Shanxi, and is the right squire of the military department and the right lord of the imperial history, but he is the supreme lord of this land. He is also one of the most powerful Xuan He figures in the entire Ming Dynasty, and it is even more difficult to meet him.

That's a big problem.

In fact, if you put aside this factor, everything else is easy to solve, especially the more gratifying point is that in the Ming Dynasty, even in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, when extravagance was popular, the cost of asking for errands was not very large.

After hundreds of years of officialdom, there is already a common rule in the civil service system that everyone knows how much gift money must be given at what level.

Pavilion elder level, that is, two thousand taels of silver. In the third year of Jingtai, Emperor Jingtai wanted to abolish his brother, the son of the former emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, and make his son the crown prince. This matter was violently opposed by the courtiers, so much so that Emperor Jingtai even had to take out gold and silver money to bribe the courtiers - those civil ministers who were the most famous in the court, each gave a hundred taels of silver, a hundred taels of gold, which was about 1,600 taels of silver. On the one hand, it can be seen how huge the civil power was after the civil engineering change and Emperor Jingtai was really not a tough master, on the other hand, it can also be seen that these silver coins are already very good gifts.

In terms of bribing officials, the Ming Dynasty was much worse than the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

For example, during the Qianlong period, Wang Kangwang served as the political envoy of Gansu, and during his tenure, he and his subordinates embezzled relief funds by overreporting the disaster. The states and counties also frequently overreported the disaster, in order to be more corrupt, but these words and tricks can be hidden from the imperial court, but they can't hide from the top boss Wang Kangwang. So he had to pay bribes to Wang Kangwang, Qiu Daying, the magistrate of Jin County, who paid a bribe of 11,400 taels of silver, and He Runan, the magistrate of Pingfan, who paid a bribe of 18,000 taels of silver.

In addition, the bribes offered by various states and counties are innumerable, and the people of the time said casually: "1,000 meetings, 2,000 light meals, and 3,000 archery." "It's similar to handing over a thousand taels of silver in later generations, only seeing the previous side, saying hello; Pay two thousand taels to have a light meal with you, and have an impression; Pay 3,000 taels to play with you, shoot archery, play golf and so on.

As for the first greed of the ages, let alone Shen and the adult.

The high-ranking officials who bribed Heshen were Fu Chang'an, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Hai Lancha, the minister of the guard, Li Shuyao, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Langzhong and Jing'e, the Zongmuyin, and Yi Ling'a, the governor of Zhejiang. Not to mention some barnyard officials, there are two cases of conclusive evidence that can be examined based on historical facts alone. First, after the death of He Shen's wife, Liang Huai Yan Zhengrui sent 200,000 taels of funeral silver, but He Shen was too little, and asked him to send more satin treasures, and a total of 400,000 taels were sent. Second, the title of Huang Taiji's eldest son, Haoge, can be hereditary, and when it is passed on to his great-grandchildren, it should be inherited by the son of the direct line, but in order to seize the title, Yongxi, the nephew of Yunzhu, gave two shops to He Shen, and asked him to intercede in front of Qianlong, and He Shen took a bribe, but it was also done.

There were countless officials who bribed Heshen, so much so that many people could not find the temple gate by burning incense. A certain governor of Shanxi sent someone to bring 200,000 taels of silver to give gifts to Heshen, and this person spent 5,000 taels of silver as a tip, but only saw a servant of Heshen, and they only gave a receipt, and the 200,000 taels of silver did not even see the shadow of Heshen. He Shen had the habit of taking pearls, and when a pearl merchant learned of this, he wrapped the pearls in red gold into pills, increasing the value of the beads, and sold them for 20,000 gold.

Compared with this, what Yan Song, Zhang Juzheng, and Zhou Kui are all weak explosions.

After Dong Ce left Qianzhuang, he kept thinking in his mind: Who to find?

He remembered what Liu Ruozai told him that day. That time was after Dong Ce exterminated the Bai Mazi gang, Liu Ruozai went up to give Dong Ce another promotion, but for Dong Ce to be promoted twice in a row in such a short time, some figures in the governor's mansion also had some complaints. But coincidentally, Yang Sichang, the governor of Xuanda, has a native of northern Jinbei by his side, and he is well aware of the right-hand man of northern Jinda, and the whole family was killed by Bai Mazi, so he naturally hates him very much, so he is quite grateful to Dong Ce. It was under his strong auspices that the process was completed quickly.

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