The shopkeepers of a large group of commercial banks in Chengdu were waiting in the prefect's yamen, and they had already received news that the Duke of Baoguo was going to receive them. After finishing his speech in the Imperial Diet, Deng Ming hurried back to the prefect's yamen, invited these financiers to the reception room, and quickly repeated the matter of the bonds.

As one of the major shareholders of the Industrial Bank, Yu Youming was also among them, and when he heard that the bond actually paid 3 percent annual interest, he immediately smelled a dangerous smell from it. Although Deng Ming has mentioned many times in the past that it is unreasonable for banks to collect deposits to lend money but not pay interest to depositors, everyone does not take this sentence seriously. Because the depositors did not ask for it, Deng Ming never put a knife on his family's neck, so including Yu Youming's Industrial Bank, for this reminder is in the left ear and out in the right ear.

But if the bonds issued by the imperial government pay interest, it is conceivable that depositors will definitely withdraw money from the banks to buy the bonds, which are not only more profitable, but also more creditworthy.

In the blink of an eye, many people began to complain, saying that they had no credit for the development of Sichuan and had worked hard, and now a lot of the money in their hands was used for loans, and if depositors suddenly came to withdraw money, they would have to close their doors.

"As I said earlier, wouldn't it be good for you to give depositors a little interest? They have also made great contributions to the construction of Sichuan, and they should share the dividends of prosperity. Needless to say, the construction of the treasury bonds will definitely pay the profits. Besides, bonds don't pay interest, even if it's the same as you, do you think Tongxiu will buy bonds or put the money in your hands? Deng Ming didn't spend much time on this issue, he continued: "Today is not mainly for this, but for you to earn a little money. ”

Seeing that everyone pricked up their ears, Deng Ming repeated the issue of risk that he had mentioned in the parliament. But this time he didn't say the wrong thing, and explained at the beginning that Tong Xiucai, Ru Xiucai and Quan Ru Xiucai all enjoyed the full guarantee.

For financial issues, the people present are more sensitive than the parliamentarians, so they also have the same puzzle, Tong Xiu is the ordinary people of the capital, just like Xiu is a soldier, Quan is like Xiucai is a newcomer, Deng Ming did not miss a single one, so why not simply say that this is a risk-free bond?

Like the parliamentarian's doubts, Deng Ming immediately relieved them: "Our bonds are not only limited to domestic issuance, I know that you have dealings with Governor Gao of Chongqing and Governor Zhang of Wuchang, and several of you have also traveled to Nanchang and Nanjing, and I hope you will help me sell them some bonds." Instead of putting their money in the ground and getting moldy, they might as well buy some bonds, and as long as there is no war disaster, I will pay the interest. This is just the first batch of bonds, and we may issue them in the future, and you can get a benefit fee for helping to sell them. ”

"If there is a military disaster, then there will be no compensation?" Yu Youming immediately asked.

"So when you sell it to Governor Gao, you can ask him, is it because he didn't buy it because he had the idea of sneaking up on Jiangyou? If he denies it, of course he should buy more. Deng Ming not only provides bonds, but also provides sales strategies.

"What about Huguang and Liangjiang?"

"Well, I'll give you a few handwritten letters that I have written, hoping that Huguang and Liangjiang will subscribe to Sichuan's construction bonds as a symbol of our friendship. In return for friendship, I will pay them interest as scheduled - if Gao Mingzhan and Li Guoying don't have the heart to go to Jiangyou to cause trouble and deliberately divide our friendship. ”

Yu Youming and the others quickly calculated the cost of bribery and how to persuade the high-ranking officials of the Qing court.

Seeing the eager looks in the eyes of several people, Deng Ming began to turn over the cards in his hand: "I will give you a ninety-eighty discount on all bonds sold overseas." ”

"It's too little, 50 million are sold for only 1 million to make a profit, and the prince is also stingy, so it's nine percent off."

"Quite a few, this is just the first batch, and there will be more in the future. Besides, you will make the difference in silver, you here is a tael of 100 yuan, but in many places 80 yuan can be exchanged for a tael of silver, don't think I don't know! Ninety-seven fold. ”

"That's all hard-earned money, at the risk of killing your head. Guogong, at least 93% off, you just forced our banks to start paying interest. ”

"As long as you use my banner, will Wuchang or Nanchang dare to kill you? Isn't it hard to make money? Ninety-six fold. ”

"Guogong, you don't have to work hard to sell bonds! Ninety-five off! ”

"Deal!"

……

After sending these financiers away, Deng Ming turned his head to look at Xiong Lan, Liu Jinge and others, and they watched the whole negotiation process.

"What's the problem? In the future, when I am not in Chengdu, if you need a sum of money to tide over the difficulties, you can do so. But the issuance of bonds must be approved by the Reichstag, and the Reichstag must check the accounts. ”

"Understood." Liu Jinge replied very simply.

However, Qin Xiucai still has doubts, the interest on this loan is not a big problem, it is not very high, and even if the tax of the new development zone cannot be collected for a while, Deng Ming has already agreed to use the "private money" under his control to pay in advance, and it will not add additional burden to the finances of Chengdu or Xuzhou. In the eyes of the officials of the Western Sichuan Group, Deng Ming's jewelry income is now regarded as something similar to the emperor's internal money, but Qin Xiucai and they do not have the courage of the Ming Dynasty's civil officials, and they do not dare to take the initiative to ask Deng Ming to contribute internal money. Now that Deng Ming has proposed it himself, the interest is definitely not a problem.

It's just that there is still a problem with the principal. The loan will be used to buy all kinds of tools at once, and with these equipment, Jiangyou should be able to develop rapidly, but it is unlikely that the principal will be recovered through taxes within three years. Those present knew very well that even if Jiangyou's development rate far exceeded expectations, Deng Ming would not be able to use heavy taxes to squeeze back the principal of the construction bonds.

"When the principal is repaid, how will it be distributed?" Qin Xiucai felt that sooner or later this burden would fall on the heads of Chengdu and Xuzhou. When Xuzhou was first developed, Chengdu undertook almost all of the construction costs, but Xuzhou relied on salt and water transportation, and taxes increased dramatically. And Jiangyou and Mianzhu probably don't have such good conditions, and Deng Ming doesn't guarantee to use his jewelry profits to fill the hole if necessary.

"Assign what? Let the capital and Xuzhou share? Deng Ming asked rhetorically, and when he saw Qin Xiucai actually nodded, he smiled and said, "Borrow another amount of money before the bond matures to repay the principal." The annual profit is only 3%! Let's use this money first, Jiangyou and Mianzhu are such large areas, 50 million is a lot of money for them now, what will they get in a few decades? If we can borrow a few more of this kind of money, we can even resume production in Jiading Prefecture immediately. ”

However, Deng Ming is just talking about it, and supporting the construction of several places at the same time is still something that Chengdu can't do now. In order to rebuild the counties north of Chengdu, the government needed not only a large number of tools and vehicles, but also almost all the livestock of the mule and horse shops. In order to gather the materials for the reconstruction work, the expansion of the standing army and the replacement of equipment need to be moved to the back.

At this point, Deng Ming's main work has been completed, and the rest can be carried out by various yamen. After leaving the prefect's yamen, Deng Ming remembered that he had not had time to visit the academy these days because of these things. Since the day of Hui Shiyang's death, he has not found time to visit Gong Yan - now Deng Ming's impression of Gong Yan has improved a lot, because Liu Jinge has been saying good things about this person in his ear these days, and after learning that Gong Yan was persistently fighting guerrilla warfare in Ganshan, Deng Ming couldn't help but admire him.

……

In Beijing, Sonny is in the center, and the other three auxiliary ministers are on either side, with Ao Bai occupying the left, and on the opposite side sitting Sukh Saha and Kupilong.

While Deng Ming racked his brains to raise funds, the auxiliary ministers were also repeatedly discussing how to dig out more financial resources. Prince Kang has already taken Li Guoying to Shandong, and the encirclement of Qi is tightening. In another month, in mid-March, and no later than the end of March, most of the counterinsurgents will be able to take their positions and launch an attack on Seven. However, until this moment, the Yamen of the Governor of Shandong still did not show his hideous true face to Yu Qi, but continued to paralyze the other party to prevent the other party from dying or fleeing in a big way.

An important reason for the slow movement of the Qing army was that the auxiliary ministers felt that the military expenditure was huge, and since they could use tricks to stabilize Yu Qi, Beijing would rather use a more economical way to slowly gather troops. There will be no suspense in the battle of Shandong, but after this battle is over, the conquest of Sichuan will enter the agenda, and if the military budget is insufficient, it will be a mistake.

"If you don't count the cases at the same time, then don't think about going to Sichuan by the end of this year." Ao Bai is trying to explain to Sony the economic benefits of launching a prison in Gangnam, but not the political benefits at all. Sonny hated these dishonest Han scholars as much as Ao Bai did, and didn't trust them - although the Ming Dynasty gave the scholars great privileges, they still refused to fight to defend the Ming Dynasty to the end, so why did the Qing court give them the same treatment? Since they refused to serve the Ming Dynasty, how could they be expected to fight to the death for the Qing Dynasty?

After seeing these case files, both Sukh Saha and Kupilon immediately agreed to Aobai's proposition, and were willing to join him in a joint petition with the Empress Dowager to initiate a prison. In particular, he has been designated as the representative of the auxiliary minister who accompanied Prince Kang on this expedition, so he is particularly concerned about military spending and armaments.

But Sony still hesitated: "Deng Ming is a rogue, and his hobby of money and goods far exceeds that of land, and there is a wide lake in between, so don't worry too much; But what about Zheng Chenggong? The sea is not an obstacle at all for him, but a thoroughfare. If these cases broke out and Zheng Chenggong came from the sea, wouldn't the Han people in Jiangnan have to rebel overnight? ”

"Even if we don't do it, they will rebel, didn't they all rebel last time Zheng Chenggong came?" Ao Bai said unconvinced.

"Yes, but as soon as Zheng Chenggong was defeated, they all came back. In just three days, the four provinces that rebelled against the pirates all came back anyway. They went to see Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan, but none of the scholars scattered wealth to join Zheng Chenggong, why? It's that they don't want to fight for either side. Zheng Sheng will help Zheng, I will help me if I win, I don't spend a penny, and I don't want to take any risks. Sonny pointed to Aobai's plan: "But with so many cases coming together, you have to kill hundreds of scholars, and you have to lose the fame of 13,000 people, Zheng Chenggong will come again at this time, they will not sway back and forth, but will take all their family members and money to Zheng Chenggong, and will encourage every relative and friend to go with them." ”

If there was no threat from Zheng Chenggong, Sony would have known that after Daxing Wen's prison, the terrified Jiangnan scholars would only be silent. But if Zheng Chenggong took the opportunity to invade, the scholars would fully support the Ming army because they were afraid of the Qing court: "If the investigation of these cases results in chaos in Jiangnan and gives Zheng Chenggong an opportunity to take advantage of, it will be more than worth the loss." ”

"I heard that the Zheng family's father and son are not in harmony." Seeing that Ao Bai was speechless, he whispered to help.

"Yes, it seems to be for a wet nurse or some kind of concubine." Sonny also heard that Zheng Jing, who was stationed in Jinxia, seemed to have raised a flag of rebellion against his father: "Even if Zheng Chenggong loses half of his army, it will still be a huge threat. Besides, even if Zheng Jing is a rebel, when Zheng Chenggong attacks Jiangnan, will he cut off his father's back road? ”

"Maybe Jiang Guozhu can decide on his own, and let him give the court a recital on whether it is the right time to handle the case." Sukh Saha cautiously made a suggestion: "If he feels sure to hold ......"

"Confused!" Sony reprimanded: "Do you think Jiang Guozhu can stop Zheng Chenggong?" ”

Sony's angry shout silenced Sukh Sahamer.

"Needless to say, with the addition of Zhang Huangyan from Zhoushan and that Deng Ming, it is as easy as going to a relative's house to visit Jiangnan under Deng's name." After speaking, Sonny closed the proposal and pushed it to the side: "Now is not the time, I'll talk about it later!" ”

Sony is generally not stubborn, but since the chief auxiliary minister has spoken, the matter will end here, and everyone including Ao Bai should bow his head.

One of the guards brought an urgent telegram from the south to the Auxiliary Chancellor.

"From Fujian." The urgent report reached the hand of the chief auxiliary minister, and Sony glanced down at it and said casually: "It's still Geng Jimao and Li Shutai who co-signed." ”

Several auxiliary ministers raised their hearts, could it be that there was another fiasco in the Battle of Xiamen? Now the imperial court has no spare strength to increase the number of troops in Fujian.

Sony opened the letter and read it slowly.

"Haha," Sonny burst out laughing out loud in a rare voice, and his voice was extremely cheerful: "Your Majesty!" ”

Seeing Sony laughing, the other three knew that it must be good news, but they were all wondering what kind of good news could make Sony so excited. It's a pity that the chief auxiliary minister didn't immediately explain their confusion, but after laughing, he stretched out his hand and took back the plan that he had just pushed to the side: "Send it to Jiangning, ask Jiang Guozhu what he thinks, is it a good time to clean up the Jiangnan scholars?" ”