In the north of the capital, the boundary of the remote pavilion, the flags are fluttering, and the tents are stacked. In the center of the Ming Huang tent, Kangxi is reclining on the mattress to review the chapters. There were two little eunuchs kneeling on the left and right of the tent door, and there was a gold-armored warrior standing on the side, no, it was just a strange full-body armor, with golden light, the helmet was like a dragon breaking through the air, the dragon's whiskers were standing, and the dragon pupils carved by rubies were angry and wide.

"Cover!"

was always deflected by this foreigner's gaze, Kangxi was slightly annoyed and commanded. He was not only angry at the eighth child who gave this thing, but also angry with himself.

Although this goth armor is abrupt, it does have a power that attracts people's hearts and looks down on the world. Hate that old eight, when did you put this kind of Dongzang Province that is not available to human ministers in the house? When he thought of the second waste prince, the guy ran to say that he was afraid of being elected as the prince again, and would rather fall ill, and the nausea and nausea at that time had not disappeared until now. Now it seems that Lao Ba's mind is still very hot.

The eighth child couldn't accompany him because of his mother, and when Bai Yue sent this A confession, he was in a nameless fire at that time, and he almost smashed people on the spot, but suddenly saw the fire in the eyes of his other sons, and he calmed down. This armor is like a seat under his ass, everyone is thinking, not only the eight. The eighth can send this thing, at least you can see his deferential heart.

So he was annoyed with himself, decades of wisdom, but he was overwhelmed by the matter of this storage position, although he was not in a hurry now, but his sons were in a hurry, and they didn't know what tricks they would come up with.

"The Han people are weak, the weak have the suffering of the weak, the Manchurian people are strong, the strong have the annoyance ......"

Thinking about the ruined clans in the former Ming Dynasty, Kangxi sighed unwillingly with a little imperfection, but far less than rotten.

His mind turned back to the recital, but he felt that his wrist was a little trembling, his vision was a little fluttering, and the handwriting on the recital was not very clear.

"Pick up the ......"

The little eunuch buried his head in the top, turned the mechanism, and picked up the wick of the golden jade glass lamp, and the tent lit up for three points.

"Wind lamps, glass, carriages, steel springs, and what mud and stone powder, it's really lively, and the more and more people in Guangdong gather together, I don't know if these businesses are being watched."

This thought drifted through my mind, but it didn't fall to the bottom of my heart. After all, all kinds of trades, from magistrates to governors, have been reported in detail, and the household department has never stood up to say anything abnormal. This is different from mining, as long as he can bury his head in peace and settle down, and the situation is in the hands of the court, he can't rashly start a discussion with the court to "compete with the people". But...... It seems that Zhao Shenqiao has to come out and speak, and classify things like glass and carriages into forbidden things, so that the imperial court can hold it more strictly.

With the light, look at another recital, which is played by Yang Lin, the new governor of Guangdong. It is said in the excerpt that Guangdong's commercial goods are flourishing, the price of grain is very flat, the officials and gentry are kind, and the people's livelihood is leisurely, which is very consistent with the situation described in the fold of Zhao Hongcan, the governor of Liangguang, and Guan Yuanzhong, the general of Guangzhou, and it seems that Guangdong has indeed been at peace since the Yang Chun Rebellion two years ago.

"Skilled craftsmen gathered, the iron industry flourished, and merchants flowed. Qingpu Cargo Station, Foshan Iron and Steel, Dongguan Machinery, dizzying. The servants were worried that the industry and commerce were so prosperous that it would be difficult to guarantee that there would be filthy things hidden beyond the reach of the imperial court, and at the same time, the crops would be restricted, and the grass people would be burdened......"

Seeing this, Kangxi nodded, this Yang Lin was originally the governor of Fujian on the land route, and this time he moved to the governor of Guangdong, which was transferred from Wu to Wen, but he was worried about it, and he also knew the root of political affairs, but he lived up to his expectations of him, and these worries were also his doubts.

The servants carefully investigated, but saw that the local industry and commerce got along well with the government, and peace was the first priority in everything. Many affairs of the county government are also vigorously assisted by industry and commerce. Thanks to the prosperity of Guangdong's commercial goods, the trend of local tranquility is quite stable, not only the bandits and bandits are almost extinct, but the trend of pure folk customs is even more successful. When the slave arrived, two boats collided on the river, and several people fell into the water. Not only did the boats that patrol the river immediately enter the river to save people, but also the passing merchant ships also helped. The servant hid his identity and asked the sailor who saved the people why he was so enthusiastic, and he was familiar with the "Hadith" advocated by the Holy Lord, and he knew the friendship between his neighbors and neighbors. The holy education of all the people has been completed, and when the slaves see it, they can't help but feel nostalgic and cry secretly. ”

Seeing this, Kangxi secretly scolded: "Sure enough, he's still a sycophant!" The corners of his mouth involuntarily curled slightly. Yes, throughout the ages, how could there have been such a good world in the world? Since the beginning of the emperor's examination and Shunzhi, he has vigorously advocated the "Hadith" to educate the people, but he does not want to see the clues in places where there are more merchants than farmers in Guangdong.

"There is only one strange thing that makes it difficult for slaves to grasp, in Guangdong, the post station pond shop is also used by the people, and the delivery of small commercial goods makes money. The matter of the slave's fear of the military state was also mixed in, and he banned this matter when he took office, and at the same time wrote to Zhao Hongcan, the governor of Liangguang, urging him to ban the flood ...... pond shop."

Seeing this again, Kangxi frowned deeply, the momentum of Guangdong is not quite right.

At the Qingpu Cargo Station in Guangzhou, a square five-story mud and stone building occupies the central position. There is also a lookout platform on the top of the building, which is more than ten zhang high, standing on the platform, the Qingpu cargo station with an area of two or three square kilometers is suddenly unobstructed. From far and near, the towering wheel cranes of Qingpu Wharf, the wide cement yard and the Jiuxing Bridge, and then the rows of warehouses surrounded by high walls are all vividly visible. Horse-drawn wagons hauling heavy cargo, guarding the cargo station, transporting the goods, accounting and warehouse managers counting the goods, bustling thousands of people busy in the cargo station.

"Something isn't right......"

Li Shi watched the situation at the Qingpu Cargo Station and muttered to himself in such a low voice.

Half a year ago, after Guan Xuan finished his "market investigation", he gritted his teeth and threw out his most critical move: financial kidnapping.

The composition of Li Shi's power in the matter of "wealth" is very complicated. Some of them are simply profitable industries, including three glass lines of Hunan Glass, Guangdong Glass and Fujian Glass, and the monthly profit is only 10,000 taels of silver. In addition, the machinery and carriage shops in Dongguan, the cement factories in Jiangxi and Yingde in Hunan, and the bearing and spring factories of Foshan Iron and Steel Company have also entered the stage of profitability, and the monthly profit is expected to be less than 20,000 yuan. Other ancillary industries, such as the castor industry in Hunan, can be used as lubricating oil for bearings and machinery. And the department store called "Baihuatang" in the hands of the widow Wang, although there is a lot of water, there is not much silver in his hands. All in all, in industry, his Qingtian company has a monthly profit of less than 40,000 taels of silver.

Beijiang Shipping Company is another large piece of income, it seems that it only earns coolie money, but because of safety, efficiency, peace of mind, clear accounts, and cargo insurance, businessmen from several provinces have handed over the transportation to Beijiang Shipping Company, and even opened branches in the east and west rivers. This part of the income can reach 20,000 taels per month.

If the industry is steadily continued, these stalls will be spread, and there will be more than 100,000 taels of monthly profits in the future. But Li Shi, and even all the senior executives of Qingtian Company, understand that honestly burying their heads to make money is simply a dream. The industry has relied on Li Shi's support in both the man and the army, and the cover and coping with the government are more important. One more step forward and the ceiling will definitely break.

Looking at another area of "wealth" in which Li Shi is concerned, one is the commercial relations department of Qingtian Company, including the Taiping Sanguan, which has been transferred to the management of the commercial relations department. But from this part of the commercial goods in circulation, there are nearly two or three million taels of silver per month.

Qingpu Cargo Station, although warehousing and accounting services can make some small money, can be compared with the huge infrastructure investment of the cargo station, it is simply a drop in the bucket. And its significance lies in the fact that the commercial goods to and from Qingpu Cargo Station, according to the whole year, have exceeded the Taiping Three Passes, and it is estimated that there are four or five million taels of silver.

Judging from the general situation of the circulation of commercial goods in Guangdong, in the whole of Guangdong, there are no less than 200 million taels of silver worth of commercial goods in circulation every year, and 30 or 40 million taels of silver are involved in the turnover. 【1】

Li Shi is now touching the most capitalized, currency-intensive, and circulating parts of the economy. Including the flow of goods caused by his own industry, the flow of goods to and from the Taiping Sanguan, and the flow of goods from Qingpu Cargo Station, the three parties together have accounted for one-tenth of the circulation of goods in Guangdong Province, and the scale of silver involved is correspondingly three or four million taels.

When Guan Xuan calculated such data, Li Xi knew that the time was ripe.

He wants to stir the sauce vat of the Manchu Qing Dynasty with capital, industry is just the foundation, and he uses financial means to hold the millions of taels of silver in the present and tens of millions of taels of silver in the future, which is the real stick of history.

So how do you do it? Rob? He is not Li Zicheng...... Li Xi has to rely on another word: cheating.

In his previous life, there was a master in Lao Mei, named Madoff, Li Xi admired him very much, and he was able to get 60 billion US dollars by relying on a simple Ponzi scheme.

Li Xi is certainly not Madoff, although the means are the same as him, but the result is different. Because in this era, capital can be operated efficiently, and the 20% annual interest is completely the break-even point, which is much higher than the 1% monthly interest that Madoff originally promised.

But Madoff's methods were not directly used, and Li Shi's "financial fraud" was a combination of punches.

The first is the ticket number, which is not yet mature in this era, and Li Shi naturally took the lead. The "Sanjiang Ticket Bank" was established, and branches were set up in Changsha, Nanchang, Guilin, Shaozhou, Guangzhou and other places in advance, so that businessmen who knew each other could deposit silver in various places, get bills of exchange, and then withdraw them in other branches according to actual needs. With the development of business, branches were set up in Suzhou, Quanzhou and other places in the later period.

This step is very welcome for the merchants, in fact, they themselves are doing similar things, otherwise it is dangerous and troublesome to do business with a heavy amount of silver. Many businessmen who have become big have deposited silver in two places and now need to withdraw it. But on your own, whether it is the transportation of silver, or business changes, or even dealing with accidents, it is very troublesome, and temporary lending is usury, which is very unprofitable.

Although Li Shi's rise was short, everyone saw the industrial stalls, and he could eat both black and white, and it was said that there was an eighth elder brother as a backer. Coupled with the settlement of Guangzhou and the early demonstration of a group of merchants in Hunan, other merchants followed suit and saved a lot of silver in the Sanjiang Ticket Bank. In the early stage, they had to go to various places to take out the silver and then trade, and later the bill house launched the endorsement and bill splitting business, and they simply took the bill of exchange as silver, and used it among the partners who were familiar with each other, forming the so-called "silver bill", and later the "Sanjiang Merchant Party" was also formed. 【2】

The bank has to pay a storage fee for depositing money, and although it is very low, it is still a loss. Then a businessman stared at the untouched silver, saying whether it could be used to do more business, which was the next step for Li Shi. As a result, another "Sanjiang Investment Company" was established. This company absorbs fixed deposit silver from Sanjiang Ticket Bank and launches a three-year investment service, with an annual interest of 20%, paid monthly, and cannot withdraw the principal within three years.

The fact that they could not withdraw their money for three years made it a little heart-wrenching for the merchants who only used the ticket house as a place to keep their silver, so they only invested on a small scale. However, when comparing the business harvest, I found that although the income was lower than that of my own businessman, it was a safe harvest, and in just half a year, the deposit of silver from the Sanjiang Ticket Bank to the Sanjiang Investment Company was as high as 780,000 taels, and the deposit of the Sanjiang Ticket Bank also rose sharply to more than 3 million taels.

Things have come to this point, and the meaning of "there is no turning back" that Duan Hongshi said before came out.

How can such a strong silver stream attract the attention of the government. Previously, relying on the gap between the succession of the governor of Guangdong, the public relations department of Qingtian Company operated and hidden Sanjiang Investment behind Sanjiang Ticket Bank. The explanation to the businessmen was to use all kinds of industries under the name of Qingtian Company as collateral in exchange for their arbitration rights. That is, if there is trouble, instead of going to the government to sue Sanjiang Investment and Sanjiang Ticket Bank, Qingtian Company will be the payer.

But this is only a stopgap measure after all, Li Xi and Duan Hongshi's estimate is that at most half a year, the imperial court will begin to debate whether this ticket bank and the investment company can exist, and in another year, it is estimated that it will be demolished.

Therefore, Li Shi wants to borrow this silver in the next six months to a year, continue to make things bigger, prepare ammunition, and once the imperial court has a firm attitude, he will pull up the anti-flag. Of course, the silver belongs to Li Shi. If you want to take it, it doesn't matter, give it after three years. Strong, we have soldiers in our hands! As long as you are obedient, not only will this money not be lost, but it will continue to make money for you.

It is estimated that before pulling the flag, the Sanjiang Ticket Bank can absorb 500 to 8 million taels of silver, which is enough to support his 10,000 modern troops to fight for a year. The military spending of the British in the First Opium War is this amount.

As for how to explain to those businessmen in the future, of course it is not okay to deny it, but there are still a lot of ways to do it...... Li Shi's method seems simple and direct, but without the development and maneuvering in industry and officialdom in the past two years, it is simply a castle in the air, so he has been patient and waiting. When Guan Xuan gave the exact figure, Li Xi confirmed that the conditions were ripe.

Now, Li Xi is standing on the lookout platform of the main building of Qingpu Cargo Station, but he feels very unsteady in his heart.

The court has not reacted to Sanjiang Ticket Bank and Sanjiang Investment, which is really strange. Although many of Sanjiang Investment's clients were Manchu officials, and even the princes of Jingli who came from Ba Ge, Li Shi was not arrogant enough to think that he could fool the Manchu court with this small profit.

What's the problem?

He frowned, silent.

(To be continued)