Before Deng Ming arrived in Nanchang, he met the bankers of the Chengdu Development Bank, who had been released by Zhang Chao.

"This is 500,000 taels of silver, please accept it by the national government." A banker named Feng Ziming handed over the money due for the purchase of public bonds to Deng Ming. After the end of the sales promotion in Huguang, under the leadership of Yu Youming of the Industrial Bank, all the bankers canceled the discount requirements for the sale of public bonds, but Deng Ming still set the exchange ratio at 100 yuan IOU for one tael of silver, so that the distributors could make a profit.

"Zhang Chao didn't embarrass Boss Feng, right?" Deng Ming asked with concern.

These bankers are the vanguard of the financial invasion in western Sichuan, and the profits they rely on consignment sales are also of great significance to western Sichuan, and the more abundant the funds of these banks, the more loans they can provide to their peers in western Sichuan.

"At first, he wanted to embarrass me, but when I shouted, 'Call the soldiers of western Sichuan to fight you', Zhang Chao didn't dare to embarrass me anymore." Feng Ziming said triumphantly.

"Well, it's better to change it to the Imperial Army in the future." Deng Ming nodded, extremely satisfied with Feng Ziming's reaction. However, he didn't intend to let go of Zhang Chao so easily, and after carefully asking about what happened to Feng Ziming in Nanchang, Deng Ming sneered: "The same Xiucai of the empire under house arrest also blatantly lied to the bankers of the empire, if Zhang Chao doesn't pay a little price, I'm just afraid that there will be people who will be lucky in the future." ”

Deng Ming's plan was to make Zhang Chao pay some compensation, but Deng Ming had no intention of sharing the profits, but intended to hand it all over to the Chengdu Development Bank. However, unexpectedly, Feng Ziming did not plan to blackmail Zhang Chao again: "Guogong, I just promised Zhang Chao, and this time the matter has been revealed, and I am not to blame for the past." ”

"Oh?" Deng Mingzheng wanted to say that not punishing criminals was conniving at crimes, but he reacted suddenly and said with a smile: "Has Zhang Chao already promised to give Boss Feng any compensation?" ”

"Yes," as Deng Ming expected, after receiving the urgent report from Jiujiang, Zhang Chao immediately invited Feng Ziming back to the court, and agreed to all the new requests of the other party in one go: "Zhang Chao agreed, in the future, half of the porcelain income will be used to buy the empire's public bonds, no matter what kind of public bonds can be, our Chengdu Development Bank will act as an agent for the sale of this part of the public bonds." ”

"Haha, yes." Deng Ming laughed. It is gratifying for Zhang Chaoda to use half of the porcelain income to buy the imperial public bonds, but compared to this, Deng Ming is even happier that the banker can use the situation to make his own profits, which is much better than only lending to his own people and then not paying interest as much as possible: "Boss Feng, rest assured, the empire will never let you be busy in vain, and no one can snatch this agency from your bank." ”

Today, Deng Ming's ship was filled with all the bankers he had brought out of Sichuan. The marketing of public bonds in Huguang was relatively smooth, but there was some resistance in Jiangxi. Sensing the resistance, Deng Ming did not send the bankers to Jiangnan immediately, but returned to the army to stand by - if Deng Ming had to start a war in Jiangxi, then he really needed to reconsider the tone of his words to Jiang Guozhu and Zhang Changgeng. The more fierce Jiangxi's resistance, the more bargaining chips it could win for Nanjing and Wuchang. However, now that the troubles in Jiangxi have been successfully resolved, and the Ming army has not suffered any losses at all, it is imperative to sell public bonds in Jiangnan, and the Ming army's tone towards Jiang Guozhu can also become tougher.

"Now that Jiang Guozhu is isolated, he doesn't have to count on the support of Huguang and Jiangxi; And Huguang and Jiangxi have swallowed our bonds, will they be willing to see Jiang Guozhu alone? No, if Jiang Guozhu dares not to buy it, Huguang and Jiangxi will pay out of their pockets to support us to fight Jiang Guozhu, and they will never see Jiang Guozhu enjoy the benefits they have not enjoyed. The only problem is that the first batch of bonds brought out by Deng Ming has been sold out, although someone has been sent back to order Xiong Lan to print it immediately, but the second batch of war bonds may take some time to reach the front: "I give you some authorization, you can sell some public bonds to Jiang Guozhu on credit in my name, and when the second batch of war bonds arrives, you can receive no more than the amount of war bonds authorized by me." ”

"Okay, Guogong." The bankers were all gearing up, eager to have wings and armpits, and immediately flew to Jiangnan to do a big job. With the Imperial Army behind them, their sales pitches were unstoppable. And the profit is even more amazing, in Huguang and Jiangxi around the circle, the profit is more than ten times, dozens of times the income of lending in western Sichuan in the past few years.

"Alright." Seeing the high morale of the bankers, Deng Ming was also very satisfied, so he invited the financial tycoons of Sichuan to have dinner together. At the dinner table, Deng Ming also proposed that everyone discuss their sales experience. He remembered that sales pitching was also a well-known discipline in his previous life, involving complex psychology.

"The key is to strengthen the imperial army." Yu Youming said without thinking.

"Yes, as long as the Imperial Army is strong, there is no business that cannot be done." Bankers applauded. Several of them were members of the Imperial Diet, but they had never been concerned about how much the Imperial Government spent their taxes.

The discussion on the business economy at the dinner table became more and more enthusiastic, and finally everyone reached a consensus, that is, after returning to Sichuan, they must make good use of the supervisory power given by Deng Mingzhi to seriously check the use of military spending.

"The imperial government has a military training system, and in order to maintain the combat effectiveness of the same Xiucai, there is a day off every five days, and I think more money should be invested to ensure the quality of the soldiers."

"I think what's more important is the size of the standing army," said another, "and the equipment of the Imperial Army." Well, I decided that in the future, I would give him the lowest interest rate if any commercial house that produced weapons came to take out a loan. ”

"I'm thinking about investing in an arms dealership, what is the weapon that Guogong needs most? Broadsword, armor, spear or firebolt? Someone also asked Deng Ming.

"Doesn't Guogong always say that there should be a virtuous circle? I think that the virtuous circle is that the Imperial Army goes out to do business behind our backs, and whoever doesn't do business with us shouts to the Imperial Army to fight him; When we earn the money, we will go back and help the Duke build a stronger imperial army. During these days of house arrest, Feng Ziming had more time to think about the relationship between personal and national interests, and after being released by Zhang Chao and signing the right to act as a proxy for the national debt, Feng Ziming deeply felt that his personal interests were closely related to the interests of the empire: "A stronger imperial army can make us more money—the stronger the imperial army is, the better our business will be." Until the Imperial Army is proud of Unai, and we don't have to pay anymore to go out to do business, this is called a virtuous circle! ”

Feng Ziming's incisive summary immediately caused a shout.

Deng Ming smiled slightly when he heard this, and the bankers' reactions reminded him of Ye Tianming and those salt merchants, who were also rapidly moving closer to the empire, and soon considered the interests of the imperial army as a top priority. And today, right in front of Deng Ming's eyes, Sichuan's financial elite has also embarked on this road -- in the Wuchang IOU turmoil, banker Yu Youming still played a role of delay.

"If this is the inevitable trend of the development of imperialists," Deng Ming pondered in his heart, "then it is no wonder that the word imperialism is notorious all over the world, and their ultimate goal is to do business without spending money." ”

……

After receiving Feng Ziming, Deng Ming ordered the fleet to turn around and leave Poyang Lake to return to the Yangtze River. When the Ming army returned to the division, a team from Nanchang arrived in a hurry. After learning that Deng Ming had led his troops to approach Nanchang, Zhang Chao's reaction was no different from that of the Yuezhou prefect. Anyway, the bonds were bought, the silver was delivered, Deng Ming's people were not harmed, and they also signed a public bond subscription contract, Zhang Chao's courage grew, and he also prepared a lion dance and a dragon dance team, and also brought firecrackers to meet the Ming army.

Seeing that Deng Ming was about to leave, the Nanchang envoy who boarded the ship to ask for a meeting hurriedly stayed: "The governor has already rushed here with a light car, and I dare to ask the Lord Guogong to stay for a while, and the governor hopes to meet with the Guogong." ”

"If Governor Zhang hadn't detained our people this time, and hadn't lied to our bankers, it wouldn't hurt me to wait an hour to see each other." In front of the guards and Yu Youming, Feng Ziming and others, Deng Ming loudly rejected the request of the Nanchang envoy: "But I came here for Feng Ziming and a few of their Sichuan colleagues, since they have all come back safely, I have no interest in staying longer, let's talk about it next time I have a chance." ”

Amid the sound of gongs and drums on the shore, the huge Ming fleet turned around and headed north, returning to Jiujiang, which Dong Weiguo was guarding. The Ming army would make another short stop here to wait for the Sichuan army and the Kuidong army to arrive from upstream; And the bankers left the army again and rushed downstream.

While Deng Ming was waiting for reinforcements, Zhou Peigong, the prime minister of the four provinces, also hurried to Jiujiang.

This time, Deng Ming suddenly launched an eastward crusade, which greatly surprised Zhou Peigong's expectations. When the Ming army entered Jiangxi through Huguang, Zhou Peicheng consulted with Lin Qilong, the governor of Caoyun, in Huai'an about the situation in the southeast after Zheng Chenggong's death. Then Zhou Peigong received urgent letters sent to Huai'an like snowflakes, including Jiang Guozhu's, Zhang Chao and Dong Weiguo's. One of the letters from Nanchang and Nanjing was about appropriation, and they both agreed to urgently allocate 100,000 taels of silver to Zhang Changgeng from their own share before settling the account; The rest were to demand that Zhou Peigong, an "expert on the Deng Ming issue," immediately rush back to the Yangtze River area to deal with the big problems he is currently facing. Zhou Peigong even received an urgent letter from Zhang Changgeng, but when Zhou Peigong hurriedly returned, Huguang's urgent call disappeared first; And when Zhou Peigong arrived in Jiujiang, the matter in Jiangxi seemed to be almost settled. Only Jiang Guozhu was still urging Zhou Peigong to deal with it with all his might, and he must try to persuade Deng Ming to give up his unreasonable demand to sell public bonds to Jiangnan.

"I haven't seen you for two years, and your style is better than before." Hearing the news of Zhou Peigong's arrival, Deng Ming walked all the way to the gate of the camp to greet him. Neither Zhang Changgeng nor Dong Weiguo has ever received this treatment, let alone Zhang Chao, who has no chance to see Deng Ming.