In the past, it would have been impossible to find all the major shopkeepers in Qiyunzhou County within an hour.
These shopkeepers are usually stationed in their respective cities. Today, it happened to be the annual reconciliation day. All the shopkeepers came to the headquarters to reconcile the accounts. Only then did everyone get together within an hour. together.
Half an hour later, a total of six people gathered in a conference room on the second floor of the headquarters.
The person sitting at the top is naturally the chief shopkeeper Yunli, and the first person sitting on his left is Jin Bao, the second shopkeeper of Shendu, who has a fat face and a kind smile.
The first person on the right is a man from Lingyun Trading Market with a strong build and a sinister face. The three shopkeepers, Bao Gongtou.
Further down to the left and right are the fourth shopkeeper of Yunzhong City, Huang Li, who looks like a thin scholar, and the fifth shopkeeper of Dingyang City, Xiao Huohuo, who is well-dressed and well-proportioned.
Seeing that everyone was here, Yunli had no intention of showing off. He immediately passed on the information from the capital one by one so that everyone could see it with their own eyes. Then Yunli said:
"You have all seen the news from the Emperor. Then our next job is to notify the businessmen in various jurisdictions about the matter, but there is one point that the Emperor also emphasized in the letter.
The customs are not closed, let alone alien territory. The way they did business in the past cannot be used in the customs.
They are our own people, and everyone knows the reason why the emperor asked them to enter the pass. They are to help restore the economy of the northern part of the pass. If anyone is greedy for profit and ruins the prince's important affairs for the sake of gold and silver..."
When Yun Li said this, his eyes suddenly flashed with a fierce light!
The five shopkeepers below also looked fierce.
The second shopkeeper, Jin Bao, smiled like a smiling Buddha and said with a smile:
“Then we’ll make him pay even his pants!
If all his suppliers are cut off and all channels refuse to cooperate with him, the Chamber of Commerce will specifically suppress him. Even a bun or a green onion cannot be sold in a place where our Feiyun Trading Company is! "
Shopkeeper Bao Gongtou of Lingyun Mutual Market sneered:
"Shopkeeper Jin, you are too kind. The emperor has given them the opportunity to make money. Since they dare to make trouble with the emperor, then as long as his goods are on the road, the horse bandits will definitely intercept them again and again! Let's see how many he has The goods can be robbed!"
Huang Li from Yunzhong City and Xiao Huohuo from Dingyang City nodded quickly.
Xiao Huohuo even said: "No matter what business he does, our similar merchants in Yunzhong City and Dingyang City will all open stores next to him. We will provide tax reduction and exemption policies for those merchants. By then, the quality will be better than his." Okay, the price is lower than him, let’s see how his business does!”
Huang Li echoed: "That's right! That's it!"
Seeing that everyone was united, Yunli nodded with satisfaction.
He looked at the crowd and said immediately:
"Okay, now that everyone has reached a consensus on this matter, I won't say any more nonsense. Please spread the news about the emperor as soon as possible. Now the emperor has arranged for the victims to rebuild the cities in the north that were ravaged by the Huns. .
Most of the original merchants were killed by the Huns when they invaded.
Whoever enters the vacated market share first will get it first.
We do not prohibit competition among merchants, but we must ensure healthy competition and do not deliberately disrupt market prices just to gain momentum.
In addition, the first merchants arranged this time are merchants of basic commodities such as grain merchants and salt merchants, so as to ensure the daily life of the people in the pass.
Do you still have any doubts? "
Everyone shook their heads.
Yun Li nodded and said, "Okay, then let's leave this meeting like this."
Then Yunli turned to the document recording the meeting and said, "Please send a copy of today's meeting minutes to Bianjing and give it to the emperor."
The clerk nodded quickly.
The meeting ended just like that, but the impact of its content had just begun.
When the five shopkeepers returned to their respective jurisdictions, they immediately gathered all the heads of the business community in their jurisdictions.
It is worth mentioning here that no matter where it is, Feiyun Trading Company is the largest local trading company. In addition, it has an official background, so the president of every chamber of commerce jointly composed of trading companies is Feiyun. The big shopkeeper of Yun Trading Company.
Feiyun Commercial Bank also has strong control over the local business community.
And when these heads learned that they could enter the customs, they all became excited.
Only when it was said that the first batch to enter must be grain merchants and other basic living material merchants, did they calm down a little.
Then the shopkeepers told the emperor's prohibitions, and everyone agreed after thinking about it.
The merchants who received the news began to prepare, and the roads in Yunzhou County began to be cleared all the way.
Bianjing, Imperial Palace.
"Your Majesty, these are the minutes of the meeting sent by Shopkeeper Yun, saying that they want to be presented to you.
"
Wang Huaien respectfully presented a copy of the meeting minutes to Zhao Jun.
Zhao Jun was a little confused, but he still nodded and took it and started reading.
After reading it, he laughed on the spot and said:
"Yunli, this is to remind me that the people have no money now, and it is useless for the merchants to come over. The purpose of letting the basic merchants come first is that the court will not be responsible for food in the future, and let me distribute it to the people. We need to convert food into money, so that commerce can be facilitated."
After a pause, Zhao Jun thought for a while and then said: "Okay, Wang Ban will accompany you to Xuan Zhang He Jin Palace to see me once."
"promise!"
Wang Huaien quickly left the palace and led people to the Prime Minister's Mansion.
Zhang He was quite surprised when he heard that the new emperor wanted to see him.
But he immediately got ready and followed Wang Huaien into the palace.
"I have met your Majesty, Zhang He! Is your Majesty's greetings?"
"My greetings, Mr. Zhang is not polite. Why don't Wang Banban bring a chair to Mr. Zhang?"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
In the Baohe Palace, Zhao Jun met with Zhang He.
After Zhang He sat down on the chair with half of his buttocks, Zhao Jun went straight to the point and said: "I summoned Prime Minister Zhang here today because I have something I want Prime Minister Zhang to do."
Zhang He immediately stood up, cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, please tell me, I will do my best!"
Zhao Jun waved his hand: "Zhang Xiang, don't be excited, sit down."
Zhang He then sat back.
Zhao Jun continued: "I plan to exchange the food paid to the victims into money. What does Mr. Zhang think?"
Zhang He was very calm at first, but when he heard this, he was shocked and stood up quickly to object:
"Your Majesty, no! Your Majesty! These victims all rely on the court to work and earn food to survive.
All the major merchants in the north have been basically wiped out due to the Huns' invasion, and there is no market at all. If your majesty exchanges the food for the victims into gold and silver at this time, even if you have the silver, the people will have nowhere to spend it, and they will still have nothing to eat. Yes, the people are really going to make a fuss! "
Zhang He analyzed the pros and cons and strongly opposed it.
Seeing that Zhao Jun still looked unmoved, he suddenly thought of something and asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, is it because there is not enough food?"
He could only guess like this, otherwise he would not have thought why His Majesty would suddenly exchange grain for money. But think about it, since the disaster relief began, Feiyun Trading Company has transferred more than 7 million dan of food from various places. Even if Feiyun Trading Company now It is the number one chamber of commerce in the world. With so much food, the chamber of commerce may have been emptied out.
It is natural that there is not enough food, but this food is enough to feed more than eight million victims for a month or two!
Wait, a month or two...
Zhang He suddenly seemed to remember something.
Yes, not only did the people have no food, but the court also had no food. The operation of the army and the support of the officials also relied on food.
The total of these more than seven million stones is probably not enough for two months.
But even this cannot be exchanged for silver!
Once the eight million victims cannot survive, who can withstand it?
Zhao Jun couldn't laugh or cry when he saw that he actually thought he was out of food.
The food shipped so far is only the food stored in my two granaries, which is nothing but a trivial matter to me.
Compared with the grain reserves of Yunzhou County in recent years, it is a drop in the bucket.
But after thinking about it, Zhao Jun explained it to him to save the prime minister from thinking too much.
He immediately heard Zhao Jun say: "No, there is still plenty of food. The main reason is that I plan to attract businessmen from Yunzhou County to restore the economy of the north. But now the people don't have much money in their hands. Even if the businessmen come, they will not have money." Without money to buy goods, the economy cannot recover.
That’s why I want to exchange the working grain into wages for the common people.
Zhang Xiang can rest assured that the first batch of people to come are grain merchants and other basic material merchants. They can meet the people's grain needs. "
"Is that so? It's not just a lack of food!"
Although Zhang He still had doubts about whether there was no food, since His Majesty said so, he believed it.
However, it was still not possible to directly exchange it for wages. He said calmly: "Your Majesty, your idea is a good thing, but the court cannot do this. Although you are doing it for the benefit of the victims, most people can only see what is in front of them, and rashly put what they can It would be difficult for the common people to accept replacing the food they eat with gold and silver that may not necessarily be usable.
How about we proceed step by step, first giving out half the food and half the gold and silver, so that the people can accept it.
After all the merchants have settled down and people can buy things with money, we will completely replace them. "
Zhao Jun nodded immediately after hearing this and said:
"Zhang Xiang was still thoughtful, I was too impatient and didn't consider the people's acceptance.
Okay, if that's the case, then just follow what you said, Zhang Xiang.
Starting from tomorrow, we will gradually replace the working grain with half grain and half money, so that the people can get used to it first! "
"No! Your Majesty is wise!"
Zhang He immediately stood up and agreed, and flattered him at the same time.
Zhao Jun smiled.
After reaching an agreement with Zhang He.
Zhao Jun raised the matter at the court meeting the next day, and with the chorus of the monarch and his ministers, the proposal was successfully passed through the court meeting.
But when the workers who had just finished their shift on the third day went to collect today's grain, they suddenly found that the labor grain had turned into half grain and half silver. They were dumbfounded!
...(End of chapter)
