As the capital of the Song Dynasty, Bianliang City was not only splendid and prosperous, but also full of dignitaries.
I don’t know who the princes, nobles and high-ranking officials are.
Sometimes a stone is thrown from the third floor of Fan Tower, and you don't know whether it hits a common person or a high-ranking official.
At the feet of the emperor, the most indispensable thing is the powerful, especially the generals of various families since the early Song Dynasty.
After the official rewarded the Cao family, there was no sensation in the court. On the contrary, the generals were quite surprised and sent people to the Cao family to inquire about the situation.
The generals of the Song Dynasty have been marginalized, a bit like the nobles of the Ming Dynasty.
The families of the generals have no real power, and their children have no other rights except for being awarded some honorary officers. They basically just eat and wait to die.
Originally, the same was true for the Cao family. Except for Cao Xiu who reluctantly served as the Imperial City Envoy with some real power, the rest of the family had little power and were often suppressed and restricted by the civil service group.
You must know that this is true even for a queen from the Cao family, not to mention other general families. Therefore, everyone was surprised when they heard that the Cao family had received an unprecedented reward and the officials praised the Cao family.
Soon Cao Cong followed Empress Cao's instructions and hosted a banquet for other members of the general family in Fanlou. More than ten people who were friends with the Cao family attended the banquet.
At the banquet, everyone found out that the officials wanted them to deposit the money in Jiaozipu.
After learning about this, some people were hesitant because no one was sure about Jiaozipu. If Jiaozipu went bankrupt like Chengdu, they would lose everything.
However, anyone who is wise will not hesitate. After the banquet, he went back to take out a large amount of cash from home and deposited it in Jiaozipu.
Because they know that no matter whether they can get the money back in the future, at least for now, they just pay to keep themselves safe.
Otherwise, the officials have many ways to deal with the generals who now have no military power.
……．
……．
On June 29, there was a long queue at the entrance of Jiaozi Shop in Bianliang.
At this moment, on Zhouqiao Street next to Xiangguo Temple in Nancheng, the street was crowded with people, and all kinds of noisy sounds gathered. People coming and going were crowded together, and the whole street became blocked.
There were already a lot of vendors on the street here, but now there are countless more. Some are shopping, some are passing by, and most of them come to watch the excitement.
Wu Yaya, probably hundreds or even thousands of people, filled Zhouqiao Street, and they gathered outside Jiaozi Shop to watch.
Even the restaurant opposite was full of people.
Beside the railing on the second floor of Xiangde Building, several elegant and wealthy businessmen were sitting on it with contentment, overlooking the Jiaoziwu Gate below.
They were Zhou Yunsheng, Wang Min and others, representatives of Bianliang tea merchants, and there were several other wealthy businessmen beside them.
Apart from the tea merchant, the most conspicuous among them is a middle-aged man.
This man was quite thin, with a serious face and a mustache at the corner of his mouth. His name is Kang Xi, and he is a famous salt merchant in Bianliang.
Salt merchants are different from tea merchants. Tea merchants need to get tea from the court to do business. But there are no salt merchants, only official salt merchants, that is, the government appoints the salt to be sold to someone, and that person then sells it.
Therefore, before Fan Xiang, the salt envoy of the eighth year of Qingli Dynasty, carried out the salt law reform, the salt law in the Song Dynasty was a government monopoly, and there would be at most lower-level agent dealers. This meant that all salt was sold by the government, unlike tea. You can also have a private boss.
Kang Xi is the largest official salt dealer in Bianliang. He has a very good relationship with the government and is also a friend of Zhou Yunsheng and others.
At this moment, he looked down, his face a little ugly, and said to Zhou Yunsheng and the others: "Brother Zhou, Brother Wang, as the saying goes, the people do not fight with the officials. You are so grand and gathering people to withdraw money, aren't you afraid of angering the court?"
Wang Min smiled bitterly and said: "If it were not a life-and-death situation, who would want to offend the government? The reason for making the matter bigger is to save lives."
Zhou Yunsheng also said: "Yes, the imperial court wants to show face. There is nothing illegal about our payment. Shouldn't tea merchants from Chengdu come to Bianliang to withdraw money?"
"This is the principle, but sometimes, when we do business, we still have to be accommodating with the court..."
Kang Xi advised.
But the two of them obviously didn't listen. They didn't feel that they had done anything wrong, because since the imperial court opened a Jiaozi shop, it was natural for them to save money and then exchange it, and it was not an offense.
So even if the court knew that someone was behind this incident, they would not dare to do anything to them.
Otherwise, who would dare to go to Jiaozipu to save money in the future? Then the court's credibility will be in vain.
It is precisely because they want to understand this joint that businessmen are unscrupulous.
After all, when they saw Qian Fakai, they chose to refuse admission, and the court had nothing to do with them.
"The door is open, the door is open!"
At this moment, as someone shouted from below, the businessmen swarmed to rush inside.
But he was soon stopped, and the official who handed over the sub-committee came out. An official wearing a blue official uniform stood on the steps and shouted down: "What are you shouting about? What are you shouting about? It's so early in the morning, you don't know how to queue up." ?"
More than a dozen officials who were responsible for maintaining order around them immediately raised their sticks. They also had knives on their waists. Jiaozipu Mansion had a lot of coins in stock, so the facility was comparable to a government office and was guarded by officials.
Seeing this battle, the merchants quickly took a few steps back, and then someone said: "Official, we came to Bianliang to sell, and we need capital. Come to Bianliang to pay Ziwu to get the deposited coins."
"Yes, sir, we deposited money at Jiaozipu in Chengdu and came to Bianliang to withdraw the money. This is the law set by the imperial court. Is there anything wrong?"
someone asked again.
"Since I'm here to get money, I'm doing my best. The court has credibility and won't owe you a penny."
The official said: "Come to the door to register. Come one by one. Don't jump in line, make noise, or make a scene. Do you understand?"
"Yes Yes Yes."
All the merchants nodded in agreement.
They set up a conspiracy, but they had no intention of fighting head-on with the government, so they all behaved themselves.
Soon the merchants entered Jiaozi Pu one after another. Jiaozi Pu was a bit like a government office. After entering from the outer door, there was a large courtyard. Dozens of tea merchants lined up outside the door and stretched into the streets.
Kang Xi from the Xiangde building outside looked at the scene below and said: "You need to register in advance to withdraw money. The government said that you can get the money within ten days at most. If you do this, they will have ten days to turn around. Aren't you afraid of the court?" Can you come up with the money?"
Zhou Yunsheng sneered and said: "June and July are the times when Bianliang's business is the most intensive. More Chengdu businessmen will come to Bianliang within ten days. At worst, after we withdraw the money, we can buy Jiaozi of equal value from others. "
"There's no need to do this. There's no difference between a fish and a fish but a dead end."
Kang Xi still persuaded.
Wang Min shook his head and said: "Brother Kang, there is no need to persuade us anymore. There is nothing we can do about it. You sell salt and you don't know how difficult it is for us to make tea. Now that the court is doing this, it has almost cut off our livelihood, and there is nothing we can do about it."
"All right."
Kang Xi had no choice but to keep silent.
There was a long queue below. In addition to the tea merchants, there were also other businessmen from Chengdu.
Chengdu businessmen save money in Chengdu, so they don't have to go out with copper coins. After arriving in Bianliang, they must take out the money if they continue to do business.
There was originally no need to rush, but today I saw so many people withdrawing money from Jiaozipu, which triggered a certain panic. Many Chengdu businessmen who heard the news came to queue up.
Therefore, this time is a great test of the coin storage capacity of Bianliang Jiaozipu.
From the early morning when Jiaozi Shop opened its doors, there was a steady stream of people coming in the morning. There were more than 100 registered merchants, and the amount of money to be withdrawn reached more than 400,000 yuan, far exceeding Zhou Yunsheng and Wang Min's expectations.
When the person they sent out to collect the money came back to report the incident to them, both of them laughed from ear to ear, thinking that this was God's will and that God was helping them.
However, just when they were about to go back at noon and wait for news from the government, the door of Jiaozipu opened to its maximum.
The official in the blue official uniform came out again and said to the people outside: "The imperial court opened the Jiaozi Shop to facilitate merchants to go north and south for business. When trade is prosperous, the people are prosperous. Therefore, the imperial court has prepared sufficient coins for the merchants. , if you take it today, you will have it today.”
He said and clapped his hands.
There were more than a dozen officials behind him, each carrying two baskets on their poles, and they came out and placed them on the street in front of the shop.
Everyone could see clearly that the basket was full of copper coins tied together.
A bundle is a bundle. A rough look shows that each basket weighs at least a dozen or twenty bundles and weighs more than a hundred kilograms. The number picked out by more than a dozen officials is only about three to four hundred bundles.
Although not much, it is still very visually impactful. After all, for ordinary people, three or four hundred guan may not be an amount that they can earn in a lifetime.
The official said: "The imperial court is about credibility. Since the money is deposited in Jiaozi's shop, the merchants will not be unable to withdraw the money. Where is Mr. Cheng? Is Mr. Cheng here?"
Cheng Dawen was not a tea merchant. He was an ordinary businessman who came to Bianliang to do business. He wanted to take 800 strings. When he heard the official's words, he quickly stood up and said, "The villain is here."
"Did you bring anyone with you?"
the official asked.
Cheng Dawen immediately said: "I thought I couldn't withdraw the money today. I just came to register, but I didn't have time to hire anyone."
"Then hurry up and don't delay others in withdrawing money."
the official said.
"Yes Yes Yes."
The old man hurriedly got out of the crowd to hire carriages and porters.
The official added: "If the rest of you want to hire someone, please go quickly. You can pay them in the next few days."
The surrounding businessmen woke up from a dream and hurriedly followed the instructions. The tea merchants looked at each other. No one expected that the imperial court's Jiaozi Shop actually had cash in hand.
Upstairs in Xiangde, tea merchants such as Zhou Yunsheng and Wang Min looked extremely ugly. Zhou Yunsheng gritted his teeth and said: "This must be the court's strategy to stabilize the public. Don't worry, we will continue to watch."
Everyone continued to watch from above.
Soon time passed, and merchants crowded into Zhouqiao Street with a large number of carriages and manpower. The originally wide street became completely busy. From morning to evening when Jiaozi shop closed, there were no people to pay. Stopped.
At first glance, nearly 100,000 yuan was cashed out today. I originally thought that Jiaozipu didn't have that much money, but Jiaozipu was like a bottomless pit, with a large number of officials carrying out the money and delivering it on the spot all the time.
For a time, the reputation of Jiaozipu spread throughout Bianliang, and businessmen from other places were envious of Chengdu businessmen. They could have such easy things without having to carry tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of catties of copper coins when going out.
By the time it was getting close to dark, Zhou Yunsheng and others upstairs in Xiangde had dull faces.
Kang Xi sat with them for a day, watching the official outside Jiaozi Shop below announcing that he would be here for the time being and would continue to pay tomorrow. Then he stood up, patted Zhou Yunsheng on the shoulder, and left a message.
"There will be no good consequences if you go against the imperial court. It's better to comply."
He said and left with his hands behind his back.
Zhou Yunsheng, Wang Min and others were already ashen-faced.
The tea merchants actually acted in a hurry this time. From the time Shengdu organized the establishment of Bianliang Jiaoziwu in May, to the end of June they tried to recruit many Chengdu tea merchants, it only took less than two months, resulting in the gathered strength. Also very limited.
But there was no way. Once we came to Chengdu, we had to pay children, so the tea merchants in Chengdu saved money and went to Bianliang. They were summoned by the tea shop people without knowing what was going on. They must have Not many people.
Secondly, since Jiaoziwu has no branches across the country, only Chengdu tea merchants have saved money in Chengdu. Compared with the huge power of national tea merchants, Chengdu and Bianliang tea merchants are still not enough, so they cannot gather more. the power of.
The third and most important issue is that if they want tea and falsely estimated value, they must first have grain and grass on hand to transport to the border.
How can you falsely estimate the value of goods without goods? How to take money out of the court's pocket?
During the Zhenzong period of the Song Dynasty, Champa rice was introduced to the southeastern region. In the past thirty years, Champa rice was promoted to the entire south. By the Renzong Dynasty, double-cropping rice had appeared in the south, and even triple-cropping rice had appeared in Lingnan. Through this agricultural revolution, the population began to grow significantly.
The growth cycle of Champa rice is very short. It is basically cultivated in February and harvested in May. In addition, wheat in the north also matures in May, so from June to July every year, there is an increase in food on the market.
Generally speaking, businessmen in China and France would buy grain in the market at this time, then hire people and horses to transport it all the way to the northwest and the river. At the end of the year, they would get tea quotations and high-priced coins, and then return to the south to buy tea and sell it. After getting the tea, he continued to make arbitrage in this cycle, constantly sucking the blood of the imperial court.
If they don't resist the money-seeking method at this time, they will lose a lot of profits.
Therefore, they must cancel this policy of the imperial court as soon as possible in this short period of time, and then buy the goods immediately. Otherwise, if it is later, there will be less food on the market, and they will have no chance to get tea.
Therefore, based on the above, it is true that as Zhou Yunsheng and Wang Min said, this is the only opportunity for tea merchants.
But the reason they thought they could win was because they knew that the imperial court was using a large amount of money from Jiaozipu to purchase grain and grass, and the money from Jiaozipu in Chengdu was too late to be sent to Bianliang. A run in Bianliang would very likely directly cause Jiaozipu to go bankrupt.
Now that they saw that Jiaozipu was constantly taking out money, they knew that it would be difficult for tea merchants like them to suck the blood of the imperial court in the future.
