Watching Luo Yangxing leave in embarrassment. Chongzhen sighed, is it really a matter of ability? I'm afraid no one wants to offend anyone.
Especially people who can't afford to offend.
"You did a good job on this matter. It just solved my urgent need." Chongzhen calmed down his emotions and then said. "Has all the gold been delivered to the palace?"
Chongzhen calmed down from the excitement of getting a windfall and immediately asked if everything had been arranged.
"Go back to Lord Long Live, three hundred thousand taels of gold, one tael is quite a lot. The queen has collected it and put it into Ouchi's warehouse."
"Alas! These civil servants really disappoint me, and that Zheng Yiguan. He wanted to change his ways, which was originally a good thing. But why didn't he come to me? Why did he go to the civil servants to spend the unjust money?"
"Well, I guess I don't have access to His Majesty," Wang Chengen said after hesitation.
"Yes, that's true. I am actually not a stubborn person, and I also know the principle of eagerness to obey power. He is willing to break up his family and share the country's worries, so it is not impossible for me to reward him with an official position. But after all, I really can't ask for anything from the pirates. It’s a pity that such a huge amount of money can accomplish many major military and national affairs. Now the internal treasury is empty, and the Ministry of Finance’s bank account is empty and it’s hard for me to run away with rats!”
Wang Chengen immediately knelt down and said with tears: "Long live the emperor is the real dragon emperor, and billions of people are dependent on him. You must not get involved in this matter. Let me take the responsibility for this matter."
"My mate, you better understand things and know my difficulties, so you can secretly preside over this matter for me. Since Zheng Yiguan is willing to correct his evil ways, you can give him the power of a general of the Xiamen Navy and still direct his deployment. Build a battalion. But 30,000 people are too many. Let the weak ones leave the strong ones, and give them an establishment of 8,000 people."
"Your Majesty is wise"
"Although gold is good, it can't be spent. It's better to change it to silver and store it in the inner treasury." Chongzhen thought for a while and said.
"Your Majesty, it just so happened that Yang Tongzhi recently opened a bank in Beijing. For some unknown reason, he was charging gold at a high price, and the price comparison he gave was very good."
"Oh, there is another matter, I remembered it. He said in his previous memorial to me that there is a European continent over there in the West, which is 20,000 miles away from our Ming Dynasty. Their gold and silver exchange ratio is ten to one. One, after deducting the freight, it can be eight to one. Yang Qing has a huge expense in raising an army, and he plans to purchase gold to trade with the Western Yi and earn the price difference."
"So it's like this, I understand. I was surprised before that the gold and silver exchange ratio has been basically stable for two hundred years. Why is Yang Tongzhi doing this? It turns out that he has a way to go to Europe." Wang Chengen suddenly realized.
"I am also worried about money now. I managed to save some money before, but that Nanbarbarian blackmailed me away. Oh, I am so angry." Chongzhen said with an angry look.
Wang Chengen knew that the emperor was still angry with Yuan Chonghuan.
Yuan Chonghuan boasted about Faluo at the platform meeting and got the power of Governor Jiliao. Then after pooping out, I want to go back to make up for it. Lai stayed in the capital and refused to leave, delaying the move for more than a month without moving anywhere.
He also wrote several times to state the difficulties of returning to Liaoning in five years, hoping to give him grace time.
Of course the emperor can't do it. On the platform, you made so many excessive demands, and I agreed to them all in front of all the officials. Now you want to lick the shit you pooped back, can you do that?
What do you think this is?
The emperor ignored his several petitions. Finally, I gave him a sentence and told him to take office immediately and not to delay for a day in the capital.
Yuan Chonghuan had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to Beijing to take up his post.
As a result, news of Ningyuan's mutiny came halfway.
Yuan Chonghuan thought about it and concluded that the mutiny was due to lack of pay, and it could not be solved without money. Although I am their old leader and have some face, I still have to pay some salary to smooth things over.
He ran back to the emperor and the Ministry of Revenue to ask for money.
The emperor was already very angry at this time, and was very unhappy with him for going back to make amends afterwards.
And in the emperor's opinion, if you leave the capital immediately after the platform meeting and go to Ningyuan to take up your post, will there still be a mutiny? Absolutely not. This is caused by your dereliction of duty. Now you still have the nerve to come to me and ask for money.
It's strange that the emperor can take care of him.
In the end, the emperor was worried and kept delaying. If these rebels surrendered to Huang Taiji, it would be bad.
Finally, he gritted his teeth and took out 300,000 taels from his inner treasury and gave it to him before sending him away.
The emperor finally lost half of the money he got from Yang Fan. It's strange that he was in a good mood.
"After reading Yang Qing's memorial, I also sent people to Guangzhou to find out. It is true that the price of Xiyi's ships in exchange for gold in Ming Dynasty is better, up to seven to one. But their capital is small and they cannot exchange for much. It's a long way. We transport ten thousand taels of silver by land to Guangzhou. I don't know how much it will be lost along the way, and we might even lose money. Alas, I have to give it up."
Wang Chengen was silent. He knew very well the virtues of officials in the Ming Dynasty.
With so much money, his eyes are probably red.
It is estimated that before leaving the capital, 30% of the float will be lost. There are countless bandits and thieves encountered on the way out of the capital. If you get to Guangzhou, 30% will be considered too much.
It consumes manpower and material resources, and if the scale cannot be achieved, the gain will definitely outweigh the loss. However, overseas shipping capital is limited. One hundred thousand taels of silver is the upper limit. You can't change much in a year.
"I didn't expect Yang Qing to be willing to do this. It couldn't be better. As long as I transport the gold to his bank, he will exchange it for me. It won't cost any money. This thing is worth doing."
"Yes, yes, your majesty, let's exchange it right at the foot of the capital. No one can even think of eating a piece from the middle."
"Well, in addition to this gold, Ouchi has also stored a lot of gold ingots, gold statues, and gold utensils throughout the ages. Do you know how many there are."
"Returning to Lord Long Live, after the old slave took over, he accompanied the queen to count and found that there were many gold objects made in the past dynasties starting from the Yongle Dynasty. Including ingots, gold pancakes, gold bracelets and the like, it is estimated that there are as many as one million taels. Used. According to Yang Tongzhi, adding the 300,000 taels this time, it’s about fifty tons.”
"Well, these gold objects are all the work of skilled craftsmen. It would be a pity to destroy them in exchange for them to be cast into gold bricks by Yang Qing. But if they don't melt and no one dares to ask for them, it would be a trap for Yang Qing. Forget it, it's a troubled time now. Gold, jewels, and jade cannot be eaten when hungry, and cannot be clothed when cold. Change them all if you can."
"Old slave, go make arrangements now. Yang Tongzhi knows that this is His Majesty's gold. Unlike those civil servants, he will definitely give the best price. He will never let His Majesty suffer."
During this time, a heavily guarded workshop in the new city was extremely busy. The workers here were all Yang Fan's domestic slaves, and there were no outside workers.
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
This is the gold foundry.
A large amount of gold collected is melted here, refined to the purity of three nines, and then cast into gold bricks weighing one kilogram plus or minus one gram.
Then every fifty yuan was put into a wooden box made of century-old yellow elm wood and sealed.
Gold is too heavy, so we can only use boxes made of yellow elm wood, which is high in hardness, strong and corrosion-resistant.
Generally gold is packed in boxes and then buried or stored in a cellar.
In order to keep it secret, Yang Fan did not disclose the purpose and let the craftsmen handle it according to the usual practice.
After Lin Yueru left, the family affairs were handed over to Mei Xiang with the assistance of Aunt Mei.
Tu Shanyue and Yang Fan were focused on exchanging gold. Although they didn't know the master's intentions, the master took this matter very seriously, and Tu Shanyue also helped Yang Fan deal with it.
Tu Shanyue felt a little satisfied when she looked at the boxes that had filled a warehouse.
"Master, there are now 990 tons of gold stored in the warehouse. They are all three nines of gold bricks."
Tu Shanyue had never seen so much gold in her life, and she was dazzled by the sight. Gold is so cute, I can't get enough of it.
Seeing that the little girl's skin was hard to pull out of her eyes, Yang Fan coughed. Said: "As long as we sell this gold, we will never be short of money again."
"Master, when are we going to take action? Can anyone eat such a large batch?" Xiao Niangpi said doubtfully.
"We will take action when we have collected a thousand tons. Don't worry, no one can eat it. Why did I get so much? Will I throw it away when the time comes?"
At this time, Yao Guang walked in.
"Master, that's enough. Wang Chengen went to the bank just now. He exchanged fifty-five tons of gold. Among them were a large number of gold vessels, statues, works of art, etc. used in the palaces of past dynasties."
"Oh, whatever price you give your Majesty, don't make too much. Your Majesty is very narrow-minded." Yang Fan joked.
"Humph, Wang Chengen secretly escorted it here in the middle of the night. Didn't he just tell us that this is His Majesty's money? We all calculated it according to eight."
"Haha, this price is indeed the highest price we have given. Fifty tons of gold, a rough calculation, it is about 1.3 million taels. According to the eight-to-one exchange, His Majesty's inner treasury will be full now. Yes, there are ten million taels in total." Yang Fan said with a smile.
"Remember, we told our people that no one is allowed to leak this matter. Your Majesty definitely doesn't want anyone to know that he is rich."
