"Ren Qing? What happened in Chang'an these two days?"
In the cold and deep palace, Li Shimin, who had been dealing with official duties for a day, leaned on the sofa tiredly, closed his eyes slightly, and asked Ren Qing who was standing aside,
"To answer your Majesty!" Ren Qing, who stood upright in the corner of the palace with a body like a spear, was slightly startled when he heard the question, and then replied: "To answer your Majesty, everything in Chang'an has been peaceful these two days, except for the price of food. There is a slight rise, and the people are complaining, because they are talking about the national bonds you released."
It was obvious that Ren Qing knew what Li Shimin wanted to ask! And as he expected, after he said these words, Li Shimin's eyelids immediately trembled slightly unnoticeably.
"Then what did the people say?" Li Shimin asked casually as if nothing had happened, still closing his eyes.
Ren Qing cupped his hands and replied: "Your Majesty, from what I can see, ordinary people mostly talk about this as a new thing after dinner, but no one takes it seriously!"
"Oh? Just treat it as a new thing?"
Li Shimin's tone was still calm and calm, and there was no trace of disturbance at all! However, Ren Qing, who had been with him for a long time, clearly heard a hint of disappointment in his ears, so he did not dare to say more.
"The people are like this, what about those aristocratic families?" The hall was silent for a moment, and finally, Li Shimin slowly asked again.
"The family members are also doing nothing!" Ren Qing shook his head and replied.
"Is there no movement?"
At this time, although Li Shimin, who was leaning on the slump, still didn't open his eyes, the look of disappointment was clearly revealed on his face.
Ever since that day I made up my mind to borrow money from my subjects!
Li Shimin deliberately did not make a fuss about this matter these days, but instead instructed the bank to operate carefully because he was worried about the situation where his subjects would not buy it. But now it seems that things are exactly as he worried.
This feeling is as disappointing and frustrating as if you had finally lost face and asked relatives and friends to borrow money, only to get two words back: "No!"
"Yes! I didn't see any movement from them."
In front of him, Ren Qing raised his head slightly, glanced at the disappointed Li Shimin, then quickly lowered his head and said hesitantly: "But..."
"But what?" Seeing Ren Qing's hesitation, Li Shimin waved his hands feebly: "If you have anything to do, just say it!"
"Here!" Ren Qing bowed his hands in agreement, then took a deep breath and said: "However, I have heard that the wealthy gentry and merchants in Chang'an City seem to be particularly interested in the national bonds issued by your majesty, and from time to time some people will come there. The bank asked about the situation.”
"Huh? Rich gentleman? Merchant?"
Hearing Ren Qing's words, Li Shimin finally opened his closed eyes a little, and asked thoughtfully: "Are they going to subscribe for national bonds?"
"Probably!" Ren Qing nodded and replied: "Because Wei Chen heard that some wealthy businessmen have prepared tens of thousands of copper coins at home, waiting for the issuance of national bonds! Let the cart be towed to the bank!"
"What? Tens of thousands?!" At this time, Li Shimin finally lost his composure! I saw him suddenly opening his eyes, a pair of tiger eyes gleaming: "Why do they want to subscribe so much?!"
When Ren Qing saw this, a wry smile appeared on his usually smooth face: "To answer your Majesty's question, after discovering this, I didn't know the cause of the matter. For this reason, I rushed to Sanyuan County and consulted with Sanyuan County. Hou."
"Oh? Xiao Han? What did he say?" Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and asked.
"Xiao Hou was very upset at the time!" Ren Qing seemed to recall what he looked like when he saw Xiao Han at that time. The expression on his face was a little strange and a little regretful! However, after he saw Li Shimin's sharp eyes, he finally gritted his teeth, cupped his hands and said, "Xiao Hou said that he and Your Majesty were both wrong!"
"Both he and I were wrong?" Li Shimin frowned upon hearing this, and then he realized why Ren Qing was hesitant just now!
However, with his broad mind, how could he care about this behind-the-scenes discussion? The worst thing is, next time I just find an excuse and deal with that guy. Anyway, that guy is careless and can always get caught.
Thinking of this, Li Shimin sat up straight and said with a sly smile: "What did he say I did wrong?"
"Wei Chen couldn't understand what he said at that time!"
Ren Qing had been paying attention to Li Shimin's face, and seeing that he didn't seem to be sulky, he breathed a sigh of relief and replied: "It seems that in the eyes of those businessmen, this national bond is not a picture of His Majesty at all." The IOU they used to borrow money has become a currency that can circulate freely in the market and will not depreciate easily! That’s why the big businessmen are flocking to it!"
At this point, Ren Qing paused for a moment. Seeing that Li Shimin had no intention of asking for details, he continued: "Moreover, Xiao Hou also said at that time that this was just the city of Chang'an! When the New Year is over, over there in Jiangnan The wealthy businessmen have also received the news that these national bonds will be snapped up by all the big businessmen! By then, His Majesty will not be worried about not being able to borrow money, but whether he will borrow too much and not be able to pay it back!"
"Robbing like crazy? Borrowing too much?" Upon hearing these words, Li Shimin's breathing immediately became a little rapid!
At this moment, he suddenly realized: It seems that he only needs to print a few pieces of paper and exchange them for money, and then achieve the purpose of collecting the world's wealth for his own use! If this can really be done, why worry about the national treasury being short of money again? "
"Your Majesty? Your Majesty?"
This idea was so tempting that even Li Shimin, as the king of a country, couldn't help but tremble with excitement! Fortunately, Ren Qing beside him shouted twice in time, bringing him back to reality with his mind full of gold and silver, thus avoiding even greater humiliation.
"Ah? Oh, what else is there?" Li Shimin wiped the corner of his mouth in embarrassment. Li Shimin felt that he must have gone crazy due to lack of money recently. That's why he became so gaffey after hearing that he could raise countless amounts of money!
"Wei Chen also heard from the Marquis of Sanyuan County..." Seeing Li Shimin's recovery, Ren Qing slowly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "He said that although those businessmen use the national bonds issued by His Majesty as currency, Your Majesty must not forget: this is so frivolous." A piece of paper must be backed by real money!
Even if it is not available now, it must be available in the future! If the bonds issued by His Majesty cannot raise the corresponding money in the end, then the disaster will be ten or a hundred times more severe than military disasters and floods! By that time, our entire Tang Dynasty will have no credibility! Even the existing copper coins, gold and silver cannot be used as currency, and the whole world will regress to the primitive trading method of barter! "
