After all, Wu Kaidi had been living in the capital with his master for more than ten years. He had a lot of experience running errands for his master. He also knew a lot of secrets about corruption and corruption through word of mouth among the servants. .)
"This group of eunuchs are all cannibals. He defrauded me of tens of thousands of taels of silver and did not do anything. Why don't we have to give him a penny of the bonus here? We men here are trying to make ends meet."
He thought for a moment and said, "Master, have you been a little over-thought? Your relationship with Eunuch Yang is not an ordinary one - how much money has he deposited in your bank alone? Besides, he is still buying shares in the bank. What good does he gain by cheating you? Besides, when he went to ask Wang Dehua to do something, he was sending money to Wang Dehua, and Wang Dehua also wanted to see his favor. This kind of thing that can make money from outside, Eunuch Yang It’s more than he could ask for. Otherwise, how can he rely on trying to please his superiors?”
"That's right!" Leng Ningyun put her hand on her forehead and said something reasonable, "But I'm still worried..."
Leng Ningyun had been involved in the financial industry for a period in the past, and he was used to seeing a group of brokers in the capital who used the banner to buy and sell tiger skins. They could fool foreign investors into making hundreds of thousands or even millions if they didn't do anything.
"The master is right," Wukai said, "I'm going out to inquire about it. I'll get you some real news."
An important part of Wu Kaidi's daily schedule is to go out to buy a mansion, and then go to various houses with connections with officials and big names, chat with the concierge, and listen to the news. This is actually how a lot of the information about the capital collected by Leng Ningyun came from.
"There is also news about the Dengzhou mutiny. We need to inquire more about it." He warned.
"Yes, I understand."
When Wu Kaidi went to inquire about the news, Leng Ningyun moved his sore legs to get off the fire bed. He rubbed his legs and feet and walked to a secret door with a combination lock full of dissatisfaction.
Open the secret door, and inside is a room with no windows on all sides - the local "safe house". The area of the safe house is not small - it is not a small room. According to traditional Chinese architectural methods, it is a room with three rooms. Along the walls are rows of large rosewood cabinets. Among them is a large picture table. There are several chairs and several blackboards standing there.
The condensation cloud lit up the gas lamp on the table, and the whole room suddenly became bright.
Except for himself here. Only his assistant Wu Kaidi and his life secretary who also serves as the telegraph operator can come in.
He walked to a large rosewood cabinet with numbers on it.
Opening the cabinet door, there are densely packed binders of costs: these cabinets collect all the intelligence information of the capital, from officials and clerks of various yamen, bosses and shopkeepers of major subsidiaries to the clerks, servants, Servants, concierges, cooks... the list is all there. The more key figures include biographies. In addition, as for the black materials of these people - any black materials, whether it is hearsay or true, Wu Kaidi will report it to him in detail every day, and he will summarize it into materials and put them in someone's file.
The big guys thought it was a very confidential matter. The lower levels have known for a long time that this phenomenon is also very common in Ming Dynasty. Especially the servants and minor officials around dignitaries are almost born to leak secrets.
What is recorded in these notebooks are his achievements in the capital during these days.
Intelligence work starts with collecting enough basic information - and public information is the main source of intelligence. This is a concept that Li Yan focused on instilling in him when training him on the farm.
In fact, this is not an unusual concept for Leng Ningyun, who has worked in the financial industry - the financial industry also has an intelligence collection system. At one stage, he worked in the key account department. The department also had detailed customer files for all key accounts, including the birthdays, hobbies and even the preferences of the mistress, such as his wife, children and even his mistress.
Leng Ningyun was very familiar with the documents in the cabinet. He quickly found information on Wang Dehua and other popular eunuchs, and took them out one by one and piled them on the desk. Start browsing.
When he went to the capital to open a bank, Leng Ningyun had the illusion of going back to the past to work in a bank - the biggest feeling was: it was so boring.
This is different from when I worked in the bank's key account department - after all, it was still in a high-end office building, with a 24-hour constant temperature and humidity environment, the bathroom was very clean, and the toilet was sparkling. The air is still filled with the smell of jasmine essence.
And ever since I said goodbye to Zhao Yingong in Hangzhou, I have completely said goodbye to direct contact with the elders. Contact with the Senate was limited to a few letters and radio waves. Although the conditions in Lingao are difficult, at least after several years of construction, the living facilities of the elders have improved greatly. At least bathroom facilities are completely common in Bairen City. Now here, his most accustomed way of hygiene is to boil hot water and take a bath every day - Wu Kaidi reminded him more than once: Doing this in winter is very dangerous: he will either catch wind and cold and die. Or he died from "charcoal poison" caused by burning a charcoal basin for heating while taking a bath. He had to cut his bathing back to once a week after he caught a cold and developed a fever. Fortunately, the capital sells paper for wiping one's buttocks - it's called "Dou'er Paper", which is a kind of rough straw paper. After he bought it, a local maid carefully processed it and it turned out to be just right: spraying water on it first, then ironing it with a charcoal iron until it became soft. too much.
Occasionally, Leng Ningyun regretted applying to come to Beijing. It was because he was ignored by everyone in the Senate and he boldly applied with a weak idea of making a contribution, but he was actually approved. Leng Ningyun often recalled with shame how he had finished shooting the bullets in one breath and dropped his rifle before running for his life during the battle against Huang Shoutong in the camp. Because this incident was seen by Wang Luobin, it became a huge "stain" for him. He always wanted to clear himself up through some heroic action.
When I left Lingao to pack my backpack, I picked up the Glock pistol with a little sarcasm: Carrying this pistol was useless. If something happened, it would be too late to expect the Foreign Intelligence Service to rescue me. I would use it most. This modern weapon is used only to end one's life.
After arriving in Beijing, the difficulty of work was far beyond my imagination. Although he received comprehensive training at the "Farm", the historical data research team of the Great Library specially provided him with the official situation in the capital and the concept of political struggle. But when it comes to actually starting work in Beijing, these things are of no use: senior officials disdain to meet a small businessman like themselves. Regardless of whether you are Bill Gates or Buffett of Ming Dynasty, in the eyes of scholar-bureaucrats, they are just a tool to make money.
What's more important is that when he came to Beijing, he followed Eunuch Yang's path. His business also has the background of Eunuch Yang. Many scholar-bureaucrats disliked this. There is also resistance to doing work. Privately, Leng Ningyun once heard: Some elders ridiculed that they only did two things in Beijing: kowtow and send money.
The problem is that even if you want to send money to some people, there is no place to send it. Leng Ningyun thought, bribery is a profound knowledge.
According to Leng Ningyun's original vision, he had two major tasks in Beijing: contacting high-level officials and expanding his intelligence network and contacts; establishing Delong Bank outlets and expanding financial influence to achieve profitability.
For the first task, Leng Ningyun felt that he was a little ashamed of the Foreign Intelligence Agency's entrustment. Although Jiang Shan did not have high expectations for his own activity, he had not made any progress worth mentioning in his activities approaching high-level officials. Obviously, it is not enough to just use Eunuch Yang's route. They urgently need new senior officials with enough influence to broaden their communication network.
On the other hand, Delong Bank was successfully opened. The current Beijing Branch of Delong Bank, named Branch, is actually the transportation station and intelligence point of the Senate in Beijing. The bank was established in full compliance with the standard system of Delong Bank branches in various locations. Leng Ningyun believed that he was quite conscientious in his professional field. Relying on Delong's existing influence in Guangdong and Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, the exchange business it has handled has developed significantly since its opening: the money orders issued by Delong could only be accepted at Li Luoyou's Liaohai Bank in the capital in the past. Not only is the discount relatively large, but there is also a certain amount of monthly acceptance, which is a lot of inconvenience. Since the opening of Delong, the current exchange in Guangdong and Guangxi has been basically monopolized by Delong, and the exchange business in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is also booming.
Due to the expansion of exchange business, deposits have also increased significantly. In Leng Ningyun's account book, the recent daily turnover has been more than one hundred thousand taels. Fixed-rate deposit business has also been carried out to a small extent. However, the loan business, which is crucial for banks, has not been developed so far.
From a certain perspective, loans were a very profitable financial activity in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century: First of all, there was no limited liability in this time and space, all liability was unlimited; secondly, the interest rates here were ridiculously high, and the interest rates were On a monthly basis, those whose annual interest rate is less than 30% are doing good deeds.
Moreover, the demand for loans here is not small. Whether it is various merchants who have experienced large-scale transactions here, or those who are busy working here to seek a part-time position in the government, they all have a great demand for loans. need.
In recent months, he has only issued one large loan: five hundred taels of silver. The project is to lend money to Mongolian merchants going to Mongolia to buy brick tea and groceries.
The business came through the introduction of Qiwei Escort Bureau's head office in the capital. Merchants took brick tea to Mongolia, exchanged it for furs, horses, cattle and sheep, and brought it back to the customs. The profits from Mongolian trade were very considerable, reaching hundreds of percent at a time. Leng Ningyun felt that the risk was worth taking. Even so, he was still worried about his large loan: he actually didn't know much about Ming Dynasty's risk control, but he felt that this step was necessary sooner or later: everything has a beginning. rq
< >, reading is a kind of enjoyment, it is recommended that you collect it.
