Wei Zaode thought for a long time and then asked: "How much white rice can I buy in Huguang with five million taels?"
Chen Rui thought for a while and said: "It's hard to say... In the past years, the price of rice in Huguang was very low. Five million taels can buy at least five million stone white rice. If this little rice can really be transported to the southeast, it will be The price of rice can be stabilized a little. However, this year there is a war in Huguang, so I am afraid that the price of rice will also rise, and it will be difficult to purchase so much rice."
Wu Xiang snorted softly when he heard this: "How come you can't receive it? If you don't receive it, send troops to the countryside... Millions of stones must be obtained, otherwise the southeast can be stable? Southeast is Fundamentally, if the southeast is uneasy, how can the Ming Dynasty be revived?"
Huang Shang Susheng waved his hands repeatedly: "I'm afraid it's too late... How can it be so easy to go to the countryside to harvest rice? Every year, Huguang exports 10 to 20 million stone white rice to Jiangnan, and there are at least tens of thousands of people in Huguang. We are busy together. It is hard to say whether these tens of thousands of people are still alive now!
Without them, would we be able to receive rice just by sending troops? The Lord Protector wouldn't want the new army to go to the countryside to grab rice, would he? "
Before he finished speaking, Deputy Military Advisor Cao Youyi said: "How do you say it? That's called levy, rice levy! Is it considered robbery if the officers and soldiers follow the imperial decree and ask the people for rice?"
Su Sheng was scolded by Cao Youyi and had nothing to say. Although he, an imperial businessman, has the trust of Prince Zhu, he is a businessman after all, not an official... Moreover, can robbing rice from the emperor's family be called robbing? The whole world belongs to the emperor's family!
Yingtian Prefecture Yin Li Mingrui snorted: "What about the Longjiang Rice Alley? Now the rice merchants in Nanjing City are afraid to open... Who can give me some advice? Rice shops must always be closed. In Nanjing City, There are a million mouths!”
The reason why the rice shop was closed was firstly because he was afraid of being robbed, and secondly because he was protesting against the imperial court for shielding the northern refugees!
Although Li Mingrui was a hero in overcoming difficulties, he was from Jiangxi and a big landowner, so his butt was naturally on the side of the rice merchants.
However, this matter is indeed the fault of the Xiaoling Guard New Army. Why did they start fighting with the Yamen servants of Tianfu?
Wu Xiang snorted coldly: "There are tens of thousands of Northern troops inside and outside Nanjing! If there is a military rebellion..."
The government officials in Yingtian Mansion were not good either. They were too cruel in Longjiang Mixiang and beat a group of Northern refugees and military family members to bloody heads. How could the Northerners in the new Xiaoling Guard Army not be angry?
Wu Xiang didn't dare to pursue this matter. If it really caused a big fuss, wouldn't the city of Nanjing be turned into a battlefield?
Wei Zaode snorted coldly. The questions raised by Li Mingrui and Wu Xiang were all damn reasonable! He, a prime minister who looks like Zhuge Liang, can't help it... Who told him that Zhuge Liang is a Xibei guy? The method was the prince's idea, and he was responsible for taking the blame and leaving his name in history.
When he was sighing, Wu Nong's soft words from Chen Zilong, a doctor in the Cabinet Office, suddenly came from outside the central hall: "Chief Assistant, urgent report from Jiangbei."
What happened in Jiangbei again?
"Come in quickly!" Wei Zaode quickly called Chen Zilong in.
Chen Zilong is in his thirties, with a white face, a long beard, a Chinese character face, and a burly figure. He does not look like a Wuyue person at all, let alone a poet (he was a famous poet and a great talent at that time), but he looks like he came from the north. The brave warrior.
Wei Zaode asked: "My dear, what happened?"
"The first assistant, the governor of Jiangbei Road reported a rice shortage in Yangzhou and Huai'an. The price of rice has risen to five cents. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have difficulty in food and clothing. There is almost a civil commotion. He wants to ask the Military Tun Division to open a warehouse to release grain."
"No, no!" Wu Xiang shook his head repeatedly, "The Army Corps doesn't have much rice left. If we let them all out, what will the soldiers eat?"
"Chief Assistant," Li Mingrui said, "Governor Lu wouldn't have made such a move if he didn't really have no choice!"
Lu Zhenfei was a native of Quzhou County, North Zhili, and one of the leaders of civil servants in the Central and Northern Dynasties. He and Wei Zaode were in the same party. Although there are still Donglin Party and Eunuch Party as their trademarks, the theme of party struggle in the Ming Dynasty has been It’s no longer the Donglin gentleman fighting against the eunuch villain. But the struggle between North and South!
Wei Zaode, Lu Zhenfei, and Hou Xun were the three leaders of the Northern People's Party. On the opposite side are three southern cabinet ministers: Qian Qianyi, Chen Rui, and Lin Zengzhi.
Qian Qianyi, the leader of the Southern People's Party, sighed, "It's better to ask for an order! I'm afraid only the prince can solve the current trouble."
Li Mingrui said: "What if the rice shops in Nanjing don't open?"
Qian Qianyi glanced at Wei Zaode and said with a smile: "This matter is easy to handle. First, declare martial law... and mobilize the new troops from the Jiangbei Camp to the city to maintain order; second, let Shopkeeper Su and the Haishang Company Mr. Chen came forward to talk to the rice merchants and asked them to open for business."
Su Sheng is now the general manager of Salt Merchant Bank, and President Chen of Maritime Merchant Bank is Chen Yonghua's father, Chen Ding.
In today's Southeast business world, below Zheng Zhilong, these two are the best. The rice merchants in Jinling also need to borrow money and exchange money, and they cannot do without the support of the two banks.
In addition, Qian Qianyi will also go to say hello secretly... The "market strike" is a matter of meaning, but don't really offend the prince, as it will not bring good results!
When Zhu Cihong received a joint memorial from the Cabinet Office and the Generalissimo's Office asking him to return to the court, he had already returned to the Wuchang Palace. While he was busy finishing and dealing with the aftermath of the Huguang War, he also had to worry about the Sichuan issue.
His military advisor Li Yan has been recalled from the front line. The Huguang battlefield is now divided into the northern and western fronts. Among them, the northern front is the main offensive, and the western front is temporarily the main defender.
Zhu Cixiang planned to concentrate his efforts to capture Xiangyang and Nanyang first - if Zhu Cixiang didn't capture these two mansions, they might be captured by Dorgon.
Therefore, Zhu Cixi ordered Wu Sanfu to unified command the northern front war, dispatched two new military divisions and Tang and Tibetan guards to attack Xiangyang and Nanyang with all their strength.
The western front was left to Wu Guoyong to deal with. In addition to guarding the Dashun Army in the west of Jingzhou Prefecture, one of his divisions also had to be responsible for recovering the eastern part of Jingzhou Prefecture and the western part of Chengtian Prefecture. The task was also quite heavy.
Zhu Cixiang himself returned to Wuchang Mansion with his Guards Division and the troops of He Tengjiao, Chang Yanling, Jin Shenghuan, Zhang Yong, Qiu Lei and others.
"Robbing rice, going on strike, food shortage..."
Zhu Cixiang's fingers lightly tapped the memorial on the table, and his eyes swept over the faces of Li Yan and He Tengjiao, as if seeking their opinions.
"Your Highness, order the Ministry of War to release food..." Li Yan said, "Huguang is generally stable now, and we can always find ways to get some food. There must be no chaos in the southeast!"
He Tengjiao frowned: "Autumn grain won't be available until September at the earliest... It's only May, there are still four months left! How can one million dan last for so long? Your Highness, the Southeast Fortress It’s chaos!”
"There can't be chaos!" Zhu Cihong said, "People come up with solutions... there will always be a solution!" He turned to look at Qiu Yu, Fang Yuegong and Liu Kongzhao, "Send merchants to the countryside to collect rice. Has the matter started?"
"It's already started..."
"But progress is slow!"
“Many rice merchants here in Wuchang have lost their capital!”
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "Then pay them a deposit! The two banks in Wuchang have several million in silver, which is enough to support the market... The Jiangdu Left-behind Department will sign a contract with them and pay a deposit." . With the contract, they can borrow money from the two banks."
The five million taels of silver stored in the branches of the Maritime Commercial Bank and the Salt Commercial Bank in Wuchang were not entirely used to reward the army and support the Sichuan war - it would not cost that much to reward the army, and even five million taels spent to defeat Sichuan would not be enough. .
These five million taels are actually used to build a financial system - a system with two major banks as the core.
Zhu Cixiang knew that banks sell credit, and the core of the bank-centered financial system is credit. The five million taels of silver placed in the two banks of Wuchang Prefecture were enough to establish credit in Huguang, a cash-strapped city (all the money was robbed by Li Zicheng).
With the credit support of the two banks, there is no need to give out these five million. Huguang's commercial system can operate solely with the bank notes issued by the bank.
What? Country people don’t know banknotes? Country people don’t need silver! What they need are handicrafts, cloth, farm tools, daily necessities, and maybe some cattle. As for the businessmen who sell these things, it is enough for them to trust the two major banks.
