"Negotiable feudal bonds? This...can't be paid at all! Who would want such a bond?"
Wu Sangui looked sad and counted with his fingers: "Don't think this town has a small jurisdiction, but the thalassemia in Gansu and Shaanxi cannot be compared with the southeast. And most of the land in this town has been allocated to The following 330,000 households belong to the land directly controlled by this town. There is only one Xi'an Prefecture. In addition, there are Lanzhou City, Guyuan City, Pingliang County, Xining Acropolis, Suzhou City, Liangzhou City and several cities. The surrounding land, as well as some passes and surrounding land, total only 7 to 8 million acres, which is really not much money to make!
How could it be possible to repay so much debt with income from 7 to 8 million acres of land? Moreover, there is a drought in Shaanxi this year, and many places have no harvest! To be honest, the town's annual income is not even enough to pay the interest...and the town still has expenses, 330 households, and so many holes to fill, Wu is really desperate ! "
Huang Jiang and Su Sheng looked at Wu Sangui with sympathy - he was so pitiful, he had no chance of survival!
But who told you not to drag tens of thousands of people south to Tianjin to defend you during the 17th year of Chongzhen's reign? You are going south, and now it is "Zhu and Wu, sharing the world"!
"Don't be anxious, Duke. Since I and Uncle Xin Hui have come to Xiangyang, they want to negotiate with the Duke's creditors on a way to make the Duke repay the debt... I believe those creditors are not real. Do you want to force the Duke to death?"
"Yes, the Duke has a lot of troops. He is really anxious. Will those creditors have a good ending?"
Wu Sangui burst into tears when he heard this, "Don't mention the heavy soldiers. They are all creditors of this town! What this town owes them is a blood debt! If they can't pay back..."
He stretched out his hand and made a beheading gesture! Ordinary creditors want money, but these old soldiers from Gansu and Shaanxi want their lives! Wu Sangui's boss was severely injured in Monk Yuan, and he couldn't suppress it anymore - there were too many military households in the generals of Gansu and Shaanxi, so the few people they died were immediately replaced!
But there were too few Liao people under Wu Sangui, and one less person died. It would take more than ten or twenty years to slowly grow up to replace them! So after the battle of Monk Yuan, Wu Sangui was already a little unable to control the situation.
Su Sheng smiled and said: "That's right, so the Duke has to continue to borrow money, and his reputation cannot be ruined..."
Huang Jiang asked: "My lord, how much debt do you owe in total?"
Wu Sangui shook his head: "It's too much. Interest is added every day. You have to check the ledger for the exact amount..."
Huang Jiang said: "Let's talk about the approximation, don't count the interest, just talk about the principal."
Wu Sangui sighed: "The principal is also quite large, more than 2.6 million taels... 2.2 million of which are old debts owed last year and the year before last, and 400,000 are new debts borrowed this year! If the emperor does not allow the withdrawal of the vassal state, , this town will have to continue borrowing... But the interest rate is too high, even three points of profit cannot stop it, I am afraid it will be four or five points of interest! What should we do? "
Su Sheng smiled and said: "There is always a way. Master, can you come here with your creditor?"
"I brought some, twenty or thirty people, all big creditors..."
Huang Jiang smiled and said: "Then let's arrange a meeting with the creditor!"
...
"Woooo..."
"Wow wow wow..."
"Um, our life is miserable... Um, we are poor!"
"Qingtian, help me..."
"I won't survive!"
This is a group of loan sharks crying out to the two "imperial envoys" Huang Jiang and Su Sheng!
Their loan sharks also lost money!
Wu Sangui was left with no money, and the Ming court stayed away and refused to take over. What about these loan sharks? Not to mention violent collection, I wouldn’t even dare to go to Dali Temple to sue! And what if we win the lawsuit?
What Wu Sangui owes is a debt to the feudal lord, not his personal debt... This point is very clear, the feudal lord's debt will be repaid by the feudal lord! We can't let Wu Sangui pay it back privately! If this debt is really held on Wu Sangui, the creditor will be in even greater trouble!
According to the provisions of Volume 9 of the Ming Dynasty Code "Household Law Money and Debt": Those who default on debts and fail to repay them will be punished with ten floggings in three months for more than five guans, and one level will be added for each month. Those who violate the rules will be punished with thirty whippings for three months, and one grade will be added for each month. The crime will be punished with sixty sticks, and the principal and profit will be given to the Lord.
In other words, if the more than 2 million owed by the Gansu and Shaanxi feudal towns were counted on Wu Sangui, that would be sixty spanks... Who is Wu Sangui? Can't afford these sixty beatings? Besides, the people in Dali Temple didn’t dare to beat Wu Sangui to death! Definitely sixty gentle taps to pull it down.
Therefore, the debt can only be counted on the feudal town.
And if the vassal debt defaults and is not repaid, Dali Temple will not be able to go to trial... This matter will probably have to be resolved by launching a war!
Therefore, the two lawyers who followed Huang Jiang and Su Sheng explained the clauses about "money debts" in the "Da Ming Law", and a group of creditors could only cry and beg.
"Don't cry, please. If you have something to say, please say it..."
"Isn't it just two or three million taels? Since you dare to lend money to the Duke of Jin, you must be doing big business. Are you crying over this little money?"
After some persuasion by Huang Jiang and Su Sheng, those who should cry should still cry. Of course, there are also those who should not cry. That is Wu Sangui's biggest creditor, Jiabusi, one of the nine great imperial merchants of the Qing Dynasty.
Don't look at him sighing in front of Wu Sangui and saying that he might let Duduo chop off his head... But in fact, he has a way to fill the hole!
Even if Wu Sangui really failed, he could still find hundreds of thousands or millions more.
Because he has a treasure on his hands! There are artifacts that were thrown out by the Heavenly Soldiers of the Qing Dynasty in Qufu... This is a treasure left by Confucius! There are so many wealthy Confucian businessmen in the southeast, why shouldn't they rush to buy?
So he just felt a little upset when he saw others crying so hard that he simply coughed a few times and negotiated with Huang Jiang and Su Sheng on behalf of the creditors.
"Jia Bao, I have something to say!"
Huang Jiang and Su Sheng looked at each other, and Su Sheng spoke first: "Shopkeeper Jia, please tell me."
"You two gentlemen, stop talking in circles and talk about something practical... This debt has not been repaid? How can it be repaid?"
Huang Jiang smiled and said: "Of course debts must be repaid. It is only natural to pay back debts!"
Su Sheng added: "But don't push too hard... If you push too hard, once the Duke of Jin escapes, the Gansu and Shaanxi vassal towns will lose their backbone, and they will be taken away by Donglu or rogue bandits. But I really lost all my money.”
"But how can Duke Jin and King Dai have the money to repay their debts?"
The speaker was one of Zhu Cijiong's "Old Taishan", a Shanxi businessman, and his daughter had become Zhu Cijiong's concubine. How deep was the trap?
He knows too much about the financial situation of Prince Dai’s Mansion, and it’s hard to make ends meet!
Huang Jiang said with a smile: "Whether the Duke of Jin has money to repay the debt is not a problem. The question is whether the value of the two vassals of Gansu and Shaanxi can be much greater than the debt... If the value of the two vassals is much higher than the debt, the imperial court will withdraw Take over the domain!"
"What? Will the imperial court really withdraw the feudal vassal?"
"real?"
"This is great..."
As soon as they heard that the withdrawal of the feudal vassal was expected, the creditors stopped crying and all looked eagerly at Huang Jiang and Su Sheng to ask questions.
"Don't worry, everyone. The imperial court's finances are not strong now and it cannot take over the responsibility of Gansu and Shaanxi." Huang Jiang explained, "But the feudal vassal will definitely be withdrawn in the future... At that time, the debts of the Gansu and Shaanxi vassals will be borne by the imperial court. Got it!"
Su Sheng took up the topic again: "So now we must find out the debts of the Gansu and Shaanxi vassals and reduce the interest... Three-cent monthly interest is not enough. We can give half a cent of monthly interest at most. And we can't let Gansu and Shaanxi The feudal town borrowed uncontrollably. In the future, the Gansu and Shaanxi feudal towns can only issue debt notes through two banks. The debt notes can be transferred and have an agreed debt repayment date, interest payment date and coupon... As for the old debts before, they can also If you want to set a debt repayment date, set the date when Gansu and Shaanxi will withdraw from the feudal vassal. Don’t be anxious, just wait patiently! During the waiting period, you can also get interest every year. If you need money urgently, you can also transfer the debt note."
If Emperor Chongzhen is an unreasonable and good man, then Emperor Hongxing is undoubtedly a reasonable and bad man.
He did not accept the offer from Gansu and Shaanxi vassals because he did not have the financial resources to do so.
The vassal town has low operating costs, strong charging capabilities, and strong ability to protect the local area. When the central government's finances are very difficult, some vassal towns can only be set up to share the financial pressure from the central government.
But as long as the central government has money, he is still willing to take over the feudal town, and will also provide a reasonable return to the feudal lord who plugs the black hole in the country, as well as the creditors who lend money to the feudal town...
