Chengdu, the prefect's office.

Recently, President Xiong Lan and Liu Jinge have had fierce quarrels repeatedly, and the officials in the yamen have become accustomed to this, but today's intensity is far more intense than before.

The appreciation of IOU is still deteriorating. Now the grain price has been hovering around 81 yuan and one stone, and it is only a line away from the "life and death line of grain officials" of 80 yuan and one stone of grain. The population is still continuing to pour into Chengdu. In addition to more Zhejiang people, Huguang people and their families, today there are also residents of Jiading Prefecture, a resident of Jiading Prefecture. When Di Sanxi led his army back to Jianchang, he stayed in Jiading Prefecture for a long time. The situation here in Chengdu suddenly spread throughout Jiading Prefecture.

Originally, the government government in Chengdu, located in Jiading Prefecture, basically only has one post station function, and has not collected taxes from nearby many years, but within just one month, its function became a refugee information office. Since there was no local government, the people near Jiading Prefecture all went to the post station to inquire about Chengdu's policies from the post station.

Originally, many people in Jiading Prefecture fled to Leshan and Emei Mountain to avoid the war in western Sichuan. After learning that Chengdu had a large amount of food and actively resumed production, many people had the idea of ​​returning to western Sichuan. At present, many people are still watching. After all, the situation in the Ming court was in danger. Apart from the danger of the Qing army invading Chengdu, no one dared to say that Deng Ming would not break his promise and then incorporated the people into the military camp.

Now those who return to Chengdu are the most difficult and most courageous people, which prompted them to make up their minds to be the grain ships from Chongqing. After seeing a large number of Zhejiang people sailing to Chengdu with ships of grain, the people in Jiadingzhou finally couldn't help but take a gamble and take these passing boats to Chengdu.

The influx of more and more personnel has made IOU more in short supply. Since everything is needed, the new immigrants not only try to collect IOUs to purchase the first batch of household goods, but also want to save as much as possible. As for local residents, in addition to the 200 yuan that each person must leave (taxes used to prepare twenty acres of land), they also need savings just like new immigrants in order to buy tools in the future.

"Everyone of the 30,000 fellow scholars thinks that they can cultivate more than 20 acres, so they will have to save 6 million yuan of IOUs. Most of the newcomers think that it is okay to tinker with ten acres of land this year. Not to mention those who have not arrived yet, they have to save 1.5 million yuan of more than 15,000 people who have arrived now. These add up to 7.5 million yuan, which is the IOUs they hide under the bed and will never take out." Although they have only been the president for a month, Xiong Lan is now

I am already very skilled in calculations, and my ability to calculate mentally and mentally has been improved every day: "The prices of farm tools, pig iron and salt have all fallen sharply, and it's very much! I see that things are getting less and less sold. From the merchants to farmers, everyone is frightened. The merchants are desperately saving IOUs in order to repay and pay store rent in the future, and are reluctant to use them to buy raw materials - they think that they may be able to buy cheaper ones in the future, and are unwilling to hire more people - they are worried that prices will continue to fall, and they think that wages will continue to drop..."

The price of grain is not only what President Xiong is most concerned about, but also the only one that the prefectural government has managed to control, so the price fluctuations are not too outrageous. Iron ore and salt have all fallen to about half the price a month ago. The price of agricultural tools has not yet dropped seriously due to extreme shortage, but the number of people who buy it has also decreased significantly - now many people would rather use wooden farm tools to make do with them than to leave the precious IOU.

The decline in prices also severely hit the morale of the commercial banks. Many people secretly settled their accounts. The income from hoarding IOUs is not lower than the income from engaging in industrial manufacturing. Moreover, new immigrants arrive in Chengdu every day, and the trend of IOU appreciation cannot be seen. On the one hand, a large number of new immigrants are eager to work and get IOUs. On the other hand, various commercial banks are holding on to the loans given by banks and are unwilling to take them out to hire workers to expand production.

Bang!

The louder Xiong Lan shouted, and he angrily slapped Liu Jinge's desk: "Many places have started to barter again. Our yamen cannot get any profit from this kind of transaction. Isn't it sad to see the tax loss? The admiral asked you to be responsible for the government. If you didn't make so much money, don't you feel ashamed of Liu?"

Bang!

Now every time the two of them quarreled, they would stand like a cockfighting. Liu Jinge also slapped on the table: "That President Xiong, you are printing IOUs. You only sent 15 million IOUs, and there are only 10 million IOUs that are not used. Of course, that is not enough!"

Bang!

"Others are just holding a few hundred yuan. You can hold a few million yuan at once. The people now have about eight or ninety-ninety yuan in their hands. It's because you are holding a few million yuan in your hands and want to make money from the national crisis!"

Xiong Lan shouted in anger. The first few times when Liu Jinge was crying poor, he was fooled. Later, the more Xiong Lan settled the bill, the more he felt something was wrong, so she sent someone to Liu Yao and other places to ask how many IOUs Liu Jinge gave them. He also went to each pavilion to ask, how much wages and funds the magistrate's magistrate gave them. After collecting the information, Xiong Lan asked the bank's subordinates to help the magistrate's magistrate settle the bill. He didn't know if he didn't know, but was shocked when he calculated. Xiong Lan found that Liu Jinge had at least three million IOUs. Obviously, the magistrate's magistrate was trying to make a fortune in this price storm. Liu Jinge was the biggest IOU hoarder in Chengdu, and the magistrate's magistrate led by Liu Jinge was the largest speculative group!

Bang!

"What is the national crisis? The admiral said that the government's greatest job is to earn money and collect grain." After being exposed by Xiong Lan half a month ago, Liu Jinge no longer denies it, but admits: "Since there is 80 yuan per stone of grain to be collected, why should I use 100 yuan to collect it?"

"Okay, okay." Yuan Xiang, who had been listening to the side, came out to smooth things out as usual. Now at the three-party meeting, every time the prefect Liu and President Xiong quarreled, they were blushing and thick-necked, and Yuan Xiang was already used to his new role - the peacemaker.

When the two were arguing just now, Yuan Xiang had been cautiously holding his teacup (to be precise, a wooden bowl) in his hand. Now, except for the teacup in his hand, the things on the table had been photographed on the ground by the two - they had dropped the ceramic pen holder twice. After the teacup, Liu Jinge ordered that all the decorations on the table in the prefect's yamen be replaced with cheap wooden products.

"This table has been slit," Yuan Xiang touched the patent leather on the desk with care and said with pain: "You have a few more quarrels, and this table should be changed. Master Liu, you can change the iron table first and then discuss government affairs with President Xiong."

Bang!

Xiong Lan turned a deaf ear to Yuan Xiang's words.

"There is no need to print more IOUs. It's only February now. Whether the original people or newcomers, why should they prepare for IOUs after the autumn harvest? They are worried that one stone of grain had dropped to fifty yuan or even lower at that time, so they would hold the IOUs in their hands and not let go. As long as you don't want to make a fortune by IOUs, and honestly exchange one hundred yuan for one stone of grain, the people will soon put aside their worries and take out the IOUs."

Now the price of grain is only a line away from 80 yuan. Xiong Lan has a nightmare every night, dreaming that Deng Ming transformed into Cao Cao and dragged himself out to sacrifice the flag. However, there is still a solution to the low grain now. As long as you print the IOU at full speed, you will definitely be able to reverse it. But what should you do when the price of grain rises to 119 in the future? Xiong Lan feels that it is even more difficult to let him spit out the grain stored in the warehouse with Liu Tichun's nature, let alone food will still be consumed after all. Besides, Deng Ming's order to Liu Jinge is to make money, not to control prices, and then he will not be the head of Liu Jinge.

Bang!

Liu Jinge couldn't argue with Xiong Lan, and shouted loudly when he was furious: "One-on-one fight!"

Last time Xiong Lan settled the bill, she told the Zhejiang Army young general Yu Youming that Liu Jinge had several million yuan. After understanding it, Yu Youming was furious and immediately went to Liu Zhifu with Xiong Lan to argue. But Liu Jinge said that there was an IOU, but if he wanted to change it, he had to exchange it for 85 yuan per stone. This was a special discount for Zhejiang soldiers by Liu Zhifu.

After being denounced by Yu Youming, Liu Jinge took off his official uniform and challenged Yu Youming in front of Yuan Xiang: "Try it alone!"

Yu Youming couldn't swallow this, so he fought with Liu Jinge. As a result, Yu Jiangmen was beaten to pieces by Liu's prefecture. Finally, he had to swallow his anger and accepted the ratio of 85 yuan to one stone. He exchanged 5,000 stones of grain for a batch of IOUs. Later, Xiong Lan went to find Yu Youming again, but the latter closed the door to thank the guests. He heard from people in Zhejiang that after Yu Youming recovered from his injuries, he did not leave the house every day, and held the stone lock three times a day. The rest of the time was either exercise his fists or learn to learn sticks.

The other party's momentum had a certain deterrent effect on Xiong Lan. When he continued to defend, he did not slap the table again: "This grain price..."

Bang!

Liu Jinge smashed the table even harder: "Try it alone!"

"This price..." Xiong Lan also tried to speak.

Bang, bang, bang! The Chengdu magistrate smashed the table three times, interrupting the bank president's efforts to reason with him for the last time today. Liu urged to President Xiong with all his strength and pulled his throat, "Take it alone!"

Master Liu leaned forward, his face almost leaned against President Xiong's face. Xiong Lan raised her arm and gently wiped her saliva-filled face with her sleeve.

After finishing the rub, Xiong Lan took a step back and began to take off her official uniform without saying a word, revealing her upper body covered with tattoos.

Seeing this, Liu Jinge also took off his robe and rolled up his trousers.

Yuan Xiang had already dragged the table between the two to the side, and at the same time he did not forget to instruct: "Don't hit the crotch, don't insert the eyes, or lock the throat, don't forget that you are the officials of the court!" Needless to say, Xiong Lan had been in the army for many years and had several lives in her hands. Yuan Xiang did not stop them from fighting, but reminded the two to pay attention to their proper attitude.

"Bow you to death, a thief son!"

"Beat you to death and raise it!"

As soon as Yuan Xiang finished speaking, the Chengdu prefect and the bank president roared and fought each other, fists and feet flying...

Half an hour later, Xiong Lan, with black eyes and her subordinates angrily left the prefect's office, and gritted her teeth at Liu Jinge: "Liu thief is so good at fighting!"

At this time, the face of Liu Magistrate Liu was swollen and he was sitting on his chair resting with his cheeks. When he remembered the hard-won victory just now, he was still scared: "President Xiong is so fierce. He underestimated him before."

"He has been a soldier for more than 20 years and has been in the army." Yuan Xiang said: "It is not easy for President Xiong. If the price of grain is less than 80, the gentleman will have to settle the score with him."

"I know, I haven't seen the price of grain, and it has been steadily stopped at 81. If the price of grain rises in the future, I will help him stop below 12. Now he can't trust me. I know that the price of grain is very important to him, but I have to make money and collect grain." Liu Jinge complained. If the bank opened to print IOUs, of course he would not hoard such notes, but now since Xiong Lan refused to issue it indiscriminately, Liu Jinge had to use this method to generate income for the government.

...

When leaving Chengdu, Deng Ming didn't have much time, so he simply outlined Xiong Lan's bank structure and gave the bank staff some names, such as "manager", "accounting room", "cash checkout", "security guard", etc. The rest was given to Xiong Lan.

In Deng Ming's impression, bank employees should be gentle, with eyes and gentle voices. Movies and TV series leave another impression on Deng Ming, that is, bank employees are a highly dangerous job. In movies and TV, shortly after the bank scene, a dark room will appear, where a group of burly men with fierce faces and tattoos are sitting, fiddling with various dangerous weapons in their hands, and their resourceful leaders are planning to loot the specific details of the bank.

In Chengdu now, there are probably no one who thinks that banks are a dangerous profession that is easy to be robbed. On the contrary, robbing banks is a dangerous profession.

At the other end of Chunxi Road, Xiong Lan's yamen is located. The plaque with the word "bank" written on it is high under the eaves. There are always a few burly men with big swords standing at the door. They are all bank security guards, and they have been scanning the pedestrians around with vigilant eyes. Their eyes make every fellow scholar who is being watched feel cold and standing up. If they were not required to go to the bank to do business, the people around them would avoid the bank's door in a long circle.

When President Xiong was seen returning to the yamen with a clan surrounded by a team of fully armed "cashiers", the unrelated people around him kept a considerable distance from them.

The courtyard is full of stone locks of different sizes, and a large number of cashiers and accountants will use them to train their muscles when they are idle. Although it is the cold early spring, these fierce men are wearing shorts, revealing their muscles. As their limbs continue to move, all kinds of animals on the tattoo seem to have life.

The same is true today. Before Xiong Lan entered the yard, she heard shouts one after another. Many bank employees were sweating profusely and were performing daily training. Many people sat in groups by the wall and corner of the yard, carefully wiping the big knife and spear in their hands.

Xiong Lan did not stay in the front yard for a long time, but walked to the back. Qin Xiucai was training salesmen's maths. Qin Xiucai has been learning how to calculate numbers by himself these days, and then handed them over to Xiong Lan's other subordinates.

"Boss, what's wrong?" Qin Xiucai asked in surprise after seeing Xiong Lan come in with a scar on her face.

"Master Liu!" Xiong Lan said angrily: "He just wanted to use the IOU to collect more food, and he didn't care about my life or death."

"Oh." Qin Xiucai stopped giving lectures, and other students came up to Xiong Lan to ask about her well-being. Some of them shouted recklessly: "President! Let's go and smash the prefect's office."

"Nonsense!" Xiong Lan cursed with a grudge: "If I could smash it, wouldn't I have gone long ago? Liu's prefect has more than 300 soldiers from the yamen, and we don't have the advantage, and he has hundreds of pavilions to use. If you really fight, we will definitely suffer!"

"The top priority is that we must recruit more cashiers and security guards," according to Xiong Lan's understanding, cashiers and security guards are similar to servants and soldiers. As for the manager, of course, they just want to be the general manager.

"Master, you go to Chongqing." Xiong Lan asked Qin Xiucai to bring several capable cashiers to Chongqing to file a complaint with Deng Ming.

"Okay, boss, there are a few ships that have been unloaded today. I will leave early tomorrow morning." Qin Xiucai agreed immediately.

"When I met the admiral, in addition to telling me what I told him, I also asked the admiral for someone." Xiong Lan said.

"Who do you want?"

"Of course it's Park Fan and the others," Xiong Lan touched the back of her head and said resolutely: "I don't want the foundation of Wanxian anymore. I want the admiral to transfer Park Fan and the others to Chengdu."

In addition to asking Deng Ming for permission, Xiong Lan also asked other confidants to travel to Wanxian and asked Park Fan to select a group of capable subordinates to bring him: "Tell Park Fan that I want 150 security guards. It doesn't matter if I can't farm. When we arrive in Chengdu, we don't need to build military camps by ourselves. Fifty cashiers have to go to the battlefield. When Park Fan arrives in Chengdu, I recommend him to the admiral as the general manager of Chengdu Bank. In addition, these 200 people need about three managers to lead. The position of the bank manager is quite good. You must have killed someone and seen blood."

...

Since leaving Loushan Pass, a large number of animals pulling carts have begun to die. The army has no time to stop and collect enough forage. Even if there is one, it is necessary to give priority to supplying war horses.

After ten days of hard marching, the strong women brought out from Guizhou almost disappeared, and the strong men began to die in large numbers in the past two days. After losing the animals, the Qing army put the auxiliary soldiers on the vehicle and drove them forward with a whip. Tan Xiaozhuang saw more than once that the auxiliary soldiers who were pulling the cart suddenly tilted their heads and fell to the ground. No matter how the Qing soldiers beat them hard, they had no reaction at all. After confirming that the auxiliary soldiers died, the Qing soldiers would untie the rope tied to him, throw the body to the side of the road, and then change to another person to the position of the deceased to continue moving forward.

Along the way north, the number of auxiliary soldiers decreased faster and faster, and the corpses on the roadside became increasingly denser. Tan Xiaozhuang recognized one of the faces today, which was the man who set up a stall not far from him in the market.

The man lay motionless on the side of the road, his clothes were whipped to pieces, and the ragged clothes and flesh were mixed together; his eyes were wide open, but his mouth was tightly closed.

Until now, Tan Xiaozhuang has not been assigned to pull a cart. He is responsible for lighter tasks such as collecting firewood, but he is also very clear that pulling a cart is just a matter of time. Tan Xiaozhuang stood by the man for a while, looked around and no one noticed him, so he quickly squatted down and closed the man's angrily eyes, and then quickly escaped a few steps.

If Tan Xiaozhuang's actions were discovered by soldiers, they might think that he sympathized with the deceased and was dissatisfied with the chief. Even if he was not punished, he might immediately get on the cart. Despite this, Tan Xiaozhuang couldn't help but reach out and closed his eyes for the man who had only one-time relationship. After staying away from this location, Tan Xiaozhuang felt his heart pounding.
Chapter completed!