"The Admiral's flag was successful." The bank manager confirmed Lu Huan's speculation and told him: "The Prime Minister Liu summoned all the bosses to discuss matters, and a banquet will be held tomorrow to entertain the people of the five salt shops."

"That's great." Lu Huan's friend shouted happily when he heard this. He knew that the salt step was Lu Huan's hard work, and he invested no less than half of the farmers in it, and even more.

"Well, thank you." Lu Huan bowed his fists to the bank manager.

"Boss Lu, you are polite. After my boss heard the good news, he asked me to report to Boss Lu. If Boss Lu is fine, I will accompany Boss Lu back to the city." The status of Chengdu private banks is also very embarrassing. Most of the industry and commerce in the city owes huge debts from the Chengdu government, and lending to them is extremely risky. The current favorite customers of private banks are still farmers who reclaim land. The risk of lending to them is the most guaranteed. Although the amount of loans required by farmers is small, the strength of Chengdu private banks is also very weak. Most of their funds are borrowed from Dufu Bank. In addition, there are a large number of people who need loans, which can also meet the needs of some private banks.

According to previous experience in the money shop, farmers borrowed loans for food and seed grain. When they did not take up the green and yellow, they often owed huge debts, which was so large that they could pay them back almost a year. Some farmers were not thrifty enough, and they worked hard all for a year to repay the interest. The second year, in order to obtain salt, seed grain and food when they didn't take up the green and yellow, the newly borrowed money was even larger than the previous year, and the profits to be paid by the end of the year exceeded the previous year. Such a vicious cycle, the debt was more than year after year. There was a shopkeeper of a money shop who used to be an apprentice in the house of a gentry.

As he knew, such farmers who were heavily in debt were more popular with landlords than those who were thrifty. Because as long as there was no disaster, ordinary farmers would sooner or later pay off their debts, and the only benefits they could get from them was land rent. If they were self-cultivated farmers, they would no longer benefit from them. The latter type of farmers were almost serfs, and in addition to maintaining their own survival, they would contribute all their output. For such farmers, gentry and landlords would not force them to a dead end. If their life was too difficult, they would appropriately exempt some debts to ensure that they could work healthily.

If the Dufu collects heavy taxes, private banks can also consider cultivating such customers. As long as a hardworking but big-handed farmer falls into such a debt trap, no matter he is a self-cultivated farmer or a tenant, he will be a gold mine for the creditor. However, Chengdu's taxes are very light, and the government has intervened in the lending relationship like never before, and stipulates the interest limit in the future in Chengdu's jurisdiction, rather than ignore it in the spirit of "debt repayment, it is natural" as in the past. In this way, farmers are unlikely to be bent over by heavy interest. Even a Guizhou captive who has just arrived and does not enjoy any preferential policies can hope to pay off all their debts by one year's harvest. Since the Dufu stipulates the interest limit for private banks, a large number of Guizhou people have made loan requests to private banks, using the money borrowed from the bank to repay the high-interest loans they had borrowed before.

Based on past experience, several private banks felt that farmers would not borrow money from a child after they were not under pressure to survive. Some of them had worked as farmers and knew that the normal dream of farmers was to be thrifty and leave as little debt as possible for their sons. If they could pay all their debts, it would be the best life. After paying the imperial grain, they could enjoy the remaining output - in this case, farmers would not have any request for borrowing.

Therefore, banks believe that the farmers in Dufu will no longer be bank customers in one or two years. Even if there are farmers who borrow money from the bank, they can only be landless newcomers who have just arrived here. These people will not be long-term customers. If the money shops here in Chengdu want to survive, they need to find suitable long-term customers.

Although Deng Ming had instructed Liu Jinge and Xiong Lan to support the industry and commerce in the city, they were unable to negotiate a proper support charter. The government could not fully contribute to every industry like Ma Bank, nor did it directly come forward to guarantee other industries. The government did not guarantee these industries and did not recognize excessive interest, so private banks could only carefully lend to slightly better industries such as the Iron Factory.

For example, today this guy sent a guy to Lu Huan's bank boss. His main customer base was farmers and industries that were slightly better. Due to competition from several banks, his bank could obtain very poor profits. After calculation, the profits could only be slightly more than expenses by the end of the year. When the bank boss was silent, he worked as a bit of work in a blacksmith shop on Chunxi Road. He took out the man's wages, taxes in Chengdu, rents in the store, and the income from the part-time job of burning furnaces for the blacksmith was on the same order of magnitude as the income of the bank boss.

After hearing the news from the yamen today, the bank boss immediately realized that this was an opportunity. The government's interest restrictions were mainly aimed at personal loans, and the purpose was to protect farmers' waists from being bent. Deng Ming had heard of the term "venture investment" in his previous life. He did not know the specific rules, so he understood that banks allowed banks to agree on loan interest rates with those businesses that urgently needed loans. The Chengdu government did not interfere too much.

The bosses of the salt bank had considered borrowing usury before, but neither they nor the bank boss dared to say that Deng Ming would be able to open the market quickly, which posed a very high risk to both parties, so they could never reach an agreement on the issue of profit. Both parties had very little capital and no one dared to gamble, so they gave up.

Now there is huge positive news in the salt industry. The bank boss thinks that interest can be reduced and loans can be made. I believe that the bosses of the Salt Bank will dare to borrow money after learning the news. Thinking of this, the bank boss hurriedly asked for an hour off from the blacksmith shop where he worked, and hurried back to his bank, asking the managers and guys to go out quickly to find and report good news to the bosses of the five major salt banks, and promote their banking business on their way back to the Dufu.

"Go to the Du Mansion quickly," Lu Huan's friend shouted to him: "If it is true, you are going to treat you."

"What's the point?" Lu Huan refused without thinking: "I promised that I'll do a day's work today. Yesterday you gave me the wages today."

Then Lu Huan accused the bank manager, who waved his hand and said, "It's okay, it's okay, then I'll wait for Boss Lu here."

So Lu Huan and his friends got up and started working. The bank manager watched coldly for a moment, and suddenly asked, "If you have a short-term work for a long time, how can you calculate the wages?"

"I'll be full for dinner, I'll give you another two yuan, how about it?" Lu Huan's friend asked.

"Okay." The bank manager immediately rolled up his sleeves and trouser legs, picked up a shoulder pole to carry water. His task was to accompany Lu Huan back to the city. Anyway, he was idle, so it would be better to do some short-term work to earn a few dollars.

The three of them were busy in the fields for a while, and someone came to call Lu Huan's name. This was from another bank and he also came to report the good news to Lu Huan.

"You're late." The bank manager who arrived first ran back and forth between the Longmen with a bucket, shouting at the newcomer: "I'm here first."

Seeing that it was a belated step, the second person could only think that he was not lucky, and congratulated Lu Huan again and turned around and left.

Soon after, the third guy came, and this time it was Lu Huan who answered. He pointed to the bank manager who was sweating profusely and told the visitor that he had received good news.

That night, the owner of the salt bank and the bank manager lived in the boss's house. As soon as the next day, the two got up and chopped wood for the boss's house. Lu Huan's friend made two bowls of noodle soup for them. In addition to the exquisite breakfast, the friend also gave the bank manager one yuan to report the good news for Lu Huan, who happily accepted it.

On the way back to Chengdu, Lu Huan and the bank manager discussed a lot of interest issues on loans.

In Liu Jinge's yamen, Lu Huan met Ye Tianming who accompanied Deng Ming on the expedition. The other three salt shop owners who stayed in Chengdu also arrived. Liu Jinge told the four bosses present that their last colleague was still herding cattle. He said that he had already paid the boss' wages for several days, so it was not good to take leave when he was busy.

Liu Jinge said this in a natural tone, and the other four people also expressed their understanding - since they received the wages and promised their boss, of course they should work diligently and not be lazy - in Lu Huan and the others' eyes, this is an axiom that needs no proof.

Deng Ming had already told Liu Jinge in a letter about the passing of the battle in Wuchang, and now Ye Tianming will tell the consequences of the battle to the other three.

"Fifty thousand kilograms of salt? One day!"

After hearing the number Ye Tianming said, Lu Huan and the others were so surprised that they opened their mouths wide and could not close them.

"Yes, the admiral also told me this number, and Boss Ye was not wrong." Liu Jinge confirmed Ye Tianming's statement in the middle of the table: "To allocate to five bosses, each of you will produce 10,000 kilograms of salt every day. How long will it take for you to reach this number?"

Two months before Deng Ming sent troops, he organized a surprise production of salt. At that time, the salt production in Chengdu almost reached this daily output, but tens of thousands of newly disbanded soldiers were ordered to participate at that time, and Deng Ming's personal prestige also played a great role in it. The five salt shop bosses rely on their own strength, not to mention 10,000 kilograms of salt a day, even 1,000 kilograms of salt per day.

"At that time, the admiral still made some salt in Xuzhou. Although the salt was distributed to us according to the output we produced in Dufu, it actually had nothing to do with us." Lu Huan said honestly: "If there were no brine wells in Xuzhou, even if there were enough people, tools and firewood in Dufu, they might not be able to produce so much salt."

"If you think it is necessary to go to Xuzhou to make salt, the capital will not stop it." Liu Jinge said slowly: "You are all fellow scholars, and you have fame and fortune. The capital will not restrict your access. If you hire people to go to Xuzhou, as long as the workers have the same status as the fellow scholar, the capital will not interfere. However, the capital will not be able to manage the capital. I guess it will be much more expensive than the capital here, right?"

Now there are only a small number of post station personnel in Xuzhou. Some of the people there have come to Chengdu, and some are still hiding around to watch the current situation. If the Salt Market wants to go to Xuzhou to make salt, it not only needs to bring people, but also needs to transport grain to Xuzhou. Liu Jinge does not intend to take care of this. Deng Ming also said that Chengdu's business cannot rely on the government for everything, and they must let them walk on their own as soon as possible. Only when they really cannot solve the problem and this problem will lead to a collapse of an industry, the Chengdu government should intervene. When the Salt Market was closed, Liu Jinge was hesitant and did not know if he should intervene. But now Liu Jinge believes that the problem in Xuzhou does not belong to the life and death of the Salt Market. He has already thought about it. If the Salt Market really goes to Xuzhou to make salt, he will ask Pu Fan to send a few tax police officers to obtain first-hand information on their output.

"I can sell it in Wuchang for ten thousand kilograms every day? Zhang Changgeng won't regret it, right?" Another boss of the salt shop asked with some doubts.

"No, he dares not. The admiral's sword is not a vegetarian." Ye Tianming said proudly, and told his colleagues that Deng Ming had marched into the lower reaches of the Yangtze River at his request to attack Sichuan Yan's competitors.

After leaving the prefect's office, three salt merchants surrounded Ye Tianming to the best restaurant on Xichun Road, asking him to tell everyone how Deng Ming dispatched a large army for the interests of the salt merchants.

The three salt merchants planned to eat coarse grain cakes themselves and gathered money to invite the returned Ye Tianming to eat a bowl of white noodles.

But Ye Tianming refused, and he took out a stack of IOUs from his arms, all of which were asked by Liu Jinge just now: "See, this is one thousand yuan! Our three million kilograms of salt are priced at 6 million yuan. The admiral has written to the prefect Liu and asked him to give us money."

When he met Liu Jinge just now, he told Ye Tianming that such a large amount of money would take time to prepare. Knowing that there was no IOU in Chengdu, Liu Jinge gave him a thousand first.

"One person has two hundred." Ye Tianming counted out six hundred IOUs and distributed them to Lu Huan and the other three: "When we wait, we will earn 10,000 kilograms of salt every day, which means we will earn 20,000 kilograms of salt a day, and we will also earn 10,000 after paying taxes."

The three of them touched the IOU in their hands and recalled Ye Tianming's words for a while. Lu Huan, who was the first to react, suddenly turned around and shouted at the waiter: "Waiter, rice!"

"I'm also rice," another salt merchant shouted, his face full of happiness: "Put more dogwood."

"Okay!"

While agreeing, the waiter walked towards Lu Huan and the others. Life here in Chengdu is getting better and better. Sometimes people are willing to spend money to have a meal in a restaurant. The best rice, sprinkled with dogwood and salt, can make people sweat.

"I want a plate of salted fish shredded fish." After careful consideration, the third salt merchant expressed his request. Dogwood is now a cash crop in Chengdu and is relatively expensive, but the better food must be salted fish. If there are also salted fish shreds in the rice, it would be so fragrant.

"I want it too!" The second salt merchant who spoke, Ru Meng, woke up and shouted.

Lu Huan hesitated for a moment, and gently pinched the IOU hidden in his arms, and finally shouted with a willingness to let go: "Give me a few more."

Three high-quality chefs came at once, and the hotel's staff were a little uncomfortable. While agreeing, he looked at Ye Tianming who had never spoken.

"What kind of salted fish are you going to?" Ye Tianming laughed: "Come a whole salted fish, I'll treat you!"

...

Fresh wild vegetables, spicy dogwood, and casual salted fish. Lu Huan and the others held their rice bowls and slapped their heads. Finally, they held their swollen belly one by one, leaning on the back of the chair with satisfaction and sighing.

"It's great to be a salt merchant!" The emotion of a man resonated with it.

"Of course it's good to be a salt merchant," Ye Tianming's demeanor was well maintained today. He didn't look like the other three people. He looked red when he saw the salted fish: "But good days are still there."

"How good can it be?" Lu Huan asked in confusion: "Do you only eat salted fish but not eat?"
Chapter completed!