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Section 53 Exchange

In the past, Deng Ming was responsible for pricing the goods shipped to Wuchang. The price was not necessarily accurate. Some were too high and some were too low. However, the personnel stationed in Wuchang did not have the right to modify the pricing. Deng Ming was not held forever in his hands, but allowed the Chengdu side to modify it. However, Deng Ming did not indicate who had the right to modify the price, because he had not thought about this issue very carefully, so he handed it over to Liu Jinge, and did not say that he could not transfer the right to others.

This time, Park Fan had the right to fully handle the price of goods from the prefect of Chengdu before leaving. After he arrived in Wuchang with Yu Youming, he showed Liu Jinge's order to the Wuchang garrison personnel to take a look. The Ming army immediately expressed that they would obey the orders of Deputy Director Park.

After learning that Pu Fan could change the price of the goods, Zhou Peigong believed that the other party was the person specially assigned by Deng Ming to handle the goods. For these goods that only accepted IOUs, Zhou Peigong also felt that the original pricing was very complicated, so he came up with a suggestion, that is, to directly regard one hundred yuan IOUs as a certain amount of silver, and no longer continue to use Deng Ming's strange conversion method. In short, it is to regard IOUs as a kind of silver bill.

When this condition was proposed, Zhou Peigong was ready to pay some price as exchange conditions. Although it was not entirely clear why Deng Ming deliberately distanced the IOU from the silver, Zhou Peigong had already realized some beneficial effects of this policy on Deng Ming. Not locking in the exchange ratio with the silver has led to some transaction difficulties and disadvantages, coupled with unknown dangers - Zhou Peigong did not dare to say that Deng Ming must have subsequent tricks, but now he is to expect the enemy to be lenient, so he is willing to pay some compensation to convince the other party to link the IOU to the silver.

"Okay." Pu Fan agreed immediately. After talking to the Wuchang garrison yesterday, he felt that it was really cumbersome to calculate the IOU in Wuchang. It would undoubtedly be much more convenient if it was changed to a fixed exchange rate with silver.

"Director Park is so happy." Zhou Peigong smiled slightly.

Zhou Peigong and Park Fan looked at each other for a moment, but in the end, Park Fan couldn't help it: "Does the prefect Zhou have any suggestions?"

Park Fan's question surprised Zhou Peigong, and he was stunned for two seconds before asking back: "Is the matter of silver and IOU fixed and dead exchange, is it just like that?"

"Didn't I agree?" Park Fan asked in confusion.

"Yes, Director Park had agreed just now." Yu Youming, who was accompanying him, also replied, and he was a little confused: "Didn't Master Zhou praise Director Park for being so pleased? Why are you still thinking about this?"

"Oh." Zhou Peigong then realized that the other party agreed to his proposal without asking for any additional conditions. Zhou Peigong praised Park Fan for being so pleased, but thought that the two sides had just reached a big consensus, and the bargaining had just begun.

"Didn't he see the benefits of the uncertain death price to Admiral Deng?" Zhou Peigong couldn't help but feel a little suspicious: "Did Admiral Deng just unintentionally inserting willows?" However, Zhou Peigong did not believe his speculation, because Deng Ming deliberately maintained the opposition of the IOU against silver was too obvious. Zhou Peigong didn't seem to be a mistake no matter how he looked at it: "But these two guys seem to think that my proposal is fair and there is no need to provide them with any compensation."

"Oh, by the way, I don't know how Master Zhou planned to calculate the exchange between IOU and Silver?" Yu Youming suddenly remembered something again.

"Is this important?" Zhou Peigong was suspicious and blurted out without thinking.

"Why doesn't it matter?" Yu Youming shouted; "Master Zhou, don't bully us. Now a hundred IOUs can be worth one or two cents, or even one or three cents of silver."

Zhou Peigong was stunned again. In his opinion, if the exchange ratio between IOU and silver is locked, then IOU is just a kind of banknote. It is actually equivalent to trading with IOU as an intermediary. After achieving the goal of locking the exchange rate, it can completely eliminate the huge benefits brought by Deng Ming's ability to have the right to issue IOU and commodity pricing.

Since it is an IOU and a silver note, it seems that there is no difference between 100 yuan equals one tael of silver or two taels... Wait! Zhou Peigong suddenly remembered something again: "They didn't seem to mention how to pay compensation IOU next, and I always thought that the first item to lock the exchange is to change the compensation method - this is natural, and I will agree immediately, but when they didn't even mention this."

"The two were sent by Admiral Deng, right?" Zhou Peigong confirmed the other party's identity again. He confirmed it very seriously: "You have the right to determine how to exchange IOUs and silver, and you also have the right to price the goods, right?"

"Of course." Park Fan and Yu Youming replied in unison. If they don't have this right, what would they talk about here?

"Can you show me the token?" If it is a local official, of course there will be a letter of appointment, and if it is an angel, he will also carry an imperial edict. Zhou Peigong wanted to see the token that Deng Ming gave them before, as long as the other party could let Deng Ming's left-behind personnel in Wuchang warehouse release the goods, but now he suddenly felt that it was necessary to further confirm the other party's identity.

After discussing with Yu Youming for a few words, Park Fan took out all the warrants that Deng Ming gave to Liu Jinge and the warrants that Liu Jinge gave to the Ming army in Wuchang. Although Zhou Peigong's words made him feel suspicious and offended, he still presented these documents of proof.

Zhou Peigong smiled and took Pu Fan's document with both hands, then immediately lowered his head and looked carefully. Deng Ming's warrant was not long, but he clearly mentioned giving the transaction and pricing power to Liu Jinge. Zhou Peigong also noticed that Deng Ming mentioned on the warrant, saying that this batch of goods must be traded in IOUs.

"As soon as Admiral Deng had planned, he had been trying hard to deceive me into biting the hook, and he said that this was to show his sincerity. When dealing with Admiral Deng, he was just a little bit of carelessness." Seeing this, Zhou Peigong secretly hated him, but his face remained unchanged, and then he sneered in his belly: "But your subordinates actually agreed to exchange IOU and silver quota. Even if you still use IOU to trade, what's the difference with silver?"

Then came Liu Jinge's order, which was much simpler. The Ming army in Wuchang was asked to obey Pu Fan's instructions, and he was Liu Jinge's plenipotent representative.

After confirming that Park Fan's rights were correct, Zhou Peigong asked his aides to copy the two handwritten wares immediately on the best silk, and then used the ink to ask Park Fan to stamp his handprints: "It's not that the official is careful. I have never seen Director Park before. I dare to press the handprints to prove that the contents of these two letters are correct."

"Why is this?" Park Fan asked in surprise. He felt that it was enough for the other party to confirm his identity and did not understand why the other party wanted to keep a file.

"There are all goods from Admiral Deng. If there is something unclear in the future, I can't even explain it," Zhou Peigong said pitifully: "And Admiral Deng originally said that all these goods must be traded with IOUs that land would be compensated. Now we exchange them with silver. If there is a mistake in the future, I can prove that this is not my intention to deceive Admiral Deng."

Seeing that the Qing officials were so afraid of Deng Ming, Park Fan and Yu Youming both felt a light on their faces. Park Fan no longer thought about it, so he pressed his handprints on the two copying volumes to confirm that the content was accurate.

After carefully putting the backup warrant, Zhou Peigong's smile on his face became even brighter. He held both hands and returned the originals of the warrants to Park Fan: "The day before yesterday, the matter with the silver pricing is of great importance. I don't know very well whether the market price outside is one or two cents or three cents. I have to go back and ask. Don't let you suffer a loss, we can't suffer too much."

"Master Zhou said it is reasonable." Park Fan and Yu Youming thought it was indeed the reason and had no objection.

After seeing off the two, Zhou Peigong called Wuchang Ma Jun Admiral and his father-in-law Lu Chenyin. As soon as he talked about today's incident, Lu Chenyin jumped up: "These two must be liars!"

"They are not." Zhou Peigong showed Lu Chenyin the two handwritten warrants he copied and told him: "Mr. Lu must have guessed the reason for the negotiations that I suspended just now. He said he was unable to make sure that he could not make the decision to set one hundred yuan as one taels or one taels or three."

"Hehe," Lu Chenyin gently unfolded two warrants, and smiled while looking: "Admiral Deng sent two idiots."

When Lu Chenyin saw Deng Ming's goods that must be traded in IOU, he pondered for a moment and pointed at them and said, "Has the magistrate ever seen this?"

"See it," Zhou Peigong said gritting his teeth: "It was all Admiral Deng's trick, and I was cheated by him. If it weren't for this warrant, it would be impossible to explain clearly. You always thought that I had messed up the matter."

"Is this matter not important?" Admiral Ma Jun thought about it for a long time, but his face was still confused. Finally, he couldn't help asking: "A cent of silver is also money, and..."

"You are also a fool." Lu Chenyin interrupted his son-in-law and returned the warrant to Zhou Peigong while cursing: "This is one hundred yuan, not one hundred taels of silver. It's the same as the amount you set. You can think about it when you go home."

"It's different, how could it be the same?" Zhou Peigong smiled and said, "Admiral Deng compensated us for the IOU, but he still paid one hundred yuan per stone of rice."

"Why, they agreed without mentioning this?" After getting a positive answer from Zhou Peigong, Lu Chenyin stretched out his hand again: "I dare to ask the prefect to show the two warrants to me again."

...

Beijing.

On the same day when Zhou Peigong received Park Fan and Yu Youming, Jiang Guozhu's memorial to ask Huguang to send troops to help the suppression was also taken out by Shunzhi to discuss with his ministers.

Deng Ming and Zhang Huangyan stayed in Zhenjiang and refused to leave. This was no longer just a threat to the Qing court's canal transportation, but it was actually cut off. If the Ming army destroyed the canal and dragged it until the beginning of next year, then the next canal transportation would not be expected. Jiang Ning Governor Jiang Guozhu had confessed that relying on the power of Liangjiang, he was completely unable to expel Deng Ming and urgently needed reinforcements from Dasu or Huguang, and Dasu was obviously impossible to give it to him.

"Zhou Peigong is really a talent." Seeing that Jiang Guozhu asked for this person by name, Shunzhi also valued this young Han minister even more: "In the future, we will always find time to let him go to Beijing." After that, Shunzhi glanced at Oboi.

"I understand." Obai understood. Shunzhi wanted to try how much Zhou Peigong was. If he was really a young military talent, while trying hard to win over, he should also prepare for the remote location where he would be guarded after the world was settled in the future.

"I just don't know if Zhang Changgeng is willing to lend him." Sony said. Now Huguang is still threatened by Gaodong. While preparing for war, it not only supports Wu Sangui, but also undertakes the canal transportation task. The pressure is not as easy as Liangjiang. Zhou Peigong is obviously a trump card in Zhang Changgeng's hands.

Shunzhi considered not only Huguang's needs, but also Huguang was willing to borrow it. Whether Huguang's troops could enter the hinterland of Liangjiang also needed to be considered.

Last year, a large number of prefectures and counties in Liangjiang suffered military disasters, resulting in the court ordering tax exemption; this year, many prefectures and counties in Zhejiang had to be exempted from taxes because of Ma Fengzhi's rebellion. After finally bombing Ma Fengzhi, Deng Ming came again. Maybe a large number of taxes in Liangjiang will be reduced next year. If reinforcements from Huguang enter Liangjiang, they may be in a mess wherever they pass. Shunzhi is very clear that prefectures and counties that pass bandits may need tax exemption, but prefectures and counties that pass officers and soldiers must definitely need tax exemption, especially those who cooperate with the suppression of other provinces. It is not necessarily enough to exempt one year of tax exemption after the transit. Repelling the Ming army is of great importance, but Shunzhi also needs to consider the cost issue. If possible, it is best to rely on the strength of the province to repel it - even the Jiangxi soldiers under the governor of the Liangjiang Governor's Office are not very reliable.

Not only Shunzhi is clear, but Jiang Guozhu must also understand that whether it is the reinforcements from Huguang or the reinforcements from Henan or Shandong, these officers and soldiers who assisted in the suppression will definitely take away every Liangjiang woman they met and every Liangjiang coin they saw. If it is not a last resort, Jiang Guozhu will not make such a suggestion, and Shunzhi will never agree.

Anyway, there is still time, Shunzhi really wants to delay this in advance. After Dasu annihilated Zheng Chenggong, the Qing army gathered in Fujian can start to march towards Zhoushan, which is likely to force Zhang Huangyan to return to the army for rescue. At that time, the Governor's Office of Liangjiang may be able to rely on his own strength to expel Deng Ming.

When the king and his ministers hesitate, another memorial from Fujian was submitted.

Shunzhi opened Dasu's memorial and sighed a long time later, throwing the memorial to Sony while saying, "Issue an order to Wuchang and ask him to send reinforcements to Jiangnan immediately. The remaining taxes in Huguang this year and taxes for next year will not need to be deported to Beijing for use by the Chu army."

The problem now is no longer the time to consider taxes from Liangjiang. It is even better for the Ming army to plunder the Liangjiang River into white land than the manpower and financial resources above.

...

The next day, Zhou Peigong and Yu Youming started the second round of negotiations. Before the beginning, he introduced Lu Chenyin around him - he was the major shareholder of a smuggled business with the Ming army in Sichuan, and received unanimous authorization from the shareholders to discuss the transaction.

"As the two said, the IOU of 100 yuan is now worth one or two or three cents of silver, and there is still a momentum of rising," Lu Chenyin tempted cunningly: "Then let's set it to one or four cents of gold, how about it?"

Park Fan had to agree as soon as he heard this. Yesterday he discussed with Yu Youming and thought that it would be acceptable for one or two cents, but Yu Youming, a Zhejiang native, was obviously faster than the honest Park Fan. He said before Park Fan agreed: "No, this may increase."

In fact, one or two or four cents is a lot, and Yu Youming and Park Fan are just a little overjoyed.

"Indeed," Lu Chenyin nodded. A test made him find out the other party's background: "Since that's the case, then you can exchange it for 100 yuan for two taels."

Yu Youming and Park Fan were both surprised and couldn't speak. They didn't expect that the other party was so generous. Yesterday, Yu Youming and Park Fan calculated that the goods purchased for 100 yuan here can be sold for about 200 yuan when they returned to Chengdu. If the other party set the exchange rate so, wouldn't the goods purchased for 100 yuan be sold for more than 400 yuan?

Such a huge profit made Yu Youming very happy.

"Do you still think it's less?" The other party looked happy but did not agree immediately. Lu Chenyin said with a sad face: "How about exchanging one hundred yuan for two taels and five cents?"

Within a few breaths, the profit rose by 20% again. Yu Youming and Park Fan felt like they were dreaming.

"Is it still not possible?" Lu Chenyin's voice began to tremble, and she gritted her teeth: "How about exchanging one hundred yuan for three liang?"

Yu Youming and Park Fan were completely shocked. Seeing this, Lu Chenyin slapped his thigh hard and was about to take out a new price for jumping off the property. He blocked Lu Chenyin's mouth and was interrupted by Zhou Peigong's heavy cough. Lu Chenyin turned his head and saw Zhou Peigong frowning and shook his head slightly at him, suggesting that he could stop at the right time.

"It's only one hundred yuan, three taels. If there are more people, my family will be destroyed."

Lu Chenyin insisted that the price would no longer be raised. Park Fan and Yu Youming argued weakly for a few words and agreed to the other party's offer.

Before signing the contract, Zhou Peigong and Lu Chenyin were waiting nervously, waiting for each other to propose to modify the amount of compensation IOU, but they never heard of this problem. After this matter came to an end, Lu Chenyin's smile became brighter: "There is another thing, what you pay us is all evidence, not real money. If you cannot provide us with goods, then these vouchers are no different from waste paper."

"We will have a steady stream of goods coming," Yu Youming said.

"But how do you guarantee that the number of certificates sent to us will be less than your goods? After all, what you take from us is real things, and we can only wait to pick up the goods from your warehouse." Lu Chenyin questioned: "If you send certificates indiscriminately, such as if you only have one million taels of goods but send us three million taels of certificates, then the business bank will have to wait for the goods in the past two months, and the silver period can be used to do other business, which should not be fair to our business bank, right?"

Of course this situation would not happen, because Lu Chenyin knew very well about how much goods Deng Ming had transported. If there was no goods in the Mingjun warehouse or the certificate of over-delivery was far greater than their delivery capabilities, Lu Chenyin's business would not accept it at all.

But this question really stopped Yu Youming. He and Park Fan discussed it quietly for a while, but could not come up with any solution.

"Otherwise, we can accept the IOU voucher first. Even if there is no stock for a while, it doesn't matter. We can give you ten days to prepare the stock. The losses of these ten days will be ours." Lu Chenyin said magnanimously: "But if you don't have the stock after ten days, then we ask for some compensation and give us 50% of the interest every ten days."

Zhou Peigong coughed heavily, and Lu Chenyin changed the terms without changing his expression: "Considering the wind and rain on the Yangtze River, why don't you give you more than five days to prepare stocks, and change it to pay every half month, with 30% of the profit each time."

The leg under the table was kicked heavily. Seeing Zhou Peigong's fierce opposition, Old Jinshen Lu had to change his words again: "This way, I think you will not deliberately deceive our goods. So if the certificates issued to us cannot be exchanged for goods for a month, then we will ask for some compensation, 10% of the monthly interest, that is, every hundred yuan IOU certificate will be compensated for ten yuan, and it will be settled every month. If the goods arrive within a month, there is no need to compensate. The losses in between are considered as the friendship of landlords for our business."

Yu Youming and Park Fan agreed. The other side was more and more favorable to Lu Chenyin and the others. Of course, they would not deliberately deceive Wuchang's goods, and the Yangtze River transportation was inevitable without any delay. As long as they filled the goods within a month, the other party would be willing to bear all the losses in between. If they really couldn't make up for it, the other party asked for very little compensation, only 10%. Yu Youming and Park Fan felt that they would not buy goods on a large amount of credit, and this interest was basically not worth mentioning.

After the agreement was signed, the kind Lu Jinshen pointed out that as the party who paid the goods first, their concerns could not be completely eliminated, because Sichuan could buy bulk goods on credit and then run away decisively. In this way, no matter how high the profit is, the losses in Wuchang cannot be recovered.

Yu Youming and Park Fan said that they were not like this. Lu Jinshen said that he believed they were not, so he planned to collect some mortgage symbolically, such as Sichuan deposited 100,000 taels of silver at Wuchang Commercial Bank (you can pay with the payment for goods purchased by non-IOUs), and then issued 150,000 taels of IOUs vouchers every month. The additional 50,000 was completely provided to them by Lu Jinshen with trust and kindness.

Before Park Fan agreed, Zhou Peigong disconnected the topic. Lu Chenyin immediately changed the conditions and changed it to a deposit of 200,000 taels of credit that could be issued with a deposit of 100,000 yuan, which was a full double the credit limit. But the topic was disconnected by Zhou Peigong again.

Lu Chenyin thought for the third time Yu Youming and Park Fan that he wanted to guarantee that the silver was completely symbolic, so he would take out the price of jumping off the property, that is, for every ten thousand taels of silver deposited by Sichuan people in his money house, he could issue an IOU certificate for every 10,000 taels of silver used to purchase Lu Chenyin's merchant's goods, and those goods used as collateral for Deng Ming.

This condition made Yu Youming and Park Fan feel a little embarrassed. At this time, Zhou Peigong suddenly stood up and said to the two: "Two distinguished guests, let's go back and rest first, we'll end here today."

After sending off the negotiator in Sichuan, Zhou Peigong looked at Lu Chenyin fiercely: "Mr. Lu, what do you want to do?"

"You have also seen it, Master Tai. They agreed. I did not force it. They were still very happy and satisfied." Lu Chenyin said with an innocent look on his face.

"This is not a young man without a backstage. They are Admiral Deng's people!" Zhou Peigong shouted: "Yes, Admiral Deng's chess quality is very good, but no matter how good the chess quality is, people will sometimes turn off the chessboard! Let's stop at it, we have no more conditions!"
Chapter completed!
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