Section 40     Treasury Debts (1)

The government debt official ticket was instructed to be the official ticket of the user department of Jiangning Weaving Yamen. It was made of leather paper, and the blue and white background was stained with a light pink peony flower. The text was not the common "Ministry of Revenue Official Ticket" in the Manchu and Han walls, but the "Daqing official dragon ticket". The middle indicated: "The kuping foot color is 1,000 silver", and there are several lines below: "The Ministry of Revenue reported the official dragon ticket, and anyone who wished to exchange the official dragon ticket for silver and money will be the same as the silver. It is also stipulated in accordance with the regulations and the official courts are given, and the forgers are punished according to the law."

The people around him didn't know the truth, but Zeng Guofan and Guo Songtao knew that this dragon official ticket was designed and painted by the emperor himself. After the emperor handed over to the Jiangning Manufacturing Office according to the picture, the governor of the Liangjiang River and the vassal department of the province, and the weaving factory personally supervised and destroyed the model. The total number was 35,000 dragon official tickets. Luo Bingkun, who had been promoted to Jiangning General, personally led his troops to protect him, transported to Beijing, and handed over to the Ministry of Revenue. Only then did the matter be settled.

The people of the people cannot call him, and they are unwilling to call him such a complicated and tangled title, so they just call it a dragon vote. The dragon vote is issued as a national debt. Except for the fact that there have been long-standing examples in Western countries and are well-versed in the internal information, China is so great that it is possible to realize that national debt may bring great benefits to itself, and there are only one of them, Hu Xueyan.

Hu Xueyan had a special talent and did not like to be an official, but only wanted to make money. In the seventh year of Xianfeng, Emperor Nan Xing, although he was lucky enough to see the beauty of heaven, in his dream boat, he said some jokes and jokes, and did not mention them at all. Until the emperor summoned Wang Youling to meet him, he set up exchanges in Jiangning and Shanghai. Hu Xueyan showed his talent for dancing and opened silk, tea and local medicine exchanges in Xujiahui and Jiangning City Confucius Temple in Shanghai. He himself resigned from his official position shortly after the establishment of the exchange and invested a lot of money. He opened silk, tea and local medicine factories in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. With the convenience of official and businessmen, he made a fortune after several years.

In addition to doing business by himself, Hu Xueyan went to the officialdom on the grounds of hosting the imperial examination. Gui Liang, Huang Zonghan, Ling Gui, Ni Liangyao and others all occupied a number of dry shares in his black silk factory. In the ninth year of Xianfeng, he opened his own money shop and named him Fukang. On the day of opening, the storefront was renovated, and Hu Xueyan had to do everything himself. The few friends standing at the counter were all selected by him. He had a handsome face, all of whom were wearing new blue cloth gowns and smiling faces to welcome people.

Hu Xueyan personally received the congratulations from both the officials and business circles, and Gui Liang and Wang Youling were not good at congratulations. They also sent the listeners from the mansion to send a "pile of flowers" silver. On the first day of the opening, they had deposits of tens of thousands of yuan. The dazzling "horse hoof silver" just came out, and the "round silk" were piled up at random at the counter, making the passing people look straight.

Since then, Hu Xueyan operated a money shop while managing a black silk factory, and made great deals, becoming the leading luxury home in Zhejiang Province. Later, another incident happened, which made the name of Fukang Money House resound throughout the country! It was the case of Gui Liang's greed for the ink.

After the Liangjiang corruption case broke out, the emperor issued a strict order to implement all the property of the criminals in the case, whether it was public or hidden, one by one. It also involved the Fukang Money House - Gui Liang, who deposited more than 1.3 million taels of silver in the Fukang Money House! According to the national law, these money are all the proceeds from greed and must be handed over to the state treasury.

The imperial law is obvious and there is no ambiguity at all, but we have to propose cash bank of more than 5 million taels at one time from a bank that has opened for less than two years. Together with fellow workers in the province and other banks in the surrounding provinces, we would rather read Fukang's jokes - we thought that in this way, Fukang would not be able to make any move. If other people were worried that their money would be wasted, flocked to withdraw cash bank, and formed a "bill run" trend, Fukang Bank would become the model of the shortest established and fastest bankruptcy among its peers. It might not be impossible.

But no one expected that Hu Xueyan ordered *** to open a store, and all the customers who came to withdraw cash were smiling. At most, in one day, the amount of silver offered from Fukang Money House was more than 700,000 taels! But he still stood tall, as if he was not affected by the matter at all.

Afterwards, many people were both strange and admired. They came to ask on the grounds of condolences that they were all from the same industry, and Fukang's deposit amount could not be hidden from others. According to everyone's estimate, after the incident, the maximum cash bank that Fukang money house could take out would not exceed 500,000 taels. However, for many consecutive days, the people withdraw cash bank, but it still has nothing to do with the overall situation. Where did his money come from?

Hu Xueyan was always secretive about such questions. No matter how others asked, he just smiled and said nothing. When others saw that they couldn't find anything, they had to disperse themselves. However, after this, the gold sign and reputation of Fukang Money House were spread out, and the depositors who saved money increased instead of reducing, and it became the largest money house in Zhejiang Province.

In the tenth year of Xianfeng, Hu Xueyan knew that the court wanted to issue railway treasury bonds and raised funds for the construction of multiple railways in the 18 provinces at the same time. The interest was 50% and 90% of the RMB, which was paid off in seven years. He ran from Zhejiang to Shanghai as soon as possible and found Wang Youling.

It just so happened that Wang Youling also wanted to find him. When we met, we found out that in addition to ourselves, there were also shopkeepers of several money shops in Shanghai, one named Sun Changmao, who was the head of Fengyuan; the other named Chen Achun, who was the shopkeeper of Hu Ji Money shop. We all knew each other, and we were kind to him. Sun Changmao and Hu Xueyan had an extraordinary friendship. When Fukang was a runner, he lent him 100,000 taels of silver. Although he was dropping a drop in the bucket, Hu Xueyan never forgot this kind of kindness of helping him in time, so when he met here, he seemed more intimate.

"...I have vaguely heard that I wanted to issue a national debt. There was no movement, so I actually sent it out. The boss did things so quickly!" Hu Xueyan said.

"The railway construction is urgent, it's not enough to be fast." Sun Changmao said, "I think your Zhejiang Province is about to pass."

"I don't know if I'm going to pay too much for this kind of official ticket? It means 'Those who are willing to exchange official tickets for silver and money will be the same as silver'. If there are too many tickets and there is not enough money in the market, then..." Chen Achun, who was on the side, shook his head and stopped talking about it.

Hu Xueyan understood what he meant. The so-called friendship belongs to friendship, and business is business. Even if Sun Changmao had a close relationship with him, he still couldn't leave all his thoughts, let alone Chen Achun was locked up? Therefore, he just smiled and didn't say much.

After the three of them talked for a while, Ni Liangyao, who had been promoted to a provincial vassal department, walked out of the inner hall in a square step, followed by a handsome servant, holding a hookah for the two adults in their hands, waiting for the adults to sit down, ignite the paper media, and hold it in front of them.

Hu Xueyan and several others bowed to him, and each sat down to listen to Ni Liangyao's words, "This time the imperial court issued treasury bonds, the total amount was 35 million taels, the interest was 50,900 cents, and the principal and interest were paid off in seven years..." He introduced the number of treasury bonds, and then said, "In the ten years since the emperor ascended the throne, he has done many good deeds, but for the people in Jiangnan, the kindness of the people in Jiangnan was particularly great. In the seventh year of Xianfeng, the railway was opened to traffic, and the imperial driving south came to enjoy the people. He also exempted the people in Jiangnan for one year of taxes, and all kinds of treasury graces were as high as the sky and as bright as the sun. In this time, we must be sincere and serve the money and pledge it actively!"

The sale of government bonds in Liangjiang has nothing to do with Hu Xueyan. Even if he is willing to subscribe, he still has to return to Zhejiang and purchase them through the Qianye Guild in Zhejiang Province. Therefore, he sat on the side and kept silent. Ni Liangyao ordered people to take samples of dragon tickets and spread them to everyone to watch. Everyone is an expert insider. You can tell at a glance that such a piece of paper has no practical effect. It must be stamped with a purple seal from the Ministry of Revenue in the lower left corner before it can be circulated and issued.

"The government bonds issued by the court can also be used for circulation in the market," read it once, and someone spoke first. Hu Xueyan recognized that he was the shopkeeper of the Shanghai branch of Hengcheng Money House, one of the four famous Hengyinzhuangs in Beijing. He was the family, named Hu, and Tingxing. "But the villain thought that the government bonds expired in seven years, and it was not easy to get urgent. Moreover, the denomination amount was 1,000 taels per bill. If someone brought such a silver bill to the market, which store could be found?"

After saying a word, everyone laughed at the same time, "So, the smallest thought is that the treasury debt is a long-term investment. When the expiration date is over, it will be paid to the state. In public, it will be filial to the court and love the people; in private, it will be beneficial to all companies." Hu Tingxing said, "And in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the quota accounts for more than a quarter of the total treasury debt. Such a large amount will take some time to raise money to pay the treasury. Therefore, in small thought, is it that the public will receive a dragon ticket from the treasury, and the same distribution will be made according to the size of the treasury, and try to use it as much as possible, or settle accounts every half a month or ten days, how much money will be paid. The money house does not have any benefits, and it will be completely in vain?"

This approach is that the money house has no benefits, but there is no risk. Therefore, Hu Tingxing's method immediately received praise from his peers and agreed. Ni Liangyao shook his head and handed the hookah to the poor listener around him. He raised his voice and said, "This is not possible. The superior must pay the price fully. There is no slightest thing to say about this matter."

He paused for a moment and said, "I'm going to the capital at the end of the year. At the end of the year, Zeng made a tribute to the emperor and asked him in person. He gave his votes back with Lord Zeng's emperor's family, let alone other things? There is no revision to this matter!"

Hu Xueyan never spoke and kept secretly calculating in his mind that the quota of government bonds received by Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces is more than a quarter of the total, which is nearly 10 million taels. If you are allocated to Zhejiang, it is roughly estimated that there are as much as three million taels. This amount is silver. If you have money, you really want to eat it all in one breath! But the issuance of government bonds is no better than the bank runs encountered in the previous year. It can get help from noble people and overcome difficulties. Alas, it is really a headache to say!

After thinking about it, I felt strange. As the person who said that Hu Tingxing was in the south of Hengcheng Money House, can't he recognize all the interests in the national debt? In the past ten years of Xianfeng, the country's national situation has been stable, the world has risen, and all industries have prospered. The interest rate of the money houses absorbing savings has risen again and again, from one minute and three minute and three minute and three minute and three minute and three minute and seven years. Later, the Sino-British War began, and the interest rate has dropped. In the past two years, it has rebounded again, and it has reached a similar proportion to the original one. But compared with the national debt, there is still a little distance. A national debt of one million taels of silver is nearly 60,000 taels in five minutes and nine cents. In seven years, it has been more than 400,000! Why is no one willing to do such a business that is stable and profitable?

After negotiations at the Shanghai Daoyamen, there was no result. Either the words were not allowed to be decided by themselves, or the money bank's current bank was not effective, so they each found a few excuses and said goodbye.

Wang Youling and Ni Liangyao looked at each other and smiled bitterly, "It seems that it is difficult to subscribe to treasury bonds."

"The most difficult thing is not to ask these people to take out the money." Wang Youling said, "I think that since the court issued treasury bonds and wanted to raise funds for the railway, it should not add the words "subscription of treasury bonds is voluntary by merchants, and all provinces and vassals and yamen should not forcefully levy the money." In this sentence - these people usually get money in, but this time they do the opposite and let them take out the money, how can it be so easy? Brother Xueyan, do you think?" The latter sentence said to Hu Xueyan.

Hu Xueyan's name is Hu Guangyong, and Xueyan is his name. He hesitated for a moment, as if he was wondering if Ni Liangyao was talking to him? After a moment, he picked up the dragon ticket placed on the handheld table, looked carefully and said, "Business is getting harder and harder, but the more difficult it is, the more chance it is. Mr. Zi, Mr. Xue, in my humble opinion, there will be many tricks on this dragon ticket in the future!"

"Oh?" Ni Liangyao asked in the tone of the school entrance examination, "I have heard that Mr. Hu has a specialist in his rank and does not hesitate to resign from his post and return to his hometown. He also wants to open a money shop. It seems that what he said is not false. I want to ask for advice from me."

Wang Youling also said, "From me, it's nothing to ask each bank to respect the court and take out some money. But these people are worried that the dragon tickets will not be valuable in the future, and they are also afraid that the court may not be able to cash out when it reaches the three-year deadline, so...."

Hu Xueyan and Wang Youling had a very good personal relationship. The two even reached the point where they were joking with each other in public. However, the matter was serious and the officials on the top of the mountain were present. It was hard to say something that made it difficult for him to get out of the stage. Therefore, although he thought that his words were too arbitrary, he just made a tactful statement, "In my opinion, credit is originally something that depends on everyone to maintain. If the dragon ticket was not issued indiscriminately, the charter was made perfect. How could there be any worry that it was worthless and could not be fulfilled?"

Ni Liangyao nodded, "This is not a harsh statement."

"Also, the government bonds were issued with the court guarantee. My Qing Dynasty was prosperous and the people were safe, and all industries were prosperous. Since the sixth year of Xianfeng, the annual income of every year was around tens of millions of taels. With this situation, if the railway construction funds of tens of millions of taels of silver would not be paid back in the future, I would never believe it."

Ni Liangyao suddenly smiled, "If you say this, in the future, Fukang will definitely be the first to subscribe to the dragon ticket in Zhejiang Province?"

"To be honest, I'm sorry, Xue Yan is worried that the cash is not enough. If it is enough, he will not frown at all even if he buys all the national debts!"

Ni Liangyao and Wang Youling looked at each other and laughed at each other. This businessman’s nature of profit is greedy!

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After sending Ni Liangyaoli out of the mansion, Wang Youling returned to the second hall and negotiated with Hu Xueyan again, "Xueyan, do you really think that the matter of national debt can make a sure profit?"

"Of course." Hu Xueyan nodded without hesitation, "Snow Duke, I didn't understand clearly before the issuance of national debts. Later, I asked the Westerners, and Fang Shi knew." He paused for a moment and changed into a very serious look. "Snow Duke, let me say something very disrespectful: The mistake is that the Qing Dynasty destroyed the country within three years. Apart from that, there is no risk in national debts! Think about it, with the Qing Dynasty as a guarantee, are you still afraid that the court will run away?"

When Wang Youling heard him funny, he couldn't help but pursed his lips and asked again, "Then, you just said that the country is so full of income, why do you have to issue national debts for railway engineering?"

This time Hu Xueyan was asked, "Snow Duke is really asking Yu Blind. What is the emperor's will, how can we ordinary people investigate it?"

Wang Youling wandered around the room for a long time, as if he couldn't make a decision for a long time, finally stopped and turned around and said, "I have a sum of money in my hand. I want to put it in your Fukang Money House and buy government bonds in the name of the Money House. What do you think?"

Hu Xueyan did not rush to answer, but asked, "How many are there?"

“There are always seven numbers.”

This is 70,000 taels. Hu Xueyan was shocked: Wang Youling was a donation class and has been in the office for many years. He was a minor official of the sixth and seventh rank. Later, he was transferred to Ning Shaodao. Because there were many foreign trades in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he could always accept some bribes from foreign markets, but such things were pleasing to the eye. If it was exchanged for silver and money, it would be impossible to have a few children. His character was not very bad. He was holding a salary. Even if he couldn't say that he would not take it, he would not know how many times more honest than Gui Liang and others. He heard that he could take out 70,000 taels of silver. He was puzzled. "Snow, 70,000 taels of silver, could it be that the 70,000 taels of silver, right?"

In fact, it is the bank of the office, and not 700,000, but 700,000 taels! Wang Youling worked in Songjiang Prefecture, specializing in the newly established Silk Tea Exchange in Shanghai. Since the establishment of the Silk Tea Exchange, the annual decal tax amount of about 60 million taels was 600 million taels. One of them was paid to the provincial vassal treasury, and another part of the intercepted funds were used for daily expenses of the exchange. In fact, it was not enough to use so much money, but even if this old habit in the officialdom was replaced by someone who was more sensible, it would be impossible to manage it. The most important thing is that if this part of the excess money was not left, it would not be possible to make the people below have the energy and motivation. Therefore, even if Shangguan knew about it, he always kept his eyes open and kept silent.

After three years, there are always as much as 500,000 or 600,000 yuan left. According to Wang Youling, the amount of money spent in the money house will not be much more. Instead, it is better to take advantage of the issuance of the national debt and bet on a big gamble. If it is really as Hu Xueyan said, there is no risk at all, the extra silver will be paid, and the rest will be safe.

After hearing Wang Youling talk about the story hesitantly, Hu Xueyan was stunned for a moment, "This matter is not something that the adults can do. They always invite Chongbaishui to the mansion and ask him what he meant - if this matter is not reported, it will be aborted. Once it happens in the future, Chong's emperor's family will always cover it up!"
Chapter completed!