If you want to understand a city, the best way is to walk around the city and take a look.
I didn't plan to alert the government, so I rested in that unique house for a day.
Xiao Han and Xue Pan, accompanied by Manager Xue, took to the streets of Yangzhou.
Yangzhou is also known as Jiangling, Jiangdu and Weiyang.
Due to its special geographical location, there were already records of city construction here as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the following thousand years, Yangzhou has been one of the most prosperous cities in the world.
During the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty loved this place so much that he even sealed it as one of the three capitals and built the Grand Canal to truly connect the country and goods from all over the world.
Therefore, the prosperity of Yangzhou today is not only reflected on the surface, but also integrated into its bones.
"Except for some of the fine silk silk consumed by Chang'an last year, most of it came from Yangzhou..."
Pointing to the rows of shops on both sides of the street, Manager Xue explained to the owner with a bit of pride.
"Well, I have already investigated this in Chang'an." Xue Pan walked and listened, nodding his head slightly, agreeing with what the uncle said.
However, what she saw in Chang'an was just a bunch of numbers. How could she have a more profound experience now in person?
Along the way, she discovered that there were many differences between Yangzhou and Chang'an, Luoyang and other places.
Not to mention anything else, just the shops all over the street are something that I would never even dare to think about in Chang'an.
Chang'anfang City Rules: Only the east and west cities are allowed to open shops for business.
What if someone secretly opens a hole on the road or next to a shop to sell things? It goes without saying that if you don’t have any wealth, you will definitely not be able to escape if you travel a thousand miles. It would be strange if such a harsh system could give birth to a commercial society.
"Old Xue, what are the bigger industries in Yangzhou?" Similar to what Xue Pan thought, Xiao Han also looked around and asked.
Manager Xue laughed when he heard this, slightly arched his hands towards Xiao Han and said, "To return to Mr. Hou, the main industries in Yangzhou now are cloth and salt."
"What kind of land? Don't you say that Jiangnan is the land of rice?" Xue Pan asked strangely after hearing this.
Lao Xue smiled and shook his head: "The land of rice is good, but there are too many people in Yangzhou, so how can there be so much land to plant? So people without land go to work and earn more money than those who farm!"
It is precisely because of this that we have created a large number of skilled workers and craftsmen."
"Replacing agriculture with work?" A bright light flashed in Xiao Han's mind, and then he pondered for a moment and asked again: "Then the richest people in the city are the cloth merchants and salt merchants?"
"yes!"
Manager Xue nodded firmly this time and said: "These people are very rich! Very rich!"
"Oh? How rich? Are you richer than the aristocratic families in the North?" Xiao Han asked with a smile after hearing this.
Manager Xue didn't seem to hear the ridicule in Xiao Han's words. Instead, he lowered his head and thought carefully before continuing to say to Xiao Han: "In terms of land, population, real estate, etc., the salt merchants and cloth merchants are naturally much inferior to those aristocratic families.
, but if we talk about cash, I’m afraid this place will not lose to the Seven Sects and Five Surnames!”
"As good as the Seven Sects and Five Surnames! Are they so rich?" Xiao Han was a little stunned!
"They are very rich!" Manager Xue nodded and repeated this sentence again. Then seeing that Xiao Han still didn't believe it, he thought for a while and took out a palm-sized piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it over.
"Master Hou, have you ever seen this thing?"
"What's this?"
Xiao Han reached out to take the piece of paper, and before he could take a closer look, Xue Pan and Xiaodong beside him came over curiously.
"Hey, why are there so many patterns on this? Yangzhou cloth shop, Yangzhou salt shop, Yangzhou tooth shop, Yangzhou ship shop... If you dare to forge, we will destroy them together... What does this mean?"
Xue Pan and the others were still staring with big eyes, trying hard to identify the small characters and patterns on the paper. Little did they know that Xiao Han's face was now as pale as dirt, and his body was like sieve chaff!
"Is this money?" Xiao Han opened his mouth and looked at Manager Xue with difficulty and asked.
Manager Xue, who was somewhat proud, was startled, then quickly looked at Xiao Han and asked: "Master Hou, how do you know?"
"Don't worry about how I know!" Xiao Han waved his hand, stared at Manager Xue closely, and asked eagerly: "When did this thing appear?"
"This... let me think about it..."
Manager Xue didn't know why Xiao Han suddenly looked like this, but he still recalled it and said: "It probably just appeared last year. At that time, it was jointly issued by several large commercial banks. As long as we take this thing, we can go to any commercial bank to redeem it."
Get the copper coins."
"I'll do it!"
Hearing what Manager Xue said, Xiao Han couldn't help but curse!
Don’t they all say that banknotes first appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty? Why did they exist in the Tang Dynasty, or were they organized and issued by a group of merchants? Why did the government go there?
The expression on his face was uncertain. After a long time, Xiao Han wiped his mouth fiercely and continued to ask: "Old Xue, how much money is there? Do ordinary people use it? You don't have to pay for deposits and withdrawals? You can use it when leaving Yangzhou.
?”
Manager Xue tugged at his beard: "Well, it's quite a lot of money, but now it's only used by big merchants. It's designed so that you don't have to carry a lot of copper coins with you when doing business. As for deposits and withdrawals, they each charge a thousandth of a storage fee.
Currently, it can be used in Yangzhou, Hangzhou, and Chengdu in central Sichuan."
"Let me go, do you have the remote access function?" Before Manager Xue finished speaking, Xiao Han slapped his forehead hard again, looking annoyed!
When something comes from scratch, no one in this world knows how much hardship it has to go through in the process than Xiao Han!
Not to mention that he has created the most new things in his hands.
But among the things he took out, which one was not "borrowed" for use after years or even thousands of years of testing and being confirmed to be effective?
Nowadays, the banknotes in Yangzhou City seem simple, but to actually issue them and make people trust them is definitely not a simple thing!
To be able to do this, you must not only have profound wisdom, but also have strong financial resources and a broad vision. All of these are indispensable!
"How much money can be added up to all the money printed on paper?"
Shaking his head, he tried not to think about who was behind everything.
Xiao Han now just wants to evaluate how influential these banknotes are, and what impact it will have on Yangzhou if Xiao Lizi wants to destroy and rebuild this system in the future.
This is not because Xiao Han is alarmist, but because he knows Xiao Lizi too well!
If one day, this embryonic bank gradually grows and grows to the point where it can influence the world's system, this eternal emperor can really do such a thing!
Because the emperor himself hates everything that is beyond his control, even if it is very useful!
