"If you save it for thirty years, this old man's head must be broken."
In the lounge behind the bank, Zhu Houzhao and Liu Jin witnessed the birth of the first deposit. Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but shook his head when he saw that Wang Shirui had saved it for thirty years.
"Actually, he doesn't know this, but he just has no choice. His son really doesn't live up to expectations and doesn't exist in the bank. The money will definitely be lost."
Liu Jin smiled and said.
"He is really rich, with three hundred thousand taels of silver, he is just a small businessman. There are still many such businessmen in the entire Ming Dynasty, and the famous Huizhou merchants have even more money."
Zhu Houzhao nodded, and then began to sigh, there are so many rich people in Ming Dynasty.
I have learned a lot today. A small businessman is actually worth three hundred thousand taels of silver. And this is just silver. He must also have a lot of land, real estate, etc. These are also silver. After all,
Mr. Wang’s net worth is truly extraordinary.
This also made Zhu Houzhao know how pitiful his father was in the past. It took him ten years of frugality to save a million taels of money. There are countless people in the entire Ming Dynasty who are richer than Emperor Hongzhi.
The key is that Emperor Hongzhi was stared at every day by ministers throughout the dynasty, shouting at him to be diligent and frugal.
Emperor Hongzhi also realized this, so he also supported Zhu Houzhao and Liu Jin in doing business, and now he is also involved.
You must know that Emperor Hongzhi now receives many memorials every day, saying that Emperor Hongzhi and His Royal Highness are competing for profits with the people, that the king is engaged in businessmanship, and it is unbecoming, and so on.
For these ministers, Emperor Hongzhi was getting further and further out of their control, and further and further away from the holy king in their minds. This made countless people feel sad and wished they could die to remonstrate with Emperor Hongzhi.
But Emperor Hongzhi is not the Emperor Hongzhi in history. He now has factory guards as his eyes and ears. He can clearly check all the civil and military ministers in the dynasty, see the faces of countless people clearly, and ignore them at all.
Some ministers may appear to be upright and upright on the surface, but secretly they are living a luxurious life and are corrupt.
There are also some ministers who are stupid, have no brains, and do not know the truth. They only have the so-called sage advocated by Confucianism in their heads. They are like extremely stubborn cows and insist on pulling Emperor Hongzhi back.
"There are still many rich people in the Ming Dynasty, but we don't know how much money there is in the world."
Liu Jin smiled and said, the really rich ones are the salt merchants and Anhui merchants in the Jiangnan area. Each of them can be as rich as the enemy. This is definitely not a joke.
Soon, Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao left the bank and continued to wander around the capital.
…
Nanjing is the nominal capital of the Ming Dynasty and the place where Comrade Zhu Yuanzhang made his fortune.
Because of its special status, the city of Nanjing has always been the economic center of the Ming Dynasty. Because it is located in the Jiangnan region, wealthy businessmen from all over the world gathered, making the entire city of Nanjing extremely prosperous and lively.
The land south of the Yangtze River has been a famous place of romance since ancient times, and Yangzhou Shou Ma is even more famous throughout the world.
Nanjing City, as the center of the Jiangnan region, has a long history and tradition in this regard. It plays all kinds of tricks, such as oiran competitions and brothels. They are just the most ordinary, truly rich and powerful people.
What I like more is to go on the flower boat.
A flower boat here is a gold-selling cave. It is very ordinary to spend thousands or tens of thousands of taels of silver in one night. Some high-level flower boats can cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in one night.
There have been.
At this time, the most famous flower boat in Nanjing, the Yanyu Jiangnan, is very large and was remodeled from a lucky boat. It has always been the leader in the flower boat industry in Nanjing.
If you want to drink a cup of tea or listen to a piece of music, it will cost you thousands of taels of silver.
Today, the Yanyu Jiangnan was chartered by a big businessman. The entire ship was sailing slowly on the Yangtze River. A group of businessmen gathered together on the ship, discussing something with each other.
"Everyone, I called you here today because we have a major matter to discuss that affects our financial future."
Sitting on the main seat was a middle-aged man with a dignified appearance, very elegant, and looked more like a Confucian scholar than a businessman.
His name is Cheng Bo'an, he is the largest salt merchant in the Jiangnan region and a representative figure of Huizhou merchants. The Cheng family behind him is the leader among the top ten families of Huizhou merchants.
After hearing Cheng Bo'an's words, everyone cheered up. At the same time, the girls in their arms also left the place one by one very wisely, allowing them to discuss important matters in peace.
"Is it a major matter that affects our financial future?"
"It has something to do with salt. Is the imperial court going to reform the salt policy again?"
A middle-aged man with a big belly stood up and asked. His name was Feng Xiang, he was also a big salt merchant, and the Feng family behind him was also a large Huizhou merchant family.
"If the court reforms the salt policy, I wouldn't worry about anything. We also have people in the court, and as these changes come and go, we can also have policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom."
Cheng Boan shook his head slightly and said.
"What on earth is that?"
Feng Lian asked hurriedly.
"Yes, Lao Cheng, don't be so pretentious and just say what you have to say."
"Is there any news?"
Others also nodded and said.
"Do you still remember the recent announcement from the court about allowing private salt farms to be established?"
Cheng Bo'an nodded, thought for a while and asked again.
"Remember, of course you remember, that you need to pay two million taels of silver to the court every year to build a salt farm, right?"
Feng Xiang nodded and said.
"I also remember this. We got together once and talked about it. We said at that time that whoever wants to build this salt farm will be a fool. After paying two million taels of silver for a salt farm, there is no need to think about it.
Earn a penny and lose blood."
Another person stood up and said, this man's name is Zhu Benduan, he is also a big salt merchant. The Zhu family is a big family in the Jiangnan area. They monopolize the salt from five salt farms and have extremely strong financial resources.
"That's right, a salt farm, even if the salt workers are exhausted, they won't be able to produce much salt in a year. Only two million taels of silver would be a fool to set up this private salt farm."
Feng Xiang smiled and nodded.
"What I want to tell you is that not only are some people setting up saltworks, but they are also starting to seize our business."
Cheng Bo'an looked at everyone. To be honest, he didn't expect that someone would actually set up a private salt farm at first, and that he could also pose a threat to them.
You must know that when they get salt from the salt field, it is basically zero cost. They only need a salt guide, which is just a piece of paper. They have already opened up the salt administration, from the officials of the imperial court to the lowest officials.
Every clerk in the salt field.
They only need to pay a small amount of silver to the court every year, and they can obtain endless salt. The only thing they need to worry about is that the salt production of the salt farm is really limited. Even if they squeeze the dead households, the salt production will always be
That's all.
"Who?"
Zhu Benduan asked quickly.
"You mean that Liu Jin?"
Feng Xiang quickly remembered something and asked quickly.
"Yes, that's him, the new top scholar this year~"
Cheng Bo'an nodded, and then said: "The imperial court allowed private individuals to open salt farms, and he was the first to do it. He opened a Changlu Salt Farm here in Tianjin."
"At the beginning, I didn't pay much attention to it. We were all bad at salt. We all felt that no one could pay another two million taels of silver and still make money, unless his salt was sold at a sky-high price.
"
"But we all underestimated Liu Jin and were too arrogant. Now the salt from Changlu Salt Field has begun to flow into the market on a large scale. Changlu has begun to be produced in the northern region, Beizhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan.
Salt from the salt farm, our salt sales in this area have been plummeting since last month, and sales this month are almost zero.”
Cheng Bo'an explained the situation in detail. When everyone heard it, everyone's expressions suddenly changed.
“Is there so much salt in this Changlu Salt Farm?”
“How many provinces can we seize the market at once?”
Zhu Benduan thought for a while and asked.
"Yes, and it's definitely beyond your imagination. The amount of salt produced is astonishing. What's more important is that their salt is not only of high quality, but also sold at very cheap prices. This is why they can sell it in a very short time.
Reasons to seize the market in northern provinces."
Cheng Boan nodded and said.
"Everyone, look at this salt. This is the salt produced by Changlu Salt Farm. They only sell it for thirty to fifty cents per catty."
As Cheng Boan spoke, someone brought up plates of salt and placed them in front of the salt merchants present. The salt merchants took a look at the salt in the plate, rubbed it carefully, and tasted it gently.
Everyone's eyes widened, and they immediately understood why Cheng Bo'an was so nervous.
These salt merchants all have their own territories. Cheng Bo'an's territory is mainly for the northern provinces, so he was the first to be affected by the Changlu Salt Factory. Sales plummeted last month, which made him confused. He asked someone to look carefully.
After thorough investigation, we understood the situation.
"They can only sell such high-quality salt for less than fifty cents?"
Zhu Benduan asked in disbelief. They are all in the salt business and they know very well that this kind of salt is definitely the best salt. If it were in their hands, they would sell it for at least several hundred yuan per catty.
"How is it possible? Only Shanxi's pool salt and Sichuan's well salt can compare with such high-quality salt. However, the salt production in both places is very small. How could it impact our salt?"
Feng Xiang read it carefully, and after thinking about it, he shook his head and said, such good salt is very expensive, and the output is small. Only rich people can afford it, and it will not have an impact on their sea salt.
