After the banquet, the guests returned to the post house and hotel arranged for them by Zeng Tai to rest.
At noon the next day, His Highness invited them to the retreat for tea. The tea they drank was Jiangxi's famous Lushan Yunwu Tea.
But everyone's minds were not on tea. They knew that it was time to talk about business.
Then I saw His Royal Highness the King of Chu put down his tea cup and said with a smile: "Everyone who knows me knows that my style has always been to drive pigs in a small alley - go straight."
"Yes, the prince is straightforward." All the guests nodded hurriedly, but those who had dealt with him secretly cursed. They have never seen anyone more roundabout than you.
But there is no conflict between the straightforwardness on the lips and the twists and turns in the belly, so we cannot say that Your Highness is wrong.
"The king will get straight to the point. I invite you all here this time to solve two big problems." Zhu Zhen said in a deep voice.
"Your Majesty, please speak." All the guests sat upright and listened attentively.
"One is our own trouble in Jiangnan." Zhu Zhen sighed: "Of course, this trouble is caused by me - that is, the tens of millions of kilograms of food stamps issued by the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau."
"..." This topic was too sensitive and no one dared to agree. They all stayed silent and listened to Lao Liu's performance.
"Many of you here are involved in last year's situation. Even if you are not, you should be familiar with the inside story." Zhu Zhen said with a wry smile: "At that time, the whole of Suzhou, and even Jiangnan, was facing a serious crisis of severed sea trade and factory closures. It was urgently needed.
A large amount of money was used to rescue the market, but the court had no money.
"As a last resort, I asked the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau to issue food stamps, and asked everyone to hold their noses and recognize them. Only then did we overcome the difficulty and restore prosperity to Suzhou." Zhu Zhen said and looked at the former bigwigs of the behind-the-scenes faction.
: "You won't blame me, right?"
"No, no, of course not." The behind bars sect hurriedly shook his head like a rattle and said repeatedly: "Even if you didn't understand it then, don't you understand it now? Your Highness is doing this for our own good!"
"Yes! We caused such a big trouble, but in the end we were all safe, and in the end, we made money!" Zhu He and others shouted loudly: "In the past and present, there has never been such a benevolent and righteous prince as His Highness!"
"If you treat food stamps as money, you will indeed make money, but aren't you afraid?" Zhu Zhen looked at a group of wealthy Suzhou households with a smile and asked quietly: "What if the food stamps suddenly become worthless one day?"
,what to do?"
At this time, not only the Iron Window Sect, but also the Returning Home Sect lowered their heads in shame. Gu Yuanchen said sarcastically: "They did have concerns in the first place, otherwise they wouldn't have done those stupid things."
As he spoke, he changed the topic and said: "But after His Highness's second Laba Banquet, everyone has no worries at all!"
"That's right." All the big players nodded.
Zhu Zhen's trick was that the export certification was too high. Only silk certified by the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau could be exported, so that the silk stocked by the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau would not have to worry about marketability.
The food stamps from the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau were naturally stable.
"Hey, that's just a temporary measure." Zhu Zhen waved his hand and said: "Because there is really not enough food on hand. I can only use silk to replace the food to endorse the value of the food stamps."
"And it also uses semi-coercive means, which is not good." Zhu Zhen said in a deep voice:
"Everyone gave me Zhu Zhen face and had confidence in sea trade, so they didn't run on me. But this kind of value based on personal authority and trade is not solid at all.
"What if there is a problem with maritime trade for some reason, such as friction with a foreign country. Or some powerful enemy appears on the other side of the sea, and maritime trade is forced to be interrupted. Food stamps will also be in danger."
"Yes, yes..." the guests responded in a low voice.
It's strange that they don't worry. Especially those behind bars. Most of their assets now are food stamps. If they say they are not worried about problems with food stamps, how serious are they?
It's just that I was just released and was deeply impressed by His Highness's iron fist, so I didn't dare to act rashly. In addition, I was greedy for the profits from maritime trade, so I continued to hold the food stamps with my nose pinched.
"Now that His Highness has taken the initiative to raise the issue, it is obvious that he has already found a solution." Shen Rong hurriedly praised:
"Don't whet our appetite."
"Yes, Your Highness, please speak quickly." Everyone also urged.
"Haha, good. In fact, the solution is very simple, but the simpler the solution, the more confidence it can give people." Zhu Zhen smiled and said: "Food stamps can be redeemed for food at any time without any restrictions, so they can be called "food stamps". Food stamps!”
"Yes, yes," Gu Yuanchen continued: "But now that food stamps with a denomination of almost 50 million dan are printed, where can we find so much food?"
"Come to Jiangxi to look for it. If Jiangxi is not enough, I will take you to Huguang to look for it." Zhu Zhen finally revealed the answer and said:
"I have just acquired 300,000 hectares of land from a large family in Jiangxi. Based on an estimate of two dan per mu, the annual output is over 60 million dan. Excluding labor and necessary expenses, the net harvest should be 20 million dan per year. Not a problem.”
"With the income of 20 million dan, we don't have to worry about food stamps!" All the wealthy households said happily after hearing this.
In fact, as long as everyone has confidence in food stamps, no one will be idle and exchange all the food stamps into grain. If the grain is left at home for a long time, it will become old grain and will depreciate. It will also become moldy and hairy. Worthless.
So as long as they believe that the Dyeing and Weaving Bureau has the ability to pay, no one will try to cash it.
To put it bluntly, no sworn guarantee can give people the most solid confidence as solid land. If the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau has these 300,000 hectares of land, what do you have to worry about?
With the 300,000 hectares of land owned by the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, the value of food stamps has been completely established.
By then, the credit of food stamps will definitely exceed that of treasure banknotes, and will be almost the same as real money.
In this way, food stamps will not only be recognized by Suzhou people, but can be circulated throughout Jiangnan.
At that time, the food stamps in the hands of wealthy households can truly be regarded as their wealth. No one will recognize them after leaving Suzhou like now. Moreover, they will be worried that one day they will be worthless.
~~
"Your Highness, let the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau come forward and take over these 300,000 hectares of land!" So a group of Jiangnan big businessmen said excitedly: "If the money is not enough, we can raise funds together!"
"Hey, don't be too happy too early. There are some obstacles here." Zhu Zhen changed his subject and said:
"First of all, you are all from Jiangnan. You went to Jiangxi to buy land across provinces, and you bought hundreds of thousands of hectares at a time. This is definitely not allowed by law."
"Yes." The big bosses nodded.
Boss Zhu does not want people to move freely. Because once the population flows, it is difficult to manage and problems will easily occur. Therefore, in Boss Zhu’s view, the most ideal situation is for everyone to stay in their hometown and live in peace for the rest of their lives.
It would be better to change places.
Everyone leaving the county must go to the government to issue a road guide. After leaving, they must strictly follow the destination and return date written on the road guide.
All outsiders who do not follow the road guide, or who have wrong road guides, will be arrested by the government, let alone settling down and buying property in the local area.
This is also the reason why the big families in Jiangnan hold huge amounts of wealth, but they do not buy property elsewhere and can only buy it locally.
