He didn't notice that whenever he spoke, Zhu Hengshi's attention focused on him, as if he was carefully memorizing what he said.
Chatting all the way, they were not far from the mansion where Zhu Ying was staying. But then Tang Jingyu raised his head and took a look, and said to Zhu Hengshi: "Sir, let's go around to the back door. Look at these carriages and horses in front of the door.
."
"Indeed, it's better to go around to the back door." Zhu Hengshi nodded in agreement. Because yesterday evening Zhu Ying ordered all the merchants to come back at noon today, and everyone did not dare to disobey the order, so they could only come back today. As a wealthy businessman, it is naturally impossible to walk on foot.
Come here, it is impossible for the carriages and horses to enter the backyard of the mansion, so they can only stop in front of the door. Of course, when the owner enters the house, the servants will naturally drive the carriages elsewhere and do not dare to block the door.
The two of them immediately walked around the back door. Tang Jingyu was on duty in the afternoon and hurried back to eat and rest for a while, while Zhu Hengshi went around the courtyard wall of the mansion to inspect.
…
…
"How are you thinking about it?" In the main hall, Zhu Ying asked the merchants directly without talking nonsense after seeing the ceremony.
Everyone was silent. We didn’t know whether what Zhu Ying said was true or false, so how could we dare to agree? But we didn’t have the courage to refuse a prince in person.
When Zhu Ying saw that they were silent, he simply started to name names. He glanced around the field and noticed Dan Mo. He thought that Dan Mo's family was engaged in the business of selling overseas goods to the Suzhou area. He also heard that this business was profitable.
There were so many, so I decided to order him first. "Mr. Dan, what do you think?"
"Your Highness, the common people don't dare to speak like His Highness. The common people are just doing small business at home, and they can't take what Your Highness says. However," just when Zhu Ying's expression began to change, Dan Mo hurriedly added: "Your Highness's question
Of course the talkative people would not dare not answer."
"Your Highness, the imperial court is borrowing money from merchants to build the canal. This matter is of great importance. The common people are still unable to make a decision after only half a day's work. I dare to ask Your Highness to extend it for a few days, but the common people will definitely reply to Your Highness in the next year." Dan Mo said: "
What's more, today is already the twenty-fourth of the twelfth lunar month, and the New Year will be celebrated in a few days. Even if the common people agree to His Highness, construction will not start in these days."
"Everything should be done sooner rather than later. Although the Chinese New Year is coming soon, it is best to decide this matter before the end of the year." Zhu Ying added.
"Your Highness, this matter is of great importance. Although Cao Min is the head of the family, such an important matter needs to be discussed by the coordinators of each room. It is difficult for Cao Min to decide by himself. However, how many speakers in Cao Min's family are still in Shanghai and Hangzhou?
I can't rush back until the end of the year. So I ask Your Highness to allow Cao Min to agree after the New Year." Dan Mo evaded again.
Zhu Ying asked several times after that, but Dan Mo just declined. Zhu Ying's face gradually became a little ugly. Even if you are telling the truth, I am a prince. If you are resisting like this, do you not care about my throne?
Dan Mo also noticed the change in Zhu Ying's expression. He has been in business for a long time, so he would not understand what the change in Zhu Ying's expression meant, but he was still trying to shirk it.
Zhu Ying raised his eyebrows and was about to say something else when he suddenly heard someone say: "Your Highness, the common people have something to say." Zhu Ying looked sideways and saw that it was Li Taiyuan who stood up and said this.
"What do you have to say?" Zhu Ying suppressed his anger and asked. Li Taiyuan's daughter has a good relationship with Yun Zhi, and her husband is Yun Yun's husband's cousin. She got in touch with Min'er because she made jewelry for Min'er.
In terms of friendship, it would be better for him to be polite to Li Taiyuan.
"Your Highness, you have given orders. The common people and others should have followed your instructions. But this matter is for the imperial court to raise money from the ordinary people to build the canal, not to levy grain and tax. According to the situation at the beginning of the year, the imperial court borrowed money from banks to finance the attack on India and Bangladesh.
As a general rule, it should be counted as a transaction. Since it is a transaction, it must follow the rules of doing business. When ordinary people do business, they always have to know in advance how much capital they will invest, when they will get profits, and how much their annual profits will be.
It will take a long time to recoup the capital, and so on. Now that Your Highness has said this, the common people have turned a blind eye to the construction of the canal and dare not agree casually." Li Taiyuan said slowly and softly. But as he spoke, Li Taiyuan glanced sideways.
Dan Mo glanced at it and thought to himself: 'If I weren't worried that if you angered His Highness and it would be bad for everyone, I wouldn't stand up and speak. This method seems useless this time, but it can be used next time, just because you made inappropriate remarks.
It can only be used. I must make your family suffer a big loss in a few days, otherwise it will be difficult to understand my anger.'
What Li Taiyuan just said was that he and Li Yonglin discussed a way to delay the time last night. When he returned home last night, he was naturally happy to see his daughter and son-in-law back, and he talked happily. But Li Yonglin immediately saw that his father had something on his mind, so she asked
Li Taiyuan thought that this matter was not a secret, not to mention that he would discuss it with the people in charge of each house tomorrow morning, so he told his daughter the truth. And, "Yes, you just came from the capital, you should know
Is this the will of the imperial court, or is it His Highness Prince An’s own will?”
"This, my daughter didn't hear anyone mention it before she left the capital. It was probably His Highness Prince An who made the decision on his own." Li Yonglin said. Such a major matter is related to the merchants in Suzhou. If the court has such intention, His Highness should tell him
She was right.
"But I can't guarantee that it's because His Majesty made an impromptu decision in the past few days and sent someone to tell His Highness Prince An." But she immediately added. Because she was pregnant, the couple came very slowly from the capital and walked for more than ten days.
We arrived in Suzhou only a few days ago, and the distance between the capital and Suzhou is only four hundred miles, so we can get there in one day by a quick horse.
"Is this the intention of the court?" Li Taiyuan asked anxiously. But he could not make a wrong judgment, as the consequences of making a wrong judgment would be serious.
"It's probably 95% that it's not the intention of the court." Li Yonglin finally said. According to her understanding, His Majesty had been busy preparing to attack Bangladesh during this period, and suddenly he was distracted and sent someone to tell King An about the possibility of raising funds in this way.
too small.
"Even if there is a 95% chance that His Highness Prince An will make his own decision, there is no guarantee." Li Taiyuan sighed and said.
"Dad, it's better than this." Li Yonglin suddenly said: "Since it is difficult to be sure at the moment, it is better to delay for a few days. Today is already the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, and His Highness Prince An will definitely return to Beijing before New Year's Eve. As long as he delays for two more days, Prince An will
I have no choice but to leave Suzhou. My daughter will send someone back to inquire about it during the New Year. After the New Year, I will know whether it is true or not."
"But looking at King An's appearance, he insists on settling the matter in these two days, so he can't delay it. Hey, if the money is small, just give it to him, and it will be regarded as paying the grain tax. But the money required is too much
Much more, more than 100,000 yuan. Our family can raise so much money together, not to mention that we can offset it with grain or cloth, but the turnover of business is risky, and we have to borrow money from the bank.
The business will be very bad," Li Taiyuan said. There is no airtight wall in the world. Others will know that their family borrowed money from the bank, and other merchants will doubt their family's strength, and their business will be affected.
"Dad, when the court borrowed money from banks for military expenses at the beginning of the year, it was similar to private borrowing. The interest and repayment dates were agreed in advance. It can be seen that even if the court wanted to do this, it would not take advantage of the merchants, at least.
You won't take too much advantage. When you were in front of King An, you just told me to follow the rules of doing business." Li Yonglin immediately said the above words.
"But, this is a secret exchange concept." Li Taiyuan hesitated. An Wang originally said borrowing money, but Li Yonglin changed it to doing business.
"Prince An has never done business before, and he is not as willing to know everything as His Majesty. He probably can't distinguish between the two situations. Just say it boldly." Li Yonglin said.
Li Taiyuan was still hesitant. But when he thought of the more than 100,000 yuan he had to pay, he immediately accepted his daughter's suggestion. The next day, he discussed with the people in charge of each house, but no one had any better suggestions, so he decided to use this method.
.
As expected, Zhu Ying didn't hear anything wrong. In his opinion, borrowing money from a bank was similar to doing business between merchants, and the rules should be the same, so he accepted Li Taiyuan's words.
"The total cost of building the Kra Isthmus Canal is about 10 million yuan or more. It will take about four to five years to build. As for the benefits, it may be through the collection of tariffs on passing ships. How long it will take to recover the cost is hard to say.
Look at how many ships pass through the Kra Isthmus Canal." He said very vaguely, especially about the benefits and the time to recover the costs.
In fact, although the court has made up its mind to build this canal, there is still controversy over how to use the canal after it is built. Both the Siamese and Puchans want to collect cross-river taxes, but some people oppose it. The Kra Isthmus Canal is not as good as the former Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.
The Grand Canal and the Nanrao Strait of Malacca are options; ships in this era are all sailboats, and the associated costs of traveling longer distances are not much, but it takes a lot of time. If the river crossing tax is high,
I'm afraid the merchants would rather spend more time than use the canal. So whether to collect taxes and how to collect taxes are still being debated. Zhu Ying couldn't guess what Yun's final decision would be, so he could only speak vaguely.
"Your Highness, it's hard for this common man to agree to lend such a large sum of money. At the beginning of the year, the bank lent money to the emperor's eldest son to all the vassal kings to use it for the military expenses of attacking Bengal. That's because tomorrow's army will be invincible in all battles and all attacks will be defeated.
We can get loot from Bangladesh to repay the money; but it is hard to say whether to build this canal." Li Taiyuan took a breath after hearing the total cost, and then continued to speak in a good tone.
Zhu Ying understood what he said. Borrowing money to build a canal is not the same as borrowing money to fight a war. However, the matter of borrowing money for military expenses was personally ordered by Yun and was handed over to Xiao Yong and Yun Yun. It was not the errand of Yun Zhi and Zhang Wuji.
His errand; not to mention that even if it was his errand, he borrowed enough money for military expenses, and Wen would not build a monument in Bangladesh to commemorate his contribution. His purpose was still not achieved.
"The matter of repaying the money is endorsed by the imperial court. The imperial court pays tens of millions of guan in taxes every year. How can there be a shortfall of more than 10 million guan?" Zhu Ying said from this perspective.
"In that case, Your Highness, how do you borrow this loan? What is the interest rate? What is the repayment period? Sign a document with that yamen?" Li Taiyuan asked again.
"This, the interest will be the same as before when we borrowed money to go to Bangladesh. The annual interest rate is 3/6. The person who signed the document is the bank's head office. As for the rest, it has not been decided yet." Zhu Ying said. He made his own decision. Other matters have yet to be decided.
You can make your own guesses and say that it is almost the same anyway; but he has no precedent for the repayment method. If Yun disagrees with the repayment method he set in the end, things may not work out. Zhu Ying's idea is to coax both sides.
He first coaxed businessmen in Suzhou to be willing to lend money, and then reported the matter to Yun, pretending that the businessmen in Suzhou learned that the court was short of money to build the canal and took the initiative to borrow money. According to him, even if Yun felt wrong by then, since the money had already
Once you get it, you won't say anything, and the merchants in Suzhou will not know the cause and effect. In this way, you have achieved your goal. But if the very important clause of the repayment method is too different, the merchants in Suzhou will make a fuss and the matter will be exposed.
Not only will his work be in vain, but he will also be criticized by public opinion, and Yun will blame him.
"Your Highness, the common people do not dare to refuse His Highness's order, but repayment is the most important clause. Please inform the common people after Your Highness decides. Can you please indicate this?" Li Taiyuan said again.
"That's fine." Zhu Ying had to agree.
Since Zhu Ying agreed, he had nothing to say to the businessmen present and asked them to disperse. Everyone bowed to Zhu Ying and left the mansion.
"Your Majesty, these businessmen are really ignorant. Your Majesty, they just do as you tell them, and they dare to push back and forth. It's just that the officials praise these businessmen so much that they don't even remember their superiority and inferiority." After the merchants had all left,
The eunuch who served Zhu Ying came in and rubbed his back while complaining.
"Don't say that." Zhu Ying didn't refute, just said.
"I understand," the eunuch agreed hastily. He knew that Zhu Ying was doing this for his own good.
"You can call Xiao Zhuo over in a while, and we can discuss with him how to best determine the terms of the document. We must finalize the format of the document this afternoon." Zhu Ying ordered again.
"Yes, Your Majesty." The eunuch agreed.
"After the documents are finalized, remember to send someone immediately to inform the merchants to come here again. This time, it is not necessary to have all the merchants in the city come. Just inform the owners of the Dan family, Li family, Shang family and other largest merchants to come.
That’s good. If they agree, other merchants will definitely agree too.”
"Besides, the Dan family is too disrespectful to Gu. Gu wants to punish this family and make them pay more to prevent them from having an easy life."
At the same time, in front of the mansion, Shang Ming leaned next to Li Taiyuan and whispered: "Do you feel that what Dan Mo did today is not quite right? It is almost as if His Highness Prince An made his own decision."
"I thought about it later, and I felt the same way. But if the Dan family got the news in advance, where did they get the news?"
