The first thousand one hundred and seventy-first chapters
On this day, Yang Cheng did not go out with dark circles under his eyes. As a businessman, he did not rush for a while, but took a good rest for a day. The next day, he got on his two-wheeled carriage.
Take Butler Feng out.
When he went out, Butler Feng held several documents in a leather bag. One was related to his newly registered branch factory, and the other was related to the glass patent authorization obtained from the Royal Institute of Technology.
, and the last one was a planning document that he had thought hard about the night before yesterday and revised and improved yesterday.
Taking these documents with him, he immediately went to the local branch of the Royal Bank. Naturally, this branch could not be the head office of the Royal Bank in Shanghai, but just a branch in the industrial zone.
The scale of Shanghai's current urban area is quite large. There are two to three hundred thousand people surrounding the old city, business districts, industrial parks, and large commercial and residential areas sandwiched in the above areas. In such a huge area, it is naturally impossible for the Royal Bank to
There is only one branch in Shanghai. Its Shanghai headquarters is in the business district. In addition to the headquarters, there are five branches, large and small, distributed throughout Shanghai.
Although opening five branches in such a large place is a bit wasteful, although the industry and commerce in Shanghai are too developed and the capital flow is too large, it is currently an important market that the major banks in the empire are competing for. Royal
It is not too much for a bank to open five branches.
The Royal Bank branch that Yang Cheng went to, and even the Shanghai Industrial Zone Branch under the Royal Bank Shanghai Branch, mainly serve major companies and employees in the industrial zone.
Because it serves many customers throughout the industrial zone, the branch is also quite large. When Yang Cheng came to the Royal Bank Industrial Zone branch, to be honest, he couldn't confirm for a while whether it was a bank or an official one.
It’s the Yamen.
This is a building covering an area of thousands of square meters, with three floors. This type of building is also a new type of masonry building that has only emerged in recent years. The main materials are fired green bricks, lime, and steel bars. Of course
Of course, it is inevitable that large pieces of wood will be used as the floor. However, when the building was built, cement was not widely used and the price was expensive, so this bank branch did not use cement.
From the outside, the overall frame of this kind of building is not much different from the ordinary buildings of later generations. Of course, some of the exterior structures and decorations are different, and they incorporate certain Western elements.
This architectural style has only become popular in recent years, and its source is the Hanlin Building in the Royal Villa and the Royal Study Room where Li Xuan works daily. When Li Xuan moved into the Royal Villa in the early years, although the buildings in the Royal Villa were
There are many, but they are all ordinary living buildings, and there are no large-scale buildings suitable for office use.
Therefore, a small building dedicated to offices was built in the front half of the Royal Courtyard. This is the Imperial Study Room. It is the place where Li Xuan and the secretaries of the Secretariat work on weekdays. The area is not large.
, which is only a thousand square meters.
Later, a new office building was built outside the Imperial Courtyard. This was the Hanlin Building. Most of it was used by hundreds of Hanlin officials, and part of it was used as an imperial building.
The study is the duty office for the ministers on duty.
However, the two are separated from each other. Even the entrance and exit are not the same, one on each side.
The masonry, lime, steel, wood and other materials used by the royal family, and the buildings that blended Eastern and Western elements, were gradually imitated. However, the office atmosphere of this type of building was too strong, so most of the imitations were office buildings.
For example, when the government wants to build a new office building, they usually choose this new type of building instead of the original one that covers a very wide area and has low utilization area because the distance is too large, the distance between people is large, and the communication time is too long.
Long old building.
A large number of companies also prefer this kind of building, especially when building office buildings in urban centers where land prices are relatively high, they often use this kind of building. The reason is very simple, that is, the land utilization area is high, which saves money at the same time.
, because the office staff is denser, communication is more convenient and faster, and the office efficiency has been greatly improved!
In recent years, as steel production has gradually increased, prices have also gradually dropped. At the same time, the emergence of cement has also led to a large number of steel and cement entering the construction industry. This has also made the current buildings higher and larger.
tend.
In the past, building a huge building required expensive stone, wood, a large number of craftsmen, etc. However, with the large-scale firing of green bricks and red bricks, steel and cement being used in buildings, the cost of construction has dropped rapidly, and it has become more and more popular.
Some relatively large and difficult construction projects have become possible.
Currently in the business district, it is invested by the Imperial Assets Division. In fact, Li Xuan became interested and asked the Imperial Assets Division to do it. It is said to be the largest in the whole of Shanghai, and even in the entire empire, with the most complete facilities, the most luxurious decorations, and consumption at the same time.
It is also the tallest Shanghai Traders Hotel, integrating accommodation, business, dining, etc. It uses a large number of steel, cement, glass and other materials.
Moreover, the floors have reached five stories, and the total height will reach 36 meters. Buildings of this height were rare in ancient times, except for towers and halls.
When he came to Shanghai, Yang Cheng had already seen a lot of these buildings, and without exception, most of them were corporate buildings or buildings of official institutions. Other than that, few people would do this.
As an office building, this branch of the Royal Bank in an industrial area adopts this new type of building. Of course, it is not very high, with only two floors, but it occupies a very large area.
This is close to the door, and you can see four sturdy doormen on both sides of the door, looking at the guests coming in and out with vigilant eyes, including Yang Cheng and the other two.
Yang Cheng had no doubt at all that if he acted suspiciously at this time, or if he was carrying a gun or a sharp blade, these guards would definitely rush over immediately and use their waist knives or even the long spears they carried behind their backs.
Aim for yourself!
These doormen are not ordinary doormen, but specially registered armed bodyguards, and they are all retired soldiers.
At present, the Tang Empire has special laws and regulations for armed guards. After approval from the cabinet and the military, a total of thirty-four bodyguard companies have been established. The guards of these bodyguard companies can carry swords and long matchlock guns in public places.
And swords as self-defense weapons!
As for the pistol, its military function may only be a self-defense weapon or a weapon for cavalry, but among the people, this weapon is the best weapon for assassinations and other criminal activities. Therefore, even if the empire lets go
Some long-barrel matchlock guns are used by civilians, but pistols are classified as special weapons for the military and police. They are not supplied to civilians and are not allowed to be held by civilians.
However, because these bodyguards carry guns, there are very strict regulations on the number and use of them. First of all, the bodyguard company does not have as many bodyguards as it wants.
There is a very strict process for recruiting bodyguards, that is, first you need to reach a security agreement with a certain company, or after reaching a security agreement with a wealthy family, then you can apply to recruit bodyguards and receive professional training based on this agreement.
, and then sent to institutions or wealthy families that have signed security agreements to perform bodyguard tasks.
At the same time, it is stipulated that the guards must be retired soldiers, and idlers are not allowed to serve as bodyguards.
In fact, these bodyguard companies are all government-run enterprises, and the managers are all retired military officers and civilian officials. Private individuals cannot apply to establish such bodyguard companies, and ordinary people are not allowed to enter this type of company.
of corporate positions.
In fact, these measures are not meant to limit the number of armed forces, social instability, etc., but are intended by the military to ensure that uncontrolled civilian armed forces do not appear in the country.
The military is strictly guarding against the emergence of civilian militia in the country.
In the past few years, the Army has been carrying out activities to eliminate bandits, landlord armed forces and other illegal armed forces. Even so far, it is difficult to completely clean up. If in some remote areas, bandits
Quite a few, and most of the powerful landlords have private armed forces.
Of course, these powerful landlords would not foolishly say that they are soldiers. They would not even use the name of guards, but would use the names of ordinary tenants and servants. Although they would not dare to use weapons on a large scale, they would
, but there is no shortage of swords.
Even now, in the eleventh year of Xuanping, there are still quite a lot of illegal armed organizations in the country. The military has been cracking down on them, but they can be eliminated openly, but it is difficult to eliminate them secretly.
This is also the reason why the empire now has very strict gun control. From manufacturing to sales and use, everything is handled by the government and no private intervention is allowed.
Yang Cheng knew that the guards in the Royal Bank were all genuine armed bodyguards with real guns and live ammunition!
What he didn't know was that in addition to these four doormen, there were actually more than thirty armed bodyguards monitoring and guarding the building!
Who told this place to be a bank? Not to mention anything else, the mountains of gold and silver in the cellar alone are worthy of being guarded by dozens of armed bodyguards, not to mention that there are also a large number of unnamed banknotes stored in the bank.
, banknotes are marketable bonds that have the same purchasing power as real money and silver.
Nowadays, the silver notes issued by the Royal Bank have become, to a certain extent, the universal banknotes in the Tang Empire. When you use the silver notes to buy things and pay taxes, their value is the same as directly buying the silver or gold coins.
the same.
Yang Cheng ignored the guards and entered directly through the gate, and then came to Datang. There were many people in Datang, but most of them were ordinary customers, and Yang Cheng was not here to deposit or withdraw money.
Ordinary customer, he comes here for a loan!
So after he looked at the signs in Datang, he went directly to a hall on the right according to the signs. There were very few people here, only seven or eight people waiting, and there was no such thing as in the hall.
At the business window, he went directly to a staff member of the Royal Bank and explained his purpose, and then the staff member took him to an office next to him.
After entering the office, I saw a middle-aged man in his thirties sitting inside, wearing an ordinary Hanfu robe. He looked very energetic. When this man saw Yang Cheng come in, he immediately stood up and said: "Welcome our distinguished guest.
Come to me, please take a seat!"
These days, the loans issued by the Royal Bank are basically for various institutions such as enterprises, and do not carry out personal loan business, so those who can come to the bank for loans are corporate customers, and every business is a big business.
Therefore, the middle-aged man in front of him obviously did not show any slightness. He politely asked Yang Cheng to sit down, and then asked his subordinates to serve tea.
Then he asked: "I am Shengtong, Tian is the loan manager of the loan department of this branch. I wonder what your distinguished guest is called? Where is the immortal residence?"
Yang Cheng also said at this time: "I don't dare to be an honored guest. I, Yang Cheng, am from Jiujiang!"
Although Yang Cheng mentioned his name and place of origin, their Yang family is in Jiujiang and can be regarded as a prestigious gentry. However, there are many famous gentry in the entire empire. Naturally, Shengtong does not know what the Yang family is.
From the Yang family.
So Sheng Tong just said casually: "It turns out to be Brother Yang, whom I have admired for a long time!"
At this time, Yang Cheng will naturally not let him look down on him. He is here for a loan. If you don't show your strength, don't expect the bank to lend you money. After all, people are afraid that you are a liar or an unknown person.
Sir, what should I do if I take out a loan and run away?
Although the judicial system of the Tang Dynasty was strict, the methods of arrest and the like were still very primitive. If you really had the ability to cheat money and escape immediately, even a behemoth like the Royal Bank would be helpless.
So loans basically require collateral!
But does Yang Cheng have any collateral? If he says he does, he does, but if he says he doesn’t, he actually doesn’t.
So in order to increase the feasibility of his subsequent conversation being successful, Yang Cheng continued: "My family controls Jiujiang Glass Company!"
There is no need to say too much about the self-declared identity. It is enough to mention Jiujiang Glass Company.
In the current glass industry of the empire, because the Royal Institute of Technology controls patent licensing, there are only five companies in the country that can produce and sell glass openly. As for the rest, they are all shady pirates.
If you are caught, you will be bankrupted and put in jail.
As one of the five glass companies in the country, Jiujiang Glass Company is naturally not an unknown person. At least Shengtong has heard of it. When he heard about Jiujiang Glass Company, he immediately became interested.
Because he had a hunch that he might be able to do a big deal today!
This Jiujiang Glass Company is a well-known company in the glass industry. Even if its scale ranks at the bottom among the five companies, it is still a company that makes a lot of money every day. Royal Bank will naturally welcome this kind of company to seek loans.
!
Why?
Because you don’t have to worry about it not being delivered yet!
Everyone likes a business that is sure to make a profit without losing any money!