Liu Ruogu said respectfully, "To tell you what my lord, Anqing Baishun Hall bought a former casino, which was originally run by the slaves of the Luo family, and then bought a store next to it and expanded it a bit, but the brothel has not yet been purchased.
arrive.
The business is better than Baishuntang in Tongcheng, and better than before the arrival of the bandits. The profit in this half month is about four to five hundred taels."
"All the rich people from Anqing have come to Fucheng, so it is reasonable that there will be more for a while. However, we have just opened. Regardless of how much money we make, we will give out more benefits to attract gamblers from other families.
There are always so many people gambling in a place, and it is more important to control the users."
Liu Ruogu agreed and said, "My lord, it is true, but there is another convenience in Anqing. In addition to regular customers, there is a dock. There are many merchants there, and there are always green-skinned lasses at the dock to solicit customers from various casinos, and to communicate with the casinos."
Playing games to steal people's money.
My subordinate is thinking..." Pang Yu waved his hand casually, "If you have anything to say, please tell me."
"What my subordinates want to do is to give those green-skinned men some more money and let them all go to Baishun Hall."
"What others can do, we can do it too, just try not to ruin our lives.
The gambling business in the city was used to doing business, but suddenly it was transferred to Baishun Hall. Those casinos will definitely have a counterattack, so you should bring a few more casinos with you."
Liu Ruogu bowed and said, "Some people have already come to see me and asked me to do things according to Anqing's rules. They also said that if we give more money, they will also give more money. In the end, Qingpi just got cheaper."
Pang Yu smiled and said, "That's true, but the point of this matter is not Qingpi, but the dock.
As long as we control the wharf, Qingpi will have no choice but to listen to us if he wants to do work there, so we have to go back to what we just said, wait until the storm of the canal transportation is over, and then we can control the wharf. "
"Then, my subordinates, let's hold off for a moment. First, let's build the reputation of our Baishuntang in Anqing and rob local gamblers.
Wait until the adults take control of the dock before talking about foreign tourists."
Pang Yu thought about it and said, "Speaking of out-of-towners, other businesses in Anqing are easy to do now."
"The business going down the river is about the same as before. The prices of bamboo, wood and medicinal materials are not much different, but the price of grain is rising. There are fewer grain merchants coming to Anqing than before. I heard that grain prices in southern Jiujiang and Huguang are cheaper.
Among the goods coming from downstream, silk, cotton and other commercial goods are unsaleable. Currently, such cargo ships no longer dock in Anqing, but ironware and other goods have increased in price."
"I'm afraid there are many nails in the iron tools, and there are more farm tools."
Pang Yu sighed, "After the bandits are over, production cannot be carried out. The people have no income, and the demand for consumer goods will definitely decrease. Even if the people still have some savings, they can save food first, and then try to rebuild the houses as much as possible. The houses need to be bought from other places, that is, ironware.
Other consumption will be compressed, and its industries will be depressed.
The sales of bamboo and wood will go downstream, and I’m afraid there won’t be much change, but the grain will miss the spring plowing today, and the price will definitely increase when the harvest is reduced.”
"But the price in Jiujiang has not increased. Now all the grain merchants have gone to Jiujiang."
"When all the grain merchants go to Jiujiang, Jiujiang will naturally rise. After the price reaches equilibrium with Anqing, the grain merchants will come back.
High-profit cash crops are grown in the south of the Yangtze River, and grain is supplied to the south of the Yangtze River. This is a balance of supply and demand that has been formed over the years. Northern Huguang has been destroyed, and the food that can be supplied to the south of the Yangtze River is decreasing. Now that Anqing and Fengyang have been affected by banditry, supply and demand are in balance.
It’s no longer balanced, so prices will definitely rise, it just depends on how high it goes.”
Liu Ruogu buried his head and sighed, "Now it has started to rise. I don't know if the bandits will come again. If they come again, they will really not even have food to eat."
"They will definitely come."
Pang Yu patted the handrail, "This time they destroyed the official road. Anqing has been peaceful for decades and has accumulated a lot of wealth. The bandits only need to plunder the official road to get enough supplies. Next time they come, they will
It will destroy a larger area, and if the bandits cannot be eliminated, the disaster will become more severe each time."
Liu Ruogu raised his head in surprise and said with a little fear, "Then will they capture Tongcheng or Anqing?"
Pang Yu said easily, "They will definitely attack. Once the countryside is destroyed to a certain extent, only the city can get the most supplies. When the bandits cannot get enough supplies, they will inevitably be able to withstand greater casualties to attack the city, because if they don't attack
The city will also starve to death, and when both the attacking and defending sides have no way out, defending Tongcheng will not be as easy as this time."
Liu Ruogu was a little nervous. He looked at Pang Yu and said, "If the bandits are desperate, do you think Tongcheng can be defended?
The villain's family is still in Tongcheng. If the adults feel that it is not safe, the villain will bring the family members to Huaining. The adults will guard the place, so I can rest assured."
Pang Yu thought about it and said, "The city of Tongcheng is strong, but for this matter of life and death, you'd better bring the little boy to Anqing. If it's really critical, you can get on the boat and escape."
Liu Ruogu nodded quickly, and Pang Yu said to him, "The rogue bandits will attack the city out of their survival needs, but whether they can break the city does not depend on whether they are short of supplies, but on us. As long as we have strong soldiers at hand,
, they will not be able to attack Tongcheng or Anqing, so our focus should not be on the rogue bandits, but on earning more money and raising more soldiers.
Of course, it is my duty to raise troops, and Ruogu, I will not spare you the support you deserve."
"The villain is willing to donate to the adults to raise soldiers..." "Business has rules, and you have to support your family, so there is no need to talk about this."
Pang Yu waved his hand and interrupted, "Before I set out last time, I asked you to sort out the exchange ratios of gold, silver, and copper coins over the years."
Liu Ruogu quickly took out a piece of submission paper from his arms, "I don't dare to delay the matters arranged by the adults.
This is a comparison of the gold, silver and copper coins compiled by the villain over the years."
Pang Yu took the submission paper and unfolded it, and Liu Ruogu continued to explain while he was looking at it, "The villain looked through the records of the pawnshop in previous years. In the last years of Emperor Xizong's reign, the gold-silver ratio was between seven and eight, and in the sixth year of Chongzhen's reign, it was between seven and eight.
One for twelve, this year it has reached one for thirteen.
Generally speaking, gold is more expensive."
Pang Yu frowned while looking at it, "There are two possibilities for the increase in the exchange ratio. So Ruogu said it was because there was more silver or less gold?"
"This... villain thinks there is too much silver."
"Oh, why?"
"When I was in Tongcheng, I explained to the little one that when money increases and material remains roughly unchanged, prices will rise. I feel that the market prices of various commodities have been rising."
Pang Yu raised his head and glanced at Liu Ruogu, then laughed and said, "Ruogu remembers understanding, but this time I feel that there is less gold and silver, at least in the circulation field.
Your feeling about rising prices probably comes from your daily use of copper coins."
"Please give me some advice, sir."
Pang Yu picked up the report paper a little and said, "Because the currency of our Ming Dynasty is not only gold and silver, but also copper coins used for small transactions, and the ratio of silver to copper coins is increasing. You recorded the Jiajing and Wanli gold backs."
Money, these two kinds of copper coins have been discontinued, the quantity is constant, and can be used as a measurement standard.
During the Tianqi period, one tael of silver was exchanged for between 400 and 500 wen, but now it is exchanged for 700 to 800 wen, which shows that there is a lack of large amounts of silver in the market."
Liu Ruogu was confused. He stayed for a moment and said, "But how could the silver fly away? My subordinates think about it. If they were here before, wouldn't they always be here?"
“Silver won’t fly, but a large amount of silver is exiting circulation and no new silver is entering.
The world is in turmoil, and gold and silver have natural hedging properties, but since silver is a currency in circulation, how can it decrease so fast?"
Pang Yu folded up the submission paper and said, "Ruogu, do you know where the Ming Dynasty's silver came from? Is it from the imperial silver mines or from private silver mines?"
"Subordinate... I don't know where the silver comes from, but the imperial court doesn't have any silver mines. I know this."
"The imperial court has no silver mines, but our money, grain, and taxes are all based on silver."
Pang Yu touched his chin, "That means the imperial court cannot control currency. If it cannot control something, why should it be used as currency?"
Liu Ruogu naturally couldn't answer. He was very confused about Pang Yu's arrangement of this task that day, and couldn't help but ask, "Sir, what is the use of this exchange ratio you are looking at?"
Pang Yu tapped the folded submission paper twice, "Of course it's useful. From what you recorded, silver is in a state of continuous decrease, gold's trend is stronger, and it will become more and more difficult to obtain gold and silver."
big.
If we look at silver, our Ming Dynasty is in the midst of severe deflation. It is probably not a good idea to produce any bulk consumer goods or durable goods. The only exception is food. Medicinal materials are also available, but after all, the quantity will not be too large.
"
"What about this house? We have mortgaged many houses and fields in Tongcheng."
"When there is a large inflow of silver, asset prices will rise. During periods of deflation, asset prices will of course be hardest hit."
Pang Yu pondered, "The same is true for fields. The increase in grain prices may not be able to offset the impact of silver deflation. What's more, fields need to pay taxes, and taxes are denominated in silver. In addition, you also know the things in the yamen, the cost of money and grain
All the land is allocated to the land tax, resulting in a high cost of holding the land. When the output cannot support a family, the land becomes a negative asset, and it is human instinct to abandon the negative asset.
Ruan Jin came back yesterday and said that the land in Fengyang area is barren and more and more people are fleeing. If this situation continues, no one may want the land without paying for it in the future."
Liu Ruogu felt more and more clueless. Pang Yu said that the price of food would rise, but he also said that no one wanted the land, and food could not be grown on the land.
He shook his head and asked in confusion, "But sir, tell me, where did the gold and silver go?"
Could it be that it was there in previous years and then disappeared? What kind of truth is this?"
Pang Yu smiled and said, "Of course I didn't disappear. What I said was that I withdrew from the circulation field. The reason is usually that the gap between the rich and the poor is too big, but I only have a little clue, and there are still many vague places, which makes me very sad."
I want to know where all the money from our Ming Dynasty went."