The sky and the earth are whistling, and the horse is blowing from the west.
——Excerpt from "Shui Diao Ge Tou·Pingshan Hall Yong Dongpo Rhyme" Fang Yue (Song Dynasty)
…
After the completion of "Picture of Daming Palace", Bai Fu slept for three days. When he woke up again, it was already three o'clock in the morning.
After washing up, Bai Fu sat alone by the window of the tea shop in Bashu Guild Hall, picked up the tea cup in his hand, and quietly tasted the fragrance of tea.
Through the bamboo curtain, Bai Fuda looked at the market downstairs.
The sun was shining brightly, and the streets were bustling with people coming and going. Vendors and footmen were selling their goods along the street, and travelers were in a hurry. Everyone was running for a living, with no time to think or worry.
The smoke and fire in the market place was so real that Bai Fu felt the warmth of returning to the mortal world.
As the ring jingled, orchids floated in the air, and the beautiful figure of Princess Qingluan suddenly appeared. The door curtain was lifted, and Princess Qingluan pushed the door open and entered.
But I saw her wearing bright yellow clothes, as bright and charming as the buds on the tips of tea leaves in spring.
"I've been looking for you for a long time!" Princess Qingluan pouted.
"What's bothering you again?" Bai Fu raised his hand, poured tea for the princess, and asked with a smile.
Princess Qingluan asked the maid to bring in a red sandalwood box, and opened the wooden box. Inside, there were many precious gold hairpins and jade hairpins.
Princess Qingluan said to Bai Fu: "Master Fu, you have many connections, can you help me sell these jewelry?"
Bai Fu briefly looked through it and found that these jewelry were all used by the royal family.
Bai Fu asked in confusion: "Why? Don't you like these jewelry?"
Princess Qingluan sighed: "That's not true, I want to repair the Zen room where my mother lives.
The rebels crossed the border like locusts and destroyed many facilities in the Taiji Palace. The imperial court did not have the money to renovate all the palaces, so it only focused on the Daming Palace where the father lived. For a while, it would not take into account the Foguang Temple in the Taiji Palace.
Recently, my mother's room has been damp and cold. If it is not repaired in time, I am worried that her condition will worsen. Instead of waiting for the Ministry of Home Affairs to allocate funds, I might as well raise some money myself to repair her courtyard.
When I escaped from the East Palace, I was in such a hurry that I didn't even have time to take away the money my father had given me, so I took some jewelry for daily use. So, I planned to sell these jewelry first to exchange for some money.
When you have money in the future, you can just buy it again.
Seeing the pitiful look of Princess Qingluan, Bai Fu felt distressed and sad, and said to himself: "I never thought that the princess would also be short of money sometimes?"
Princess Qingluan noticed Bai Fu's eyes and muttered: "Then what do you think?"
In order not to embarrass Princess Qingluan, Bai Fu deliberately joked: "I really didn't expect it to be different from the princess I imagined."
When Princess Qingluan heard this, she became interested and asked curiously: "Then what do you think the princess is like?"
Bai Fu smiled and said: "When I was a child, I heard from adults that princesses lived in attics made of gold. The roofs were studded with gems of various colors, arranged according to the directions of the stars in the sky. At night, when it gets dark, the gems on the roof
Twinkling, as bright as the Milky Way, as if it were living in the sky.
The princesses feasted on delicacies from the mountains and seas, drank nectar and jade liquid, and ate dragon liver and phoenix gallbladder. They washed their hair with dew from lotus leaves and bathed with milk from flowers.
The princesses wear clothes made of clouds, which are light and weightless. The flower clusters embroidered on the clothes will change with the time, blooming flowers of different colors.
The princesses travel in golden chariots, pulled by elk, and white elephants lead the way. If they go to far away places, they ride on cranes and fly into the sky.
When the crane flies across the sky, the sound of the fairy music will be heard from the clouds, and colorful petals will be shed.
…
Before Bai Fu finished speaking, Princess Qingluan was already laughing so hard that she was leaning forward and back.
Princess Qingluan covered her mouth and said with a smile: "You didn't expect me, a princess, to be so poor, right? Maybe the person sitting in front of you is a fake princess?"
The two looked at each other and laughed.
…
Bai Fu ordered people to go to the warehouse to get silver coins. After a while, the guys brought two nanmu boxes. They tore off the seals and opened the keys. There were neat rows of gold ingots inside, shining with gold.
Princess Qingluan was stunned and said: "My jewelry is not worth so much money."
Bai Fu smiled slightly, waved his hand and said, "As a princess, how can you do without jewelry? I'll lend you this money."
Bai Fu took out a waist tag, handed it to Princess Qingluan, and said: "These two boxes of gold total a thousand taels, you can use them first. If there is not enough, you can take my waist tag at any time and ask the assistant to help you withdraw money from the warehouse.
This way, even if I'm not in Chang'an, I won't waste your money."
Princess Qingluan smiled sweetly and said: "Then I won't be polite to you. I will pay you back when I have money.
However, I am very curious, how can you have so much money at such a young age? Even a descendant of a noble family cannot afford so much gold in a short period of time?"
Bai Fudao said: "When Taifu Xu and other aristocratic families sold off their properties in Luoyang, they sold the fields, houses and manors in Luoyang to sky-high prices. Countless officials and merchants made profits from buying and selling the properties.
In order to facilitate long-distance transportation and payment, officials in the three provinces and six ministries invented the "quick money exchange" exchange method, which alleviated the shortage of coins in circulation on the market and alleviated the inconvenience of carrying large amounts of coins.
Merchants from all over the country went to Chang'an and Luoyang and handed over money to the armies. Envoys or envoys were stationed at the "Jinzouyuan" in the east and west capitals in exchange for tickets. The "Jinzouyuan" issued a half-joint lease certificate.
The other half of the lease certificates are sent back to the corresponding institutions in various places. After the businessman returns to the local area, he can check the two copies and verify that they are consistent, and then he can withdraw money. These government-issued lease certificates are called "flying money."
The profits from "Fei Qian" are eye-catching, and some big merchants have also discovered the business opportunities. These big merchants have affiliates in various channels and operate "Fly Money" on their behalf to make profits.
The emergence of the 'quick money exchange' exchange method turned the buying and selling of land and houses in Luoyang into a gluttonous feast."
Princess Qingluan nodded and said: "I still remember this. Many people from our royal family also rushed to Luoyang. Because of the competition for land, many princes and Mrs. Guo had conflicts. In the end, they were punished by the emperor.
Did you make a fortune from buying and selling land in Luoyang?"
Bai Fu smiled and said: "That's not true, but there is some connection.
After An Lushan rebelled, the government-run "Jinzouyuan" and most of the merchants' joints were turned into powder. Only two or three merchants' joints could continue to operate in the troubled times.
Among them, the largest merchant chain was named Sheng Taikui. Sheng Taikui was originally a camel team, relying on a huge transportation team composed of camel men and tens of thousands of camels.
The camel teams sold tea, silk, and medicinal materials from the Central Plains to the Western Regions, and then sold jade, furs, sheep, and horses from the Western Regions back to the Central Plains.
After the "quick money exchange" exchange method came into being, Shengtaikui had affiliates in various channels, so it also expanded its business and operated "quick money exchange" on its behalf.
Sheng Taikui's largest financial owner is the Sichuan Gang, and the other wealthy owners are from aristocratic families in Luoyang.
When Taifu moved south, these aristocratic families also followed Taifu to move south. So they wanted to transfer their Shengtaikui silver shares.
The Taifu thought this was a business opportunity, so he lent me money to buy all these silver stocks. So, I became Sheng Taikui's second financial owner.
In the troubled times, all traffic in the Central Plains was cut off, and only the Sichuan Gang and other green forest gangs could still operate secretly. Therefore, Sheng Taikui's business became more and more prosperous.
In the end, many rebel generals found Sheng Taikui privately, exchanged the looted goods for "convenience", and transported them to his hometown through underground channels. For this reason, they also opened the door of convenience for Sheng Taikui.
The inspection of goods transported by Sheng Taikui is relatively lax.
Through this, the Sichuan Gang transported many military supplies to the rebel armies in Hedong Road, Henan Road, Hebei Road and other roads to assist the Tang army and local people in resisting the rebels.
In addition, the Sichuan Gang also took the opportunity to instigate many rebel generals and obtained a large amount of military intelligence. It can be said that they achieved many things with one stone.
Over the past few years, Sheng Taikui has made a lot of money. I did nothing and accidentally became a rich man."