On the third day of May in the fifth year of Longqing's reign, the biggest news in Weihui Mansion in Henan Province broke out in recent years: the nephew of Gao Gong, the second deputy minister of the dynasty, the nephew of Zhang Siwei, the right minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the prince's companion Gao Jingshi were in the mansion.
A banquet was held for the wealthy gentry and celebrities, and a large loan was proposed during the banquet. The total loan amount was as high as 300,000 taels!
A figure like three hundred thousand taels is a huge amount of money no matter where you put it. What's more, the high official who proposed to borrow the money is only about ten years old, even though his uncles are both top officials in the government.
, but the problem is, at his young age, who can guarantee that he can represent the two people behind him?
Of course, the wealthy gentry and celebrities in the Weihui Mansion are not ignorant people. Not only do they know that the Gao family is just a literary heir, not rich in wealth, they also know that the Zhang family in Puzhou, where Zhang Siwei was born, is truly wealthy and powerful -
—The Changlu Saltworks, the largest in the north, has been almost monopolized by the Zhang family in recent years. It is said that the annual income is millions, making it as rich as the country!
Although Gao Jingshi was only a nephew of the Zhang family, it was somewhat uncertain whether the Zhang family would be willing to back him up if the amount of his loan was too large. However, the wealthy gentry and celebrities present made a private calculation and still donated generously, each reporting their willingness to lend.
The amount of the loan was written by Gao Shidu on the spot, and under the witness of Wei Hui Palace Master Jiang Menglong, he wrote an IOU and completed the loan.
In the end, this huge sum of three hundred thousand taels was borrowed in full in just one meal!
Gao Shidu praised the wealthy gentry and celebrities of Weihui Mansion on the spot for their kindheartedness, warm-heartedness, and eagerness for people's needs. Then he said that he would not take a cent of the huge sum of 300,000 taels, and directly asked everyone present to buy a large amount of grain.
, cloth and other kinds of daily necessities.
The gentry present helped everyone to the end and sent the Buddha to the West, and they all agreed.
Then Gao Shidu finally announced: All the money will be used to provide relief to the victims - whether they are local people affected by the disaster in Henan, or victims from Shandong or northern Jiangsu, as long as they have arrived in Henan, they will be included in the relief scope!
After hearing this statement, everyone present, whether officials or gentry, were shocked and ashamed of Gao's pragmatic actions.
It stands to reason that although Gao Pragmatic is from the same province as them, his hometown of Xinzheng was not hit by the disaster and the refugees did not go there. He really has no obligation to donate so generously to the refugees in Weihui Mansion and would rather borrow money.
Disaster relief—not to mention such a huge amount.
As a result, some people felt sorry for themselves and said that they would not charge a penny of interest on the loan they just borrowed.
In fact, the loan that Gao Pragmatic just borrowed was only for one year, and the interest was generally not much.
But after all, for Gao Pragmatic, although three hundred thousand taels is a large amount, he can still find ways to turn around. But for these gentry in Weihui Mansion, the money they loaned is not that big for their family.
Decimal, willing to waive interest, is already a huge sacrifice.
Gao pragmatic expressed his gratitude again for their generosity, but still politely declined such kindness. He said that since it was a loan, it was unreasonable not to pay interest. If everyone also felt that disaster relief was a good deed, they might as well help themselves in other ways.
A helping hand.
Everyone hurriedly asked Gao Shidu if there was anything else they needed help with. Although everyone had limited abilities, they were willing to help as much as they could.
I have to say that people of this era have two things that are unquestionable: they value face in front of others and value their hometown.
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic, a "foreigner", is willing to help in this way. If they don't show their willingness to follow up proactively, they will be embarrassed after returning to their hometown.
Not only did the gentry express this, but even Wei Hui's Master Jiang Menglong also said immediately that if Fan Gao needed the government's help in disaster relief, he could just ask and take the responsibility himself - of course, Jiang's Master still hinted at it in his words.
Let’s take a look: Wei Hui Mansion’s financial situation is not very good, so it’s best not to get money for this “help”.
Jiang Fuzun was a Jinshi in the 44th year of Jiajing reign. It stands to reason that Gao Gong can be considered as his master. However, his master is someone else, so he is not considered as a serious disciple of Gao Gong. He just has some kind of affection.
This is one of the reasons why he is willing to jump into this matter.
But he didn't know that Gao Jingshi was waiting for his words. As soon as he made this statement, Gao Jingshi immediately said that there were many refugees, and if he just paid to support them, even 300,000 taels would probably be insufficient.
Therefore, it is necessary for the palace master to set aside some "not so good" places for their placement.
As soon as they heard that the land was needed, everyone became quiet - borrowing money was easy to negotiate, even donating money was negotiable, but donating land was too harsh, and this decision should never be agreed to in a hurry.
Jiang Fuzun was also a little surprised, and then expressed embarrassment that the fields were privately owned by each household. Even if he was the Fuzun, he could not order other people's fields to be distributed to the refugees, even if he was the Fuzun.
The world is in chaos!
Gao Pragmatic laughed loudly and said that he was not asking Mr. Fu to allocate fields to the refugees. He just needed Mr. Fu’s approval to demarcate a few barren mountains and ridges to create a place for them to stay.
Jiang Fuzun was a little confused when he heard this. It is of course a trivial matter to designate a few barren mountains and wild ridges. Since Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, the barren mountains and wild ridges in China have really been barren mountains and wild ridges (Wufeng Note: In theory, they all belong to the emperor, but Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty
An edict was issued that year, allowing the people to freely carry out hunting and other livelihood activities in these barren mountains and ridges, which later became a practice. In Europe, any mountain, forest, or lake is the private property of the lord. In theory, the people cannot even rule it.
Hunt and catch at will.).
The ownerless and barren mountains these days are indeed of no use, but in name they belong to the imperial court.
However, the problem is that in all Chinese dynasties, it has been difficult to clearly define the authority and blame for such matters. When local officials handle these things, they will never report them to the court unless the scope is huge. They can decide by themselves, and the court will generally not interfere.
So when Jiang Fuzun heard that he just wanted some barren mountains and ridges to house the refugees, although he couldn't figure out how those barren mountains and ridges could support so many homeless people who had nothing, as long as he was not allowed to get money from the Weihui Mansion Yamen, everything would be easy to discuss. So.
Jiang Fuzun immediately made the decision and asked Gao Pragmatic to indicate which places they were. He would ask someone to record them and go back to check if there was no owner. As long as it was confirmed that there was no owner, it was just a barren mountain. It was easy to handle!
Gao Jingshi then asked someone to get a map of Weihui Mansion. Using the map, which was not really accurate, he marked out an area west of Ji County and north of Xinxiang County.
Jiang Fuzun had not been in office for long, so he didn't quite understand the location of the place after looking at it. However, the gentry present were relieved. Someone told Jiang Fuzun that the place was close to Yuntai Mountain, and it was indeed not a good place.
The barren mountains and ridges are not much different. Even if there are a few small villages and not many people, it should not be a big problem - 300,000 taels are placed here, and it can be settled with a little money.
So the matter was settled like this. Both Jiang Fuzun and the gentry present all praised Gao Shi for his great benevolence and righteousness for saving Xiangzi from danger.
Gao Pragmatic, who thanked them all with a smile, said in his heart: You only see me as a money-spreading boy, but you don't know that I do all kinds of business, but I don't do loss-making business. Even if I lose money for a while, sooner or later I have to make a profit.
