After all, Wu Kaidi had been living in the capital with his master for more than ten years. He had a lot of experience running errands for his master. He also knew a lot of secrets about corruption and corruption through word of mouth among the servants.
"This group of eunuchs are all cannibals. He defrauded me of tens of thousands of taels of silver and did not do anything. Why don't I have to give him a penny of the bonus here? We men here are trying to make ends meet."
He thought for a moment and said, "Isn't it a little over-the-top, sir? Your relationship with Eunuch Yang is not an ordinary one - how much money has he deposited in your bank alone? Besides, he is still buying shares in the bank.
What does he gain by cheating you? Besides, when he went to ask Wang Dehua to do something, he was sending money to Wang Dehua, and Wang Dehua also wanted to see his favor. This kind of thing that can make money from outside, Eunuch Yang
It’s more than what he wants. Otherwise, how can he rely on trying to please his superiors?”
"That's right!" Leng Ningyun put her hand on her forehead and said something reasonable, "But I'm still worried..."
Leng Ningyun had been involved in the financial industry for a period in the past, and he was used to seeing a group of brokers in the capital who used the banner to buy and sell short. They could fool foreign investors into making hundreds of thousands or even millions if they didn't do anything.
"The master is right," said Wukaidi, "I will go out and inquire about it right now. I will come back with some real news for you."
An important part of Wukaidi's daily schedule is to go out to buy a mansion, and then go to various houses with connections with officials and big names, chat with the concierge, and listen to the news. Leng Ningyun has collected a lot of information about the capital.
In fact, that’s how it came about.
"There is also news about the Dengzhou mutiny. We need to inquire more about it," he warned.
"Yes, I understand."
When Wu Kaidi went to inquire about the news, Leng Ningyun moved his sore legs and got off the fire bed. He rubbed his legs and feet and walked to a secret door with a combination lock full of dissatisfaction.
Open the secret door, and inside is a room with no windows on all sides - a local "safe house". The safe house is not small - it is not a small room. According to traditional Chinese architectural methods, it is an open room.
There are three rooms in the front room. There are rows of large rosewood cabinets along the wall. In the middle is a large picture table, several chairs, and several blackboards.
The condensation cloud lit up the gas lamp on the table, and the whole room suddenly became bright.
Apart from himself, only his assistant Wu Kaidi and his life secretary who also serves as the telegraph operator can come in here.
I walked to a large rosewood cabinet with numbers on it.
Opening the cabinet door, there are densely packed binders of costs: these cabinets collect all the intelligence information of the capital, from officials and clerks of various yamen, bosses and shopkeepers of all major subsidiaries to the clerks and servants below.
Servants, concierges, cooks... the list is all there. There are also biographies of the more important figures. In addition, there is only black information about these people - any black information, whether it is hearsay or true, is published every day.
Detailed reports will be given to him, and he will summarize them into materials and put them in someone's file.
The big bosses thought it was a very confidential matter. The lower-level people knew it very early, and this phenomenon was also very common in the Ming Dynasty. Especially the servants and minor officials around the dignitaries were almost born to leak secrets.
What is recorded in these notebooks are his achievements in the capital during these days.
The first step in intelligence work is to collect enough basic information - and public information is the main source of intelligence. This is a concept that Li Yan focused on instilling in him when he was training him on the farm.
In fact, this is not an unusual concept for Leng Ningyun, who has worked in the financial industry - the financial industry also has an intelligence collection system. At first, he worked in the major account department for a period, and the department also had information collection systems for all major accounts.
Detailed customer files including the birthdays of the wife, children and even the mistress, hobbies and even the taste of food and other hobbies.
Leng Ningyun was very familiar with the documents in the cabinet. He quickly found the information on Wang Dehua and other popular eunuchs. He took out the documents and piled them on the desk one by one. He started to read through them.
When he went to the capital to open a bank, Leng Ningyun had the illusion of going back to the past to work in a bank - the biggest feeling was: it was so boring.
How is this different from when I worked in the bank's key account department - after all, it was still in a high-end office building, with a 24-hour constant temperature and humidity environment, the bathroom was very clean, and the toilet bowl was shiny. The air was still filled with the smell of jasmine essence.
.
Since I parted ways with Zhao Yingong in Hangzhou, I have completely said goodbye to direct contact with the senators. My contact with the Senate is limited to a few letters and radio waves. Although the conditions in Lingao are difficult, after several years of
After the construction, the living facilities of the elders have improved greatly. At least sanitary equipment has become completely popular in Bairen City. Now, the most accustomed way of hygiene here is to boil hot water and take a bath every day - Wu Kaidi reminded me more than once
He: It is very dangerous to do this in winter: you will either catch the cold and die. Or you will die from the "charcoal poison" caused by burning a charcoal pot for heating while taking a bath. After catching a cold and fever while taking a bath, he had to reduce his bathing to once a week. Fortunately,
The capital sells paper for wiping your buttocks - it's called "Dou'er paper", which is a kind of rough straw paper. He bought it and carefully processed it with a local maid.
.
Leng Ningyun occasionally regrets applying to come to Beijing. It was because he was ignored by everyone in the Senate and he boldly applied with a weak idea of making a contribution, but he was actually approved. Leng Ningyun often thinks of his own shame.
During the battle against Huang Shoutong in the camp, how did he finish his bullets and drop his rifle before running away? Because Wang Luobin saw this, it became a huge "stain" for him. He always wanted to use some kind of heroic action
Come and cleanse yourself.
When I left Lingao and packed my backpack, I picked up the Glock pistol with a little sarcasm: Carrying this pistol was useless. If something happened, it would be too late to rely on the Foreign Intelligence Service to rescue me. I would use it most.
This modern weapon is used only to end one's own life.
After arriving in Beijing, the difficulty of work was far beyond his imagination. Although he received comprehensive training at the "Farm" and the Historical Materials Research Group of the Grand Library specially provided him with supplementary information on the official situation of the capital and the concept of political struggle.
When it comes to actually starting work in Beijing, these things are of no use: senior officials disdain to meet a small businessman like themselves. Regardless of whether you are Bill Gates or Buffett of the Ming Dynasty, in the eyes of the scholar-bureaucrats, they are just a tool to make money.
More importantly, when he came to Beijing, he followed Eunuch Yang's path. His business also had Eunuch Yang's background. Many scholar-bureaucrats disliked this. It also created resistance to work. In private, Leng Ningyun
I once heard: Some elders ridiculed that they only did two things in Beijing: kowtow and send money.
The problem is that even if you want to give money to some people, there is no place to give it. Leng Ningyun thought to herself that bribery is a profound knowledge.
According to Leng Ningyun's original vision, he had two major tasks in Beijing: contacting high-level officials and expanding his intelligence network and connections; establishing Delong Bank outlets and expanding financial influence to achieve profitability.
In the first task, Leng Ningyun felt that he was a little ashamed of the request of the Foreign Intelligence Agency. Although Jiang Shan did not have high expectations for his ability to act, he had not made any progress worth mentioning in his activities approaching high-level officials. Obviously, just using Yang
The father-in-law's approach is not enough. They urgently need new senior officials with sufficient influence to broaden their social network.
On the other hand, Delong Bank was successfully opened. The current Beijing branch of Delong Bank, named Branch, is actually the transportation station and information point of the Senate in Beijing. The opening of the bank was completely in accordance with the regulations of Delong Bank branches in various places.
With the establishment of a standard system, Leng Ningyun believes that he is quite conscientious in the professional field. With Delong's existing influence in Guangdong and Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the exchange business he has handled since his opening has made considerable progress: Delong Issuance
In the past, bills of exchange in the capital could only be accepted at Li Luoyou's Liaohai Bank. Not only was the discount relatively large, but there was also a certain amount of acceptance every month, which was a lot of inconvenience. Since the opening of Delong, the current exchange rate in Guangdong and Guangxi has been
Basically monopolized by Delong, the exchange business in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is also booming.
Due to the expansion of the exchange business, deposits have also increased significantly. On Leng Ningyun's account book, the recent daily turnover has been more than 100,000 taels. There is also a small amount of fixed-rate deposit business. But it is very important for banks.
The loan business has not developed much yet.
From a certain perspective, loans were a very profitable financial activity in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century: first of all, there was no limited liability in this time and space, all liability was unlimited; secondly, the interest here was ridiculously high, and the interest was
On a monthly basis, if the annual interest rate is less than 30%, you are doing good deeds.
Moreover, the demand for loans here is not small. Whether it is various merchants who have experienced large-scale transactions here, or those who are busy working here to seek a part-time official position, or deposed officials, they all have a great demand for loans.
need.
In recent months, he has only issued one large loan: five hundred taels of silver. The project was to lend money to Mongolian merchants going to Mongolia to buy bricks, tea and groceries.
The business came through the introduction of the Qiwei Escort Bureau's Capital Headquarters. The merchants took the brick tea to Mongolia, exchanged it for furs, horses, cattle and sheep, and brought them back to the customs. The profit from the Mongolian trade was very considerable, reaching several hundred percent at a time.
Leng Ningyun felt that the risk was worth taking. Even so, he was still worried about his large loan: he actually didn't know much about Ming Dynasty's risk control, but he felt that this step would be done sooner or later: Everything
Everything has a beginning.
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