The most exquisite meals in the capital are not found in restaurants. Except for the imperial kitchens and the chefs of dignitaries, the first-class banquets are held in the courtyards.
There is a hall in the best courtyard in the capital. The candles are burning high and the Xiang curtains are rolled up at dusk. There is a sharp cold wind outside. Four white copper braziers are burning brightly in the room. The room is as warm as spring. There are three Eight Immortals tables. There are eight candied dried fruits on the table, inlaid with auspicious words such as happiness, fortune, longevity, and happiness. In the middle is a foot-high lion fairy candy. On the four walls are large porcelain plates filled high with candied fruits from the south. "Buddha's Hand" contains more than ten pots of Zhangzhou daffodils with fragrant pistils. The air is filled with light and elegant aroma.
Today is the first banquet of the New Year for the Capital Qianye Guild. Fifteen members of the guild, large and small, will gather here to have a banquet and discuss business for the new year.
It's just after noon now, and only the "big peers" are here to discuss matters. According to the "unspoken rules" of the guild, the "little peers" won't arrive until nightfall. Important matters, the big peers have already discussed and decided in the afternoon. At night, I just informed my peers. Naturally, the interests of my peers were not taken into consideration, so they complained but were helpless.
All the colleagues in the industry were all "Shanxi Fangwu". At that time, Shanxi Fangfang had not really evolved into a purely commercial financial institution like the later Qianzhuang, but was an integrated trade and finance enterprise that did everything. As the name suggests, Shanxi Fangwu was Shanxi Merchants opened shops in the capital. The goods they sold were mainly "Shanxi goods" and "Mongolian goods", including common agricultural and sideline products, daily necessities, as well as salt, tea, horses and other government-monopolized or controlled goods. Money exchange It's just ancillary to these businesses.
It's just that Shanxi businessmen have realized the huge benefits of money exchange and deposit interest a long time ago. In addition, their business operation costs are huge and their liquidity is strong. They themselves need the support of the financial industry. Therefore, Shanxi houses are gradually disappearing. They started the financial industry with their own knowledge. Later it even became their main business project.
The most important issue today is naturally how to deal with Delong and the aftermath.
The leader of the Qian Guild in the Capital is named Cao. Although Shanxi merchants are famous all over the world, in terms of money industry, almost all of their financial bosses, shopkeepers, and clerks come from more than a dozen counties in central Shanxi. Mr. Cao is no exception. He is originally from Taipei. He was born as a bank clerk in Gu. He worked in the capital for more than thirty years and reached the position of shopkeeper.
Although he is just a shopkeeper, he has great power. He is equivalent to half the boss in the bank. He controls all the rights of management, personnel, property and is only responsible to the boss. Not only is he well paid, but he also has shares that can be divided into dividends. It is considered a gold-collar job.
But the returns required by the boss are also high. After three years of service, the boss will be satisfied with the profits. A single dividend can earn an ordinary person several lifetimes of money. However, if the profit fails or the debt is lost, there will be no one in the future. Asked for advice.
Therefore, those who can get into the position of shopkeeper and continue to work for decades are all old foxes in the industry. And the person who serves as the leader of the Qianye Office is a vixen who has become a master through training.
The Shanxi house where Shopkeeper Cao works is simply called "Changji" - this is also the characteristic of each house, no font size is used, only the surname of the owner is used as the name. Among the eight Shanxi shops in the capital, he is only the fifth and sixth boss. .This is also a kind of check and balance among their peers to prevent one company from becoming dominant. Therefore, as usual, the first three companies are not responsible for the leadership.
Shanxi House has been operating in the capital for more than a hundred years, and it is a local snake. When Delong, a powerful dragon, first arrived, although there was a threshold and a reputation, it still took a lot of effort to establish a firm foothold. During this period, he also partnered with Delong
I had fallen into a trap, but it was only because Delong had access to the palace that he didn't force himself.
Later, when Delong became bigger and stronger with his wire transfer business and Zi's boutiques, the world no longer allowed them to stab him in the back, so they began to contact Delong and resumed normal courtesy exchanges. Although Delong had grown bigger,
Compared with the strength behind the Shanxi store and the scale of deposits and loans, it is still far behind. Strictly speaking, Delong is still a "small peer".
Originally, Leng Ningyun had no intention of challenging the capital's financial order and intensifying conflicts. However, since then he has acquired the secret weapon of wire transfer. The remote exchange business, especially in Jiangnan, Guangdong and other places with generous discounts, basically has no room in Shanxi.
What's going on? And because Delong has the secret weapon of telegraphy, he knows the financial situation in various places very well, and can mobilize funds with ease, and can make huge profits every time. This makes his colleagues in Shanxi House feel jealous and hateful.
When the Kun thieves invaded and Guangdong fell, Shanxi House was very excited for a while. They thought that Delong would be destroyed soon. Unexpectedly, Delong actually sneaked in again quietly. The power behind this really made the businessmen
Shocking. So during these days, everyone was calm.
Before the end of the year, I heard that Leng Ningyun had been kidnapped by thieves, which once again made the shopkeepers in Shanxi celebrate. If he had been kidnapped by thieves this year, even if he had not died, Delong would have been severely damaged. On the day he heard the news, several shopkeepers linked up.
Get up, prepare to spread rumors and run, and take down Delong in one fell swoop.
Unexpectedly, the series of changes that followed were dazzling. Not only was Delong sealed and saved from bankruptcies, but Leng Ningyun miraculously returned years ago.
"It doesn't matter whether Leng Ningyun comes back or not. Delong's vitality is severely damaged now, so I'm afraid he'll be shut down." Qiao Wannian, the boss of Qiaoji House, said with a smile while sniffing Western snuff.
"Mr. Qiao, you really don't have enough information!" Qin Shengyu, the shopkeeper of He Ji, sneered, "There has been news in Shuntian Mansion that Mr. Zhong released Delong's seizure as soon as he returned to the office on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. If he closes the house,
Why is there a need to close the lockdown? As soon as the lockdown is lifted, don’t we just have to open?”
"It's not necessarily that we're about to open." Shopkeeper Yuan of Shenji is the youngest of the eight shopkeepers, only in his early forties. "Unless the seal is unsealed, the money and account books in his treasury cannot be used. We can't just leave it like this.
Just leave? There are at least tens of thousands of silver in this bank."
"My brother Yuan, you are such a kind person." Shopkeeper Xia Jishen, who was leaning on Concubine Xiang's bed and openly puffing away smoke, sneered, "This Leng Ningyun is not a good person, he is probably Kun himself.
Thief, if you want to run away, no matter how much you are sealed, it is just a piece of waste paper to him."
"Yes, since it's just a piece of waste paper to him, why bother asking Mr. Fu Yin to unblock it? Why don't we just run away."
Shopkeeper Shen was stunned for a moment, with a rather uneasy expression on his face, and said: "I have to fight to the death."
Among the shopkeepers in Shanxi House, Shopkeeper Shen is the one who most firmly believes that Delong is going to die and Leng Ningyun is going to run away. Everyone knows that he is so actively slandering Delong, probably because Xia Ji is very likely to be involved in this matter.
implicated,
Although all the shopkeepers hate Delong very much and hope that this alien who has an affair with the Kun thief will disappear from the capital as soon as possible. However, the complicated environment in the capital has developed the habit of not expressing their opinions easily.
"I think Delong will definitely open." Shopkeeper Cao said, "Yesterday Wu Kaidi went to six small businesses in order, probably to adjust positions and prepare for emergencies when the business opens."
"How dare they!" Shopkeeper Shen's eyes widened, "These barbarians don't want to eat this bowl of rice in the capital?!"
"It doesn't matter whether they dare or not." Shopkeeper Qin looked disdainful, "Each of these families has only thirty to forty thousand silver, and the largest family only has sixty thousand taels. Can they raise tens of thousands of silver for Delong?
We still follow the old plan: as long as Delong dares to open the door, we will crush him in one go!"
"It's easy to squeeze out Delong, but what to do with the mess left by Delong?" Liu Shuhuan, the manager of Wangji, who had been silent until now, opened his mouth. Wangji is the largest room in Shanxi and the most powerful. It is said that it can be transferred.
The capital exceeds one million, and the principal is as much as three or four hundred thousand.
"Delong's banknotes outside are estimated to be at least 200,000." Shopkeeper Yuan calculated, "The maximum amount of money he has in hand is 100,000. If you try to squeeze him, he will definitely fall. After he falls, the market in the capital will only be 100,000."
I’m afraid it will be very ugly.”
"It's just a few more people jumping into the well and hanging themselves." Shopkeeper Shen dismissed it.
"But we ourselves have suffered a lot." Storekeeper Yuan said, "Now it is different from before. In the past, his family had less money and less contact with us. In recent years, the number of transactions has increased sharply. Which store in our hands does not have Delong's money?
If Delong falls, this note will become useless paper."
Shopkeeper Shen sneered and said: "Look, it's only a few thousand taels, so you're still hesitant. How can you care about this when doing big business? After driving away Delong, don't all his depositors belong to us?"
Shopkeeper Yuan sneered: "Shopkeeper Shen! The shop's financial resources are limited, and it's not as rich as your old Xia family's wealthy owner! A net loss of several thousand taels of silver, how could you just use the phrase 'make a big deal' when calculating the big account?"
?”
His words caused thousands of waves, because each family had a lot of Delong's notes, ranging from tens of thousands to thousands.
"It would be fine if Delong's notes can be redeemed in full before he goes bankrupt. If he can't, it's really hard to explain!"
"How can I think of a way to cash in the money and crush Delong at the same time?"
…
All the shopkeepers were whispering, except for shopkeeper Qin, who was not very enthusiastic about the run.
Shopkeeper Shen was very anxious, why did the trend suddenly change? Seeing the shopkeepers still pretending, he sneered: "You guys, stop pretending! Who doesn't know that after Leng Ningyun was kidnapped last month, you guys
Each family redeemed a lot of Delong's banknotes at a 20/30% discount and came back to prepare for the run. Now Delong is about to open, and everyone is shrinking in fear?"
"Shopkeeper Shen, don't be impatient." Shopkeeper Cao said to smooth things over, "Delong Bank, of course we can't tolerate it, but it's best for everyone to discuss how to do it."