The largest restaurant in Leshan is "Lechuntang". Most merchants and officials in Leshan like to go here whenever they have free time.
When Wang Hengyue and others came in, their clothes were not very conspicuous, and the rewards given to the turtle slave were not generous. The turtle slave took them to their seats and served them a pot of tea and a stack of melon seeds. No one came to greet them for a long time.
Fortunately, Wang Hengyue and the others didn't really come here to have fun, they just came to see what the largest restaurant in Leshan was like, which was also a broadening of their horizons.
Especially Wang Hengyue, this is his first time visiting such a place.
Looking at their clothes as they come and go, they are all either rich or noble. Naturally, the turtle slaves and madam sisters are very enthusiastic. Looking at Wang Hengyue's place, it is deserted.
Yu Lei couldn't stand it. He had brought his adults and brothers to this place, and it was really embarrassing to sit there now. He was about to call Gui Nu over, but Wang Hengyue waved his hand to him.
Li Yifeng, Xu Mu, and Deng Xia are all young people. They came to this place for the first time. Seeing women walking past like butterflies in flowers, with waves of fragrant wind constantly reaching their noses, they couldn't help but blush.
I wanted to close my eyes, but I really couldn't control my eyes.
Wang Hengyue looked amused, and occasionally glanced outside the door, only to see a middle-aged man in ordinary clothes walking in.
The middle-aged man stood there for a long time and no one greeted him. He found a seat and sat down. He sat there for a while and saw that no one came. He was a little impatient and finally called a turtle.
Mr. Turtle glanced at his simple clothes and impatiently said that his cousin had guests now.
I called the madam over again, but it turned out that the madam also made ordinary remarks, didn't even bother to talk to me, turned around and left.
The middle-aged man was about to get angry when an old woman who specialized in changing spittoons came over and replaced him with a new spittoon: "Sir, business here is busy today, please be patient and wait for a while."
Seeing that there was no tea in front of the middle-aged man, the old woman hesitated and said: "Sir, if you don't think I'm dirty, I'll pour you a bowl of tea."
"No, no," the middle-aged man said with a sneer.
The brothers around Wang Hengyue noticed that the adult was looking at the corner intently, and they were a little curious. Looking there, Yu Lei's expression suddenly changed greatly, and the muscles on his face beat rapidly, and then he said with a half-smile: "Is it him? Hehe, okay?
Watched the show."
Wang Hengyue and his brothers were surprised. Did Yu Lei recognize that middle-aged man?
Before he had time to ask questions, he saw the old woman bringing a bowl of tea and placing it respectfully in front of the middle-aged man: "Sir, I have washed my hands carefully several times, don't worry."
"The dignified Lechuntang, all of them are so contemptuous of others!" The middle-aged man suddenly slammed the table and said angrily.
He used so much force that the table shook several times and the tea was spilled. The old woman didn't know where she had offended the guest, and her face turned pale with fear.
The middle-aged man's voice was so loud that most of the guests in Le Chun Hall looked over. The middle-aged man sneered a few times, took out a small cloth bag from his arms and stuffed it into the old woman's hand: "You are the only one here to greet me.
, Very good, very good, I’ll give you this as a reward!”
The old woman didn't know what it was. When she opened the bag and took a look, her whole body froze. Several nosy guests also came forward to take a look, and everyone exclaimed.
In the cloth bag, there were actually six gold ingots!
It looks like there are one, two or two of these six gold coins. Such a generous deal for an old lady, I'm afraid no one in the house can match it!
The old woman was afraid that she had never seen such a huge amount of wealth in her life, and her hands were shaking: "First...Sir, you, you gave it to the wrong person..."
The middle-aged man laughed loudly: "It's not wrong, I, Zhou Baoliang, have nothing but money! Lechuntang looks down on others and doesn't even recognize me, Zhou Baoliang, haha, haha!"
He laughed a few times and walked away.
When everyone heard the three words "Zhou Baoliang", everyone was stunned. The madam was also stunned for a long time, and suddenly slapped Mr. Turtle next to him hard:
"You blind thing, you actually let Grandpa, the God of Wealth, run away!"
How could Wang Hengyue know who this Zhou Baoliang was? Li Yifeng whispered: "This Zhou Baoliang is not an ordinary person. He is the largest businessman in Leshan. He started his fortune as a waiter, and later he has been doing business in big places like Chengdu and Chongqing.
So in Leshan, everyone only knows his name, but few people have actually seen him. No wonder everyone doesn't recognize him. He has a good relationship with the former governor Xiliang, and even the Sichuan rupee was managed by him.
"
The so-called "Sichuan Rupee" refers to the fact that after the British invaded Tibet and the door to Tibet was opened, British and Indian merchants were free to conduct trade activities in Tibet. In the mutual trade between the two sides, the British, in order to maintain further economic penetration, transferred it to the East.
Rupee silver coins manufactured by Indian companies were continuously exported to Tibet from the Indo-Burmese region and almost became the currency in Tibet. The widespread circulation of Indian rupees in Tibet severely damaged the financial order of Tibet and caused some problems in the Qing government.
The concerns and uneasiness of the upper class.
On November 29, the 31st year of Guangxu's reign, Xiliang, the governor of Sichuan, reported this matter to the imperial court and proposed the idea of casting Chinese silver coins imitating the rupee to resist the Indian rupee and recharge the Tibetan government.
The Qing court attached great importance to its suggestions and issued an edict on December 24: "The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Household Affairs will discuss the memorial." Yi Li, the minister in charge of the Finance Department, and others complied with the decree and reviewed the memorial of Xiliang, and agreed to use Sichuan silver coins.
The bureau imitated the Indian rupee pattern to cast new silver coins. Subsequently, Zhao Erfeng, the Sichuan and Yunnan Border Minister, quickly started the work. Using new machines at the Chengdu Mint, he began to mint large quantities of silver coins imitating the Indian rupee pattern. The front of the Indian rupee was cast with
The British king's head is on the side and the king's name is in English. On the back, there is an English "one Indian rupee" and the year of casting.
The Sichuan imitation silver coins have the profile of Emperor Guangxu on the front, and the four characters "Made in Sichuan Province" on the back, surrounded by floral patterns. The face values are one dollar, half dollar and quarter dollar. This new style Silver coins are the earliest silver coins in my country with human figures, and the only silver coins with the heads of emperors.
People call this kind of counterfeit coins "Sichuan rupee", "Tibetan currency" and so on. Tibetan folk also call it "Zhao Erfeng money". After the silver coins were made, they were shipped and sold in large quantities to the west of Dajianlu and promoted to the Kangzang area as local owners.
The currency is in circulation. Because of its pure quality and exquisite craftsmanship, it is very popular among local businessmen. The local financial institutions have also taken corresponding measures. In taxation, only Sichuan rupees are collected, not Indian rupees.
Although its circulation area is not wide and it is only used in the Kangzang area, it did play a positive role in resisting and expelling foreign dollars from invading my country's commodity market in the late Qing Dynasty!