Chapter 587 Bait
Standing at the door of the Imperial Household Department.

As the number one person in the inner court and known as the internal minister, Lu Fang stood on the steps for a long time.

Even though Yan Shaoting's figure had long disappeared, he remained motionless.

"Ancestor?"

The young eunuch guarding behind the door stretched his head and watched for a long time. Worried that the old ancestor's legs would be sore from standing for so long, he called out tentatively.

"Who taught you the rules?"

Just as the young eunuch was waiting for the old ancestor's reply, Lu Fang turned around and glanced at them coldly, shocking several young eunuchs hiding behind the door and making them tremble all over.

Lu Fang narrowed his eyes and looked at these people: "There is only one ancestor in this palace. It's not me, nor you. It's His Majesty! It's the current emperor!"

Although Lu Fang's voice was not loud.

But several young eunuchs were so frightened that they immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed continuously.

"I know I was wrong!"

"Old...Eunuch Lu, please forgive me."

Lu Fang looked at them coldly, snorted, and waved his hand.

A group of people immediately rushed out from the Imperial Household Department. When they saw the situation at the door, without Lu Fang saying anything, they gagged the kneeling eunuchs and dragged them into the office.

Not long after.

Then a muffled sound was heard.

Lu Fang was still standing at the door, frowning slightly, looking southeast at the Xuanwu Gate Tower on the north side of the Forbidden City.

The old eunuch who was in charge of the Imperial Household Department was wearing a red robe and had an extremely solemn expression on his face.

Flashes of past scenes flashed through Lu Fang's mind.

When did the Ming Dynasty begin to change?
Lu Fang silently looked up at the sky filled with white clouds.

This old man in the inner court, who had experienced countless court turmoil during the Jiajing period, felt a little melancholy.

Perhaps I should really find an opportunity to resign and go to Changping to guard the imperial tomb for the late emperor.

But before that.

This changed Ming Dynasty should also have a voice that belongs to it!

In the blink of an eye.

The old man's face no longer had the solemnity and melancholy it had shown before, instead it became serious, with his eyes sparkling brightly.

"Someone is coming."

A call.

Behind Lu Fang, a eunuch from the Imperial Household Department appeared quietly.

"Lu Dayong."

Lu Fang glanced at the person who came, hummed, and then whispered, "Go to the gold bank and inform them to take out 100,000 taels and hand it over to Changping Academy to help thousands of students all over the world."

"My slave takes orders."

Lu Fang hummed softly and then said, "Tell them that in a few months it will be the second year of Longqing. Now that the sea route is open, they need to raise gold and silver so that they can trade with European countries and purchase products from them after the new year."

"This..." The eunuch from the Imperial Household Department looked hesitant.

But after hesitating, he hurriedly whispered, "Lü Dayong, not long ago, Shaobao Yan led the Northern Expedition Army back to the court, and His Majesty decided with the cabinet to quickly deal with the new borders of Hetao and Yinshan. Not long ago, the Ministry of Revenue transferred a million yuan worth of money and grain to the border areas through the gold shop. Now if we need to raise more gold, silver and banknotes, it is the end of the year, I am afraid..."

God knows what happened to the ancestor today.

Just now, he executed those young eunuchs because of a disagreement.

Now he didn't dare to offend his ancestor.

But Lu Fang exclaimed: "How come we remember that Xinbian spent more money and grain than this?"

The eunuch was stunned for a moment, then looked up at the old ancestor, a smile instantly appeared on his face: "Yes, yes, old... the eldest eunuch is right, I remembered it wrong."

Lu Fang snorted, "Don't forget to spread the word outside that those who originally borrowed money from the gold bank must return the principal and interest in full to the gold bank before the summer grain harvest next year."

Just for a moment.

The eunuch thought of many possibilities.

But in the end, it all comes down to one word: “Yes.”

Seeing his men leaving the palace to go to the gold shop to explain things, Lu Fang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked back to the north, towards the invisible imperial tomb.

"Master..."

"Once I have finished this matter, I will come to serve you..."

……

And on the other end.

After leaving the palace, Yan Shaoting went directly to the Ministry of Revenue.

After sneaking into the official residence of the Minister of Revenue.

The officials from the Ministry of Revenue outside didn't know what was going on inside, but they knew what Yan Shaoting, who was already the Minister of Rites, was talking about with his own Minister.

But from the noise coming from the government office, it was quite loud.

Faintly, one could still seem to hear Minister Gao angrily scolding Minister Yan in the government office.

Some even said things like "shameless" and "I have never seen anyone as shameless as you".

But the strange thing is.

Minister Yan, who had clearly been scolded, showed no shame or anger when he came out of Minister Gao's office and looked at the group of people outside. Instead, he looked happy and energetic.

And when Minister Yan left the Ministry of Revenue.

The officials of the Ministry of Revenue only then saw that Shangshu Gao, who had clearly scolded Shangshu Yan, actually walked out of the government office with a gloomy face.

"What are you looking at!"

"Have you finished the work at hand?"

"The Emperor and the Cabinet have already ordered the transfer of fields to the southern Zhili and Zhejiang regions. Do you want me to send you all to the southeast?"

"roll!"

When Shangshu Gao heard the last word "get out" he roared it out with great anger.

For a moment, all the officials in the Ministry of Revenue fled like birds and beasts.

But the officials in the Ministry of Revenue were completely confused.

It was Minister Yan who was clearly being scolded, but he was in high spirits when he left.

However, Gao Shangshu, who clearly had the upper hand in the government office and was cursing loudly, had a gloomy face as if the roof of his house had been blown off.

Could it be that Minister Gao has become senile and confused due to his age?

The fire of gossip burned fiercely in the Ministry of Revenue.

And outside the Ministry of Revenue.

Yan Shaoting felt completely relaxed.

He even went to the Ministry of Rites as usual to give instructions, and then went to the restaurant in the east of the city that had a close relationship with Gao Gong and was hidden in an alley. He ordered a table and left after eating and drinking to his heart's content, shaking his head.

When Yan Shaoting returned to the Yan Mansion in the city, he closed the door and drank tea and read.

Rumors have begun to spread in Beijing.

Because of the existence of the lottery factory set up by the imperial court near Chongwenmenwai Street, many restaurants gradually emerged here for merchants to rest and stay overnight.

It is located at the entrance of Maweimao Hutong, opposite the Chuofan Factory in the south.

In a store with a sign saying Su Family Restaurant.

At this moment, a group of businessmen who were not from the capital gathered here.

As the New Year is coming, the daily expenses in Beijing are increasing, and merchants from the south are transporting more goods to the capital by land and water. At this moment, countless horse-drawn carriages loaded with goods are flowing on the streets of the Chufen Factory every day.

The merchants in the building were dealing in silk and satin.

Although the imperial court has always had bans, in the final analysis, the government will not investigate unless the people report it. The country has been in power for nearly two hundred years, and the customs are no longer the same as they were at the beginning of the country.

When these merchants dressed in gold and silver get together, they naturally talk about business matters.

"Have you heard? The Ministry of Revenue seems to have had a conflict with the Ministry of War recently?"

"Why?"

When someone brings up the topic, someone else will naturally take it up and ask the reason. The person who brought up the topic raised his eyebrows and said, "What else could it be? The people in Beijing are living a better life now. As the New Year is coming, every family is preparing for the New Year and buying more firecrackers than in any other year. The Ministry of War thinks this is too dangerous. If a bad guy takes advantage of it, maybe a hole can be blown in the wall of the Forbidden City."

This can be considered a fusion of topics from the business and official circles.

It immediately attracted the attention of everyone present.

"So... the reason why the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War are in conflict is because the Ministry of War feels unsafe, while the Ministry of Revenue wants to tax firecrackers?"

"That's exactly the point."

The cause of the matter was explained clearly, and everyone understood.

Things like this happen every day.

At this time, someone else sighed and said, "It's getting harder and harder to do business now. After the opening of the sea, although most of the things we sell are from the Ming Dynasty, there are also many things bought back from outside. However, our profits are getting lower and lower every year. Even if we make some money, it's all hard-earned money."

Can't make money.

It seems to be something that happens in the mouths of these businessmen every year.

But it is also the easiest thing to get everyone's approval.

Someone immediately put down his wine glass and slapped his hand on the table: "After this year's business is done, I will return to Suzhou and find a Nanjing gold shop to borrow some money to go to Longjiang Shipyard or Qingjiangpu Shipyard to order a ship, and I will also take people to sea to do business!"

Although gold shops have not yet spread all over the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, branches have been set up in the cities where the provincial governments are located.

Among them, the largest gold shops are in Beijing and Nanjing.

Borrowing money from gold shops to develop business has become the first choice for many businessmen.

Although the gold shop had strict requirements for lending, ordinary goods could not be used as collateral, and houses or land had to be used as collateral, the interest rate of the gold shop was the lowest in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Buying a ship and going out to sea to do business has become the first choice for more and more Ming Dynasty merchants.

As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately attracted the agreement of many people present.

After all, even if they had never seen the silver earned by the merchants going out to sea under the name of the various customs offices in the south, they had heard about it so much that their ears were already callused.

Among those rumors that were becoming more and more exaggerated, going out to sea for business was almost described as being able to bring back a shipload of silver as long as one took a shipload of Ming Dynasty goods out.

damned!
All the money was earned by those people who went out to sea!
Everyone started discussing the profits and possibilities of going overseas.

At this moment.

Someone rushed up from downstairs.

Everyone turned around and saw that it was someone they were traveling with. Seeing that the other person had an anxious look on his face, they hurriedly made way for him.

"Brother Wu, what happened? Why are you so flustered? Did you lose your cargo? Or did your boat capsize in the canal?"

There have always been cases of boats capsizing in the canal.

For businessmen like them, this has long been a common occurrence.

But the businessman surnamed Wu just shook his head repeatedly, and drank up the teacup without caring whose it was on the table.

Drink a cup of tea.

The man surnamed Wu then touched his mouth and said, "Something happened! Something serious happened!"

Everyone looked stunned.

The man surnamed Wu stretched his head to take a look outside and said in a low voice, "Did you hear anything? Something happened at the gold shop!"

"What could possibly happen to the gold shop? Could it be that they want to raise the interest?"

When someone surnamed Wu mentioned the gold shop, they immediately looked doubtful.

The man surnamed Wu glared at the other man and said, "The gold and silver in the gold shop's warehouse have been emptied! You all have money deposited in the gold shop, so you have to be careful. If you are slow, we may not be able to take out the little money we have saved with great difficulty!"

As soon as these words came out.

The gold bank was emptied.

In an instant, the whole place was filled with surprise and silence.

soon.

Someone slammed the table.

"fart!"

"Whenever those guys from the gold shop lent us money, they first checked the house and the land and lowered the price by 30% before giving us the money."

"How could the gold bank be emptied?"

"Yes, yes! I've heard that the gold shop is managed by the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance... the former Ministry of Treasures and Banknotes. There are also people from the Censorate and the palace in charge. How is it possible that there is no silver?"

After all, it is a new thing.

The gold bank was only established about a year ago.

Now if you say that the gold industry is going to be ruined, most people won’t believe it.

But the man surnamed Wu was so anxious that his face turned pale. "I just got news from my relatives in the inner weaving and dyeing bureau that someone in the palace has set their sights on the silver in the gold shop's treasury. This time, under the pretext of Yan Shaobao's recovery of Hetao, the emperor and the court wanted to stabilize the new borders of Hetao and Yinshan, so they secretly operated and took away cartloads of silver!"

At this moment, everyone's expression finally changed in shock.

They were all business people, so they naturally knew that this Wu did have a relative who worked as a eunuch in charge of the Inner Weaving and Dyeing Bureau.

The Wu family's weaving and dyeing business was thriving thanks to their eunuch relative who was in charge of the internal weaving and dyeing bureau.

Seeing that the other party spoke so sincerely, it was difficult for everyone to keep a straight face.

"really?"

"Is something really going to happen to Jin Xing?"

"Did the Ministry of Revenue and the imperial court not find out?"

Wu's face became more and more anxious. He looked outside and shook his head repeatedly: "You all forgot, when will the officials in the court ever be able to defeat the eunuchs in the palace? After so many years of peace and stability, I'm afraid that the Eight Tigers will come again!"

Mention the disaster of the Eight Tigers.

The people present finally couldn't sit still anymore.

Ding Deng Deng.

Someone had already reacted and rushed downstairs.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you going to do?"

"What's going on here?"

Those who haven't reacted yet have blank looks on their faces.

But the man surnamed Wu stamped his feet and said, "Hurry up and take out the money before the news gets out. If it's too late, no one will be able to get the money back!"

As he was speaking, the man surnamed Wu rushed out.

Everyone in the room was left with dazed eyes.

"This is……"

"what happened?"

"Can anyone tell me what's going on?"

Some people still didn't react, but more and more people rushed out from upstairs and rushed behind Chongwenmen.

Beijing Gold Bank is located in the north of the city, not in the south.

Seeing that some people still hadn't reacted, and were still staying upstairs and hadn't deposited their silver in the gold shop to exchange for commercial bills, so as to facilitate the business between the north and the south, he said calmly: "Everyone, no matter what it is, since you are all going, you should go quickly."

"Take out the silver. Even if it's a little troublesome to do business recently, it's better to carry it with you than not being able to get the silver when the time comes."

"..."

Wait until it gets late.

On the tall building in the back house of Yan's mansion.

Yan Shaoting stood alone in the shadow under the eaves, looking at the lights in the direction of Beijing Gold Shop.

Even though I can't see it with my own eyes.

But what he saw was a huge crowd of people.

Moved.

As long as people get moving.

Everything will become unstoppable.

And your bait has been fed into the fish's mouth.

…………

Monthly PassMonthly Pass
(End of this chapter)