Chapter 589 Silver Wave
After several heavy snowfalls in winter, the city of Beijing is already covered in white.

The weather was cold and there were fewer people on the road than before.

In the streets of the two cities in the north and south, only wisps of smoke were rising, indicating that people were hiding in their homes, making fires to keep warm and avoid the cold.

In the capital, there is a circle surrounding the imperial city.

It has always been the residence of many high-ranking officials and nobles.

Among these wealthy families, many are from the south.

Being an official or a scholar in this northern land for many years, it is natural to feel homesick.

Therefore, it eventually triggered a trend of creating Jiangnan gardens in Beijing.

The Li Mansion, located in Dashiyongfang, occupies a small area, but since Li Chunfang became an official in Beijing and purchased this house, he has built it to the utmost.

The purpose is to have a taste of the Jiangnan hometown in Beijing.

It was freezing cold at this time, but there was no snow on the ground except on the roof of Li's mansion.

The hot water in the boiler flows out from the kitchen and flows everywhere through the underground channels arranged in the mansion. There is steam everywhere, and the smoke adds a bit of hazy elegance.

Several tall mountain pines that were transported from the south of the Yangtze River to Beijing via the canal stand on the green and tender mossy slopes.

The wintersweets in the corners bloom even more gorgeously, standing proudly on the branches, lending their fragrance in the cold winter.

It is originally an elegant, quiet and peaceful place.

however.

With a bang, that elegance disappeared in an instant.

In the study room.

Li Chunfang, who had just received the notice copied from the gold shop by his servant, was furious and his face was gloomy.

The staff member who delivered the copied notice lowered his head and hands, not daring to disturb the slightest.

Li Chunfang held the paper in his hands and clenched them tightly.

"Damn Shuzi!"

"Extremely abominable!"

"How dare you bully me because I am old and weak!"

After cursing for a while, Li Chunfang looked up at the master angrily: "How do you do things? How come you didn't know about these rules beforehand?"

There was a pop.

Ever since Li Chunfang came to Beijing to serve as an official, the legal advisor working in Li's mansion immediately knelt on the ground.

He was also full of resentment, bowed his head and said: "Prime Minister, please calm down. Your subordinates... Your subordinates did not expect..."

Li Chunfang waved his hand in anger and said, "What did you expect? It is clearly written on the notice that the money rate is to be corrected according to the money law. Haven't you read the money law?"

As the scolding continued, Li Chunfang became more and more furious.

He immediately roared, “Do you have to wait until Yan Shaoting takes away this old mansion before you can see it?”

Although the reduction was only ten copper coins, Li Chunfang could not take it lightly.

One tael of silver is reduced by ten wen, ten taels of silver is one hundred wen, and one hundred taels of silver can be lost as one tael!

And this time, in order to run the gold bank, how much money did the Qingliu Old Party invest and how much silver did they take out from the gold bank.

As for the specific numbers.

He didn't even dare to think about it.

If you take ten thousand taels, you will lose one hundred taels.

One million taels of silver will result in a loss of ten thousand taels of silver!

He really couldn't imagine how much silver the wealthy gentry in the southeast had.

The lawyer hurriedly took out a thick book from his sleeve.

But because of panic, his hands were unsteady and the book fell heavily to the ground.

The master trembled all over and fell to the ground, flipping through the book with trembling hands. After an unknown amount of time, the master was already sweating profusely, but he forced a smile on his face.

"Master Xiang..."

"Master Xiang!"

"found it!"

The master swallowed his saliva and explained hurriedly, "It's not that my subordinates are incompetent. It's all because the money law that Yan Shaoting personally made has too many details. In addition, all the people we planted in the gold shop were suddenly taken away by the Jinyiwei recently."

Li Chunfang's eyebrows kept twitching, and he looked down at the master lying on the ground... and the thick book of money law in front of him.

Looking at the thickness, Li Chunfang's mouth twitched involuntarily.

And when he heard that the Jinyiwei had taken action, a layer of gloom fell over his heart.

The lawyer raised his head, sweating profusely, and said, "Prime Minister, it's really that Yan Shaoting hid it too well. The engraving of the revised money rate rules used by the gold shop is smaller than elsewhere, and it is hidden in a more remote place."

Talking.

The lawyer raised the money in his hand and pointed a finger at a line of tiny words hidden in the lower middle part of two pages that were full of words and had no divisions.

Li Chunfang felt dizzy after just one glance. He didn't know if it was because he was angry or because the small characters made him dizzy.

Seeing that Li Chunfang's expression had calmed down a little.

The master hurriedly explained, "I hope you will calm down and not get hurt. In fact, when I and others saw the notice from the gold shop, we were also very shocked at first, but after thinking about it, we feel that now is the time for us."

This legal advisor who had worked hard for the Li family for many years had a flattering look on his face.

He knew very well what kind of people those ruthless guys in Jiangnan were.

If this much silver were really lost, even if it was only a few tens of thousands of taels, this day next year would be the anniversary of my death.

Li Chunfang immediately narrowed his eyes, looked at the master who had followed him for many years, sighed softly, and waved his hand: "You get up first."

After saying that, he sat down and drank the tea on the table.

The lawyer hurried forward and poured Li Chunfang a cup of tea.

Then the master explained: "Your Excellency knows that originally, the gold shops in various places only restricted the number of people who could withdraw cash every day, and there were no other restrictions."

Li Chunfang nodded.

The lawyer added, "It was not until today that the gold shop put up this notice. Not only was it unreasonably closing the gold shop early, and it will not reopen until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of next year, but it also used the money rate correction method."

As I calmed down, I listened to my master's explanation.

Li Chunfang narrowed his eyes and began to ponder.

Not long after.

Li Chunfang raised his eyes, looked at the master, and said in a long tone: "You mean... the gold shop has no silver in it?"

"Prime Minister is wise!"

The master flattered him immediately, and then echoed, "The gold shop has never done this before, and it is only today that they acted like this, which shows that they can't hold on any longer! Even if there is a lot of silver in the gold shop's warehouse, after so many days of withdrawals, it would have been empty."

have to say.

Li Chunfang and his staff's guesses were not wrong.

There is indeed very little silver left in the gold bank's warehouse now.

Li Chunfang, who had already made some calculations in his mind, finally relaxed his expression.

He hesitated and whispered, "If that's the case, it makes sense. Not to mention the gold shop, even the Ministry of Revenue can't have an endless supply of silver. So, the gold shop closed down this time and lowered the silver price, and it's already stretched to the limit."

The master secretly let out a long sigh, then nodded heavily and said firmly: "I am sure that the gold bank has no more money in it as the prime minister expected!"

Li Chunfang also breathed a sigh of relief.

He smiled and said, "If that's the case, even if we wait until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month after the New Year, if someone goes to withdraw cash, the gold shop will definitely not be able to give out silver."

The master nodded repeatedly, and was about to praise Li Chunfang to the sky.

The master said cautiously, "But if the gold shop is really like what the prime minister guessed, and there is not much silver left, then in order to prevent people from continuing to withdraw cash from the gold shop after the New Year, they will definitely continue to post notices to lower the price of silver."

"This is inevitable."

Li Chunfang waved his hand with a relaxed expression, no longer showing the previous anger, and said softly: "It's just tens of thousands of taels of silver, it won't hurt anything. The gold shop naturally knows this truth, and now posting this notice is just to spread the word in advance and test the outside world's attitude."

The master immediately stepped forward and said, "If that's the case, how do you plan to deal with it, Lord Prime Minister? However, the gold shop has no more money on hand. If the matter gets out of hand, I'm afraid the court will intervene eventually."

Li Chunfang immediately raised his eyebrows and said, "So what if the court intervenes? The Ming Dynasty is a place where the king's law is upheld! Can the court still stop the people from taking money from the gold bank? If so, it means that the court has lost its credibility with the world, and none of the dignitaries in the court can bear this responsibility!"

The master opened his mouth: "Then..."

Li Chunfang put his hands on the table and said, "Inform everyone in the capital, do not act rashly. The silver will be worthless. When the gold shop reveals its true value next year, the price of silver will not only go back up, but we may even have to pay a few cents in interest!"

This is a reasonable deduction.

As long as the gold shop is out of silver.

Since the silver was in their hands, they could naturally make a lot of money and force the imperial court to raise the price of silver from the bottom up.

This will actually benefit them.

Li Chunfang instructed again: "Write to Jiangnan again and tell them to do what they should do. The more they try to calm down the gold shops, the more panicked they will become. I believe that the gold shops will continue to lower the silver price as they wait and see what happens outside. Once the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is over, have Nanbian take all the commercial bills to the gold shops to get the silver."

The master finally felt at ease.

He was smiling at this moment.

"Your Excellency is wise, I will obey your orders."

……

"The notice to lower the price of silver was posted yesterday."

"Although there were some unusual movements in various parties in the capital, they have calmed down today."

"Those people in Beijing from the south are all watching and don't seem to be afraid or uneasy about this."

Yanfu Lane.

On a tall building in the Yan Mansion.

Jinyiwei commander Lu Yi, wearing Feiyu uniform, holding the Embroidered Spring Sword at his waist with one hand, stood in the building, looking at Yan Shaoting in the corridor outside the building, reporting the latest news in the capital in a low voice.

Yan Shaoting leaned on the railing and looked out, only to see that the entire Yan Mansion was covered in snow.

He never looked back, but just chuckled and said, "That's good, this is just the first round."

But he was thinking in his heart that it was time to ask Changping to make the honeycomb coal.

You also have to write to Qi Jiguang and Wang Chonggu, especially the latter.

The coal mines in Shanxi can now try large-scale mining.

Although the students at the academy have not yet figured out the answers to the five hypotheses they originally proposed, they have begun to invest more energy into them.

There is always progress.

As long as coal is used more, it will force people in the college to discover the power of steam.

Furthermore, it will put Ming Dynasty on the right track of industrial or technological development.

Boil water!
Even if there is no rubber now, even if we can make a weird steam engine, as long as we have a pot to boil water and let the steam drive the gears and transmission devices that the academy is constantly improving, we can always make a primitive steam equipment.

As long as there is a start, everything else will be easy to solve.

The emergence of new things, especially new things that can bring about change.

There is no need for him to secretly push things behind the scenes, as the people in the Central Plains can always spontaneously improve these things.

Lu Yi, who was standing inside the building, was a little hesitant.

"Brother-in-law, in two hours, the gold shop will continue to post today's notice according to your instructions."

Yan Shaoting nodded: "Tell them that I won't move unless the enemy does. Right now, everything should be done according to the established plan."

Lu Yi responded from behind.

At this time, Yan Shaoting turned around and looked at his brother-in-law with a smile.

Lu Yi shrank his head and became alert.

Yan Shaoting, however, still had a smile on his face: "I have another good news for you."

Lu Yi was stunned.

Yan Shaoting has already explained: "Your sister is pregnant again. Mr. Li checked her pulse and if everything is correct, it will definitely be a girl this time."

Lu Yi was stunned again, then his face lit up with joy, and then he shrank his head and said, "Then my dog..."

Upon hearing this, Yan Shaoting immediately widened his eyes and said, "Stop thinking about this!"

Lu Yi smiled awkwardly and rubbed his head.

He wanted to arrange a marriage between his own son and his sister's baby girl, so as to strengthen the relationship.

From ancient times to the present, it has been fashionable for cousins ​​to become closer.

But Yan Shaoting didn't dare.

What if decades later, my daughter gives me a grandson with dementia?

Although there is no constant for this probability, I still choose to believe in science.

Available outside.

As the gold shop's notice was posted, it attracted attention from all parties.

The twenty-first day of the twelfth lunar month in the first year of Longqing.

The Beijing Gold Shop posted a notice again and sent a message to gold shops in various places.

"According to the rules of the currency law, the gold bank has revised the currency law. From now on, one tael of silver can be exchanged for 980 copper coins, and one tael of gold can be exchanged for 10 taels and 2 coins of silver."

The twenty-second day of the twelfth lunar month.

Beijing Gold Shop posted the notice for the third time.

"According to the money law, the gold bank has revised the money law. From now on, one tael of silver can be exchanged for 970 copper coins, and one tael of gold can be exchanged for 10 taels and 3 coins of silver."

As three notices were posted.

The attention of everyone in Beijing was attracted by the series of operations by the gold bank.

As for the reactions of various parties, they are naturally different.

The court had not yet closed its office, so there was naturally some discussion. However, a group of people looked through the Money Law, which they had never read before, and found that there were indeed regulations in the Money Law that gave the gold banks the power to adjust the money rate in the short term, so they did not ask about it.

However, the Ministry of Revenue, while being busy sorting out the country's financial and grain accounts for the entire year, still sent someone to inquire about it.

However, after confirming the fact that there was more silver in the Central Plains, the matter was dropped.

As for those old party members and people from Jiangnan who were in Beijing, although they were a little worried because of the reminder from Lord Li, they were relatively obedient and did not say anything.

In such a strange situation that is both lively and peaceful.

The gold industry maintained the rhythm of lowering the price of copper coins and silver by ten cents a day, like a wave, and it lasted until the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, when it finally stopped temporarily.

And at this time.

In accordance with the latest announcement regulations of the gold bank.

One tael of silver could only be exchanged for nine hundred copper coins.

One tael of gold can be exchanged for eleven taels and one qian of silver.

…………

Monthly PassMonthly Pass
(End of this chapter)