Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 623 The situation is very promising.

On the first day, the paper wealth of four times the profit excited many forces that had intervened due to insider information.

However, those who are more clear-headed understand that such paper wealth is difficult to realize without a counterparty.

The exchange rate of fifteen strings of cash for one coin was not fair to society.

When they sell, if no one is willing to buy, the price of the paper money could easily plummet back to the level of 60 strings of cash for one coin, even with little trading activity.

After learning about the market price changes, Yun Buxian came to Pei Yuan to ask if they should take advantage of those Buddhist temples to buy another batch of banknotes at a low price.

Pei Yuan's own money shops still need to train staff, but the temples scattered throughout the capital have well-established lending channels.

Now that there are cheap banknotes available, why wait until it's five strings of cash per coin and then have to spend a fortune of silver to buy them?

Pei Yuan shook his head and said, "I'm not free. If you make all the money, who will come to play with you?"

"Now is the time to cultivate the market. Only when a large number of profit-taking orders emerge, allowing the banknotes to be traded at a high price, will others believe that the banknotes they bought at a high price can be sold at a high price."

"With such widespread acceptance, the paper money will then be able to form a new fair price."

"Now that the emperor is entering the market, he wants to ride the wave and make a fortune. Lu Yin and Zhang Rui's subordinates are not stupid either; they will also want to follow suit and make a fortune."

"With the Emperor's buying support in the early stages, the price should be able to hold. After all, if things really turn bad, Zhang Rui and the others involved can take advantage of the high price to transfer their precious banknotes to the Inner Treasury."

Upon hearing this, Yun Buxian drew inferences and said, "Isn't this somewhat similar to the funds we have?"

However, Pei Yuan cashed out at a high price to the monks in the early stages, which allowed Zhang Rui and others to use the emperor's silver to raise the price of the paper money, making it easier for them to sell their own paper money at a high price.

Pei Yuan offered no comment on Yun Buxian's understanding, but continued, "Besides, the behind-the-scenes forces that pushed the Siyue Treasury to submit its petition will certainly be happy to see the price of the banknotes rise. The higher the price, the more they can cash out the banknotes they prepared in advance at a higher price."

Yun Buxian roughly understood Pei Yuan's thinking, which can be summarized as "wait and see".

However, Pei Yuan also opened a door, "Once you've trained those sutra-copying monks at the money shop, you can try buying and selling a little. Don't expect any premium, just make the transactions more active, and let them get familiar with the whole process as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Yun Buxian had a general idea in mind and quickly went to get busy.

Another person closely monitoring market changes was undoubtedly the current emperor, Zhu Houzhao.

After making a purchase of banknotes at rock-bottom prices, Zhu Houzhao has been drawing close attention to market trends today.

After the court session ended, Zhu Houzhao went out of the palace in plain clothes to personally inquire about prices at various money shops.

That evening, Zhu Houzhao eagerly summoned his two most capable subordinates and inquired about buying at rock-bottom prices.

The result was naturally very positive. According to their reports, the price of the banknotes fluctuated after they took action today.

The portion of the banknotes bought at the lowest price has already yielded a fourfold return.

Zhu Houzhao was delighted upon hearing this and quickly said, "Is it already a fourfold return? Why don't we just sell it and make the profit first?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yin and Zhang Rui both said somewhat awkwardly, "Your Majesty, because the trading of paper money has been suspended for more than two years, the stock in various banks is not large, and the overall trading volume is relatively low."

"We only have a few hundred taels of Ming Dynasty banknotes in our hands, and the prices are a bit high. If we want to buy more banknotes, we can only wait a few days until the money shops have a full supply."

This doesn't mean that the two of them worked all day and only managed to make this little bit of money.

The main problem was that the cheaper paper money was secretly pocketed by themselves and their subordinates, while the slightly more expensive paper money was left for Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao thought about the time points that Yan Aiqing had told him, and he could understand them.

"I see. Then let's wait and see."

Lu Yin already possessed a huge amount of precious paper money, and Pei Yuan had even guaranteed its value at cost.

He was naturally unperturbed by this and had no need to worry at all.

After Zhang Rui returned, he held another secret meeting with Zhang Xiong.

The two brothers had already spent their eight hundred taels of silver on the first day on indulging in delicious food.

Zhang Rui said to Zhang Xiong, "Judging from His Majesty's words today, he seems to think that the current gains are already considerable. If a large amount of paper money enters the capital in the future, and His Majesty becomes uneasy, I'm afraid this price will not be able to remain stable."

Zhang Xiong also agreed with Zhang Rui's view, "Then brother, tomorrow we should set the price at 15 strings of cash to 1 coin. Once we've sold our own, we won't need to worry about the lives of others."

The next morning, the trading of paper money became noticeably more active.

Lu Yin and Zhang Rui both acquired a lot of banknotes, but when Zhang Xiong went to the money exchange, the money shops either refused to accept them or only offered a very low price.

Zhang Xiong simply sold the goods he had to the emperor.

Because not all the banknotes were bought at the lowest point, the two brothers made a total of more than 2,600 taels of silver.

The news that Zhang Xiong was unable to sell his goods through money shops also spread among the eunuchs of the Eastern Depot.

They took advantage of the continuous influx of silver from the inner treasury to drive up prices and sold off their precious paper money.

After receiving a report from their informant, Zhang Zhong and Yin Sheng quickly went to consult Lu Yin.

Should they hurry up and sell the banknotes in their hands?

Lu Yin was unsure of the emperor's intentions, but Pei Yuan had promised him a minimum exchange rate of "five strings of cash for one coin".

Given Pei Qianhu's habit of never suffering a loss, the final price of the precious paper money will likely be above the guaranteed price line.

Lu Yin then advised Zhang Zhong and Yin Sheng not to rush into making a profit, but to wait and see.

As for how much of what the two people will listen to, that's beyond his control.

The following evening, Zhu Houzhao summoned the two men for questioning as before.

Lu Yin and Zhang Rui hurriedly told Zhu Houzhao about their gains that day; they had secretly absorbed more than seven thousand taels of silver worth of precious paper money.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Houzhao demanded the accounts.

Seeing that most of today's transactions were priced at around "fifteen strings of cash for one coin", he couldn't help but frown.

Although this price matched the price he had been told to investigate, even if he bought some low-priced banknotes on the first day, the quantity was too small, and when compared with the large amount of "fifteen strings" banknotes today, it seemed that there was no cost advantage.

Zhu Houzhao asked Lu Yin, "What was the price of the paper money when it was discontinued in the fifth year of the Zhengde reign?"

Lu Yin had already done his homework when Pei Yuan proposed the idea, and upon hearing it, he said, "In the fifth year of Zhengde, the official price for tax deduction was two copper coins to one string of paper money."

Zhu Houzhao sighed softly upon hearing this.

In just two years, the price of these paper notes has plummeted to this level simply because customs stopped collecting them. Zhu Houzhao quickly composed himself and said, "So, if they were to reach the levels of two years ago, these paper notes could have appreciated thirtyfold?"

Lu Yin, fearing that Zhu Houzhao might not understand the situation, quickly said, "The price of paper money has been falling year after year. Even without the initial suspension of its collection, it has been constantly depreciating. Now that the court has not collected paper money for more than two years, its price will naturally fall."

"It will probably not be easy to bring the price of the paper money back to that of the fifth year of the Zhengde reign."

Zhu Houzhao was somewhat disappointed upon hearing this.

Fortunately, even if we missed yesterday's fourfold increase, there's still the thirtyfold increase to come. Well, if thirtyfold isn't possible, tenfold should be fine too.

Zhu Houzhao thought for a moment and said, "Yesterday you collected several hundred taels of silver in paper money, which quadrupled the price. Today you collected more than seven thousand taels of silver in paper money, but the price of paper money has remained at the flat rate of fifteen strings of cash."

"This shows that fifteen strings of cash is a very important threshold."

"You shall continue to acquire banknotes at the price of fifteen strings of cash. I will reassess the situation tomorrow."

Zhu Houzhao glanced at the accounts again and casually tossed them back to them.

On the third day, Lu Yin and Zhang Rui continued to acquire banknotes.

Because Zhang Rui had already secured the money, he was in a relaxed mood and acted more casually.

At noon, Zhu Houzhao went out incognito, found the two men, and inquired about the progress of the acquisition.

Perhaps because the paper money transferred from various places by the money shops had arrived one after another, Lu Yin and Zhang Rui received more than 10,000 taels of silver in paper money in just one morning.

Zhu Houzhao reviewed the two men's accounts for the day, and after confirming that the prices hadn't changed much, he thought for a moment and said, "Don't buy any more banknotes this afternoon."

Upon hearing this, the two had their own thoughts and quickly inquired about the reason.

Zhu Houzhao didn't say much, only saying, "Let me see what happens first."

Upon hearing this, the two eunuchs quickly relayed the message.

Unexpectedly, upon learning that the officials had suspended the purchase of paper money, the spies scattered like birds and beasts, disappearing to report the news.

Before long, the exchange rate of the banknotes listed in the money shop plummeted to "twenty strings of cash for one coin".

Then, the price fluctuations spread almost in a collapse-like manner.

As dusk approached, the exchange rate for the paper money plummeted to "fifty strings of cash for one coin".

Moreover, unlike the first day, where although there were prices, the trading volume was not large.

However, today the money shops everywhere have received a sufficient amount of paper money, which has kept the price firmly at "fifty strings of cash to one coin".

Upon seeing this, Lu Yin and Zhang Rui were both so shocked that they broke out in a cold sweat.

This outcome makes their actions over the past two days seem incredibly foolish.

Zhang Rui was not only surprised but also extremely relieved. That was eight hundred taels that he and his brother had scraped together. Luckily, they cashed it out in time yesterday, otherwise they would have lost everything by now.

As a result of their decisive actions, they not only did not lose money, but also made a considerable profit.

Zhang Rui was relieved, while Lu Yin was in a bit of a headache.

It was because of his persuasion that Zhang Zhong and Yin Sheng did not sell at the "fifteen strings" position. Now, Lu Yin always felt that there were two resentful eyes staring at him from behind.

Lu Yin had Pei Yuan to back him up, but Zhang Zhong and Yin Sheng didn't.

The total cost of the banknotes in their hands was around forty strings of cash. If they had shipped them yesterday and used the silver from the inner transport treasury as a safety net, they could have made more than double the profit.

Lu Yin and Zhang Rui, trembling with fear, hurriedly went to report to Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao was not surprised at all after hearing this. He thought for a moment and asked, "How much silver did the Imperial Treasury take out this time?"

Lu Yin quickly replied, "I have 100,000 taels of silver."

Like other treasuries of the time, the imperial treasury was filled with a variety of unofficial levies. Silver was only one part of them.

Moreover, Zhu Houzhao had a troublesome father who squandered money on various religious ceremonies.

Zhu Houzhao inherited a mess that was already not wealthy, and recently he had to spend money to reward the four outer armies, so the inner transport treasury was already overburdened.

Although Zhu Houzhao gritted his teeth and took out his entire fortune to gamble this time, he only had 100,000 taels of spare money at his disposal.

Unexpectedly, Lu Yin and Zhang Rui acted with incredible speed and efficiency, spending nearly 20,000 taels of silver to indulge in a large amount of food at the price of "15 strings of cash for 1 coin".

Unexpectedly, just as their shopping spree was halted by Zhu Houzhao, the price of the paper money plummeted to "fifty strings of cash for one paper money".

The silver that His Majesty squeezed out of the Imperial Treasury has already begun to shrink in value after only two days.

Zhang Rui was somewhat relieved, after all, he had successfully cashed out the money he earned. The emperor's loss was the emperor's business; he was just an ordinary intermediary.

At this moment, Zhu Houzhao instructed, "Before the money shops close at night, take out another 30,000 taels of silver to buy up paper money. Be quick. Report back to me every time the purchase price of paper money fluctuates by five strings of cash."

Upon hearing Zhu Houzhao's instructions, Lu Yin and Zhang Rui immediately dispatched their spies again to purchase banknotes.

As expected, the price of the paper money was disturbed after the officials began to buy it up, and it started to rise slowly.

It was almost closing time, and the two eunuchs dared not slack off, strictly urging their subordinates to buy as soon as possible.

Before it was even completely dark, all 30,000 taels of silver had been converted into paper money.

After all the factors were factored in, the paper money acquired with these 30,000 taels of silver was only worth about 45 strings of cash to one coin.

Compared to the precious notes they bought two days ago at a rate of "fifteen strings of cash for one coin", the cost difference was three times.

By the morning of the fourth day, after a whole night of preparation, many money shops learned that someone had launched a surprise attack on a large number of food vendors before closing time the previous night.

Therefore, when Lu Yin and Zhang Rui tried to buy the banknotes again with silver, the price of the banknotes was set at "25 strings of cash for one coin".

This price is slightly lower than the "15 strings of cash for 1 coin" on the first day, but it represents a huge increase compared to the "45 strings of cash for 1 coin" price before closing time yesterday.

This made Zhang Rui and Zhang Xiong deeply regretful.

They have already tasted success in the first wave of operations.

The thought that the price of the paper money had almost doubled in the short time it took to sleep made the two feel like they had missed out on millions of taels of silver.

Is this the joy of having funds backed by internal carriers and operating with insider information?

(End of this chapter)