Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 270 One Fish, Multiple Ways to Eat It

Although the Tang Dynasty had a vast territory, the development and prosperity of different regions varied greatly.

The Guanzhong Plain and the Heluo Basin, where the two capitals are located, are naturally the best regions for development, with agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce flourishing.

Secondly, there are the areas of Hedong, Hebei, and Henan, while the Jianghuai and Shuzhong regions are also developing well, and even showing signs of catching up.

As an important node on the Grand Canal, Bianzhou was a hub for goods from Henan, Shandong, Huainan, Jiangnan and other places. Located in the vast and open Central Plains, it had extremely superior natural and cultural endowments. As a result, during the late Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty, it gradually replaced the original two capitals of the Tang Dynasty and became the center of the country!

Even though this place is still far from its most prosperous period in history, it has already shown considerable regional potential.

To be honest, if it weren't for the previous inspection tour by Zhi Dun's entourage, coupled with the successive natural and man-made disasters, Yuan Fu and the officials of Bianzhou Prefecture alone would not have been able to devastate this place so much.

Now, with Pei Zhouxian entering the prefecture to rigorously investigate the officialdom of Bianzhou and directly halting the previous chaotic policies of extortion and levies, Bianzhou's vitality is rapidly recovering. Passes and ferries are bustling with people and goods, and the markets are once again teeming with activity.

Zhang Dai also took this opportunity to rebuild the Bianzhou weaving workshop that had been forced to disband.

Bianzhou already had a very strong commercial and industrial atmosphere, and women would reel silk and hemp and weave cloth to sell in the market during the off-season. However, the previous order of farming and weaving and the market environment have been severely damaged, causing many people to fall into abject poverty, making it difficult to resume production now.

This time, without the constraints of the state government, Zhang Dai directly recruited weavers from the towns and cities along the passes. Combined with the personnel base accumulated from the operation of the original weaving workshops, he quickly recruited several thousand weavers who could start working immediately.

With the arrival of so many weavers, the original weaving workshops quickly became overcrowded, urgently requiring expansion. Moreover, judging from the rate of increase in personnel, the land area needed in the future will be quite substantial.

Considering long-term operation, Zhang Dai naturally preferred to locate the new weaving workshop near the Bian Canal, just like the granary in Weizhou.

His vision is to develop these places into integrated communities that combine production, living, warehousing, and transshipment, in addition to developing handicrafts and trade, and also to provide accommodation for boatmen and their families.

However, the prefectural government currently lacks even a proper person in charge, which obviously cannot meet Zhang Dai's demand for acquiring large tracts of land along the Bian Canal.

Pei Zhouxian's investigation was nearing its end, and he needed to deal with some of the stolen property to facilitate the investigation and reporting back to the court. This included a large amount of residential land and farmland inside and outside Bianzhou City, which was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to acquire it.

Normally, the properties in these scarce locations would be concentrated in the hands of local powerful families and officials, and would never be traded in the market.

Zhang Dai had only traveled around Henan and Hebei, and the 100,000 strings of cash and goods he had brought with him from the capital had already been mostly distributed. The few thousand strings he had left were used to purchase goods and for Pei Zhou's incognito visit, but he generously gave them to the disaster victims in Bianzhou along the way.

At this moment, he really didn't have much money to spare, and even the IOU that Yuan Fu had written was still in the case file and hadn't been returned yet.

Although Zhang Dai didn't have money, he had connections who did. And what true entrepreneur would use their own money to start a business? If you're afraid to make grand promises to investors, how can you convince them of your potential success? If you can't even convince investors, how can you lead your partners to achieve your dreams?
So next, Zhang Dai invited the wealthy families of Bianzhou City to Wang Yuanbao's garden outside the city.

This time, when everyone returned, their attitude towards Zhang Dai was noticeably more enthusiastic than before: "In the past, the situation in the prefecture was dire, all industries were in ruins, and the people were all suffering greatly, not knowing when things would improve. Fortunately, Young Master Zhang came to the prefecture to personally investigate the plight of the common people and dared to speak to the court, thus clearing away the clouds and revealing the blue sky again!"

The last time Zhang Dai passed through, he was just a well-connected young nobleman from Luoyang. Although many were encouraged by Wang Yuanbao to participate in the flying money business, there were also many who remained indifferent observers.

However, this time they witnessed Zhang Dai's power firsthand. It was because Zhang Dai reported the situation in the prefecture to the imperial court that the court dispatched ministers to the prefecture to thoroughly investigate the matter, which caused a major upheaval in the officialdom of Bianzhou.

From the governor to his subordinates, including the military advisors, county magistrates, and even veteran officials who had served in the state for many years, none of them escaped this time. Nearly half of the officials in the region were thoroughly investigated and punished.

Although these wealthy individuals each possessed considerable assets, this level of competition was completely beyond their comprehension.

In their minds, Zhang Dai had become a powerful figure who could turn the world upside down with a flick of his wrist, so when they came to the gathering again, they were filled with a sense of worship for power.

Hearing the praise from the people of the prefecture, Zhang Dai also said with a smile: "The reason why we were able to restore order this time is because the emperor is kind and compassionate towards the people, the officials in the court appointed people appropriately, the Prefect Pei who came to court was fair and wise in his handling of affairs, and the local gentry were brave enough to testify. As a result, the wise and foolish in the prefecture were exposed, and the distinction between good and evil was clear!"

"Young Master Zhang is too modest. If it weren't for you reporting the situation of this region to the Emperor, how long would it have been before the people's suffering reached His ears..."

Someone nearby hurriedly and respectfully said, while Wang Yuanbao added with a smile, "If you were familiar with Young Master Zhang's deeds, you would know that he is indeed a righteous and courageous young man who is eager to help others and is not afraid of authority! In the past, there were many evil deeds in Henan Prefecture that preyed on the people and deceived the emperor. These were also exposed by Young Master Zhang, which shocked the officials of Henan Prefecture. From the magistrate down, all those who had failed in their duties were dismissed!"

Upon hearing this, everyone realized that this wasn't the first time such a thing had happened in Bianzhou. Officials in Henan Prefecture had already fallen victim to this, which explained why this time the matter was handled so smoothly! Zhang Dai, hearing Wang Yuanbao's flattery, was momentarily speechless. While the facts were as they were, it sounded as if wherever he went, officials would suffer hordes of misfortune.

This isn't exactly a good reputation, especially since he'll be working in the officialdom eventually. He hasn't even officially taken office yet, and he's already dealing with officials in every prefecture and county. If he actually becomes an official next year, won't he be dealing with officials throughout the entire country?
Therefore, he repeatedly stated that it was all just a coincidence, and that his journey eastward was for the purpose of accumulating good deeds, not to punish the officials of Bianzhou. He had a pleasant time passing through other prefectures and counties, but who told Bianzhou to offend him!
Saying it like that makes me sound more like a vengeful bully.

Putting aside these trivial matters, Zhang Dai then brought up the real purpose of gathering these people today: "Wang Er recently conveyed your wishes to you all. I heard that you are all willing to contribute to the commerce in the prefecture and would like to participate in the matter of flying money to facilitate the transfer of money and silk among passing merchants?"

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement, their eyes shining brightly, looking every bit like money-grubbing individuals.

"The business of 'flying money' sounds convenient, with a single paper voucher representing a huge sum of money. However, it involves a great deal of complexities. How long would it take for a weaver to finish a bolt of silk? How much labor and firewood would be needed to produce a pound of copper and tin? The livelihoods of millions depend on this single voucher. Who can control it with ease?"

As he spoke, he took out a two-capital flying coin voucher and showed it to everyone, saying in a solemn tone, "A hundred weavers, working diligently throughout the four seasons, might not be able to earn as much as this one voucher. Merchants can easily amass wealth by stockpiling and dumping goods. Some might say that things cannot be judged in this way, that merchants also face many hardships on their journeys, but farmers store grain, weavers make clothes, while merchants only focus on accumulating wealth, how much do they actually create?"

Although he himself felt that commercial activities were not entirely without merit, and could even greatly promote exchanges between regions and the flow of social resources, he naturally had to belittle these people in order to suppress them at present.

The crowd was initially overjoyed, but their mood quickly cooled after hearing Zhang Dai's assessment of the merchants.

"The business of money lending is indeed beneficial to the circulation of money and the balance of goods, but merchants are greedy and disregard righteousness, and are not trustworthy. Who would dare to easily entrust them with millions of dollars? Even if I were to invite you all to participate, I fear that the officials in the court would not be willing to relax their control!"

Merchants have a low social status and little professional ethics; their business is buying low and selling high, hence the saying "no merchant is honest."

They know best what kind of people they are, so even though there is such a strong demand within the group, no related industry has emerged because the cost of trust is too high.

Hearing Zhang Dai's words, the merchants couldn't help but feel disheartened, and at the same time, they glared at Wang Yuanbao with resentment. They hadn't originally hoped to get involved, but Wang Yuanbao had stirred things up, and in the end, they couldn't help but be disappointed.

"While things are as they are, there is a way to work around them. I dare not easily recruit you to run the Flying Money business, lest I attract criticism. But what you all want is nothing more than to make money and then profit. I have a compromise idea that I would like to share with you. Whether you agree or not is entirely up to you. If you do not agree, then this is just idle talk."

Zhang Dai gauged their emotions between anticipation and disappointment before revealing his true plan: "The prefecture is about to sell off the ill-gotten gains of convicted officials. You are all officials in the prefecture, and you should know that these ill-gotten gains are rare and valuable assets. If you can buy them, it will be enough to support your families and pass them down to future generations."

"And I also wish to buy and operate some of these assets, but I do not wish to forcibly take away opportunities from the people of the state. You can now invest your money to buy them, and then rent them back to me as capital for future profits, which will then accrue interest. Although you will not be involved in these businesses, you can still enjoy their benefits. What do you think?"

"Young Master, are you serious about what you say?"

The crowd, who were already feeling quite disappointed, widened their eyes in surprise upon hearing Zhang Dai's words and couldn't help but ask urgently, "These properties, after we buy them, will still belong to their respective owners, but as long as we rent them to you, young master, we can earn a living off the profits?"

"That's right, that's exactly what I meant."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai laughed and said that he didn't need to spend a lot of money to buy all these properties; he only needed the right to use them.

As long as he can control the operation of the Bianzhou flying money, he can use these manors along the Bian Canal at will. Moreover, if anyone is not cooperative enough, he can abandon them at any time and bring others on board.

Such a partnership offers greater autonomy than a typical lease. Furthermore, integrated industrial operations are undoubtedly more complementary and generate more substantial profits.

Once the cooperation is finalized, he can package these leases into financial products and resell them to these wealthy households, paying them interest as well. In this way, the bridging funds required for the court's verification of capital will also be available.

Once the flying money business is up and running, it generates a steady stream of interest to cover costs, while Zhang Dai pockets the profits generated from these businesses, making a double or even triple profit.

Although the combined interest from several investments may not be as high as the profit from direct equity participation, the emotional value is undoubtedly substantial, and the operational rights themselves are the most important factor.

In this way, Zhang Dai only needs to maintain good personnel relations in the court and ensure that the management rights of the flying money in Bianzhou are not transferred, and then he can use the relevant resources in Bianzhou at will.

Even if a new local official with differing political views is appointed in the future, unless he makes a complete mess of things like Yuan Fu did, it will be difficult to eliminate the influence exerted by Zhang Dai.

(End of this chapter)