Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 402 Zhang Lang does good deeds, and the Wei family pays the bill.

In the afternoon, a family member came to report that a guest had arrived; it was Wang Yuanbao.

"Several years have passed since I last saw you. Wang Er has wandered the world, witnessing only the filth of humanity. But today, seeing you again, young master, your demeanor remains as radiant as ever. It is as if a refreshing breeze has cleansed my eyes, sweeping away all the impurities!"

After entering the gate, Wang Yuanbao strode towards Zhang Dai. Upon entering the hall, he bowed and said, "I heard that you are building a villa in the capital and need glass decorations. I have sent some over for you to see if it suits your taste."

"It's a trivial matter; a servant can simply deliver it. There's no need for you, Wang Er, to go in person. The affairs of the capital are numerous and complex. While it's fine to travel to a distant place, one should still be cautious when going out."

Zhang Dai was quite surprised to see Wang Yuanbao return to the capital.

Wang Yuanbao betrayed Wang Maozhong and joined Zhang Dai's forces. Most of the assets he left in the capital were seized by Wang Maozhong. At present, Wang Maozhong still holds great power. If he knew that Wang Yuanbao had come to the capital, he would probably still not let him go.

Although Zhang Dai has already achieved considerable success in Guandong, he still lacks the strength to protect Wang Yuanbao in Guanzhong, especially in Chang'an, despite the pressure from Wang Maozhong.

"Having been away from home for several years, I miss it dearly. I took this opportunity to deliver gifts to the young master and quickly return to see the sights and scenery of my hometown. Although Lord Huo is powerful, he is not someone who has eyes and ears all over the city. I will be careful when I go out and will be leaving soon. I will not cause any trouble for the young master."

Upon hearing this, Wang Yuanbao quickly added that although he had paid a heavy price to get rid of Wang Maozhong, he had also gained greater opportunities for development, so he had little regret.

Although Zhang Dai's power is currently far less than Wang Maozhong's, the personnel framework he has drawn up is quite grand, and Wang Yuanbao is well aware of it and has full confidence in Zhang Dai.

"The glazed tiles and ceramic wares have already been transported to Ba Shang. You are welcome to go and select them at any time. They are all exquisite pieces newly made in Zizhou in recent years and have not yet been sold in the Xijing market. Once your residence is completed, it will surely be the most dazzling in the capital!"

Wang Yuanbao then quickly said to Zhang Dai that he had almost monopolized the export of glassware in Zizhou, so he naturally had the confidence to say such things.

Speaking of this, Zhang Dai sighed inwardly and then said, "There have been some twists and turns in personnel matters here, and the construction of the house has been suspended. We don't need those glasswares right now."

"Could it be that the craftsmen's skills are too crude and do not meet your expectations, young master? I do know some heads of the rammed earth construction trade in the West Market. I can introduce you to a few of them."

Although Wang Yuanbao had not returned to the capital for several years, he still maintained some connections. As a distributor of glazed tiles, he naturally had dealings with the construction industry and was very familiar with some of the skilled craftsmen and guilds in the capital.

"It's not because of that; there's another reason."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai shook his head. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind, and he looked at Wang Yuanbao with anticipation, saying, "Wang Er, you have been involved in the business world in the capital for a long time. Do you know anything about the money-collecting officials and clerks in the capital who manage public funds? Are there any illegal activities you can cite?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Yuanbao was taken aback. After a moment's thought, he replied, "The government office's capital has been abolished for many years. You ask about this now, young master... In my younger days, I served as a money collector in both the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Court of Imperial Treasury. I was exploited for collecting money and rebating it. Later, I joined Lord Huo's entourage and was spared from this. If you're talking about illegal activities, there are far too many!"

The capital of the government offices was state-run usury, which essentially shifted part of the office and personnel costs to merchants and wealthy households. They lent money to them and then charged high interest rates. It could also be considered a kind of levied miscellaneous silk.

These merchants or wealthy households who served as money collectors could obtain official positions and titles after operating public offices for a certain number of years. Although these positions were mostly cumbersome and lowly, they were still able to transform themselves into officials. Therefore, for some people who wanted to improve their social status, this was not a bad way.

As a wealthy merchant in Chang'an, Wang Yuanbao was naturally very clear about the ins and outs of this business. He was already financially strong and had no need to borrow money from the government at high interest rates, but he couldn't do without the principal and had to pay the interest in full every year.

The wealthier the merchant and the less influential they were, the more likely they were to be forced to contribute capital to the government, regardless of their actual need for funds. In Chang'an, there were over seventy government offices, each with its own capital and requiring officials to collect funds. At its peak, the number of officials collecting funds in the capital alone reached over a thousand.

Such a highly profitable industry naturally breeds various problems. First, the government would arbitrarily allocate capital, and the capital issued to these money-collecting officials would often far exceed the amount stipulated by the imperial court, thus allowing them to recover more interest.

Secondly, these corrupt officials who collect money will not obediently accept exploitation. Although they often come from merchant backgrounds and have low social status, they are rich! As long as a person has money, they will have friends, connections, and a great deal of room for underhanded operations.

Therefore, these officials would often reissue these official loans to those who genuinely needed funds, charging the same interest rates as the official loans. Furthermore, they would also use their own private funds as collateral for these official loans, profiting from the interest rates charged on those loans as well.

According to the law, a money-collecting clerk may only have an official capital of fifty strings of cash, but he often handles loans of several hundred strings of cash, which is several times or even ten times the initial capital. The interest collected will also be several times or even ten times the initial capital!
Therefore, although the imperial court was using government loans to exploit the wealthy, in practice, this heavy burden ultimately fell on the poor and lower-middle-class people. It should be noted that these people living in Chang'an were not like the self-sufficient farmers scattered in the countryside; they could not be self-sufficient and had to obtain resources for survival through market transactions.

Take the poor families in Dunyifang for example. They had to pay ten coins for a bucket of water. If they didn't have money, they would naturally have to borrow money and then earn income through labor or tenant farming to pay off their debts.

It was precisely because of the excessive disturbance to the people that the government office was sometimes abolished and sometimes reinstated. After the government office was abolished in the tenth year of the Kaiyuan era, a portion of the household tax was instead used to pay the salaries of officials.

However, household tax itself was a miscellaneous tax outside the rent, labor service and tax system. The fixed items such as rent, labor service and tax were called taxes, while other miscellaneous taxes, including household tax, were called taxes. The combination of the two was taxation.

The system of taxes was based on the amount of work performed, while taxes were levied based on the amount of money required. The Two-Tax System of later generations developed from this system.

After the government's funding ceased, the salaries of officials were incorporated into the household tax, meaning that what was previously exploited only a small, specific group was now distributed equally among all taxpayers. Ultimately, the money still came from the people; the only difference was whether a few were exploited or a whole group was targeted.

Wang Yuanbao, speaking from the perspective of the clerk in charge of collecting money, clearly explained the implementation status and various drawbacks of the public office's capital system, giving Zhang Dai a more concrete and comprehensive understanding of this financial system.

The more he learned, the more he felt that Wei Heng and his gang were utterly despicable for exploiting the border guards.

You're short of money, but if you could just hold those money-grabbing officials back and make them spit out the extra food they've eaten, that would be considered a way for you to make money. But instead, you're forcing poor people to urinate like frogs, which is just taking advantage of their weak resistance and limited channels for expression.

Although Zhang Dai had decided to personally help the border guards resolve their debts, he was still somewhat resentful. Now, after learning about the chaotic management of the government's capital from Wang Yuanbao, he gradually formed an idea: "Although I, Zhang Liulang, have done this good deed, in the end, it's still you, Master Wei, that little rascal, who has to foot the bill!"

It was already late that day, so the next morning, Zhang Dai sent someone to summon Dou E and asked him, "Have you inquired about the Wei family's Xiaoyao Garden again? What is their specific quote?"

Previously, the Wei family asked for 30,000 strings of cash for the estate and the hillside land, which was an outrageous price. Although the estate and hillside land were quite large, it was located outside the city. Such a price was enough to buy property in several of the city's most prestigious neighborhoods!
Dou E took this very seriously. Upon hearing this, he immediately nodded and said, "I have already inquired again. Seeing my sincerity, the Wei family has lowered their asking price to over 20,000 guan. I plan to negotiate with them again and try to reduce the price to within 15,000 guan. As for the 6,000 guan you mentioned, Zhang Liu, that price is too low, and I'm afraid we can't reach an agreement."

"If we can't reach an agreement, then let's continue. You might as well tell Mr. Wei that you're not the only one who wants to buy this land; I'm also working with you!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai spoke again.

Dou E was naturally surprised upon hearing this and quickly said, "You told me before not to reveal your identity, so why are you telling me now?"

"Times have changed. My grandfather is now the examiner. If the Wei brothers want to bully me, they should think twice before offending my grandfather!"

Zhang Dai immediately sneered again, without revealing his true intentions to Dou E. He deliberately wanted Wei Heng to know that he wanted to take over his garden business, otherwise, if trouble was caused, the other party would not even know why he wanted to get rid of him!

Dou E, a playboy in the capital, was naturally used to using his power to intimidate others. Upon hearing Zhang Dai's words, he immediately nodded and said with a smile, "It should have been done long ago! Zhang Yan Gong's comeback is quite impressive. Zhang Liu, your willingness to buy the Wei family's Xiaoyao Garden is giving them face. With your influence, I'm confident I can drive the price down by ten thousand taels of silver!"

"Don't reveal the bottom price yet; push it as low as you can!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai said that he had previously been willing to offer 6,000 strings of cash, but now that Wei Heng had caused him to lose money, he naturally wanted Wei to pay the bill, and he was unwilling to give 6,000 strings of cash anymore!

"This...this isn't quite right, is it? The Wei family is, after all, a family of a prime minister. If we treat them like this, people will probably look bad."

When Dou E heard Zhang Dai's ruthless approach, which seemed to indicate he was going to launch a zero-yuan purchase program, he became somewhat worried.

The Wei family was by no means a small or insignificant family. Wei Heng's father, his uncle, and his grandfather alone produced three prime ministers in two generations, not to mention his cousin Yuwen Rong, who was currently gaining considerable influence in the court.

"You don't need to worry about that, just do as I say!"

Zhang Dai waved his hand, his face full of confidence. "Bullying ordinary people is no fun at all. This time, I'm going to squeeze Wei Heng until he pisss himself!"
(End of this chapter)