Qing Yao

Chapter 354 They've been eating maggots again.

Although Si Fu'er lacked the martial arts skills of his elder brother San Fu'er and the wisdom of Heshen, his investment acumen was unparalleled.

Trading two million taels of silver for a powerful figure who could rise to a high-ranking official position and become devoted to him is comparable to Lü Buwei's investment in Qin Shi Huang's father.

The instructions from the Grand Secretary were quickly delivered by express courier to Manager Liu's desk at the Tongzhou money shop in Jiangning.

Tongzhou Money Shop was a private bank opened by Fu Chang'an. In addition to its main branch in the capital, it only had branches in Shengjing, Jiangning, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou. Although its scale could not compare with the Imperial Household Bank under Heshen, it was still one of the top financial giants in the Qing Dynasty's financial circles.

The saying "father and son are of one heart" is absolutely true; the old man and his son have mastered the art of making money work for them.

The Jiangning branch was established four years ago. Its main business is lending to officials and businesses. Manager Liu, who is in charge, is a former bondservant of the Imperial Household Department. When he received instructions from his master, he was in the accounting room reconciling accounts with a group of "accountants".

After receiving the letter bearing the personal seal of his master, "Changchun Jushi," Manager Liu quickly opened it. The letter was brief yet alarming, demanding that the Jiangning branch, in accordance with market regulations, lend 200 million taels of silver to Zhao Youlu, the Anhui provincial treasurer, without interest or deductions, and to proceed immediately without delay.

After reviewing it three times, Manager Liu finally confirmed that his master indeed wanted him to raise two million taels of silver to lend to the provincial governor of Anhui, with all other benefits except for the interest rate, which was agreed upon at the market rate.

Accountant Liu, who was sitting there calculating with an abacus, also saw the contents of the letter in the shopkeeper's hand and immediately exclaimed, "Two million taels? How could they borrow so much!"

The other accountants, upon hearing what Accountant Liu said, also put down their work and gathered around, all of them stunned by the enormous loan of two million taels.

I don't know about the previous dynasty, but since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, there has never been such a large amount of borrowing. The largest loan that the Kangxi Emperor borrowed from private merchants when he quelled the Three Feudatories was only a few hundred thousand taels.

Moreover, this is a private loan.

This is simply unheard of; if word got out, the entire financial world of the Qing Dynasty would probably be stunned.

One of the accountants immediately raised a question: "Manager, lending out two million taels at once, we simply don't have enough cash on hand!"

Accountant Liu then warned, "Manager, if anything goes wrong with this huge sum of money, not only will our money shop be in trouble, but it may also affect the other businesses of the Grand Secretary in Jiangnan."

Manager Liu was well aware that this loan was too risky. Not to mention the two million taels, even the one million taels loan that Lord Zhao had proposed earlier was terrifying to him. That's why he sent someone to ask his master for instructions via express courier.

Originally, Liu thought his master would lend this Lord Zhao a maximum of 100,000 taels, but to his surprise, his master generously offered to lend 2 million taels and gave such a great discount. It can be said that things were completely beyond Liu's imagination.

As a "working man," Manager Liu had no choice but to unconditionally obey his "boss's" orders. He didn't dare ask his master why he needed to borrow so much money. The problem was that the money shop simply didn't have that much cash on hand and had to borrow from other shops in the same industry, which was too risky.

Anhui is not Jiangsu. No matter how favored or powerful Lord Zhao is, he probably can't repay 300,000 taels of interest in a year.

After much deliberation, Manager Liu, out of a sense of duty, decided to write another letter to his master explaining the pros and cons and asking him to reconsider, even if it meant lending him a million taels of silver.

But the pen tip hesitated to fall on the letter paper.

The reason was that Manager Liu knew his master too well. There must be an ulterior motive behind his master's willingness to lend such a large sum of money, which he could not know. If he rashly tried to persuade him, he might be reprimanded by his master.

Countless people are watching how the head manager of the Jiangning Money Shop works!
Just when they were in a dilemma, Old Sun, the chief accountant of the money shop, arrived. He was a local from Jiangning, and his brother-in-law worked in the Jiangning prefectural government.

As soon as Old Sun entered the room, he noticed that the shopkeeper looked grim, and his other colleagues also had serious expressions. He quickly stepped forward and asked in a low voice, "Shopkeeper, what happened?"

Manager Liu didn't hide anything from Old Sun. He placed the letter of instruction from his master on the table for Old Sun to open himself, and at the same time gave a wry smile and said, "Lending such a large sum of money, let alone our Tongzhou money shop, I'm afraid none of our peers in the world have ever encountered it."

Old Sun picked up the letter with a puzzled look, and after reading it, he was shocked: "A loan of two million taels at once, this, this, this... No, we can't lend it, the risk is too great, this is going to empty our Jiangning family's coffers! Even if we raise the money, how will the other party repay it? The boss is simply..." Fortunately, he stopped himself in time, and the word "nonsense" was swallowed back by Old Sun.

His employer is no ordinary person!

"The risk is too great, but this is the master's will, and we can't refuse."

Manager Liu frowned, looking puzzled. "Even if that Lord Zhao is a provincial governor, there's no reason for my master to lend him two million taels of silver."

"Master Zhao?"

Old Sun's heart skipped a beat. His cloudy old eyes flickered a few times, and after a moment of hesitation, he lowered his voice and asked, "Shopkeeper, have you ever heard about Lord Zhao's background?"

"What's your life experience?"

Manager Liu and the accountants were all confused, not knowing what Old Sun was trying to say.

Seeing that the shopkeeper hadn't heard of it, Old Sun started to gossip, saying mysteriously, "I only heard it from my brother-in-law who works in the government office. Whether it's true or not, my brother-in-law doesn't know. It's just that it's widely rumored outside that Lord Zhao has a very powerful background."

Seeing Old Sun acting so mysteriously, Manager Liu couldn't help but laugh and say, "Very powerful? How powerful could he be? He can't be as powerful as my master, can he?"

"Let's not talk about whether it's big or small for now. Shopkeeper, think about it yourself. Last year, that Lord Zhao was a ninth-rank official in the Yangzhou Prefectural School. This year, he has transformed into a provincial governor. Isn't this speed of promotion a bit unreasonable?"

After saying that, Old Sun subconsciously glanced towards the door, looking as if he was afraid that his secret would be overheard by outsiders.

After listening, Manager Liu nodded: "What you're saying is somewhat illogical. I doubt you could find another official like Lord Zhao in this dynasty who has risen through the ranks at such a rapid pace."

The following question was directed at the other accountants.

"Don't even mention that we can't find a second one in this dynasty, we didn't even have one in the previous dynasty."

The accountants nodded repeatedly, all finding this quite unusual.

"Old Sun, stop keeping me in suspense and tell me, what's the background of this Lord Zhao?"

The person asking the questions was Accountant Liu.

Manager Liu also looked like he wanted to know the answer.

"It's just hearsay, I mean just hearsay. Take it with a grain of salt and don't spread it around."

Old Sun was quite cautious and dared not act as the main person spreading rumors. He then coughed lightly and lowered his voice even further, "Why did this Lord Zhao get promoted so quickly? It's because he is the offspring of His Majesty during his southern tour!"

"what?!"

Manager Liu jumped up in shock, his eyes wide. "Old Sun, don't you dare tell me that? Where did you hear that from?!"

(End of this chapter)