Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

Ten days after the Lantern Festival, Yin Shaokang and Dou Jun set off on their respective journeys.

One headed west, the other south, both carrying important missions.

To support Dou Jun's work in Jiangbei and Jiangnan, Li You specially assigned 800 elite soldiers to follow him and obey his orders.

The funds needed to open Yangzhou Bank were initially transferred from Huinong Bank.

Whether it can be successfully implemented depends on Dou Jun's abilities.

Li You's military order was delivered to Tongbai Mountain stronghold. After reading the order, Yan Hongxin immediately organized more than 2,000 soldiers from Shandong in the camp to travel east by boat and join up with the King of Qi.

The two thousand soldiers were greatly excited when they heard that their lord was going to lead them to start another uprising in their hometown of Shandong.

Wang Fangde's second son, Wang Xian, also came to join Huang Chao's army after receiving his father's letter.

He wanted to assist Wang Fangde in recruiting soldiers in the Hebei area.

Chao Yang's task was to pack up the printed books and prepare them for distribution to impoverished scholars who had no books to study.

In short, all of Huang Chao's officers and soldiers in the manor, from the King of Qi down to the lowest-ranking soldiers, had to leave.

Wang Sanwa, who had a brief reunion with his family, is now about to be separated from his parents again.

Before leaving, Li You ordered that the land of the three estates be divided equally among the tenant farmers working there, and that fifty soldiers be left in each estate to protect the people from harassment by the government and powerful families.

After saying goodbye to Mr. Wang Fangde, they set off south.

Cao Boyan, Lin Pu, and Tao Zhantian, three generals from Hebei who came down the mountain this time, were also taken to Shandong by Li You to serve.

The Huang Chao army's overall plan for the twentieth year of the Zhenguan era was officially launched.

……

Yin Shaokang first traveled by boat to Bianzhou to inspect the situation of the Bianzhou branch.

The New Year has passed, businesses have reopened, and a large number of merchants are coming to the bank to conduct business.

This also shows that Huinong Bank has permeated the entire business process.

Yin Shaokang stayed in Bianzhou for two days before setting off again to return to Luoyang.

Not long after he moved into the Wei residence, merchants from all walks of life came looking for him. These people were very well-informed. Yin Shaokang had spent most of the last year traveling and had not spent much time in Luoyang, so it was quite difficult for the Luoyang merchants to see him.

With the rise of Huimin Bank, many people wanted to ride its coattails and make a fortune. Yin Shaokang inevitably had to interact with these people. Whether it was investing or depositing money, it was all beneficial to Huimin Bank.

Yin Shaokang spent a relatively long time in Luoyang, a total of five days. While receiving guests, he also selected his deputies and key personnel to remain in Luoyang to manage the business, which was also entrusted to him by the King of Qi.

Seeing that things were almost done, Yin Shaokang prepared to set off again for Chang'an.

Once things are settled in Chang'an, we need to head east to prepare for the saltworks in Shandong.

In short, since joining Huang Chao's army, Yin Shaokang has been extremely busy and has hardly had a moment to rest.

Just before he was about to leave, an old friend came to visit.

This person was none other than Manager Miao, one of the earliest shareholders in the early days of Huimin Bank.

Today, the branch of Huimin Bank in Mianzhou, Jiannan Road, is managed by Manager Miao.

"Young Master, something terrible has happened!"

"Don't rush, don't rush, tell me slowly."

"I have already written to you, but I suppose you have not received it... Some people in Yizhou Prefecture see that our bank is making money and are planning to join forces to start their own bank. They gathered together during the holidays to discuss it, and there are as many as a dozen participating companies."

"Is that so?"

"I also heard that they plan to name this bank Jiannan Bank, and it will open in two months, on the fifth day of the third lunar month!"

Upon hearing this, Yin Shaokang burst into laughter.

"Why is the young master laughing?"

"Manager Miao, in your opinion, if Jiannan Bank opens, will it be a blessing or a curse for Huimin Bank?"

"It's bound to be a disaster; they'll definitely steal our business. Those wealthy landlords in Yizhou have been in the silk and tea business for centuries and have considerable wealth. In terms of capital, they're no less than us!"

"No, no, no, Manager Miao, you're quite wrong."

"The world is vast, and there are many merchants from all over the country. If it can accommodate Huimin Bank, it can naturally accommodate Jiannan Bank as well. As the saying goes, a towering cliff is great because it can accommodate others. In business, you must be tolerant of others and not try to take all the benefits."

"Manager Miao, you might consider this: if there were only one bank in the world, raking in millions or even tens of millions of strings of cash every year, not only would merchants from all over the country look on with envy, but what would high-ranking officials and the emperor think if they found out?"

Manager Miao pondered Yin Shaokang's words for a moment, then suddenly realized with a start: "What does the young master mean...?"

"When I went to Shandong, I heard that the Dou family, a wealthy family in Yangzhou, was also contacting local merchants to set up Yangzhou Bank. So I went to Yangzhou to discuss with the Dou family, hoping that the two banks could cooperate, adopt the same interest rate and the same operation. In exchange, the Yangzhou Bank's counter would be opened next to Huinong Bank, and the two banks' branches in different areas could also use each other's branches. In this way, we could both help Yangzhou Bank and benefit Huinong Bank."

"The Dou family naturally wouldn't pass up such an opportunity and agreed to cooperate with us. Their bank network will eventually cover both sides of the Yangtze River, and even some small towns. These are places our Huinong Bank can't easily reach in the short term. Dividing would be a lose-lose situation, while cooperation would be a win-win—isn't that a good thing?"

Manager Miao slammed his hand on the table: "This...this is the...what was that...what was it that the young master mentioned before?"

"Connecting the world."

"Yes, yes, that's exactly it—connecting the world!"

"Please wait a moment, Manager Miao. I'll go write a letter first, and then we'll set off together to Yizhou Prefecture to have a good chat with the wealthy landowners there."

"Okay, okay, that's for the best."

Yin Shaokang went into the back room and wrote a letter explaining what Manager Miao had said.

He then summoned a bodyguard and ordered him to deliver the body to the King of Qi immediately.

They then packed up their carriages and horses, and together with Manager Miao, headed to Yizhou.

Li You and Yin Shaokang had anticipated that merchants elsewhere would imitate Huinong Bank, but they hadn't expected them to be so slow to act.

To mitigate the risks, Li You sent Dou Jun to lead the way, while he himself opened a new bank as a precaution.

Now that the merchants of Yizhou have finally realized what's happening, Yin Shaokang will have to go and lend a hand.

When the two of them arrived in Yizhou, the preparations for Jiannan Bank were almost complete, and it was just waiting to open.

The wealthy merchants of Yizhou did not have much copper coin reserves, but they had a lot of silk. The silk currency from more than a dozen companies combined amounted to an astronomical figure, enough to support a huge bank.

Upon hearing the news of the arrival of the young master of Huinong Bank, the organizers of Jiannan Bank assumed he was there to cause trouble, so they prepared a trap.

Upon hearing Yin Shaokang's suggestion, all hostility vanished.

The merchants of Yizhou, moved by the situation, lowered their guard and began to explore the possibility of cooperation with Yin Shaokang.

The leader of Jiannan Bank was named Cheng Zhuo, around forty years old, with piercing eyes, clearly an extremely shrewd and experienced businessman.

"Young Master, your method is not bad, but isn't the interest rate given by the imperial court a bit too low?"