prosperous age

"Okay, also, in a little while, take stock of the silver in the manor, as well as the surplus silver in the Jiujiang family and various properties."

"The master might need it for a while."

Wei Guangde said something and then strode towards the backyard.

At night, the front courtyard of the Wei residence was bustling with people, while the back courtyard was lively and noisy. Only a small courtyard between the two courtyards was unusually quiet.

This is the study in the Wei family mansion.

At this time, the capital was still a bustling night market, with high-ranking officials and nobles still indulging in pleasures everywhere, while ordinary people finally put down their daytime toil, ate dinner, and strolled around the streets and markets to see if there were any novelties.

Wei Guangde was sitting in his study, looking through the account books that Zhang Ji had compiled.

"The manor only has less than one million taels of silver?"

Wei Guangde frowned slightly. He thought that his family should have at least a million taels of silver, but the account book that Zhang Ji brought over showed that there were only more than 500,000 taels in the public treasury and another 300,000 taels in the private treasury in the backyard.

That's it.

“Previously, wealthy households in the capital borrowed 500,000 taels of silver from the government, using their shops in the city and their estates outside the city as collateral, and the silver was then released.”

Zhang Ji hurriedly explained.

"Five hundred thousand taels?"

Wei Guangde was quite surprised. Five hundred thousand taels of silver was no small sum. To be able to take away so much silver, the mortgaged land and houses must be worth at least six hundred thousand taels.

"Yes, they were all mortgaged with shops in good locations in the capital, as well as fields outside the city, all of which were in contiguous plots."

I've checked all of these carefully, and there are no problems.

Zhang Ji hurriedly offered an explanation.

He entrusted the management of small loan disbursements to the stewards in the government office.

This time, however, he took it very seriously, lending out such a large sum of money at once. He personally checked the house deeds and land deeds, and even visited them in person to ensure their accuracy.

"Who is it? What do they need so much money for?"

Wei Guangde was still a little surprised. Even if someone was a wealthy man, what would they do that would cost so much money?

"The three wealthy merchants in the west of the city were said to have gotten in touch with Zhang Jing in the palace and found them a boat license."

"Since their own money wasn't enough, they came to your house to borrow a large sum, which they planned to use to purchase ships and goods."

Zhang Ji naturally investigated their purpose for borrowing such a large sum of money. Otherwise, if they committed a crime and fled, even with his master's backing, these collateral items wouldn't be safe.

Knowing that it was for trading ship pilotage and for future maritime trade, Zhang Ji felt reassured enough to lend out the money.

"How much silver can be raised from the industries outside?"

Wei Guangde spoke up, and as he said this, he had already looked down and estimated that he had 1.5 million taels of silver saved in his hometown of Jiujiang.

"If we were to search through the properties in the capital, we should be able to recover more than 100,000 taels of silver, provided that we can keep those properties running."

This time, Zhang Ji hesitated before giving the numbers.

The Wei family's external businesses can only include those directly managed by him.

Many of these industries are businesses that recoup their loans after lending them out; some of them are profitable, while others are not.

In particular, Wei Guangde had previously reorganized three bookstores, investing thousands of taels of silver, but had not seen any results.

Thinking of this, Zhang Ji seemed to remember something and bowed again, saying, "Master, among the properties outside the manor, the bookstore you mentioned that publishes newspapers has recently produced a sample copy of the newspaper."

The sample copy has already arrived at my place, and I will bring it over for you to review in a little while.

However, I must remind you, sir, that if we don't leave enough money in reserve for the manor's properties, there might be problems later on.

Wei Guangde knew that the businesses his family ran weren't actually very good.

Just to avoid being stuck with bad debts, sometimes you have to keep it running even if it means losing money.

It wasn't because of his pride, but because if he wanted to find someone to take over, he had to keep those industries going so that he could find a buyer.

Once you stop operating, you're essentially telling others that the business isn't profitable.

Even if a buyer appears, they will not hesitate to lower the price.

"Sir, if we really need to raise a large sum of money, why don't we have the chambers of commerce in which we have shares distribute dividends soon?"

As far as I know, these chambers of commerce have accumulated a considerable amount of silver over the years.

Although there are plans to expand the workshops, the money simply cannot be used up in the short term.

Let them receive dividends; subsequent expenses can be covered by money earned later.

After Zhang Ji made his suggestion, he immediately lowered his head and remained silent.

"Need not."

Wei Guangde waved his hand, "Don't let the Chamber of Commerce take a cut, but make sure the money is ready."

Wei Guangde spoke up.

Just kidding, these chambers of commerce will also invest in Daming Bank, but they will do so under the name of the chamber of commerce, which will involve the interests of more people and also hide their investment shares.

According to Zhang Ji's idea, taking the money back into his own hands and then investing it in Daming Money Shop would isolate Master Wei.

Others invest tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, but Wei Guangde throws in over a million taels. Who is he trying to impress?
"Go down and list out the structures of the chambers of commerce in which the government has a stake, as well as the chambers of commerce in which the government has a stake."

In addition, have someone write to their hometown, asking them to establish several chambers of commerce in places like Jiujiang and Nanchang.

I'll give you the specific instructions in a bit. First, go and get me the sample newspaper; I want to take a look.

Wei Guangde gave the instructions.

After Zhang Ji left, Wei Guangde picked up his pen and began to recall the tricks that wealthy people played to hide their assets in later generations.

In fact, the ways that wealthy people hide their assets fall into two main categories: one is to hide cash or cash equivalents, such as gold, silver, and jewelry.

Secondly, they can carry out complex fund transfers to hide the money or make it difficult to detect.

The transferred funds are mostly hidden in bank accounts or invested, and then disguised and reappear in the public eye in the form of Russian nesting dolls or overseas trusts.

Others only know that this is an investment by a certain company, but they have no idea about the ownership of that company.

In the current environment, setting up an overseas trust is definitely impossible.

However, it was possible to conceal oneself by establishing chambers of commerce and engaging in complex investments—essentially a Russian nesting doll approach.

The wealthy of later generations did not hide the money itself, but rather cleverly concealed the ownership of it.

Those priceless mansions and yachts may not actually belong directly to the wealthy individuals, but rather to shell companies or special institutions such as trust funds.

As for cash, it may be transferred and used through intermediaries such as foundations, making the wealth of the rich difficult to detect on the surface.

The key lies in shell companies and trust funds.

Shell companies, legal entities that exist only on paper, may seem simple, but they provide a powerful wealth protection umbrella for the super-rich.

It has no employees, no operations, and no physical office, but its core function is crucial—holding assets without revealing the true owner.

For wealthy individuals who wish to protect their privacy and evade liability, shell companies are undoubtedly a perfect choice.

Through shell companies, the wealthy can cleverly separate asset ownership from personal responsibility.

They no longer directly "own" mansions or yachts, but rather indirectly through shell companies.

Similarly, the "earning" of profits has nothing to do with the wealthy person himself, but is handled by the shell company.

In the records, the wealthy man's name completely disappeared, replaced by an agent or nominal person in charge. Wei Guangde did this not for the original purpose set up by later wealthy people—tax avoidance—but simply to hide his own wealth.

Wei Guangde couldn't believe the moral character of scholars in the Ming Dynasty.

If they knew that the Grand Secretary had risen from a poor "hundred-household marquis" family to become a multi-millionaire in just twenty years, they would probably die of envy.

Well, in the Ming Dynasty, the hereditary families of a hundred households were known as "hundred-household marquises" among the common people.

At this moment, Wei Guangde picked up his pen and sat down at his desk, quickly writing out this pattern.

To help Zhang Ji understand the meaning more intuitively, a simple diagram was also drawn.

This time, Wei Guangde plans to divide his assets into roughly three categories.

Two of the pieces are intended to be inherited by his two sons, who will naturally receive the largest share of the pie.

The last piece of land was given to his other children, accounting for less than 20% of his existing assets.

This actually aligns with the values ​​of both the East and the West at that time.

Whether in the East or the West, the eldest son or heir will inherit the vast majority of the estate, with the remainder distributed among the other heirs.

This ensures that one branch of the family can continue to grow, rather than being divided equally.

Later laws not only required equal division of inheritance, but even illegitimate children were given the same inheritance rights as legitimate children, which was simply an inhumane practice.

I have no idea which illegitimate child came up with such a law. It not only ignores the moral values ​​formed over thousands of years, but also directly impacts the basic ethical consciousness of millions of people.

While Wei Guangde was still writing and drawing, Zhang Ji had already brought over a sample copy of the newspaper.

Since it was the first time doing something like this, although the newspaper was finished, they did not dare to print it directly. Instead, they made a draft and sent it to Wei Guangde's residence for review.

With his consent, they nodded and then printed and sold the books extensively.

Wei Guangde hadn't finished writing yet, so he gestured for Zhang Ji to wait while he continued to write out the essence of the nesting dolls.

After he finished writing, he looked at it carefully again before putting down his pen.

"This is just an idea of ​​mine. See if you can understand it."

If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask now.

Wei Guangde showed Zhang Ji what he had written, while he himself picked up the so-called "newspaper sample" and began to read.

Unlike the newspapers that people are familiar with in later generations, the official gazette of the Ming Dynasty was actually a small booklet, a relatively thin thread-bound book.

Besides the words "official gazette" on the cover, the inside pages also have them, along with the date.

Following that, the text is written vertically from right to left, recording major events and important decrees and orders of the court.

The copy in Wei Guangde's hand was basically no different from the official gazette, except that the words "official gazette" on the cover were changed to "Beijing Gazette".

Turning to the inside pages, the first line on the left still displays the large characters for "Beijing Daily," followed by the date the newspaper was printed. Starting from the third line on the left, the headlines and subsequent content follow.

"call"

Wei Guangde glanced through it; it was about twenty pages long, ten of which were the serialized novels he mentioned, placed at the end.

The beginning is a government decree, and the end describes the grand spectacle of this year's Aoshan Lantern Festival in the capital.

Looking up, he glanced at Zhang Ji, who was carefully studying the note written by Wei Guangde under the candlelight.

To be honest, it's a bit complicated, but Zhang Jineng roughly understands that they just don't want to expose who owns these investments.

Even if someone investigates, they can only find that the shareholders behind one chamber of commerce are another chamber of commerce.

Continuing to investigate, it turned out to be another chamber of commerce, not to mention that the chambers within it also held shares in each other, making things even more complicated.

After a while, Zhang Ji looked up, still somewhat dazed, and glanced at Wei Guangde.

"Sir, I can roughly understand what you wrote, but there are still some things I don't quite understand."

"Does the master not want anyone to trace his household through his shareholding?"

Hearing Zhang Ji's words, Wei Guangde nodded slightly and smiled, "The fact that you can understand this shows that you've put your heart into it."

That's exactly what I meant: hide yourself.

"I still need to think about it carefully, but I roughly understand that the shareholding certificates in the government will be transferred to some chambers of commerce later."

Zhang Ji said in a low voice.

"No rush. Think it through carefully and understand it thoroughly before listing it out. Then I'll take a look."

Wei Guangde spoke up.

"Yes."

Zhang Ji nodded hurriedly.

With Wei Guangde overseeing things, Zhang Ji felt relieved, though he was also afraid that he might be wrong and not do a good job.

Now that Wei Guangde wants him to list them out first, and he will implement them after reviewing them, there's nothing to worry about.

"As for the Beijing Daily, I think it's feasible."

Wei Guangde then weighed the newspaper in his hand and chuckled softly.

Don't think that Wei Guangde didn't choose to print newspapers on large sheets of paper like in later times. It's as if if he traveled back to ancient times and started a newspaper, he would print a large-format newspaper just like in later times.

In fact, if newspapers were printed on large sheets of paper in ancient times, the cost would probably not have been recovered at all.

Ancient papermaking processes were complex, and the scarcity of raw materials meant that paper production required a great deal of manpower, resources, and time.

The larger the size, the more raw materials such as tree bark, hemp fibers, and rags are required, and the difficulty and losses in the papermaking, pressing, and drying processes also increase accordingly.

This not only increases the difficulty of manufacturing large sheets of paper, but also makes the cost very high.

Therefore, large sheets of paper were quite expensive items in ancient times.

Using it for printing newspapers would be a terrible waste.

Moreover, even if Wei Guangde really intended to print newspapers on large sheets of paper, it would be difficult to gather enough paper.

It wasn't about money; it was about insufficient production to meet demand.

Therefore, small sheets of paper and thread binding were the best strategies for newspaper distribution in ancient times.

"Tomorrow, have the bookstore find some more manuscripts for me to look at."

Clearly, Wei Guangde was dissatisfied with some of the articles included in the newspaper, including the storybooks. He lost interest in reading more than three pages.

To retain readers, newspaper content is of paramount importance.

Serialized novels in newspapers are key to keeping readers hooked.

As for the aforementioned court policies and anecdotes from the streets and alleys, they are merely meant to amuse and are unlikely to be very appealing.

"You'll probably have a lot to do these next few days, mainly organizing the chambers of commerce in which the government has a stake, which is a huge project."

Let's break it down simply, allowing some involvement from those below, but making sure they don't see the whole thing.

Wei Guangde reminded Zhang Jidao.

"Don't worry, sir, we've already made preparations for this."

The Wei family had three accounting offices, each responsible for different chambers of commerce.

Zhang Ji had already decided to divide the management of the merchant guilds within the manor into three separate accounting offices, making things easier for him. (End of Chapter)