prosperous age

"Have you heard? The chief examiners for this year's imperial examination have been decided. It will be Minister Yu Youding of the Cabinet and Minister Xu of the State of Xu."

"Really? Now I know who the chief examiner is. Do you have Master Xu's essay?"

"I did guess it was Lord Yu, but I didn't expect Lord Xu to be involved."

In the inn where scholars gathered for the imperial examinations, many scholars were discussing the matter.

All the candidates who made it to the provincial examination knew that the imperial examination required catering to their preferences.

For each exam, you must understand the examiner's preferences, since some people like elaborate and ornate writing, while others prefer straightforward and less flashy writing.

If you write poorly here, you might miss your chance, and even if you make the list, your ranking will drop.

The results of the provincial examination were linked to the final palace examination.

Even if you perform exceptionally well in the palace examination, your ranking will change very little.

Therefore, in reality, your ranking in the provincial examination is already determined during the examination itself, whether it is the first, second, or third class.

With only two days left before the imperial examinations, collecting Xu Ge Lao's articles became the most urgent task for the candidates.

For those candidates without connections, the situation was extremely unfavorable.

In such a short period of time, it would be very difficult for them to find Xu Guo's past articles.

Those sons of officials could find connections through their relatives and friends in Beijing.

After all, the Ming Dynasty had many documents in places like the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy, containing the writings of these people from the provincial examinations to the palace examinations, and their subsequent works.

With such conditions, participating in the imperial examination would naturally be much easier.

The imperial examination system was fair, but only relatively so.

One's background is still very important.

While many officials were helping their younger relatives collect examination papers, not only the Wei family in the capital, but also other families such as Zhang Xueyan, the Minister of Revenue, and Jiang Zhi, the Minister of Works, were keeping accounts and calculating the amount of silver they could take out.

Each family's situation is different, so the amount of money they can come up with naturally varies greatly.

It's not that everyone is a second or third-rank official in the imperial court and their wealth is about the same.

Different government departments offer different benefits.

After returning to his residence, Wei Guangde wrote notes to various acquaintances and sent them to them, stating that the matter of the Ming Dynasty Bank was settled and had been approved by the Emperor.

However, the emperor would only make a final decision after seeing the regulations of the Ming Dynasty Bank.

However, given Wei Guangde's understanding of the Wanli Emperor, he was unlikely to be wrong.

What Wei Guangde didn't know was that tonight in the Qianqing Palace, when Emperor Wanli returned from the outer palace to rest, he summoned Zhang Jing, the head of the Eastern Depot.

"Send someone to investigate whether Grand Secretary Wei's lending over the years has always been in accordance with the court's stipulated monthly interest rate of three percent."

Inside the imperial bedchamber, Emperor Wanli looked at Zhang Jing kneeling before him and gave his instructions.

This day was particularly difficult for Zhang Jing.

The news that eunuchs were being summoned for questioning by the Ministry of Revenue's auditors naturally reached Zhang Jing's ears, causing him great anxiety.

After all, it seems I've managed to grab a bit too much this time.

Most importantly, if this matter is confirmed, the penalty will be doubled, and he will have to pay out 300,000 taels of silver.

Ten thousand taels of silver is no small sum, let alone three hundred thousand taels, which would be a devastating blow, even a matter of life and death.

Therefore, even if he secretly coerced, bribed, or promised those involved, he was not sure if they would let it slip.

Tonight, Zhang Jing was summoned by the Wanli Emperor, and he was actually very nervous. He was afraid that the Ministry of Revenue had already reported the findings to the Emperor, and that the Emperor was going to punish him.

Unexpectedly, instead of punishment, an imperial decree was issued to investigate Chief Minister Wei.

"Your Majesty, are you saying that Chief Minister Wei is corrupt and that we should investigate his crimes?"

Zhang Jing wasn't sure, so he asked in a low voice.

"Nonsense. When I said I wanted to investigate Chief Minister Wei, I was just asking you to investigate exactly how much interest he charged on his loans."

Emperor Wanli roared in anger.

Zhang Jing usually seems quite smart, so why would he ask such a stupid question?

In fact, Zhang Jing was also wronged. If the emperor wanted to investigate a minister, the Eastern Depot had plenty of ways to produce "crimes".

He wasn't sure whether Emperor Wanli intended to take action against Wei Guangde, which is why he asked the extra question.

Now that he's been scolded, he understands that Emperor Wanli was only investigating Grand Secretary Wei, not trying to take him down.

"Your Majesty, I have also heard about this matter. The money lent out by Grand Secretary Wei's residence all has a monthly interest rate of three percent, which is known to everyone in the capital's business community."

However, this servant immediately ordered someone to investigate further to see if it was true.

Zhang Jing hurriedly spoke up as well.

Emperor Wanli favored Wei Guangde, so he would first praise him to please the emperor.

Sure enough, upon hearing Zhang Jing's opening remarks, Emperor Wanli's expression softened.

In fact, Emperor Wanli was not a heartless emperor; he was just like other emperors, and he hated being deceived.

Wei Guangde usually acted very openly in front of him, never hiding the fact that he had invested in the business and made money.

In fact, Wei Guangde did use his talent to increase the court's revenue considerably, which is the kind of talent every emperor appreciates.

However, today Wei Guangde affirmed in front of him that his lending interest rate did not exceed three percent per month. This made Emperor Wanli, who was still thinking about how to turn his three million taels of silver in his private treasury into ten or twenty million taels of silver in two or three years through lending, become angrier and angrier.

Isn't this cutting off your own path to wealth?
He had finally come up with a way to make money, but Master Wei cut it off.

To be honest, while loan sharking is unethical, it is undeniably profitable; otherwise, so many loan companies wouldn't be doing this business in the later era of internet finance.

Investigating Wei Guangde's lending business over the years would also reassure Emperor Wanli more about entrusting this matter to him.

Don't even think about doubling your investment in a year. But if you invest three million taels of silver and get 20% interest in a year, that's five or six hundred thousand taels of silver, which isn't bad.

In fact, if the Wanli Emperor hadn't maintained the open sea policy after the Wanli Emperor's reign, the palace would probably only have a private treasury of a little over one million taels of silver at this time.

"Yes, find out the situation as soon as possible and report it."

This matter must be done discreetly, and absolutely must not be discovered by anyone.

After dismissing Zhang Jing, Emperor Wanli prepared to go to sleep with the help of eunuchs.

The wine he had drunk while being served by the concubines was starting to take effect, but he still felt a slight pain in his right leg.

I feel that drinking alcohol can't numb me and help me fall asleep quickly after lying down.

In fact, the reason why Emperor Wanli could not sleep tonight was because he was upset about money.

The desire for wealth is actually the same for people in ancient times and people today.

When you don't know something, you naturally won't think about it, but once you know a way to make money, you often unconsciously get excited and find it hard to fall asleep.

Because he couldn't sleep well, Emperor Wanli finally couldn't sleep anymore in the middle of the night and ordered someone to bring him medicine.

This elixir was certainly not like the one his grandfather made by piling various ingredients in a furnace to create an immortal pill. Instead, it was a pill prepared and made by the Imperial Medical Academy, which he was to take when his leg ailment became unbearable.

Actually, this is an ancient pain reliever, and one of its ingredients is opium.

According to historical records, the Wanli Emperor would take this elixir for a long time and gradually become addicted to opium.

In ancient times, there was no concept of addiction; people would simply assume it was a sign of worsening illness and increase the dosage when no other effective treatment was available.

In the end, Emperor Wanli simply stopped taking other medicines and started using opium to relieve the pain.

However, Wei Guangde had noticed this substance earlier and had the Shuntian Prefecture arrange for death row inmates to test it. Ultimately, this gave the Imperial Medical Academy a vague understanding of the long-term consequences of opium use. Knowing that long-term use of this substance was harmful and not beneficial, although pills were still prepared for the emperor, the dosage was strictly controlled.

As for banning drugs in the Ming Dynasty, forget it. Opium was already scarce and not something ordinary people could access, so there was no need to ban it.

They didn't even announce it to the public.

The matter was simply publicized in medical circles across various regions to alert doctors to the use of opium.

If I told you this stuff was harmful, some people might not believe me or would want to test it on themselves, which would only cause more trouble.

The night was peaceful, as if nothing had happened, yet countless people couldn't sleep.

Many of these people were candidates for the imperial examinations, and others were naturally a group of people involved with Wei Guangde, including the emperor and important officials in the court.

After taking stock of his family's assets, Zhang Xueyan frowned. As a high-ranking official, he could only come up with 300,000 taels of silver.

He had forgotten that he had previously transported a batch of silver back home to purchase land and to renovate his old house.

The others were in similar situations; they either poured their accumulated wealth into Songjiang Prefecture and Tianjin, or returned to their hometowns to purchase land and houses.

Now, after searching through the cash on hand, they found that the amount ranged from tens of thousands of taels to the largest amount held by Zhang Xueyan.

After all, he was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, which spent millions of taels of silver every year. Over the years, the accumulated amount disbursed exceeded ten million taels, yet he only managed to accumulate a net worth of a few hundred thousand taels of silver.

That's why everyone wants to get into those positions: the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of Works—all lucrative government offices.

The next morning, everyone left the mansion, yawning, got into their sedan chairs, and headed to their respective government offices for official business.

However, on this very day, all the money lenders in Beijing unexpectedly received a big deal.

However, the people who came to borrow money were all powerful figures in the imperial court.

For those who borrow money in this way, as long as these borrowers aren't stupid, they all know how to lend the money out.

Usury, that absolutely does not exist.

It's okay if they haven't heard of entrapment, but they know the ropes.

As long as they dare to sign and put their fingerprints on a loan agreement, they'll be sent to the Ministry of Justice's jail on the spot.

The one in charge of the Ministry of Justice seems to have a close relationship with them as well.

Therefore, today, several important officials in the court brought back boxes of silver from their residences.

These were all loans taken out in accordance with the imperial court's regulations, with a monthly interest rate of three percent.

As for why not borrow a little later, nobody's a fool. Once they know the news, they'd better hold onto the money as soon as possible to be safe.

If it's too late, I'm afraid I won't be able to borrow any money.

There's no such thing as losing money when doing business with Wei Guangde.

The business that Grand Secretary Wei is planning is absolutely worth investing money in.

If you don't lend it now, someone else might beat you to it when you want to later.

This also highlights the importance of information; being one step ahead can lead to wealth in this world.

Once the money of the borrowers has been lent out, they naturally have to go find the person behind them.

Knowing that the money was lent to several important officials in the court, the people behind them were suspicious, but the business still had to continue.

As a result, boxes of silver were transported out from the mansions of various noble families.

In the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the shortage of money in the city of Sijiu only lasted for half a day before it was relieved.

In the Ming Dynasty, the money lenders were nominally lending out their own money, but of course, not all of the money they lent out came from their own pockets.

They had long ago established connections with the noble families and officials in the capital through various roundabout channels.

They only charge a small intermediary fee for the silver that they lend out to nobles and relatives; most of it ends up in these mansions.

They were the true locals in the capital, which is why the scholars who passed the imperial examinations ultimately had to obediently repay their debts.

The largest creditors of the capital bonds were actually the powerful and influential families of the Ming Dynasty.

Otherwise, if scholars were really bullied by merchants, that would be a huge joke.

"You're saying it was Jiang Zhi and Lao Kan who borrowed the money?"

At the Duke of Dingguo's residence, Duke Xu Wenbi sat by the stove drinking tea.

He oversaw the Beijing garrison, but didn't go there often.

It was cold, but he still preferred to stay at home and rest around the fireplace.

Today, the steward outside reported that all the tens of thousands of taels of silver that were put out outside have been lent out, and he hopes that the manor can provide some more.

The lending business is actually quite profitable, so Xu Wenbi usually gets involved.

Of course, he wouldn't bother with small amounts; even a few hundred or a thousand taels of silver wouldn't catch his eye.

But once tens of thousands of taels of silver are spent, he has to ask about the situation.

"Yes, Your Excellency. I heard that it's not just them. Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Revenue and that person from the Ministry of War are also borrowing money. Anyway, quite a few people are from those families that have close ties with your son-in-law's family."

Wei Guangde was related to the Duke of Wei by marriage, and was also called the son-in-law by the Duke of Dingguo, since they were all from the same lineage.

Although two prefectures were established, the bones are still connected by tendons.

"There's something fishy about this."

Xu Wenbi scratched his head and spoke.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Wenbi said, "Go to the back and tell Madam to visit relatives in Nanxunfang today if she has time, and ask what's going on."

Because of the relationship between the lender and Wei Guangde, Xu Wenbi instinctively felt that they might have received information that Wei Guangde had discovered some incredible business opportunity.

Believe it or not, doing business with him has made the Duke of Dingguo's mansion even richer.

The income from maritime trade has surpassed the money he earned from dealing in salt permits, becoming the largest source of income for the household.

Not to mention, he also started to invest in some chambers of commerce. He didn't hold a controlling stake, but he received dividends every year, which were 30% to 40% annually and were stable.

To be honest, after starting his business, Xu Wenbi wanted to sell some of his farmland to raise funds to further expand his business.

Those once-proud farmlands yielded only about 10% of their annual income.

All things considered, it was truly the worst investment the family had ever made.

Well, this is also what Wei Guangde analyzed for him.

I used to think that land was a stable investment, but after actually starting a business, I found that being too risk-averse often resulted in not making money.

It's better to invest in a business; you can make money quickly. Once you invest a sum of money, you can recoup your investment in two or three years.

Land often takes more than ten years to recoup its cost.

It's okay if you don't compare, but once you do, you realize that's really the case.

"Master, what do you want to find out at your son-in-law's residence?"

Soon, Xu Wenbi's first wife, Madam Li, came over and inquired.

No one gets up early without a reason, so sending her to the Wei residence was naturally to find out what she wanted to know.

"Go ask my younger sister if her son-in-law has any ways to make money."

Xu Wenbi said calmly. (End of Chapter)