prosperous age

Hai Rui was still diligently investigating the Zhang family's wealth, but unlike in the other life, he did not directly arrest Zhang Jingxiu, Zhang Sixiu, and others, and torture them severely.

After all, Hai Rui wouldn't have resorted to torture to extract confessions in cases he handled unless the evidence was irrefutable.

He's not a secret police officer; he's used to fabricating charges and framing people in this way.

Wei Guangde was unaware of these circumstances.

However, the case in Huizhou Prefecture has been closed.

Although the memorial submitted mentioned that Xu Guo's chief steward seemed to be involved in the case, the memorial that was sent to the palace and then returned only mentioned the handling of the six counties of Huizhou Prefecture and did not involve Xu Guo.

Wei Guangde was not surprised by this, and the imperial examination had already ended. The capital was preparing to receive the list of successful candidates, and everyone wanted to see who would be the top scholar.

Meanwhile, the gamblers in the capital were also anxiously waiting for the lottery results.

Every imperial examination was a festival for the people of the capital. They could see not only the various reactions of the candidates after seeing the list of successful candidates, but also the parade of the successful candidates through the streets, accompanied by drums and ceremonial processions.

However, while it may seem that the common people are just looking for excitement, only Wei Guangde, a person living in this era, knows the truth: the gambling tickets that the common people are clutching tightly.

Well, gambling was actually very popular in ancient China, and it wasn't just a pastime for scholars.

The earliest form of gambling can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty. Legend has it that "Liubo," invented by Wu Cao, a minister of King Jie of Xia, was one of the earliest gambling games.

During the Western Han Dynasty, gambling was extremely popular, with everyone from emperors and generals to ordinary people indulging in it.

Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, himself enjoyed cockfighting and dog racing. To satisfy his father, the retired emperor, his gambling addiction, he even built entertainment venues in Chang'an specifically to accompany him in gambling.

During the Tang Dynasty, a lottery-like system called "drawing lots to assign official positions" emerged, in which officials were selected by randomly drawing lots to determine their positions, reflecting an early application of "random probability".

During the Southern Song Dynasty, "Guanpu" was widely popular among the common people. It was an activity that involved buying and selling goods through gambling, where participants won goods by playing games such as rolling dice.

There are two views on the origin of gambling. One view is that gambling evolved from games in the late primitive society as productivity increased and leisure time increased.

Another view holds that gambling is closely related to ancient superstitious activities such as divination, and that the random results of tossing and throwing are regarded as some kind of divine arrangement.

Regardless of the type, gambling was mainly prevalent in the imperial court before the Tang and Song dynasties, but it entered a golden age afterward, with various board games and dice games becoming popular, and gambling becoming a daily entertainment for literati.

Emperors such as Emperor Xuanzong and Empress Wu Zetian were avid gamblers, and even the famous female poet Li Qingzhao enjoyed playing gambling games.

The term "gambling" officially appeared in the Tang Code, marking its legalization.

Although the Tang and Song governments later explicitly banned gambling, the policies were sometimes relaxed and sometimes tightened, and private casinos were still prevalent in cities.

By the Ming Dynasty, although the laws were even stricter and gamblers could even be executed, the ban was difficult to eradicate.

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty once built the "Xiaoyao Tower" to imprison gamblers, allowing them to "gamble to their heart's content" until they died from exhaustion. His methods were extremely cruel.

Even so, casinos throughout the Ming Dynasty remained magnificent, attracting a constant stream of gamblers.

While most ordinary people are completely isolated from casinos, the imperial examinations in the capital city are essentially a gambling game in which everyone participates.

Everyone will place bets, gambling on who will be the next member of the academic team and who will be the top scorer.

Although gambling was illegal in the Ming Dynasty, because it incorporated elements of the imperial examination system, officials mostly turned a blind eye, and some even considered it quite elegant, with many officials participating in betting.

After all, if you win the bet, you can make a fortune.

Of course, it's just a casino, so it doesn't affect Yu Youding and Xu Guo in the Imperial Examination Hall.

At least, whether it's the top scholar in the imperial examination or the champion in the final examination, the final result is still considered fair.

However, such a grand event would never be mentioned in historical records.

After all, gambling was illegal in the Ming Dynasty, and if it were recorded in historical records, it would be a slap in the face to the imperial court.

"You got it back?"

Wei Guangde, in his study, looked at Zhang Ji as he entered and asked a question.

"Sir, the bet has been placed."

Zhang Ji walked up to Wei Guangde and handed him a few gambling tickets.

Wei Guangde took a look. In the past few days, when he had free time in the cabinet, he had Lu Bu go to the Hanlin Academy to find the provincial examination papers of some people and randomly picked a few people.

Gambling in moderation is fine, and even as the Grand Secretary, he couldn't afford to be left behind in the bustling gambling scene in the capital.

It is said that even the Wanli Emperor in the palace was attracted by the fact that there were eunuchs in the palace running betting odds on who could become the top scholar.

Wei Guangde didn't know whether the emperor had placed a bet, but the palace had indeed managed to copy a copy of the imperial examination papers from the Hanlin Academy.

Wei Guangde did not want Emperor Wanli to participate in the gambling for the top scholar, since he was both the player and the referee at that time, which was unfair.

Therefore, it's still worth taking a chance and trying your luck.

Wei Guangde looked through the gambling tickets, and the first one was Zou Depu's, with a bet of one thousand taels.

The following cards are from Zhou Yingbing, Li Tingji, Wang Zuo, and Wang Xun, all of whom have bet one thousand taels.

There were five people in total. Don't be surprised, because Wei Guangde selected the top scholar based on the Five Classics, meaning he was gambling on the Five Classics champion.

In reality, the odds of winning are very small, since there are so many candidates, and no one knows whose paper the examiner will favor.

However, Wei Guangde followed this line of thought and reviewed many exam papers before selecting these individuals.

Although he's not very good at exams, he does have the ability to read and write papers.

"Judging by the time, the results of the provincial examination should be announced tomorrow night."

Whether these betting tickets are worth anything or not, we'll find out soon enough, haha.

Wei Guangde chuckled, then put the betting ticket into his sleeve and waved for Zhang Ji to leave.

The next day, from the moment Wei Guangde entered the cabinet, he could clearly sense that something was amiss in the atmosphere.

Many of the attendants seemed distracted, and Wei Guangde, too lazy to say anything, guessed that they had placed bets on the upcoming imperial examination and were now watching the results closely approach.

During the afternoon gathering before the end of the official business, Wei Guangde chatted with Shen Shixing and Wang Jiaping, and inevitably the topic of this year's imperial examination came up.

"You guys are really something."

Upon hearing Shen Shixing mention those people, each of them placed a bet of one hundred taels.

Wang Jiaping, on the other hand, was clearly much wealthier. Each person placed a bet of one thousand taels, to which Wang Jiaping simply chuckled.

"ShanDai, who are you betting on there?"
Don't tell me you didn't place a bet; I remember you did last time with the imperial examinations."

Shen Shixing joked.

"It's just for fun; a little gambling is harmless."

Wei Guangde smiled and explained his betting situation.

"Wow, good heavens! A five-thousand-tael bet on the Five Classics! Tsk tsk."

Upon hearing Wei Guangde's words, Shen Shixing exclaimed in surprise.

A bet of five thousand taels of silver in a single gambling game is quite extravagant.

Ten thousand taels of silver was enough to make someone a wealthy man, but Wei Guangde bet five thousand taels at a time, making him one of the top gamblers in the capital.

"Tonight we'll find out just how much those gambling tickets are worth. Now, hehe."

Wei Guangde just chuckled lightly.

The three people placed slightly different bets, but all of them bet on Zou Depu and Li Tingji. The main reason was that one of them was a compiler of the Spring and Autumn Annals and the other of the Book of Changes. Both of them wrote excellent books and their articles were also very good, making it easy for them to stand out.

Moreover, Zou Depu came from a family of officials, with the entire family entering officialdom from the Hongzhi era onwards, continuing to this day. It can be said that every generation produced Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations). In other places, such a family producing several Jinshi is often a local legend.

However, there were far too many such official families in Ji'an Prefecture, Jiangxi Province.

Okay, the Zou family is from Anfu, Jiangxi, which is also part of Ji'an Prefecture, a place where nearly 30% of Jiangxi's Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) come from.

"Then tomorrow, when the results of the betting are announced, shouldn't the winners treat everyone to a meal?"

By then, the two chief examiners should have emerged.

Wang Jiaping said with a cheerful smile.

"It seems like that's possible."

"Let Uncle Zhong handle this; he'll find a place, and we'll all have a great time."

Wei Guangde laughed.

When these high-ranking officials went out drinking, they would either stay at someone's residence or book an entire courtyard, always keeping it discreet.

Ultimately, my identity is different from others.

When the results were announced that evening, Wei Guangde didn't wait all night like those gamblers, having people keep an eye on the announcements at the examination hall. He ate and drank as usual, and went back to his room to sleep when it was time.

In any case, the outcome has already been decided by Yu Youding and Xu Guo.

When you wake up, things will be as they are.

As for winning or losing five thousand taels of silver, it's not a big deal; it's just for fun.

Emperor Wanli, however, has not asked about the money shop during his audiences these past few days, appearing quite composed.

Wei Guangde was unaware that the Wanli Emperor was also anxious, and even more so as night fell, after seeing Zhang Jing's report on the Wei family's loan income.

Based on the information he collected about lending in recent years, he was able to roughly piece together the profits of Wei Guangde's lending business.

The amount ranged from a minimum of over 100,000 taels to a maximum of over 300,0

An income of 300,000 taels of silver means that Wei Guangde lent out a staggering one million taels of silver back then.

The timing of this large sum of money coincided perfectly with the two years when Songjiang Prefecture and Tianjin Weicheng opened their ports.

It is conceivable that many merchants borrowed heavily at that time and poured money into maritime trade.

After several rounds of business operations, the profits were gradually used to repay the debts owed to the Wei family.

Of course, some were unlucky; their ships capsized and their cargo was destroyed at sea, and they ended up having to mortgage their property to the Wei family.

These are all recorded.

However, Emperor Wanli's focus had quietly shifted from supervising whether Wei Guangde was lending money at interest rates exceeding those stipulated by the court to how much money he had and how much silver he could earn in a year through this business.

It's so damn profitable! Even if someone loses money and can't pay off their debts, they still have assets to offset the debts. It's practically a risk-free business.

You can make so much money without doing anything.

In the Imperial Study of the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Wanli put down the documents that Zhang Jing had just delivered, and then took out documents that had been delivered a couple of days ago from a small drawer next to him.

I looked through several documents over and over again; they contained records of the Wei family's lending activities after this period of investigation.

"Master Wei, I never expected you to be so good at managing money."

With your talent, you should have been appointed Minister of Revenue long ago.

Well, but it seems better to stay in the cabinet, as they can oversee the overall situation.

"Just by lending money, they can easily come up with a million taels of silver, as if they're richer than me."

Emperor Wanli muttered a few words, recalling the data Zhang Hong had obtained after investigating the imperial treasury, which showed a mere three million taels of silver.

This was the result after Zhang Jing voluntarily handed over 300,000 taels of silver.

Yes, the audit of the Aoshan Lantern Festival has concluded.

The actual amount of silver consumed was over 400,000 taels, but it was recorded as over 700,000 taels in the accounts.

Then, the Wanli Emperor ordered Zhang Jing to recover the 300,000 taels of silver overspending himself. He had to return 600,000 taels of silver before the matter could be settled.

So far, only over 400,000 taels have been recovered, and 160,000 taels of silver are still missing.

Emperor Wanli was also shocked by the extravagance of his servants. In just three months, these servants almost swindled 300,000 taels of silver from him. This reminded him of his ancestors, no wonder they said you shouldn't be too good to eunuchs.

These good-for-nothings, if you don't teach them a lesson, they'll really take advantage of you.

"If I invest these three million taels of silver, could I generate an annual return of six hundred thousand taels, or nine hundred thousand taels, or even more for the imperial treasury?"

Thinking back to Wei Guangde's earlier analysis, with three million taels of silver invested, it was impossible to lend out all the silver, so it was impossible to calculate the full amount of interest.

Generally speaking, that's what Wei Guangde said: he's confident he can secure 20% of the principal.

As for the security of lending, that is the collateral.

Although the value of collateral may fluctuate at times, the losses are generally not significant.

Because the value of the collateral usually fully covers the debt, and may even exceed it.

"dong dong dong"

Emperor Wanli tapped his fingers lightly on his desk. After a long while, he finally sighed, as if he had made up his mind.

The next day, Wei Guangde entered the cabinet as usual.

Today, most of the cabinet officials on duty had somber faces.

Clearly, these people were the losers in this gambling game surrounding the imperial examination; the people they bet on failed to stand out from the pool of successful candidates.

In other words, the gambling tickets in their hands have become worthless.

Wei Guangde is in pretty good form today. Of his five betting tickets, two were completely wasted, but he still won on the other three.

Li Tingji, Zou Depu, and Wang Xun all won the top spot in the Five Classics Examination. Among them, Li Tingji not only won the top spot in the Book of Changes, but also became the top scholar in the metropolitan examination, also known as the Huiyuan.

Zou Depu and Wang Xun won the top prizes for their respective works on the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Book of Rites.

According to the odds offered by the casino, Wei Guangde's three gambling tickets were no longer just three pieces of paper, but gambling tickets worth 16,000 taels of silver.

"Good loan, Your Excellency."

As soon as Wei Guangde entered the cabinet, before he even reached his own courtyard, he heard Shen Shixing shouting behind him.

Wei Guangde stopped and turned around to see Shen Shixing coming over. He immediately clasped his hands in greeting and said, "Ru Mo, good morning."

"Your Excellency, this is a game where you can win everything."

When I woke up this morning and heard the report from below, I was stunned.

Shen Shixing was naturally referring to the gambling ticket that Wei Guangde had mentioned yesterday.

Of the five people he favored, three became top scholars, and one even became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

Well, if word gets out, no one will say that Grand Secretary Wei is a gambler, but rather that he is a talent scout with the ability to recognize talent.

"Ru Mo, you won this time too, congratulations."

Wei Guangde thought of Shen Shixing's betting slips; he had lost all the others, but Li Tingji's slip had allowed him to win back his losses, so he congratulated him as well. (End of Chapter)