The Six Arts of the Gentleman in the Bright Moon of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 1169: Running away with the money [Subscription*Monthly ticket requested]

"But even so, one city, one county, even if Bingzhou and the Mo family are rich, at best they can only have enough initial funds to build three or five county cities, right?"

Ying Zheng was not completely ignorant, but with a rough calculation he knew that the amount of money would be an astronomical figure.

After all, it is easy to destroy but difficult to rebuild.

Bingzhou has only been around for a few years, it is impossible for it to have accumulated so much wealth.

"us!"

Li Yao looked very unhappy.

These nobles were frightened by Wei Ju's tricks.

As a result, there is no end to one pit, and another one comes.

The "we" he was referring to here was not the Qin State, but rather the old aristocratic families of the Qin State.

Bingzhou did not have that much money, and building cities and houses in counties and prefectures across Qin naturally required dealings with local gentry.

After all, it is easy to send away the King of Hell, but it is difficult to deal with the little ghosts.

Without dealing with local tyrants, even Bingzhou and Mojia would find it difficult to obtain construction materials at normal prices or even at prices lower than the market price.

Therefore, if nothing unexpected happens, the big pie created by Bingzhou and Mohism will inevitably attract local officials and nobles to get involved and share a piece of the pie.

Neither the Mohist School nor Bingzhou were suitable to come forward, so the Iron Blood Alliance also emerged.

After all, the Iron Blood Alliance was the one that the Mohists dealt with most with local officials and nobles.

Coupled with the Iron Blood Alliance's credibility guarantee, no one in the world dares to default on the loans they lend out. This is credibility.

After all, the Mohist School and Bingzhou were too big. Some small cities and small nobles might have heard of them or thought about them, but the Iron Blood Alliance was known to all the nobles in various places.

"The great Qin nobles!" Ying Zheng's face also looked ugly.

The gentry were the nobles of the Qin Dynasty, but even though he was the First Emperor of Qin, the supreme monarch, he could not simply ask the gentry for money.

Even if he wanted to build the Afang Palace and the Imperial Mausoleum in Mount Li, he could not ask the gentry for money. At most, he could take the initiative to donate money, but the Censorate would never allow them to accept it.

After all, there is too much room for selling official positions and titles.

During the reign of Duke Xiao, due to years of war and the five generations of chaos in Qin, the Qin treasury was empty, talents flowed out, and Shandong scholars did not enter Qin.

Therefore, when Shang Yang carried out reforms, in order to fill the national treasury, the Qin State had to allow the sale of titles and allow the common people and nobles to exchange titles for donations of grain, money and materials, breaking the pattern that titles were exclusive to the nobles.

However, Shang Jun also knew that this was not a long-term solution, so the method of donating titles was only used for a period of time during special periods.

During the reign of Emperor Ying Zheng, it was opened once to deal with a disaster.

But even during the most difficult years, the entire Qin aristocracy did not seem to be willing to sacrifice their homes and donate to the Qin State to tide over the difficulties together with the Qin State. What's funny is that the assets donated by the entire Qin aristocracy were less than one million yuan.

This is also the fundamental reason why Ying Zheng had to start donating titles again.

Now, even if Bingzhou and Mohism do nothing, these nobles will rush to contribute money, and they are willing to invest nearly half of their fortunes.

An unknown anger rose in Ying Zheng's heart. Although he knew this was normal, he still felt very uncomfortable.

It is human instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm. Dynasties come and go, but nobles remain. If you can’t stay in the Qin Dynasty, the worst that can happen is that you can change to another country!
This is the way of survival for the aristocratic families.

Only if there is benefit can they really spend money.

"You will be killed by Bingzhou sooner or later!" Ying Zheng said with resentment.

Ying Zheng even thought that if the Huamo Chamber of Commerce accepted the down payment from officials and the investment funds from local gentry, and then took the money and ran away without building the building... the scene would be so beautiful that Ying Zheng could hardly bear to look at it.

"It shouldn't be that serious. That's Bingzhou and the Mohist School!" Li Yao also hesitated.

They also trusted Wei Ju so much in the beginning, but ended up falling into the abyss of the navy. The word "pit" is not enough to describe it, it is completely a bottomless abyss.

"I am talking about hypothetical situations. If Bingzhou took the money but didn't want to build the building, and deliberately created friction with Daqin on the border, and then stopped building and ran away with the money, can you still catch up with Bingzhou?"

"What's worse, I discussed with Emperor Xuanwu to swallow up this money and deliberately create the illusion that the two countries are at odds. This money..."

Ying Zheng looked at Li Yao with a smile.

The more I think about it, the more I feel that I can do this. Although it is not very authentic, it would be an astronomical amount of wealth.

Moreover, it is completely a free-for-all, a business with no cost at all, so it is definitely worth doing.

It just has a bad reputation.

But it was Bingzhou and Mohism whose reputation was ruined. What does it have to do with Zhao Zheng? Our Great Qin is still the victim!

"That's not good. If Your Majesty really does this, Qin will definitely go to war!" Li Yao also found that what Ying Zheng said was very likely to happen.

Fortunately, they are the Qin nobles, not the Qin Dynasty.

Even the royal family could pretend to be involved and become a victim, but secretly make peace with Bingzhou and Mohism and make a fortune. The gentry could only suffer in silence.

"I am just reminding you that the Mohists may be good people, but Emperor Xuanwu has never been a good person. He is wearing the cloak of an emperor and a Confucianist, but he is actually very cruel!" Ying Zheng said with a smile.

If Bingzhou really dares to do that, it would be drinking the blood of the Qin nobles and peeling off their skin. The Qin nobles would never tolerate it, and a war would inevitably break out between Qin and Bingzhou.

Even if you know you may not win, you will definitely fight.

Cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. Moreover, if Bingzhou really did this, it would be swallowing up the accumulation of several generations of the gentry. It would be a problem if the gentry did not react. By then, no one could stop this group of red-eyed gentry.

"But... this is real money-making!"

Li Yao said helplessly.

Just because they can see the risks doesn’t mean the local gentry can have such foresight.

After all, to put it bluntly, the Huamo Chamber of Commerce is backed by Bingzhou, Qin State and Mohism!

Who would believe that the Huamo Chamber of Commerce, which is backed by the country and everyone, could do such a thing.

"It is better to be cautious. I have never hesitated to make malicious speculations about the character of Emperor Xuanwu. He might really do such a thing!" Ying Zheng said seriously.

During the most difficult years in Bingzhou, Yan Yan did everything.

What bottom line do you expect from a king who even rents out his army and elite blood cavalry as mercenaries?

"I can't stop it!" Li Yao spread his hands helplessly.

The pie painted by Bingzhou and Mohism was too big and too real for the gentry to refuse.

Therefore, even if he tried to stop it, the local gentry would only regard him as an enemy who was preventing them from getting rich, and then the local gentry would kill him!

"I know. After all, I have also invested a lot of money from the treasury. Chang'an and Wannian County are the main construction projects of the Huamo Chamber of Commerce, and the construction is undertaken by the Qin Public Office!" Ying Zheng spread his hands helplessly.

Chang'an and Wannian counties were the citadels of Xianyang and also the royal capital, so the contractor could only be the Qin royal family. The royal family naturally could not miss this opportunity. Therefore, Ying Zheng secretly withdrew part of the funds from the treasury and invested them.

(End of this chapter)