I stole divine power in Daxia

Chapter 457 Let the Silver Fly for a While
There are too many wolves and too little meat. There are only 200,000 shares of the Railway Chamber of Commerce, with a total value of 200,000 taels of silver. This is not enough for the wealthy merchants and families in Tianjing to divide up.

After just a dozen breaths, the red characters that were jumping like waves suddenly stopped. Only then did ordinary people react, "Why did it stop?"

The others thought about it for a moment, then carefully added the purchase orders above, and said in an uncertain tone, "It seems that the 200,000 shares released by Zhou Hou and other noble families have all been bought by others!"

At this time, many small businessmen were beating their chests and stamping their feet. Although they had lined up to come in and were prepared to buy some stocks, when they first came in, they were attracted by the various strange things in the hall and did not immediately line up with the traders.

But there are always a few lucky ordinary people who queue up and successfully buy the product, and then they are overjoyed and say, "I got it, I got it!"

They were proud of the stocks and securities in their hands, probably realizing that they must have made a profit today.

Some practitioners were kindly explaining the various intentions of the exchange to ordinary people. Now they were regarded as opinion leaders, so someone came forward and asked, "Old Taoist priest, is this transaction over?"

The old Taoist priest, who had been so excited just now, looked up at the data that had stopped scrolling, pinched his beard, and said thoughtfully, "There should be a follow-up... No rush."

Sure enough, after a break of about twenty minutes, a new set of data appeared on the market.

Tianjing Railway Chamber of Commerce, two taels of silver per share, a buy order for 10,000 shares.

Because the trading rules had been written in the newspaper a few days before, everyone roughly understood the meaning of pending buy orders, that is, if you have stocks in your hands now, you can go directly to the trading desk to sell them at a price of two taels of silver per share.

The ordinary people who had just bought stocks were stunned, and joy suddenly surged up their cheeks, flushing. In just twenty breaths, the money in their hands doubled.

Some unsure ordinary people came forward and asked the traders at the counter, "I have ten shares in my hand. If I sell them now, can I get twenty taels of silver?"

After training, the trader did not dare to act like a bookkeeper. He knew that the big shots were watching any small move from above. So he nodded kindly and said, "Yes, you can choose to trade in cash or in silver bills."

"Silver bill transaction?"

"Because there are large-scale stock transactions, the exchange space is limited. For convenience, we recommend the 'Central Bank Silver Notes' for general large-scale transactions. Don't worry, these Central Bank Silver Notes are issued by the court. You can exchange them for the equivalent amount of silver at the Ministry of Revenue or any big chamber of commerce in Tianjing, just like the stocks you have in your hands."

Everyone understood his explanation instantly.

Someone hesitated and said, "I don't want the banknotes, just the silver taels, okay?"

"Okay, I'll sell it for you right away?"

The trader continued with a good-natured smile.

"Okay, let's sell it."

He handed the stock ticket in his hand, which was not yet warm, to the trader, who then moved the golden abacus in his hand. These golden abacuses were actually tools similar to the Taixu Illusion Surface, which could input data into the huge central Mingyue system in real time.

The next moment, a new unit price popped up on the huge trading screen.

Tianjing Railway Chamber of Commerce, two taels of silver per share, ten shares sold.

Soon after, people at various counters began to sell, but they were all small orders. Many people regretted their decision the moment they received the money, “Can I not sell it?”

Before, I was worried whether the notes in my hand could be turned into silver. Now that I have the silver, I feel that the notes in my hand are even more attractive.

"Sorry, the transaction has been completed. You can try to place an order to buy two taels of silver, but you need to queue up and wait behind the big order that someone else placed first."

The trader pointed to the screen, and the eye-catching red buy order of 10,000 shares not only did not decrease with the small sell orders, but instead gradually increased due to the increasing number of orders.

20,000 shares of pending orders to buy, 50,000 shares of pending orders to buy, 100,000 shares of pending orders to buy…

Then suddenly a new order appeared.

Tianjing Railway Chamber of Commerce, 2 taels and 2 qian per share, a buy order for 10,000 shares.

This in turn stopped all small selling orders, leaving only pending buy orders.

Tianjin Railway Chamber of Commerce, 2 taels and 3 qian per share, a buy order for 10,000 shares.

······
When the share price of the Railway Chamber of Commerce rose to four taels of silver per share, everyone understood that selling it today at two taels of silver would definitely be a loss.

At this time, at the top floor of the exchange, Zhou Tieyi, Feng Zikuan, Si Lu Qingkonggui, and Simin Dong Xingshu were sitting in the middle, with officials from various departments sitting in a circle outside, and the presidents of major chambers of commerce sitting in a circle outside that.

Although there are conflicts between Confucianism, Legalism and Zhou Tieyi, the Tianjing Exchange is indeed related to the finances of Daxia. For such an important matter, Qingkong Gui and Dong Xingshu must of course be present in person. However, in order to avoid endorsing Zhou Tieyi, they came in alone.

"Lord Zhou, you were so disloyal just now."

The Minister of Finance Shi Changsheng chuckled and said that the hot trading below has proved that the stock and bond method is feasible, so his recent nervous mood has eased a lot.

"How is this unjust?"

Zhou Tieyi asked back with a smile.

He started talking, and the people around him immediately became happy. "Is there any need to say this? Just now, the people were clearly willing to sell their stocks, but you pushed the listing price up."

Zhou Tieyi shook his head. "I bought it because I was afraid that the people would sell my Chamber of Commerce at a low price. Besides, the Train Chamber of Commerce, which costs four taels of silver per share, is priced at eight million taels of silver. Don't you think it's not worth the money?"

Hearing Zhou Tieyi's question, everyone present understood that Zhou Tieyi didn't want to give them an easy advantage.

The Railway Chamber of Commerce is certainly worth eight million taels. Even if Zhou Tieyi is willing to continue to guide the Railway Chamber of Commerce, then let alone eight million taels, even eighty million taels would be worth it.

Because Zhou Tieyi made a big promise that in three years, the Central Bank would generate 100 million taels of revenue for Daxia's finances every year. Then, as the starting point of all Zhou Tieyi's power, how much profit could the Railway Chamber of Commerce, which was like Zhou Tieyi's own son, make from this revenue?
This is the revenue that comes directly from the treasury every year!

Everyone knows how to do the math, but the reality is also cruel. Zhou Tieyi took the initiative to raise the price to warn everyone present not to use any crooked means to buy the shares of the Railway Chamber of Commerce at a low price.

Therefore, rules are set when stocks are traded. Although there are stock tickets, all transactions need to go through the Tianjing Exchange or other officially recognized exchanges in Daxia. Trading is only allowed within the trading venue, otherwise it will be a felony.

Everyone looked embarrassed, and those present just wanted to gain more benefits.

Dong Xingshu didn't think about competing for profits for his family in this regard, so he asked more objectively, "But you raised the price so high, I'm afraid today's trading volume won't be too much." Four taels of silver per share has already deterred ordinary people, and the wealthy families and businessmen have now been warned by Zhou Tieyi that they can only place orders following the four taels of silver. In addition, only 200,000 shares will be released in total. Although compared with the Railway Chamber of Commerce, raising hundreds of thousands of taels of silver is enough to start the construction of the next section of the railway, it is still a drop in the bucket for the Great Xia treasury, which is now short of tens of millions of taels of financial deficit.

"The aroma of wine is not afraid of the depth of the alley."

Zhou Tieyi smiled confidently, and then he looked at the crowd below.

As expected, with small transactions, as long as someone is willing to buy, there will be no problem selling the Railway Chamber of Commerce stocks today. There are only 200,000 shares in circulation, which is a drop in the bucket for the people of Tianjing. What's more, many merchants heard about the stock market and came to the exchange by airship, boat, and train.

When people saw that white papers with the stamps of the Railway Chamber of Commerce and the Central Bank could be turned into silver instantly, they all knew that this thing was profitable.

Therefore, before noon, the exchanges below had already begun to become chaotic, and many people began to organize themselves intentionally or unintentionally, under the banner of petitioning for the people, asking Zhou Tieyi to sell more shares of the Railway Chamber of Commerce.

This trading enthusiasm continued until the closing of the exchange today. Because it was a trial run, the newspapers reported earlier that the entire exchange now opens at noon and trading only continues until after noon.

When tens of thousands of people came out of the stock exchange and spontaneously rushed to Tianjing with a tide of wealth, there was no need for Zhou Tieyi to promote it. Now ordinary people in Tianjing have already determined that as long as they can buy stocks, it is equivalent to picking up silver for free.

All the previous judgments were now regarded as the golden rule by the people. After all, Zhou Tieyi and the major families in Tianjin still held the remaining 90% of the Railway Chamber of Commerce's shares!

"Additional issue! Additional issue of Tianjing News! New shares listed on the exchange!"

While the people were discussing stocks, Zhou Tieyi certainly did not hesitate to add fuel to the fire. In the past, when there were so many major events, the Tianjing Daily did not issue additional issues, but this time, it issued an additional issue specifically for stocks.

"Have some!"

"I'll have one too!"

"Don't grab it, newsboy. I'll give you five cents for one copy!"

……

People haven’t had time to grab the stocks yet, but now they are scrambling for them in the Tianjing News.

Zhou Tieyi did this on purpose. For some unknown reason, there were not enough copies of Tianjing News today. If you wanted to buy more and get first-hand information, you had to pay more.

It’s not that Zhou Tieyi is short of this little money, he just wants everyone to understand that if they want to buy stocks, they have to pay a higher price to buy them.

Wangluo Garden of the Southeast Chamber of Commerce was packed with people today. After noon, Qian Guangyun came out of the exchange to receive people one after another. The small and medium-sized merchants did not have direct access to information from above, but they dared to gamble. Today they just wanted to hear Qian Guangyun's words and ask whether they could bid higher than Zhou Tieyi's price in tomorrow's transaction.

Because the number of copies of this evening edition was controlled, it was kept extremely confidential. Before it was published in the afternoon, Zhou Tieyi did not even tell Qian Guangyun about the news.

At this time, many businessmen were sitting around a table, and even they might not be able to buy a newspaper every time. In the flower hall, the big businessmen surrounded Qian Guangyun, wanting to hear Qian Guangyun's interpretation.

Qian Guangyun picked up the newspaper and read it carefully. The general idea was that due to the current hot stock trading market and the shortage of supply, the exchange decided to list four new stocks.

Baizhishan Coal and Steel Plant, Tianjing Merchants Shipyard, Pingjin Ferry Shipyard and Steam Airship Factory.

The above details the operating conditions and shareholding structure of each factory.

"That's great, Mr. Qian!"

A big businessman who was familiar with Qian Guangyun said in surprise, "The stocks of this shipyard and airship factory are only slightly worse than those of the Railway Chamber of Commerce."

Not only is the Railway Chamber of Commerce a shareholder behind the Tianjing Shipyard, but most importantly, it is presided over by the Fourth Prince Li Jing. This is the real emperor's food. Moreover, the competition route is different from that of the Railway Chamber of Commerce, and there will be no conflict between the two.

The only one who hesitated was the Pingjin Ferry Shipyard. Although this was also presided over by royal relatives, the Ning Wang Mansion lost a lot of points in the ink stone case this time. I wonder what the final verdict will be.

The Steam Airship Factory is also good in everyone's eyes, because it has been stated above that the main shareholders are Mocheng and Jiguacheng, which is equivalent to being endorsed by the Mohist and Gongshu families. It mainly manufactures low-altitude airships and high-altitude flying peng.

Low-altitude airships have already begun commercial operation in Shantong Prefecture, but Tianjing does not know the results yet. However, all the schools of thought are well aware of the profitability of high-altitude flying wing. Now that the Mohist School is willing to invest all its assets in it, and with the cooperation of a Gongshu School who is also proficient in machinery, the prospects are no less than those of the Railway Chamber of Commerce.

The only thing that puzzled everyone was the coal and steel plant in Shantongfu. Everyone knew that Zhou Tieyi was backing this company, and it was also Zhou Tieyi's trump card for reform in Shantongfu. However, the revenue data listed above was really too poor. Compared with several other companies that could lay golden eggs, it was really like putting a coal ball in a pile of gold.

"It's a good thing."

Qian Guangyun put down the newspaper and tapped it, "I have something to discuss with you."

"Mr. Qian, please speak."

······
The next day, as soon as the noon hour passed, a large number of people poured into the Tianjing Stock Exchange. However, today, no one focused on observing the peculiar environment around them, but lined up in front of the counter. At this time, everyone knew that stocks were a profitable business. As long as they bought in, it would be no problem to make four times the money in a day.

As soon as the trading time arrives, you can hear the sound of excitement rising and falling like waves in the exchange.

“It’s going up, it’s going up!”

The first to start rising was undoubtedly the Railway Chamber of Commerce, which began a slow but steady rise from yesterday's closing price of four taels and two cents of silver per share.

The price of pending buy orders kept rising, but until it reached five taels of silver per share, there were no transaction orders, only rows of red pending buy orders were displayed.

In comparison, although the prices of Tianjing Merchants Shipyard, Pingjin Ferry Shipyard, and Steam Airship Factory were also rising, at least sporadic transactions were occurring, just like the Railway Chamber of Commerce yesterday.

The only one that was different from the other factories was the coal and steel plant in Shantongfu, because yesterday's newspapers disclosed in detail the operating conditions of several factories and the shareholders behind them.

Although everyone knows that the Coal and Steel Plant is part of Zhou Tieyi's reform, each of the other plants is also a part of it. The Coal and Steel Plant not only has a low total price, but is also expected to make losses. After this simple comparison, everyone is naturally unwilling to buy it easily.

"Zhou Hou, it seems that this stock has both good and bad sides."

The three officials and hall officials are not here today, so the presidents of the various chambers of commerce can naturally get closer to Zhou Tieyi, the president of the Northern Province Chamber of Commerce asked tentatively.

Zhou Tieyi looked down at the huge trading screen below and said with a smile, "No hurry, let the money fly for a while."

(End of this chapter)