Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 342 Real Estate Transactions
"Wei Chao." After giving the order to Wang An, Zhu Changluo looked at Wei Chao again.

"The servant is here."

"Before paying salaries next month, prepare enough silver for each branch." Zhu Changluo ordered.

"Yes." Wei Chao replied.

Zhu Changluo asked, "Has anyone been chosen for the position of president of the Beijing branch?"

Wei Chao was visibly stunned. "No one's chosen yet."

"Perfect. Let's give that guy named Hui Jingao the job. Since he has business talent and ideas, let him handle the branch office." Zhu Changluo thought for a moment and said, "First, have him draw up a plan and map. Tell him where to open the branch, why it should be opened there, how much capital each location will require, how many people will be hired, and what the monthly operating costs will be. Have him clearly state it."

"Yes." Wei Chao replied.

"Wang An," Zhu Changluo ordered Wang An again, "The Imperial Household Department should select some young men with sharp minds and equip him with a team as soon as possible."

"Yes." Wang An replied.

"Tell me about what happened this morning." Zhu Changluo picked up a memorial and laughed as he opened it. "Oh, news spreads fast. Johann Adam Schall von Bell caused a scene at the Imperial Examination Hall yesterday, and today someone is impeaching the Imperial Observatory officials for disrupting order."

Zhu Changluo held in his hand an impeachment letter from Zhou Shipu, a censor of the Ministry of Rites, against Johann Adam Schall von Bell. The Imperial Observatory was under the Ministry of Rites, so the impeachment by Zhou Shipu was a legitimate impeachment. However, Zhu Changluo tossed the letter aside without even reading the contents. This was a classic example of not reporting.

"Go ahead." Zhu Changluo nodded towards Wei Chao, then picked up another memorial.

Wei Chao then realized that the emperor was calling him. "Yes!" Wei Chao replied, quickly putting down his pen and saying, "The man has been released."

Zhu Changluo waited for a moment. "Are you done yet?"

"That's right." Wei Chao took the opportunity to flatter him. "How dare the Northern Pacification Office disobey my orders, as I have the power of heaven."

"Tell me everything you saw and heard, from beginning to end. Who did you meet and how did they react? Just saying he was released is nonsense." Zhu Changluo finished reviewing another meaningless memorial. "Have you not read the Jinyiwei's investigation report?"

Wei Chao had indeed never seen the Jinyiwei's investigation report; he wasn't in charge of that area, and Wang An wouldn't show it to him. But he had seen storytellers, so he coughed lightly and briefly described his own experience of releasing the prisoners in the form of a story.

During this time, Zhu Changluo did not interrupt until Wei Chao mentioned the scholar who took in Johann Adam Schall von Bell.

"You said his name is Sun Yuanhua?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"In reply to the Lord's words, yes." Wei Chao replied.

"Then why was Sun Yuanhua captured together with Johann Adam Schall von Bell by the Northern Pacification Office?"

"Tang Ruowang said that after the foreigner's house was sealed, he had nowhere else to go, so he had to stay at Sun Yuanhua's house," Wei Chao said, pausing. "But Tang Ruowang was lying."

"What lie?" Zhu Changluo asked again.

Wei Chao said, "The report I received while on duty said that when Tang Ruowang was causing trouble in the Imperial Examination Hall, someone took him away. I think this person must be Sun Yuanhua."

"You exposed him?"

"No." Wei Chao shook his head. "I figured Tang Guanzheng would need somewhere to go after he got out, so I released him. Do you want to send someone to investigate Sun Yuanhua's background?"

"I checked it a long time ago," Wang An interrupted. "Sun Yuanhua is a fellow townsman of Xu Libu and also his student. He came to Beijing at the end of last year. He lived in Xu's mansion for a while, and then moved out after finding a place to live. If he hasn't moved, he should be living in the Paozi River area of ​​Mingshifang now."

As one of the six ministers, Xu Guangqi enjoyed the one-on-one surveillance services of the Imperial Guards. From the day Sun Yuanhua arrived at the Xu family's residence, he had become a target of the Imperial Guards' attention.

The Imperial Guard initiated a preliminary investigation into Sun Yuanhua. When the report was sent to the Imperial Household Department, Wang An paid little attention to it, even nearly forgetting the man's name. However, when the words "Gongyuan," "Xu Guangqi," "Jesuits," and "Johann Adam Schall von Bell" came together, Wang An remembered the incident.

"Yeah." Zhu Changluo nodded. "Let him live there."

--------

Zhengyangmen Branch.

Unaware of his promotion and the impending arrival on the scene, Hui Jingao leaned against the counter, flipping through a copy of Geometry's Elements, a translation by Xu Guangqi and the former Jesuit president, Matteo Ricci. Printed on the title page of Geometry were Xu Guangqi's comments: "This book is beneficial. It can help those who study theory to dispel superficiality and cultivate meticulousness; it can help those who study practical matters to establish principles and unleash their ingenuity. Therefore, everyone in the world should learn from it."

This book was a key reason why Ye Xianggao was willing to intervene and secure a burial place for Matteo Ricci. In his memorial to Emperor Shenzong, Ye Xianggao stated: "Leaving aside other matters, the translation of Geometry's Elements alone is the only one that deserves a burial place."

But the copy of the Elements in Hui Jingao's hands was only a fragment. The complete text consisted of thirteen volumes, but Xu Guangqi and Ricci collaborated on translating only six of them, covering plane geometry. The remaining seven volumes were shelved indefinitely due to Ricci's death.

Hui Jingao read this book not for practical purposes. He simply passed the time and absorbed some knowledge that could be applied to other situations. The knowledge he was being force-fed while assisting with the auditing of accounts at the Imperial Household Department was dictated by the emperor to Concubine Mi, who then passed it on to the auditing team at the Western Factory. It was eventually compiled into a book by the Imperial Household Department, titled "Arabic Numerals and Double-Entry Bookkeeping," also known as "An Introduction to Western Numerals and Accounting."

After the bank closed every day, Hui Jingao would give classes to those employees who could read, imparting to them the knowledge from "Introduction to Western Mathematics and Accounting".

jingle!

There was a brass bell hanging at the door of the branch. Just a gentle touch would alert the shop assistants that a customer had arrived.

Hui Jingao heard the sound, stuck the bookmark into the page, then closed the book and put it aside.

"Sir," Hui Jingao said with a smile, "what business are you planning to conduct?"

"Business?" The visitor looked quite young, dressed like a nobleman, but his face looked a little haggard.

"Deposits, withdrawals, loans, pawning. Our bank covers everything," Hui Jingao explained.

The young man nodded. "I'm here to cash it." "Cash it?" Hui Jingao was stunned. "Where did you get the banknotes?" Generally, bankers wouldn't ask customers about the source of their banknotes; they'd simply cash them after verifying they were correct. But so far, the Zhengyangmen branch hadn't issued a single banknote, and Hui Jingao suspected the situation at other branches was similar.

"It was a reward from the emperor to my father-in-law." The young man took out a silver note of two hundred taels from his sleeve pocket.

"May I ask who your father is?" Hui Jingao took the banknote, looked it up and down, and asked.

Li Tingyuan replied, "My father's real name is Ruhua. He was formerly the Minister of Revenue and was promoted to the position of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince." Yesterday, eunuchs arrived at Li Ruhua's home with the imperial edict allowing Li Ruhua to retire and return home, along with the corresponding rewards. From the moment he received the edict, Li Ruhua was no longer the Grand Tutor of the Ming Dynasty.

"Oh!" Hui Jingao suddenly realized. "You're going back home so soon?"

"Yes." Li Tingyuan replied.

"Please wait a moment." Although Hui Jingao did not think that the banknotes could be fake, he still followed the regulations and carefully examined the anti-counterfeiting mark.

After confirming that everything was correct, Hui Jingao used the key he carried with him to open the counter and took out five twenty-tael and ten ten-tael standard silver bars.

These silver bars were all newly minted. The silver seized from the East Factory raids had essentially been cast into bars. The fronts were marked with markings for the different weights. Simply cut along the markings with scissors to create a silver nugget of the corresponding weight.

"Beijing notes are exchanged in Beijing, no fees." Hui Jingao placed the silver bars on a tray and pushed them to Li Tingyuan through a small window under the wooden fence. "Two hundred taels in total. There are scissors and a scale on the table over there. You can check it. If you have your own scale, you can use it." He extended his hand to guide.

"Is this an official ingot?" Li Tingyuan was a little surprised when he saw silver in this shape for the first time.

"It's made of full-color silver with embossed patterns, made in the palace. The casting place, weight and the silversmith's name are all on the back. The shape was changed to facilitate circulation." Hui Jingao thought it would be better to just make a sign and put it on the counter, and he was too lazy to explain.

Li Tingyuan picked up a silver bar and turned it over. He found that, like other official ingots, it was engraved with the place of origin, weight, and name of the silversmith. "Is this shop owned by the palace?"

"Of course." Hui Jingao took off his badge and showed it to Li Tingyuan.

Li Tingyuan saw the badge and bowed to Hui Jingao. "I greet Hui Sizheng."

"Mr. Li, you're very polite." Hui Jingao stood up to return the greeting and pointed to the plate of silver bars. "Let's check it out."

"Put it away." The Li family's servant brought a scale and scissors, but Li Tingyuan still asked the housekeeper to put the silver into a box and take it away.

"Mr. Li, are you still going to sell the property?" Hui Jingao put away the tray.

"Yes." Li Tingyuan asked, "Do you also do real estate business here?"

"Of course. Whatever money shops, bill shops, pawnshops and brokerages can do, my Sun Moon Bank can do as well." Hui Jingao nodded.

Li Tingyuan hesitated for a moment, then pulled out an unsealed envelope from his pocket. He carefully opened it and pulled out a large, folded piece of paper. He handed it to Hui Jingao. "This is the deed. Take a look and give me an estimate."

Hui Jingao took the deed and read it thoroughly. It was a typical red deed, recording the house's width and depth, number of rooms, location, terms of sale, nature of the transaction, signatures of both parties and the intermediary, and most importantly, the seal of the Shuntian Prefecture. This information guaranteed the legitimacy of the previous house sale and established the "purchaser," Li Tingyuan,'s ownership of the property.

"The house in Nanxunfang has three courtyards. The last purchase price was 3,600 taels, and the deed tax was 120 taels."

Real estate prices in the capital varied greatly. In the outer city, properties generally cost only thirty or forty taels of silver. In Nanxunfang, the cheapest property could cost over a thousand taels of silver, and often remained unsold. Even the large, three-story courtyard house purchased by the foreigners in Zhengxifang was worth less than the smaller courtyards in Nanxunfang.

After looking at it, Hui Jingao didn't make an offer immediately. Instead, he asked, "Would you like to list this property on consignment, or sell it directly to me?"

"It's not consignment anymore. If you're willing to come forward, we'll sell it to you." According to real estate transaction practice, the seller usually finds an intermediary, such as a real estate agent. If the seller isn't in a hurry, they can post the property information on the real estate agent's lobby bulletin board or directly ask them to contact potential buyers. This is considered consignment. If the seller is in a hurry to sell, the real estate agent will find someone to buy the property at a lower price than the consignment price and then resell it. Therefore, Li Tingyuan believed that Hui Jingao was willing to act as the main transaction agent.

"It's not about selling it to me, it's about selling it to me." Hui Jingao corrected.

"Is there any difference?" Li Tingyuan was puzzled.

"Yes." Hui Jingao turned the deed over, pointed to the buyer's location, and said to Li Tingyuan, "This place will be signed with the name of the Zhengyangmen branch of the Sun Moon Bank, Beijing Branch, not my name."

"Huh?" Li Tingyuan pointed to the official seal. "Shouldn't it be signed here?"

"Actually, I don't really understand. But our bank isn't a government office, so this place still needs to be stamped with the seal of the Shuntian Prefecture Office." Hui Jingao thought for a moment and vaguely explained, "Let's just say our bank bought your house."

"Will the government recognize it?" Li Tingyuan was a little hesitant. He had never seen such a transaction method before.

"What do you think?" Hui Jingao asked with a smile.

Li Tingyuan nodded. "Name your price."

"Hehe." Hui Jingao raised his hand and chopped it down. "Three thousand taels. You..."

"Okay." Li Tingyuan agreed before Hui Jingao started to explain the reason.

Hui Jingao was shocked and thought: How could he not feel any pity for selling his father's land? He can't even bargain?
Hui Jingao felt a little distressed due to his businessman's instinct. From the moment Li Tingyuan nodded, he blamed himself for not reporting 2,500 taels.

But what Hui Jingao didn't know was that the Li family's servant had already inquired at other pawnshops and brokerages, and the quotes given were all roughly the same, with the difference ranging from a hundred taels to three thousand taels. Furthermore, when the servant inquired, he only mentioned the location of the mansion, without the price on the title deed as an anchor.

It wasn't that Li Tingyuan couldn't bargain, but he didn't want to waste any more time on money. His father's health was getting worse, and in the next two days, he would arrange everything and take his father back to his hometown in the south.

"Then let's sign a blank contract first." Hui Jingao returned the red contract to Li Tingyuan, then opened an unlocked drawer and took out a blank contract printed by the Silijian Jingchang.

"it is good."

"Show the guests into the tea room!" Hui Jingao shouted, and immediately a waiter came over to greet Li Tingyuan.

(End of this chapter)