Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 455: Huge sum of money and Tianjin Tanggu branch
The imperial wall divides the capital into two parts: the noisy and bustling one and the orderly and solemn one. No matter how fierce the noise outside, as long as the wall remains, most people inside will only care about their own affairs, not the affairs of the country. But whether it is personal affairs or national affairs, they are all matters of the world.

At six quarters in the morning, the road from Neichengyunku to Dong'anmen was filled with soldiers on duty, with guards every five steps and sentries every ten steps. Although these soldiers were not here for cases outside the imperial city, it cannot be said that they had nothing to do with the major cases that were stirring up the capital.

Because one of the targets they were protecting was the Liaodong military pay mentioned in the impeachment letter from the East Factory.

To prevent the noise from the Imperial City from disturbing the Emperor, who resided deep within the Forbidden City, the Donghua Gate was also placed under martial law. The main roads were blocked, and entry and exit were restricted. However, a senior eunuch in a crimson dragon robe, accompanied by a group of eunuchs in green robes, managed to pass through the Donghua Gate and, along the heavily guarded avenue, arrived at the Neichengyunku warehouse.

When the eunuch arrived, all the silver boxes had been loaded onto the cart, and the oxen pulling the cart were ready to set off. They just needed the driver to get on the cart and wave the ropes, and the oxen, having eaten and drunk their fill, would start walking and gradually leave.

"Your servant pays homage to the great ancestor." Without waiting for Wei Chao to get closer, the eunuch Wu Mingzhe, who was in charge of the inner transport warehouse, brought people to greet him.

"Manager Wu, please get up quickly. There's no need for such a grand ceremony." Wei Chao took two steps at a time and firmly supported Wu Mingzhe's shoulders before he knelt down completely.

Although Wu Mingzhe was not a high-ranking official in the Imperial Palace, he was still an "old man" from the Imperial Palace. Wei Chao was very respectful to these "old men" and rarely acted like a eunuch except when announcing decrees or issuing orders.

Wu Mingzhe was also very sensible. Although Wei Chao supported him, he still struggled. After he had made up his mind to "want to kneel but can't", Wu Mingzhe "reluctantly" stood up, made a deep bow, and said, "I am uneasy because I can't complete the etiquette."

Wei Chao took Wu Mingzhe's hand, patting it with a smile. "As far as serving the Lord is concerned, I have to call Wu Zhangku 'Sir.' As a student, how can I possibly deserve such respect?" This was a rather respectful statement, not only honoring Wu Mingzhe but also implicitly praising the Emperor. Today's conversation might not necessarily reach the Emperor's ears, but Wei Chao firmly believed that as long as he kept this string taut, the Emperor would always be able to hear his loyalty from others.

"Ah. Great Ancestor, you really are embarrassing me." Wu Mingzhe said modestly, "Even if I ascend to heaven with the enlightened immortal, I'm still just a bunch of chickens and dogs."

"Look at what you said." Wei Chao complimented him again, "Who can manage so much silver?"

"Your Majesty, don't say anything. The more money there is in this treasury, the more sleepless I become. I'm afraid something will go wrong and betray the trust of our Lord." Despite his humble demeanor, Wu Mingzhe never stopped talking about the emperor. Though he was relatively mediocre and unable to accomplish anything significant, he had a clear mind. As long as he made no mistakes and the emperor didn't fall ill, no one in the palace, big or small, would look down on him.

"Is the silver ready?" Wei Chao got straight to the point.

"Everything is ready." Wu Mingzhe waved his hand, directing Wei Chao's gaze towards the oxcarts parked on both sides of the road. "A total of 1.3 million taels of silver, all loaded onto the carts."

This time, a significant amount of silver needed to be shipped out of the warehouse, physically demanding the workload. At dawn, Wu Mingzhe, along with the personnel from the shipping warehouse and the Western Factory, began the process of moving the silver out of the warehouse. Even so, they only just managed to complete the entire shipment. Wei Chao arrived just in time.

"Thank you for your hard work." Wei Chao smiled and nodded. Then, his gaze passed Wu Mingzhe and cast to the bank eunuchs behind Wu Mingzhe. "Where are the banknotes?"

Just because Wu Mingzhe didn't kneel didn't mean that others wouldn't kneel either. And because Wei Chao hadn't asked the other eunuchs to stand up, the leading bank eunuch only dared to kneel and walk to Wei Chao's side to answer.

"Your Majesty, the two boxes of banknotes were delivered early this morning. We are just waiting for the treasury to take the cash out of the warehouse and load it onto the truck so that we can leave together." The eunuch who answered was Li Fengxiang, deputy director of the General Affairs Bureau of the Sun Moon Bank.

Li Fengxiang was a rare figure of integrity within the inner court. During the Great Purge, the West and East Factories investigated him several times but found no evidence of corruption or abuse of power. Therefore, despite having no prior ties to the Emperor or the current eunuchs, he was recommended by Wang An and, after the Sun Moon Bank's establishment, was transferred to the position of Deputy Director of the General Affairs Bureau.

Li Fengxiang had previously served as the Left Junior Supervisor of the Grand Supervisory Office, but his transfer to Deputy Director wasn't really a demotion, as the Grand Supervisory Office had been eliminated following the restructuring. Furthermore, because the Sun Moon Bank was still relatively small, it didn't need so many high-ranking eunuchs drawing lavish salaries. The positions of Chief Eunuch, Left and Right Junior Supervisors, and even Director of the General Affairs Bureau were all vacant. Li Fengxiang, who reported directly to Wei Chao, effectively became Sun Moon Bank's second-in-command. This represented a significant increase in both his actual authority and salary.

Everyone in the government could foresee that unless Li Fengxiang made a catastrophic mistake, he would inevitably rise through the ranks as the bank grew and expanded. If he earned the emperor's approval due to his performance, promotion to the position of Chief Eunuch, or even to the position of Cardinal, holding the seal of the Sun Moon Bank, was not impossible.

"Where is the box?" Wei Chao asked.

"My dear ancestor," Li Fengxiang said, turning slightly to the side and pointing behind Wei Chao, in the direction of the storage gate. "Those two carts at the gate." Wei Chao turned around and looked, and the drivers of the two carts also raised their hands and waved to him.

"Did you bring the record of banknotes leaving the warehouse?" Wei Chao turned around and asked again.

"I brought them," Li Fengxiang said. He had worked with Wei Chao at the bank for some time and knew his work style, which was very thorough. "It's all here," he replied, pulling out the record book containing the withdrawal slip and the order from the Imperial Household Department.

Wei Chao leaned over to take it, and without even looking at the order stamped with the seal of the Imperial Household Department, he directly pulled out the withdrawal slip.

There were two withdrawal slips, one from the Tianjin branch and the other from the Tanggu branch, each for 500,000 taels, for a total of one million taels. Each withdrawal slip bore the names of four individuals: the Sun Moon Bank's deputy general affairs director, the Sun Moon Bank's deputy internal supervisor, the president of a local branch, and the supervisor of the Western Investigation Bureau stationed at the Sun Moon Bank headquarters.

If any one of these four were missing, they wouldn't be able to withdraw even a single ounce of silver from the bank's banknote vault. As for President Wei Chao, his signature appeared after "Wang An" on the order from the Imperial Household Department. "Then go back and file it." After confirming that the withdrawal slips contained all the necessary information and that the total withdrawal amount, the order amount, and the amount on the retained records matched, Wei Chao returned the items to Li Fengxiang.

"Yes." Li Fengxiang took it with both hands, put it in his arms, and kept it in his arms like a treasure.

"Your Majesty," Wu Mingzhe then produced the withdrawal slips and records from the Neichengyunku and presented them to Wei Chao. "These are withdrawal slips from the Tianjin and Tanggu branches, each for 500,000 taels of silver, totaling one million taels. Please review them, Your Majesty."

Since banknotes and cash were managed by the Bank and the Treasury, respectively, withdrawal orders from the Imperial Household Department were also executed separately. For this transport, the Sun Moon Bank and the Internal Transport Treasury withdrew a massive sum of 2.3 million taels of silver. This included 1 million taels in banknotes and 1.3 million taels in cash. Only 300,000 taels of the 1.3 million taels in cash were distributed to Liaodong as military pay.

The remaining one million taels of silver notes and one million taels of silver in cash were issued as opening reserves for the two new branches in Tianjin and Tanggu.

The reason for this massive, one-time grant, in addition to further expanding the bank's territory and promoting the nation's monetary credit system, was also to facilitate the development of risky financial operations within the designated special economic zone of Jintang. The emperor had decided to pilot commercial lending programs in the Jintang region, including those aimed at supporting agriculture, businesses, and industry. This would help various economic entities expand their production and combat usury at an economic level.

Wei Chao extended his hand, but after a pause, he retracted it. "I don't manage the internal transport warehouse. This is against the rules, so I won't approve it."

Although Wei Chao was the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, and the Neichengyunku was a subordinate government agency directly under the Imperial Household Department, and the emperor hadn't forbidden him from interfering in the affairs of the Neichengyunku, Wei Chao felt it was best to keep his head above water and avoid the issue. Otherwise, the emperor wouldn't have needed to separate the bank and the treasury into two separate institutions. Furthermore, Wei Chao clearly remembered that Wang An only allowed him to sign the withdrawal order to the bank, not the one to the Neichengyunku.

"It has the signatures of Branch Presidents Chu and Gao." Wu Mingzhe glanced at Tianjin Branch President Chu Xianzhang and Tanggu Branch President Gao Guojing, who were kneeling behind Li Fengxiang. "Can you see anything wrong with their signatures?"

Wei Chao shook his head and said firmly, "Put it away. If I want to see it, I'll do it in the Imperial Household Department."

"Okay." Wu Mingzhe stopped persuading.

At this moment, Wei Chao said to the eunuchs kneeling on the ground: "Everyone, stand up."

"Thank you, Great Ancestor!" the eunuchs shouted.

With so many people, the ceremony looked grand, and it also satisfied Wei Chao's vanity. Wei Chao nodded with satisfaction. He tried his best to appear calm, but the corners of his mouth were almost curled up to the sky. "Let's go."

"Let's go!" With Wu Mingzhe's order, the entire ox caravan slowly moved under the joint escort of the inner transport soldiers and the direct guards.

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This escorted shipment was divided into four stages. The first was the Beijing section, or land transport section, from the Neichengyun warehouse to the Canal Transport Wharf. Once the cash and banknotes were loaded onto the ship at the Canal Transport Wharf as planned, the escorted shipment would proceed to the Canal Transport section from Beijing to Tianjin.

The canal transport section was escorted along the river by a thousand cavalrymen from the Beijing Camp, who had received the transfer order long ago, and a fully staffed squadron from the Western Factory Executive Bureau. The internal transport warehouse soldiers and direct guards returned to their bases after the silver was loaded onto the ships. The canal transport section had two intermediate stops: Tongzhou and Hexiwu. The fleet would arrive in Tongzhou during the day today and rest there. Tomorrow, the fleet would reach Hexiwu. The day after tomorrow, the fleet would arrive in Tianjin.

Upon arrival in Tianjin, the fleet would split into two: the silver ship carrying the Tianjin branch's reserves would stop to unload, and the Beijing cavalry would return to their base. The silver ship carrying the Tanggu branch's reserves and Liaodong military pay would then proceed along the Haihe River to the third stage of transport: the river transport section.

This section of the route, jointly escorted by the Jinfu Standard Bearers and the West Factory Execution Squadron, terminated at the Tanggu Maritime Terminal. Upon arrival at the terminal, the fleet split again. The silver ship carrying the Tanggu Branch's reserves would stop and unload, while the West Factory troops would return to their base. Meanwhile, the ship carrying Liaodong military pay, escorted by the Coastal Defense Battalion, would enter the final leg of the journey: the sea leg. The sea leg's destination was Gaizhou, where the military pay, totaling 300,000 taels of silver, would be unloaded. The subsequent distribution of these pay fell to the Liaodong Governor's Office.

Wei Chao and Wu Mingzhe rode side by side out of Dong'an Gate, preceded by a group of guards leading the way and two grooms holding the horses.

Wei Chao could actually ride a horse. Having previously managed military equipment at the Armory, he possessed considerable horsemanship and martial prowess. While he couldn't rival the fierce commanders of the Imperial Guards or the Imperial Uniform Guard, he certainly didn't need a horseman to lead his horse. However, Wu Mingzhe, accompanying him, needed a stable boy. He had never handled such proud animals before leaving Ciqing Palace. Wu Mingzhe knew neither how to train nor how to ride a horse, and he sat frozen in place.

Wu Mingzhe didn't have to come. Now that the silver was out of the treasury, he could leave it alone. Wu Mingzhe had come simply to accompany Wei Chao outside the palace. Wei Chao, mindful of Wu Mingzhe's status as a former servant, had invited him to join him, and Wu Mingzhe wouldn't refuse. And it felt good to be so ostentatious, with passersby looking away. On ordinary days, such a grand display would have been impossible. Even if it had been, the censors would have hounded him and impeached him.

Wei Chao certainly enjoyed grand displays, but his reason for leaving the palace this time was ultimately because he hadn't left in ages and felt like getting out and about. Under the pretext of overseeing transportation, he petitioned the emperor for a short half-day leave, intending to stretch his legs and explore the canal docks. He felt that Dongbianmen, with its flourishing canal transport system, was a crucial commercial hub and warranted a branch. If he had more time, he would also take a look at the performance of the four major branches.

Wei Chao had already made up his mind that after this tour today, he would not return to the Imperial Household Department to spend the night, but would go to the big house he bought after he came to power to enjoy the feeling of being served by others.

Just as I was daydreaming, there was a sudden commotion in front of the team, and the team gradually stopped from the beginning to the end.

(End of this chapter)