Baidu otaku as Chongzhen

Chapter 342 Doomed to be an Unsettled Day (Part [-])
July 22.

in the afternoon.

Several nobles are having fun, and Cheng Guogong Zhu Chunchen is one of them.

A group of kabuki are wearing light clothes, twisting their waists and sending their hips to perform. The red clothes and white waves are rippling with bursts of fragrant wind, which is indescribably obscene.

Zhu Chunchen and some nobles were fascinated by it.

A man who looked like a butler hurried in and whispered something in Zhu Chunchen's ear.

Zhu Chunchen's slightly obscene expression immediately changed.

"It's gone, it's gone..." Cheng Guogong immediately dispersed the Kabuki performance.

The other nobles were also fascinated by watching, and they were very upset when they saw that the host's family suddenly broke up singing and dancing, and they looked like the Duke had something to say, knowing that there was new news.

"Duke, but there is news?" A nobleman asked.

Cheng Guogong smiled and said: "The latest news I heard outside is that His Majesty has transported a lot of silver this time. There are rumors on the market that it is three or four million silver coins, six or seven million silver coins. In fact, it is a full 400 silver coins." Ten thousand silver coins, this news came from the Baoyuan Bureau, so it should be credible, hehe, it is said that this time, His Majesty flipped over ten carriages, broke many boxes, and was picked up hundreds of thousands of silver coins , Hehe, the palace just got the news, it can't be wrong."

Ever since Liulizhai became famous as a golden mountain, Cheng Guogong couldn't eat well or sleep well. Liulizhai is a golden mountain. He knew that he had always wanted to get Liulizhai, but the emperor was too strong. Zhu Chunchen didn't want to put his head into the business of the emperor's property, so he gradually gave up his thoughts. However, when he heard that the emperor was going to sell the shares of Liulizhai this time, his little thoughts were hooked again. It was itchy, so the emperor's affairs, especially the emperor's money, became more and more concerned.He had to judge whether the emperor was short of money, so as to judge whether Liulizhai was really going to be sold, or whether it was worth buying.

"Tsk tsk, I said, this is a strange thing. How far do you think it is from the Baoyuan Bureau to the bank? It's still in the inner city. How could this be knocked over into ten carriages? Lost hundreds of thousands of silver coins? This happened only when I was here with His Majesty, and it happened when there was too much money to spend! From ancient times to the present, it has been heard that the emperor was robbed of hundreds of thousands of silver in the inner city What?" A nobleman teased.

"That's right, let's explain it! Your Majesty has so much money that there is no place to spend it, and he specially sent some money to the common people. It means that His Majesty has a lot of silver in his hand, and it means that His Majesty is not short of silver coins." Another nobleman also joked.

"That's right, I said, Duke, don't think about that matter. Your Majesty is not short of money at all. If you want to sell Liulizhai, I'm afraid that His Majesty wanted to sell it at first, but he was reluctant and didn't want to sell it. Now The little stocks that flowed out were probably given by the dignitaries in His Majesty's palace, and His Majesty was not short of silver, so why did he sell Liulizhai? Even if it was sold for tens of millions of taels of silver, but, After all, you are just sitting and eating, and the money has become dead money, but you don’t need to spend it. Where is the inexhaustible golden mountain of Liulizhai, so it’s better to use it inexhaustibly? Ten years, 20 years later, this Liulizhai is obviously, It is worth more than 1000 million taels of silver! Hehe, to be disrespectful, if it were me, I would not sell it. Now Your Majesty is not short of silver and knows how to make money. After having such an emperor, didn’t the emperor live a tight life in previous years? Can your majesty not consider it for his descendants? Ten years will pass in a flash..." An older nobleman advised Zhu Chunchen based on his own life experience Don't keep thinking about buying Liulizhai's stock. This matter is not news in Xungui. Zhu Chunchen wants to buy Liulizhai's stock, but he is not sure if it is worth it. Your Majesty will not sell it, and he dare not go to the emperor. I went to ask, so I asked around for news, what was going on with this stock.

Zhu Chunchen hasn't slept well these days. Liulizhai is a golden mountain, and everyone knows that he, Zhu Chunchen, is extremely greedy. He still has some weight in the honor, and he started to study this thing, right way, slant front and so on. Anyway, I used a lot, just to get the news of Liulizhai, let him ask the emperor himself, he didn't have the guts, now the emperor, although young, has done a lot of great things, his majesty is considered When he got up, Zhu Chunchen said he was going to ask His Majesty, but he was afraid that the emperor would blame him for such a trivial matter and would bother him, so he didn't have the courage.

Zhu Chunchen was quite happy at first, but after listening to the speeches of the crowd, the drum in his heart started beating again, and he lost his mind.

"Well, my Duke is actually afraid that this matter is false. Your Majesty has no money to spend, so he used Liulizhai to deceive us into buying his stocks..." This is what Zhu Chunchen fears the most. He doesn't want to give money to the emperor for nothing. .If the emperor is a pauper, it means that the emperor is an idiot and can't handle money. Zhu Chunchen felt that he should stay away from the emperor instead, maybe the emperor asked himself to donate money that day; That's another matter, Zhu Chunchen has to post it, and spend some money with the emperor.Human psychology is so strange. The psychology of Chinese people buying up and not buying down is also an old tradition.

As soon as the nobles heard Cheng Guogong say this, they immediately "educated".

The one who spoke more maturely smiled and said: "Duke, this statement is not reliable. Whoever is short of money, His Majesty will not be short of money. Now you go out and ask anyone casually. Do you think he believed His Majesty when he said he had no money? Have you ever seen an emperor who can give out 1000 million taels of silver to relieve disasters? Have you ever seen a master who pays back the military salary, 400 million taels at a time? No, that’s what it is today Your Majesty has such a big hand. To be honest, I have underestimated Your Majesty. In Your Majesty’s heart, you pretend to be worldly! It’s very easy to get some money. Being rich in the world is not just bragging...it’s not like me Wait for these bitterness..."

The other dignitaries immediately followed up and defended the emperor one after another. Now, even the most stubborn people believe that the emperor is not short of money. If he has no money to do something and ask the emperor, the emperor will take out the money. This has been tried time and time again. Oh, there was a joke before, the gang of Donglin designed to "frame" the emperor and let the emperor avoid a year's white food, thinking that he had taken advantage of the emperor, thinking that he was playing the emperor, and secretly The banquet was celebrated for several days, saying that the emperor was ignorant, but in the blink of an eye, the emperor came up with tens of millions of taels of silver for disaster relief, and the Donglin gang never mentioned it again. , this matter has also become a joke in the officialdom.

"Oh...forget it, let's not talk about this, let's not talk about it, I have a headache... let's talk about something else..." Zhu Chunchen was dizzy from talking to all the nobles, and hurriedly begged for mercy.

"What else is there to say? Apart from the throwing of silver coins, is there anything worth talking about today? Hehe, if you want me to say, why not talk about the hundreds of thousands of silver coins that were lost? What will your majesty do? If you lose it, throw it away Let Jin Yiwei chase it back." A nobleman immediately suggested.

Everyone also became interested, throwing hundreds of thousands of silver coins at a time. These silver coins have almost exceeded the wealth of many people here, so this matter has a lot of attraction for everyone.

"Cough, do you need to talk about this? It's obvious that Jin Yiwei must be mobilized. What does Jin Yiwei do? When those assholes saw Jin Yiwei asking, they were so frightened that they took out their silver coins. I want to go back again, who eats the guts of a leopard and wants to go to the Zhenfu Division?"

"I don't think so. Jin Yiwei seems to be talking about 'civilization' nowadays. Unlike before, he took people at every turn. Isn't the escort today also from Jin Yiwei? Didn't he lose his money? Hehe, it's hard to say If so, now this dog has no teeth!" A nobleman didn't care about Jin Yiwei, and compared Jin Yiwei to a dog when he opened his mouth.

"Oh...you can't say it like that..." Immediately someone persuaded me.

Zhu Chunchen's heart is still up and down. Although he asked everyone to say something else, his heart is still on this stock.One person muttered to himself, "It's not bad money, it's not bad money..."

Someone saw Zhu Chunchen in a daze alone, as if he was still talking about something, and asked: "Mr. Guo, are you still talking about the stock?"

"Oh, no,..." Zhu Chunchen immediately denied it, thought for a while, and then said: "...Hey..., I heard that there is a new news recently, does everyone know?" Zhu Chunchen thought of something, and immediately used it to divert line of sight.

"Oh, what good news does the Duke have?" Everyone asked.

"I heard that nowadays, there are people who specialize in exchanging silver coins at Baoyuan Bureau, and then sell them to Shanxi, Shandong, Shaanxi, and even Huguang. I heard that there are huge profits here... Have you heard of it?" Zhu Chunchen said to News about money is very sensitive, and I like news about drilling money the most.

"This matter? It's true. It's Donglin's group who are playing tricks. They called a group of businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to exchange the scattered silver they collected into silver coins at Baoyuan Bureau. It is said that there are several However, if we nobles want to play this game, I am afraid that we will not be able to play it, and we have no capital. This matter requires a lot of capital. Tens of thousands, tens of thousands of taels, we can't make money at all..." A Well-informed people broke the news.

"Oh, and this matter? How come only the Donglin gang and the businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang can have fun? Why can't we nobles get involved?" Zhu Chunchen immediately asked, he was the last one to get the money-making news. Care.

"Cough... Duke, don't even think about it. If someone else plays it, it's worth millions of taels of silver. If you don't have a few million taels of silver for turnover, you can't do this. We nobles, It looks glamorous on the surface, but in fact, compared with those people, it is nothing, not as thick as other people's little fingers." The well-informed Xungui continued to break the news and complained.

"Then, how does it work?" Zhu Chunchen immediately asked.

"What's so difficult about it? Today's silver coins, who doesn't like it? Who doesn't use it? Not to mention the exquisite casting, it's still the same weight. The key is that it can be blown, which makes it a masterpiece. It can also be used to pay taxes. , So, nowadays, it is worth more than scattered pure silver. Scattered silver, one needs to estimate its fineness, and the other has to be weighed. So nowadays, silver coins are very popular, and the third is that you pay taxes with scattered silver, and you have to collect fire consumption. With this silver coin, it is said that there is no fire consumption..."

"I know this guy, let's talk about the key points..." Cheng Guogong interrupted when he saw this person talking nonsense.

"...The key point is here. There are only two minting places in the world, the north and the south. Therefore, if you want to exchange silver coins, you have to go to these two places to exchange them. Shanxi, Shandong, Shaanxi, Henan, these places, how much scattered silver is worth Exchange it for silver coins? Those bastards are not good..." The man cursed as he spoke.

"I said, you are telling the key point after all! How do you make money by dumping silver coins?" Zhu Chunchen asked anxiously.

"Hey, look at my memory. It's actually easy to make money by dumping silver coins. It's easy to collect other people's scattered silver in other places. Because the scattered silver is not good in quality and scattered, so when estimating the value, it will be slightly underestimated." , especially the loose money collected from some poor ghosts is even underestimated. When Baoyuan Bureau exchanges silver, the valuation is normal, and it is not bad for Baoyuan Bureau. , the rest are those gangsters..."

"However, how do you think that you can use scattered silver, why do you have to exchange it for silver coins? Although scattered silver is not good-looking and not decent, but it can also be used, right?" Cheng Guogong asked puzzled. .

"Hehe, this duke doesn't understand. Don't talk about anything else. Just talk about paying taxes. There are some scholars who ask about it. In the past, when paying silver, the government had to melt the scattered silver into silver ingots so as to deal with the above. Now , have used silver coins, so naturally there is no need to melt, and the fire consumption is naturally not paid. How much, you said, didn’t this save a lot of money? So, those guys saw the opportunity and made a move..."

Zhu Chunchen still didn't quite understand, and asked: "But, this fire consumption is well-known, and it is the private money of the officials in the government yamen. If they don't pay fire consumption, what do those officials eat and drink? Although silver coins You can pay taxes, but don’t pay fire consumption, but I’m afraid the local officials won’t let it go easily!” Zhu Chunchen asked puzzled.

"Oh... the duke doesn't understand. Some people have always been able to pay less or not to pay for this fire consumption. Now, with silver coins, naturally they will no longer sneak around. After all It's not something glorious, besides, those people in the imperial court are making money inside, can the local officials below do it? Do you want this black gauze hat?"

"That's true..., those court officials, I'm afraid..." Zhu Chunchen seemed to understand.

"Hey, the Duke is still afraid that they have nothing to eat? Didn't the official scrape off a layer of land, and if there is no fire consumption, wouldn't he be an official?"

"That's true...their business, let's not talk about it, let's not talk about it...then why don't we try it? This is a good opportunity. They can do it, why can't we do it?" Zhu Chunchen suggested.

The man immediately became dejected, and said: "Master, let's get rid of this idea. This business costs 10 taels of silver, and the turnover is extremely fast, so we can make a profit. It depends on our noble family property, which is to use the trousers as a bargain." No, we can’t make up that much money! Others can only make some profits by selling millions of taels of silver. They rely on large quantities and fast turnover. If we make money together, we won’t be able to make much money. Us! There is no comparison with those businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang..., alas, those things... are not a thing!" When this person mentioned the businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, his teeth itch with hatred.Businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang robbed them of too many jobs, but they couldn’t handle other people’s jobs in serious business, and crooked tricks didn’t work too well. Others were in court, and they all belonged to someone. No more expensive hats.

Speaking of this, these nobles don't look very good-looking. Nowadays, it is impossible to live a good life just relying on the little profit in the field. Only by doing more business can they make more money. However, in business, Always being suppressed by the gang of businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, when it comes to them, these nobles, they all feel unlucky.

A group of people were still in trouble, and a man who looked like a butler rushed in.

"Duke, it's a big deal, it's a big deal..." The housekeeper shouted without caring about the indecency.

"What's the big deal? There's such a big fuss..." Zhu Chunchen was already in a bad mood, and reprimanded him even worse.

"Yes, yes, yes, Duke, something really happened. The news just came from the palace that Shaanxi is about to rebel. His Majesty is summoning important officials to discuss matters on the platform..." The butler was originally waiting for news from the palace. What was waiting was about the silver coin, how to deal with it, Cheng Guogong had to look at the emperor's actions to guess whether the emperor was blackmailing him, how could he know that what the butler was waiting for was not the silver coin, but the news of the Shaanxi rebellion, immediately Come running.

"Shaanxi is going to rebel? Is it true?" Cheng Guogong also asked in surprise.Although there are frequent news of rebellion, Shaanxi is now a sensitive place. Not to mention that the local emperor threw in 1000 million taels of silver, he even sent his confidants to sit in the town, and even sent a new army. The capital invested there is quite thick, that is to say, once there is a rebellion, that place will be a powder keg, and the scale will be quite large. Now I hear that there will be a rebellion, I am really a little surprised.

"Master Hui, that's absolutely right. It is said that there are people connected in tandem. Tomorrow, that is, the day of the end of summer, we will raise the flag to rebel together, and there will be flowers everywhere..." The housekeeper told the news he had inquired about.

"You mean to rebel tomorrow? This..., what's going on?" Not only Cheng Guogong felt strange, but all the other nobles were also baffled. If they knew when they rebelled, would this be called rebellion?
"Mr. Hui, yes, according to the news that came back, it was a message from His Majesty's new army named Wu Sangui from Baishui, Shaanxi. It should be reliable. Now, His Majesty is summoning important ministers to discuss matters on the platform. .”

All the nobles were horrified. What was horrified was not the rebellion itself, but that it was inconceivable that even such a large-scale rebellion could be known to the emperor in advance. I have to say that the legend about the help of gods and men in the dream became more and more miraculous. up.

(End of this chapter)