There is dense moss growing in the gaps of the bluestone slabs under the veranda, but it also shows a little withered yellow in such a winter day. Jiang Xuening has been staring at that gap for a long time.
Her eyes were steady.
The whole person's figure also seemed to be still.
Zhou Yinzhi had accompanied Jiang Xuening all the way to Beijing, and was Jiang Boyou's old subordinate, so he took the opportunity of sending Jiang Boyou some local products to the mansion to meet Jiang Xuening, which did not arouse too many people's suspicions.
It's just that at this moment, it's inevitable that people's hearts are beating drums.
Ever since he told the story of his negotiations with the Tianjiao gang, Jiang Xuening has been like this, and hasn't spoken for a long time.
The half of the letter was pressed between her fingers.
A thin page of letter paper is not old, and the handwriting on the article is powerful and neatly arranged.
The wind blew, and the letter paper and handwriting swayed between her fingers.
Zhou Yinzhi also knew that this matter was unusual, so he thought about it for a moment and said: "The man has already been arrested, but no matter what, he refused to write a letter to inform him like the previous man, and said that he had already discussed this matter with his companion before he came out. Alright, I'm afraid no one will take the bait again if you write the letter. Or, just use the two lives as a threat to force them to submit?"
This is the most common practice.
Few people can really put life and death aside, as long as the other party feels threatened enough, no matter how tough the person is, they will quickly succumb.
However, Jiang Xuening's eyelids were slightly lowered, and she closed her eyes, saying: "It's useless to throw a rat-trapping weapon."
It wasn't a fair deal from the start.
People are afraid of death, but the person holding the remaining half of the letter is not the person who was caught by them and was really threatened with his life, but his accomplices scattered outside. In this way, even if it is a threat, others will not pay attention to it.
Besides, no matter how they counted, they should be more afraid.
I am even more afraid that the remaining half of the letter will be controlled by the imperial court and the Xiao family!
Fifty thousand taels of silver.
How dare a lion open its mouth!
Jiang Xuening's brows and eyes could not help but become condensed, and there was a bit of anger in her chest, but in the end she forcibly suppressed it: the money was prepared early in the morning, isn't it just to be used in times like this? Compared with the safety of the Yongyi Hou Mansion, the external possessions are not worth mentioning.
only…
She frowned slightly, and said: "Although the asking price is a bit high, it is not unacceptable. I am afraid that what they said is false. Now there is no news about Gong Yicheng, and this gang is lurking in the capital But if we give the money, and Gongyicheng has news again, it is hard to guarantee that they will still submit this letter without receiving the money, so we will not be worth the loss."
Zhou Yinzhi hesitated to speak when he heard this.
Jiang Xuening noticed it, and asked, "Why, any other news?"
There is news...
It's just that Zhou Yinzhi's authority is not big enough to understand clearly, so he is a little hesitant and dare not speak out.
When Jiang Xuening asked, he hesitated for a moment, and said: "This 'missing' Mr. Gongyi, there is some news in the imperial court. There are rumors in the Jinyiwei that when Shuntian Fu Yin was besieged and suppressed Tianjiao two days ago, there was a shooting Killing a leader of the Tianjiao seems to be called "Gongyicheng". But when I came to find the second girl just now, I heard from my colleagues that this person was not dead, but was arrested and brought together with other Tianjiao rebels. Imprisoned in prison."
If any of this news is true, those hidden stakes of the Tianjiao are going to take money to run away, and the credibility will be greatly increased.
Not without reason!
Jiang Xuening lowered her eyes, slowly folded the page of letter paper in her hand, and said: "If you believe it, you have to believe it, or if you don't believe it, you have to believe it. It's just that I don't have enough money for the time being, so I told those people that I will buy it with sincerity." Download the letter in their hands, but ask them to wait for more than a month. You know, the letter can be delivered to the Xiao family, but Duke Ding may not be a kind person, and he may not be unwilling to uproot them after receiving the letter. It can be regarded as a great achievement, please don't seek their own death for the time being."
Zhou Yinzhi felt a little shocked: "But such a large amount of money..."
Jiang Xuening interrupted: "You just go ahead and talk, I will find a way for money."
Even counting what Jiang Boyou gave me a while ago, and some personal money in my own hand, I still can't make up 40,000 taels, not to mention having to be prepared in case. The lack of this part of money is inevitably worrying.
After Zhou Yinzhi left, Jiang Xuening sat alone in the room, thought for a long time, and finally sighed and made a decision.
She found someone and passed a message to Ren Weizhi.
So early the next morning, the merchants and brokers who came and went to the Shuxiang Inn suddenly discovered something unusual—in the lobby of the inn, there was a big sign hanging on it, which said Sichuan 40% of the silver shares of Zigong Ren's Saltworks were sold out, and they got 20,000 yuan in silver. They will return to Sichuan soon to operate the saltworks. As for the use of Zhuo Tsutsui, he will also send fast horses to Beijing to report news regularly. As for the silver shares purchased by everyone, if necessary, you can resell them without Mr. Ren's approval!
However, the price and amount of the resale will be recorded on this sign as a publicity.
As soon as this brand was hung, it was thrown into Pinghu like a stone, causing a thousand waves of waves among the big businessmen in the middle reaches of Beijing!
The "marriage" between Ren Weizhi and You Fangyin was settled very quickly.
Ever since You Fangyin told Jiang Xuening of her plan and learned that she had no objection, Zhou Yinzhi from the Jinyiwei yamen spoke, and of course he was very cooperative and let him go back.
That afternoon, Ren Weizhi went to propose marriage.
You Fangyin is just a concubine in the mansion, and after being "closed" in the cell for so many days, no one is willing to bother to get her out. When she returns to the mansion, she will cause all kinds of stares, from uncles and young ladies, to maids and servants, All eyes.
You Yue even hated the fact that she went crazy and almost did something to her, so she wanted to take the opportunity to take revenge.
Who would have thought that someone would suddenly come to propose marriage?
This time, everyone in the house was taken aback.
When others come to propose marriage, it is naturally impossible for Uncle Qingyuan to turn them away and invite them to come in for a conversation according to the etiquette.
Ren Weizhi's family has no relatives, whether there is anyone acquainted in Beijing, but he came to the door by himself.
When Uncle Qingyuan asked, he was a student in his studies, but he didn't even have a reputation as a juror, and he was still a businessman, so he didn't think much of him at first. At any rate, they belong to the uncle's residence. Even though You Fangyin is an inconspicuous concubine, she appears to be from an official family. How can she be a businessman? But then he heard that his family was actually running a salt farm, and had just raised a sum of money to return to Shu, but suddenly his heart moved.
Just one question: How much dowry do you offer?
Ren Weizhi said, three thousand taels.
The uncle was not very satisfied, and brought tea to see off the guests.
However, You Yue, who had also been expelled from the palace and returned to the mansion in the past few days, happened to hear about this incident, and on a thought, she dared to invite Ren Weizhi to come and talk—
Few people know that she also knows Ren Weizhi!
That day, because her uncle spent more than 13,000 taels of silver to bring her home safely, she had a big fight with the family. Afterwards, regardless of sister Youshuang's dissuasion, she took the private money she had saved and went to bed. out the door.
At that time, he went to Ren Weizhi to buy the silver shares of the saltworks!
Unexpectedly, Ren Weizhi wanted to marry You Fangyin.
You Yue first hates Jiang Xuening, for suppressing herself in everything, making herself lose face, second hates You Fangyin, a concubine concubine who dares to pick up the stool and fight with herself, wishing she could find a chance to put these two to death .
After thinking about it carefully, she couldn't help sneering.
It's very simple, You Fangyin didn't even go out of the house very much in the past, so where did she meet a foreigner? This time Ren Weizhi came directly to propose marriage, she must have hooked up with You Fangyin when she asked You Fangyin to ask about the saltworks.
Undisciplined bitch!
Of course, if you think so in your heart, you don't have to say it.
You Yue felt that this was also an opportunity for herself.
After all, she is also the concubine's daughter of the uncle's mansion, so she can talk in the mansion.
Immediately, he hinted at Ren Weizhi.
Ren Weizhi was also very "upright", he respectfully asked You Yue to talk about his marriage, first stuffed a thousand taels of red envelopes, and said that he would thank you after the matter was completed.
Holding the money in her hand, You Yue was extremely happy.
She bought the silver stocks of the salt factory for more than 2,000 taels of silver, and her hands were tense, so the 1,000 taels of silver naturally nourished her a lot.
What's more, there is a follow-up?
If You Fangyin married in the past, after all, she was also a young lady who went out of the uncle's house. Wouldn't the money she invested in the saltworks be more secure?
In order to hypocritically agree to say a few good words for Ren Weizhi.
Although there is still a noble title in the Qingyuan uncle's mansion, it does not hold real power in the court. A while ago, it cost a lot of money to get You Yue out of prison, and almost emptied the uncle's mansion.
Three thousand taels is not much, but it is also not much.
Uncle Qingyuan just sent Ren Weizhi away, but he actually regretted it a bit.
After a while, You Yue came to persuade him, making indirect remarks, and said: "Father, you are so confused. That little hoof comes from a humble background, which wealthy family in Beijing would value it? Even if you are a concubine, you may not want it. Now this Ren Weizhi, although he came from a lower family background, he is still a scholar. The most important thing is to run the salt farm at home. You don’t know, many people in Beijing have bought the silver shares of his salt farm. He must be a wealthy businessman. Not to mention that people are willing to pay three thousand taels of gift money now. It doesn't matter whether this person succeeds or not, it's a waste of money! It is this Ren who wants to marry that little hoof, that is. We don't want to add any dowry to that little hoof, so he wouldn't dare to say anything!"
You Yue rolled her eyes and said, "That's not easy? I'll get someone to ask him to come again, why won't he come? When you meet him then, just say it's a test of his sincerity, and then agree Just fine."
After talking like this, Ren Weizhi visited again the next day.
Uncle Qingyuan put on airs for a long time, and finally agreed to this marriage.
On You Yue's side, it was inevitable that she received another one thousand taels of red envelope from Ren Weizhi.
Things are done.
It's just that Ren Weizhi's family is in Sichuan, and he was in a hurry to go back to run the saltworks, so the date of marriage was quickly finalized. The time was set in one and a half months. Ren Weizhi would go back to Sichuan first, and You Fangyin would marry far away in Shu after one and a half months later when the "dowry" was ready.
When Jiang Xuening heard that this matter was completed, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Everything was as expected, and nothing unexpected happened.
But the rest of the merchants in Beijing were amazed by this.
No one expected that after Ren Weizhi came to Beijing, he could really raise such a large sum of money, and he also solved all the major life-long affairs by the way, which is really unbelievable.
Three days later, Ren Weizhi set off for Beijing.
The innkeeper collected some money and was responsible for continuing to hang up the sign.
When the traders came in and saw it, they couldn't help but discuss it.
"Forty percent of the silver shares in the salt farm are divided into 40,000 shares, and you get 20,000 taels of silver. One share is worth five renminbi, which is five hundred coins. I never thought that someone would actually pay for it. Are there so many rich people?"
"That's right, you don't know?"
"How to say?"
"Boss Lu from the Youhuang Pavilion in the capital offered five thousand taels, holding ten thousand shares in his hand. I am not afraid of money, I really dare to buy it!"
"Yeah, what should I do if the money surnamed Ren ran away?"
"You don't understand this, do you? They have already negotiated a marriage with the Qingyuan uncle's house. This is to tell you that I can't run away, and please rest assured. And if the silver shares can be resold, don't worry, he can sell them now. Sell the silver stocks."
"To put it lightly, who would dare to buy it!"
"Yeah, let alone five cents a share, I won't buy a share for two cents. A dilapidated saltworks, holding a blueprint that no one can see, who believes that he has the ability to build a saltworks?"
"It's strange, Boss Lu paid only five thousand taels, so who paid for the other fifteen thousand taels?"
"I know that Boss Liu, who is in the silk and satin business, bought several hundred taels of silver for fun. Anyway, he is not short of money, so he will help the younger generation. Does anyone want to buy it? I can help you to negotiate."
"Who buys this!"
…
All in all, everyone's discussion is discussion, and curiosity is curiosity. During the period when Ren Weizhi just returned to the capital, there were a small number of silver stocks outside, but few people wanted to bid for them.
Even if there is an occasional bid, I don't want to buy five hundred coins a share.
Some published three hundred articles, and some issued four hundred articles.
But it's really strange. There was no one interested in the first five days, but on the fifth day, a deal was reached. Boss Liu of the silk and satin village is a friend of Ren Weizhi's father. I bought six hundred silver shares for three hundred taels of silver and held them in my hands. I thought the silver was wasted, and I never thought I would get it back.
But someone actually asked him to buy it.
It was a girl who came to talk, and Boss Liu didn't know him. Anyway, the other party offered 350 cents a share, which would allow him to get back 210 taels of silver. He was very satisfied, and sold the silver shares in his hand without thinking too much. out.
So the shopkeeper of the Shuxiang Inn changed a sign, and recorded the number of shares and price of this transaction with clear and correct strokes on it.
On the day it was hung up, it attracted countless people to watch.
The price of tea sold in the inn has doubled, which made the shopkeeper very happy.
It's just that everyone looked at the sign and pointed, but they all laughed loudly in general: "Look, you can only sell it for 350 if you buy it for 500 coins, which is a full loss of 30%! Those who bought thousands of taels of silver Are you mad to see this?"
Someone echoed: "Yes, it's a big loss."
Someone sighed: "I don't think the ambition of this salt farm is reliable. I'm afraid no one will buy it for 350 yuan in the future, and it will fall!"
There is a long distance between Sichuan and the capital, and no one has heard of the "Zhuo Tongjing", and they don't believe that this thing can extract new brine from a deeper depth from the old and unusable salt well.
The price of silver shares in this salt farm continued to fall.
In the next ten days, there were two more transactions, but the prices were 300 cents a share and 290 cents a share.
Ever since he knew that the silver shares of Yanchang could be traded and resold freely, Lu Xian had been following the news from Shuxiang Inn all the time, and couldn't help but cursed when he learned that the first sale price was 350 yuan .
When the price dropped to two hundred and ninety cash, I almost turned my nose out of breath.
Even though he knew that he was counting on the successful completion of the saltworks to make a lot of money in the future, but when he knew the stock price, he really didn't hold back his cheapness. He sat in the secluded pavilion and calculated carefully. He invested 5,000 taels and lost 1. Little half! A heart is bleeding!
You Yue in the Qingyuan uncle's mansion was even more stunned. She couldn't sleep well for several days, secretly counting her own money, and scolded Ren Weizhi bloody.
No one is optimistic about the saltworks.
Before the Shuxiang Inn, there were still many people who visited it from time to time. However, as the silver stocks could not be sold at all, and the boards were not changed for a few days, everyone's attention gradually faded away, leaving only a few people who were still very persistent occasionally. Go in and have a look.
It wasn't until Ren Weizhi left the capital for a month that a piece of news about the Zigong Salt Farm suddenly spread among all the salt merchants—
Takutsutsui is built!
It is said that it is built so high that it is several feet long. It looks like a small building when it stands up. It is very novel and scary to look at. After it was erected, the salt workers hired by the saltworks began to dig down the well. When the news came, it was already more than ten feet deeper than the previous salt well, and it was still going down!
The news spread from among the salt merchants to ordinary merchants.
It didn't take long to get confirmation: Ren Weizhi from the Shu land sent a fast horse to Beijing, and the sign in the lobby of the Shuxiang Inn wrote that Zhuo Tongjing was the first to stand up and hit Shenjing!
This time, the inn, which had been deserted for nearly half a month, once again welcomed many curious businessmen, and even ordinary people who came to see the excitement.
Even more prosperous than before!
People holding silver stocks in their hands and people thinking about buying silver stocks all gather here to talk and listen to each other. Although no brine has actually been sold in the saltworks, the bids of two hundred and ninety yuan or even lower are gone forever. No one sold 300 Wen, no one sold 400 Wen, and no one sold 500 Wen. It was not until someone offered a high price of 620 Wen, which is six cents and two cents, that a small transaction was made. !
All the people who ridiculed others for "buying a loss" couldn't help but look at each other in blank dismay.
More keen and intelligent people suddenly realized something more important from this price change——
For example, Lu Xian.
When someone said that there are more than 600 yuan in which the silver shares of Yanchang cannot be bought, the back of his head exploded. It was only then that he came back to the memory and vaguely understood that "silver shares can be resold freely". What do these simple words mean!
It means that it doesn't matter that the salt farm has actually made money, as long as everyone thinks that the salt farm can make money, the price of the silver stock can skyrocket!
And those who hold silver shares don't have to wait for the saltworks to get regular dividends after the operation is completed. They can directly resell the silver shares in their hands to obtain large profits in advance!
There is still such a way to play silver and silver stocks!
Simply unseen, unheard of!
Lu Xian couldn't help thinking: Did Ren Weizhi come up with this method himself, or did other people who bought silver shares come up with this method? He only invested five thousand taels in total, and the remaining fifteen thousand taels are in whose hands...
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
The people on the Tianjiao side holding the remaining half of the letter finally couldn't sit still, and sent a message to ask them when they could take out the fifty thousand taels of silver. Seeing that the agreed time limit was coming, it was obvious that some restless.
Zhou Yinzhi was also thinking that the money was too big, where would Jiang Xuening find it?
He came to Jiang's mansion again and passed on the news to Jiang Xuening.
The end of the year is approaching, and it snows more often in the capital.
There was already a charcoal fire in the house.
Jiang Xuening thought that sooner or later she would go back to the palace after the matter was over, and she also knew that Xie Wei was a strict person, she hadn't touched the piano for a while, when she thought about it, she couldn't help feeling anxious, and said to play the piano to calm her mind, so she sat at the piano table front tuning.
After hearing Zhou Yinzhi's words, she didn't even turn her eyes, just pointed to the table casually, and said indifferently: "Take the ten thousand taels first, and call them, please rest assured."
As for the rest...
With a light hook of Jiang Xuening's fingers, the strings vibrated, and trembling rhymes flowed out, which swayed gently in the cold air, and her voice was also soft: "As for the remaining money, it will be soon."
hold on.
Be patient and wait.
It's not the best price yet.