Chapter 419 Bonds
Yu Qingyi visited various places in Kyoto, while Yang Zhengshan hosted a banquet for many merchants in Chongshan Pass.

Since Tenglongwei started to develop maritime trade, many merchants have taken advantage of Tenglongwei to board merchant ships. Now there are hundreds of merchants doing business in Tenglongwei.

Of course, when it comes to wealthy businessmen, the Luo family in Chongshan Town, the Wang family in Jing'an, the Lin family and the Zhang family are among them. Although other merchants also made a lot of money in Tenglongwei, they are still far behind these few families.

The front yard of the Marquis's Mansion was extremely lively today, with more than eighty merchants coming to the banquet.

During the banquet, Yang Zhengshan chatted and laughed with everyone and was very friendly.

To be honest, with Yang Zhengshan's current status and position, being able to host a banquet for these merchants is already a great honor for them, not to mention that Yang Zhengshan also toasted with them, which made all the merchants feel honored.

In the past, they didn't even have a place to sit in front of officials, let alone drink and chat.

After three rounds of wine, five flavors of food.

The servants cleared away the leftovers and served tea.

Only then did Yang Zhengshan sit in the main seat with a flushed face, and glanced at all the merchants.

"The reason I'm inviting you to this banquet is actually to do a big business with you!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the hall suddenly perked up, the drunkenness subsided, and they looked at Yang Zhengshan with clear eyes.

Big business?
If these words came from someone else, they might doubt whether this business is fake and whether it is a scam.

But since these words came from Yang Zhengshan, they had to take them seriously.

The reason is very simple. Six years ago, Yang Zhengshan held an investment promotion conference in Tenglongwei. The merchants who participated in the conference that year are now making a lot of money.

So much so that there is a saying circulating in the Liaodong business circle: "A family with a fortune is not as good as a boat of Tenglongwei."

That investment promotion conference created the myth of Tenglongwei maritime trade and made countless merchants highly respect Yang Zhengshan.

When he was in Tenglongwei, I don’t know how many merchants wanted to establish a relationship with Yang Zhengshan. Unfortunately, Tenglongwei had already developed at that time, and Yang Zhengshan had no need to personally attract investment.

Therefore, for many merchants, missing the investment promotion conference means missing a huge opportunity.

And now that Yang Zhengshan wants to do business with the merchants again, how can these merchants not take it seriously?
"Of course we support the Marquis' business. The Marquis is kind and righteous. As long as the Marquis needs it, my Wang family will certainly support him without reservation!" Wang Zhenze, the head of the Jing'an Wang family, stated directly without hesitation.

If you ask which family has developed the fastest in recent years, it is not the Luo family, nor the Liaoan Zhang family, but the Jing'an Wang family.

Ever since Yang Zhengshan recovered the robbed cotton cloth for the Wang family, Wang Zhenze has been following the footsteps of Tenglongwei. Tenglongwei developed maritime trade, and Wang Zhenze took out all his belongings and sold a ship.

While the other families were still hesitating, the Wang family's merchant ships had already followed the Tenglongwei navy to the Li Sheng Dynasty to exchange grain for gold and silver ore.

By now, the Jing'an Wang family has become the largest private maritime merchant in Liaodong, except for the Luo family. The Luo family is not a merchant from Liaodong, but a merchant from Chongshan Town.

"Haha, actually this big business doesn't have a high profit, just a small profit."

Yang Zhengshan smiled and continued, "I would like to borrow money from you in the name of the General's Office for three years, with a monthly interest of three percent per tael of silver!"

Everyone looked at each other.

It’s not doing business, it’s borrowing money!

Everyone was a little confused.

Borrow money from them in the name of the General’s Office?

Is this reliable?
It seems a bit ridiculous that the government is borrowing money from private merchants.

What if the government doesn’t pay it back?
Can they still collect debts from the government?
Collecting debts from the general’s office?
Damn, is it that the knife in the General’s Mansion is not sharp enough, or is it that the gun in the General’s Mansion can’t kill people?
Moreover, the monthly interest rate is only three percent, which means the annual interest rate is thirty-six percent.

This interest rate may seem high, but it is actually not.

Because in Liaodong, the loan from pawnshops and money houses is nine out of ten and thirty back, and the repayment period is three months. If you can't pay it back, the interest will be compounded.

In comparison, the monthly interest rate of three percent is really low.

For a moment, the hall fell silent, and everyone frowned in thought.

Yang Zhengshan was not in a hurry either. He picked up the tea and savored it carefully.

"How much silver does the Marquis want to borrow?" Wang Zhenze asked.

Luo Shang did not speak at this time, because everyone knew that Luo Shang was Yang Zhengshan's man, and if he spoke, he would be acting as a proxy.

On the contrary, it was just right for Wang Zhenze to speak.

The Wang family is close to Yang Zhengshan, but not that close. They are not completely Yang Zhengshan's people.

Yang Zhengshan took out a contract, which was actually similar to a silver note. It had the words "Debt of the General's Office of Chongshan Town" written on it, the number on the right, the amount of one hundred taels in the middle, the redemption date on the left, and the terms of the contract and the time and place of redemption written in small print below.

It is stamped with the official seal of the General's Office, Yang Zhengshan's marquis seal and personal seal, as well as a secret seal.

Printing silver bills is not a difficult task. The Zhang family in Liaoan is an expert in this area. Although Dayong does not have treasure notes, the silver bill business of private money houses is very developed.

The bonds held by Yang Zhengshan were actually the same as banknotes, except that banknotes could be redeemed immediately upon sight, while bonds could only be redeemed after maturity.

"One 100 taels per copy, the General's Office printed 30,000 copies, that's 3 million taels!"

"It has the official seal of the General's Office, my own seal, and my personal seal!"

"It is written below that if the General's Office is unable to pay after the due date, you can ask me to pay!"

Yang Zhengshan said slowly.

Whether it is a silver bill or a bond like this, it is actually a question of integrity.

The key is how to make everyone believe that you can repay the debt on time.

Yang Zhengshan was afraid that these people did not believe in the credibility of the General's Office, so he put his own personal reputation on the line.

Three years is neither long nor short.

Three million taels is not a lot, but it is definitely not a small amount either.

Wang Zhenze thought for a moment and said, "My Lord, my Wang family is willing to lend you 200,000 taels! If you need it, my Wang family can raise another 100,000 taels!"

Wang Zhenze has great trust in Yang Zhengshan, and the Wang family can be what it is today thanks to Yang Zhengshan's support.

When the Wang family lost 5,000 taels of silver worth of cotton cloth, Wang Zhenze felt like the sky was falling. But now, their Wang family can easily come up with 200,000 taels of silver in cash. This is all because the Wang family took advantage of Tenglongwei.

Wang Zhenze has always been grateful to Yang Zhengshan. Now that Yang Zhengshan needs money, he wants to give the cash in his hand to Yang Zhengshan without any hesitation.

His statement really moved Yang Zhengshan.

If Luo Shang did such a thing, Yang Zhengshan would think it was natural, but when Wang Zhenze did this, Yang Zhengshan was still a little surprised and moved.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan had not deliberately supported the Wang family before, but because Wang Zhenze was willing to invest in Tenglongwei, his benefits were the greatest. "Then I would like to thank the head of the Wang family first!" Yang Zhengshan bowed and looked at Wang Zhenze with appreciation.

The others looked at each other, you looked at me, I looked at you.

At this time, Zhang Qingsong, the head of the Zhang family in Liao'an, said, "My Zhang family is willing to lend you 300,000 taels of silver! I hope you won't think it's too little!"

The previous head of the Liaoan Zhang family was Zhang Maosheng, but Zhang Maosheng passed away two years ago. Now the Zhang family is headed by Zhang Qingsong.

Although the Zhang family suffered considerable losses due to their involvement in the Liaodong Salt Transport Bureau corruption case five years ago, the Liaoan Zhang family is still the richest family in Liaodong.

The Zhang family's money houses were spread all over Liaodong, and they even had many branches in Kyoto, Jiangnan and other places.

Zhang Qingsong's willingness to lend 300,000 taels of silver is different from Wang Zhenze's willingness to lend 200,000 taels of silver.

Wang Zhenze only had 200,000 taels of silver in cash, and he lent almost all of it to Yang Zhengshan. Naturally, Yang Zhengshan was moved by this friendship.

Although Zhang Qingsong had an extra 100,000 taels, the Zhang family definitely had more than that amount of cash.

Yang Zhengshan still remembers the cash that filled the Zhang family's yard.

However, he couldn't be ungrateful for the face the Zhang family gave him. They did give him real money, and although the friendship was not full, their actions still showed their support for him.

Three hundred thousand taels is not a small amount.

"I would like to thank Master Zhang!" Yang Zhengshan bowed his hands to express his gratitude.

"My lord, my Lin family is willing to pay 150,000 taels. Well, I, Lin, am not as good as you, my brother. I hope my lord will not despise me!" Lin Qi, the head of the Jing'an Lin family, said with a naive smile.

"No, no, I would also like to thank Master Lin for his support to the General's Mansion and me!" Yang Zhengshan laughed.

The financial resources of the Lin family in Jing'an Prefecture are slightly less than that of the Wang family, but they have done their best by being able to come up with 150,000 taels.

"Then the Zhen family of Pingyuan is willing to lend 50,000 taels!"

"The Li family of Suian is willing to lend thirty thousand taels!"

"The Huaining Qi family is willing to lend 70,000 taels!"

……

Afterwards, merchants in the hall expressed their opinions one after another.

Although they were still skeptical about the bonds in Yang Zhengshan's hands, they had to give him face.

If it's too much, they can't bear to part with it, but if it's thirty or twenty thousand, they can still come up with it if they grit their teeth.

"Everyone, if you are willing to lend money, you can register in the room next door, and the money will be transported to Chongshan Pass within one month!" Seeing that everyone spoke up to express their opinions, Lu Wenhua struck while the iron was hot and led everyone to register.

After being registered, although the silver has not been shipped yet and the bills have not been given to them, they have already been signed and sealed, and it will be too late for these people to regret in the future.

Led by Wang Zhenze, Lin Qi and Zhang Qingsong, the others were quite active.

After about half an hour, everyone completed the registration.

Yang Zhengshan stood in front of the gate of the marquis's mansion and sent the group of merchants away before returning to his study.

"How much in total?" he asked Lu Wenhua.

"The total is 1.83 million taels!" Lu Wenhua handed the booklet to Yang Zhengshan and said.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly.

One million eight hundred and thirty thousand taels!

There is still a long way to go before reaching three million taels.

But it was also in line with his previous expectations.

There were more than eighty people, and each of them contributed about 23,000 taels of silver. Excluding a few families that supported him, most people actually only contributed 10,000 taels of silver.

That is to say, it is to give Yang Zhengshan some face.

Yang Zhengshan opened the booklet and started reading it, but when he saw that the Zhang family of Jing'an only offered 12,000 taels of silver, a sneer appeared on his face.

The Jing'an King, Lin, and Zhang families rose to power with the help of Tenglongwei.

The Wang family and the Lin family both treated Yang Zhengshan wholeheartedly, but the Zhang family was the only one who played this trick on him.

However, Yang Zhengshan would not argue with the Zhang family because it would be a loss of face.

How could he, the great Marquis of Jing'an, care about a merchant?
Of course, the Zhang family will never be able to get big business from him again in the future.

The purpose of issuing bonds this time is not only to raise money for the General's Office, but Yang Zhengshan also has the idea of ​​selecting partners for the General's Office.

The Jing'an Wang family, the Lin family, the Huaining Qi family, the Pingyuan Zhen family, and the Liaoan Zhang family are all pretty good.

How much money you are willing to lend is not the key; what matters is the sincerity of your heart.

Although the Huaining Qi family and the Pingyuan Zhen family were also wealthy businessmen, their financial resources were far less than those of the Wang family and the Lin family. They were willing to contribute 50,000 and 70,000 taels, respectively, which was considered a great effort on their part.

Yang Zhengshan never treats unfairly those who treat him with sincerity.

Closing the booklet, Yang Zhengshan said, "Tomorrow you go around the houses in the city and see if they are willing to buy the bonds."

"Leave 50,000 taels of debt to the Marquis' Mansion. If there is any left, sell it at Chongshan Bank!"

Chongshan Money House, whose full name is Chongshan Town Development Money House, is a money house opened by the General's Mansion. Its main business at present is selling bonds of the General's Mansion.

As for whether other businesses will be opened in the future, it depends on whether Yang Zhengshan needs it.

If there is a demand in this regard, Yang Zhengshan doesn't mind opening a bank. If there is no demand in this regard, he can just close the money house after exchanging the bonds in three years.

At this time, Chongshan Money House was already open for business on the main street of Chongshan Pass South City.

However, the opening of Chongshan Money House was not a grand ceremony. They just hung a red silk ribbon.

Many passers-by on the street looked at this shop with curiosity, but they were just curious and no one went in to ask.

There was only a shopkeeper and two clerks in the shop. The shopkeeper was a clerk in the general's office, and the clerks were runners of the general's office.

As for safety issues, there is no need to worry about it because the patrol squad of the Zhenbiao Battalion is right across the street.

Moreover, the money shop did not have a silver vault. The silver received by the money shop would be transported to the silver vault of the general's mansion on the same day and would never stay in the shop overnight.

(End of this chapter)