readytorunbook Chapter 252 Investment Planning
Chapter 252 Investment Planning
Chapter 252 Investment Planning
Wang Wenzhou had just returned to Hanshan when he learned that the Emperor had issued an edict summoning him to the capital for an audience.
Damn it, Wang Wenzhou was terrified. He didn't want to go to the capital, much less get a promotion. Right now, he was practically the local tyrant of Hanshan, with prestige, money, and power—he had everything he wanted! But once he was no longer the prefect of Hanshan, the foundation he had built there would essentially be finished.
Wang Wenzhou had no choice but to write a memorial and submit it, falsely claiming that his serious injury had not yet healed and that he would go to the capital after he recovered.
At Zuihualou, Wang Wenzhou called a meeting with the babies.
The babies' pants were taken off again, but the babies are used to it; their husbands never seem to care about anything.
Wang Wenzhou began, "Babies, babies, first let's discuss how to spend the thirty million taels of silver?"
Thirty million taels of silver, weighing approximately 300 million catties, required a considerable amount of manpower just to transport it from Nanjing to Hanshan. Fortunately, Zhang Shize helped; otherwise, transporting such a large quantity of silver would have been extremely difficult. Although the Ming Dynasty had silver notes, there were no nationwide silver shops, making cross-regional exchange impossible.
Liu Rushi thought for a moment and said softly, "The current situation is not good. There are bandits in the northwest and Tartars in Liaodong. The national treasury is empty. In my opinion, we should donate the silver to the emperor."
"Damn it! Are you stupid!" Wang Wenzhou laughed and scolded, "Ruru, you're going too far! Stick out your butt, Jiaojiao, spank her!"
Liu Rushi frowned and said irritably, "Wang Wenzhou, stop making trouble! I am a woman, yet I know how to serve the country and its people. You are a high-ranking official of the court, why don't you know how to share the burdens of the country?"
"Sigh!" Wang Wenzhou sighed and said, "Ruru, you don't know where you went wrong? Fine, I'll explain it to you clearly. As the saying goes, money makes the world go round. Although silver can't buy everything, it can buy most things."
Liu Rushi nodded slightly; the old saying about enemies was indeed true.
Wang Wenzhou continued, “When a person’s wealth reaches a certain level, he will become the object of the emperor’s suspicion. Even if you have no intention of rebelling, the emperor is afraid that you will rebel! If the ruler suspects his ministers but does not punish them, then the ministers will surely rebel. If the ministers suspect their rulers but do not rebel, then the ministers will surely be executed.”
Liu Rushi quickly said, "That's right! In that case, we'll donate the silver, and the Emperor certainly won't suspect us."
"Hehe..." Wang Wenzhou said with a smile, "Ruru, I think your IQ has dropped a lot since you got pregnant. Let's not even talk about how I amassed 30 million taels of silver in just one year. What will Chongzhen think? Even if we donate the silver, Chongzhen will still think we have 60 million taels left. That's how people are. They won't completely trust anyone except those they love. Ruru, if you were Chongzhen, would you believe that we donated all the silver?"
Liu Rushi frowned deeply. Her nemesis was absolutely right; she really couldn't refute it.
"Hurry up and stick your butt out," Wang Wenzhou said with a wicked grin.
"Sigh..." Liu Rushi sighed softly, biting her lip and sticking out her buttocks.
"Jiaojiao, I'm leaving her to you. Ruru has been so disobedient lately," Wang Wenzhou said.
"Mmm!" Zhang Jiao nodded, and then proceeded to slap the little bitch. Zhang Jiao still really enjoyed slapping her.
Zhang Jiaobao was quite ruthless; in no time, Liu Rushi had a clear handprint on her buttocks.
"Alright, Jiaojiao, stop hitting. Let's continue," Wang Wenzhou quickly called out.
Wang Wenzhou said, "I plan to divide this money into three parts. One part will be used to build the express delivery network."
What is express delivery? The children don't understand. Liu Rushi was just beaten and was very unhappy. Although she didn't understand, she didn't ask.
Seeing that the babies were all looking at her, Sheng Lan had no choice but to ask, "Wang Wenzhou, what is express delivery?"
Wang Wenzhou explained, "Courier services are like modern-day post stations, used to deliver letters and goods."
Gao Guilan nodded and said, "I know, my brother-in-law used to be a courier!"
Sheng Lan asked, "Why do you want to do express delivery?"
Wang Wenzhou began by saying, “The communication time is too long now, and the flow of goods is too slow. For example, the ‘Hanshan Weekly’ is now famous throughout the Ming Dynasty. But by the time this issue of the weekly arrives in Nanjing, the next issue has already been published.”
Wang Wenzhou continued, "Now, Hanshan Supermarkets are opening all over the Ming Dynasty. Putting aside everything else, the transportation of goods to the major breeding bases will be a problem in the future. Anyway, those goods need to be transported, so we might as well integrate the resources and create a nationwide express delivery network. At first, the network construction will require a lot of investment, but later it will be a pure profit-making business."
Liu Rushi frowned and said, "I don't think so! If it was profitable, why did the court abolish the post stations in the first place?"
"Haha!" Wang Wenzhou laughed loudly, "There are too many shady dealings involved here, I can't explain them in a few words. Simply put, if it's a public company, you might as well take advantage of it, but in a private company, anyone who tries to take advantage will be fired immediately!"
Wang Wenzhou hugged Sheng Lan and said, "Lan Lan, from now on, the courier company will be in your hands. I'll allocate ten million taels of silver to you, and we'll strive to make sure that within a year, our Hanshan courier company can cover all cities in the Ming Dynasty."
"Mm!" Sheng Lan nodded.
Wang Wenzhou continued, "Lazy Blue, I'll have Zhu Yi be your deputy. You just need to grasp the general direction, and leave the dirty and hard work to him. He's been with me for over a year, so he's loyal."
Wang Wenzhou thought for a moment and then said, "Then I plan to establish Hanshan Bank."
Of course, the children didn't understand what a bank was, so Wang Wenzhou explained it to them, and then they finally understood.
Banking is a very lucrative business, and Wang Wenzhou has grand ambitions; he wants to control the issuance of currency. Once he has that power, blank paper can be used like money!
Wang Wenzhou hugged Liu Rushi and said, "Rushi, I will also give you ten million taels of silver. You will be in charge of Hanshan Bank. Fu Xingping will be your deputy."
Liu Rushi nodded, and said with a puzzled look, "I still don't understand, what exactly does a bank do?"
Wang Wenzhou said with a smile, "Have you heard of Jiaozi? A bank is a place that turns waste paper into silver. It doesn't matter if you don't understand now, you'll understand in time. In the beginning, we'll open outlets in Hanshan Supermarkets in various places and issue Hanshan Supermarket shopping coupons. Customers can exchange silver for shopping coupons of equal value and then buy goods in the supermarket. Over time, customers will accept the shopping coupons, and the shopping coupons will have the attributes of currency."
Wang Wenzhou continued, "After that, once the express delivery network is established, bank branches in various locations can quickly exchange information. This will enable cross-regional remittances. For example, the 30 million taels of silver we brought from Nanjing can be deposited in Nanjing and then withdrawn in Hanshan once the bank network is established."
The Ming Dynasty was not like later times; information exchange channels were too limited, and circulation was too slow. Wang Wenzhou calculated that summarizing accounts would take three to ten days, meaning that remittances could only be collected three to ten days later, depending on the distance. Even so, it was still much more convenient than carrying thirty million taels of silver directly on the road.