novelonline Chapter 1165 Overnight
Chapter 1165 Overnight
Chapter 1165 Overnight
Although Wang Gui is now old and a little hard of hearing, he can still understand what Zhang Yue said.
Once all routes in the country are liberalized and merchants are allowed to freely purchase and sell salt, it will definitely be a huge blow to the salt roads.
How could Zhang Yue be so bold and act so quickly, making this decision hastily without consulting the officials and transport envoys from various places?
Under normal circumstances, the court officials would definitely not agree without discussing it for several months.
But now the price of salt notes has plummeted, forcing the court to make a quick decision.
After Zhang Yue's statement, the government would have no objection. Once this policy was implemented, all the salt profits in the world would be concentrated in the court, but the officials would not earn a penny.
This move is conducive to centralization of power, or more precisely, financial power, so the government will certainly agree with it.
However, the government cannot express its views in this way, otherwise it will be regarded as a money-making ruler.
The official said: "This law is indeed a good one, but I am afraid that the officials below will...I am afraid that there will be discussions. We should choose the lesser of two evils. Once the salt notes are devalued to zero, the harm will be greater."
Huang Lu stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, if this law is implemented properly, it will not harm the people, but will benefit them. It will not only relieve the people of the suffering caused by the salt monopoly for hundreds of years, but will also benefit merchants and the people."
Cai Que said: "I don't agree with the idea of benefiting merchants and the people. All the revenue from the anti-salt money goes to the court, and all the government departments have to spend money. This means that the government has run out of money."
Huang Lu said: "On the contrary, as long as the imperial court uses the salt money to subsidize various places, then the salt households, merchants, and the transport officials will all benefit."
Cai Que said: "All the grain transport ships are empty and we have lost the salt profits. What should we do? Can we use the imperial court to subsidize us?"
Huang Lu said: "If we don't transport the official salt, we can transport other things, or rent it to the people."
Cai Que raised his eyebrows and said loudly: "Your Majesty, this matter is of great importance. If we make a decision in a hurry, I am afraid something unexpected will happen."
Zhang Yue was not surprised to see Cai Que and Huang Lu arguing with each other in front of the emperor.
Why did Cai Que oppose his own proposal for salt money?
Because now in the Secretariat, although Wang Gui is the prime minister, Zhang Yue is the real prime minister.
Apart from some personnel matters, most of the real policy decision-making power is through Zhang Yue's proposals. As a person with political ambitions, Tsai must oppose Zhang Yue's proposals to gain a sense of political presence or win some bargaining chips for gaming.
Cai Que once privately told several of his confidants that Wang Gui was weak and Zhang Yue was strong, just like the situation between Shu and Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. If Cai Que sided with Zhang Yue, he might not be able to be promoted, but if he sided with Wang Gui, he could gain his support.
So Tsai did stand up and oppose it.
At the same time, the reason why Cai Que clearly showed his flag was because he had nothing to hide. Although he was not an upright official, he was honest enough. Cai Que did not do anything crooked, so his heart was open.
The reason why Cai Que was able to loudly oppose the salt and money case was precisely because he acted uprightly, unlike some others.
After the government had expressed its support for Zhang Yue's salt and money system, Cai Que's opposition was actually of no avail.
Han Zhongyan from the Sinong Temple, Kumamoto, Huang Lu from the Three-Division Envoy, and Xue Xiang, the Vice-Chancellor, some of these officials have already supported Zhang Yue's decision, while others have not yet expressed their stance, but the result is the same.
As for Cai Jing standing aside, let alone him. He was originally an official of the Secretariat, but today he made an exception and came here to listen to the lecture. He was not even qualified to speak.
Now Zhang Yue has complete control over the economic power of the court.
The emperor asked Wang Gui, "What do you think, Lord Wang?"
Everyone looked at Wang Gui, who was still standing there in a frail and elderly manner. After hearing the emperor's question, he said, "I have no objection."
At this moment, Zhang Yue admired Wang Gui a little.
Although I am old, I know when to let go and when to cut off. Not everyone can do it.
Assuming Wang Gui objects to this matter today, it is fine, and even a delay of one or two is fine. However, if the salt notes continue to plummet tomorrow, how about Zhang Yue submitting evidence to the government that Wang Gui instructed his family to short sell?
Wang Gui couldn't even keep his position as prime minister, which was a huge loss for him.
The government said, "The people have long believed in the salt bill system. It can enrich the country with money and is very beneficial. I have decided to temporarily implement this system!"
All the ministers said: "Your Majesty is wise!"
At this moment all the ministers withdrew. Wang Gui closed his eyes, stood for a moment and then walked out of the hall.
Zhang Yue followed and walked beside Wang Gui.
Wang Gui looked quite calm.
Wang Gui said, "Measure it."
Zhang Yue said: "The students are here."
Wang Gui asked, "How many Zhaowen ministers did you say there were in this dynasty?"
Zhang Yue said: "I have never calculated it before, so I would like to ask the teacher for help."
Wang Gui said, "I don't know either, but you said that such people left several pages of history books."
"Since I became the Prime Minister, people have said that I have done nothing. I am afraid that I will not be able to leave many articles. Even if future generations want to say that I am a three-point prime minister, let them be, don't you think?"
Zhang Yue said: "Teacher, why do you say that? Your physiognomy, your physiognomy, and your physiognomy talent are all there."
Wang Gui smiled slightly and said, "I dare not say that I am good at physiognomy, but I do know a little about physiognomy."
Zhang Yue was shocked and said, "Teacher, did I say something wrong in the hall just now? I would like to ask you to explain it clearly."
Wang Gui laughed and said, "No, no. Please stay for a while. I want to walk around by myself!"
"Yes." Zhang Yue stopped and had to respectfully watch Wang Gui go away, thinking to himself, it seems that the other party bought a lot this time.
……
When Wang Gui returned home, his sons Wang Zhongxiu, Wang Zhongduan and Wang Zhongyan were all sitting there chatting and laughing. His eldest grandsons Wang Yan and Wang Sheng had already become capable people on their own.
They were talking loudly about today's harvest.
"Dad, today when the salt notes fell to 90%, our eldest brother sold all the salt notes and shorted 8,000 seats. The second brother was even more powerful. He shorted 17,000 seats. But he was not as good as our Yan'er and Sheng'er. The two of them shorted 30,000 seats."
"Dad, do you know what the market will drop to by the time the market closes? Sixty-five percent."
"The original price of a salt bill is six strings of cash. We sold a total of 70,000 bills when the price was 90%, not counting other people's. When the price drops to 65%, we will make 2 strings of cash per bill, which is nearly 150,000 strings of cash!"
The eldest son Wang Zhongxiu spoke loudly, looking extremely excited.
The second son, Wang Zhongduan, said: "If it drops to 50% tomorrow, it will be more than 200,000 strings of cash. From now on, our Wang family will be the richest in this dynasty."
Wang Gui said calmly: "Two hundred thousand strings of cash, I'm afraid no official in Bianjing has that much money!"
Wang Zhongxiu said, "Father, that's not true. In Bianjing, the wealth of Lu and Cui alone exceeds one million strings of cash."
"Compared to other people, our 200,000 is just a part of their wealth."
Wang Zhongduan said, "Dad, you are the dignified Zhaowen Xianggong. You are in charge of hundreds of military prefectures in the Song Dynasty. Taking this amount of money is not a lot."
"No matter what, our Wang family should not be worse than the two officials Lu and Cui! We see them living in the same room every day. If it weren't for the influence of their ancestors, they would never have the chance to..."
"Not much?" Wang Gui glanced at his sons and said, "I have told you many times, don't be too greedy, don't be too greedy."
"Dad, what's wrong with you?" All the nephews and nieces of the Wang family were shocked.
They were dreaming of making 200,000 strings of cash a day.
Wang Gui immediately told the court what had happened, and several people changed color when they heard it.
You should know that the salt notes on the market today are all based on the official salt of Jie salt, which is more than 300 strings of salt per year in Zhangzhou.
Now that the salt tax is gone, if the salt notes are replaced with the existing 10 million strings of official salt in various parts of the country as the standard, how many times will the salt notes increase in value?
This is a number that no one knows.
No one knows how high the price of salt notes will rise tomorrow.
Regardless of whether the imperial court issues new salt notes or not, the Wang family's nephews must get these 70,000 salt notes for delivery at the exchange before the market closes tomorrow, otherwise their short selling will be made public.
If the salt notes of 70,000 seats dropped from 90% to 50%, they could make 200,000 strings of cash for nothing. On the contrary, if the salt notes doubled, they would have to lose 500,000 strings of cash.
All of the Wang family's nephews and nieces were stunned, and all of them were like wooden chickens.
"Dad, this is Zhang Yue's plan for us!"
"Plot?" Wang Gui shook his head. "Zhang Yue and I have been in the imperial court all day. How could he have predicted your short selling today? Or did you tell him on purpose?"
"Even if it was a plot, it's all your fault for being too greedy. You deserve it! You haven't stopped even after so many times. When I'm an official, I always say that God knows, the earth knows, you know, and I know. Do you really think that everyone else is blind to all the tricks you've done over the years?"
The descendants dared not say a word.
Wang Gui sighed and said, "You guys are smart about small things, but you must be confused about big things. You must have made a lot of money in these years, so use it to pay off your debts."
'I have also emptied my family's fortune. Go to the account office and tell them to withdraw all the money. If it is still not enough, go and borrow. Borrow all you can. Do your best and leave the rest to fate. As long as you make up the deficit tomorrow, I will still be in the phase. Then no matter how strong the wind and waves are, the ship will not sink.'
"If not, then everything is over."
When they heard what Wang Gui said, they all complained bitterly.
"Dad, where can I borrow hundreds of thousands of strings of cash overnight? Even if I borrow it, I don't know how much it will increase in value tomorrow."
Wang Gui said angrily: "Go and borrow money from your friends. Our Wang family is still a well-known brand, right?"
Wang Gui held his forehead and said, "It's already this late, and you're still calculating. You still can't bear to part with the money you've earned over the years. I still have some family assets here, all of which are calligraphy and paintings and antiques. Tomorrow morning you can take these and go to the capital to pawn them."
"No matter how much, we have to borrow it. As long as we have the green mountains, we will not be short of firewood. Let's get through this first."
At this moment, all the sons could only say yes.
"Remember to throw it away early tomorrow morning, no matter how much it is." Wang Gui warned.
Wang Gui watched them go away and sighed.
At this time, in several rooms in the hall, Wang Gui's sons and grandsons were talking to the manager of the Wang family and the businessmen who followed them just to make a living.
After saying a few harsh words, these people left the Wang family overnight.
……
The next day, there was a crowd of people in front of the Bian Jing Exchange.
The news of the flooding of the Jiezhou Salt Pond spread throughout the capital overnight.
Merchants holding large amounts of salt notes were terrified.
At this time, a notice was posted at the door of the traffic police station.