Initially, the Royal Bank was responsible for deposits, and later it became a bureaucracy for issuing banknotes and formulating financial policies...... All commercial functions were transferred to the Great Song Savings Bank.

Murong Qingchen naturally led people straight to the savings bank.

When he was far away, he found a street blocked, loaded with guns, and soldiers everywhere.

Seeing Murong and the others, they immediately caught up and stopped them.

"Please take a detour!"

"What detour?"

Murong glared at him, "Lao Tzu is going to the savings bank, you all get out of the way for me!" ”

Several soldiers saw that they came from an extraordinary background, and they were afraid in their hearts, but they definitely did not dare to release the water because of their duties.

"There is someone making trouble inside, we have an order, we want to maintain order, please ......"

"Please, big head!"

Behind Murong, there was a grumpy man who couldn't help it, waved his hand and slapped the soldiers, causing the soldiers to turn in circles, and scolded in his mouth: "When Lao Tzu was fighting and leading the troops, you kid still wore open crotch pants!" Dare to stop Lao Tzu and look for death! ”

When he shouted like this, the soldiers were stunned for a moment, and then they were also angry, why should we be beaten when we are ordered? You're all dressed in plain clothes, and I don't know what you're doing, whether it's true or not?

Crash!

Dozens of soldiers raised their guns together, their eyes crossed.

"Stand back for me, or you will be killed!"

The martial artist who did it was angry, "Murong, you see, these grandsons are so unruly, they dare to hold a gun at Lao Tzu, Lao Tzu doesn't give them some color, they don't know that Ma Wang Ye has three eyes!" ”

He was about to make a move, but Murong immediately stopped him.

"Don't come nonsense, these are all our brothers!"

After speaking, Murong squeezed out a smile, and he reached out and took out a name post.

"I am the secretary of the council, and I am going to the savings bank to learn some information, and it is convenient for the brothers."

The soldier who had been beaten was suspicious, took the name post, and after reading it for a long time, he was not sure whether it was true or false, and was in a dilemma, and finally a person dressed as an officer came.

He saw Murong from a long distance and hurriedly trotted over.

"It's handsome!"

The man was agitated and immediately saluted.

Murong was stunned for a moment, and then recognized it, it turned out that this was a small soldier who went on an expedition to the Western Regions with him back then, but he didn't expect that after a few years, he actually mixed with the forbidden army, and he was quite capable.

The red-faced and cramped man said in a low voice, "The handsome man is also going to the savings bank?" ”

"Well, are you holding back?"

This immediately shook his head, "Whoever is in the way, you can't stop the marshal, the last general is not polite, we are also acting on orders, and there are all bosses in the robes, and they take the bounty in exchange for their lives, and the court does not give money, so it can't be reasonable!" Sooner or later, those of us will be discharged from the army, and maybe we will have that one day...... Dashuai, you have to fight for us! ”

Murong nodded, "Since I am the Secretary of State, this is what I should do, don't worry!" ”

He took a big step and walked in, and the soldiers on both sides took the initiative to separate, making way for Murong and the brothers behind him. They went inside, and finally reached the gates of the savings bank.

There are a large number of people sitting in front of the black press, all of them are veterans who have retired from the army, and the big guys have one purpose, that is, to ask for money!

The interest subsidy given by the household department has been cut, and seeing that the bank does not pay interest, there are rumors that even the principal will be confiscated to make up for the shortfall. Everyone blew up, and no one wanted their hard-earned money to come to naught.

No, they came to the door in droves.

Don't underestimate them, although they don't hold weapons, they are all good at it, they have a violent temper, and if they don't agree with each other, they can kill people!

Who dares to ignore it, no, from Luoyang Mansion and the front division of the palace, a lot of errands and forbidden troops were transferred to surround the surrounding regiments.

The two sides were tense, one asking for money and the other not giving it, almost to the brink of conflict.

Fortunately, Murong came in time, and most of those veterans knew him, and they immediately jumped up from the ground and shouted loudly.

"Handsome! Festival handsome! Murong! ”

The big guys are called differently, but they all asked him to come forward and help deal with it, Murong took a deep breath, he waved his hand, and motioned for everyone to be quiet.

When the crowd calmed down, Murong said in a deep voice: "Brothers, the big guys are all soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty, although they are disarmed and returned to the field, they are soldiers for one day and soldiers for a lifetime!" Listen to me, you are not allowed to mess around! ”

He reprimanded a few words loudly, and then changed his words, "Please rest assured, I'm going to talk to the bank and the people inside, but if I can't talk about the result, you can settle accounts with me!" ”

With Murong's status and prestige, when he spoke, these people were still willing to listen, and everyone nodded one after another.

After pacifying the brothers, Murong took a big stride and arrived in front of the bank.

At this time, the bank doors are closed and heavily guarded.

Murong looked at it and said loudly, "Open the door!" ”

He said it three times in a row, and there was a squirming movement inside, but no one opened the door.

Murong was furious!

"Don't say it's a wooden door, even if it's a three-zhang city wall, it can't stop Lao Tzu! If you don't open the door again, don't blame me for being unkind! ”

As soon as he said this, the people inside finally sweated, quickly opened the door, invited Murong in, and kept bending over.

"Please forgive me, we are really afraid to rush in, they are too wild......"

Murong glared at him, and he immediately shut up.

When I arrived at the reception room, the person in charge of the savings bank was waiting here.

This person is in his thirties, very shrewd and capable, his name is Li Bu, he is a talent recommended by Sima Guang himself, and he is exceptionally reused, and bears the burden of a savings bank.

In the past few years, he has been cautious and widely praised, even if Sima was demoted, he was still as stable as Mount Tai.

"General Murong, it's polite." Li Bu bowed deeply, humble and kind.

Murong nodded slightly, "The purpose of my visit this time must be clear to you, the brothers shed blood and sweat, in exchange for the things, if anyone dares to move a penny, it will be the end of the conscience, I will never agree!" ”

Li Bu smiled bitterly, he first poured a cup of tea for Murong, and then bowed down to stand in front of him and explained: "What the general said, it is clear in the next place, who doesn't know that it is not easy for soldiers to be born and die, and we really dare not treat soldiers badly!" ”

"Nonsense!"

Murong said sharply: "It's not a loss, so why don't you pay interest?" ”

"General Murong, listen to me...... About 10 years ago, the imperial court began to cut interest rates several times, and the bank's profits became less and less, seven years ago, we had a deficit for the first time, that year in order to pay interest, we lost 500,000, and in the new year, the loss reached 1.1 million, and in the third year, we actually lost 1.9 million! ”

Li Bu was like having eaten a bitter gourd, "We have borne the deficit for three years, and we really can't bear it, so we asked the court for funding...... In the past few years, although the household department has allocated a lot of funds, the bank has also suffered losses, more than 1.5 million every year! General Murong also knows that since the beginning of this year, corruption must be strictly investigated, and the inventory of bank accounts has already begun. ”

"In addition, this year, many soldiers are facing disarmament and repatriation, and the number of applicants for deposits has tripled, and special funds have been allocated to support employment and entrepreneurship...... The burden on the bank is too heavy, and the 7 million appropriation from the imperial court can't be paid, and we really have no money! ”

Murong listened, his face became darker and darker, he didn't believe it at all.

"The surname is Li, you don't play tricks with me, don't think that if you talk nonsense, Lao Tzu will believe it, I don't believe a word!"

Li Bu spread his hands, "General Murong, if you don't believe me, you can't do anything, the accounts are here!" You can ask the Audit Department to check it, or you can ask the Council to check it, and if it can't stand the test, you can cut off my head. Li Bu smiled sadly, "To tell you from the heart, I don't want to do this unlucky official position for a long time." Looking at the bank's daily income, how many families there are, but I don't know that every year, all of them are deficits and deficits! ”

"The imperial court is engaged in infrastructure construction, asking us to pay for it, asking us to buy bonds in the war, and we are all responsible for the officials and retired generals...... General Murong, tell me about it, I want the horses to run, but I don't want the horses to graze! Who can do it? ”

His words made Murong speechless.

In the final analysis, he is just an excellent general, and when dealing with people in the bank, his skills are too poor, to put it mildly, he is simply a complete failure!

Murong took a deep breath, grabbed the account book on the table, and said viciously: "Of course I want to check, you wait, if you find out your mistakes, you will all be beheaded!" ”

Coming out of the savings bank, Murong Lao's face was flushed, it was just too embarrassing.

I went on a trip, but the money didn't arrive, and I only took a bunch of account books, how can I explain this to my brothers?

After thinking about it for a long time, Murong felt that he had to go to someone who understood to discuss, he didn't have many friends, so he naturally thought of Da Su, and it just so happened that Da Su had just come back to Beijing in a circle, and was hired by the Royal Academy to be responsible for opening an agricultural topic and training officials and students.

Murong found Da Su and threw the ledger to him.

Da Su took it and quickly put it aside.

Murong glared at him, "You're just perfunctory to me?" ”

"I said Murong, you don't trust others, and you don't trust my memory, believe it or not, I'll recite it to you immediately, if you make a mistake, you will punish me with a jar of wine!"

"I know you have a good memory, don't show it off to me!" Murong said angrily: "I'm not in the mood to drink now, you can tell me clearly, is there a problem with this account?" ”

Su Shi shook his head, "There should be no problem, if my prediction is good, starting this year, the deficit will increase exponentially, to twenty or thirty million per year, or even more, it is not difficult at all!" ”

"How so?"

Murong was puzzled, "This is not a war, how can you use so much money?" ”

Su Shi snorted, "I said Murong, do you know what the average life expectancy of the people of my Great Song Dynasty is?" ”

"I think I'm 50 years old!"

"How long is that going to work?"

"It's hard to say, the average farmer works until he dies...... Su Zizhan, what do you mean by telling me? ”

Su Shi smiled: "What are you doing?" Ordinary soldiers will be discharged from the army at the age of 30, and ordinary officers can only relax to 40 years old, and the imperial court will support them for ten or twenty years in vain! And as the life increases, it costs more...... Raising soldiers is really not cheap! ”