Opening a bank and operating paper money is the most important thing in Hu Chuyuan's whole life, and he must not miss it.

How much money is invested in this to dredge, he doesn't care at all.

In order to persuade Zuo Zongtang and let Zuo Zongtang go all out to regulate this matter, Hu Chuyuan directly agreed to organize a whole major event for the Hunan army, which was big enough to make the Hunan army have earth-shaking changes.

This matter, it is not as simple as tens of millions of taels of silver, Hu Chuyuan will have to pay countless efforts and energy in the future, if not, Zuo Zongtang can spare everything to do this for him?

However, as long as this matter is accomplished, and France and Yue Ben dare to make trouble on China's territory, it will be tantamount to death, because Hu Chuyuan's money is almost inexhaustible.

He.

One person is the central bank of the Great Qing Kingdom.

Compared with these things, what is it to spend millions of silver to dredge things up now?

Hu Chuyuan just laughed coldly, and asked him to make him a pot of good tea, drink it slowly, and think slowly.

After pondering for a while, he and Wang Yirong continued to ask: "What is so terrible about Li Hongzao?" ”

Wang Yirong said: "Li Hongzao used to start from the imperial history of Zuodu, and now the Qing school and the imperial history are all promoted and cultivated by him. Now Zhang Zhidong, who is known as the Four Advices, the Six Gentlemen, and the Ten Friends, is all around him. He used to be at odds with the Minister of Military Aircraft Shen Guifen, Prince Gong Wang Yi and others, and now he is also completely confronted with Li Hongzhang and others, and he is extremely opposed to commercial banks and other matters, and it is not easy to dredge with him! ”

Yan Shizhang, who had been smoking a dry cigarette and being obedient, sneered and said, "To deal with such a person, it's not okay to blindly think about sending money, but he is also very useful." If we smash him once, he won't say a word to us in the future. ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded and said, "Mr. Yan, this matter is really right for you, then let's do it according to what we discussed in advance." ”

Yan Shizhang hummed, patted the dry tobacco stick in his hand, knocked the smoke foam on the soles of his feet, and said, "Boss, then do it, you first pack those jewels into boxes, and I will ask someone to send them to his mothers." Wait until the wind on the pillow is dredged, and then find a way to go to his house, give him a generous gift, and fill in this hole! ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded and asked Yan Shizhang to do things first.

Yan Shizhang has been active in Beijing several times and has his own way, but he still brought his fellow villager Wang Yirong with him to go out to do errands.

The former is a native of Gaoyang County, Baoding, as the two emperors of Tongzhi and Guangxu Emperor, the real founder of the Qing School, and the latter is a native of Anhui and the real founder of the Westernization School.

Li Hongzao is also a generation of eunuchs, his grandfather Li Diantu was the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, his two sons are not good at learning, and his heart is panicked.

Old husbands and young wives.

It's also a place to go under the knife.

After sending Yan Shizhang and Wang Yirong away, Hu Chuyuan called Shen Furong and Zhu Yannian over and asked them to find a way to find the eunuchs around Cixi, and each of them gave 30,000 taels of silver discount shares and pasted them in CITIC Bank.

When this road is cleared, a generous gift will be given to Cixi in a few days.

When he was in Fuzhou, he thought about this matter, bought seven pieces of Tianhuang stone whole material weighing more than 100 catties in Shoushan, Fuzhou, invited the best craftsmen in Fuzhou, and spent more than a year carving the statues of the three Buddhas and the four Bodhisattvas.

Because it is a very rare set, it is priceless, rare treasures, and it is basically impossible to encounter it again. If it weren't for the gift to Cixi, even if someone else offered three million taels of silver, Hu Chuyuan would not have sold it.

All the things before and after add up, and he is afraid that he will already smash 10 million taels of silver.

The cost is not significant.

After waiting for a few days, Hu Chuyuan, accompanied by Yan Shizhang, came to the door to ask to see Li Hongzao.

Of course, Li Hongzao didn't want to see it, no matter how others bragged about Hu Chuyuan, but he still didn't want to see Hu Chuyuan, and he decided that Hu Chuyuan, Li Hong, Zuo Zongtang, and Yi were all in a gang, and they all wanted to destroy the Qing Dynasty.

However, Mrs. accepted more than a dozen pieces of rare jewelry of great value from others, and they all looked exquisite, and he was not too embarrassed to give Hu Chuyuan a closed door.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, Hu Chuyuan and Yan Shizhang were allowed to enter the Li Mansion to pay their respects.

Under the guidance of the housekeeper, Hu Chuyuan walked all the way into the lobby, and saw Li Hongzao, thin and tall, with a fluttering silver beard, trimmed very decently, sitting in the hall smoking a hookah, gurgling, and he didn't raise his eyes when he heard the sound, and he didn't wait to see Hu Chuyuan.

Hu Chuyuan took a few steps forward, bowed and said, "Xiaguan has seen the military plane Master Li!" ”

"Hmm!"

Li Hongzao snorted indifferently and said, "Sit down, it's not easy for you to come all the way from Fuzhou." ”

Hu Chuyuan arched his hand again and said, "Thank you, sitting." ”

With that, he sat down with Yan Shizhang.

Li Hongzao asked again: "Those errands you did in Fuzhou are okay, the old man heard that the people of Fuzhou are not so easy to manage, and the affairs of the sailor are not as simple as young people and businessmen like you think, you have to make more snacks for the court, don't worry about other people's calculations!" ”

Hu Chuyuan replied quietly: "Thank you for reminding me, the lower officials must be careful." ”

Li Hongzao hummed indifferently and continued not to speak, just smoking a hookah indifferently.

This kind of person just doesn't know how to lift, others have already given tens of thousands of taels of silver, not only do not give face, but also deliberately use the shelf to make things difficult for others, if he is not the emperor, who wants to take care of him?

Hu Chuyuan was unhappy in his heart, but he could only hold back for the time being, and said to Li Hongzao: "My lord, when Xia Guan came to see you this time, he actually wanted to discuss it once. ”

Li Hongzao still snorted so coldly, he didn't even raise his eyelids, let alone look at Hu Chuyuan squarely, and said, "Say it, old man listen!" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "My lord, Zuo Zhongtang, the governor of Liangjiang, once said to his subordinates that the Qing Dynasty is so big, there are about 300 million people from Zhuanghu, and if you want to make the country rich and strong, you should first focus on agriculture and rejuvenate agriculture. The lower officials took these words to heart, and also wanted to promote water conservancy in the five provinces south of the Yangtze River and open canals to revitalize the fields for the benefit of the people. ”

Li Hongzao actually sneered and said: "Hu Tituo, what you said is the truth, how can the old man hear that you instigated businessmen to set up factories and foreign affairs in the Shanghai Concession, do you want to destroy the foundation of our imperial court?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said with a smile: "My lord misunderstood, the investment in those factories is not large, and the total share capital is only more than one million taels of silver, and dozens of businessmen are still jointly built by each other. We are preparing to build reservoirs and canals in Zhejiang, so that the people can ensure their harvest in drought and flood, and add millions of acres of high-quality paddy fields. ”

"Oh?"

Li Hongzao quietly mentioned some spirits, but said: "The old man also knows a little about this matter, but all expenses are borrowed from the bank, and the taxes paid by Zhejiang are used as collateral, and the people are not charged. Among them, you have to donate more than 100,000 taels, yes, yes, if you have this heart, you are still a good person. ”

Hu Chuyuan said with a smile: "To get so much praise from the adults, the lower officials can be regarded as satisfied." In fact, the lower officials also want to give a larger scale of funding to agriculture in Jiangnan, but there is no money. It was impossible to rely entirely on the loan of the money village and my personal donation, so I discussed with Lord Zhongtang and prepared to let the money bank handle the banknotes, and the imperial court collected taxes from them for the construction of the Jiangnan Water Conservancy. ”

"Oh?"

Li Hongzao was slightly stunned again, he is also a well-informed person, these recent turmoil, he roughly knows a little bit of fur, what is the specific matter, he has not found out yet.

Now, he understands that it is all Hu Chuyuan's grandson behind his back.

However, what Hu Chuyuan wants to do is not bad, and it can be regarded as returning to the right path.

But he had some doubts, and said: "It is not appropriate to talk about the matter of paper money, during the Tongzhi period, the imperial court has issued paper money once, but it is not over, the people suffer, and the imperial court has not benefited." ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "My lord, this time it will be handled by the merchants, and the merchants will bear all the risks themselves, and the imperial court is only responsible for collecting taxes and supervision. What about the specific risks, we also have a way to control, each money bank has to buy silver yuan from the imperial court yamen to issue banknotes, as a reserve, based on the reserves, three times more, or four times the banknotes, three times the tax is one-twelve, and four times the tax is one-tenth. ”

Li Hongzao pondered in his heart and felt that this idea was indeed good, the imperial court did not have to take risks, just to extract taxes from it.

He weighed it carefully in his heart, and asked Hu Chuyuan again: "How can it be counted as more than four times?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "If it is more than four times, it will be stopped, so as not to run on the people, bankrupt the merchants, affect the reputation of the banknotes, and avoid endangering the reputation of the imperial court." ”

Li Hongzao praised: "Yes, your statement is very correct, the question is that so much money is issued, where is it used?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "There is also a money village in the ancestral business of Xiaguan, if my family money village handles this matter, the money obtained will also be used to build Jiangnan Water Conservancy and revitalize hundreds of farmers and mulberry fields." ”

"Hmm!"

Li Hongzao nodded with satisfaction, thinking to himself, Hu Chuyuan is still alive, he understands so many reasons, and he is more sensible than Li Hongzhang.

Seeing that he was about to agree, Hu Chuyuan asked Yan Shizhang to avoid the table and leave first, took out a piece of origami and handed it to Li Hongzao, and said: "The adults have served the imperial court for generations, the official residence of the two dynasties is one product, and the ancestral residence is Baoding Mansion, but there is no surplus wealth and prolific property, which is admirable. Xiaguan happens to have a family business here, because it is in Baoding Mansion, far away from my family, and has not sent anyone to take care of the business, and the land is wasted, if the adults intend to leave it to the brothers and heirs in the family to operate, Xiaguan is willing to sell it at a price of 100,000 taels of silver! ”

As soon as he heard this, Li Hongzao suddenly gasped and thought, you have such a big breath, you dare to ask the old man for 100,000 taels of silver?

He was not so happy in his heart, but he quietly took the origami paper, opened it and saw that it was a prepared contract.

Hertz!

Li Hongzao took a closer look at the details of the contract, and suddenly a thunder sounded in his heart, and he almost fell out of the chair without scaring him.

Oh, my God!

He couldn't believe that Hu Chuyuan actually wanted to sell 30,000 acres of high-quality land, and there was a mansion compound covering an area of more than 10 acres in Gaoyang County, plus more than 30 prosperous hot shops in Gaoyang County and Baoding County, and six pawnshops.

The land price of Baoding Mansion, Li Hongzao is still unclear?

The location of Gaoyang County, doesn't he still understand?

All the properties in such a contract add up, and they must be worth at least a million taels of silver.

Ah.

The more Li Hongzao calculated, the more frightened he became, and he was completely frightened by Hu Chuyuan.

He hurriedly said to Hu Chuyuan: "Hu Ti...... Chu Yuan, I'm afraid you made a mistake in writing this transaction, right? ”

He couldn't believe it, let alone 100,000 taels of silver, even if he really bought it with 1 million taels of silver, he would earn a lot of money, and he would eat and drink without worrying about it for the rest of his life, and the livelihood of his children and grandchildren would be settled.

Hu Chuyuan smiled: "My lord, don't you know? These fields are actually good fields, and if someone manages them, they are all cornucopias, but if no one takes care of them, they are wasteland. I'm in Fuzhou all day long, where do I have the energy to manage these fields? I have long had the intention of selling it to others to operate, and it just so happens that the adult is from Gaoyang County, and these family businesses are handed over to your house to handle, which is the most suitable! ”

Li Hongzao still gasped, thinking, Hu Chuyuan really took a lot of effort to finalize this matter?

He weighed it carefully, but all he thought about was these fields and shops, and just collecting rent, he could earn seventy or eighty thousand taels of silver this year.

After thinking about it left and right, he stopped talking about it, in fact, he was ready to accept it, but he had to ask Hu Chuyuan what he wanted him to do first.

He was not in a hurry to ask clearly, so he chatted with Hu Chuyuan very politely.

Hu Chuyuan is such a flexible person, ordinary people can't touch his score, even if it is an old antique like Li Hongzao, he can talk about it.

After the Taiping Rebellion and the Ding Wuqi Famine, China still has a population of 350 million to 360 million, of which 300 million are farmers.

But foreign affairs also have to be handled, and foreigners can't be allowed to make all the money.

He doesn't like to do foreign affairs so much, but he can't see foreigners making money in China, so he is doing foreign affairs with all his might, so he has to make foreigners unable to make money in China and make no profits, so they can only leave China.

Hearing him say this, Li Hongzao was very happy, and only felt that he had found a soulmate.

The two talked about everything, and the more they talked, the more speculative they became, so Li Hongzao left Hu Chuyuan to have dinner in the house, and then drank a cup of tea together.

When it was getting late and had to send off the guests, Li Hongzao and Hu Chuyuan lowered their voices and said: "Chu Yuan, about you to run a bank, the old man is very supportive, and he must plan for you." It's just that...... This family business? ”

With that, he took out the contract again.

Hu Chuyuan knew what he was thinking, such a large sum of family property was suddenly transferred to Li Hongzao's hands, wouldn't that give people a handle for greed?

He immediately took out another contract and said to Li Hongzao: "Lord Military Aircraft, let's do it according to this method!" ”

"Oh?"

Li Hongzao was slightly stunned, and couldn't wait to take the second contract over to take a look, and he couldn't help but be more satisfied.

It turned out that Hu Chuyuan had already thought about it for him, these family businesses adopted the method of paying in installments of ten years, paying 10,000 taels of silver every year, and the middle was handled by others, and the income belonged to the Li family.

According to this installment method, it is said that the selling price is 100,000 taels, but Li Hongzao actually only used 10,000 taels of silver, and then he borrowed money from the field rent and ground rent to repay the loan.

Where can I find this good deal?

Not to mention having money, even if there is no money, Li Hongzao has to buy it by borrowing usury.

Li Hongzao laughed happily, and immediately said, "Chu Yuan, then let's do this thing." You can rest assured that you are on the right path, and there is a mirror in your heart, as long as it is your business in the future, the old man and the protégé should fully support it. ”

He especially said the word "protégé" very seriously, although he is the minister of military aircraft, the real power is in the hands of Prince Gong, and his value is also a group of protégés and those Qing school counselors.

Hu Chuyuan understood very well in his heart, and immediately got up to say goodbye.

Li Hongzao was very enthusiastic, sent him all the way outside the gate, and when Hu Chuyuan's carriage disappeared and disappeared into the night, he was still a little too late, and he always felt that he had never been so beautiful in his life.

After waiting for a few days, Li Hongzao personally held a banquet in the house, invited Hu Chuyuan and Wang Yirong to come over, and called Zhang Zhidong, Zhang Peilun and others to introduce everyone to each other, and praised Hu Chuyuan fiercely.

With this foundation, the rest of the matter will be easy to do, Hu Chuyuan asked Wang Yirong to come forward to contact, and everyone took care of more than 10,000 taels of silver.

In these days, Hu Chuyuan's spending money was really like flowing water, flooding like the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and he smashed more than 8 million taels of silver before and after, and finally dredged everyone.

Li Hongzhang, he won't dredge.

He knew that Li Hongzhang was a smart person, Sheng Xuanhuai was also a smart person, this matter was beneficial to everyone, and they also wanted to do it, but they couldn't make up their minds.

Hu Chuyuan carried out the following activities, Cixi also received his color head, Dayue, taking advantage of this momentum, Prince Su personally went to the excerpt to discuss the matter, and things were smooth and unimaginable.

There are still people who oppose it, but the weight of those people is too light, basically some people who have not received the money, their eyes are as red as rabbits, and there are even people who give direct advice to death.

It just so happened that Zeng Jize signed a new agreement with Russia, and theoretically he could recover Ili, but he also lost five million taels of silver.

The imperial court was in a hurry to use the money, and this matter was directly addressed by Cixi without waiting for further discussion...... Quasi-playing, he immediately asked the household department Manshang Shujing Lian to come forward to borrow five million taels of silver from Hu Chuyuan, and use the future money printing tax as collateral to make up for the Russians first.

(To be continued)