At the beginning of the fifth year of the new Qin Dynasty, Shanghai and Beijing, the two most influential cities in northern and southern China, had a tall building launched in the central and prosperous area of the city at the same time. This is China's stock exchange.

Since the establishment of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in the Netherlands in 1613 in the Western calendar, the large-scale and large-scale financial transactions in Europe have a history of 270 years.

He had only planned to build an exchange in Shanghai, but was persuaded by the banking community. Of the three major state-owned banks of Huaxia, Development, and Communications, only the headquarters of the Development and Construction Bank is located in Shanghai, and the rest of the Huaxia Central Bank and the Bank of Communications are located in Beijing, and among the three private banks established by businessmen from Jiangnan, Liangguang, and Shanxi, the headquarters of the Longsheng Bank established by Jin Merchants is located in Tianjin, and it is obviously insufficient to establish an exchange only in Shanghai, so there is an additional place in Beijing in the construction plan.

The Nanling Bank of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, naturally wanted to put this exchange in Guangzhou, and the commercial development of the Liangguang area has flourished in the past three years, but compared with Beijing, Guangzhou's weight is still too light.

……

Time flies.

In May, the north of Beijing ushered in a very special day. The pennant flutters, the gongs and drums are noisy, the golden lion dances wildly, and the sound of firecrackers is a very lively scene.

Originally, the northern part of Beijing, where the down-and-out families gathered, now stands a tall building with a very different style - a 12-storey building.

The dazzling glass windows and granite patch walls are really much more powerful than the traditional brick and wood houses around. And the height of more than 16 zhang makes the building in front of you in the north of Beijing. Even the whole city of Beijing seems to stand out from the crowd.

There is also a spacious plaza in front of the building, as well as a beautiful fountain in the center. It is also rare to see such scenery in coastal cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, which are most affected by the west wind. It is no wonder that since the day the ground was broken for this building, it has become a topic of conversation for the people of the capital after dinner.

You must know that the east, west, north and south of Beijing are all famous. There are nine gates in the inner city of Beijing. But according to the direction, there are still four urban districts in the east, west, north and south. This is also the origin of Beijing's common name as "Forty-Nine City". During different periods of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the residents of each urban area had their own characteristics and changed with each other. But in the late Qing Dynasty, when Liu Xian entered Beijing, there was a slang saying in the city of Beijing that "the east is rich and the west is expensive, the south is cheap and the north is poor".

"There is a proverb in Beijing: 'The east is rich and the west is expensive'. Most of the nobles lived in the west city, and the warehouses were all in the east city. ”

There is some truth to this, but it is not accurate enough. In fact, "Dongfu" not only refers to the fact that most of Beijing's granaries are in Dongcheng, but also refers to the fact that there were many giant businessmen and wealthy families living here at that time. The inhabitants are very wealthy. And inside and outside the Xuanwu Gate in Xicheng and in the West Fourth, there are many palaces, and most of the people who live are the dignitaries of the Qing Dynasty, so they are called "Xigui".

The south is cheap and the north is poor, which means that most of the people in the south are working people and jugglers. These people are regarded as lowly people, so there is a saying of 'southern cheapness'. The northern city, due to the lack of development of transportation, affected the prosperity of commerce, in addition, the late Qing Dynasty Manchu financial constraints. There are many situations where the flag cannot be sounded, or the hair is not enough. Growing poorer. Hence the 'northern poverty'.

Now that the dynasty has changed, the children of the Eight Banners in Beijing have been swept away. The residences of the children of these banner men were originally rented out to the people who came to Beijing, and many businessmen who came to Beijing to wander around. The capital is not very strong, but there are two pieces of silver in hand. Looking down on the south city, you can't squeeze into the east city. Live not only in the West City, as long as you come to the North City. Therefore, in the past two years, the biggest change in the class structure of Beijing's residents is Beicheng. More than 50% of the residents here are newcomers, and they belong to the absolute middle class in Beijing today!

But even so, countless people in the capital are also full of curiosity about the huge scale of the construction site.

Even if Beicheng has changed a lot in the past two years, it is impossible to compare with the east and west of the city. With such a big posture and such a large capital, it is not impossible to easily buy a luxury house in the east of the city, and even squeeze into the west of the city.

The mansions of the princes and nobles of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, in addition to being partially sealed to prepare for the future Liu royal family, and some of them were given to the important ministers and generals in the court, and there were many mansions that were put on the surface for sale.

With such a large investment in the north of the city, it can sell at least one mansion of a first-class master in the west of the city, or Baylor and Beizi Mansion.

"But whose lord is building a new house in the north of the city?"

"Don't you want to build a restaurant in the north of the city?"

"I heard that it was a foreigner's merchant house......

"Aren't all foreigners nested in Dongjiaomin Lane? I think it's the new yamen of the imperial court. You see, there is still a military master guarding it. ”

As the building rises one by one, the content of the people's discussions in the capital is slowly changing. Until the 'true feelings' were finally leaked, the name of China's fourth private bank, Huaxing Bank, was resounding in the mouths of everyone in Beijing. Play a good first-hand advertisement.

The fourth private bank in China, jointly established by businessmen from Shandong, Henan and Hebei, has a capital of 3 billion Chinese yuan, of which the Daqin consortium accounts for 10% and the Wudi Zhang family accounts for 5%.

It's not for nothing, it's for nothing, it's for real money. The entire Zhang family has been hollowed out. Even Zhang Miaotong let people transfer 20 million yuan of private money.

Liu Xian doesn't mind either!

Because the establishment of this bank was stimulated by the Beijing stock exchange. The background is profound, and some have appeared in the stage of China's rapid economic growth, and there is absolutely no profit or loss. It further strengthens the strength of the Zhang family, and maybe it can also promote the speed of the change of the Zhang family's center of gravity.

When the dust settled, the construction company built the building in four months with the 'sincerity' of two shifts, and in the following month, the first and second floors were decorated, and the third floor was simply arranged, so that Huaxing Bank could open as scheduled on the first day of May, which was a few months ago.

In mid-April, Huaxing Bank began to advertise in newspapers on a large scale. From Ta Kung Pao, a major newspaper with deep influence in the entire Chinese cultural circle, to the city tabloids in Beijing, Kaifeng, Jinan, and Tianjin, Huaxing Bank's advertisements are full of articles.

Later, some people calculated that the cost of advertising alone would cost Huaxing Bank no less than four or five million Chinese dollars.

The grand performance on the opening day also attracted many people in Beijing to watch. What makes the common people find it interesting is that not only the official who holds the authority in his hands, the gentleman who is rich and rich, but also the red-haired and blue-eyed foreigners, and even the old man Yan Jingming personally came to congratulate him.

The square is still noisy with gongs and drums, but the whispers of the people below are not inferior to the sound of gongs and drums. Although there have been a lot of new things in the past two years. Banks are no longer mysterious in the eyes of ordinary people, but there are still ordinary people who are very honest and prefer to seal their money in jars and bury it in their backyards. Because they believed that it was much more reliable to leave the money in the custody of the 'land lord' than to hand it over to the government for safekeeping. In the impression of ordinary people, private banks are equivalent to the money and silver numbers of the past, pawnshops and usury, and that image is also a 'profiteer'. Therefore, in the face of the soon-to-be-established Huaxing Bank, most of the ordinary people present only had an attitude of watching the excitement.

The real focus is on the businessmen and the middle class who have a small amount of capital, and those who continue to expand the scale of the industry.

And for now, these 'bankers' don't seem to care about the small and scattered customers. In the eyes of many bank shareholders, it doesn't matter if those mud legs save money or not. Because they have rich backgrounds and connections, the big customers in their hands alone are enough to make the bank have a good life. It makes those foreign banks in China look at it with a lot of eyes.

Since the development of China's banking industry, foreign banks in China have been greatly impacted. The most notable are the British-funded banks led by Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC, many of the Manchu central and local loans in the two banks have become dead debts, and the bulldozing of the Dongshan Xi family has also greatly reduced the influence of British banks in China.

What's more, the development and construction bank that entered Shanghai has much better interest and services for domestic loans, savings and other interests than foreign banks such as Standard Chartered and HSBC, especially Hu Xueyan, the general office of the development and construction bank, has a great reputation in the southeast shopping mall, and the development and construction bank has the support of the imperial court, at least a lot of government funds have gone through the development and construction bank, especially with the expansion project of Shanghai urban area, there are really too many conveniences for the development and construction bank.

Foreign-funded banks compete with Chinese-funded banks and private banks in China, and the innate conditions are greatly unsuitable.

In China, a humane society, the interests of money have never come first at all times. When necessary, money is not a fart in front of power.

The opening of Jinshang's Longsheng Bank, located in Tianjin, has already dealt another blow to foreign banks in China. Now Huaxing Bank has been established again. Counting the Huaxia Central Bank and the China Construction Bank, as well as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Agricultural Bank of China, which are still in preparation, if the foreign banks in China do not change their original rules and attitudes, their final fate will soon be doomed.

Beijing and Tianjin businessmen and giants gathered here, and officials from Daqin were also everywhere, and Hou Diagode, the Spanish commercial representative holding wine, said in a sour tone: "Mr. Tang, congratulations on becoming the president of Huaxing Bank. ”

Mr. Tang, Tang Tingshu also.

After the steamship China Merchants Bureau was pocketed by Liu Xian, it would be a waste to trap Tang Tingshu, Xu Run and others here.

After the two completed the reorganization of the China Merchants Steamship Bureau, they joined forces to set up the Bank of Communications, and Xu Run became the leader of the Bank of Communications. If Ping An Insurance Company had not been exposed last year that internal employees colluded with profiteers in the market to defraud, Tang Tingshu would still be China's first insurance giant. It's a pity that the matter has had too much impact, and what is even more important is that the 'internal employee' is his nephew, so he can only resign from Ping An Insurance.

Fortunately, Huaxing Bank is under construction, and Tang Tingshu, a figure with great influence in the domestic business community, was hired as the first general office of the bank.

So lucky, just left Ping An Insurance, did not fall silent for two months, and in a blink of an eye, he started Huaxing Bank again. It's no wonder Diagord speaks sourly. (To be continued......)