(Thank you for the support of a few people who have a headache, Nanyang Huo, and a few people who came to top the book, thank you!) ）――

When Yi Feng and the innkeeper were talking upstairs, a team of people rushed from the east road, about a hundred people. More than a dozen people in front of them were riding horses, followed by more than a dozen newly-made four-wheeled carriages, and the open carriages were full of sturdy young men, all wearing soap and brown robes. The sound of horses' hooves sounded like a fierce rainstorm in the freezing and silent darkness of the night, and the barking of dogs was immediately heard in the roadside village in front of the inn.

Liu Wenqi, the son of Youzhou Mansion to catch money, rode the Saiwai horse that he had recently bought back with fifty silks, Qianli Xue, walking in front, looking tired and gloomy. Catching money is not an official position, but just a miscellaneous servant. His grandfather was the Shizhou Assassin, and his father died in the Great Sui War, and he was posthumously presented with the third division of Shangyi and the fourth rank of the commander. His father died in battle on official business, so he was given the title of a son, but Liu Wenqi was the second son in the family, and finally his brother Wen Jing was awarded the title of Wupin Honor and the Third Division. Although he is just a lord with no real power, after all, it is also a royal reward, and the eldest brother can be regarded as having obtained an official status and entered the official career. However, it is not so easy for Liu Wenqi to become an official, and like many children of official eunuchs, Liu Wenqi finally took a similar path. Because the eldest brother has already won the title of the fifth rank, he finally has to enter the three guards of the relatives, honors, and Yi as the guards of the Son of Heaven, and he will be eligible to participate in the selection and awarding of the post after a certain number of years.

Liu Wenqi himself is only the second son in the family. He obtained the qualification of Pinzi, which is the descendant of an official below the sixth rank and the son of a commander below the third rank and above the fifth rank, and after obtaining the qualification of a pinzi, he can act as a guard for the prince and the official above the third rank. Of course, most of the characters are sent to manage the capital of the public office, which is called the money catcher. Although the name of catching money may sound good, it is actually just a lustful servant. According to the system of the imperial court, after becoming a color servant, you no longer have to bear the rent and mediocrity, and you no longer have to serve in the military and labor, which is a very good treatment, especially after serving as a miscellaneous officer for a certain period of time after becoming a product. is eligible to participate in the election of officials and officially enter the official career. Although becoming a money-grabbing product can avoid being exempted from servitude, in the final analysis, it is just the most ordinary miscellaneous duty. Manage the money of the public party. To put it bluntly, it is to take charge of a sum of capital in the hands of the local state and county, and use the money to lend and collect profits for the state and county yamen.

Catching money is definitely not as good as being a guard in the Prince's Mansion, but it is also a good errand. The miscellaneous errand of catching money in Youzhou Mansion was found for himself by the eldest brother who served in the Qinwei Mansion. Away from the capital and came to Youzhou. It wasn't bad at first. Even he, like those money-grabbers everywhere, quickly found a way to make money. The capital of the public office of Youzhou Mansion is very sufficient, and the monthly profit is not very high, and Youzhou is an important town in the north, and the commercial economy is very prosperous, the money in his hand can always be easily released, and because the demand is too much, he can even set the interest set by the yamen much higher than the yamen. Once in and out, he can earn a lot of money by being in the middle. It can complete the errand of the yamen. You can also make a lot of money.

But this good errand has recently become a chore.

It was only because of the sudden rise of the Northern Bank of Huaihuang, and it quickly expanded towards Youzhou.

Previously, Liu Wenqi was in charge of tens of millions of money in the public office of Youzhou Mansion, and the practice of the yamen was to give out the public party money with a monthly interest of one and a half cents, but in fact, the loan released by Liu Wenqi was far higher than this figure. The loan that goes out through his hand will be six cents a month within half a year. The monthly interest rate for more than half a year is 7 cents, and the monthly interest for one year to three years is 8 cents. This interest has long exceeded the regulations of the imperial court, and even compared with the red line of usury set by the imperial court that the monthly interest on loans should not exceed six cents, and the red line of usury that cannot be more than double the principal amount of interest has already been exceeded. Liu Wenqi has 10,000 yuan of capital in his hand, and the annual interest can be as high as 100%, and 10,000 yuan can be released, and the annual interest can reach 10,000 yuan, and even the interest is rolled, borrowing 1,000 yuan to repay the loan at the end of a year with 2,000 principal and interest, and if it is a year, it is already 4,000 yuan with interest. With the yamen as the backstage, although Liu Wenqi's regular public money is in the short and medium term within a year, the annual income can still more than double the profit. His income was about six times that set by the government, and if the modern official interest rate of more than four times is considered usury, it is a real usury.

This is a very profitable business, he has 10,000 yuan in his hand, and he only needs to hand over the prescribed 1,800 yuan of interest every year. And the profit he actually received was 10,000 yuan double the capital, as high as 8,200 yuan. Of course, he can't eat such a large amount of income alone, and the yamen side is to collect 1,800 yuan on the surface, but secretly he has to hand over 1,800 yuan. In addition, he also had to share a part of the profits from the officials and officials of the yamen, and even the servants below, and he himself also had a team of people who specialized in lending and collecting debts, and the expenses were not small. But even if he gets rid of these things openly and secretly, Liu Wenqi serves as the money-grabbing product of this Youzhou Mansion, and after a year, he can still net 3,000 yuan in the end. That's a lot of money!

However, since the Northern Bank set up outlets in Huaihuang and even opened stores in Youzhou City, Liu Wenqi's business is not easy to do.

The loan interest in his hand is at least six cents per month, and the average is about eight cents.

In Huaihuang, the annual interest rate of short-term loans within one year is not more than seven cents, and compound interest is not counted.

This is a huge difference, Liu Wenqi's monthly interest even exceeds the annual interest of the Northern Bank, which is a gap of more than ten times. borrowed 10,000 yuan in Liu Wenqi's hand, and after one year, he needed to repay 20,000 yuan together. In the Northern Bank, if you borrow 10,000 yuan, you only need 10,000 yuan in principal and interest after a year. With such a huge difference, the result was naturally that those borrowers who had borrowed money in his hands all went to the Northern Bank to borrow. Although the Northern Bank has a lot of requirements for lending, and even has to have a guarantee mortgage or something, the capital of the Northern Bank is much stronger than Liu Wenqi.

Seeing that there are not many days left before the end of the year, the seal is locked. The money that should have been handed over a long time ago, but Liu Wenqi has not yet collected it.

In the past, he could earn 3,000 yuan a year, and he could also give 1,080 yuan to the yamen. In addition, there are 5,200 dividends up and down. But now that he has taken a careful inventory, this year he has added up the Ben Li Tian in his hand, and it has only just exceeded 14,000. This result made Liu Wenqi anxious, but the result was the same after many calculations. 14,000 yuan, this year's profit is only 40% of last year's, although it can still reach more than five times that of the Northern Bank, but it is a big trouble for him. Even if he doesn't want his own 3,000 yuan. But he still had to give the yamen 1,08 yuan, and then 5,200 yuan up and down. But now there are only 4,000 yuan, and the account on the face of the 1,000 and eight that must be handed over has been deducted. The rest is only two thousand two, and even if he doesn't take his share, he still has a gap of three thousand yuan.

As early as after the Northern Bank entered Youzhou, Liu Wenqi had already sensed the trouble. After that, there was a constant loss of customers. He also reported to the Yamen. However, although the people over there helped and took the opportunity to seize the store of the Northern Bank in Youzhou City, those borrowers did not return to him much, and more borrowers chose to go to Huaihuang to borrow money. Liu Wenqi can close the Northern Bank store in Youzhou City, but he can't manage the Northern Bank in Wuzhou. And this year's huge loss, Youzhou doesn't care up and down, the above has already sent a message, no matter what difficulties occur to him. The annual share of money cannot be handed over less.

Liu Wenqi has been busy for a year this year, and as a result, the 3,000 yuan that should have been in the account is gone. Instead, I have to come up with 3,000 yuan.

1,800 guan of the yamen's profit and 5,200 guan of all parties' share money, a total of 7,000 guan money, Liu Wenqi has already handed it over, and it will not work if he doesn't pay it, he doesn't dare not pay it, this money involves all the forces up and down in Youzhou. It was with the participation of these people that he was able to manage the money, and to set the interest far beyond the yamen's profits, and even to ignore the express prohibition that the monthly interest should not exceed six cents. Of the 7,000 yuan, Liu Wenqi not only handed over all the 4,000 yuan of income, but also moved 3,000 yuan from the 10,000 yuan. But this is only a temporary stopgap measure, and this year has barely passed. But next year, the lending business is no longer good, and the capital is in deficit by 30%, if you don't think of a way, next year will be even more doomed.

He had to find a way to save himself, otherwise, he wouldn't want to return to Chang'an alive.

In the past two years, he has also earned nearly 10,000 yuan of family property in Youzhou, and it is okay to take it out to make up for this year's deficit, but he knows that under the current situation, it is impossible for the errand of catching money in Youzhou to be unloaded and handed over to others. No one will take this errand at this time, and the 10,000 yuan of family business he earned can make him last for two years at most. What happens in two years?

Although Liu Wenqi is the son of an official eunuch, his father died early, and the eldest brother attacked the official, but he was just a guard in the palace. The pool of water in Youzhou is very deep, and he can't get out. These days, Liu Wen's worried hair is about to turn white, and he can only drink to kill his sorrows all day long. Today he was borrowing wine to drown his sorrows, and he happened to meet the villagers in the yamen, and everyone got together to drink together, during the banquet, Liu Wenqi couldn't help but complain about his bad luck, and when it came to the emerging famine, everyone couldn't help but be jealous and hateful.

The barren land outside the fortress has now become a treasure land flowing with gold and silver, which no one could have imagined before. But they could only look at the horse thieves and bandits who they looked down on in the past, and those cheap businessmen and Hulu who made a fortune. All day long, one caravan after another passed through Youzhou City, and one by one they made a happy smile, even for the New Year, they did not stop.

When the wine was half-drunk, I don't know who came up with the idea, "Those merchants who run away from the famine have really made a lot of money, damn it, but we can't even drink a sip of soup when they eat meat." If you want Lao Tzu to say, let's take some brothers cleanly, let's set up a few checkpoints on the road outside the city, and all the caravans passing by, whether they come or go, we will charge him a sum of money, which can be regarded as getting some New Year's money. ”

"This is not good, set up a private checkpoint to collect money, in case the businessmen sue it, we are just afraid that we will not be able to eat and walk around." Someone worried. The people who drink here are basically about the same status, and they are all kinds of miscellaneous people in Youzhou Mansion. Each family is a family of eunuchs, and their fathers also hold official positions, but they are just miscellaneous duties of color service, and they are not officials at all, not even officials. There are even a lot of people who are not even products, they are just white men who serve in color service, some of these people are post men who deliver documents at post stations, some are tun dings who work in the official tun, and there are bridge men who are responsible for protecting the pontoon bridge on the river, the head of the canal and weir that manages the canal and weir, and the horses who manage the horses. There are also some of them who are the officials in the yamen, the white straight of the public office, the white straight who serves on errands beside the officials, and the clothes that hold clothes. In short, like gathers like things, and this group of people can be regarded as temporary workers of the Youzhou government. To do coloring service, you don't have to pay taxes, and you have the opportunity to be an official in the future and choose an official or something, in Youzhou City, it can be regarded as a group of land snakes that cannot be ignored.

"Don't worry, Manager Yan and Sima went to the Jingshi Chaoji, and they won't return until the beginning of spring after the New Year. Changshi is still in prison by the general manager, and among the other officials, who will have the mind to take care of these trivial matters. Now there is no one in charge of Youzhou who is really in charge, besides, let's find some extra money together, and then we will share some profits with the upper and lower levels, which will not be able to get along with money. A daring character said. Seeing a large number of merchants passing by every day, countless silver coins flowing, how could they not be tempted. If there is an opportunity to make a profit, of course, I will not let it go.

"Fuck it, those businessmen are making a lot of money one by one, let's just collect some of them, and we can have a fat year."

Everyone borrowed some wine, they were all in high spirits, they did what they said, everyone settled the wine account, and then each summoned people, which of them did not have three or five helpers, and immediately assembled a team of more than 100 people, the leader was Liu Wenqi, who served as a miscellaneous person, and the others were all Bai Zhi, Shi Li, and dozens of people who were also in the yamen who were also servants. Those who had horses rode horses, and brought a batch of newly purchased four-wheeled carriages from the yamen, and rode those who did not have horses together, and then went directly out of the city. Things were done unexpectedly, they set up card fees on the road leading to Huaihuang in Youzhou under the banner of the Youzhou Governor's Office, and set a rough charging rule according to the size of the caravan and the value of the goods carried, and then sat and waited to collect the money. Although those business travelers who came and went had some slander about this sudden appearance of the tax-collecting team, no one dared not to give it, and they all had the idea of spending money to avoid trouble, and paid the money honestly.

By dusk, in half a day, they had already collected hundreds of tolls. The first battle was won, and everyone was very happy. I was already planning to go back to the city at this time and come back tomorrow. Liu Wenqi felt that it was not enough, a few hundred yuan looked like a lot, but so many people shared, and they had to take out part of it to honor the above, how much can this share? finally gathered so many people, Liu Wenqi couldn't wait to take them directly to Huaihuang.

"Brothers, I just received a news, there is a big caravan just over, and now it is staying overnight in the old Tan family store in the west, they have brought more than a hundred fine horses, and a lot of goods, we might as well go over and collect money from them, and by the way, let's have a drink in the Tan family's old store." The donkey meat in the Tan family's old store is quite authentic and flavorful, especially the high-quality liquor from Huaihuang in their store, donkey meat and liquor are a perfect match, how about it? ”

Hundreds of good horses, if they were to collect the toll just now, they might not be able to collect a lot of money.

"Okay, I'll go and collect the money, and by the way, I will repay the stewed donkey meat and Huaihuang liquor in the Tan family's old store. Walk! ”

A group of people shouted and got on the horse, drove the car, and went straight to the Tan family's old store. (To be continued......)