Inside the Forbidden City.

A little gossip spread like wings and soon spread throughout the palace.

Your Majesty is going to engage in fund-raising and financial management.

It is said that he wants to open a royal account in Tianxiatong Bank and deposit a large amount of money into it, so as to obtain an annual interest dividend of 5%.

But as we all know, His Majesty's inner money does not have much silver taels, so he wants to absorb some spare money, no matter who in the palace can join a share, enjoy an annual dividend of 3%, the principal can be withdrawn at any time, and the risk is very small.

And after this news spread, it immediately caused a heated discussion in the palace:

"Didn't Your Majesty just deny it, why did such rumors pop up again?"

"The 3% annual dividend is good, if I have any money left, I would like to join a share."

"It's just that Tianxiatong Bank has just suffered a huge loss, what if His Majesty deposits the money in it and the bank swallows all the money?"

"Hehe, Your Majesty's money dares to swallow it, isn't this tired of looking for death? Don't dare to give ten dares to the world's general bank! ”

"This is also true, unless you are not afraid of being raided and exterminated, no one dares to swallow the emperor's money."

"Is it just that this fundraising is reliable? Although the interest dividend is attractive, can you get back the principal if you put the money into your majesty? Even if you can, if you offend Your Majesty by withdrawing the principal, will there be any place for this palace? "Someone expressed the deepest concern in his heart.

"Since this kind of rumor is allowed to exist, I am afraid that it is a true thing nine times out of ten, but Your Majesty is the king of the Holy Wisdom, how can he bear the name of greedy for money? I think it's better to take out some family wealth and join this fundraising and financial management. ”

"Let's wait and see, if others join, then I will join, if others invest more money, I will also invest more, and others will invest less, I will mean it."

And the wait-and-see mentality belongs to the vast majority, dare to be the first to eat crabs very few, after all, there is a saying called a gun to shoot the first bird, if someone is really too active, pour all their wealth to join His Majesty's fund-raising and financial management project, this person may not get all the benefits, but may be rejected by everyone in the palace, become the loser.

Even so!

The first bird came out very quickly.

Wang Chengen!

Emperor Chongzhen's close attendant eunuch Wang Chengen took the initiative to donate his 80,000 taels of wealth and lent it to His Majesty for fund-raising and financial management, and he didn't even want to return the principal, as long as he could get an annual interest dividend of 3%.

But Emperor Zhu Youzhen resolutely refused, he would not ask for a tael of silver, raising funds and managing money was a fictitious thing, and he should not believe rumors.

However, Wang Chengen refused to give up, the first time he failed to donate money, he found an opportunity to plead for the second time, and after being rejected again, he pleaded for the third time, saying that he must participate in fundraising and financial management, hoping that His Majesty would allow it, and if he did not agree, he could not kneel for a long time, and he died outside the palace.

"Companion, why bother, why are you suffering? Okay, okay, I accepted the money, but I borrowed the money, not only to write an IOU, but also to record it in the account book, if I want to withdraw the principal in the future, I will immediately let people return the money, without a moment's delay! ”

In short, after this performance of loyal ministers and benevolent monarchs, Chongzhen was forced to accept the 80,000 taels of wealth offered by Wang Chengen, and wrote an IOU and recorded the account book in front of many people, so as to show that he would never owe the debt.

After Wang Chengen joined the fund-raising and financial management project, only one day later, the emperor suddenly issued an order to promote Wang Chengen to be the eunuch of the master of ceremonies and the seal of the seal, standing on the top of the dream of countless eunuchs.

As for the original palm print eunuch Cao Huachun, due to his age and lack of energy, he was reappointed as the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Eunuch, and the holy favor has not declined, just to lighten the burden on him, and others should not make groundless conjectures.

Even so, for Wang Chengen, who suddenly ascended to the peak of eunuchs, he was shocked and heated among countless people in the palace, and they all vaguely guessed something.

So it was also on the same day that the second bird appeared.

A palace maid named Miao Saihua took the initiative to see the emperor and said that she would offer her surplus wealth to join His Majesty's fund-raising and financial management.

Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen actually met with this ordinary palace maid and asked, "Miao Saihua, how much silver are you willing to invest?" ”

"Your Majesty, Saihua only has eighty silver dollars left, which is a little meager, I don't know if I can buy shares?" Miyamaiden Seedling Race Ikebana.

"Yes, why not? Even if there are only eight silver dollars, one silver dollar, you can buy shares, I am not too little! Zhu Youzhen said.

"Your Majesty, the minister remembered!"

At this time, an old eunuch next to him said: "This Miao Saihua is a palace maid who chooses vegetables in the Shang Shan Supervisor, she is respectful and conscientious, Chongzhen built a slave in the second year and ravaged Gyeonggi, His Majesty was furious, no one dared to send food, but Miao Saihua was not afraid of Longwei, and entered with a food box, and also told His Majesty to pay attention to his diet, not to miss the meal, the scene of that day, the old minister was deeply impressed. ”

Zhu Youjian Tong shrank his hole, looked at Miao Saihua below, and said, "Such a loyal and upright person, why do I only know today?" Miao Saihua, what palace position are you now? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, Saihua is still in charge of choosing vegetables." Miao Sai ikebana.

"How can this be reasonable, from now on, you will be the Shang Shi of Shang Shan Supervisor, and you will be fully responsible for the three meals of my food in the future!" Zhu Youzhen was furious and promoted her on the spot.

"Your Majesty, Saihua is terrified, please take back your life!"

Miao Saihua was taken aback, how could it be her turn to do it, no, no, this is absolutely not good.

But Zhu Youzhen has already identified her, and this is still hers, and there is no possibility of recovering her life.

So the palace maid Miao Saihua went back in a daze, and along the way, I don't know how many envious, jealous and hateful eyes she received.

And there are two precedents of Wang Chengen and Miao Saihua.

In the palace, even if you are a fool now, you all understand what the emperor's intentions and purposes are, and the horse bones of the gold market show your determination to promote the fund-raising and financial management project, so you don't have to choose, you have to buy shares if you don't want to buy shares, and the more silver you share, the better, so that Your Majesty can see the greater the loyalty, and even if there is a lot of risk, it is much better than losing the emperor's trust, losing the possibility of promotion, and not being able to mix in the palace.

Therefore, in the next three days, Zhu Youzhen received a soft hand in collecting money, and the funds collected soon exceeded 300,000 taels, 500,000 taels, and 1 million taels.

It's just because everyone pays money, and the amount is more or less, but Zhu Youzhen doesn't dare to judge whether to promote someone according to the amount of shares, and those who have shares are trustworthy and loyal ministers, there is no doubt about this, but those who contribute more money are more loyal than those who pay less? Not necessarily, but it may prove to be more greedy.

Zhu Youzhen is not Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, he will not make a mistake similar to selling his official beard, he will give a high position with more shares and a low position if he has less money, once he does this, it will only be a big mess in the world!

On the contrary, in the Jinyi Wei pro-army, Zhu Youzhen noticed a Jinyi Wei Xiaoqi named Shen Tie, when other Jinyi Wei had shares of 500 taels, 1,000 taels, or even tens of thousands of taels, this one called Shen Tie only invested a mere 16 taels, which seemed to stand out from the crowd and was out of place.

Zhu Youzhen specially summoned this Shen Tie and asked him: "Shen Tie, in Jinyi Weizhong, your colleagues have at least 500 silver dollars in shares, why do you only have 16 taels, is it because you have no money, or are you rich and unwilling to buy shares?" ”

Shen Tie below explained: "Your Majesty, the minister is not corrupt, does not accept bribes, does not want to be in the same stream, the old mother in the family is sick, there are six children under his knees, he is really powerless, he can't afford to help His Majesty, the minister is ashamed and guilty!" ”

"No one is perfect, except for characters like Haigang Peak, there are people in this world who are not dirty?" Zhu Youzhen looked at him with a look of disbelief and suspicion.

"Your Majesty, it's true."

Shen Tie's superior, Jin Yi Wei Qianhu Han Siping proved for it: "Shen Tie's grandfather, is the grandson of Jin Yi Wei who has experienced Shen Lian, Shen Tie is upright, jealous and hateful, once because of the book "Ten Sins" offended the traitor Yan Song and died, Shen Tie is loyal and good, by the ancestors of the influence, not only the mother is extremely filial, and to the grandfather as an example, rather to be poor, not corrupt, the minister is willing to vouch for Shen Tie, if Your Majesty does not believe, you can order someone to investigate the situation in Shen Tie's family. ”

"It turned out that after Zhongliang, I was at fault, and I blamed Aiqing for my mistake." Zhu Youzhen nodded again and again, apologizing.

"Your Majesty doesn't have to be like this, if you are a minister, if you are not upright, you can't stand scrutiny, sooner or later, you will be exposed, the minister is willing to accept Your Majesty's supervision at all times, take your grandfather as a model, even if you are poor, you will never change your original intention." Shen Tie Zhengse.

"Okay, okay, if all the courtiers in the world are like you, why worry that the Ming Dynasty is not strong, why worry about the chaos and difficulty?"

Zhu Youzhen was moved to the moist eyes of the people, and immediately rewarded Shen Tie with three hundred silver dollars, let him improve his family conditions, and promoted him to the hundred households of Jinyi Wei, although he was only promoted by a small two levels, but he was already in the emperor's heart, and he will be reused in the future.

"Your Majesty's kindness is like a mountain, the ministers are broken to pieces, and ten thousand deaths are hard to repay!"

Shen Tie was grateful, kneeling on the ground, his head almost bleeding.

……

By May 20.

In the palace, Zhu Youzhen's fund-raising and wealth management project has absorbed as much as 3.02 million silver dollars, although multiplied by the annual interest dividend of 2%, he can only earn more than 60,000 taels of silver every year, which is actually not a lot.

But he was already very satisfied, and his face was happy.

Because for him, the annual interest dividend is only secondary, but in this wave of fund-raising and financial management, he found a number of trustworthy loyal ministers, and successfully realized the binding of interests with the eunuchs, palace maids, and guards in the palace.

This is a much more important thing than the amount of money you make.

But also on this day or two.

In his harem, there was a not-so-quiet episode.

That is his favorite Tian Guifei, who raised 100,000 silver dollars from somewhere, and also plans to invest in his fund-raising and financial management projects, for such a good thing, of course Zhu Youzhen will not refuse, but a request made by Tian Guifei immediately caused Queen Zhou's unhappiness and obstruction.

Because of the 100,000 silver dollars, Tian Guifei wanted to buy shares in the name of her newborn son Zhu Cizhi (i.e., Yongwang), not in her own name.

Zhu Youzhen didn't care, no matter whose name it was, anyway, the silver dollar was real, and whoever wrote it could be.

"No way!"

Empress Zhou, who learned the news, immediately came over to stop her, and said to Tian Guifei: "Sister, what do you mean by this?" If you buy shares in the name of Ci Zhi, and Your Majesty will reward you in the future, what should you give to Ci Zhi? How do you ask Your Majesty to think about it? ”

Faced with questioning, Tian Guifei wrote lightly: "Sister, I gave out my silver, and there is nothing bad for you, it's really not good, you also invested 100,000 silver dollars in the name of the crown prince Cihong, why do you stop me from sharing worries for Your Majesty?" ”

"You-"

Queen Zhou gritted her silver teeth, her body trembled, this Tian Guifei was obviously laughing at her for being poor and couldn't afford 100,000 taels, but she couldn't find a good excuse to refute, so she had to say to Zhu Youzhen: "Your Majesty, the concubine doesn't care, Tian Xiuying can invest in her own name, but not in the name of Ci Hong, otherwise it will be unfair to Ci Hong, and the concubine will not accept it!" ”

Tian Guifei said: "Sister, I heard that Lord Guozhang has made a lot of money recently, why don't you borrow 100,000 silver dollars from him and also invest in the name of the prince, why be so sensitive?" ”

"Enough!"

Zhu Youzhen interrupted her and said, "Just do what the queen said, there is no need to say much about this matter." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Tian Guifei bit her lip and looked aggrieved.

Of course, after Tian Guifei invested 100,000 silver dollars in her own name, Zhu Youzhen stayed overnight in her Chengqian Palace for the next few days, which was regarded as a reward for her.

This made the other concubines who were eager to be nourished by the rain and dew jealous, and in order to compete for the holy favor, they had to do their best, you raised 50,000 taels, I raised 30,000 taels, she raised 20,000 taels, and then they all invested in the emperor's fund-raising and financial management projects.

Including Queen Zhou, after she begged her three brothers many times, she reluctantly raised 8,000 taels to buy shares, which was obviously small, so she couldn't raise her head in the harem, and she had never loved money, but she also had no choice but to realize the importance of money.

All in all.

By the end of May, Chongzhen's fund-raising and wealth management projects had raised a total of 3.658 million taels, which had been deposited in Tianxiatong Bank, and the amount basically no longer grew.

Zhu Youzhen was still very satisfied, and every time he saw the numbers on the deposit account, he smiled toothlessly.

But suddenly he remembered something, and his smile froze on his face.

It's been almost half a month, and the fund-raising and financial management projects in the palace have long been rumored, and everyone in the capital knows about it, including civil and military officials, honorable people, etc., not only all of them, but also received the signal released by themselves and hoped that hundreds of officials will also enthusiastically join the shares.

But so far.

The household officials rejected the proposal to buy shares because there was not much silver in the treasury.

The amount of shares invested by civil servants, zero.

The amount of the lords' shares, zero.

The amount of shares invested by the generals seems to be several thousand taels, which is negligible.

Then there is endless disappointment and loss, and even a little sadness and grief.

Zhu Youzhen said helplessly: "Is it really as Qi Chunnian said, civil officials and nobles are not credible, it is better to fall to Xujiazhuang?" ”