Chapter 518: The Women Settle in the Capital (Part 3)
"First, there's the money for the garden construction. Previously, there was a total of 1.5 million taels, but less than 100,000 taels have been spent recently, so we still have 1.4 million taels! In the East Palace, there's still 500,000 taels in the public treasury, and the Xue family's money has all been transferred. Currently, there's 400,000 taels in cash. My aunt said that within ten days, at least 200,000 taels will be transferred."
"I found excuses to withhold all the money that should have been spent on the business, whether it was for the various mansions or the royal family. Add to that the share that our eldest marquis had previously placed with me, and the total is a whopping 1.2 million."
"That means we now have over 3.5 million taels of silver! Moreover, Yuanyang also said that there is still 1 million taels of silver in the private vault of the East Palace. Because you and Bao Yatou didn't say anything before, it has not been used yet. The silver from last month's business will arrive soon, which is about 600,000 to 700,000 taels. Add to that the 200,000 from my aunt, and we have nearly 2 million in reserve !"
Baochai and Daiyu were fine, but the other girls were all stunned.
These people knew they could raise a lot of money, but they didn't expect to actually collect five million in cash! This was in just three days. Although such a sum of money couldn't be called as rich as a country, it was enough to shock many people.
Actually, this wasn't surprising! The lion's share came from Jia Cong's money. As a powerful marquis, with his lucrative business, it wasn't surprising that he was worth several million taels. Considering Jia Cong's previous confiscation of the Prince of Beijing's mansion, his fortune was worth over ten million taels. Furthermore, the rebellion had cost him a lot. Beyond that, there was the Xue family. Although they boasted a fortune of millions, they could only afford to pay a few hundred thousand in cash.
This time, for the sake of her daughter and son-in-law, Aunt Xue obviously spent all her money, and even her business had to be delayed a lot.
However, this was also because the Xue family had already spent a lot of money on the imperial court's expedition. Otherwise, they would have been able to raise hundreds of thousands more.
" Xiangyun , how's the situation over there?"
Xiangyun stood up excitedly. "There's nothing useful to report right now, but a number of mansions have already agreed to sell us some grain. It's just that most of it is old rice, and the price is already three taels and two cents per stone!"
Baochai thought for a moment and then said, "I've asked someone to inquire. In previous years and on weekdays, the price of rice in the capital was usually around one and a half to two taels. Now is different from the past. Although the price is high, it's not outrageous."
Upon hearing this, Daiyu immediately continued to ask, "Xiangyun, how much grain can we buy?"
"That's not yet determined, but each family has at least tens of thousands of stones!"
Just like the Jia family, in addition to their farm in Liaodong, they also had many farms in the capital, which supplied the palace. However, although the palace had a large population, how could they use so much food? Therefore, most of the grain was stored in warehouses. Every one or two years, new grain would replace the old grain, and the old grain would naturally be sold.
Take the historians for example. Even when they were most short of silver, they were not short of food.
Therefore, each of these aristocratic families and wealthy families, like rats, stored large quantities of rice. With Xiangyun representing the Shi family and being able to sell it at a high price, naturally some people were happy to do so.
"My family has stored tens of thousands of dan of grain outside the city. I've asked my two aunts to have people prepare it and take it all out. As for the other families, as long as I take the silver, I think there will be at least hundreds of thousands of dan."
"Then make all the arrangements, Sister Feng, and give money to Xue Ke and Jia Yun to buy whatever they can, regardless of the price."
"I've been asking around these past two days, and there are quite a few people from our families serving in the surrounding prefectures, or perhaps these officials have connections with our families. Sister Bao and I have drawn up a list. We'll each look at it later and have our families send people to contact them, also to buy food and rice, and ask them to help."
"Sister Bao, is the shop in the city ready?"
Baochai nodded and said, "We already had a few grain shops at home, but we've vacated a few more in the past two days. We have shops in various areas of the city. And just as you said, we'll set up shops next to the Cao Gang. Feng's girl has also set up a few shops, so there are thirty-five shops in total. As soon as the grain arrives, we'll all start selling it."
"Father has also sent word that the Ministry of Revenue will help us. Although they can't give us rice and silver, they will secretly support us with all the affairs."
"Muning, how's the situation over there?"
Mu Ning stood up and said, "Sister Lin, I've already met with my sister. She asked her trusted confidant to contact her for me. For the time being, she can sell us 500,000 dan of grain at the market price. It will take some time for news from Jiangnan to arrive back."
"Okay, once we've purchased the first batch of grain from Muring and Xiangyun, we'll start lowering grain prices!"
After saying this, Daiyu glanced at everyone and said, "This time, we've all put our wealth into this undertaking. Even if we succeed, we may not necessarily gain anything, but if we fail, the losses will be immeasurable. If anyone wants to withdraw now, Sister Bao and I won't make it difficult for them. Once we start, there will be no turning back."
"If I lose everything, I will stay at Third Brother's house. I will need food and money anyway." Xiangyun said with a giggle.
Wang Xifeng also threw her head back and laughed heartily, saying, "Miss Lin, you underestimate me. How could I possibly back out of such a situation? If I were to become a rebel, how would I ever face you again? This time, I've even let Ping'er pawn my dowry. If I can repay it completely, I can ask that... that great marquis to compensate me."
Daiyu smiled softly when she heard this, "Feng girl, just based on what you said, in the future, Baojie and I will ask Third Brother to give you another dowry. We will definitely not let you suffer any loss."
Baochai looked at Daiyu and smiled at Wang Xifeng.
Wang Xifeng didn't think much about it, she just laughed and sat down.
…
Following the actions of the Cao Gang, all the major grain merchants in the city also smelled something fishy. Under the leadership of the Cao Gang, most grain shops either closed down directly or only sold grain at regular times and fixed quantities every day. Naturally, the price of grain also changed every day.
The people who couldn't buy rice gathered around the grain shop, but there was nothing they could do.
Emperor Longxing was extremely angry about this matter, but it not only concerned the Cao Gang, but also involved the interests of many officials, so there was no good solution for the time being.
It is inappropriate to use force. If you want to release grain or suppress grain prices, not only will there be people in the court to stop you, but it will also be difficult to do so with the court's current financial situation.
The court does things differently from Daiyu and others. If the court uses silver to do things, it is rare for five taels of silver out of ten to be spent effectively . However, the millions of taels of silver from Daiyu and others, although there may be some omissions, at least more than 90% can be spent effectively.
