Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 15: The Emperor's Southern Storehouse
Zhou Yijin thought about it and indeed remembered it.
The Yongding River was formerly known as the Wuding River, so named because of its unpredictable migration of the river course. It is the lifeline of Beijing's waterway. If the river is safe, the capital is safe, and if the river is in trouble, the capital will be flooded. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, he invested heavily in this river and built a large embankment in an attempt to solve the problem once and for all, so it was renamed the Yongding River. Unexpectedly, although the embankment was reinforced, a large amount of silt washed down from the upper reaches was deposited in the riverbed, causing the riverbed to rise sharply. The embankment was repeatedly washed away and overflowed, which forced the court to continue to raise the embankment. Over time, the lower reaches of the river became a suspended river above the ground, just like the lower reaches of the Yellow River.
After the Qianlong period, floods in the Yongding River increased year by year. Although last year's flood was not small, Zhou Yijin did not pay much attention to it because floods in the Yongding River were too frequent.
"What's wrong with the Yongding River flood?" Zhou Yijin asked. He was also wondering in his heart, could a flood in Beijing, thousands of miles away, be related to Wu Chengjian in Guangzhou?
Cai Qinghua smiled and said, "It seems that you must be thinking, what does a moderate flood in Beijing have to do with Guangzhou, right?"
Zhou Yijin did not deny it: "Actually, it is related. When the flood hit last year, every household in the Thirteen Hongs donated a lot of money."
Cai Qinghua said: "That amount of money is actually not enough."
Zhou Yijin said: "The money for flood relief and river management in the capital of the Qing Dynasty cannot all be paid by the Thirteen Hongs. I believe that Shanxi merchants and Yangzhou salt merchants also donated. And we cannot rely solely on donations from the public. The bulk of the money still depends on the Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Palace."
"That's where the problem lies." Cai Qinghua waved his hand and asked the personal boy who had come back to pour wine to go back to the stern. He then lowered his voice and said, "The disaster came suddenly, and the emperor issued an order to let the Ministry of Revenue allocate funds for disaster relief. As a result, this flood has caused a big problem: it turns out that the Ministry of Revenue has run out of money a long time ago."
Zhou Yijin said, "That's impossible! I heard that the flood last year wasn't that serious, and they couldn't even get this little money out... How could the Ministry of Revenue be in such a deficit? If so, why didn't anyone in the government report it?"
He was in Guangzhou, but in order to help the Wu family, he still paid money to maintain spies in Beijing. If the Ministry of Revenue had such a huge deficit, and someone in the officialdom exposed it, he would not have been unaware of it.
Cai Qinghua smiled and said, "Of course someone covered it up."
"who?"
"Who else could it be?" Cai Qinghua said with a smile, "Whoever is the Minister of Revenue will cover this up!"
"You mean... Heshen?"
Cai Qinghua's smile turned into a sneer: "Besides him, who else?"
When Zhou Yijin went to meet Cai Qinghua, it happened that Short-legged Charlie had returned with Chuanlong Ci Ye. Charlie told Wu Chengjian that there was no large quantity of tea of unknown origin in Macau, and the people sent by Ci Ye to Huizhou, Dongguan, Foshan and other places reported similar situations.
After listening to these reports and considering all the previous things, Wu Chengjian was stunned for a long time, and slowly collapsed on the armchair. Just then, a big wave hit the cabin, shaking it. Fortunately, the furniture was nailed down, but Wu Chengjian's body was also swaying in the waves.
"Third Master," Short-legged Charlie asked in a mixture of Chinese and English, "Is the situation very bad?"
"It's very, very bad..." Wu Chengjian sighed and said, "The tea leaves disappeared in Huizhou, and then my elder brother and Lao Gu went to investigate one after another but couldn't find any clues. The fact that the matter was done so cleanly and neatly must not have been done by villains. Nothing works without profit. If the other party robbed the tea leaves for money, they must have done it before the autumn harvest."
"That's right," said Master Chuanlongci, "once the monsoon is over, the price of tea will surely drop sharply."
"But now there is no tea in bulk anywhere," Wu Chengjian frowned. "It is unreasonable for the other party to rob the tea but not distribute the stolen goods when the price is high. The only explanation is that the other party does not need to distribute it. As long as the time comes, they can sell it all at once. And the Thirteen Hongs in Guangdong Province can only sell tea in bulk and pay a high price and take up such a large quantity."
Master Chuan Longci said, "The autumn harvest is already in the middle and late stages, and the province's money supply is tight. Who can consume such a large amount of tea?"
Before the autumn trade was completed, foreign merchants held on to their silver in preparation for buying the pre-ordered goods, and traveling merchants' money had long been converted into goods waiting to be shipped overseas. It was difficult for both buyers and sellers to have large amounts of working capital during this season.
When the autumn harvest is completed, the silver will enter the Thirteen Hongs, and the merchants will count and distribute it to the second-tier and third-tier merchants. At that time, the whole of Guangzhou will usher in a harvest carnival. But before that, the closer it is to the end of the autumn harvest, the tighter the money supply will be.
"To handle such a large amount of goods, we have to rely on foreign merchants," said Wu Chengjian.
"No, no!" Short-legged Charlie said, "European companies would not wait until now to start ordering goods. They should have already reserved the goods. All the silver they brought should be used for this. No company would have so much spare money now."
"There are two ways." Wu Chengjian said, "Each company should have some funds in reserve to deal with the situation. Not everyone will spend all their money. Of course, this batch of tea is too valuable. It would be difficult for any company to consume it all at once. But if we collect all the remaining funds, we may still be able to consume this batch of tea."
"That's short-term usury." Short-legged Charlie said, "Oh my God! Third Master, do you know how high the interest rate is if you borrow money at this time? It must be ridiculously high to make the companies take out their spare money."
"Yes, Charlie, this is really not a good idea, but it is a possibility after all." Wu Chengjian said, "So in the next few days, you have to run errands to the foreign company to see if there is anyone raising money everywhere. If there is, this person is most likely the intended buyer of this batch of stolen goods."
"Okay, Third Master," Short-legged Charlie said, "Leave it to me. Such a large-scale loan cannot be done without leaving any traces. As long as this thing exists, I will definitely be able to investigate it. However, you just said there are two ways, what is the other way?"
"The other way is much simpler." Wu Chengjian said with a wry smile: "The people who robbed the tea can just sell it directly to Milton in the end."
"Oh my God, you mean... let the East India Company buy stolen goods?" Short-legged Charlie shouted, "That's impossible! The East India Company is a world-renowned company, and Mr. Milton is also a well-known businessman. It's impossible for him to buy stolen goods for a little profit. Impossible !"
"Why are you shouting so loudly?" Wu Chengjian said, "To cover up your guilty conscience? Haha, Charlie, you don't believe what you just said, do you?"
Short-legged Charlie blushed, but still said, "Mr. Milton has been a business partner of your Yihe Bank for many years. Don't you still trust him?"
"Now, I don't trust anyone." Wu Chengjian said, "I don't trust anyone, not even my family or my business, let alone a British guy whom I've only met a few times? Well, Charlie, I'm not talking about you."
Short-legged Charlie laughed: "Okay, Third Master, although I am British, I have met you more than a few times. With this adjective, I am not within the scope of your verbal attack."
"But Third Master," said Master Chuan Longci, "whether it was foreign merchants who raised funds to buy dirty goods, or whether it was finally taken over by Mr. Milton, the person who was going to ship the goods could not be an ordinary businessman."
After Emperor Qianlong issued the "One Port Trade" policy, all import and export trade was banned. Foreign merchants entering China and Chinese goods going overseas all had to go through the Thirteen Hongs. It was still the Qianlong period, and the court had strict laws and regulations on foreign affairs. There was still some sporadic smuggling, but large-scale trading was still under control.
Master Chuan Longci said, "No matter which possibility it is, this robber must have connections with foreign merchants, and those who have such connections must be in the Thirteen Hongs without a doubt."
"You just thought of this problem now?" Wu Cheng sighed and pointed at his slumped posture: "Didn't you see that I was completely exhausted when I heard what you said just now?" He sighed: "The internal enemy has not been caught yet, but the external enemy is already very obvious. That guy is hiding in the Thirteenth Line."
Short-legged Charlie and Master Chuan Longci looked at each other. Wu Chengjian said, "But I still don't understand. My father has been doing business for decades and has always been kind to others. My eldest brother has grown rapidly in recent years, but he has also expanded his business overseas and has not swallowed up anyone's industry in China. Although it is common for peers to kill each other in the Thirteen Hongs, it is a huge price to pay for robbing goods and selling them. As long as Yihehang survives this disaster, it will be a deadly feud from now on! Who on earth would risk being retaliated by our Wu family and being feared by peers to snipe at our Wu family?"
Zhou Yijin was a wise man who planned seven steps ahead. When he heard the name "Heshen", he felt vaguely uneasy - this god was too huge for the land of Guangdong. If the Third Young Master's affairs were related to him, it would definitely be bad news.
However, in order to induce Cai Qinghua to say more, he still said: "But how can we cover up the fact that we have no money? If there is a mistake in the criminal law, it can be covered up. If you have no money, you have no money. Unless you can conjure up money, how can you cover it up?"
Cai Qinghua said: "We also thought this matter was strange at first. Although Heshen tried to cover it up, the news still leaked out. The Grand Marquis was still working in the Ministry of Rites at the time. After receiving the news, he thought it was a godsend, so he contacted people with lofty ideals in the court and prepared to overthrow Heshen. Several censors and imperial officials even prepared impeachment memorials, but they didn't expect that at the last minute, Heshen suddenly took out money to balance the deficit."
"Money can't come out of nothing," Zhou Yijin said, "Could it be that Heshen paid for the deficit out of his own pocket?"
Cai Qinghua laughed: "Do you think it's possible?"
Zhou Yijin said: "If not , it would be like moving east wall to repair west wall."
Heshen was not only the Minister of Revenue, but also the Chief Administrator of the Imperial Household Department. The Minister of Revenue was in charge of the national treasury, which was the court's public money, while the Chief Administrator of the Imperial Household Department was in charge of the inner household, which was the emperor's private money.
Cai Qinghua said: "No one can tell for sure, but the Grand Duke privately speculates that this is very likely."
"Move the east wall to repair the west wall. Even if you repair the west wall by moving the bricks of the east wall, the east wall will collapse sooner or later." Zhou Yijin said, "If he really dares to do this, it would not only be extremely audacious, but also a way to quench thirst with poison."
Cai Qinghua said: "But what if we ask him to repair the east wall as well?"
Zhou Yijin said: "When the Ministry of Revenue is in deficit, he can transfer money to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. If the Ministry of Internal Affairs is in deficit again, where else can he transfer money to?"
Cai Qinghua smiled and said, "Don't forget, although there is only one public treasury in the imperial court, the emperor has two places to keep his private money, one in the north and one in the south."
Zhou Yijin's expression suddenly changed.
"The Thirteen Hongs, the Thirteen Hongs! The foreign ships are all merchants, and the Thirteen Hongs are full of silver and money." Cai Qinghua said with a smile: "If the Imperial Household Department is the emperor's northern treasury, then the Thirteen Hongs are the emperor's southern treasury! Yijin, don't you think so?"
