After hearing Lu Daqi's solution to the dilemma, the businessmen lowered their heads and thought quickly.

They are considering the risks.

The real owner of the money shop was the Ming Emperor Chongzhen.

In theory, the bigger the background of a money house, the more secure the funds will be.

But there are two types of risks facing funds.

One is external risk: such as theft and robbery.

The other is internal risk: such as embezzlement by money houses.

The method used by the money houses to embezzle the merchants' money was very simple. If a merchant deposited 10,000 taels of silver in a money house in Shaanxi, the money house would give the merchant silver notes totaling 10,000 taels.

According to normal procedures, merchants can exchange silver notes for 10,000 taels of silver at any Ming Dynasty bank across the country.

But if the Shaanxi Money House gave a fake silver note, then the 10,000 taels of silver would never be recovered.

How do you want it?

Shaanxi money houses will certainly not admit to embezzling merchants' money.

Instead, they would say that the silver notes they gave were real ones and they didn't know about the fake ones.

If money is embezzled by other banks, as long as the law exists, merchants have the opportunity to seek justice.

Law is a public instrument for the whole world!

The county, state, prefecture, Ministry of Justice, Censorate, and Dali Temple can all try the case. If all else fails, they can then beat the drum to file a complaint with the emperor.

But if their money was embezzled by the Ming Dynasty money houses, the merchants would have no choice but to swallow it with gritted teeth.

Who can I go to for justice?

The Ming Emperor behind the money house is the only person in the Ming Dynasty who is above the law!

Not to mention the counties, states and prefectures, even the three judicial departments in the capital did not dare to interfere rashly.

There has been a saying since ancient times that big stores bully their customers.

People fear imperial power, and they also fear businesses that are backed by imperial power!

As the saying goes, if you can't afford to offend, you can afford to avoid it!

Under this subconscious influence, people stayed away from Ming Dynasty money houses.

The result was that the Ming Dynasty Money House faced the dilemma of having money but no business!

There are even rumors that if you borrow money from other money houses, you only have to pay back the money, but if you borrow money from the Daming Money House, you have to pay back your life.

Lu Daqi saw the concerns in the merchants' hearts and asked loudly, "Are you afraid that the Daming Money House will bully customers?"

The five businessmen were hit by what he said and stood there hesitating and not daring to speak out.

Bang!

Lu Daqi slammed the table and said, "Yes, yes. No, no. Why are you hesitating and not daring to speak?"

The merchants were terrified and stood there with their necks shrunk, not moving.

The businessman surnamed Chen bravely whispered, "To reply to the Governor, I am indeed afraid that the money houses will bully customers."

Lu Daqi laughed.

He picked up a piece of paper and asked the officer to pass it to several merchants: "The Daming Money House is not what you think. Except for the different background, everything else is exactly the same as an ordinary money house."

"Even..." Lu Daqi smiled again when he said this: "If you encounter difficulties when you are away from home, you can try the Daming Money House."

Lu Daqi only said half of this sentence. The other half was that as long as you are willing to spend money, Daming Money House has plenty of connections.

Seeing that the merchants were still hesitant, Lu Daqi added: "If you suffer losses at the Daming Bank, you can go to the Land Bureau or come to the government office to file a complaint. This governor has only one principle, and that is justice!"

The five businessmen fell silent again, weighing the pros and cons in their minds.

Soon, the answer emerged in their minds.

The five merchants exchanged glances and bowed to Lu Daqi at the same time: "Thank you, Governor, for your guidance. We will immediately organize people to exchange the silver for Ming Yuanbao when we return."

"Well," Lu Daqi nodded, "Everyone, leave."

"I'm leaving." The merchants bowed again and turned to leave the government office.

After turning a street, five sedan chairs stopped at the same time.

The five businessmen got off the sedan chair one after another and gathered together in silence.

"Everyone," a businessman asked, "what should we do next?"

"What else can we do? Do we have any choice?" Another merchant sighed, "Guanzhong is poor, and most of the supplies come from other places. Merchants from other places only accept silver, not silver coins. We can only follow Governor Lu's method and mortgage the silver coins to the Daming Money House, and then go to Daming Money Houses in other places to exchange for silver."

"What if I don't change it? Can the imperial court really ban the use of silver?"

"Just because the court hasn't banned it now doesn't mean it won't in the future. When that day comes, if the silver reserves of the banks and the Baoyuan Bureau are insufficient, or if they deliberately hoard it and refuse to exchange it, the silver in our hands will become a hot potato."

"As the popular saying goes, if you change the money early, it's still yours, but if you change it late, you may not know who the money belongs to."

"Then change it, and change it as soon as you get back!" someone suggested.

"No rush," said the businessman named Chen. "We can wait for the gentry's reaction. If they change, we will change! If they wait, we can also wait."

The other four merchants suddenly realized what was going on. They bowed and said, "Brother Chen is indeed the leader of the Guanzhong merchants. We admire him."

"Shame on you, shame on you!" The businessman surnamed Chen smiled a little embarrassedly, "I, Chen, have no intention of joining forces with you to oppose the court. I am just speaking out my thoughts. Please don't take them seriously."

“Those who understand will understand!”

The merchants laughed, got on the sedan chairs, and returned to their homes.

Not long after they left, a man climbed out from the wall of a courtyard on the street.

The man was wearing old cloth clothes and tattered cloth shoes.

He climbed over the wall, identified the direction, and left quickly.

In the following half month, the Jinyiwei sent news from all over Shaanxi to Cao Huachun one after another.

Cao Huachun did not dare to delay and immediately shared the important news with Lu Daqi.

In the side hall of the Xi'an government office, Lu Daqi and Cao Huachun sat opposite each other again.

Looking at the letter handed over by Cao Huachun, Lu Daqi kept frowning: "That is to say... up to now, most of those who exchanged for Ming Yuanbao are ordinary people, and there are few gentry and merchants?"

"That's right!" Cao Huachun nodded. "Famous gentry and wealthy businessmen are all watching."

"What should I do..." Lu Daqi was in a dilemma, "Are they really going to order a ban on silver?"

No, there is no order from the court.

Cao Huachun was not at all panicked. He sat sideways in a chair and drank tea leisurely.

"Lord Cao," Lu Daqi said with helplessness in his eyes, "Does His Majesty know about this?"

"Yes, Your Majesty had already guessed this situation before the Ming Yuanbao was launched."

"Oh?" Lu Daqi became excited: "Your Majesty, do you have any way to deal with it?"

"have."

"What method?" Lu Daqi asked.

Cao Huachun blinked his eyes and replied in a half-understanding manner: "Your Majesty's response strategy is called cutting leeks."