Upon returning to Jiangzhou, Shen Qing immediately took the quota list from the Imperial Textile Bureau to the Gao family and visited several local money shops.
Without Zhao Yuanwai's covert sabotage, these money shops welcomed Shen Qing, who came to borrow money.
The shopkeeper put on his reading glasses and carefully examined the large red seal on the right side of the quota slip.
After staring at it for a long time, he looked up at Shen Qing and said, "Is this the seal personally stamped by the Imperial Textile Commissioner?"
Shen Qing nodded: "It must have been made by the head weaver himself. Or, I can bring him here so we can confirm it with you in person?"
The shopkeeper grinned, revealing a set of yellowish-brown teeth, and joked, "You can call the Imperial Textile Commissioner here, but I don't recognize him! We're just ordinary folks, how would we know the Imperial Textile Commissioner!"
He thought Shen Qing was joking with him.
Shen Qing was obviously joking with him.
If she really brings Qi Zhenheng to the money exchange, the whole of Jiangzhou will know the next day that the Imperial Textile Commissioner has an unusual relationship with the Gao family.
That would harm Qi Zhenheng, and it would also harm the Gao family.
"This list says..." The shopkeeper adjusted his reading glasses, pointed to a number on the list, and asked, "Does this mean that 3,500 bolts of silk will be sent to the imperial court each year?"
"Exactly."
"How much profit can be made from that piece of silk?"
Shen Qing's eyes darted around, and he said, "A hundred or so taels."
In reality, a bolt of silk could earn around two hundred taels of silver, but everyone was afraid that if this information were leaked, it would arouse jealousy and cause trouble among other merchants who did not receive government stipends. Therefore, everyone always claimed that it was one hundred taels of silver.
The shopkeeper flicked the abacus a few times: "Just from the silk exported to the imperial court, the Gao family can earn more than 300,000 taels a year!"
Shen Qing nodded with an awkward smile.
The shopkeeper, still working on the abacus, asked Shen Qing, "How much silver does Mr. Shen intend to borrow?"
Shen Qing simply replied, "One million five hundred thousand taels."
The shopkeeper chuckled and looked up at her: "But you only earn a little over 300,000 taels a year, yet you want to borrow five times that amount. That's against the rules..."
Shen Qingcai realized that he had underestimated the profit he had just reported.
However, reporting based on actual profits would break the rules of the industry, letting outsiders know how lucrative government-funded jobs are, thus increasing competition and disruption.
Thinking of this, Shen Qing felt quite helpless and said, "But the Gao family's business is not limited to supplying silk to the imperial court; the Gao family has other businesses as well."
The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow and smiled: "I know, the Gao family also does business with foreigners."
Shen Qing added, "I also have a factory in Shanghai, which costs a lot of money, and I have shares in the raw silk merchants' association. I invested one million taels."
The shopkeeper removed his hand from the abacus, looked at Shen Qing, and said simply, "Five hundred thousand taels, one-year term, annual interest of eight percent, paid monthly!"
Five hundred thousand taels was far from enough for Shen Qing; he was still two-thirds short.
"Does the quota for the Imperial Textile Bureau need to be kept by you?"
"Of course!" The shopkeeper patted the list on the table. "This is your collateral! This is your most valuable asset! Otherwise, what bank would lend you 500,000 taels at once?"
Seeing Shen Qing's displeased expression, the shopkeeper continued, "Look, before, the Gao family borrowed money from Master Zhao, mortgaging their mansion, and they only managed to borrow 100,000 taels, didn't they?"
Shen Qing then realized how stingy the money shops in Jiangzhou were; no wonder the Gao family father and son were forced to borrow money from Master Zhao.
She put away the share certificate: "I'll go ask the bank in Shanghai."
After saying that, he stood up, indicating that he had no intention of taking out a loan from this money lender.
She had just planned that if the share certificate didn't need to be pledged, she would take out loans from three different money shops. However, since the share certificate was to be taken away, she would have nowhere to borrow the remaining 1 million taels after borrowing 500,000 taels.
"Boss Shen," the shopkeeper caught up, "Six hundred thousand taels! No more than that! Six hundred thousand! What do you think?"
Shen Qing waved his hand: "I'm leaving."
After saying that, he went down the stairs.
She boarded the carriage: "Old Xu, to Shanghai."
He Fei also jumped into the front chamber of the carriage.
As Old Xu rode his horse, he asked He Fei, "What happened? Didn't you manage to borrow it?"
He Fei: "This big money shop has such a grand facade, but it's actually stingy. It's only willing to lend five or six hundred thousand taels."
Old Xu also cursed, "What can you do with five or six hundred thousand taels?"
Having worked alongside Shen Qing in business for many years, the two were used to dealing in large transactions worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver. Now, when they heard that the money shop was only willing to lend them fifty or six hundred thousand taels, they were somewhat disdainful.
Shen Qing sat in the car, sorting out the customs declarations for the orders with the French, including raw silk and down jackets.
The banks in Shanghai are all foreign-owned, and those people don't recognize the quota slips issued by the Imperial Textile Bureau.
Shen Qing examined the data on the customs declaration and guessed that he might not be able to get a large loan from the bank in Shanghai.
Banks in Shanghai are even more demanding than local money shops; she experienced this firsthand when she first arrived.
When you try to negotiate a loan with those foreigners, they'll only ask if you have any cultural relics or similar items.
They didn't even look at the goods.
Regardless, Shen Qing still had to give it a try, since the local money shops couldn't lend out much money.
I just hope that after two years, it will be easier to get loans from foreign banks.
However, Shen Qing's expectations were dashed. Even after two years, the banks in Shanghai still only recognized cultural relics and jewelry, and didn't even glance at the customs declarations and orders that Shen Qing brought over.
Shen Qing returned to Jiangzhou empty-handed.
Soon, a month passed. She went to Nanxun to settle the accounts and returned to the accounting office of the textile bureau.
Qi Zhenheng quickly came to the accounting office to find her. As soon as he entered, he asked with concern, "How did it go? Did you manage to borrow the money?"
Shen Qing put down his brush and shook his head: "The bank is only willing to lend 600,000 taels."
“That’s still 900,000 taels short.” Qi Zhenheng shook his head. “In recent years, opium has been rampant, wars have been constant, and taxes and levies have been numerous. There’s not much private capital, so money shops are naturally cautious about lending money out.”
Shen Qing nodded: "That's right."
What is your collateral?
Shen Qing said, "Quota list."
But it's really no use, she thought.
In recent years, the Qing government has become increasingly weak, and it has been frequently reported that the Qing government is short of money and needs donations from local gentry and imperial merchants.
This gave the public the impression that the Qing government might run out of money at any time.
As a result, the orders these merchants, who relied on the Qing government for their livelihood, were no longer as valuable.
But Shen Qing didn't dare say these words to Qi Zhenheng's face.
The Gao family's quota was secured for them by Qi Zhenheng after he became the textile commissioner. If she were to question the value of the quota in front of Qi Zhenheng, it would embarrass him.
So Shen Qing didn't say anything.
Qi Zhenheng stood up, paced back and forth in the accounting room for a while with his hands behind his back, then turned to look at Shen Qing:
"Let's just sell next year's raw silk to the British first, get that 1.5 million taels of silver, and fill this year's hole first."
Seeing that Shen Qing remained silent, he continued to persuade him: "The year after next, the year after next, we will re-price the raw silk."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com