As the capital of the Song Dynasty, Bianliang City was not only prosperous but also full of powerful people.
There were countless princes, nobles, and high-ranking officials.
Sometimes, when a stone was thrown from the third floor of Fanlou, no one knew whether it would hit a commoner or an official of high rank.
The emperor has no shortage of powerful people, especially the military families since the beginning of the Song Dynasty.
After the emperor rewarded the Cao family, there was no sensation in the court. Instead, the generals were quite surprised and sent people to Cao's house to inquire about the situation.
The generals of the Song Dynasty had been marginalized, a bit like the nobles of the Ming Dynasty.
The military families had no real power, and their descendants had no other power except for being granted some honorary titles. They basically just lived a life of idleness and waiting to die.
Originally, the Cao family was the same. Except for Cao Xiu, who still served as the Imperial City Envoy with some real power, the others had little power and were often suppressed and restricted by the civil service group.
You have to know that the Cao family had a queen and it was like this, not to mention other military families. So when they heard that the Cao family had received unprecedented rewards and that the emperor praised the Cao family highly, everyone was surprised.
Soon, Cao Cong followed Empress Cao's instructions and hosted a banquet at Fanlou for the rest of the military families. More than ten families that were on good terms with the Cao family attended the banquet.
It was not until the banquet that everyone realized that the government wanted them to deposit their money in the Jiaozi shop.
After learning about this, some people were hesitant because no one could be sure about the Jiaozi Shop. If it went bankrupt like the Jiaozi Shop in Chengdu did, they would lose all their money.
However, any wise person would not hesitate. After the banquet, he would go back and move a large amount of cash from his home and deposit it in the Jiaozi shop.
Because they know that no matter whether they can get the money back in the future, at least now they have to pay it to ensure safety.
Otherwise, the government has plenty of ways to deal with the generals who now have no military power.
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On June 29th, a long queue formed in front of the entrance of the Jiaozi Shop in Bianliang.
At this moment, Zhouqiao Street next to Xiangguo Temple in Nancheng was crowded with people. All kinds of noisy sounds gathered together, and people coming and going were crowded together. The whole street became blocked.
There are already many street vendors here, and now there are so many more, some are shopping, some are just passing by, and most are here to watch the fun.
There were probably hundreds or even thousands of people crowding Zhouqiao Street, all gathered outside the Jiaozi shop to watch.
Even the restaurant across the street was full of people.
On the second floor railing of Xiangde Building, several elegant and wealthy businessmen were sitting there with a smug look on their faces, overlooking the gate of Jiaoziwu below.
They were the representatives of the Bianliang tea merchants, Zhou Yunsheng, Wang Min and others, and there were several other wealthy businessmen next to them.
Apart from the tea merchant, the most conspicuous one was a middle-aged man.
This man was quite thin, with a serious face and a mustache. His name was Kang Xi, and he was a famous salt merchant in Bianliang.
Salt merchants were different from tea merchants. Tea merchants needed to obtain tea permits from the imperial court before they could do business. However, salt merchants did not have salt permits. They only had official salt merchants, meaning the government designated someone to sell salt to, who then went on to sell it.
Therefore, before the eighth year of the Qingli period, when Fan Xiang, the salt commissioner, was appointed to reform the salt law, the salt law in the Song Dynasty was a government monopoly, with only lower-level agents and distributors appearing at most. This meant that all salt was sold by the government, unlike tea, which could have private owners.
Kang Xi was the largest official salt distributor in Bianliang. He had a very good relationship with the government and was also a friend of Zhou Yunsheng and others.
At this moment, he looked down, his face somewhat grim, and said to Zhou Yunsheng and the others, "Brother Zhou, Brother Wang, as the saying goes, the people should not fight against the officials. You are making such a big fuss and gathering people together to take the money. Aren't you afraid of angering the court?"
Wang Min smiled bitterly and said, "If it weren't a matter of life and death, who would want to offend the government? Even if things get a little out of hand, it's to save our own lives."
Zhou Yunsheng also said: "Yes, the court must have some dignity. There is nothing wrong with our payment. Tea merchants from Chengdu come to Bianliang to do business, so shouldn't they be able to withdraw money?"
"That's reasonable, but sometimes, we still have to be flexible with the court when doing business..."
Kang Xi advised.
But the two men obviously did not listen. They did not think they had done anything wrong, because since the court had opened a Jiaozi shop, it was natural for them to deposit money and then exchange it, and it was not a crime.
So even if the imperial court knew that someone was behind this, they would not dare to do anything to them.
Otherwise, who would dare to deposit money at the Jiaozi Shop in the future? The court's credibility would be completely destroyed.
It is precisely because they understand this point that businessmen act so recklessly.
After all, when the money law was implemented, they chose to refuse to enter China, and the imperial court could not do anything to them.
"The door is open, the door is open!"
At this moment, as someone shouted from below, the merchants rushed in.
But they were soon stopped. An official from the Jiaozi Office came out. One official, dressed in a cyan official uniform, stood on the steps and shouted at the people below, "What are you yelling about? What are you yelling about? It's so early in the morning. Don't you know you have to queue up?"
More than ten officials who were responsible for maintaining order immediately raised their sticks. They also had knives on their waists. The Jiaozi Shop had a lot of coins in its inventory, so the facilities were comparable to those of a government office and were guarded by officials.
Seeing this scene, the merchants quickly stepped back. Then someone said, "Sir, we came to Bianliang to sell our goods. We need capital. We came to the Bianliang Jiaozi Bureau to withdraw the money we deposited."
"Yes, sir, we deposited money at the Jiaozi Shop in Chengdu and came to Bianliang to withdraw it. This is the law set by the court. Is there anything wrong with it?"
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