When the Minister of the Imperial Household was wondering whether the conversation between the emperor and his ministers should end today, he heard Emperor Wende mention dividends.
The Shaofu's heart skipped a beat. Sure enough, he was waiting here.
Emperor Wende asked cheerfully, "I heard that many people received large dividends today. How much did your uncle receive?"
The Shaofu Housekeeper bowed and said, "Not much, not much. We can add two more dishes during the New Year."
"The dishes my uncle added for the New Year are not cheap."
The Shaofu household official was sweating.
"I also invested money in Gu Jiu back then, why didn't she give me any money?"
"Your Majesty is very busy, and Madam Zhao probably doesn't want to disturb His Majesty."
"When it comes to money, it's always a big deal. How can you not take the initiative to give money just because you're afraid of bothering me? That's really unreasonable."
Emperor Wende seemed to be joking.
However, the Shaofu household steward was somewhat frightened.
He was worried that Emperor Wende would be moody and take his anger out on Gu Jiu, so he said, "Today, I met Madam Zhao. She said that the palace had invested 50,000 taels of silver from the public account, and she asked me who should receive the dividends from this capital.
This old minister is also undecided, thinking that we should collect the money from the government first, and then submit it to Your Majesty and Your Majesty for review after the account books are completed.
Emperor Wende laughed heartily. "I almost forgot about this. Someone, go to Weiyang Palace and tell them I'll be having dinner there tonight. I want to have a couple of drinks with the Empress."
The eunuch received the order and hurried to Weiyang Palace to inform the public of the matter.
Emperor Wende looked at the Minister of the Imperial Household again and asked, "Is there anything else that Uncle hasn't discussed?"
Sure enough, I remembered it.
The Imperial Household Supervisor hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, Madam Zhao has a problem. The late Emperor invested three hundred thousand taels. How should the dividends from this capital be accounted for? Your Majesty, please direct me."
Emperor Wende said, "First, tell me how much dividends you can get from the 300,000 yuan capital."
The Shaofu Household Order directly gave a number: the dividend was doubled compared to the principal.
Emperor Wende was secretly shocked, "There are so many?"
"I dare not deceive Your Majesty, there are indeed so many."
"So the fifty thousand taels I invested have also doubled?"
"Exactly."
Emperor Wende first laughed heartily.
This is the best news I have received in the past month, bar none.
At the end of the year, Emperor Wende was worried to death because he saw money being spent but no money coming in.
Unexpectedly, Gu Jiu gave him an unexpected surprise.
But after laughing, Emperor Wende frowned again, "Humph, the last time I saw her, she was crying poor in front of me. I still remember clearly that during last year's New Year, the Queen Mother asked the eldest son to take a concubine. Gu Jiu kept saying that she couldn't afford it. She is guilty of deceiving the emperor."
The Shaofu Housekeeper hesitated for a moment and said, "It's not appropriate to ask Madam Zhao to use her dowry to support a concubine."
Emperor Wende looked at the Shaofu Household Secretary with a half-smile, "My uncle is really devoted to protecting Gu Jiu."
The Shaofu Household Director said seriously, "She is my junior and has helped me a lot. I don't want to see her suffer any injustice."
"You are quite frank."
Emperor Wende's expression softened a little, and the Minister of the Imperial Household secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Serving an emperor like Emperor Wende, whose moods are so unpredictable, is truly exhausting. Serving the late emperor is far less stressful than serving him.
The late emperor's emotions were clearly expressed on his face; he didn't bother to play tricks. If he was unhappy, he was unhappy; if he wanted to kill someone, he killed them.
Everything was clearly visible, which saved the ministers a lot of worry.
Emperor Wende likes to say things in a sarcastic way and say the opposite of what he means. As a minister, it is really tiring to deal with him!
A eunuch walked into the hall and said that Madam Zhao had arrived.
Emperor Wende smiled and said, "Tell her to wait. My uncle and I haven't finished talking yet."
…
When Gu Jiu was invited to the palace, he knew he couldn't escape. It was only a matter of time.
She was waiting in the side hall, thinking about what to say when she met Emperor Wende.
After waiting for about half an hour, I was finally invited into the hall.
At this time, the Shaofu Household Order had already received the imperial edict and left the palace, so the two of them never met.
"The daughter-in-law pays her respects to the emperor, long live the emperor!"
"Don't live long. I heard that everyone was smiling happily when the dividends were distributed today. Only I didn't see a single copper."
Emperor Wende deliberately kept a stern face and looked very majestic.
In just two years, Emperor Wende had completely changed, no longer the Ning Wang of the past. He was full of imperial majesty, which gave people a lot of pressure.
Gu Jiu took a deep breath and said, "Father, please allow me to report that I didn't know who to give your money to, so I took the initiative to give it to the Minister of the Treasury for safekeeping. I wonder if the Minister of the Treasury has passed it on to you, Father?"
"Why don't you send it to the palace yourself?"
"It's just a trivial matter. How dare I disturb my father?"
"When it comes to money, how can it be a trivial matter? People in this world are all working for that little bit of money. I am also an ordinary person, so naturally I am no exception."
The corners of Gu Jiu's mouth twitched.
Your Majesty, you are the emperor. Is it really okay for you to openly say that you love money?
Gu Jiu was very decisive, "My daughter-in-law knows her mistake. Next time there is a dividend, I will definitely deliver the money to my father on time."
Emperor Wende nodded with satisfaction, "Did you bring the money?"
So direct!
Gu Jiu broke out in a cold sweat.
Fortunately, she was prepared.
She pulled out an envelope from her sleeve. "This is the dividend note. You can exchange it for silver or silver notes at any time at the Shaofu Bank. Please review it, Father."
The eunuch took the sealed envelope from her, stepped forward, and handed it to Emperor Wende.
Emperor Wende tore open the envelope, took out the bill, and was very satisfied when he saw the dividend amount on it.
He suddenly asked, "Didn't you say you were poor? Every time I see you, I hear you complaining about your poverty."
Gu Jiu looked aggrieved. "My daughter-in-law is really poor. Although she earns a lot, she also spends a lot. She has invested all her earnings in other projects. Now she is so poor that she only has money for food."
Emperor Wende's face darkened. "Did you and the Minister of the Imperial Household agree to this? You both complain about being poor, and your way of saying it is the same. You both say you only have money left for food."
Gu Jiu was upset that the Shaofu Housekeeper got there first.
What can she do?
She had no choice but to go ahead with it.
"I dare not lie to my father. I am really out of money. I can hand over the account book. Every expense is recorded in it."
"Humph! Are you afraid that I'll take advantage of you? Even if I'm poor, I'm not so poor as to take away my daughter-in-law's dowry. Put away your little thoughts."
"My daughter-in-law knows her crime." Gu Jiu admitted his mistake very straightforwardly and with great tact.
Emperor Wende wanted to get angry, but gave up because of the generous dividends.
"I won't bother with this matter this time. But I don't want to hear you complain about being poor in the future."
Emperor Wende thought to himself, if Gu Jiu was a poor person, there would be no rich people in the world.
One or two, guarding against him is like guarding against a thief. Is he really that greedy for money?
This is outrageous.
It's too much for a dignified emperor to be thought of in such a bad way by others.
"I had a chat with the Grand Chamberlain today, and I heard you've given him a lot of advice. Tell me, can you really collect the gold, silver, and copper coins hidden in the cellars of wealthy landlords by paying interest on deposits?"
When Gu Jiu heard this, he immediately felt relieved, knowing that the danger was over.
Facing Emperor Wende, she spoke eloquently, "Your Majesty, you know that the rural landlords may seem insignificant to the wealthy, but they are numerous. If a family saves 500 or 1,000 taels, there must be at least 50,000 such landlords in the world, if not 100,000.
The silver and money these landlords had buried in their cellars must have totaled at least several million taels, perhaps even tens of millions. And according to my daughter-in-law, most of the silver and money they kept in the cellars were copper coins.
The wealthy landlords in the countryside had limited access to gold and silver, but they had accumulated a large amount of copper coins.
As soon as Gu Jiu opened his mouth, he attracted Emperor Wende's attention.
Emperor Wende recalled the national imperial edict he had read a few years ago and gestured for Gu Jiu to continue.
Gu Jiu continued, "Rural landlords don't really have many ways to make money except farming. At most, they lend money privately in the village. Because the villagers don't dare to lend money at high interest rates.
These people actually earned most of their income from the land throughout the year, so they hid their copper coins in the cellar just to accumulate wealth.
If they knew that if they deposited their money in the Shaofu Bank, they would earn only 4% or 5% annually, or that a hundred taels would earn only a few taels of interest a year, while a few hundred taels would earn them dozens of taels of income, they would still be willing to do so.
For those wealthy rural landlords, a few dozen taels of silver is enough to cover their family's expenses for several months. Just depositing the money in a bank for a year will provide them with enough money to cover their expenses for half a year. I think once someone gets a taste of the sweetness, there will be a steady stream of people depositing their copper coins hidden in the cellar into the bank."
Emperor Wende frowned. "Are those people really willing to deposit their hard-earned savings into a bank just for a few or even dozens of taels of silver a year?"
Only when you don’t manage the household do you know how expensive firewood and rice are.
Gu Jiu tried to ask, "Your Majesty, do you know how much silver an acre of dry land is worth in those remote areas? How much silver an acre of irrigated land is worth?"
"You know?"
Gu Jiu nodded, "My daughter-in-law knows. For example, in the northwest, dry land can be sold for only one tael of silver per mu. Irrigated land, depending on the fertility of the soil, can be sold for two to five taels.
Why is it so cheap? Because these places have inconvenient transportation and it is difficult to transport the materials produced. This also makes the land cheap.
At the same time, the local people's income was extremely limited. Apart from farming, they had almost no other source of income. In such a place, there were no wealthy families, but there were many landlords in every village and township.
If you deposit money in a bank, the interest earned in a year can be used to buy a few to dozens of acres of land. Such a good thing, those rural landlords will definitely not miss it. "
With limited channels for making money, depositing money in a bank and earning interest becomes the safest option.
This is the same reason why the older generation likes to save money in modern society.
Emperor Wende suddenly asked a question that seemed stupid to Gu Jiu.
He asked Gu Jiu, "Are there many remote areas like this?"
Gu Jiu's mouth twitched. "Your Majesty has been away from the capital on official business for over a year. You must have seen many similar remote areas. More than 90% of the villages in the Great Zhou are remote areas."
Inconvenient transportation means that many villages are destined to lack communication with the outside world.
Without sufficient information exchange, these villages naturally become remote villages.
The so-called remoteness is not only determined by the geographical location, but also by the level of wealth.
There were many wealthy families in the Great Zhou Dynasty, but these families were generally concentrated in places with abundant water resources. They also preferred to choose places with abundant water resources when they bought farms.
In reality, only a few areas have abundant water resources. In most areas, the land is relatively barren due to the lack of water conservancy facilities.
In fact, many wealthy landlords in the countryside relied on frugality to accumulate their wealth from generation to generation, and they were able to accumulate that little wealth thanks to the peacetime.
Therefore, they especially cherished the land and money in their hands.
However, as long as the Shaofu Money House gained fame and was endorsed by the Shaofu, most wealthy landlords would still be willing to deposit their hard-earned money into the money house to earn interest.
Emperor Wende observed Gu Jiu, "You haven't been to those remote villages, how do you know so much?"
"Because my daughter-in-law's men have already visited every village in the Gyeonggi region, and they've done it more than once. I wouldn't dare to speak about places outside of Gyeonggi, but I have a basic understanding of the situation in every village in the Gyeonggi region."
Gu Jiu is very frank and confident, and his whole body seems to be radiating light.
Emperor Wende was shocked when he heard this, and his expression became serious. "You know the situation of every village in the capital area? Are you sure? If you boast in front of me, you will be held responsible."
Gu Jiu nodded affirmatively. "If Your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can call the Ministry of Revenue's officials. We can randomly check every village. I can't say it's 100% accurate, but I can at least guarantee 80% accuracy."
"Okay, I'll test you. Come, call the Minister of Revenue and the Revenue Department. Have them bring the household registration documents for every county in the capital area."
"As you wish!"
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