Chapter 239 The Wang Clan's Great Breakthrough of the Defenses...
For example, the servant who came to deliver the message—his master was a member of the Wang family of Taiyuan, and was now serving as an official in a remote area. When this man came to Zhang Ji's door, he terrified him.
—I thought I was about to be exposed!
After a few more words, Zhang Jicai finally came to his senses from his panic. It turned out that this Master Wang was just a member of a collateral branch of the family. He had initially befriended his classmate Mu Maoshi, and they had become acquainted first. However, it turned out that the direct descendants of the Wang family had cut off his connection with the Crown Prince, which eventually led to a conflict that was now escalating.
After receiving the letter from his friend reminding him, the Wang family patriarch from a collateral branch became anxious day and night, unable to sleep.
As a son of a collateral branch, he had no status or voice. But he was unwilling to watch the two sides become enemies and be dragged into the abyss by his family. After much deliberation, he gritted his teeth and secretly pledged allegiance to the Crown Prince, sending someone to inform him, hoping only to save his life in the future.
The gentleman beside Master Mo, with calloused hands fiddling with an abacus, was an accountant from Liuzhou. He was said to have undergone special training and arrived in Taiyuan quietly. During this time, he had consistently been able to accurately recite numerous figures and assess the movements of powerful families…
It can be said that although Zhang Ji was responsible for frequent contact with Brother Qi, he needed to rely on Master Mo and the accountant for civil matters, and on the militia and the Imperial Guards for military matters, to carry out His Highness the Crown Prince's specific tasks.
...It gives me a great sense of security!
The small meeting at Zhang Ji's residence ended, and the group of people quietly left one by one, scattering in all directions as if they had never been there.
...
The direct line of the Wang family in Taiyuan this generation is rather unique, splitting into two branches. The eldest branch, Wang Kai, after assuming the position of clan head, traveled extensively, gaining a reputation for leisure. The second branch, Wang Chen, quietly managed the Taiyuan estate, wielding real power without much fanfare.
Logically, this would disrupt the proper hierarchy, as all children of the main line except the eldest son would become collateral relatives upon reaching adulthood, having no right to concern themselves with the affairs of the main line. However, the eldest son of this generation, Wang Kai, was devoted to nature and had no interest in the clan. The second son, Wang Chen, on the other hand, was power-hungry and possessed a natural talent for managing the family business. The two brothers had an excellent relationship, which led to this unusual situation.
In the past, the Wang family of Taiyuan had a good relationship with His Highness the Crown Prince. It was Wang Chen, the second son of the prince, who suggested that his elder brother, in the name of the clan head, make contact. Later, Wang Chen, who was also very perceptive, discovered the value of the "Wang Ji Voucher". He initially thought it was done by a member of the Wang family who was away from home, but after some investigation, he found out that it was not and was disappointed for a long time.
Later, Wang Chen seized an opportunity and rose to prominence quickly thanks to the "Wang family currency," becoming quite proud of himself. Previously, neither of the two brothers had entered officialdom, and there were occasional whispers that the Wang family had declined in this generation. On the contrary, the Cui family of Boling had many members serving in the court and were renowned for their virtue. It seemed as if all of Wang Chen's hard work in managing the family business over the years had been in vain.
What about now?
The Crown Prince reluctantly relented, handing over this lucrative prize. The talented scholar, privately moved by the efforts of the Wang family, revealed many secrets. Having grasped such crucial information, they seized the opportunity to rise to prominence, leaving the other five clans and seven powerful families with no choice but to place the Wang family at the forefront.
What's the point of becoming an official in the imperial court? You're still just working for the emperor.
The Wang family is what a truly prestigious family should be like!
Therefore, during this period, Wang Chen walked with an air of authority, remaining unmoved even when he heard rumors of scheming against him over the past two months. Wang Chen had long anticipated that as long as they held Wang's currency, those who were envious would engage in underhanded plots behind their backs. Wang Chen didn't even bother to distinguish which of his allies from powerful families were secretly testing him.
He simply worked on the front lines, identifying a group of unscrupulous merchants, both large and small. He instructed his painters to memorize their appearances and then write letters to other prominent families, instructing their fifty-odd money shops to remember those faces. He warned them that if they encountered such faces, they should not buy or sell them, thus making the matter seem legitimate and aboveboard.
"Hmph... who knows which family's spy it is? We have to give them a good talking to before they'll stop." Wang Chen sat in the side hall of his brother's house with a forced smile, holding a bowl of Eight Treasures Soup and sipping it slowly, telling him about the recent events in detail.
Although clan leader Wang Kai enjoyed traveling and sightseeing, he had received an excellent education since childhood and was not a good-for-nothing. The recent events had caused quite a stir, and even he, who did not care about family affairs, had heard about them. He turned to his younger brother from his chair and asked with concern, "Are the rumors outside serious? If this continues, our bank's reputation will be ruined."
"Brother, rest assured." Wang Chen said calmly, "Those big rats only know how to whisper in the shadows. When the rumors started, I already gave the order to count the treasury silver and send it to various money shops. The money shops in other places have their own owners to take care of them. It's just that the silver carts have a hard time on the road, so we have to lie low and wait. Judging by the time... there aren't many days left."
As for the royal interference that caused a sharp drop in prices in Taiyuan, leading the Wang family to hastily print more Wang family coins to circumvent the crisis, Wang Chen didn't mention it at all. He himself only vaguely understood those formulas and intricacies, finding them extremely difficult to learn; his elder brother understood even less. He simply needed to be told the results after some time.
In any case, it's impossible for the royal family to profit from this. This was a scheme orchestrated by several families. If the emperor wants the throne? If he wants to win battles? Then he has no choice but to bow down to them.
"There is one thing we need to be careful about. A couple of days ago, the Crown Prince issued an edict, citing the tense situation at the border, forbidding us from exchanging currency and allowing us to only trade silver." Wang Chen didn't think much of this. The initial letter from Liuzhou indicated that His Highness the Crown Prince was planning to use this to cause trouble, so he was unwilling to give this lucrative position to the Wang family.
After some friction between the two sides, it was understandable that the Crown Prince wanted to use this as an excuse to limit the development of the Wang family's currency.
This was exactly what Wang Chen wanted.
The Wang family's currency development was too rapid, arousing the suspicion of the imperial power. Wang Chen was reluctant to slow down his gold-spending spree, but other aristocratic families wouldn't agree either. However, the sheer amount of money he was making every day truly terrified him; his position was extremely precarious.
The fact that the Crown Prince intervened to temporarily suppress them is a benefit—Wang Chen wanted to develop the Taiyuan Wang clan into the leading one among the Five Clans and Seven Noble Families, but he didn't intend to rebel. What emperor could be as carefree as a noble family? And he shouldn't overdo it. The current development is just right; he can steadily consolidate the benefits he's gained without incurring the wrath of other noble families.
Wang Chen added, "Brother, you must also give the order to your subordinates to keep a close watch on themselves and do things cleanly, so as not to be used as a tool by the Crown Prince."
The truly talented gentleman was unwilling to directly pledge allegiance to the Crown Prince, wasn't taken to the capital to serve as an advisor, and wasn't the Crown Prince himself. Therefore, Wang Chen had no reason to be overly afraid of the Crown Prince; he could simply remain cautious.
"Understood!" Wang Kai readily agreed. In the past, he always did whatever his younger brother told him to do. Since his younger brother had emphasized this matter, he would give the order later and would not hold his brother back.
As the two brothers were talking, a commotion suddenly broke out outside.
The footsteps approached hurriedly, and it turned out to be the steward of the secondary household. The servant led him quickly, and when they arrived in front of the master, he was still out of breath. Normally, this would be considered extremely undignified and impolite.
Wang Chen couldn't help but sit up straight, a sense of foreboding creeping into his heart.
The head steward who was with him was originally from the eldest son's family. He came to assist him in managing the family business because he had inherited it. He was a very reliable person. Why was he in such a hurry? What happened?
"Master, phew... someone's plotting against us! We have to stop distributing the coins immediately!" The head butler gasped for breath as he spoke. "It's all over the place now, they're saying..."
"We say that our Wang family coins are the same as silver notes, but we never intended to exchange them for silver. With His Highness the Crown Prince's ban on currency, our silver is even tighter, and we need to use it for large-scale transactions. So recently, feeling guilty, we haven't planned to open for business and have printed a large number of new Wang family coins to trick them into buying more!" The head steward said this sentence smoothly in one breath.
His neck was red with anxiety: "Master, we have to make a plan quickly! Those lowly people believed this nonsense and smashed up the money exchange, all wanting to redeem their silver! It's on a completely different scale than last month!"
This is already a riot.
Even if the Wang family has mountains of silver, wouldn't it take time to deliver it? Won't the silver be attacked and robbed by mobs on the way? Even if the matter is eventually resolved, with things in such a frenzy outside, who knows what kind of chaos might arise—we must defuse it as soon as possible!
Wang Chen stood up abruptly, his emotions surging up so much that he laughed in anger first. After a long while, he managed to utter, "Ha! Our printed coins... were clearly issued before the Crown Prince's decree!"
Wang Kai was stunned for a moment. When he came to his senses, sweat dripped from his forehead. He stared at his brother with pleading eyes, as if he were looking at a lifeline: "—Something's happened?"
"Let me think...let me think." Wang Chen gestured, and the side hall fell silent. No one dared to disturb him, but all the hopeful eyes were on him. Wang Chen paced back and forth a few steps, taking a deep breath and trying to sort out his thoughts.
How malicious this new rumor is!
Some time ago, it was clearly those merchants in the shadows who were deliberately causing trouble, which is why the money shops stopped doing business with them. But they brazenly publicized this, making it seem like the money shops didn't want to exchange silver. This was the first trap.
Those foolish people are as stupid as pigs; they take the bait with the slightest provocation and rush to exchange their silver. Where would the money shops have so many reserves? Their recent low profile is precisely because they're anxiously waiting for the treasury's silver to arrive! It's normal for the exchange process to be slow, and that's been exploited again! This is the second trap.
Wang Chen had seen through it all before, but he hadn't taken these little tricks to heart.
But—he never expected this!
Next, he simply followed the instructions in the brocade pouch! The ordinary act of printing more Wang's coins was interpreted as so vicious! They said they were planning to run away and quit, and that Wang's coins were the same as silver notes—these were all huge slanders! Yet everyone who heard them was terrified, and even the Wang brothers dared not underestimate the power of this vicious plan.
Why? Because Emperor Hongren actually did it!!
Not only did he do it, but he did it repeatedly. What's on the front of the banknotes? They're called "fixed notes" or "prestige notes"! Who cares about their fancy names? In the end, they're all worse than paper! The emperor of a nation is so shameless.
With predecessors—especially the emperor himself—providing a case study, who would dare disregard it?! This was the third trap. Wang Chen, now thinking about it, felt his teeth nearly shatter; he was furious at Emperor Hongren's inaction and felt utterly resentful.
Putting aside whether the old emperor was unaware that unrestrained printing of money would lead to problems, let's just talk about their Wang family currency… their Wang family currency is excellent! Wang Chen diligently and honestly followed the instructions of that "master." Their family's reputation and honor were far more important than the emperor's! Why conflate them with the emperor?
Why shouldn't we believe them?
Wang Chen felt so wronged that he was about to vomit blood.
-----------------------
Author's Note: The Five Clans and Seven Noble Families (terrified and extremely displeased): Bah! Don't get involved! Retreat!!! We are not like the Emperor!
Qi Chengming (without saying a word): Come here, all of you!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com