"Reporting to Lord Cao, Captain Wang Zhong sent a message saying that 200,000 dan of grain has been resold to merchants in Guanzhong!"
Inside the Shaanxi branch of Daming Money House, a Jinyiwei knelt on one knee in front of Cao Huachun and said.
Cao Huachun, who was sitting on the recliner, slowly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp.
"How much did you sell it for?"
"Two taels and four cents per stone."
"Not bad. I earned 80,000 taels of silver for Your Majesty." Cao Huachun slowly stood up from the recliner and smiled with satisfaction.
Before Cao Huachun could fully smile, a Jinyiwei rushed in in a panic: "It's bad, Lord Cao, Lu Daqi has sent troops to surround the bank."
"What?" The other Jinyiwei in the room were immediately shocked upon hearing this.
A captain drew out his embroidered spring sword angrily: "Damn it, how dare they attack the Jinyiwei, is Lu Daqi going to rebel?"
"Everyone grab your weapons and get ready to fight them."
"Go, go, go!" Under the leadership of the captain, the Jinyiwei in the money house stood up and walked out.
Cao Huachun was not panicked at all, and waved his hands to the Jinyiwei: "Don't panic, Lu Daqi is coming for me, not for you."
"This...?" The Jinyiwei were a little confused.
Cao Huachun's position was higher than theirs, and he and the Jinyiwei were both sentenced to death. Isn't Lu Daqi adding insult to injury by doing this?
"No, this is Lu Daqi's cleverness!" Cao Huachun saw their worries and explained, "First, I am only the manager of the Shaanxi branch of Daming Money House. I don't hold any official position in the court. Secondly, the Shaanxi Jinyiwei is only under my jurisdiction. Your Majesty did not give me an official position in the inner court."
"Lü Daqi is the governor of the three borders of Shaanxi. Is it a problem for him to arrest a person without an official position?"
The Jinyiwei looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
Cao Huachun smiled faintly: "Open the door of the bank and invite Lord Lu in for tea."
"Sir..." The Jinyiwei were somewhat resistant to this order.
"Open the door!" Cao Huachun glared, his gaze majestic and unquestionable.
The Jinyiwei had no choice but to open the door of the money house and invite Lu Daqi in.
In fact, there was no need to invite them at all. When Lu Daqi saw the gate open, he led his troops directly inside.
Cao Huachun stood in the middle of the courtyard and saluted Lu Daqi: "Master Lu, how are you?"
"Cao Huachun!" Lu Daqi was furious, "Not only did you deceive me, but you also harmed the people of Guanzhong. I finally found you!"
Cao Huachun laughed and said, "Master Lu, what are you talking about?"
"Stop talking nonsense!" Lu Daqi stepped forward, picked up his sword and pointed it at Cao Huachun, "I want to ask you, where is the food?"
"What food?" Cao Huachun asked indifferently.
“Food to stabilize food prices!”
"On the way."
"Which road?"
“On the road from Shanxi to Shaanxi!”
"Do you think I'm a fool?" Lu Daqi laughed out of anger. "You've already fooled me once before, and you want to fool me again?"
"Master Lu, if you don't believe me, you can go check it out, right?"
"How to check? What to check?" Seeing Cao Huachun's serious look, Lu Daqi became a little cautious.
"The officers and soldiers responsible for inspecting goods at the checkpoints along the way will keep records, and you will know once you check!" Cao Huachun said confidently.
Lu Daqi shouted to his personal soldiers behind him: "Send people to guard Tongzhou (now Dali County). All the goods shipped from Puzhou (now Yongji City) in Shanxi must be carefully checked, especially the grain. The quantity must be checked!"
Tongzhou and Puzhou in Shanxi respectively control the transportation bottlenecks of Shaanxi and Shanxi, and all goods traveling back and forth will pass through here.
After the personal guards left, Lu Daqi's anger subsided a little.
Seeing this, Cao Huachun invited Lu Daqi into the house.
After the door was closed, Cao Huachun went straight to the point: "How many people does Lord Lu have?"
"What do you want to do?" Lu Daqi asked vigilantly.
"Ask them a favor."
"What favor?" Lu Daqi became more alert. "Business or personal?"
"There are both public and private aspects, they cannot be separated!" Cao Huachun answered after thinking for a while.
"I won't kill people, but I can arrest people, but only if I get the order from my superiors or the imperial court."
“Neither killing nor arresting anyone.”
Lu Daqi was very annoyed: "Just say what you want to say, don't waste your time."
Cao Huachun was not angry either, and whispered, "In order to implement the currency reform in Shaanxi, the Ming Dynasty Bank exchanged all the copper coins collected in Shaanxi into silver. Does Lord Lu still remember this?"
"Remember!" Lu Daqi nodded.
"I want Lord Lu's people to help me spend all these copper coins!"
Lu Daqi was stunned.
The total tax revenue of Shaanxi last year was two million taels of silver, which is equivalent to two billion copper coins.
This is a huge sum of money!
Looking at Cao Huachun who was as calm as water, Lu Daqi became more alert: "What do you mean by helping to spend? Can't you spend it yourself?"
"We don't have enough manpower to spend!"
Lu Daqi suddenly realized that Cao Huachun's plan was not simple, and he asked: "What do you want to buy with these copper coins?"
"Food!" Cao Huachun smiled mysteriously.
"Where can we buy food? How much can we buy?"
"When buying grain in the prefectures, states, and counties of Shaanxi, you must spend all your money when buying." Cao Huachun paused for a moment, "The premise is that the price of grain cannot exceed 1,800 coins per stone!"
"One thousand eight hundred coins?" Lu Daqi sneered, "Now the price of grain in Shaanxi is almost rising to three thousand coins. Where can I buy one thousand eight hundred coins of grain for you?"
"If there is, buy it. If there isn't, just leave it alone. I'm not in a hurry!" Cao Huachun said carelessly.
"Cao Huachun, what exactly do you want to do?" Lu Daqi couldn't bear it anymore and started asking.
"I came to Shaanxi to do only one thing, which is to promote currency reform! Other than that, everything else has nothing to do with me."
"The lives of the people of Shaanxi have nothing to do with you?" Lu Daqi clenched his fists.
"Of course!" Cao Huachun answered neatly.
"However," Cao Huachun changed the subject, "Since the people of Shaanxi are very cooperative with the government's currency reform, I, Cao, decided to give them a hand. In a month at the longest, or half a month at the shortest, the grain price in Shaanxi will definitely drop!"
"What if they don't surrender?"
"If you don't surrender, I, Cao Huachun, will jump off the city gate tower of Xi'an!"
"Well, I can help you with that!"
Lu Daqi and Cao Huachun reached an agreement.
Five days later, 200,000 shi of grain arrived in Shaanxi.
Wang Zhong, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, sold it to a merchant in Shaanxi.
Food prices in Shaanxi continue to rise.
At noon fifteen days later, a caravan came from the east in a mighty procession.
Looking around, this caravan is very large.
Carriages loaded with goods were lined up one after another, with no end in sight.
The cargo on the truck was tightly covered with tarpaulin, rain cloth and awning, and it was impossible to see what was inside.
When the carriage was still five miles away from Xi'an Prefecture, Lu Daqi sent people to post notices.
"The grain price in Guanzhong is rising, and the people are living in poverty. Your Majesty sympathizes with the people and has specially dispatched 1 million dan of grain to Guanzhong for sale at a low price. Those who are interested in buying must register with the head of the village, who will compile the information and report it to the county government!"
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