Early in the morning, the city of Xuzhou was shocked by the news that Jiangnan Bank had transported silver. The citizens did not even have time to eat and rushed to Nanmen Street to watch the excitement.
Sure enough, we saw two hundred fully armed Jiangnan Bank security guards escorting a convoy of dozens of ox carts and horse carts, slowly moving towards the back door of Jiangnan Bank.
From midnight yesterday till now, this huge team has been going back and forth between Jiangnan Bank and the official ship dock countless times, leaving deep ruts on the ground.
"How heavy must this cart be?" Looking at the locked large wooden boxes on the cart, the onlookers were amazed.
"A box can hold 160 large silver ingots of 50 taels. Count them yourself."
"Those three boxes are worth 24,000 taels of silver. No wonder the animals were so tired that they stuck their tongues out." Someone who was good at accounting reported the number, causing people to exclaim in surprise. "Then these dozens of carts must be worth 600,000 or 700,000 taels of silver!"
"Is this the ninth trip?" Some people had been watching the fun since last night and had been counting.
"Wow!" The crowd exclaimed in unison. Now they finally had a direct understanding of the strong financial strength of Jiangnan Bank.
"Who said before that they had no money?"
"Isn't this a scam? My interest..." Many depositors who followed the trend to withdraw money were heartbroken. Many of them deposited money when the bank opened and the interest rate was preferential. As a result, they believed the rumors and insisted on withdrawing the money in advance, so they naturally lost the interest...
~~
President Jiang and his men worked as hard as they could and finally managed to transport all three ships of silver to the bank and store them before the bank opened.
Although everyone hadn't slept all night and had done hard work for half a day, everyone was full of energy and not sleepy or tired.
"How about we all take a break first?" President Jiang said, rubbing his sore shoulders.
"No rest! Now we just want to open the shop and pay people!" The employees cried out, they had been frustrated for so many days, and today they could finally vent their anger! They didn't want to delay for even a second.
"It's great to be young." Vice President Li smiled a rare smile.
"Okay, let's open for business!" Jiang Dou cheered up and shouted.
When the bank's floor planks were closed, the people who had been waiting outside saw President Jiang striding out with his head held high.
Jiang Dou stood on the steps, bowed to everyone, and said in a loud voice: "Young and old men of Xuzhou City, I am sorry for the ups and downs in the past few days!"
He stood straight with courage, and his voice penetrated the street and reached the second floor of Hengtongji opposite.
Manager Song stood there with his arms folded, his face gloomy, listening to President Jiang continue in a loud voice:
"You are all sharp-eyed and sharp-eared people. After watching the excitement for a few days, you can naturally figure out what's going on. This is a malicious run on our Jiangnan Bank, and the mastermind behind it is Hengtongji across the street!"
"Wow..." The crowd exclaimed in surprise, thinking that Jiangnan Bank was really being pushed into a corner, and they started to criticize the bank by name.
Song Xiaoming's mouth twitched unconsciously in the shadows. In fact, from midnight yesterday till now, he had been thinking about how to make peace with Jiangnan Group decently.
The other party is now openly naming names, and it is obvious that he is not going to give up...
"They spent several months depositing a total of five million taels of silver into different accounts at our Jiangnan Bank branches in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Then, they took advantage of the canal being blocked and ran a run on us in Xuzhou, hoping to bankrupt us!" President Jiang's angry voice reached Song Xiaoming's ears, and he felt cold all over:
"Fortunately, our Jiangnan Bank has extremely strong capital, operates with extreme caution, and regards credit above all else! We have already prepared tens of millions of taels of silver in Jiangnan and Jiangbei. That's why we were able to urgently transfer 10 million taels of silver from Jining!"
President Jiang's face flushed with excitement. He raised his right arm, pointed his index finger at him, and said provocatively:
"Boss Song, let me ask you one question. Is 10 million taels enough? If not, we can ship another 10 million taels!"
"Ahhh!" I didn't expect that Governor Jiang had such strong public speaking skills. He incited the people of Xuzhou to scream and shout, as if they were in the same group.
Song Xiaoming's face turned livid. Although he knew that the other party was definitely exaggerating, as long as he couldn't empty the other party's bottom, he could only listen even if the other party boasted that he had 100 million taels.
At the bank entrance, after the people calmed down, President Jiang continued loudly:
"Today, our bank has two announcements! First, all depositors who have registered for exchange before will pay off their deposits today. Even those who haven't made the deadline will still have to pay today! There's no other way. The vault is too small to hold so much silver!"
"Hahaha..." The citizens burst into laughter.
"Secondly, there is a saying that goes 'It is impolite not to reciprocate', and we cannot be impolite to others! So we must retaliate in kind. Therefore, according to the instructions of the head office, anyone who transfers the money deposited in Hengtongji to our Jiangnan Bank within five days will be given three times the interest! After five days, it will only be doubled..."
"Ahhh!" Common people like to watch people fighting. When they saw Jiangnan Bank fighting back, they all excitedly started to make trouble.
Those who had deposits in Hengtongji squeezed out of the crowd and went home to find the tickets to transfer the money.
That’s three times the interest. If you deposit for five years, the annual interest rate can reach 9%, although it’s still not as good as lending. But how big is the risk of lending?
Depositing money in Jiangnan Bank is very safe and has a steady return!
After witnessing the terrifying strength of Jiangnan Bank, people have equated the words "Jiangnan Bank" with invincibility.
After delivering a hearty speech, Jiang Dou leaned forward slightly towards the people, then made a gesture of wiping his neck towards the second floor of Hengtongji, and then turned around and walked into the bank leisurely.
The tellers in the lobby were processing business and were still able to hold back their cheers.
As soon as he entered, Richard, the three managers, and the employees inside cheered loudly.
"The president is awesome!"
“Worship the President!”
"I didn't expect that the president has this trick, he is so impressive!" Vice President Li also laughed happily, "You scared the manager Song so much that he didn't dare to show his head!"
"Hahaha!" Everyone in the bank burst into laughter.
"How can I be so powerful?" Jiang Zhanshen smiled crookedly, but still said in a false modesty: "As the saying goes, money is the courage of heroes. With the support of the silver sent by the head office, anyone can be just as powerful!"
"I can't do it if it's me." Manager Mao's flattery skills have reached the point of being too skillful.
"Hahahaha!" President Jiang finally couldn't help laughing out loud, and his laughter was extremely joyful.
~~
When some are happy, others are sad.
When the owners of the small money houses learned that Jiangnan Bank had to pay off all previous foreign exchange transactions within one day, they knew that Hengtongji was doomed to lose this time.
They also heard that President Jiang announced that all Hengtongji depositors would transfer their money to Jiangnan Bank and get triple interest! They were all terrified.
This tactic of wiping out a family is too cruel. If it is used on these small and narrow-minded money houses, they will be drained dry!
When they thought about their previous sarcasm and even abuse of President Jiang and others, they felt uneasy and uneasy. When they met and discussed it, they all felt that President Jiang was probably waiting for them to come and beg for mercy.
Well, let's not waste time. Otherwise, the big stick will come down and the brains will be splattered. So a group of bosses went directly to Jiangnan Bank and asked to see President Jiang.
Unexpectedly, Song Cai, the shopkeeper of Hengtongji across the street, had already arrived.
However, the gift that Manager Song brought was thrown out, and he was kicked out of Jiangnan Bank...
Seeing Manager Song returning to Hengtongji in a dusty state, the bank owners all looked pale.
However, Jiang Dou did not retaliate against them. He just asked them to be obedient in the future and each family must guarantee to purchase no less than 50,000 taels of silver notes from Jiangnan Bank every month, and then they can stay where they want.
There is no other way. The head office has the task of promoting silver bills, and the task is quite heavy. Let these money houses and bill shops help promote it together, and the arduous task will be completed in excess!
President Jiang admired his brain. How come it was getting smarter and smarter? Could it be because of the blessing of Mr. Song this time?
~~
Opposite Hengtongji.
The lobby on the first floor was bustling with people, all depositors coming to withdraw money.
The VIP living room on the second floor was gloomy and gloomy.
Song Cai, who was chased out by the neighbor next door, lowered his head and glanced at his uncle who seemed to have been drained of all his strength.
He hadn't seen his uncle lose so badly in all these years.
"I have been very careful, how did they know my plan in advance?" Song Xiaoming leaned on the Arhat couch and murmured, "This shouldn't be the case. I should be the one who is caught off guard..."
"Uncle, how did you know that they knew our plan in advance?" Song Cai asked puzzledly.
"Where else did these ships of silver come from? They must have been shipped from the sea in advance!" Song Xiaoming said with tears in his eyes, "It shows that our actions have been noticed by the kid named Zhao."
He closed his eyes in pain and said, "Jiangnan is in danger!"
Song Cai knew that his uncle was referring to the fact that after the embezzlement of the five million taels, only half of the silver was left in the Hengtongji Treasury in Jiangnan.
"Hasn't my uncle already asked someone to transport silver from Huai'an to make up for the shortfall?" he reminded in a low voice.
"It's probably impossible to transport it..." Song Xiaoming looked up at the sky, pounding his forehead and said, "It was a big mistake not to use the ship from the Canal Transport Office."
As if to prove his words, the sound of pigeons coming up the stairs was heard again. The guy in charge of the pigeons delivered an urgent report.
Song Cai took it, unfolded it and looked at it. His face turned pale immediately. He reported in a hoarse voice: "Three days ago, the Caojiang Censorate announced that a half-month anti-Japanese exercise would be held on the river surface from Guazhou to Shuangjiangkou. During the exercise, all ships from the north and south are not allowed to approach, otherwise they will be treated as spying on military intelligence..."
Guazhou is the intersection of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River in Yangzhou, and Shuangjiangkou is where the main rivers in Yangzhou merge into the Yangtze River. If this section is not allowed to pass, all ships in the north of the river will have no chance of going south...
Song Xiaoming's eyes went dark and he almost fainted. He didn't expect that Cao Jiang Yushi would also become a running dog of Jiangnan Group!
Of course he knew the consequences of not being able to transport the silver to Jiangnan. The reason why he didn't faint was because he still had a last glimmer of hope in his heart.
At sea, the news from the sea has not yet arrived.
ps. I still have two chapters to write. I know that we have reached the key plot and everyone wants to read it to their heart's content. I also want to write it to my heart's content. But at this age, there are always situations that hinder me from doing my best. I have a headache, a real headache. I took ibuprofen to write the two chapters today...