The wheels of the cart squeaked over the rutted road, and turned into a village.

A middle-aged man who was dressed like a well-to-do family jumped out of the car. He was wearing a felt hat, but he was very thin and with a shriveled chest. He hurried into the house with something like a book under his arm. He didn't forget it before leaving.

Instructions: "Drive the car to the front yard and wait."

In the backyard, Sun Zhuo was leaning on the couch. The wine cans fell on the table in front of him and the dishes were in a mess. He was quite sloppy. But Sun Zhuo was not drunk, and he was very lucky. After the carriage entered the yard, he

He heard the noise. He was just too lazy to get up and was still lying down, half dead. Ever since his name was stepped on the ground by Li Yun, he had often lived such a lazy life.

"Master, as you ordered, I sold all the food stamps and brought the money back."

"You haven't met anyone you know, have you?"

Ever since Sun Zhuo was beaten by Li Yun from the state government, the news spread all over the world. He always felt aggrieved and ashamed of being inferior to others. This made this good man in Yingzhou in the past so ashamed that he could not see anyone.

You can spend your days drinking at home.

He got the news about the opening of the exchange from Liu An.

Liu An wanted Sun Zhuo to advance and retreat together. Although the three warehouse supervisors were deprived of their powers by Su Shi, the magistrate, they were officials after all, and they were still a small group of offensive and defensive alliances. It was necessary to communicate with each other. But the transfer agent was not strong enough

, not giving them a few platforms. So, almost a month has passed, and a few people seem to be idle.

Since Sun Zhuo rarely showed up, Liu An often behaved in front of Jia Daofeng. This made Sun Zhuo even more dissatisfied.

Hearing Liu An's words in Sun Zhuo's ears was like pricking Sun Zhuo's ears, almost making him angry. In the past, he was the only one who gave orders to Liu An. Since he lost face in front of Li Yun, even Liu An

They have become angry, and they dare to interfere with themselves, which is contrary to heaven!

It stands to reason that where you fall, you get up.

But when Sun Zhuo faced Li Yun, his heart pounded.

At first, Li Yun took care of him, and he rushed over to kill him alone. The knife in his hand was not even unsheathed, but with one leg and one fist, he beat the tall man to the ground.

.

If you want to regain your face, I may not have any hope in this life.

In particular, Li Yun was a disciple of Su Shi's son. With Su Shi as his backing, official means could not be used.

Sun Zhuo, who became increasingly angry as he thought about it, was very dissatisfied with Liu An, but he also sent people to the exchange to inquire about the news.

But this is incredible.

The price of food in April and May increased so much that he was surprised. One hundred and thirty cents per dou... One hundred and thirty-five cents per dou...

If this continues to rise, wouldn’t it cost two dollars and one stone of rice?

Even though Sun Zhuo was a bit reckless, this was his character and he was not stupid at all. After all, a fool cannot bully good men and take advantage of women. He also thought that there was no room for rising food prices, so he quickly thought about getting rid of them.

Only then did the housekeeper take the food stamps in his hand and sell them, exchanging them for money.

He is also a big family, but he is not the kind of big shot who leads the way. Sun Zhuo did not dare to refuse to buy food stamps when big families bought them before. Unexpectedly, these pieces of paper also brought benefits to him. He was impatient.

After kicking the food table, Sun Zhuo struggled to get up from the couch, put on his shoes and walked out. He turned around and asked, "Have they all been changed into money?"

"They are all first-class treasures!"

The housekeeper tried his best to lower his waist and flatter Sun Zhuo.

Sun Zhuo looked at the money in the two carts, and suddenly became very excited, and said with expectation: "Nowadays, bankers all recognize money, and this money must be loaned out as soon as possible so that interest can be added."

The housekeeper glanced at Sun Zhuo in embarrassment. He wanted to speak several times but held back. In the end, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and said to the owner: "Master, I can't lend the money at home."

"What?"

Sun Zhuo was stunned. In the past, he was only worried that he had too little money. He wished he could break one into two and borrow more money so that money could make money.

But suddenly the housekeeper told him that he couldn't borrow any money. What was going on?

The housekeeper looked at Sun Zhuo carefully and said nothing.

He had probably guessed the reason. In the past, Sun Zhuo lent money to villagers, but he always borrowed and collected money by force, and his reputation had long been ruined. Now that the spring plowing has passed, the prefectural government has issued an obituary notice and lent the stored grain to the people in need.

As a result, the big business owners lost one way to make money. In addition, Sun Zhuo's credibility was really worrying, and no one was willing to believe his excuse of being easy to borrow and repay.

But Sun Zhuo was wrong. He thought that his face had been trampled on, so the bankers dared to disobey him.

But if Sun Zhuo still uses the same methods against the farmers now, he won't be able to guarantee that these idiots will call for reinforcements. The reinforcements are not far away, and they live in Zhouya, that is, that boy named Li Yun.

Sun Zhuo couldn't understand what he said. The great reputation he had accumulated over the years could be destroyed in the hands of a half-year-old child. He seemed to be following the trend, and he didn't know where he was going in a daze.

Sun Zhuo, who had no way to make money, had no choice but to ask his housekeeper to go to the exchange every day, thinking that when the price of grain dropped, he would buy another batch and maybe make a little profit.

It’s not like the Yingzhou government did nothing.

Instead, a government decree was issued stating that until the summer grain came down, grain from Yingzhou could only be brought in but not taken out.

The price of grain remained high. In the past, the method used by large households was to bribe the imperial army and prohibit grain merchants from transporting grain into Yingzhou through waterways. After all, the commerce of the Song Dynasty was maintained by canals. The developed water transportation system of the Song Dynasty,

It created the prosperity of the Song Dynasty.

If carts had been relied upon as the most important means of transportation, the Song Dynasty's business would have collapsed long ago.

Shipping and developed canal transportation were important reasons for the development of cities in the Song Dynasty.

This is why no other dynasty could have five cities with a population of more than one million like the Song Dynasty. There were more than fifty cities with a population of 100,000. Compared with Europe at the same time, the largest city was the equivalent of

A second-rate city in the Song Dynasty. A city with a population of one million. Even Europeans may not understand. How can such a huge consumption of materials be guaranteed?

Luoyang, Xijing, has the Luo River, which is connected to the canal and the Yellow River; Bianliang, Tokyo, has water transportation extending in all directions; Yingtianfu (Shangqiu) is also connected by a canal; and Damingfu, the northernmost capital of the Song Dynasty, also has a canal between it and Bianliang.

The materials that maintain the four million-level cities in the Central Plains are met through canals to ensure material needs.

Yingzhou is right on the Huaihe River. How easy is it to transport supplies?

That is to say, now is the time of food shortage, so the surrounding grain merchants have no chance to transport large quantities of grain into Yingzhou. In the past, when the magistrate did not care about things and the general magistrate wanted to take care of things, the naval forces on the Huaihe River ignored him at all. Change.

It was different with Su Shi. With his reputation and sufficient official rank, it was no longer realistic to bribe the imperial army to prevent grain merchants from entering Yingzhou.

During periods of high food prices, it is inevitable that the surrounding grain merchants will take a look. Once the ferocious big fish from outside enter the stagnant water of Yingzhou, I am afraid that the big households in Yingzhou will not be able to sit still.

Grain merchants transport grain into Yingzhou in large quantities, and the grain price in Yingzhou will inevitably be broken. This is second, and what is even more worrying is that once merchants enter Yingzhou, they will completely leverage the fundamental interests of Yingzhou's big households. Once they are lost,

The interests that bind the bankers together, the big ones in Yingzhou are like phoenixes that have lost their feathers, and are not much different from drowned chickens.

Big players are starting to worry.

In particular, the exchange is regarded as a thorn in the side.

But Kang Jin, who was backed by the state government, was now shaking, and was not afraid of the threat of big players at all. Su Shi even sent government officials to patrol around the exchange. If any gangsters were found, he would arrest them and beat them up in the street.

Not only Sun Zhuo, Jia Daoquan, Liu An and others also sent people to hang out at the exchange. When the price was right, they also sold food stamps.

With this coming in and out, there are more food stamps on the market.

In addition, the price was really outrageous. In nine days, it had risen to 1,600 yuan. Then the price immediately fell, causing a large number of buyers to cry out that they had been cheated. However, the exchange was not deserted. Instead, after playing for a while, customers

They asked for more types of transactions.

The food supply for April and May alone is not enough for them to play.

It's like a game in a casino where you only have small and large bets. After the novelty wears off, who will play it again?

Li Kui very considerately increased the amount of food for June. Now, instead of using food stamps, they can trade with coupons. Without the worry of counting food stamps one by one, the transaction amount has greatly increased.

The big players left the field one after another and began the most exciting fight.

Since the opening of the exchange, the business of gambling houses in Yingzhou has plummeted. Food stamps are closely related to people's lives, and with the huge price fluctuations, it is much better than being slaughtered as a fat sheep in a gambling house. Prices and transactions are transparent

, are all transactions that happen under the nose. And the increase in assets that rises by several, dozens, or even hundreds of dollars at every turn is very satisfying.

Soon after, two more types of trading products were added.

tea oil.

Tung oil.

Camellia oil is produced in the two lakes. As an oil, Camellia oleifera and Camellia oleifera are both unfriendly to hard-working people. It takes more than a year to mature. Fortunately, they are all picked from the wild and can be sold for oil.

As for tung oil, it was produced in Jiangxi. In the Song Dynasty, many weapons needed tung oil, and furniture also needed tung oil, so the price was very sensitive. Yingzhou was benefiting from the Huaihe River. After the introduction of these two trading goods, it was immediately popular.

Not long after, a bank opened next to the exchange.

No one cares about the existence of the bank, and even laughs at the bank's two-cent monthly loan interest, which is simply an embarrassment to loan merchants. Many people want to borrow all the money from the bank in one go and use it for private loans.

, the monthly interest rate difference is four cents. You can’t tell it from the consistent two, but what about 10,000 guan or 20,000 guan? Fortunately, the bank did not steal the business of the big investors. It seems that from the day it appeared, it only served the exchange.

existence. Besides, there are not so many people in distress that big business owners can exploit with high-priced profits.

However, there is a transaction in the bank that makes the big investors feel stupid, which is to save money for interest. Although it is not much, the annual interest rate of regular money is nearly 10%, which is not a small amount. Compared with the loan interest rate of nearly 25%,

This amount of money is not much. But the bank has an innovative move, which makes this newly established bank immediately popular.

Always standing.

In other words, with the minimum amount of money, you can deposit it in the bank and earn interest. What can you do with the money?

An ordinary moderately well-to-do family needs about three days of expenses. If there is big fish and meat for meals, one day will be a little more. Even if you are a poor person, it is not unusual to have a thousand dollars. But if you want to do business with a thousand dollars, you have no way to do business.

.But if you save money, you can at least have an extra fortune during the Chinese New Year. Why not?

Since the emergence of banks, guarantees, verification of assets, valuations, and borrowings have all made people feel at home. How difficult it was to borrow money in the past!
To be continued...