Three Kingdoms

Some people like spring, some people like summer, and of course some people like autumn or winter. But for most people, no matter which kind of weather they like, they have never been harmed by this weather.

For example, some people like spring, and then when spring comes, a deep and full voice will float over, and it is the day when all things mate, and then suddenly they find Lao Wang next door...

Ahem.

Relatively speaking, more people like it in spring and autumn, and less in summer and winter. After all, summer is hot and winter is cold, which are not so comfortable.

Just like now, Fei Qian and others also hate this winter, which is getting colder and colder.

But some things are not annoying and will disappear automatically. Just like the cold winter weather, he is obviously preparing to appear continuously. Before Qiu Guliang can stand still, he hurried over and kicked Qiu Guliang. I feel so cold...

"Message from Yinshan, there is a lot of ice and snow in the northern desert..." Fei Qian sat in the hall of the Husband's Mansion, looking into the distance, and said slowly, "A certain miner slave worker and others have been ordered to go south to Yinshan. Avoid the snow..."

There is a gold mine in the north of Feiqian Yinshan Mountain. However, in the increasingly cold weather, the semi-open-pit gold mine can no longer operate. All personnel can only be evacuated until the ice and snow melt in the coming year.

Beside Fei Qian, sat Pang Tong, Xun You, Zhuge Jia Xu, all with serious expressions.

"Taiyuan, Shangdang, there is also news that the snow is knee-deep and the journey is difficult..." Xun You said, "In the north of Pingyang, there are also some cattle and sheep freezing to death... Looking at it now, it is as the Lord said, the cold winter is coming again It’s coming..."

Jia Xu also sighed and said, "There are many Qiang and Hu people in Longyou, scattered in the counties. Although I sent someone to remind me, it's just... these Qiang and Hu people..."

Jia Xu did not continue, but everyone basically understood what he meant. Although the war between the Western Qiang and the Han people has stopped, except for some Baishi Qiang and others who are close to the Han people, some Qiang people in remote areas still do not have a good impression of the Han people. Therefore, even if Jia Xu sent people to Reminder, these Qiang people may not be willing to listen.

These Qiang people are as stubborn as a stone.

Fei Qian glanced at Jia Xu, and then said: "In this case, Wen Hegeng should send more people to remind..."

Jia Xu obviously knew what Fei Qian meant and nodded slightly. Whether the reminder is effective or not, whether the Qiang people are willing to listen, is secondary. What is more important is to let these Qiang people know that someone is paying attention to them, so that they will not cause trouble again when they really encounter a desperate situation...

Once you have hope, your tolerance will always be higher.

Pang Tong said: "Chang'an Sanfu, although the coal storage is sufficient, depending on the weather, it is better to transfer some more..."

Zhuge Liang also said: "In the Lantian area, the reserves are slightly thin, and the village has many trees, so fire prevention should be taken seriously..."

A few people gathered together and chatted together, sorting out almost all the preparations and countermeasures for the cold winter. After the discussion was almost finished, Xun You also recorded all the matters and presented them to Fei Qian.

Fei Qian picked up the minutes, looked at them up and down, nodded, and asked Huang Xu to take the seal, sign his name on it, and then stamped his Hussar seal, which represented this The minutes have become a formal document and will be issued to various counties and counties as an outline of cold resistance standards for this winter.

"It has been three consecutive years of cold winter..." Fei Qian nodded, with a serious expression, "Maybe it will still be the same next year... Even if there are mountains blocking Hanzhong, it may not be able to avoid it, and then there will be Sichuan, Shu, and even the Han Dynasty... Everything will be done if it is not planned, and if it is not planned, it will be ruined... This is the arrangement for preparing for the winter and keeping out the cold... I have called everyone here, and there is another matter, which is to set up additional bank regulations in various places, and it needs to be finalized now..."

When did the earliest money banks in China appear?

Fei Qian remembers that it was in the Song Dynasty? Maybe earlier? But what is certain is that there were no banks in the Han Dynasty, and there were very few banks with the foundations of silver shops.

Banks are undoubtedly an important indicator of whether a feudal dynasty's business is maturing.

Feudal dynasties, including the Han Dynasty, collected taxes, one in money and the other in kind. There's nothing much to say about the physical thing. After all, as long as it's in the sky and underground water, everything that can be produced will be taxed. Even if he is a firewood cutter, when he enters the city gate with a stick of firewood, he will be stopped by the clerk and he will pull out a few thick sticks of firewood...

As for the ways of money, among the original Han Dynasty, few people studied it in three to four hundred years, so that there was a situation where the coinage rights were received and given, and given and taken away, and even There are also some weird behaviors that do not use gold and silver, but use checks, white dew coins, etc.

For Fei Qian, many business practices of the Han Dynasty were undoubtedly primitive. The social structure of the entire Han Dynasty was still very unstable. All the regulations in later generations of China were just prototypes. Perhaps at this time, as long as the seeds are planted, after a certain period of time, someone will definitely regulate these things.

Fei Qian never doubted the wisdom of the Chinese people, but occasionally worried that these guys would use their wisdom in some other direction.

Starting from this year, the entire Han Dynasty may begin to prepare for a hard life.

But it doesn’t mean that because we are suffering now, we don’t raise our eyes to prepare for the future.

Things need to be done well now, and things in the future also need to be considered.

Everything in the world is interconnected and affects each other. The weather is also cold. The north will be the first to directly feel the changes brought about by the weather. Then Hanzhong and Sichuan, which are protected by mountains such as the Qinling Mountains, and even Jiangdong Lingnan in the south, will gradually feel the power of the Siberian cold current... …

As the climate becomes increasingly harsh, many ferns in Guanzhong begin to wither. These ferns, which have been growing vigorously since the last Little Ice Age, have finally reached the end of their journey.

Of course, there are not no cold-resistant ferns, but there are ferns from other places in Dahan Pass. Many of them are temperate or tropical ferns that like humidity and heat. In these years when the temperature suddenly drops, they are undoubtedly The end of these plants.

Ferns die, vegetation decreases, coupled with cold weather, the improper behavior of cutting down trees for heating increases, and the ecological damage to areas with dense human settlements will become more serious, and then the loss of water and soil will cause crop farming in the following year. Sometimes, there is either too much waterlogging or too much drought, which will cause problems with the harvest of the next year, and then there will be famine, refugees, plague, and the collapse of the entire family and country order.

There are some things that Fei Qian cannot stop or change, such as the death of ferns, but other things need to be done in advance. As long as one of the entire links is knocked out, it will not snowball. , at least it will be relieved a lot.

Then the bank is one of them.

As the name suggests, a bank means both borrowing and lending. If there is no official bank, then who will the ordinary farmers who were affected by this or that situation go to borrow money?

Naturally, they are almost all big players from all over the world. Only these large households are the closest and most convenient to the common people, and then these large households will find ways to let these common people apply for installments... uh, it's for payment, ah, it's for loans, anyway, that's what it means, and on the one hand, you can get more On the other hand, on the surface, it seems that after the distribution is completed, the repayment is small every time, but in fact, the risk period that the common people have to bear is extended. As long as the repayment is not paid even once, the big family can justifiably take away the common people's fields. Into his pocket.

So who would be least happy to promote a bank?

Not the common people, but the wealthy gentry and powerful squires. Therefore, although Feiqian had tried to run a bank very early on, it had never formed a network and scale, and now, it was finally time to close the network.

Therefore, Fei Qian deliberately dealt with these large households before promoting the bank, and also asked Zhang Shi to continue to investigate in Hedong, completely attracting the attention of these large noble households, and then waited for these people to react from their panic. It's too late again...

"Jing Zhaoyin, Zuo Fengyi, Gongda is in charge, right is Fufeng, Longyou is still under Wenhe's care, Shangjun and Hedong are under Youruo's coordination, and Shangdang and Taiyuan are under Liang Dao , in the land of Sichuan and Shu, there was Yuanzhi, but now there is only Hanzhong, which has not yet been determined..." Fei Qian turned around and looked at Pang Tong and Zhuge, "Which one of you will go? 』

Zhuge glanced sideways at Pang Tong's double chin, then turned to Fei Qian, "My lord, let me go to Hanzhong... If I go to Shiyuan... haha..."

Pang Tong was furious, but after he touched his chin, he calmed down. Fat people have no human rights, no matter where they are.

Fei Qian also smiled and didn't say anything. He just nodded, then sat down and motioned to Huang Xu to distribute a few scrolls to everyone present.

"The money banker's method is unparalleled in its wonderful use, and it is convenient to use in this book..." Fei Qian pointed to the scroll.

What is the bank's biggest profit-killing trick?

Of course they are "vulnerable groups"...

Wrong, it should be "I am not responsible for leaving the cabinet"...

Isn’t that right? So should it be "the temporary worker has been fired", or "I don't know this matter clearly and am still going through the process"?

"Except for green crops and agricultural tools, and the method of commercial lending..." Fei Qian said slowly, "First, in various places of business, "cabinets" can be set up for storage..."

The "cabinet shop" is somewhat like a storage counter, but it is also a little different.

As Feiqian continued to build transportation and expand trade routes between various regions, there were close exchanges between major cities and between Han Chinese and Hu merchants. The prosperity of commerce and the continuous increase in the volume of trade have led to an increase in the amount of money transported over long distances. The subsequent problem is the inconvenience of coin transportation.

In the market, there is a large flow of people, and a large number of coins are very heavy, making it inconvenient and safe to carry. Therefore, the so-called "cabinet shop" came into being...

Historically, the appearance of the "cabinet shop" seems to have been in the Tang Dynasty. Now that Fei Qian is using it first, it is not an outrageous improvement.

The business of the counter shop is to keep gold and silver and other property on behalf of customers. After completing the transaction, the customer can withdraw it by himself or with a token. Of course, this process requires a certain storage fee from the customer, a small amount of money. …

This is naturally not difficult to understand, so everyone nodded without having too many questions.

Fei Qian paused for a moment, and then said: "The second is the "flying ticket", which is based on the "cabinet", with pigeons as flying, people and pigeons traveling together, approval seal, deposit and withdrawal in different places..."

Using pigeons to transmit information is already a relatively mature technology, and Fei Qian didn't even think about hiding this technology because it was impossible to hide it. After all, the little elf pigeons were not raised by Fei Qian after he arrived in Guanzhong. As early as the Yin and Shang Dynasties, there were records of pigeons. In the Han Dynasty, especially the Eastern Han Dynasty, many noble families also had the traditional art of raising pigeons...

Raised for fun.

As for its use in transmitting information in history, it is recorded that it was during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. And at that time, many soldiers didn’t know that pigeons were used to convey messages, so when they saw pigeons, they thought they were small-faced chickens with tender meat and fragrant bones...

And if carrier pigeons are only used here in Feiqian and not elsewhere, then it will be inconvenient at certain times. After all, the quantity is small, which is too obvious. If the carrier pigeons were flying everywhere, they could cover up the carrier pigeons used by Fei Qian's military.

"Flying Tickets" also took shape before Feiqian, but at that time it was based on Feiqian's credit, but now it is based on the "counters" of merchants in various places, and then deposits and withdrawals are made in other places.

If this "flying ticket" can be passed through, it only needs to be strictly controlled and approved, then it will speed up the circulation of goods in the entire business, and even penetrate to other areas that Fei Qian does not rule to a certain extent. , because by that time, the money in the "cabinets" in other local banks will not belong to Fei Qian. Even if it is seized, Fei Qian will not suffer any loss...

"Third, "Acceptance." Fei Qian said slowly, "Nowadays, private money in various places is complicated and huge in quantity. Copper coins vary in weight and quality. If they are not used at all, it would be a waste... Therefore, we should accept and redeem them to benefit the people..."

Of course, acceptance does not mean that the original five baht money will be used as five baht, but the exchange will be measured based on the actual weight and fineness. Under such circumstances, Fei Qian will not lose money, and it is like Fei Qian. It's the same as what was said. It can make the copper coins that were originally wasted in the hands of the people have the value of being recycled again, instead of being wasted in vain.

This is of course what it means on the surface.

And profoundly...

"What do you think? Fei Qian asked.

Pang Tong had already known about this matter, so he had no objection.

Generally speaking, Jia Xu rarely said anything good or bad directly, so he shook his head slightly to show that he had no problem here.

Zhuge Liang said: "This strategy is very good." There is only one thought, that is, a good strategy may start out well, but then it will go bad. How to prevent it? If you live among gold and silver for a long time, you will inevitably be tempted by it. If you have more greed for money..."

Fei Qian said seriously: "People's hearts are fickle, and this is inevitable. Therefore, we should restrain them, punish evil and promote good, so that we can last long!" And strict punishments and laws are needed. Wherever the evil is done, the law should follow and change according to the situation! Especially in the handover of tasks, if there are any mistakes later, both the people before and after will be guilty and severely punished! 』

Any excuse you give to your ex is completely ridiculous. When something happens, you blame your ex. It seems that you are innocent and deceived. Then your ex will have another ex, and then let it go. Just like any process, there is always an endless process. It is just a poor excuse to deceive the people. If there is something wrong with the predecessor, future generations cannot find it out, the number of warehouses is unknown, the inventory is unknown, what seal should be received, and where should one sit?

After Fei Qian finished speaking, everyone nodded slightly.

Things involving money are always like this, especially since Fei Qian is planning to expand the bank again in the future, and then find an opportunity to merge tax items into the bank, so it is even more necessary for the people in the bank to be cautious , strictly investigate corruption...

Xun You looked around and then said: "Nowadays in Chang'an, there are few young people borrowing money, so the money consumed is not a big concern. But if... if, as my lord said, winter is coming, there must be many people borrowing money, and Where does this money... come from? 』

For the common people of the Han Dynasty, borrowing money was a symbol of the decline of family fortune.

Because in the past, borrowing money was almost like drinking poison to quench thirst. Very few people were able to get compound interest, and then those who borrowed usury money made a fortune, and the people who really got into trouble had their families ruined, so if they didn't borrow usury money, they would die. If this is the case, they will not take this step.

This is the most stubborn and honest group in China. This ethnic group is simple and cunning. They never have much interest in invisible benefits. They only care about visible and tangible benefits. All those who overdraft tomorrow to support their present life are, without exception, prodigals in their eyes!

Therefore, not many farmers in Chang'an would borrow usury before. Even though Fei Qian set a maximum interest rate of 5% in disaster years, not many people dared to borrow money. But things will be different next. The increasingly cold weather will catch many farmers off guard...

In order to survive, they must borrow money, and the number of farmers will be several times, or even more than ten times, the original number...

Fei Qian smiled slightly and said: "It doesn't matter, there must be a big family who covets farmers' land and pretends not to know the previous "Loan Order Law"..."

The previous law clearly stated that in the year of disaster, the interest rate could not exceed 5%, and then used it to show the kindness to the people and the morality of the noble family. Then Fei Qian was almost useless, so for the large noble family, it must be There will be a group of people who will be clever and think that Fei Qian is joking, or that those laws are for others to abide by and have nothing to do with them. Even if they don't follow them, no one will see it. Otherwise, Zhang San also did it, and Li Si also did it, so it doesn’t matter if he follows suit.

Those who do not know how to focus on the future and do not know how to prepare for a rainy day will suffer losses, big or small.

As soon as Fei Qian said this, Pang Tong and Jia Xu looked at each other and smiled, while Zhuge Liang looked thoughtful, as if he had remembered something, and smiled slightly.

And Xun You seemed to have remembered something, and his face couldn't help but change...

In this world, maybe some other things may change to some extent because of this or that, but greedy people are always inevitable from beginning to end...