The 21st Circle of Money
Two days later, Yongzheng's personally drafted "Detailed Regulations for the Rectification of Piaohao" was published in the Gazette.
The banking industry across the country was in an uproar, and the first monopolistic giant of the Qing Dynasty, 'Si Da Heng', stepped onto the historical stage.
Seeing the "Regulations on Standardizing Drafts" bill in the Imperial Gazette, Zheng Shichang was so excited that he almost had a stroke. He couldn't help but feel grateful for his decision back then. If he had hesitated even slightly, the "Four Great Heng" would have closed down like other silver banks and wouldn't have achieved its current dominance over the national draft industry.
For Yongzheng, Zheng Shichang was not only grateful but also revered. This 21-year-old prince, in just four months, quietly swept across the country's silver and ticket industries, establishing the "Four Great Constants" as a giant in the industry. Who knows how many silver and ticket companies went bankrupt because of this? It was much more ruthless than "talking and laughing, oars and sails disappearing into smoke". It was completely a bloodless killing, making a fortune in the blink of an eye.
Yongzheng was not only making a fortune, but he also took the opportunity to reveal the inside information of "Si Da Heng" among his relatives and nobles, and spread the rumor that he would sell shares of "Si Da Heng". The whole city of Beijing went crazy for it. Although they didn't have the concept of monopoly yet, "Si Da Heng" was actually a private business under the exclusive operation of the imperial family, and the profits were beyond imagination.
What's even more outrageous is that Yinzhen split each share into ten parts and sold them one by one. Moreover, he publicly promised to give away one share for free to all the brothers who had established their own households, including the Crown Prince and the imprisoned Big Brother.
The princes did not feel grateful to him for giving them a share, no other reason, it was too little, not even enough to fill the gaps between their teeth, only the eldest prince, Yunzhong, sent his eldest son Hongyu to express gratitude.
The one who was most deeply moved, however, was Kangxi. He hadn't expected that Yongzheng would treat everyone equally, without distinguishing between the thick and thin relationships, giving each of his brothers a share, including the eldest brother who had been imprisoned for life, who also received a share. Although it was only one share, in his heart he knew the weight of this share. With this move, Yongzheng gave out more than 10% of the shares, what a generous gesture! This made Kangxi unconsciously add some good feelings towards Yongzheng.
Yongzheng exposed the inside story and rumors of taking action against the "Four Great Hengs" spread, the large denomination silver notes of the "Four Great Hengs", with 10,000 taels per note, were snapped up in an instant, followed by the 1,000 tael notes also selling out. Faced with the crowd's demand for redemption of silver notes, the "Four Great Hengs" had to work overnight to issue special large denomination silver notes.
Then, it was Zheng Shichang's turn to be unlucky. Fortunately, he received a reminder from Yin Zhen and slipped away overnight. However, the stewards of various princes, royal families, nobles, and high-ranking officials who were carrying large stacks of silver notes crowded his house, with everyone striking a pose that they would not give up until they got their shares.
This has brought trouble to Zheng Shichang and his family. These masters, anyone they pull out is a master with feet higher than them, whoever they see they call "master", naturally no one dares to neglect them, serving them with good food and drink.
At the time when Zheng's family was struggling, Kangxi took action and issued an imperial edict. He awarded Zheng Shichang a sixth-rank official hat, promoted the main house of the Zheng family to lift the flag, and directly lifted it into the Zhongbai Banner of the Upper Three Banners. This can be said to be a great favor, but at the same time, he also took away one-tenth of the shares of the "Four Great Constants" from the Zheng family, making it clear that no one was allowed to touch the remaining one-tenth share of the Zheng family.
Although he lost one-tenth of the shares, he also kept the remaining one-tenth of the shares. The reward of the sixth-grade hat and the long house entering the flag registration also means that Zheng's family has since entered the upper class, which is a symbol of identity and status. Zheng Shichang was naturally grateful and tearful.
Zheng Shichang's shares are no longer in play, and Yin Zhen's shares have naturally become even more precious. In the blink of an eye, the streets outside the Beizi Mansion on Da Houhuan Street became crowded with people, and the price of each share skyrocketed, quickly breaking through from 2 million to 3 million.
However, after spreading the news, Yin Zhen got a strange illness and couldn't see light, couldn't see wind, in short, he couldn't see anything, of course, he couldn't see people either. After Kangxi obtained 50% of the shares, he didn't abandon him, but instead issued an edict to cooperate with it: "After diagnosis by the Imperial Hospital, Prince Yun's illness is suspected to be highly contagious, for the safety of the capital, he will be isolated and no one is allowed to visit."
But outside the mansion of Xun Beizi, there were many people who feared that the world would not be chaotic, and they were loudly discussing and boasting everywhere. "The 'Four Great Heng' is a household name all over the country, and it's the only one in the Qing Dynasty that is allowed to issue silver tickets and meeting tickets. I heard that just in these few days, two hundred million taels of silver tickets have been issued in Beijing alone. At the same time, silver tickets have also begun to be issued in Tianjin, Jinan, Xi'an, Jiangning, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuchang, Guangzhou and other places. How much money will they make this year? What's even more valuable is that this is a lifelong foundation! As long as the Qing Dynasty exists for one day, 'Four Great Heng' will not collapse. Where is this buying shares? This is buying golden rice bowls for future generations! As long as you have a share in your hands, it's enough to guarantee that your future generations will have no worries about food and clothing."
"Hey, have you guys heard? The 'Four Big Constants' annual dividend per share is as high as 30,000 to 40,000 yuan. If you invest 300,000 yuan, won't you get your principal back in just a decade? And afterwards, there will be that much income every year, it's truly a profit of ten thousand times!"
In such an atmosphere, in just one night, the price per share broke through 400,000. Every adult brother began to look down on the one share that Yinzhen Bai gave them. After hearing that the price of each share had already sold for 400,000, some were grateful to Yinzhen, but more were jealous. This guy alone occupied twenty-nine shares, how much is that? Over 11 million! Even the richest brother may only have his spare change.
The most excited one was Kangxi, who never thought that Yin Zhen would give him a full 20 million taels of silver. To know that the current Qing dynasty's treasury has less than 10 million taels of silver, how much can be done with this? The hot river needs to be repaired, the Garden of Sincerity needs to be expanded, and the navy needs to be expanded. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh secretly, "No wonder officials are greedy to death, even I, a rich emperor ruling over four seas, am also worried when facing 20 million taels of silver, let alone them. Alas, I really didn't expect that these royal relatives and nobles would be so wealthy."
Three days later, the 'Four Great Constants' stock price soared to 500,000 taels per share and could not go any higher. At this time, Yong Zheng's illness also happened to be cured. The gate of Prince Chun's mansion was wide open, and within an hour, Yong Zheng sold 25 out of the 29 shares in his hands, refusing to sell the remaining four shares no matter what.
It is said that Yong Zheng finally sold 2.5% of his shares at a price of 500,000 yuan per share. Zheng Shi Chang was overwhelmed with emotion. His family's wealth had quadrupled in just four months, and he was also awarded the sixth-grade hat and entered the flag register. It felt like a dream come true. He immediately convened a family meeting and said one sentence: "Each house should send children between the ages of 6 and 10 to Hope Primary School to study. Don't hesitate, follow the example of the 14th master, and you will definitely not lose out. From now on, no matter what the 14th master does, we must fully support him with all our might."
