Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 264 So that’s what you meant?
In fact, after more than three years of development, the current social situation in the Song Dynasty can be said to be crazy, even crazy.

Although he has never made statistics on industrial output value, Zhao Guangmei can roughly judge based on his intuitive feeling that the growth should be more than 100% every year, and if GDP statistics can be introduced, it will even be above 100%.

Agriculture, industry, and the service industry, which is dominated by the slave trade, are all booming. The market is now full of hot money. Even private loan sharking has begun to revive. The interest rate has reached more than [-]%, but many people still borrow.

As long as you borrow money and open a factory in a city with electricity, there is no reason to lose anything.

You know, the loan conditions of the Song Dynasty Royal Commercial Bank are actually quite loose, and there are actually so many people who would borrow usury again.

The current loan interest rates of commercial banks are also extremely high, starting from 15%, which cannot stop the enthusiasm of investors. If it is lowered any lower, the gap between the rich and the poor caused by inflation will be impossible to see. The imperial court is now almost Most of the energy is spent on secondary distribution.

Such commercial loan interest rates are simply terrifying.

The deposit interest rate of money banks is above 8%, but people who save money cannot beat the inflation at all. In the market, there are all kinds of compliant and non-compliant fund donors everywhere, and those who are a little more courageous are all Dare to promise more than 30% annual income, and it is said that some people dare to claim 100%. Even Zhao Guangmei can't tell whether some people are really serious or pure liars.

Because now when doing business in Da Song, there is really 100%, or even 200%, or 300% profit.

Zhao Guangmei was confused. In her previous life, she read history books and it said that the Dutch East India Company's profit from a voyage was about 400% at its peak. She also thought that this was definitely impossible. How could any business activity have a 400% profit?

At this time, I can see that although his trading company has not achieved 400%, that is because his trading company has shouldered too many social responsibilities and also provides military supplies. If he really wants to squeeze profits, this number may not be impossible.

After resigning from all posts in the court, Zhao Guangmei also felt relaxed. She rarely went out of her house every day and lived a life of dissipation and extravagance. She even raised a large song and dance troupe with enough people in it. More than 40 members.

However, compared to the current Fan Lou, his large song and dance troupe is really a bit insignificant.

The entire Fan Tower is divided into two parts: the front building and the back building. The front building is the former restaurant, and the back building has been opened into the original palace. It is a complete place to waste money. There are a lot of girls from all ethnic groups. There are more than 1000 people, all of whom are top beauties, especially the servants. They are all from the Song Dynasty, and even the Uighurs don't bother to use them.

The Uighurs are cheap, but the Song people are very expensive, especially since these women are almost all voluntary. They probably earn more money every month than many big bosses outside. The so-called spend money like water is nothing more than that. .

It’s scary to say it. The annual revenue generated here is even more than the combined finance and tax of [-]% of the states and counties outside.

Of course, this place has become a new gathering place for the shareholders of the commercial bank. Even Zhao Kuangyin especially likes to come here and repeatedly laments that the happiness here is really far greater than when he was the emperor.

After all, being an emperor still requires face, or rather dignity, and one does not dare to have too much fun.

Zhao Guangmei and Zhao Kuangyin are also here at the moment, drinking with the shareholders. In fact, if it is just drinking, this place is not that different from the front building, but the price is more than ten times more expensive.

Of course, everyone really has money and has nowhere to spend it.

While they were drinking, Shi Shouxin suddenly said in front of Zhao Kuangyin: "Your Highness, I heard that you are going to demobilize slaves recently? It's not going well?"

"Ok?"

Zhao Guangmei also looked at Shi Shouxin quite drunkenly, wondering what he was going to do, and said with a smile: "What, what do you have in mind? Or do you want to help me?"

You know, the largest shareholding in the entire Fan Building is Shi Shouxin Private. He is running the front building and the back building. Among the several major shareholders, he is the most concerned and interested in this kind of entertainment business.

Could it be that the dismissal of the female slaves affected his interests?But in a place like Fanlou, how many maidservants can there be? A thousand female slaves can stand up to the sky.

Most of the female slaves in Kaifeng City are maids and servants of ordinary people. In fact, few of them actually climb into their master's bed. Most of them are really doing housework, so they should have nothing to do with him.

"Brother Shi, do you have any ideas?"

"I do have some ideas. Don't you want to build a navy? Since you have built a navy, you must open up. I, Lao Shi, am always impulsive and want to get involved."

Zhao Guangmei nodded and said: "The navy and the army are different. The army belongs to the imperial court and is used to defend the country and recover Yanyun. The navy belongs to the commercial bank and is used to make money from business. Since it belongs to the commercial bank, it naturally depends on the veterans of yours." .”

He could see that his eldest brother wanted to compete with him for the right to speak in the trading house, but when professional people did professional things, it involved military issues, even if it was the navy, it would definitely be better for him to let his eldest brother handle it. Definitely.

Furthermore, in the next period of time, the commercial bank will use some means to recover the equity, and most of the recovered equity will definitely be given to the eldest brother.

After all, when he first established the trading company, he never thought that Zhao Kuangyin would not even be the emperor. The current shareholding structure of the Zhao family is that Zhao Guangmei takes two, and Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi each take one. This is definitely unreasonable.

But what does this have to do with slaves?
Shi Shouxin smiled and said, "I heard that Xue Juzheng rejected His Highness's proposal?"

"Old Xue also has his difficulties. Don't I respect him? Bah, he is an official now, so we can't always call him by his first name."

"Your Highness is right. No matter what, since he is now an official, we have to respect him. But Your Highness, if we really want to repatriate these free slaves, it will be very troublesome. Some people are willing to go back." Family, if some people are not willing, we have to arrest them. If we arrest them, they have to hide. If you also provide social security, then they will become unstable elements in society, join the Yizimen, or even become members of the Yizimen. Start a new one.”

Zhao Guangmei nodded,
Shi Shouxin continued: "This is only the most ideal situation. These slaves have been in our Song Dynasty for five years. I am afraid that many of them know a little Song Dynasty Mandarin and can do some basic communication. Your Highness wants to just If we arrest people based on their trading houses, these people might go to the countryside or other cities. To be honest, the household registration control in Song Dynasty is so loose nowadays. Maybe some people just go out and wander around. He will become a Song Dynasty man again."

Zhao Guangmei also admitted: "That's true, but there is no way. If we don't repatriate, the immigrant population will increase, and we will be in greater trouble. Now, it's the lesser of two evils."

To put it bluntly, a world-class hegemon, especially if there is a big gap between the living standards of other countries, must have ethnic integration within its borders. This was true even in the Tang and Han Dynasties, let alone the current Song Dynasty. Even developed countries in modern society cannot control illegal immigrants.

This is the price of wealth and strength.

"Yes, that's why I have been hoping that it would be best to leave this matter to the imperial court, with the Ministry of Households taking the lead, and the various state yamen and township militias to assist. To put it bluntly, those slaves who have obtained their freedom will continue to work as landlords. It is best for tenant farmers to work as maids for the citizens. If they are willing to renew the contract, everyone will be happy and everyone will be happy. If they go out to work, even if they are washing dishes in restaurants and bars in the city, aren't they robbing us Song people of job opportunities? We in the Song Dynasty are not yet so wealthy that ordinary people don’t even bother to do the hard work of washing dishes and have to leave everything to outsiders. It’s a pity, Lao Xue, oh no, it is the official family and there are things that the official family has to do. It belongs to him, and if he objects, I can’t do anything about it, so naturally the trading bank can only take action.”

Shi Shouxin said: "But your highness, the slave trade has always been sold by the Liao Kingdom, and the profits have been made by them. Some of them sold themselves, and the money has been made by the social scum of the Yizimen." We have gone, but the expulsion of the aliens... Whether it is setting up a special arrest team, or responsible for the transportation costs of transporting these aliens, as well as other resettlement expenses that we have to pay out of kindness, this... is probably an astronomical figure. Bar?"

Zhao Guangmei frowned when he heard this and said: "About...two to three million guan per year, it shouldn't be too much." Shi Shouxin was surprised and said: "Your Highness thinks that two to three million guan per year is not that much? This...this is just a throwaway Ah, during the Zhou Dynasty, wasn't this enough money to cover the one-year military expenses of the two imperial armies? This is not good for our trading firm at all."

Zhao Guangmei was stunned when he heard this, and instinctively glanced at Zhao Kuangyin beside him.

Zhao Kuangyin didn't look at him. He seemed to have drunk too much and was hugging the two women who were accompanying him and telling jokes.

"Brother Shi, do you mean that you, as a shareholder, don't approve of the company spending this money? Is this...Brother Shi, you alone, or...many people? Otherwise, let's go to a meeting and let the shareholders vote. Let’s take a vote?”

Hearing this, Shi Shouxin laughed and stopped talking. He laughed and went to drink and fight.

Then, Zhang Lingduo came over and patted him on the shoulder, laughing.

"Your Highness, don't be so serious. Aren't we just chatting? Besides, we are all here, so what else needs to go to the shareholders' meeting? What Xiaoshi means is that this slave matter is indeed related to us. Doesn't it matter much? Those slaves who come to work, let them go if they want to go, and let them stay if they want to stay. It doesn't matter whether they work illegally in the factory or wash dishes in the corner shop. Doesn't this also reduce our labor costs? Is it over?"

Zhao Guangmei frowned: "What my father-in-law said is true, but isn't this because he is afraid that they will take away the jobs of Song people, which will really lower the wages of ordinary people, increase the unemployment rate, cause social unrest, and increase unrest."

"Yes, yes, but shouldn't this be a matter for the imperial court? Your Highness, haven't you already resigned from all your official positions in the imperial court?"

"Aha?"

Zhao Guangmei was really stunned this time.

How can this be considered pure commercialism?

Couldn't help but turn around to look at Zhao Kuangyin again.

"Aang~~~~! Aang~~~~~!! Aang~!!!!!"

And snoring!
"Brother, what do you want to say to me? If there is something going on between us brothers, just say no."

"Ang~~~!! Aang~!!!"

Zhao Guangmei: “…………”

If his own eldest brother hadn't been instigating this matter behind his back, he would have swallowed the spoon.

But Zhao Kuangyin was pretending to be asleep now, and he had no choice. He could still say a few harsh words to Shi Shouxin. Zhang Lingduo was his father-in-law after all.

But, it’s strange!

To put it bluntly, the more free slaves there are, the more people will work illegally, the cheaper the labor force will be, and the more obvious the demographic dividend will be. This will definitely benefit the big capitalists. Who is the biggest capitalist in the Song Dynasty?

Aren’t they all drinking here?

In addition to commercial banks, each of these shareholders already has other industries.

But the problem is, these people are not just capitalists, you used to be our military governors in the Song Dynasty.

How could it be said that a company as big as a trading house did not even assume any social responsibilities, but only focused on getting money, and exploited the people to the maximum extent? Then the Song Dynasty court became the comprador court of the trading house.

The most ridiculous thing is that Big Brother must be behind these people, but Big Brother, you are the founder of the Song Dynasty!

What to play?
Didn’t you just retire?

Is the role reversal so smooth?

The trading house is my child, and the Song Dynasty court is your child.

And this matter is unlikely to be discussed in the meeting, because in the trading company, they are the only major shareholders who have the awareness of social responsibility. To put it bluntly, money is bastards to them. The Song Dynasty court is still essentially From the old Zhao family, these major shareholders and the old Zhao family are all concerned by in-laws. Zhang Lingduo is his father-in-law, and Shi Shouxin and Zhao Kuangyin are sons and daughters. They are all real relatives.

If it really goes to the general meeting, those small shareholders will pursue profit maximization. Now that the eldest brother, the founder of the country, is among the shareholders of the commercial bank, he can no longer cover the sky with one hand like before.

"Hey, brother, don't go to sleep yet. What do you mean we get up and chat?"

"Ang~~~~~! Aang~~~~~!"

"alright."

Zhao Guangmei asked Zhang Lingduo: "My father-in-law, do you have any way to get the best of both worlds and kill two birds with one stone?"

Zhang Lingduo smiled awkwardly and said: "Look, Your Highness, these people are said to be Hulu, but in fact they have lived in our Song Dynasty for at least five years, right? They can also speak some Song dialect. I heard Some are smart, diligent, willing to learn, and can read, read, and learn some Confucian classics. Can they be considered half Song people?"

"Forget it, he is indeed half a Song Dynasty man."

"Then why do you have to send them back? Let them follow the fleet and send them overseas!"

"Ah? Ah~~~~~~, that is to say, let them join the Navy Servant Army, or the Overseas Pioneer Corps, right? So that's what you meant."

(End of this chapter)