Three Kingdoms Eschatology

Another person shook his head and said, "That's the way it is said, but when we are waiting for the money to be used and want to resell it, how can it be so easy to find a buyer? At that time, it will not be easy to find a buyer? At that time, it will not be easy for people to kill the price and lose a lot of blood. And when it’s sold, it takes a lot of hard work to set up a stall to sell it.”

Julius smiled again: "You need to set up a stall and sell it yourself. Let me tell you. The government has also set up a bond exchange for everyone to trade. The people in the exchange will display the bonds of the day every day. The listed price. Those who hold treasury bonds can sell them directly to the official dealers there. If they want to buy the bonds that have been circulated, they can also buy them directly at the listed price. The price is the same for buying and selling, but there is a handling fee, which will not be higher than Five thousandths."

When Julius said this, the people around him had nothing to say.However, although they could no longer express the reason for questioning the national debt, they were still full of doubts in their hearts.Few people will really move the idea of ​​​​buying this national debt.Most people shook their heads and left without saying anything.

Regardless of whether people believe in this national debt or not, the promotional activities of the Finance Office for several days have made everyone in the city of Rome, men, women and children, have a certain understanding of this thing.

Soon, the day for the public issuance of the first batch of treasury bonds is approaching. Because this batch of treasury bonds is only a pilot project, the amount is not large. The total face value is only [-] gold coins, and they are all short-term ten-year treasury bonds.

In order to create an atmosphere, Alexander and Julius together planned to set the starting location in the Grand Arena, and there will be wonderful gladiator performances and competitions before the release to attract popularity.

On this day, the streets and alleys of Rome were full of people, and a large number of people flocked to the arena.In addition to watching the excitement of the issuance of national bonds, it is also for the wonderful and important gladiator performances and competitions.

The gladiatorial performances and competitions came to an end amidst the noise of the crowd, and Alexander himself came to the high platform and started the speech on the issuance of national debt.After some impassioned speeches, he finally said: "Citizens of the Roman Empire are invited to actively purchase this first batch of national debt bonds."

As soon as he finished speaking, the audience burst into thunderous applause.However, it has been a long time since anyone came off the stage to buy bonds at the booth in the center of the venue.But Alexander seems to have foreseen this.

After Alexander waited calmly and patiently for a few minutes, a large group of people poured down from the noble seats in the stands.These people are servants and servants of those dignitaries.They lined up decently in front of the booth and began to buy treasury bonds one by one.Most of them are bought in tens or hundreds, and some have bought hundreds or thousands of face value.

The crowd in the civilian seats began to whisper, and all kinds of voices came out.

"Hehe, why are they singing oboe here? Are we ordinary people fools? Do you think you can get our hard-earned money with some tricks?"

"It must have been agreed in advance. If you don't believe me, look at it. They bought it on the bright side. After the show is over, the government office will immediately return the money to them. Then share the money cheated from us civilians. Only fools will fall for them." when."

"Even if it's not entrusted, it's not a double reed, this little money is just a drop in the bucket for these high-ranking officials and nobles, it's like playing. We ordinary people don't want to throw money into the water to listen to it."

Chapter 1084

In fact, Alexander did collude with these nobles beforehand.Once the scene is cold, these nobles will come out to save the scene.But that's not really Toh either.Because this little money is really nothing to these Roman nobles.They bought it and they bought it, there is no private refund.

Driven by these aristocrats, there were finally a few dozen or so rich and common people who bought a certain share of national debt, ranging from a dozen gold coins to hundreds of gold coins.Finally, the first batch of government bonds with a face value of [-] gold coins were sold out.

The audience continued to be noisy, and someone said: "There are really fools who were deceived."

"Of course, with so many people, some fools can always be found. However, there are still some people who just have a lot of money and spend a little money to follow the trend."

In the civilian seat, a certain citizen said sullenly to the gossip around him: "Don't talk nonsense, my elder brother bought it too. My elder brother is not greedy for this interest, but for Rome. It doesn't matter."

"Yeah... your family is patriotic and rich. We can't compare with you. Let's go home and take care of our children."

In the civilian seats, a large number of people began to leave their seats one after another and retreated to the outside.And no one left at the noble seat.One of the boxes was the seat of Officer Augustus, who was sitting leisurely on a large recliner covered with expensive furs.There was an indescribable smile on his face.

"How much did you buy?" He simply asked his butler.

The butler quickly replied: "I will follow your instructions, Master. We bought bonds with a face value of [-] gold coins. It is the most bought by everyone."

Augustus nodded in satisfaction and said, "Very good. I will sell [-] of these bonds on the market tomorrow. I will sell them at [-]% of the face value, and I will sell another [-] at the day after tomorrow at [-]% of the face value. On the third day, sell all the rest at [-]% of the face value. Note, I am not talking about entrusting the exchange to sell, but selling directly on the market. And don't reveal that you are the people of my family."

The butler took a breath and said, "Master, why is this? In this way, we will lose a lot! Hundreds of gold coins will be thrown into the water! If you want to sell it, you can sell it directly to the exchange..."

Before he finished speaking, Augustus interrupted him sullenly: "You know, you only focus on money. Master, I am not only for money. Besides, it is not necessarily a loss. It will be ten years later." , maybe you won’t be able to get a dime. Oh, in short, you can do whatever you want! Why are you talking so much nonsense?”

Seeing that Augustus was angry, the housekeeper had no choice but to retreat obediently.After the butler left, Augustus stroked his gray beard and muttered to himself: "The Severus family has occupied the position of emperor for too long, it's time to change."

The next morning, when the sun was as high as the top of the city wall.The Bond Exchange, across the street from the Colosseum, opened for business.Since it was the first day of business, Julius, the treasurer, also made a special trip to investigate.

It was just that after the door opened, the exchange was deserted, and no one came to buy or sell bonds.The transaction price on the price board in front of the counter reads one hundred, which means that today's listed price is [-]% of the face value.

When the sun was three poles high, a man as thin as a bamboo pole walked into the hall just now.He put three bonds with a face value of five gold coins on the counter and said, "Here are three bonds with a face value of five gold coins, sell them."

After the clerk verified the authenticity of the bonds, he readily paid fifteen gold coins and took the stack of bonds.The man took the money and walked out happily, muttering in his mouth: "I didn't expect money to be so easy to earn."

At this time, it was at the market three blocks away from the exchange.Some people are selling brand new bonds to people in twos and threes.

"Sister, do you want bonds? Only ninety for one hundred face value."

"It's the item that His Majesty Alexander personally peddled yesterday?"

"Yes."

"No, no money. Get out of the way, I have something else to do."

……

"Dude, do you want treasury bonds? A ten-gold denomination is only nine gold coins."

"What's the use of me buying this thing, keeping it at home for ten years?"

"What's the use? Money makes money! After ten years, the government will redeem it with [-] gold coins. You are still not satisfied with the net profit of [-] with [-] gold coins. If you want to make quick money, you can sell it on the official exchange now." Drop, today's price is one to one, you can earn an extra gold coin immediately!"

"Huh? Then why don't you just take it to the exchange and sell it yourself? Earn money by giving me gold coins for nothing? How can there be such a good thing in the world? Are you forged?"

"Hey! I've been wandering around here for a long time, and I've sold several copies. If it's fake, I can still wait for these people to find out and catch it? Anyway, you can judge by your own eyes if it's true or false! You don't want this money. Earn or not. As for why I want to sell here or not directly to the exchange, there is no need to explain to you."

"Hey, don't go, then... let's try to buy ten gold coins first."

in the exchange.After that first transaction, Julius found that the number of people visiting the exchange gradually increased.But the strange thing is that there are only sellers and no buyers.Although the amount of each transaction is not large, it is more than ten or twenty gold coins per order.But it still made Julius anxious. The gold coin can only be in and out, but it won't last long.When the sun was westward, it was time for the exchange to close.Still no one came to buy bonds.The exchange actually spent nearly two hundred gold coins to repurchase the bonds.

Julius comforted himself and said, maybe, as Feng Yu said in the letter, it was like this at the beginning, and people's confidence was not enough. When everyone can successfully exchange bonds into gold coins in the exchange for a long time, they will establish a recognition of the bonds in their hands. idea of ​​value.At that time, the exchange's income and expenditure will be balanced, and there will be a stable daily handling fee.

But things didn't get any better when the exchanges opened their doors the next day.Today, more people came to sell bonds. Julius clearly remembered that when the bonds were issued in the arena, there were not many ordinary people who bought bonds.Why are there so many people holding small treasury bonds now?

When Julius was wondering, a very special figure caught his eyes, it was the "bamboo pole" that completed the first transaction on the exchange yesterday.Because his figure was so distinctive, and it was the first deal, Julius remembered it clearly.

The "Bamboo Pole" was selling bonds with a face value of [-] gold coins on the counter. Julius, who was dressed in casual clothes, hurried over and asked, "Hey, man, are you here to sell bonds again today?"

When the man saw the stranger approaching, he immediately moved his body to the side vigilantly, and responded with two casual ums.

Chapter 1085 Run

Julius asked politely with a smile: "Brother, I see that you have come to our exchange more than once, and every time you sell bonds. Where do these bonds come from?"

The "bamboo pole" became more nervous when he heard this, and while urging the clerk on the counter of the exchange to deliver quickly, he muttered to Julius: "Where do I get these bonds? It's none of your business? Did you say?"

At this time, the clerk was about to hand over thirty gold coins to the “Bamboo Pole”, but Julius stopped him and said, “Wait, the money will be withheld for now.”

"Zhugan" became anxious when he heard this, and the muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched on his thin face and he said, "You... who are you? You belong to the exchange? Why, why don't you give me money if you want to play tricks? What do you do with me?" You got it, as long as it’s not fake, you have to redeem it. If you don’t redeem it, I’m going to go out and shout!”

Julius said with a serious face: "Your bond is genuine, but I suspect it is stolen goods. If you can't tell the source, I can only turn you over to the Rome City Public Security Bureau for investigation. Of course, if it is real We have wronged you, and we will make you up." Julius had to think that, like this kind of punks, there are always some shady things that make them afraid of entering the Public Security Bureau.

"Bamboo Pole" blushed and said, "What stolen goods? You...you just talk nonsense without evidence?"

After saying that, "Bamboo Pole" opened his mouth and was about to yell loudly: "Hey, come and see, the exchange is playing...", before he could yell out.Two attendants behind Julius stepped forward and grabbed him, forcing his waist to bend like a prawn.Of course he couldn't yell any more, so he begged for mercy: "Don't... don't send me to the government office. I said... I said. My coupons were all bought with my own money. Someone is here I bought it at a low price in the street market, is this also against the law?"

Julius winked, and the "bamboo pole" was loosened just now.Julius said to him: "Be more specific, I will let you take the money and leave."

"Bamboo Pole" had nothing to hide at this time, so he told everything he knew, and then took the thirty gold coins exchanged for the bonds and ran out the door.

Julius said to himself: "No wonder no one came to buy bonds. It turns out that the black market is full of low-priced bonds, and they are getting lower every day. In this way, no one will plan to hold bonds for a long time, and no one will come to buy bonds." We're buying bonds at official prices!"

An attendant beside him said, "Do you want to inform the Sheriff's Office in Rome to arrest those who resell bonds on the black market?"

Julius shook his head again and again: "There is no law that prohibits the reselling of national bonds and bonds outside the exchange. On the contrary, our announcement clearly stated that bonds can be traded freely. What reason is there to arrest others?"

The attendant said doubtfully again: "Our bonds are all issued at face value, but now someone sells them at a low price. If they don't want them, they can come to our exchange and sell them to us at face value. Why bother?" Losing business?"

After thinking for a few minutes with his head tilted, Julius said with a sneer: "This is someone deliberately trying to embarrass His Majesty Alexander. Doing this can stop the public from buying bonds and holding them for a long time. After all, things that continue to fall in price are right People are not attractive, even if this price is currently only on the black market. In addition, it may also drive a large number of people who have already held it to sell, which is why there are more and more sellers on our exchange, but there is no buyer. "

Another attendant said: "We just need to continue to raise the floating price and fight against the black market. Wouldn't people's hearts be stabilized like this?"

Julius laughed and said: "You are thinking too simply. If you have sufficient funds, of course you can do this. But we don't know how much goods the other party has, and the funds in the exchange are not much. His Majesty the Emperor from Of the [-] gold coins obtained from issuing bonds, only [-] gold coins were allocated as the operating capital of our exchange. The rest has already been allocated to the water supply system renovation project. Once the two thousand gold coins are exhausted and cannot be cashed, the exchange will It will lose credibility. In that case, the bond issue will be regarded as a failure. If we continue to float the price every day, we may only get the result of burning funds faster."

After finishing speaking, he turned his eyes to the nearly one hundred people who had already lined up in front of the counter, waiting to sell bonds, and his brows furrowed again.

He questioned these people almost tentatively, and sure enough, many of them bought the price difference from the black market.But there are also some people who bought the bonds during the IPO of the arena. They heard that the price on the black market was getting lower every day, and they worried that the exchange would not be able to absorb so many goods on the black market, so it would close down.Fearing that they really have to wait ten years to cash out, they will take the bonds they should have held for a long time to the exchange to sell.

Julius Mao estimated that the total amount of gold coins they had to sell was thousands of gold coins. If this trend continued, his funds would be exhausted the next day at the latest.Julius turned around in a hurry, but he was also a clever woman who couldn't cook without rice, so he couldn't think of any good way.

Although there is a lot of money that can be used on the books of the financial bureau, they are all radish and pits with their own purposes.It's easy to adjust, but once it goes wrong, it's not a matter of bonds.He didn't dare to take the risk.

After finally closing the doors, the exchange had only [-] gold coins left in its accounts.Julius thought to himself, there will definitely be more people running tomorrow, and the [-] gold coins may not be enough to last the whole morning.He didn't go home either, and went straight to the palace to report to Alexander.Who would have known that Alexander had taken his queen to the palace in the Alps for vacation, and Amias had followed suit.

In other words, there is no one in the palace who can make up his mind, and Julius' plan to borrow directly from the palace has naturally aborted.He returned to the mansion full of worries, but unexpectedly, as soon as he entered, he was stopped by the housekeeper and said: "Master, there is a guest who just came to visit and is waiting in the side room in the hall."

Julius said impatiently: "Didn't you tell me earlier that I will send away any visitors! See you soon!"

It turned out that since Julius took office as the financial officer, there has been an endless stream of visitors.Of course, they were all people who wanted something from him, which disturbed him so much that he simply asked the housekeeper to send them all away.

The housekeeper said with a bit of embarrassment: "At first, I was going to send him away directly. But he said that he was sent by a general named Feng Hu, and he wanted to discuss a very important matter with the master. "

When Julius heard Feng Hu's words, his eyes lit up immediately, and he immediately said, "Quickly lead him to meet me in the living room."

Chapter 1086 Market Making

In the living room, Julius carefully looked at the guest who claimed to be sent by Feng Hu.I saw that this person was a young man with a typical oriental face, fair skin, and no beard on his chin.

When this person saw Julius, he covered his heart with his hands, bowed slightly to Julius, and said, "This is His Excellency Julius, the treasurer of Rome."

Julius nodded in acquiescence, and then asked, "Your Excellency was sent by Feng Hu? What's your business here?"

The man immediately began to introduce himself: "My surname is Chen Mingbao, and I was originally a businessman from Liang State. In the early years, I had some friendship with Lord Feng Hu, who is now the governor of Sicily Feng Hu in your country. Even in the past two years, what he needs The purchase of military supplies and so on is also handled by me. Recently, when I visited Sicily where he took office, he entrusted me with a matter related to the successful issuance of your country's national debt. Here is a letter of introduction from him."

In fact, this man named Chen Bao was a protégé of Chen Tiao, the intelligence leader of the Liang State, and his public identity was a wealthy businessman of the Liang State.

After Chen Bao finished speaking, he handed over the letter of introduction signed by Feng Yu himself.Julius was overjoyed when he heard this, and thought to himself that this is really the pillow he met while dozing off.

Julius put the letter of introduction aside casually and said, "Hey, Your Excellency Chen Bao, I can tell from your face that you are a sincere and good person, so I don't need any letter of introduction. To tell you the truth, I'm working for the bond Something is worrying, it just so happened that General Feng Hu entrusted you to come here."

Hearing this, Chen Bao asked straightforwardly: "Then what trouble is your country encountering right now?" Julius then told the whole story.

After hearing this, Chen Bao laughed and said, "Governor Feng Hu is really good at predicting things. He is worried that someone will interfere in the bond issuance process. That's why he entrusted me to come."

Julius said happily: "Then how much money did you bring? As long as there is enough money, this is a trivial matter."

Chen Bao stretched out five fingers and said, "Five hundred gold coins"

Julius turned from joy to worry and said, "Only five hundred? But it's still not enough to solve this problem. You know, the total value of the bonds in circulation now has a face value of [-] gold coins."

Chen Bao smiled slightly and said, "To tell you the truth, I am also a small business. It is impossible to pay for it yourself. So the five hundred gold coins were transferred from the treasury of Sicily. Sicily is also in urgent need of money at the moment, so it is impossible to do tricks It seems that a lot of money has been produced. The five hundred gold coins are the limit that Sicily can take out."

He paused and asked again: "Then dare to ask the financial officer, how much money do you have for this matter?"

Julius stretched out a finger and said, "To tell you the truth, only one thousand gold coins can be used now. Two hundred of them were taken from my personal pocket. I'm ashamed, I'm the only one who became the treasurer." It’s not long before I became an official, and it’s not as lucrative as the outside world imagined. It’s not comparable to my predecessor.”

However, Chen Bao laughed and said: "According to the method taught by Governor Feng Hu, the total of [-] gold coins you and I are enough."

Julius said with a bitter face: "How is it possible? As I said just now, there are [-] gold in bonds in circulation outside. There is another situation that I didn't tell you. Just today, the exchange exchanged [-] gold. Tomorrow will definitely More people came to cash in the bonds. This thousand and five hundred gold coins will only last tomorrow."

Chen Bao said: "Your Excellency, Financial Officer, don't panic." After finishing speaking, he told Julius about Feng Hu's plan in detail.After hearing this, Julius still had a doubtful expression on his face, but now he can only be a dead horse as a living horse doctor.

……

In the official Augustus' mansion, Augustus, who was leisurely rocking back and forth on the rocking chair, asked his butler, "How is the bond business going today?"

"Returning to the master, according to your instructions, [-] gold denominations have been distributed to the market in the past two days. Tomorrow, I plan to throw out the last [-] gold goods at a [-]% discount."

"Very good, how did you observe the situation in that exchange? Is there anyone buying? Is there anyone selling? How many people are there?"

"Master, of course it's impossible for someone to buy it. Who would go to the exchange to buy the bonds that can be bought at a [-]% discount in the market outside this place? There are a lot of people selling them here. This afternoon, Our people found that there was a long queue at the exchange, all selling bonds. Of course, they are not all people who eat our price difference, and there are many other people who already hold bonds.”

Only then did Ogules burst out laughing, and said: "Okay, this is the effect I want, continue tomorrow. Sell it at [-]% off!"

……

The news that someone sold bonds at a low price in the market and sold them on the exchange could make quick money has spread.So early the next morning there was a huge crowd waiting at the market with cash.

People in Augustus are often stopped by people asking for purchases as soon as they open their mouths to sell in the market.However, in order to create an atmosphere, they still deliberately sold small amounts to different people.Even so, they sold out the bonds with a face value of 350 gold coins in less than two hours.But they didn't know that the bonds with a face value of [-] gold coins were bought by Chen Bao and Julius's people at a price of [-] gold coins with a [-]% discount.

It turned out that the night before, Julius had dispatched a large number of people from the Finance Office, and asked them to wear civilian clothes and disguise themselves as civilians to come to the market to snap up the bonds that were sold at a low price the next morning.Since they were the majority of all those waiting to snap up these bonds, they naturally got the majority.

When it was time for the exchange to open, Julius and Chen Bao came outside the exchange.The dense crowd there gave Julius a chill, but Chen Bao still looked confident.

The doors of the exchange finally opened, and people waiting to sell bonds poured in.The first thing they saw was the price tag, with 101 clearly written in Latin numerals on it.This means that the price has risen by one point today.Then, in the warehouse guarded by guards behind the counter, they vaguely saw five wooden boxes lined up with the lids open, filled with golden coins, and it was estimated that there were at least [-] gold coins.

People began to line up in front of the exchange counter, and the clerk methodically exchanged bonds for everyone.But many of the people in front of the row were people in civilian clothes from the Finance Office.

After they exchanged the bonds in their hands for gold coins, they went out for a walk, came to a secret room, handed in the gold coins, and each received a small amount of bonds, returned to the exchange again, and lined up again. Come.

In the long queue for cashing out at the exchange, people began to discuss in low voices.At this time, a fair-faced oriental man came to the empty sales counter...

Chapter 1087 Keep Playing

In the hall of the exchange.When this young man with an oriental face and luxurious clothes appeared in front of the empty sales counter.The long queue in front of the cashing counter suddenly became silent.

This young man is Chen Bao. He pretended to look at the price of the day, and said to the clerk in blunt Latin: "According to today's price, give me a bond with a face value of [-] gold." He said While throwing a money bag full of gold coins on the counter, he took out a handful of silver coins as a handling fee.

An old man in the queue at the cashing counter shouted meddlesomely: "Hey, young man. You want to buy it in the market outside, and there are [-]% off. Why do you buy this product that is a little more expensive than the face value?"

Chen Bao responded with a sneer: "I went there just now, and I couldn't find a seller after searching for a long time. Don't care about the discount, even if you buy it at this official price, you won't be able to buy it."