Taiping Inn

After Li Xuandu and Lu Yanbing left Shi Hengbo's private residence, it was still early, so they did not rush back to Qizhou Guild Hall, but wandered around the Imperial Capital. After all, it was the most prosperous place in the world, and it was a revisit to an old place.

Speaking of the Imperial Capital, Lu Yanbing, who had lived here for several years, was naturally more familiar with it, so Lu Yanbing acted as a guide and led Li Xuandu to many nice places. In broad daylight, the so-called nice places were certainly not fireworks, but many business houses.

As the center of the world, the Imperial Capital was where merchants from all over the world gathered, including Jinzhou merchants who traveled to the grasslands, Liaodong merchants who had foreign relations, Qizhou merchants who did sea trade business in Fenglinzhou, salt merchants from Luzhou, and Jinlingfu merchants and Lingnan merchants who did business in Anxi Daqin. There were even Hu merchants from the Western Regions, leading camels, which were completely different from the people of the Central Plains and the grasslands.

Because of this, the imperial capital has almost everything, including famous horses from the grasslands and the Western Regions, pearls and ginseng from Liaodong, gold and silver utensils from Fenglinzhou, spices and carpets from the Western Regions, glass mirrors, clocks, and firearms from the Anxi Great Qin Kingdom, and various rare items from the two capitals and nineteen states.

Li Xuandu looked all the way and was overwhelmed by the dazzling array of things. The two stopped in front of a shop opened by a Jinling merchant. The perfume sold here was Anxi, which was packaged in glass bottles. The fragrance was completely different from traditional rouge and powder. There was also a kind of "foreign soap", which was also called "fragrant soap" because of its strange fragrance. It cost half a tael of silver a piece and was packaged in an exquisite wooden box. It was the size of a palm, but it was not a genuine Anxi product. Instead, it was made by the merchants in Jinling Prefecture and hired the Semu people. The patterns and patterns on it were very realistic and could be mistaken for the real thing.

Li Xuandu took a piece of soap, rubbed it gently, and said, "This thing looks much better than the soap we usually use."

"You are ignorant." Lu Yanbing said indifferently, "These are not rare things in wealthy families. They are common things. The maids beside the ladies will save money to buy one, and the perfume, even Huoyan has a small bottle."

Huoyan is Lu Yanbing's personal maid. Although Lu Yanbing doesn't look like a lady from a wealthy family, her identity does not change because of her personality. It's like Emperor Shizong. Even if he practices Taoism and Xuan, he is still an emperor. As the eldest daughter of the Lu family, Lu Yanbing naturally has a personal maid. Her name is Bingyan, so she changed the maid's name to Huoyan. A big maid like Huoyan has a monthly allowance of about two taels of silver. A small bottle of perfume costs one tael of silver, and you can still buy it if you are determined.

The shop was not big, and the boss was not very interested in Li Xuandu's appearance because he did not look like a rich man. At this time, he saw Li Xuandu reaching for the soap, and his face darkened, and he was about to get angry. However, Lu Yanbing had already taken out a piece of silver and threw it on the counter. The boss immediately smiled, weighed the silver with a small scale, and then twisted the silver with scissors to give Lu Yanbing the change.

Li Xuandu saw this scene and asked, "I heard that Taiping Money House plans to launch a small Taiping coin. Is this true?"

After having the silver coins, the boss was very interested and said before Lu Yanbing, "What this customer said is true. Taiping Money House does have this plan. After all, it is too troublesome to weigh and twist the silver, and the copper coins are too heavy. Taiping coins and Wuyou coins are too big, and it is difficult to use them at ordinary times. Therefore, Taiping Money House plans to cast a batch of silver coins. The style is not much different from copper coins, but without the square hole. According to Taiping Money House, it is temporarily named "Yuan", with six coins and four cents of pure silver as one yuan. . I heard the news from Jiangnan that a silver coin weighs 7.2 cents, 89 silver and 11 copper. In terms of quality, it is much better than the scattered silver currently circulating in the market, almost equivalent to one or two taels of silver. "

Li Xuandu smiled and said, "The shopkeeper is well-informed."

"I dare not not ask." The boss said, "If this silver coin is really circulated, it is inevitable that it will replace silver. We who do business deal with silver, so it is better to know it earlier than later, so as to make preparations early. "

Li Xuandu nodded and put away the soap that he had touched and paid for.

Li Xuandu was of course aware of the Taiping Money House's plan to mint coins. Madam Lu had mentioned this to him, but Li Xuandu felt that he was a complete layman in this regard, and was busy integrating the Dao Sect and the Imperial Capital, so he did not ask too much and let Madam Lu discuss and decide with other elders. Taiping Money House has now minted the first batch of sample coins, about 5,000 in total, which have not yet been circulated, but there has been a rumor in the market.

In all dynasties, although privately minting coins has been repeatedly banned, it is not easy to put them in the open. However, the court is now financially corrupt and has no ability to replace or ban it. It is like maritime trade. The court took the initiative to give it up, and naturally someone filled it up. If the imperial power does not go to the countryside, there will naturally be gentry, powerful people, and even the Beggars' Gang to fill the gap in the imperial power.

When the two walked out of the shop, Lu Yanbing asked curiously: "Brother, can you tell me more about the silver yuan you mentioned just now?"

Li Xuan did not answer, but took out a sample coin from the "Eighteenth Floor" and handed it to Lu Yanbing.

Lu Yanbing took the sample coin and weighed it slightly in his hand. It was indeed less than one tael.

The Great Wei followed the Jin system. One catty was equal to sixteen taels, one tael was equal to ten coins, one coin was equal to ten cents, one cent was equal to ten cents, and one cent was equal to ten cents. According to the boss, the total weight is seven cents and two cents, which is two cents and eight cents less than one tael. However, because of its better quality, it is indeed equivalent to one tael of silver circulating on the market.

Lu Yanbing looked through the money again and saw that it was silver-white all over. The biggest difference from Taiping money was that the square hole in the middle was cancelled and turned into a whole circle, which was no longer "Brother Kong Fang". No wonder it was temporarily It is named "Circle", which is simple and direct. The other words have not changed. On the front, there are four characters "The world is peaceful" engraved, on the back, there are four characters "The world is peaceful", and on the back, the original square hole position was replaced by two characters, the front is a character "Yi" and the back is a The word "circle".

Lu Yanbing said, "It's interesting. There is a word 'one' on this sample of money. Does it mean there will be silver dollars with other denominations?"

Li Xuandu said: "There is a smaller denomination, and the tentative name is 'middle round' and 'small round'. The middle round is equivalent to half a round, which is half a tael of silver. The small round is equivalent to the same money and silver. The others are copper coins. As a supplement, Taiping Money Bank plans to uniformly cast matching copper coins, exchange one thousand documents for one yuan, five hundred documents for medium circles, and one hundred documents for small circles. "

Lu Yanbing couldn't help but say astonished: "What a big deal."

Li Xuandu said: "In fact, Taiping Sect had a similar idea. The previous Taiping Money and Wuyou Money were somewhat tentative and pioneering. However, gold is not as expensive as silver. The former is not much used, but the latter is of great importance. In addition, Taiping Sect itself has internal and external troubles and is trapped in the situation. It dares not act rashly, so it can only put the matter aside. Now that I have integrated the Taoist sect and Taiping Sect has no foreign enemies, I have brought it up again because they have been preparing for many years and have done it. It's very smooth to get up."

Lu Yanbing sighed: "Butian Sect, Qingwei Sect, and Cihang Sect made money by the sea trade business, and Butian Sect made money by the Western Regions' business, but whether it was the sea trade business or other business roads. , it is inseparable from the money itself, Taiping Sect is pointing directly to the essence. "

Li Xuan did not fully agree with it and said, "No matter how big a business is, it is inseparable from the protection of force. Master said that he must use his sword to do business, otherwise it will be a piece of fat on the lips of others. If the Taoist sect has not been integrated, I have never served as the leader of Taiping Sect. Even if Taiping Sect has more money, it cannot be kept. At the beginning, the Dishi killed Mr. Shen first and captured Mr. Shen. The third step was to completely master Taiping Sect. Even if Without the Earth Master, Zhang Jingchen of Zhengyi Sect also had ideas about Taiping Sect."

Lu Yanbing thoughtfully said, "In this way, Cihang Sect is very smart. In his early years, he formed an alliance with Zhengyi Sect and later with Butian Sect. Looking back now, the Qin Sect Master had just entered the realm of immortality. The old love between the Master Bai and the Master Qin rekindled, and soon the old master ascended. During the change of the Dazhen Mansion, she chose to support her two sons-in-laws. The Master Bai was ahead of every step, and Going right. Awesome, really awesome."

Of course, the "Qin Sect Master" mentioned by Lu Yanbing is not Qin Su, but Qin Qing, while Bai Xiushang's two sons-in-law say that Yan Feiqing and Li Xuan are both. Although Qin Su and Su Yunyan have no blood relationship, their master and apprentice are like Father and son, when Bai Xiushang and Qin Qing got married, they really became sisters, and Li Xuandu and Yan Feiqing became brother-in-laws.

As a fence-bearing tree swaying in the wind, Lu Yanbing's admiration for Bai Xiushang is beyond words. In her opinion, this is the real swaying in the wind, without any trace, just like writing an article, without a word but without any words. She is so romantic, compared to this white-clothed Guanyin, her heat is far from that.

Li Xuan saw through what Lu Yanbing was thinking and made fun of him: "You have worshipped the wrong master, and you should be worshipped under the Cihang Sect."

Lu Yanbing immediately counterattacked: "Senior brother still said to me? You should worship him under the Yin-Yang Sect."

Li Xuandu laughed and said, "If the master heard these words, he should be sad."

Lu Yanbing muttered in a low voice: "You are not sad."

Seeing her as she was afraid of her master to the core, Li Xuan sighed in her heart and said, "Bingyan, if one day I will fight with my master, what should you do?"

"What, what?" Lu Yanbing was shocked and said something unscrupulously. "What, what are the swords and weapons? This is a great rebellion."

Li Xuan looked at her and said softly: "Due to the situation, on one hand, it is the general trend of the world, and on the other hand, it is the kindness of the master and apprentice. If loyalty and filial piety cannot be achieved at the same time, what should we do?"

The expression on Lu Yanbing's face was very stiff: "Is it really here?"

Li Xuandu sighed, "I don't want to get to this point either. It depends on the old man's attitude. As for what the old man's attitude is, you will know when Su Su comes back."

Lu Yanbing didn't know what to say.

Li Xuandu looked towards the East China Sea and said to himself: "If a father fights for his son, he will not fall into unjustness. Therefore, if he should be unjust, the son should not fight against his father, and the ministers should not fight against the king. Therefore, if he should be unjust, he will not be unjust, he will not be unjust. If you fight for it, follow your father's order, how can you be filial to you? "