Gongyang Qiu, his face half-hidden by a mask, glared with intense unwillingness evident even in the exposed half.
"The soldiers of the Shu province have now become part of the Great Qian army, their treatment has been elevated unprecedentedly, and everyone is eager to repay the nation's kindness, with a mind to conquer the Southern Territories. For now, the Queen should temporarily hold onto the Southern Territories, but she must dispatch an envoy to offer tribute."
Seeing the Southern Barbarian Queen's displeasure, Gongyang Qiu added, "There's no need to pledge allegiance."
Only then did the Southern Barbarian Queen's expression ease, and she dispatched an envoy to southern Shu, bearing specialties of the Southern Territories.
Outside the Lúzhōu bank, a vast crowd had gathered, with the Lúzhōu garrison heavily guarding the premises.
Inside the bank, the official manager, Li Shinong, wore a grave expression.
Before him lay dozens of boxes of verified hundred-tael banknotes, none of them forged.
Converted, that amounted to fifty million taels!
Ouyang Ping, Dugu Xiao, and He Anding led the charge, followed by their retainers.
Ouyang Ping sneered, "Great Qian's founding emperor declared at the outset that banknotes could be exchanged for cash at any time. With so many banknotes from our families, will the imperial court break its promise and refuse to provide the gold and silver?"
Li Shinong's brow furrowed. "Patience, gentlemen!"
Dugu Xiao and the others, seeing that the official manager did not appear flustered, grew even more indignant.
Now, their only hope was for the Great Qian to collapse, in any way possible!
The banknotes presented an excellent opportunity.
At this moment, Li Shinong maintained a calm facade, but his heart was filled with urgency.
When a nation issues banknotes, it's impossible to maintain vast reserves in every locale. Most of the reserves were in the capital, for safety under the Son of Heaven's watchful eye.
However, if a large number of banknotes remained unredeemed for an extended period, it would deal an immeasurable blow to the official credibility.
In the early days of the founding, Prime Minister Zhuo Mingfeng had already dispatched people to conduct thorough investigations and calculations. Considering the worst-case scenario, nearly half of the reserves were allocated, allowing the nation to issue banknotes with confidence.
For over a hundred years, the circulation of banknotes had been stable, and the reserves were actually abundant. After all, ordinary people wouldn't casually withdraw millions or tens of millions of taels.
After a long pause, Li Shinong solemnly requested, "This matter requires reporting to Jinling and the capital. Silver will need to be transported from the capital, which will take approximately three months..."
"As quickly as possible. We need to travel to Daliang, Jiaozhou, and the Peacock Dynasty for business, contributing taxes to our Great Qian!" Dugu Xiao said impatiently.
Li Shinong nodded with a bitter smile, dispatched someone to make arrangements, but his heart was filled with worry.
For the sake of its reputation, the government could not refuse them redemption, and even had to dispatch tens of thousands of troops for escort.
The withdrawal of such immense sums of gold and silver by the former three great clans, along with the Duanmu and Gongyang families, would significantly deplete the Great Qian's reserve, thereby affecting the circulation and redemption of banknotes in the market...
Doing business and contributing taxes were, of course, noble pretexts!
The news first spread like wildfire in Lúzhōu, with the populace denouncing these families for causing widespread chaos.
However, these families had not violated any Great Qian laws, and their actions remained seemingly honorable. The court was powerless against them, unable to forcibly seize their banknotes and gold and silver without dire consequences!
Urgent dispatches and carrier pigeons were sent simultaneously to the capital and Jinling.
Upon receiving the news first in Jinling, prominent families and wealthy merchants were all shocked!
"We prosper together, and we fall together. The banknotes cannot collapse, and we cannot allow these families to run amok. My family intends to deposit cash at the Lúzhōu bank and exchange it for banknotes!"
The He, Zhuo, Liu, Li, Lu, and Chen households of Jiangnan... each family, to preserve the credibility of the banknotes, was in a frenzy of preparation, bringing forth their family's gold and silver to replenish the bank.
Upon returning to the Dingguo Marquisate, the Qin Sage, Gongsun Jing, upon learning of this, smiled and said, "There's no need to trouble everyone. The Dingguo Marquisate will provide the gold and silver. Tianqin Mountain is not far from Lúzhōu! Currently, the market price for gold is, one tael of gold can exchange for eleven taels of silver, right?"
When the news reached Lúzhōu, Dugu Xiao and the others, who were waiting, were greatly astonished. "Where did the Dingguo Marquisate get so much gold and silver to support the bank?!"
In a mere five days, fifty thousand Jiangnan troops rushed to Tianqin Mountain and escorted four million taels of gold and six million taels of silver from the Dingguo Marquisate to Lúzhōu.
Li Shinong beamed, saying to Ouyang Ping, "Mr. Ouyang! Four million taels of gold, at the current market price, is equivalent to forty-four million taels of silver. Coupled with these six million taels of silver, it is just enough. However, as you know the rules of banknotes, redeeming for cash incurs a three percent tax, which amounts to one and a half million taels of silver!"
Ouyang Ping and his group's expressions shifted, but to avoid further complications, they could only grudgingly proceed with the exchange for silver.
The fifty million taels of banknotes were thus received by the Dingguo Marquisate.
Gold has always been a hard currency, especially during periods of border conflicts between nations.
The Guishuang Dynasty, the Peacock Dynasty, the Daliang Kingdom, and even the Xianbei regions, all urgently needed to conduct transactions in gold, not silver.
These former aristocratic clans, based on the fluctuations in gold prices, had instead lost one and a half million taels in taxes, plus the four million taels from the gold price appreciation. If this gold could not be converted back to silver, it meant they had lost five and a half million taels...
As for gold continuing to rise in price, unless the Great Qian disintegrated, it was impossible. A one-to-eleven exchange rate was already substantial!
The armies of Jiaozhou, of course, dared not enter Jiangnan, so they still needed to hire various escort agencies to transport the gold and silver back to Jiaozhou.
They wouldn't dare hire small escort agencies. The price for escorting gold from large agencies was three percent for every hundred taels, and five percent for silver, which was another significant expense!
These families had schemed for months to acquire so many banknotes, solely to destabilize the Great Qian's currency!
The swift redemption at the Lúzhōu bank disrupted their plans for sabotage and resulted in a loss of at least six million taels for them!
Within the Dingguo Marquisate, the Old Marquis Gongsun Ye was overjoyed.
His happiness was comparable to that of Gongsun Jing reconciling with him.
General Gongsun Dingjun, who had returned home to visit relatives, was astonished upon hearing this. "Marquis, surely our Marquisate doesn't have this much gold, does it?"
Gongsun Jing, who was accompanying her daughter Gongsun Yu in calligraphy, couldn't help but smile. "It was my disciple's husband. He anticipated that the Jiaozhou warlords might engage in such absurd actions. As the capital is too far from Jiangnan, he suggested that my family exchange banknotes for gold with His Majesty as a reserve. At that time, the gold price was only one to ten; now, due to various nations' urgent need for gold, it has risen to one to eleven."
Gongsun Yu happily exclaimed, "So Grandpa earned four million taels of silver for free! Now, Grandpa should be the richest person again~"
Gongsun Dingjun looked at the three generations of his family, one a bit of a moneygrubber, and his eyes widened in realization. "As expected of the An Guo Marquis! No matter how much the price of gold falls, it will never be less than one to ten!"
Far away in the capital, Liang Xiao, having just helped Xiao Qing recover from childbirth, received news from Lúzhōu and frowned.
Some of the gold that Xiao Qing had redeemed was in his and Gongsun Ye's hands.
He had originally only considered preparing for unforeseen circumstances and firmly believed that gold would not depreciate. Thus, he and Gongsun Ye had vied to hoard gold, intending to slowly sell it off when the price increased.
However, he only possessed one million taels of gold, while Gongsun Ye had amassed a full four million taels. That he, being in Jiangnan, had actually earned a considerable profit.
"Brother Xiao always thinks long-term. The Dingguo Marquisate must have already sent the gold over by now, right?" Xiao Qing said with a radiant smile, pride evident in her eyes.
"That's thanks to the reserves from the gold treasure. Ultimately, Sītí and my father-in-law, the King of Guizi, deserve immense credit," Liang Xiao sighed.
Xiao Qing repeatedly nodded. "I've already sent word to my eldest uncle, asking the Hidden Wolf Guard to ensure the safety of the King of Guizi in the Western Regions. If the Western Regions become too dangerous, he can relocate to Great Qian. We will treat him with utmost respect."
As they were conversing, Zhuo Wulüe urgently ran to the Western Palace Villa to report.
"Your Majesty! News has arrived from the East Sea; a large fleet has appeared on the sea. The people on board are of Great Qian appearance, and they use the warship models of the former Guoguo Hou's family. They claim to be the He family of the Great Zhou!"
Upon hearing this, Liang Xiao and Xiao Qing froze.
He Yao, the Guoguo Hou, had brought three new crops to the Great Qian and died at the hands of Japanese pirates. His wife, He Liuzhu, and granddaughter, He Ling, were under the care of Nan Jiyun.