What made Cao Zhenyong even more admired was that Mu Zhanga proposed to send all the Jinshi students in this year's examination to Western countries for inspection..com When he saw the emperor happily report Cao Zhenyong hated him for why he was always half a beat slower, but he still took the opportunity to make suggestions and boasted about the emperor's wisdom and greatness.

Liu Ji looked at Cao Zhenyong's performance calmly. He could say with certainty that this guy is a standard mediocre person, and his only advantage is obedience. So relatively speaking, Mu Zhanga, who can see his intentions clearly, is even more terrifying. However, Liu Ji does not intend to break the face of the two of them now. After all, it is a period of mutual use with them. Liu Ji also has an idea deep in his heart. In fact, everyone has their own uses, and as long as the purpose is clear, you can't be too serious.

After watching Cao Zhenyong's performance, Liu Ji showed interest in Tao Shu's method of scattering salt. After the morning court, he kept Tao Shu.

As early as when Tao Shu was promoted, Liu Ji had already transferred his files from the Ministry of Personnel. Tao Shu's courtesy name was Zilin and his pseudonym was Yunding. He was from Xiaoyan Township, Anhua County. He was a student since childhood and passed the Jinshi in the seventh year of Jiaqing. Now he is with this young Confucian scholar. Liu Ji felt that the unique integrity of this old-style literati was something that modern people could not understand.

He asked Tao Shu to sit down on the chair at the lower head. The new Grand Secretary Xie, who had a goatee beard, got down on the back seat. Liu Ji leaned on the large and comfortable dragon chaise and asked: "Love's salt method is good. The salt method of the salt method has allowed salt merchants to monopolize the operation, destroying the market's self-regulation law, and the country cannot receive taxes on private salt."

Tao Shu bowed and said, "I dare not take credit for my merits. This salt law is still the idea that Bao Shichen, an aide of the minister, came up with."

Liu Ji laughed and felt more fond of Tao Shu who told the truth. He had been wanting to leave the palace and sat up from the dragon throne and said, "I'll go to my beloved's house and see this Bao Shichen by the way."

*********************

Liu Jishou did not expect the prosperity of Beijing in the early 19th century. Although it was still morning, there were people coming and going on the streets, and the wineries and teahouses everywhere were distributed in the streets and alleys. Not long after walking far, I passed a vegetable market, and it was sweating profusely. The bargaining sound filled my ears, which was quite lively.

Liu Ji looked over and over again, but he raised his worry to his throat, who was leading Dong Haichuan's guard in front of him, for fear that Liu Ji would make a mistake. Cao Jinxi dressed in a housekeeper and followed Liu Ji and Tao Shu, and was carrying a cloth bag in his hand and served carefully. Tao Shu was like Liu Ji, and changed into a gentlemanly dress. Both of them were small hats, blue shirts, and jackets. They looked like rich people in the Qing Dynasty. Everyone was wearing casual clothes. Although they were a little crowded during the walk, they not only saved the trouble but also made everyone feel very comfortable.

Everyone walked on the road and chatted to Chongwenmen where Tao Shu’s mansion was. They watched the excitement all the way to the grass factory outside Chongwenmen. Tao Shu pointed to an ordinary shop in front of him and introduced to Liu Ji: "The shop in front of me that is not obscene is the famous "Risenchang" ticket number in this dynasty. Its owner is Li Zhenshi, a businessman from Shanxi."

When Liu Ji heard the name of "Risenchang", a word "Sheng Shang" immediately popped up in his mind. Then he remembered the TV series "Qiao Family Courtyard". Some legendary stories of Shanxi merchants have always been Liu Ji's favorite. He looked at an inconspicuous courtyard over there and said: "What Zilin (Tao Shu's name) said, there are people like Qiao Zhiyong in Shanxi merchants."

Tao Shu was stunned for a moment, thought for a while and replied, "I have never heard of Qiao Zhiyong, who is not ignorant. The reason why this "Rising Chang" can be developed depends on Lei Lutai, a strange figure in Pingyao County."

When Liu Ji heard Lei Lutai's name, he woke up. Qiao Zhiyong must have not grown up yet. He thought that Lei Lutai was the ancestor of the Piaohao, more than one generation earlier than Qiao Zhiyong. However, such a business-minded person must know for a while. Thinking of this, Liu Ji said: "We all sit in the Piaohao account of "Risenchang" to see if we can see the famous shopkeeper Lei Lutai."

The group walked a few steps away from the "Risenchang". When they arrived outside the door, they saw a circle of arched courtyard doors made of blue bricks, with a plaque on the door, which read "Risenchang Records". When they entered, they were a garden full of plum blossoms. The old plums in the courtyard were mixed, giving people a feeling of iron and clanging. Behind the garden was a two-story tiled house, with exquisitely carved doors and windows open. When they saw someone coming in, a young man came out of the room, saying fluent Beijing films to greet Liu Ji and others. The man wanted to be an old acquaintance with Tao Shu, and immediately greeted him affectionately: "Mr. Tao is here, please sit down."

Tao Shu waved his hand to Liu Ji and said, "Just greet this master."

The guy bowed in front of Liu Ji with tactfulness and said, "Master, please ask for your inner room."

Tao Shu asked from the side again: "Is your shopkeeper Wu from the semicolon here?"

The guy replied: "It's a coincidence that Lord Tao, the boss of the general office has arrived, and Manager Wu has gone to pick up the boss."

Liu Ji asked happily, "Is the shopkeeper Lei Lutai?"

The guy was very knowledgeable and guessed that Liu Ji's identity must be quite good. Seeing that he called the name of the shopkeeper of this number, he dared not show any dissatisfaction. He smiled and replied: "That's right."

When he walked into the main hall, he saw Tao Zhugong Fan Li, the ancestor who was offering merchants, in the middle. Two pairs of Taishi chairs were placed opposite each other on both sides of the altar table. There was a nanmu tea table in the middle of each pair of Taishi chairs. The clerk invited Liu Jie to the guest seat and went to serve tea. Liu Jie saw Tao Shu standing there and did not dare to sit down. He smiled and pointed to the chair beside him and said, "Sir Tao is here." Tao Shu then sat at Liu Jie's lower head. Da Yintai led Dong Haichuan to guard the door, and Cao Jinxi stood behind Liu Jie to serve.

After greeting Liu Ji and his group, the guy said "wait" and walked in. Not long after, the guy led the second shopkeeper out, and the servants were holding tea sets behind him. The second shopkeeper was wearing a melon-skin hat and a long jacket, and was thin. As soon as he showed up, he smiled on his face, and kept bowing to Liu Ji and Tao Shu, saying, "Two adults are here, you are a rare guest, a rare guest."

After serving the tea, the second shopkeeper found a last-place attendant. After asking for his name, the three of them started chatting about gossip. Liu Jie asked, "I wonder where "Rishengchang" has a semicolon?"

When the second shopkeeper heard Liu Jie ask this question, he said proudly: "I dare not hide it from this master. We have excellent reputations in "Rising Chang". We have set up ballot shops in Hankou, Tianjin, Jinan, Xi'an, Kaifeng, Chengdu, Chongqing, Changsha, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Guilin, Nanchang, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Shanghai, Zhenjiang, Fengtian, Nanjing and other places."

Liu Ji was intrigued and said to the second shopkeeper: "How does the precious account manage the spare money?"

The second shopkeeper looked at Tao Shu next to him, and saw that Tao Shu couldn't help but nodded slightly, and immediately said readily: "We either purchase land or lend it to other places, but there is enough money left to pay the guests."

Liu Ji asked again: "Do you mainly deal with those guests?"

"There are mainly some businessmen, as well as adults who are officials from all over the country."

After asking a few more questions, Liu Ji roughly understood the business scope of the ticket number. It was mainly the deposit and withdrawal of bulk businesses between merchants and small loans between merchants and officials. Liu Ji had an idea in his mind that to allow banks to appear in China in advance, which would definitely accelerate the development of China's industry and commerce.
Chapter completed!