Chapter 89: Dry Shares

However, to his slight disappointment, Eunuch Yang’s face remained impassive, without a single trace of emotion to be found.

“This old monster is truly inscrutable,” he cursed inwardly.

Finally, Eunuch Yang slowly rolled the letter into a small strip, fumbled for a lighter, struck it four or five times, lit the fire, and ignited the secret letter, turning it continuously until it almost burned his fingers before dropping it into the spittoon beside the side table.

“Sir, you have traveled thousands of miles from the South China Sea to the capital. What is your purpose?” the old eunuch asked with his eyes half-closed.

“This humble student has come to the capital, firstly to admire its prosperity and culture, and secondly, to prepare to open a bank here to facilitate trade between the north and south,” Leng Ningyun took this opportunity to say. “I will also need Your Excellency’s assistance.”

“Hehe, how could I have such ability…” Eunuch Yang chuckled dryly. “I wonder how your bank differs from the money shops opened by those old Shanxi merchants in the capital?”

Leng Ningyun’s greatest fear was that Eunuch Yang would be indifferent to the matter and remain inscrutable. Now, seeing his interest in discussing it, he roused his spirits and gave a general overview of Delong’s business scope.

The scope of business given to Delong by the Planning Institute and the Ministry of Finance was very large. Delong not only played the role of a central bank but also undertook all the business of a commercial bank. Even insurance business, which belonged to insurance companies, was currently handled by Delong.

The Delong branches opened in the Ming Dynasty mainly engaged in savings, remittance, and lending. This was also the traditional business of the Chinese banking industry. The most mature financial institution in China, the qianzhuang (money house), only appeared after the mid-Qing Dynasty, but commercial institutions that operated similar financial remittance, savings, and lending businesses had always existed. In the Ming Dynasty, Beijing also had similar institutions, all owned by Shanxi merchants. Delong’s advantage over the traditional banking industry was the speed of remittance—ordinary money houses and silver shops mainly handled remittance by issuing and accepting bank drafts, while Delong could conduct wire transfers with the help of radio. In addition, in all its business, Delong implemented a modern financial management system, which was much more rigorous and efficient in its management structure.

Of course, these were difficult for Eunuch Yang to understand. Leng Ningyun mainly picked some of Delong’s unique projects to talk about, which made Eunuch Yang listen with great interest.

“Sir, you truly have the art of Tao Zhu,” Eunuch Yang said with a smile, his eyes narrowed. “You will surely have a continuous stream of wealth. However, I serve the emperor day and night and am already extremely busy. I’m afraid I won’t be able to assist you. Hehehe, hahaha.”

Leng Ningyun knew this was his cue to offer the “fat meat”—this had been planned long ago, using the age-old and time-tested method of official-merchant collusion: dry shares.

According to the regulations of the Colonial and Trade Department and the Ministry of Commerce, for all shops opened outside the green zone, the net profit dividend would be calculated based on fourteen shares. The plan for the Delong Beijing branch was that eleven shares would go to the public, one share would be for the shop’s public reserve fund, one share would go to all the western investors, and the last share would be given to Eunuch Yang.

Leng Ningyun stated that the dry shares given to Eunuch Yang would receive dividends based on profits every year, and he would never break his word. In addition, there would be separate gifts for the three major festivals, the two seasonal greetings, and Eunuch Yang’s birthday.

As soon as he finished speaking, Eunuch Yang fell into a thoughtful silence, his eyes staring into space, as if he were calculating something.

“Sir, you are from Guangzhou, aren’t you? I have a matter I would like to ask for your help with…” Eunuch Yang finally said after a long pause.

“Yes, please give your instructions, Your Excellency.”

Eunuch Yang yawned. “In Guangzhou, you have Australians—”

“Yes, there are indeed many Australian goods sold in Guangzhou.”

“Since you are from Guangzhou, you must have many relatives and friends there. Recently, the ‘Sovereign Lord’ is having a birthday, and I need to prepare some gifts to congratulate him. You know, what has the ‘Sovereign Lord’ not seen? There must be some novel and interesting things. So I thought of Australian treasures. I have ten thousand taels of silver. Please send someone to Guangzhou to help me purchase some.”

With that, he took out a list.

“Yes, this is my duty. I will do my best to serve you. Please hand over the silver at any time, Your Excellency, and I will immediately send someone to handle it.”

Hearing this, Eunuch Yang smiled faintly and picked up his teacup.

A young eunuch beside him immediately served tea. Leng Ningyun had learned the rules at the “farm” and knew this was the “sending-off tea.” Once it was served, the guest had to get up and “take their leave.”

Leng Ningyun took his leave and got into his sedan chair, but the matter of Eunuch Yang accepting the dry shares was left unresolved. Leng Ningyun couldn’t help but feel anxious. What did Eunuch Yang mean?

He pondered for a long time in the sedan chair but couldn’t figure out what Eunuch Yang meant. He had to discuss this with someone quickly.

Leng Ningyun’s residence was a small courtyard temporarily lent to him by Li Luoyou. It was not large and was specially used by Li Luoyou to entertain distinguished guests visiting Beijing. It was fully furnished and had servants. He knew that the Australians liked to keep their affairs secret, so he had informed the steward in Beijing beforehand to dismiss all the servants except for the doorman and the procurement staff. The servants in the courtyard would be provided by “Master Leng from Guangdong.”

Leng Ningyun had also brought a small team of naturalized citizens to Beijing. The steward was Wu Kaidi. Wu Kaidi was one of the few northerners among the refugees taken in by the Senate—a native of Baoding in Northern Zhili. He was originally a servant and had stayed in Beijing for more than ten years with his master, who was a minor official in the capital. Later, his master was transferred to Guangdong, and he followed him there. A few years later, his master died in office in Guangdong. On his way back to his hometown with his master’s family, he was robbed by bandits and became a refugee in Guangdong. His whole family almost starved to death.

Because Wu Kaidi had been a servant to an official in the past, he was very familiar with the ways of the officialdom. Coupled with his northern background, he became the best candidate for the intelligence bureau’s dispatched personnel. Therefore, both he and his wife received training for overseas assignments. Wu Kaidi’s rating in the General Political Security Bureau’s assessment was not very high—IIIC. But his son was currently studying at the Fangcao’di boarding school in Lingao, and the General Political Security Bureau knew that he valued his son very much.

When Leng Ningyun returned to his lodging, he immediately called Wu Kaidi into the study, closed the door, and recounted the events in detail.

“Now this matter is hanging in the air. What should we do? I have no idea where to start. Isn’t it frustrating?” Leng Ningyun continued, “Now I’m in a dilemma. I don’t know whether to do it or find another way.”

“Master! You really don’t understand the ways of the world here! Hasn’t Eunuch Yang already named his price? He wants ten thousand taels of Australian treasures!”

“Ah!” Leng Ningyun had a sudden realization. “No wonder, no wonder!”

He replayed the scene in his mind. It was indeed so. What “procuring Australian treasures” was all just an excuse. He had been so dense as to ask Eunuch Yang to “hand over” the silver. Of course, he was immediately dismissed.

“Giving him dry shares, receiving silver for free every year, such a thing as counting money at home, and he still needs to be paid to agree. It’s really hard to understand,” Leng Ningyun lamented. “Does he think other people’s silver falls from the sky?”

“No wonder you can’t figure it out, Master. But in this city of Beijing, it’s the eunuchs who have the most power. To put it bluntly, how many people want to give them dry shares but can’t even find a way in! And these eunuchs are all money-grubbers. Not to mention you giving him dry shares, they want anything good that catches their eye,” Wu Kaidi had stayed in the capital for several years with his master. “Silver, antiques, houses, good horses, beautiful women, handsome boys… they’re like flies to blood…”

Leng Ningyun said, “The others are understandable, but what do they want with beautiful women and handsome boys? To put them at home as decorations?”

Wu Kaidi gave a lewd smile. “It’s like a good horse. They can’t ride it, but it’s nice to have it at home to look at. Besides, it’s not entirely useless.”

Perhaps feeling it was inappropriate to say such things to a “chief,” he quickly shut his mouth.

Leng Ningyun was very curious about how they were “used,” but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. He changed the subject to how to deliver the money.

Leng Ningyun did not carry much silver with him. Like Zhao Yigong, he only brought three hundred taels of gold to Beijing. However, he also carried several bank drafts issued by Delong Bank in different denominations, totaling fifty thousand taels. They could be exchanged for cash or drafts from other silver shops at Li Luoyou’s shop in Beijing. Delong’s drafts had no exchange rate in Beijing. The most reliable here were the bank drafts issued by the Shanxi houses. Before coming to Beijing this time, Leng Ningyun had done some background research on the Shanxi houses. In Beijing, his biggest competitors were these “old Shanxi merchants.”

Of course, the Ministry of Finance could not give fifty thousand taels of silver to an overseas intelligence agent, nor would Li Luoyou pay such a large sum to Leng Ningyun in the capital at once. In fact, the fifty thousand taels was the payment for a trade contract reached by Li Luoyou: various goods produced in Lingao would be delivered in Guangdong and Jiangnan; the silver would be paid in batches by Li Luoyou’s Liaohai Hong in Beijing. The two sides agreed that any amount under ten thousand taels could be withdrawn at any time, while amounts over ten thousand required advance notice to allow time to gather the silver.

Leng Ningyun took out a ten-thousand-tael bank draft from Delong from his personal code cylinder and gave it to Wu Kaidi. The code cylinder was the kind from The Da Vinci Code. The Foreign Intelligence Bureau had ordered a batch of Italian-made products from Macau. They were much more secure than the拜匣 and jewelry boxes that people of that time used to carry valuables, and there was no need to carry a key.

“Take this bank draft and this cargo list to the Liaohai Hong immediately. Have them prepare the goods according to the list. They certainly won’t have all of these goods—first, have the Liaohai Hong make a warehouse receipt.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Wu Kaidi left with his orders. The next morning, Leng Ningyun had Wu Kaidi take the warehouse receipt to the Yang residence. In the evening, a young eunuch was sent from Eunuch Yang’s residence with a large red invitation, inviting him to “a gathering at the residence” in three days.

“It’s done,” Wu Kaidi said. “When the master goes in three days, Eunuch Yang will most likely have some important matter to discuss with you.”