Chapter 20 Lies and Truth
The next day, the princess assigned two other agents, both of which were a group of eunuchs and a palace maids, who were stationed on the exchange, and the palace maids quoted, and the eunuchs managed the government bonds and silver.
When the market opened in the morning, the buying order was still alone, and the quotation was still one cent, and the selling order was still a long time, but there was no more than two cents of silver. When the buy order was only the only one, the seller knew that the market was like this, so several sellers quoted one cent and sold the 20,000 taels of government bond transactions were immediately sold. Another 20,000 or 20,000 was sold, and the price was one cent, and no one was interested in it. At this price, the loss was too large, so the sellers were all household owners who were eager to use money. The other household owners believed that the price of one cent was not to worry about not being able to sell, so they had a wait-and-see attitude. Therefore, the transaction was not enthusiastic throughout the morning, and only 196,000 taels of government bonds were sold.
When the market opened in the afternoon, the price of the buying order was still there, but there was no longer a price of the selling order. The order on the left was also at the lowest price of one cent and two cents. In this case, it would not be traded. If you don’t increase the price, I won’t lower the price. Just like that, the stalemate was held. After about half an hour, the order finally lowered the price to one cent and sold 4,000 taels of government bonds. This time, the buyer hesitated and put a 20,000 taels of government bonds, and then took the 4,000 taels of government bonds. The 10% increase in the market encouraged the people who owned the debt. Except for some household owners who were too tight, they all had the idea of waiting for the opportunity to sell, hoping to rise again. As a result, the closing price in the afternoon remained at one cent and two cents, and the transaction was not as good as the previous day. Only 418,000 taels of government bonds were sold.
The exchange director Huang Chenghao was even more smiling. Not only did the government bonds he bought yesterday rose by 20% today, but the exchange also earned nearly 900 taels of silver in two days. The Ming Dynasty has been in financial difficulties over the years, and the silver he had spent at Huang Chenghao was snatching flowers bit by bit. Thinking that the exchange could easily collect more than 100,000 taels of silver in a year, he felt incredible in his wealth-lover.
In the past two days, since the establishment of this exchange, it has attracted the attention of many people, especially those holding a large handful of "Pingliao Public Debts" in their hands, which were the pioneers of rumors spreading some time ago. After these people's eyes were attracted to the exchange, the rumors became weaker. Moreover, they originally thought that the waste paper-like public debt was no longer waste paper, but although they were underestimated, the market for these people disappeared in half. Besides, the market for rumors was not very good, but the teahouses and restaurants were talking about the trading of public debts, and the exchange had become a new center of interest. That night, even Li Zicheng called Huang Chenghao over and asked about the government bond transactions with Liu Zongmin here.
Li Zicheng was very happy after listening to the reports from all parties. The exchange received a few taels of silver, but now the focus of the discussion on the streets and alleys is on the government bond transactions. Even a group of guys who hate Dashun have no regard for their jobs that spread slander Dashun's rumors. His uncle, this exchange is so fucking powerful!
On the third day of the opening of the exchange, there was an unprecedented prosperity in front of the exchange. There was no way! There was no way! The buyer had to transfer the military troops to maintain order. On this day, the strength of the buyer increased significantly. Among them, the super giant crocodile was the Dashun broker sent by Liu Zongmin, and there were two more merchants. The princess's broker was listed as usual. With the joint promotion of the big crocodile and Xiaoyu, the price of the government bond rose to one cent and five cents at the close of the morning. However, they did not get many government bonds, totaling 586,000 taels of government bonds, which was a drop in the bucket compared to the more than 25 million taels of government bonds issued by Dashun. Huang Chenghao settled the accounts and found that the income of the exchange in one morning was equivalent to the sum of the previous two days. After all, this person had never been a robber, and he couldn't help feeling a little uneasy. He always felt that the money was too easy and he was quite worried.
According to Li Zicheng's instructions, the purpose of Dashun's broker is not to make money, but to push up the price of government bonds bit by bit. This is to save Dashun's face - Dashun's government bonds are valuable! Secondly, it is to make transactions prosperous and further attract people's attention to government bond transactions. Who said that Li Zicheng is not a talented and stubborn? Although Li Zicheng has not fully seen through the ways Wang Chengen and the princess play, his response can be said to be impeccable.
The public debt market continued to be optimistic in the afternoon, and two brave merchants joined the buyer camp. The closing price was finally fixed at a price of 1,700 cents, and 1,022,000 taels of public debt were sold throughout the day.
While the exchange is bustling, Ta Kung Pao is also under intense preparations.
Dashun is not short of money now, so he spared no effort to invest in the Ta Kung Pao. The Chongzhen Dynasty's mansion had already set the first precedent for wood movable type printing, while under the suggestion of Wang Chengen and Jin Zhijun, Ta Kung Pao integrated wood movable type printing, stereotype printing, and color overprinting. These printing technologies were no longer high-tech in the Ming Dynasty, but the printing cost suddenly increased a lot. But it doesn't matter, Dashun has always had great experience in public opinion and was willing to invest. For example, when there was no conditions, he could only let the children sing: "Eat and wear fury, and don't pay food when the King of Chuang comes." Now, with the conditions, spend some money to print newspapers. In the words of Li Zicheng, if you want to print, you should not print, and if you want to print, you should print. In this way, the printing quality of the Ta Kung Pao has been improved to a new level.
Jin Zhijun was also an operator. He found several old officials of Dibao and also recruited the lead writers of some tabloids on the market. Taboos of the late Ming Dynasty were rampant, and the Tianqi Dynasty had banned these tabloids, but Chongzhen regarded himself as the emperor of Ming and could not help but speak freely. The tabloids could be published except for military secrets, and they were a paradise position for the innocent talkers to talk big. These tabloids were not as regular as Dibao, and they could not be said to be of the weather.
It is definitely not as good as the newspapers and magazines in later generations, but there are indeed several writers who are good at current affairs. Kim Jee-jun took advantage of the fish, and the ones he caught were naturally the corners of some readers in the Ming Dynasty. By the second day of April, the first "Ta Kung Pao" was released, and the preparation time was less than seven days. In such a short time, a newspaper equivalent to a magazine was released. After the time of setting the layout, organizing manuscripts, editing, and printing, Kim Jee-jun took off a layer of skin.
On the second day of April, Wang Chengen delivered the Ta Kung Pao to Chongzhen.
The cover of "Ta Kung Pao" is blue, and the blue is "water virtue". "Water virtue" can overcome the "fire virtue" of the Ming Dynasty. Blue is blue! Well, the cover is very elegant and has a good look.
Open the first article: "The whole people resist the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing army will be defeated." After browsing it, I found that the article unceremoniously borrowed the article "no place is divided into north and south, no people are divided into old and young, and all have the responsibility to defend their territory and fight against the war." The whole article is passionate, from Dashun's military strength and combat power, from the vast territory of China, the rich material resources, the hard work and courage of the people, and from Li Zicheng's heroic spirit of fighting for hundreds of battles, the benevolence and righteousness of governing the country, and even Chongzhen's abdication and understanding of the overall situation, uniting the whole country around Li Zicheng's Dashun army. Some time ago, in order to support the cause of anti-Qing, the vast number of Beijing people actively purchased the "Anti-Qing and Ping Liao" public debt, fully reflecting the determination to resist the Qing Dynasty. As long as the Qing army dared to invade, they would definitely perish themselves.
The next article is "The Qing army owes our Han family bloody debt", listing the atrocities of the Qing army over the years. The third article is "The combat power of the Dashun army is sufficient to match the Qing army."
The fourth article is even more outstanding, look at the title "Flowers to the anti-Qing hero Wu Sangui". His uncle's words seemed to be "the cutest person"!
Chongzhen smiled and said, "It seems that he has put in some effort! This Jin Zhijun is really not a cover-up. He doesn't even blush even when he makes up lies! However, he has actually reported some real information. Look, even the ace tactic used by Li Zicheng in the field - the 'Three Walls' tactic was published in the newspaper. Obviously, one is to scare away the Qing soldiers, and the other is to establish an unbeaten image in front of the people of Beijing."
Wang Chengen smiled and said, "Aren't the propaganda in the newspaper true and false? The future generations are different! Look at the bottom."
Chongzhen opened the next article in the "Ta Kung Pao", and the title was "Who flooded Kaifeng?" After talking for a long time, it was neither the official army nor Li Zicheng, but the natural disaster caused by heavy rain, that is, the river embankment that flooded, and the Yellow River broke down, flooding Kaifeng. Originally, the official said that it was done by Li Zicheng, and Li Zicheng said that it was done by the official army, but the result was not. Facts proved that it was done by God.
Chongzhen asked with a smile: "Do you believe this?"
Wang Chengen said seriously: "This may indeed be true. I saw some debates about this in later generations. There is evidence that Li Zicheng's more than 10,000 soldiers and horses were flooded after the break, and the bones were not left. This is one of them; secondly, Li Zicheng failed to use gunpowder to blow up the city wall for the first time, and it was just a law. Just bomb it again; thirdly, what's the use of Li Zicheng asking for a flooded city? Li Zicheng took the initiative to give up after occupying Luoyang, and it was the true nature of a bandit! So I think it might be a natural disaster."
"This article is really an article that attracts the hearts of the world. Li Zicheng should not be underestimated. As long as he remains sober, it is not so easy to deal with."
Wang Chengen smiled and said, "Even if the theory of natural disasters is false, repeating the lie a thousand times is the truth. In my opinion, the effect of this article will be even more effective than the previous article of Anti-Qing Ping Liao."
Chongzhen translated it again and came to the article "Dashun Concubine Selection Ceremony". It reads a bit like a marriage advertisement that is suspected to be later generations. For example, it can be translated into: a man, who is powerful, rich, powerful, has land and building, is equivalent to a university degree, is 38 years old, has a strong figure, is a hero, is a beautiful girl aged 14-17, has a college degree or above, is a college degree or above, is healthy, is a qualified concubine, can provide special villas, fragrant cars and BMWs, and Pingliao public debt. If you are interested, please contact Niu. If you are the one!
Looking further down, I actually saw a gossip news: Wang Chengen and Chen Yuanyuan, the eunuch was full of love. The article was far-fetched and wrote Wang Chengen as Chen Yuanyuan's fans. He even said that when Wang Chengen had time, he would go to visit Chen Yuanyuan from the Wu Mansion. Chongzhen laughed and said, "I didn't see that Mr. Wang was pitying flowers and jade, and was also a first-class flower protection messenger. This is well-known in the world."
Wang Chengen smiled bitterly: "I just went there by the way and saw if Chen Yuanyuan is still in the Wu Mansion. Alas! I was curious to kill the cat! This is a fucking kill. On the one hand, I want to tell Wu Sangui that others didn't rob Chen Yuanyuan, and Wang Chengen was taking care of him! You should be relieved to take care of the eunuchs! Second, I want to give me some slander. Recently, I have been too popular and snatched the limelight from many people. I want to give me some slander, for fear that I will threaten their official position. Humph! Who cares!"
"Goggle is something, haha, 'Repeat lies a thousand times is the truth', and the false has become true. True and false, your reputation as a romantic Wang Chengen has been spread."
Wang Chengen smiled bitterly and shook his head. He said, "There is this article, look, what about you!"
When Chongzhen saw it, he saw it, "The Happy Life of the Retired Emperor", this topic is really sensational! The article describes Chongzhen's various hobbies after his retirement: doing carpenters, organizing Cuju, and calligraphy. Among them, there are two places in the calligraphy newspaper, one is the cover inscription, and the other is "Don't abandon, don't give up!". Thanks to the rigid craftsmen, compared with a large character written by Chongzhen, without reducing the copying technology, Chongzhen's "Don't abandon, don't give up" engravings and printing the entire calligraphy of Chongzhen with his exquisite craftsmanship.
Chongzhen was so amused that he smiled bitterly: "Li Zicheng is so stupid! Damn Jin Zhijun is even more bastard! But don't say it, this can really coax the people."
Wang Chengen smiled and said, "There is something even more outrageous. Look, there is an article here 'How high can public debt rise?'. It can really fool people! What does it mean to increase to more than one tael or two cents of silver? Isn't this just a fool!"
Chongzhen smiled and said, "Is this the manuscript that the princess asked someone to submit? Isn't this going to make public debts a bubble?"
Wang Chengen smiled and said, "No, I originally wanted to add some oil to the fire to make the public debt speculation more crazy, and to attract everyone's attention in Beijing to the public debt so that we can get out more easily. As a result, I just mentioned to Jin Zhijun. Unexpectedly, Jin Zhijun had already received instructions from Li Zicheng to make the exchange famous. In addition, he also bought the public debt at the price of one cent and the original public debt. With selfish intentions, he even wished that the public debt would rise to the sky! So I don't know who asked me to concoct such an article. The public debt of more than 25 million taels of silver would be speculated to one tael or two cents of silver. He dared to write it!"
Chongzhen shook his head: "Don't we still use satellites in the future! You have never seen those stock critics' nonsense! Besides, if you hype this thing, don't look like nonsense now, it's hard to say that it can't rise to this price. Crazy exchanges may really create crazy miracles."
Speaking of this, Chongzhen sighed and said, "'The world is bustling, all for profit, and the world is bustling, all for profit." This sentence is the truth! Li Zi became his interest and did not hesitate to use all means including lies! Who is not like this in this world!"
Chapter completed!