Chapter 1297 An Miaoyi’s request!

On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the first year of Jianwu in Daqian,

At three quarters past four in the morning, Murong Qingwu was sitting at the desk, on which were laid out writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone. Looking at the white paper, Murong Qingwu's mind was filled with thoughts. He wanted to write something, but he didn't know how to start.

At this moment, Ying Er came over with an account book and reported to Murong Qingwu with a smile:

"My Lady, our industry outside is developing well. We have earned tens of thousands of taels of silver this year. This is the detailed account book sent by Shopkeeper Weng. Please have a look at it!"

If it was any other time, Murong Qingwu might be very interested in this news, but at this moment Murong Qingwu just nodded slightly, and then there was no other movement. Seeing Murong Qingwu like this, Ying Er was also a little surprised and hesitated for a while before saying:
"My Lady, what happened?"

Ying'er's question also pulled Murong Qingwu out of her thoughts. She hesitated for a moment and said in a deep voice:
"How much cash do we have in our account?"

Ying Er hesitated for a moment and then said:
"It should be at least 20,000 to 30,000 taels of silver. The exact amount is in this account book!"

Upon hearing this, Murong Qingwu took the account book and looked through it carefully. Although she was a woman, Murong Qingwu had a good business sense and a very broad vision. In addition, she was by Ye Mingsheng's side, so she was able to get first-hand information, which was a unique advantage.

Murong Qingwu’s industrial development outside can be said to be going smoothly, and she soon accumulated a rich fortune. Now Murong Qingwu no longer relies on her mother’s family for financial resources. She even subsidizes her mother’s family financially to help the Murong family develop in Yijing·····················
Since realizing that Ye Mingsheng would establish Yijing as the new capital of the Great Zhou, the political and economic center, the Murong family also held a family meeting, unified the voices within the family, and decided to follow the power and come to Yijing for development.

Although the Murong family has a deep foundation, their hometown is in Guanzhong after all, and they suffered a massacre at the hands of Shangguan Changgong before, so it can be said that they are now seriously injured. In Yijing, the new political center of the Daqian Dynasty, the Murong family does not have too many roots in Yijing, so they are still struggling financially!
In response to this, Murong Qingwu has also generously donated money in the past period of time, transferring the three houses, five shops, tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, tens of thousands of taels of silver, and one thousand rolls of silk that she actually controlled to the family, to help her relatives from her mother's side better take root in Yijing.

At this time, Murong Qingwu looked at the numbers in the account book carefully, and her expression became a little conflicted. Although she had been very generous in giving property to her mother's family before, she gave it directly without frowning, as if those were not properties with a total value of more than 100,000 taels, but just weeds on the roadside.

However, those properties also accounted for half of the total assets actually controlled by Murong Qingwu. Now, excluding some fixed assets, Murong Qingwu only had about 35,000 taels of silver available!

Looking at the numbers in the account book, Murong Qingwu's expression became more and more tangled. After half a cup of tea, she finally gritted her teeth and made a decision:

“Let Shopkeeper Weng keep five thousand taels of silver for emergencies, and then deposit the rest of the silver into the Dadongsheng Bank and exchange it for silver notes and send it over…”

Ying Er was extremely surprised by these words. She asked Murong Qingwu in confusion:
"What happened to your Majesty? The Ministry of Revenue is splitting up the Dadongsheng Company. We don't know what will happen to the Dadongsheng Bank in the future. Your Majesty, depositing so much money into it at this time is very risky!"

Listening to Ying'er's words, Murong Qingwu just shook her head and said nothing. Seeing this, Ying'er seemed to realize something and said:
"My Lady, did His Majesty say anything to you?"

Facing Ying Er's question, Murong Qingwu said in a deep voice:
"Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask. Just follow my instructions!"

Although she still didn't understand why her own imperial concubine did this, but seeing Murong Qingwu said this, Ying'er didn't know what to say and immediately bowed and retreated.

Shortly after Ying'er left, Murong Qingwu couldn't help but sigh secretly, then crumpled the letter paper on the desk in front of her into a circle and threw it on the ground.

Ever since Ye Mingsheng became emperor, he often came to her place to rest. Not only was he very gentle and considerate to her, he also treated the newly born Ye Jingyan with great love. When Murong Qingwu first saw this, she was very happy, thinking that her persistence had finally paid off.

She even secretly hoped that Ye Mingsheng would change his mind and let her replace An Miaoyi, abolish Jingren's position as crown prince, and make Ye Jingyan the crown prince instead...

However, she soon realized that the reason why Ye Mingsheng had been so nice to her and the child recently was not because Ye Mingsheng had changed his mind, but because Ye Mingsheng had something to ask of her, and that was why he was trying to win her and the child over.

In the past few days, Ye Mingsheng has been calling her father Murong Yuliang the father-in-law of the country, and has emphasized that he trusts Murong Yuliang very much, and regards Murong Yuliang as the pillar of the Daqian Dynasty and the stabilizer!
Murong Qingwu didn't know Ye Mingsheng's thoughts at first, so when she heard Ye Mingsheng praising her father, she felt very happy. She felt that her father's efforts and contributions in the Fengwu Army for so many years had finally been recognized by Ye Mingsheng, and he would have a bright future in the Daqian Dynasty! For this reason, Murong Qingwu also thanked Ye Mingsheng on behalf of her father, and said that thunder and rain were all grace from the emperor. Whether it was Murong Yuliang, her father Murong Yuliang, or the entire Murong family, they were all loyal to the court and His Majesty, and they only wanted to assist Ye Mingsheng wholeheartedly to create a prosperous and beautiful world!

Ye Mingsheng once again praised the Murong family for their loyalty. In this relaxed and happy atmosphere, Ye Mingsheng and Murong Qingwu went to Wushan several times to experience the rainy days. Just when Murong Qingwu thought that everything was on the right track, Ye Mingsheng's fox tail was finally exposed!

Ye Mingsheng first let Murong Qingwu know intentionally or unintentionally that recently there was a memorial from the Censorate saying that Wanfu and Tongxin banks played a big role, so these two banks should be led by the court, the Ministry of Revenue, and then supervised by the Jiangnan Provincial Administration, instead of being directly led by the Jiangnan Provincial Administration as it is now...
As for this memorial, Ye Mingsheng told Murong Qingwu that he had directly rejected it because he fully trusted Murong Yuliang and felt that Murong Yuliang could properly manage the two banks. When Murong Qingwu heard Ye Mingsheng say this, she was very happy.

Since Murong Qingwu controlled many businesses herself, she was very aware of the importance of Wanfu and Tongxin banks. She knew that these two banks were related to the economic lifeline of Jiangnan, so she naturally hoped that these two banks would be directly led by her father Murong Yuliang.

However, Murong Yuliang was also a very smart woman. She soon realized, through Ye Mingsheng's intentional or unintentional hints, that although Ye Mingsheng had rejected the censor's memorial, he was actually saying one thing and thinking another. Ye Mingsheng actually supported the censor's memorial and believed that the Wanfu and Tongxin banks should be led by the Ministry of Revenue!

Even the censor might have submitted the memorial at the instruction of Ye Mingsheng!

Murong Qingwu's heart sank at that time, and she also understood the intention of Ye Mingsheng's doing this. She knew that Ye Mingsheng did not want to break his previous promise to Murong Yuliang, so he wanted her to convey a message to her father, and then let Murong Yuliang take the initiative to propose to hand over Wanfu Tongxin to the court for management!

After understanding all this, Murong Qingwu was very hesitant. She knew that this time Ye Mingsheng promoted the guilty Murong Yuliang directly to the position of Governor of Jianghuai, and handed over the government affairs of Jiangnan and Huainan to her father. It was such a great grace.

But Murong Qingwu knew in her heart how huge a financial burden her father had to shoulder...
The Wanfu and Tongxin banks are so important. If they were handed over to the court, then according to the court's division of labor, they would definitely be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue. And now the old fox Cui Shao is in charge of the Ministry of Revenue!

At present, the biggest enemy of their Murong family in the Daqian court is the group of Cui Shao and An Miaoyi. So even though Cui Shao has always had a good reputation, how can they let the Ministry of Revenue take charge of the Wanfu and Tongxin banks?

As the saying goes, it is better to be safe than sorry. What if Cui Shao wants to use the Wanfu and Tongxin banks to hinder Murong Yuliang's work?

So taking this factor into consideration, Murong Qingwu did not agree with Ye Mingsheng's idea of ​​handing over the Wanfu and Tongxin banks to the Ministry of Revenue for management. She also argued for her father Murong Yuliang in front of Ye Mingsheng, proving from various angles that it would be a better decision to hand over the Wanfu and Tongxin banks to her father for control!

Just as Murong Qingwu was trying to win over Ye Mingsheng, another piece of news came out of the palace. Ye Mingsheng intended to agree to An Miaoyi's plan to upgrade and expand the palace, but in order not to affect the work of the Ministry of Households, Ye Mingsheng did not intend to let the Ministry of Households use money to expand and upgrade the palace.

Since the Ministry of Revenue would not pay, someone had to pay for it. For this reason, Ye Mingsheng paid 130,000 taels of silver out of his own pocket. Adding the tens of thousands of taels of silver in the palace account and the money for upgrading and expanding the palace, he collected about 200,000 taels of silver...

Although they had collected 200,000 taels of silver, it was still far from the amount needed for the expansion and upgrading plan of the imperial palace. Even if Ye Mingsheng divided the entire project into three phases, there was still a shortfall of nearly 100,000 taels of silver for the first phase of the project.

It is said that in order to collect the remaining silver, Ye Mingsheng also set his sights on An Miaoyi, wanting An Miaoyi to pay the silver.

An Miaoyi's attitude towards this was very firm at first. Facing Ye Mingsheng's request, she had only three words to say - no money!

Ye Mingsheng also appealed to An Miaoyi's emotions and reason, saying that the wool comes from the sheep. You are the queen and your son is the prince. When the palace is repaired in the future, it will be for your son Jingren to live in. Moreover, it was you who proposed the plan to expand and upgrade the palace, so you should show some appreciation.

What's more, you have gained a lot of benefits in Yijing's planning over the years, both openly and secretly, and I have always turned a blind eye to it and not made a fuss with you. Now that there is not enough money for the project of expanding and upgrading the palace, you should also take out some to subsidize the household expenses!
An Miaoyi was speechless about Ye Mingsheng's practice of preferring his wife to pay out of her private treasury rather than restoring taxes to those untouchables, but facing Ye Mingsheng's behavior, she had no good solution. She knew that even though Ye Mingsheng seemed to be negotiating with her now, if she was really stubborn, Ye Mingsheng would not show mercy...
So faced with Ye Mingsheng's request, An Miaoyi finally chose to compromise!
However, An Miaoyi also made a request. An Miaoyi said that although she had earned some money over the years relying on her understanding of the Yijing plan, it was not just one person who earned this money. Murong Qingwu earned no less than her. Moreover, as a concubine, Murong Qingwu also lived in the palace. If the expansion and upgrading of the palace was completed, Murong Qingwu would also enjoy a better living environment!

So since she, An Miaoyi, paid the money, Murong Qingwu should also pay the money. She also said that no matter how much money Murong Qingwu paid, she, An Miaoyi, would pay twice as much as Murong Qingwu. Although Ye Mingsheng had never mentioned this news to Murong Qingwu, Murong Qingwu had also heard about it!
Murong Qingwu originally planned to pretend that she didn't know, but at this moment, in order to win the leadership of Wanfu Tongxin for her father from Ye Mingsheng, Murong Qingwu was also ready to hand over the 30,000 taels of silver.
This is why Murong Qingwu still deposited her money into the Dadongsheng Bank even though she knew that the Dadongsheng Bank was facing a split.

Although she only took out 30,000 taels of silver, which was far less than one-third of the property she gave to her mother's family, Murong Qingwu still felt a little distressed. Although she had been married to Ye Mingsheng for several years and gave birth to a daughter, Ye Xinyi, and a son, Ye Jingyan, for Ye Mingsheng, in Murong Qingwu's heart, her mother's family, the Murong family, was her real family. That was why she gave half of her property to the Murong family without hesitation!
If she didn't want to help her father and win the management rights of Wanfu and Tongxin banks, Murong Qingwu would never hand over the thirty thousand taels of silver...
(End of this chapter)