Chapter 1302 Murong Yuliang’s opportunity!
Jiangnan Lin'an
In a room in the Jiangnan Provincial Government, Murong Yuliang, who had been the governor of Jianghuai for several months, looked around at everyone.

They were Tian Yu, the governor of Jiangnan, Liu Yufeng, the provincial governor of Jiangnan, Wei Gaojie, the provincial governor of Huainan, Yin Xiang, the provincial governor of Huainan, Zhang Baoping, the prefect of Lin'an, who were selected by Murong Yuliang. There were also Sun Wenheng, the general manager of Wanfu Bank, Xu Yunshan, the general manager of Tongxin Bank and others.

Since being appointed as the Governor of Jianghuai by Ye Mingsheng, Murong Yuliang did not focus on economic issues right away as he did when he was the Governor of Huainan before. This time, Murong Yuliang fully learned the lesson of his failure as the Governor of Huainan, and the first thing he started to deal with was personnel issues.

In order to put his ideas into practice, Murong Yuliang made up his mind to arrange a group of obedient people to take positions. He did not want the situation in Huainan where he was constrained by Sun Xiuquan and Ma Jingui to happen again. So even though his series of appointments caused considerable controversy in Jiangnan and Huainan, Murong Yuliang still insisted on his own way.

Although strictly speaking, the series of officials appointed by Murong Yuliang are currently just nominated, because according to the procedures, Murong Yuliang needs to nominate and recommend them to the Ministry of Households, and then the Ministry of Households will review them and hand them over to Ye Mingsheng for final decision. After Ye Mingsheng's approval, these people appointed by Murong Yuliang will be considered to have officially assumed their duties.

But because Ye Mingsheng had expressed to Murong Yuliang that he would fully support his work when he was inspecting Jiangnan, and asked Murong Yuliang to go ahead and do it boldly, Murong Yuliang sent people to Yijing to report and handle the formalities, and at the same time, these people he appointed officially took up their posts...
"Manager Sun, please report the situation of your Wanfu Ticket Office!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Wenheng immediately stood up and introduced:
"Your Excellency the Governor, although our Wanfu Bank has not officially opened for business yet, all preparations have been completed. We have already accepted all the silver invested by various silver investors, and the total of one million taels of silver has been received! In addition, our Wanfu Bank, six shopkeepers, fifty-seven clerks, and eleven accountants are all in place!"

"Governor, we at Wanfu Bank are now fully prepared, and we are just waiting for your order to officially open for business!"

"How is your Wanfu Ticket Office's publicity work going?"

Sun Wenheng continued without hesitation:
"With the support of the Governor, the Censor, and the officials of the Lin'an government, although our Wanfu Bank has not officially opened for business yet, the people of Lin'an and even the entire Jiangnan region know the reputation of our Wanfu Bank!"

"According to our investigation, all the major merchants are looking forward to us. Some loan orders have already been submitted. In addition, the people are also very interested in depositing their silver in our Wanfu Bank. It is roughly estimated that at least 200,000 to 300,000 taels of silver will be deposited in our bank!"

After introducing the situation of Wanfu Banknote House, Sun Wenheng did not forget to flatter Murong Yuliang.

“The situation of our Wanfu Bank is very good, all thanks to you, Lord Murong. Without your correct leadership, our Wanfu Bank would never have been able to prepare so quickly and so well…”

Although Murong Yuliang was very pleased with Sun Wenheng's flattery, he still waved his hand and said:

"This is all His Majesty's idea! You are thanks to His Majesty!"

"Yes! You are right, sir!"

In addition to asking Sun Wenheng, Murong Yuliang also asked Xu Yunshan, the chief manager of Tongxin Bank, whom he appointed, about the situation of Tongxin Bank.

Xu Yunshan's answer was similar to Sun Wenheng's, saying that all the money invested by Yindong had been received, and that the manager, clerks, and accountant of Tongxin Bank had all been recruited.

In addition, they also did a good job in promoting Tongxin Piaohao. According to Ye Mingsheng's plan, Tongxin Piaohao specializes in small and medium-sized businesses, shops, and some handicraft workshops. Therefore, compared with Wanfu Piaohao, the upper limit of the loan amount that Tongxin Piaohao can provide is smaller, but the loan threshold is also lower.

Therefore, they receive a lot of loan applications. Currently, Xu Yunshan is leading the Tongxin Ticket Office team to investigate these applicants to see whether their business plans are feasible, their credit in the past, and whether they have sufficient collateral.

In addition to loans, Tongxin Ticket House also received deposit intentions of 100,000 or 200,000 taels. In this regard, Murong Yuliang also asked Xu Yunshan to learn more from Sun Wenheng and make more efforts in publicity to attract more deposits into the ticket house...

In general, Murong Yuliang was very satisfied with the work of Sun Wenheng and Xu Yunshan, especially Sun Wenheng. When Sun Wenheng proposed that he wanted to be the head manager of Wanfu Bank, Murong Yuliang was really hesitant. After all, Sun Wenheng was already very old, over 60 years old this year, and he even walked with a cane!
Secondly, although Sun Wenheng had been in business for many years, he had never worked in a banknote exchange house, nor had he ever done any work related to banknote exchanges.

Therefore, Murong Yuliang doubted whether Sun Wenheng could be competent for this job. Even if it was true as Sun Wenheng said, although he had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs run, and he could use his decades of business experience to make up for his lack of experience in the banknote industry.

But after Wanfu Piaohao was established, there must have been a lot of things to do. You needed to examine the various situations of the applicants for the business to determine whether they could repay the money as agreed after you lent it to them.

Sun Wenheng is so old, and his family also has the Dadechang business, so Murong Yuliang is very worried whether Sun Wenheng has enough energy to handle the work of Wanfu Banknote House!
In response to Murong Yuliang's doubts and concerns, Sun Wenheng gave a very clear attitude in order to win the position of manager of Wanfu Bank!

Sun Wenheng directly handed over Dadechang to his son Sun Teng for management, and told Murong Yuliang very firmly that although he was a businessman, he also wanted to benefit the local people and make some contribution to his hometown to the best of his ability. Therefore, as long as he could become the shopkeeper of Wanfu Bank, even if he, Sun Wenheng, died of exhaustion in office, it would be a worthy death and he would be able to smile in his grave!
Murong Yuliang was still a little skeptical about Sun Wenheng's words, but in the end, seeing that Sun Wenheng was so sincere, he agreed to Sun Wenheng's request and nominated Sun Wenheng to Ye Mingsheng as the chief manager of Wanfu Bank...
Although Sun Wenheng was nominated, Murong Yuliang was still a little worried about Sun Jingan's work in Wanfu Bank. After all, in Murong Yuliang's vision, Wanfu Bank would play a very important role in the Jiangnan business system.

But now these reports from Sun Wenheng still make Murong Yuliang very satisfied. He thinks that although Sun Wenheng is already very old, he is still strong and can still be relied upon to do his work.

After encouraging Sun Wenheng and Xu Yunshan, Murong Yuliang turned his gaze to Zhang Baoping, the prefect of Lin'an, and asked:
"Zhang Zhifu, how are you doing with the things I asked you to do?"

Facing Murong Yuliang's question, the slightly plump Zhang Baoping's heart suddenly tightened, but under Murong Yuliang's gaze, he immediately stood up and said with a guilty conscience:
"Since you gave me the order, Governor, I have been following up on it, but those businessmen are so abominable. They are very negative about setting minimum wage standards, working hours and other issues!" "They always emphasize their suffering to us, saying that their businesses and factories do not make money. If these standard laws are really implemented, their businesses and factories will go bankrupt and many workers will lose their jobs!"

At this point, Zhang Baoping also stole a glance at Murong Yuliang's expression, and then gritted his teeth and said:
"Mr. Governor, I think what these people say makes some sense..."

After hearing what Zhang Baoping said, Murong Yuliang could no longer listen and interrupted him directly:
"Zhang Baoping, I'm asking you how you've implemented it, not here to listen to your rant!"

"Just be simple and tell me how you did on this matter!"

Facing Murong Yuliang's serious gaze, Zhang Baoping hesitated but couldn't say anything. Seeing this, Murong Yuliang couldn't help but be very disappointed. He regretted promoting Zhang Baoping to be the prefect of Lin'an. However, now his personnel list has been reported to Ye Mingsheng, and it is too late to give it to him!
Therefore, he had to bear the consequences of his mistakes. Murong Yuliang said in a deep voice:

"These standards have just been established, so why not set them lower? I've seen some of the guys in Lin'an, and the worst workers can earn five taels of silver a year. Why not set the standard a little higher than five taels of silver? Also, if two days of paid leave every month isn't okay, can one day be okay?"

"Again, these standards have just been established, so we might as well set them lower for the sake of popularization!"

"In addition, those small vendors don't have the financial resources to implement the standards. You can let big businesses like Wangji and Zhangji take the lead. They have strong financial resources and can be the role models for Jiangnan industry and commerce to take the lead in implementing the standards!"

“Zhang Baoping, since this is your first time, I won’t say anything. Now I have told you the method, just follow this idea to implement it. If you fail, don’t blame me for holding you accountable…”

Feeling the undisguised threat in Murong Yuliang's words, Zhang Baoping felt a chill run down his spine and immediately expressed his stance to Murong Yuliang:

"Don't worry, Governor. Leave everything to me. I promise that these standards will be implemented within a month!"

Murong Yuliang was still dissatisfied with Zhang Baoping's assurance.
"You have already wasted a month. I don't have that much time to give you. I can only give you another half a month at most. Within half a month, I want to see you implement the minimum standards, at least in those big businesses. Do you have the confidence to accomplish this?"

Facing Murong Yuliang's sharp eyes, Zhang Baoping had no doubt that if he said no at this time, Murong Yuliang would replace him as the prefect of Lin'an.

Therefore, in order to keep the official hat on his head, Zhang Baoping also followed the spirit of "a friend dies rather than a poor Taoist" and nodded and said:

"Sir! I, Zhang Baoping, promise you that you will see results within half a month!"

Murong Yuliang nodded slightly when he heard this and said:

"This looks pretty cool!"

After Zhang Baoping finished speaking, Murong Yuliang also urged the governors and provincial governors of Jiangnan and Huainan to do their respective jobs well. The focus of their work was only on economic construction and improving people's livelihood.

After doing all this, Murong Yuliang also announced a big news. In order to respond to the reform requirements proposed by His Majesty to solve the problem of redundant staff at all levels of government offices and improve work efficiency, he will organize special personnel to assess the personnel at all levels of government offices in Jiangnan and Huainan, and those who fail the assessment will leave...
Therefore, Murong Yuliang required the staff of government offices at all levels to not only have a strong work style, but also to have a sense of crisis in their work and to be diligent in their work and not to be lazy.

After saying this, Murong Yuliang ended the meeting and returned to his study. He took out the letter from his study drawer and read it again.

Since being appointed as the governor of Jianghuai by Ye Mingsheng, Murong Yuliang has been arranging the work in Jianghuai while paying close attention to some of Yi Jing's movements.

Although Murong Yuliang suffered a major setback in Huainan, he also summed up some experiences and lessons through this failure. In addition to solving the personnel problem first, Murong Yuliang also realized the importance of keeping up with the trend. Based on his keen ZZ intuition, Murong Yuliang believes that in the future, the biggest trend in Daqian will be the reforms promoted by Ye Mingsheng!

Murong Yuliang has witnessed the results of Ye Mingsheng's reforms, so he has always been a supporter and practitioner of Ye Mingsheng's reforms, but this does not mean that Murong Yuliang supports every reform of Ye Mingsheng.

For example, regarding Ye Mingsheng's request to set a minimum wage standard and protect workers' rights and interests, Murong Yuliang did not comment on it and was not very interested in it.

But the problem is that although he doesn't care much, Ye Mingsheng seems to care a lot and even asked the Ministry of Justice to draft a work law.

Therefore, Murong Yuliang also wanted to please him. During this period, Murong Yuliang heard some news about Yi Jing. For example, Cui Shao of the Ministry of Revenue hoped that Ye Mingsheng would hand over the Wanfu and Tongxin banks to the management of the Ministry of Revenue. This news immediately aroused Murong Yuliang's high vigilance...

(End of this chapter)